"Turn it off..!"

"Get down!"

Blue fire filled the atmosphere, and Megatronus shuttered his optics and turned away just in time for the blast to knock him over, searing his gray, paintless back plating. Then the shrapnel hit and he screamed, not because of the pain, but because he knew that this would cost him friends.

The heat lingered in the atmosphere, and Megatronus lay still for a moment, then dragged himself to his pedes, because as long as he was alive, he would keep getting up.

He looked for Photodraft first. The other mech was standing close by, online but leaking energon heavily from one arm.

It was nearly the end of the shift. Megatronus glanced at Spiral, who was scowling thoughtfully, and then turned and walked toward the blast. Some of the others were up by now, and rushing forward to check and see who was dead. A mech named Cavedark had been running the drill.

Megatronus knelt by a still frame. The mech was hot to the touch, but Megatronus turned him over.

"Alloy?"

Alloy moaned, staring up at the ceiling.

"Pit, Alloy…"

A half-grin worked its way onto Alloy's faceplate. "Megs…"

"Don't worry, you'll be all right. You think you can stand if I help you up?"

"Hey, glitches!" Spiral called.

Megatronus sucked in a deep vent and set his palms to the ground, praying...

"Here's how this is going to work. We currently hold record for least deaths in the past quarter. I'd like to try and keep it that way, so you can take back whoever you can carry. Hitch is they have to be able to work next shift. Anymech who can't… well, I'm sure you all get the idea. Clean up this mess and pile the corpses over here, and we'll leave. Shift's almost done anyway."

Megatronus sighed, relieved.

He helped Alloy sit up, then went to help try and dig Cavedark out of the rubble.

He carried ten mechs he knew to the corpse pile.

They had lost ten.

"Megatronus!" Photodraft called him over and he hurried to his friend's side. Photodraft was kneeling over a barely online mech. Megatronus knelt as well.

"Treadline," he said. "Treadline… no…"

Treadline had been with them from the beginning. His was the first designation Megatronus had learned, other than Rivet and Photodraft.

"It's ok," Treadline said quietly. "Mech, it's…"

"We'll take you back with us," Megatronus said. Photodraft nodded.

They would take care of him.

Megatronus got up. "We've got about twice as many who can walk as can't," he said. "Everyone pair up and find someone to support on the way back, all right?"

He made optic contact with several of them, and they nodded. Then he bent down to lift Treadline up.

"Here," Photodraft said, reaching out to take part of his weight.

"No," Megatronus said. "I can carry him. He's not going to be able to walk. You help with someone else."

Photodraft didn't nod or say anything, but he did get up and walk away with a dead look in his optics. Megatronus watched him, worried. The last time they'd had an explosion like this, Rivet had been offlined.

They made a slow, sad-looking procession back to the cave. Treadline slipped into stasis before they got there, and he wasn't the only one.

As soon as they got back and the guards left, Photodraft took over. He got out all of his tools and recruited Megatronus and a few others to help him, then told everyone who hadn't been badly hurt to go recharge.

They would need their strength. The next shift would come swiftly.

Photodraft started working.

He left Treadline alone, at first, and worked on some of the less serious injuries. Photodraft himself was injured too, and energon was still flowing down his arm. It looked painful, but when Megatronus suggested that he try to stop the leaking, all he got was a blank look.

Photodraft was going to fix everyone else first.

The others all went to recharge eventually, but Photodraft stayed up, and Megatronus stayed with him, watching him work and helping when he asked.

Finally, Photodraft went to repair Treadline. The mech was still alive, but deep in stasis. Photodraft knelt by him, holding his little welding torch and looking down at their friend.

"Photo?"

Photodraft's calm mask broke, and he set his torch down and buried his faceplate in his hands.

"Photo, don't…"

"I can't save him," Photodraft sobbed. "I can't save any of them. They're all just going to die. All of them are going to die, Primus, what am I doing?"

Megatronus picked up a scrap piece of temp plating and reached across Treadline's frame for the torch. Then he got up and came around to sit by Photodraft.

"I can't do it," Photodraft said. "I can't do it, Megatronus, they're all… they're all dead."

