Just want to say how much I enjoyed writing this with my partner.

6

In the cool darkness of the Nemesis, Megatron stood at the control room. Soundwave had silently posted a status report on the main screen for them.

[Update: Vehicon KA-R1-302 disappears after Autobot attack in mine 11A: Status: Vehicon recovered and onboard]

"Marvelous," Megatron said sarcastically. "Why am I being notified about the recovery of a Vehicon?"

[Vehicon: returned via Autobot ground bridge.]

Megatron's optics widened. "What do you mean, 'returned'?" Before Soundwave could post a reply, he whirled around toward Starscream, who had been directing orders at an eradicon across the room. "Starscream!" He shouted. "Do you know about this report?"

Starscream bolted upwards, warning signals flying as fast as the warlord's intonation of his name. He knew he had to give an answer quick and keep the blame firmly off his shoulder plates. "No, my lord! The Autobot attack on site 819-U was filed, yes, but all reports showed a single Vehicon termination!"

Soundwave silently brought up a visual feed of the Vehicon's signal, located quite clearly in the upper holding area.

"I know what it says," Starscream snapped. "The other drones must have been mistaken. I assure you, they all reported the same thing!"

Megatron approached him. "I am not concerned that the drone was reported offline. I want to know if you were aware that the Autobots dropped one of our soldiers off at our front step, and why!" Megatron turned to Soundwave. "Have Knockout meet us at the appointed holding area. I want that drone scanned for bugs and explosives, even techno-organic bio weapons. And Starscream, since you seem to be so misinformed, you will accompany me there immediately."

Karl sat in the holding area, servos folded, calmly awaiting the arrival of an officer...the guards who'd brought him in had assured him it wouldn't be long. Optimus's previous warnings crept into his memory banks, but he refused to believe it. He was still useful to the Decepticons and even moreso now, with his new repairs.

Finally, the door slid open. He dropped to an immediate bow before the Decepticon leader.

"Lord Megatron...Commander Starscream..."

Megatron approached the soldier. "Explain to me in one sentence, how you came to stand here alive."

One glance at his expression and Karl knew that his life hinged on the correct answer. "Sir, I swear I never told them a thing."

Megatron swiftly backhanded him, knocking the soldier off his feet. He didn't even have to make an effort. He reached down, grabbing his neck. "I am not going to sift through your petty begging to survive to find my answers! Right now the fact that you stand here, alive, unharmed, tells me that you are lying." He tightened his grip around the soldier's throat. "Even the sheen of your armor tells me you are keeping things from me, your leader, Lord of the Decepticon army. Now tell me in one, true sentence, why you are alive."

Suddenly, truth was synonymous with survival. It became a number, a formula, an amount to push past his vocodoer before Megatron could crush his throat. "I don't know! Polished me...fixed my t-cog! Asked me to join them and when I wouldn't, they let me go!" As that inescapable grip impeded the flow to his neural net, as he clawed at Megatron's wrist, images of the Autobot base flashed randomly before his visuals.

Megatron released the Vehicon and stood up straight, pondering his response. "Ah," he said thoughtfully, "I see what Prime is doing. Starscream, do you see? His answer is surely too bizarre to be a lie, so tell me, can you imagine a motivation for Prime to send back a sparkling, refurbished grunt soldier?"

Starscream, who had been observing with a quiet calculation reserved only for Megatron's interrogations, tapped his long digits against his faceplate in a show of thoughtfulness. "Hmm. Either our soldier has indeed defected, only to foolishly return and play the spy, or he's hiding something more...inward. Drone, you say the Autobots repaired your t-cog?"

"Yes," Karl gasped, rubbing the clinched tubes of his neck.

"And were they kind enough to place you under stasis, first?"

"They...they did."

"Well, there you have it," Starscream finished smoothly.

He turned as the door opened and the Decepticon medic stepped on through, taking in the hunched Vehicon at a glance. "You summoned me, Lord Megatron?"

Megatron put up a servo to keep the medic from speaking further. "Starscream," he said in an unimpressed tone, "Why would the Autobots polish and wax a drone if they wanted him to be a spy, if they wanted him to return to the Nemesis and blend in among the others, in order to extract information from us? Have you seen our spy? He is certainly no flashy neon sign as our medic is. And really, how much information could a drone acquire with Soundwave protecting our data?"

Satisfied with his degradation of Starscream, he turned back to the drone and spoke aloud to both Second in Command and Medic. "This Vehicon was sent back to destroy us from the inside. Put him back in with the troops and how long will it take for them to talk of the mercy and righteousness of the Autobot Leader? How many useless, crippled soldiers sent to the mines will start to wonder if they could receive the same medical treatment from the Autobots which they are not receiving here? One drone may not have enough information to destroy us, but many drones could. Compiled they could offer up the Nemesis' hours of operation, the locations of our energon mines, the codes to storage rooms and maps of the ship's layout."

Megatron grabbed the Vehicon by the back of the neck and held him out to show to the others. "This drone was sent to make a fool of me! He makes me look like an uncaring leader. He makes the Decepticons look poor, unable to provide enough water for washes, enough wax to make us respectable, he makes us look WEAK!"

Megatron shoved the drone at Knockout. "Scan him for bugs and anything else Prime might have implanted in him during surgery. Starscream, track down that eradicon who was present in the control room when we announced the return of his comrade. I want him offlined before his shift is over and he can break the news to the rest of them. I want you to find out every last bit of information this Autobot-refurbished Vehicon might have attained in their custody and anything he might have spilled. When you're done, kill him."

Karl was numb. Frozen to the core of his frame. Pain, fear, the need to survive...it all fell away in the wake of this proclamation. All he'd ever had to give had been given freely to the Decepticons, the only thing to lean against when his body had failed him time and time again. His home and family; his world.