"Give me your arm," Megatronus said.

Photodraft shook his helm.

Megatronus used the torch to heat up the piece of plating while Photodraft sobbed into his hands. Then he gently pressed the soft piece of metal to Photodraft's arm, where the gash there had finally stopped leaking.

"Rivet's dead, Megatronus," Photodraft said. "He's dead."

"I…" Megatronus said. "I know."

"I thought when he died I'd die with him. I didn't think I'd have to keep going. But I do. I have to keep fixing them, and no matter how many times I do it, they'll… they'll eventually die. All of them."

Megatronus looked down.

"I shouldn't even try. I shouldn't even try."

"Yes you should," Megatronus put an energon-stained hand on Photodraft's shoulder.

"Why?"

"Because… because we're getting out of here."

Photodraft froze.

"I'm not sure how yet," Megatronus said. "But you're right. If we stay here we'll all die, one by one, or ten by ten."

Treadline's spark went out.

Eleven.

"You think we can do it?"

"We can die trying or we can die down here," Megatronus said. "And who knows, maybe we'll get to see the sky."

"It's a bad time to start that sort of thing," Photodraft whispered. "We're about to get a whole group of new mechs. And after something like this… everyone's going to be a little colder to each other."

"True, but new mechs come around pretty quickly, and I doubt there's a spark among us who doesn't want to get out of here."

"What will we do about the guards?"

"Which ones? Our guards won't be a problem," Megatronus said. "And besides, now isn't the time for planning. You ought to rest. We've probably got less than ten breems before Spiral shows up."

"First," Photodraft said, "You need some repair. You can recharge, though… oh, Primus, I'm not going to get any recharge for a decaorn, not with so many hurt."

"I'm fine."

"We've discussed this," Photodraft said. "That's my call, not yours." He did some repairs on Megatronus, then went back to one of the earlier mechs he'd worked on, who needed more attention.

Then, the door opened and Spiral came in. He was a few breems early.

"Get up you useless pieces of scrap," he said. "Everyone up and get in line. No one helps anyone else, though. You've all got to stand on your own."

Megatronus got to his pedes, and Photodraft did so as well. The normal chatter and grumbling of getting in line for energon was missing as everyone watched Spiral approach their injured, some of whom hadn't woken up when he'd come in. He went to Alloy first. Megatronus gritted his denta as Spiral kicked Alloy hard enough to turn him over onto his faceplate.

"Get up!" Spiral said.

Alloy got slowly to his hands and knees, and then his pedes. He held his helm up defiantly as he walked over to the line. Mechs parted to give him a place in between Megatronus and the mech behind him. Alloy put a hand on Megatronus's shoulder and Megatronus braced himself so Alloy could lean on him.

The next mech couldn't get up.

Spiral got out his gun and shot him. The sound rang through the room, and Megatronus felt Alloy's hand tighten on his shoulder.

Megatronus watched as Spiral killed the next mech as well. He heard Photodraft sobbing quietly in front of him, but kept his optics on Spiral.

The next mech managed to get up in time, and limped to the line, where he was supported by three others. The mech after him was Treadline. Spiral could probably see that he was already dead, but he shot him anyway. Megatronus refused to look away. The loss of his friends was coupled in his emotional core with the frustration of this setback.

This could not happen one more time.

Two more of the injured were unable to get up, and Spiral killed them, then turned to face the line. "Let's move. Tatters, stay here and deal with the corpses."

The guard, Tatters, nodded, with a grim, almost angry look on his faceplate. Megatronus often wondered what he was doing down here in the mines. He wasn't as bad as the other guards. Maybe they could get him to help them.

Megatronus walked slowly and steadily through the energon line so Alloy could continue to lean on him.

They got their energon. Megatronus almost didn't want it but he drank it anyway, because he knew he'd have to pull extra weight this shift.

He could feel Alloy leaning more and more heavily on him as they walked through the mines. It got hard for him to walk too, but one of Alloy's other close friends came over and supported him from the other side.

"Thank you," Megatronus said.

"Both of you," Alloy muttered. "Thank both of you."

"This must be serious," Megatronus said. "You just thanked me."

"Yeah," Alloy said.

"Does this mean we're friends?"

"Ha," Alloy said. "You wish, Megs."

"Hey, keep it quiet," Megatronus said softly, checking to make sure the guards were out of audio range. "But I think we'd better start working on a way to get out of this pit."

Alloy grinned. "Hoping you'd say that some orn."

"Well, it's not going to be easy," Megatronus said. "But it'd be nice if we could spread the word quietly throughout the shift. I'd like to talk about it when we get back afterward."

The other mech supporting Alloy nodded.

"Thanks," Megatronus said.

They got to their section of the wall, and the team that had been working it picked up and left. Megatronus knew a few of them too. They were often working at the same spot as his team.

He and the other mech let go of Alloy, and they all went to work. He kept an optic on the larger mech as they approached the drills. Alloy could barely walk on his own. He shouldn't be out here working. He'd heal ten times as quickly if he had one shift to rest, but Spiral…

It was wrong that Spiral should have the last word on this—that he should be allowed to murder anyone he chose to. It was wrong, just… wrong. But what could Megatronus do about it?

He could try to get his friends out, but what would that matter in the long run? Even if he succeeded, they'd be replaced by more mechs for Spiral to lord over. And Spiral wasn't the only one—Megatronus's wasn't the only team. There were thousands of mechs in these mines, all of them with the mines' death sentence hanging over their helm. What could Megatronus do for them?

Right now he needed to work, and work hard to compensate for those who were too weak to pull their weight. So he threw himself into moving rubble. They struggled to keep up with the drills, but for about a joor, they managed.

Then Alloy, who had been slowly struggling to walk back and forth, carrying small amounts of debris, collapsed and didn't get up again. Megatronus saw him at the same time Spiral did, and the guard walked lazily over. Megatronus barely dared to vent, hoping that Alloy would get up before Spiral reached him.

"Up," Spiral said.

Alloy struggled slowly to his hands and knees and Spiral kicked him over again.

"I said get up! Faster!"

Alloy tried again, only to be knocked over a second time. Megatronus took a step forward. He couldn't stand by and watch this.

Spiral took out his gun. Megatronus froze.

"No!" Photodraft shoved Spiral's gun out of the way and stood between the guard and the other miner.

Spiral raised an optic ridge, and put away his gun. "Get out of the way."

"I spent joors fixing him. He just needs rest."

"Get out of the way," Spiral said again.

"Photo," Alloy got to his hands and knees again. "Get out of the fragging way."

"No," Photodraft said. "No, I will not let you kill him! I won't watch you kill anyone else ever again, you murdering glitch. I'm not scared of you."

Spiral pulled his whip out of subspace. "Get back to work," he growled.

Megatronus took another step forward.

"Photo, stand down," Alloy said.

Photodraft didn't move.

Spiral lifted the whip and brought it down to hit Photodraft across his faceplate. Photodraft was knocked to the side, but he got up again. There was a hopelessness in his optics, a quietness, like he was already dead.

Spiral pulled out his gun again "Fine."

"No!" Megatronus rushed forward. Spiral turned and shot at him, but missed. Megatronus tackled him, trying to pry the weapon out of his hand. The other guards converged on them, but Megatronus took the gun and put it to Spiral's helm. "Don't move," he hissed.

One of the other guards slowly raised his hand to his helm, probably comming for backup.

"I will kill him," Megatronus said. "Spiral, tell them to hold still."

Spiral met his optics and grinned. "That gun's mine. It won't fire for you."

Megatronus narrowed his optics, and Spiral used his momentary confusion to shove him off. The other two guards leaped at him. There would normally be three, but Tatters wasn't there. Megatronus dodged a few shots, and knocked one of them down. He was dead. Primus, he was dead.

Well, he might as well take a few of them with him.

Then another miner joined the fight, jumping on Spiral from behind.

And another.

In less than a breem, they had brought the guards down, taken their weapons, and pinned them to the ground.

"Now what?" someone asked.

"Well, we're all dead mechs for one," Megatronus said. "I guess we might as well run for it…"

Bad timing. So many could barely walk. He looked around and saw determination in the others' optics.

"No," he said. "Let's not try that. We can pin all of this on me, and they'll kill me, but the rest of you…"

"No, Megs," Alloy said. He was leaning heavily on another miner. "We're not letting you do that."

"Well, we'd better do something fast," Photodraft said. "I… I'm sorry, Megatronus."

"It's ok," Megatronus said. "Right, let's offline these three and…"

"Back away from the guards! Back toward the wall, team gamma five."

Guards filled both ends of the hallway.

Megatronus looked around, trying to think of a way out of this. They'd found a pocket of crystals, and the blue prisms were waiting in bins out by the path. The guards couldn't shoot those without setting off an explosion.

"Leave the guards and back away, and we'll let you live!"

Let them live?

There was no life in this pit.

Megatronus let out a wordless roar and ran for the bins of energon crystals. A few of the guards shot at him, but stopped when they saw what he was about to do. Some of the other miners saw it too and ran to join him.

He lifted one of the bins and swung it around, scattering crystals everywhere.

"Stop shooting!" the mech who looked to be in charge of the other guards said. "Don't use energy weapons! Stop them!"

Megatronus fought.

He fell into a rhythm, blocking, ducking, throwing. The crystal fragments spread across the ground glowed faintly, lighting his dance. Guards fell, and his friends fell, but he stood.

He didn't notice as more and more reinforcements were brought in. He didn't notice when Mudskimmer died with a knife in his spark, or when Photodraft sank to the ground with a scream, clutching a broken arm. He didn't notice when he was the last miner standing.

And then, after what seemed mere moments to him, he was overwhelmed and weighed down. Stasis cuffs were forced onto his arms and he was shoved to his knees.

He looked up.

Guards lay scattered among the crystals. Streams of energon ran between the rubble. None of his friends were standing.

What had he done?

A guard walked into his line of sight. Spiral. He met the mech's optics and realized he'd never really seen Spiral angry before.

Photodraft…

"What a mess," an unfamiliar voice said, and a mech stepped into the carnage. "Whose crew was this?"

"Mine, sir," Spiral said, through gritted denta. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize he was so dangerous." He shot Megatronus a glare.

Megatronus hadn't realized he was so dangerous either.

Who was he?

"This is a waste," the mech said. "Do you know how many guards we'll have to replace because of this? It's coming from your pay, do you understand."

"But…" Spiral said.

"Dispose of the rest of this crew," the mech said. "All of them… except that one, I want him," he pointed at Megatronus. "Take him to…"

"Wait," Spiral said. "He should watch them die."

The other mech narrowed his optics. "Fine," he said. "But if you kill him, you'll take his place. I doubt you'll last very long."

Megatronus wasn't listening. The other mech started organizing the guards, having them start dragging away corpses and gather the scattered energon crystals. Spiral, however, pulled out his gun. He walked through the carnage, stopping every once in a while to shoot a miner.

Then he came to Photodraft.

"No," Megatronus struggled, but the guards piled on top of him held him back.

Spiral got out his whip.

"Photodraft!"

Photodraft got to his hands and knees, shaking. He looked up.

Spiral brought the whip down across Photodraft's back, and the smaller mech collapsed again. Spiral raised the whip a second time.

"Stop!" Megatronus sobbed. "Stop, stop…"

Spiral let out a wordless cry of rage and brought the whip down again and again, as Photodraft screamed and Megatronus struggled.

This was his fault—he'd gotten them all killed.

Eventually, Photodraft stopped screaming and lay on the ground in a puddle of his own energon, and Megatronus went limp, and Spiral pulled out his gun and shot Photodraft's helm again and again until it was a blackened shell filled with ash and sparking cables.

Megatronus couldn't look away as Spiral finished his round, and everyone he had ever cared about was killed.

Then Spiral came over to him and knelt down in front of him.

"You know, for the first time since you showed up, I'm perfectly happy to let you live," he said, with a smirk.

Megatronus gritted his denta and refused to look at the guard.

Spiral laughed, and Megatronus felt something snap inside of him. Spiral was still laughing as the darkness closed in, replacing the gray and glowing blue floor of the tunnel with blackness.