And now it had come to this.

A more eloquent Vehicon may have been able to plead their case; recite back their unwavering belief in the Decepticon cause and what it meant for the future. But KA-R1-302 had never been a mech of many words. And as he lowered his helm, voice imploring even as he threw caution to the wind, it wasn't even the promise of a reprieve he was seeking...it was the reassurance that it had it meant something in the end.

"Please, Lord Megatron...I can still serve you..."

Megatron turned back to him with an unfeeling expression. "Don't you understand, soldier? Your further existence is detrimental to the Decepticon cause. You were once a small cog in the machine, but now you are a wrench in it, and you must go. Serve me by answering Starscream, and you will be given a swift death."

Without another word he turned and left.

Back in the control room, the lone Eradicon who had been present during the news of Karl's return, was busy sending comms to his friends about the return of the Autobot captive. The comm turned from a message to a rumor as it was forwarded through the army. By the time it reached 404's comm system, to no one's knowledge, this lone Eradicon in the control room had already been executed by Commander Starscream. But it was too late, the news was out.

404, however unrelated to the Autobot captive he was, was indeed related to the actual Autobots. Specifically, the young scout named Bumblebee.

Nearly a full day later, Bumblebee drove home with his mind swarming over what 404 had said during their meet in the canyon. If Karl was back, why hadn't anyone seen him yet? Why had the original Eradicon gone missing too? Bumblebee could only think of the worst. He couldn't stop thinking about Optimus' theories about Karl being questioned endlessly by Megatron, and shot when his usefulness was over. He could see Megatron being angry with a soldier for even letting himself get caught, for risking Decepticon intelligence rather than shooting himself before capture. There were just so many reasons to worry.

When he'd driven in close distance to the base, he set his scrambler to disguise the identity of his signal, and sent out an anonymous message. Without any passwords or locks, the base would pick it up in an instant.

[[How's the patrol going? Catch wind of any Autobot scum? Well I heard a rumor the captive is back, but no one's seen him. Lord Megatron probably offed the mech, but it's his own fault for getting caught. Anyway, I'll see you when your shift ends.]]

The message travel outwards over the Nevada desert, making its way through the airwaves, unattached and unprotected; for all that was lacking in the Autobots' borrowed and salvaged technology, their receivers picked it up with no trouble at all. Long before Bumblebee ever reached home, the message transmitted down the old silo to rest within its network.

Alone in the central hub of the base, Ratchet listened to the intercepted broadcast. Then, offlining his optics, he listened to it again.

He opened his comm link.

'Optimus. I think you need to hear this...'

Optimus stood on the edge of the cliff overtop of their base. These days it was rare for him to get a moment to himself, especially when there was still light enough to stand up there and think. He received the comm and took another moment to watch the sky change from pink to orange. He headed through the upstairs post and passed the door to his personal quarters before heading down the elevator.

He arrived in the central room and approached Ratchet. "What do I need to hear?"

"The captive we released back to Decepticon custody. I've just intercepted a Vehicon transmission regarding his whereabouts." Ratchet knew there was no use in being soft-handed with the delivery, no matter how much he would have liked to. "He hasn't been seen by the others. There's...a rumor he's been offlined."

He indicated the message, recorded and still accessible on the computer screen.

Optimus stiffened as he read the message, fear flooding over him like a cold wash. Without a moment's hesitation he made his order. "Open the ground bridge. If there's any chance that the rumor has not yet come to be, then I must make haste."

There was only so much that Ratchet could take, and the life of his oldest friend was where he drew the line. "Optimus, please!" He held up his servos placatingly, but his voice held an edge of firmness none of the other Autobots would have dreamed of putting on. "If he's been offlined, then there's nothing we can do for him. If he's still functioning, then rushing in blindly won't save him!"

"This is my doing. If I had not taken him to begin with, he would still be mining energon now. He would… he would be fine if not for me. If there is any chance he is alive, I must find him and bring him to safety. And if not, I will bring him home regardless. And I cannot accept help from anyone; I will not put any more of my teammates in harm's way."

Optimus felt desperate. His optics slid to the hall entrance to make sure no one was coming, and he spoke softly. "I have always done what I could for the Autobot cause, but I must do something for myself. Please, Ratchet, open the bridge."

"This is about something greater than yourself! You of all mechs should know that! If we lose you, we lose all hope of ever winning this war. Nothing is worth that, not even the life of a Vehicon." He flinched, as though the taste of things unspoken lay bitter on his glossa. Faster than he'd ever imagined, his worst fears were stepping out of the realms of prediction and into the blinding light. "Optimus…Karl returned to the Decepticons of his own free will. We made him aware of the dangers he faced, but he chose to remain with his faction. I beg you not to forget yours."

Optimus' frustration increased, but he held it back. He was well aware that his better judgment told him the worst, but his spark would never be satisfied if he didn't know for sure. If he couldn't convince Ratchet on a personal level, he would have to reach him on a practical one. "There is no need to remind me of my faction. Not only do I belong to it, but I created it. There is no one more likely than myself to survive this journey. And do not forget that both Arcee and Bumblebee survived an expedition to the Nemesis. I promise you, if I am in a dire situation, I will comm you right away to open the ground bridge. I make this promise because I am going whether you approve of it or not. I will not be convinced otherwise. So I will say it once more, please open the ground bridge."

There was no mistaking the quiet, impenetrable firmness that lay behind those words...a foundational anchor beneath the Autobot movement, it was as recognizable as the lights of Iacon. Megatron certainly knew it well. Alpha Trion had known it well. And Ratchet knew it well. It said that Optimus had made up his mind, and neither persuasion nor force could dissuade him from his chosen path.

The medic stepped over to the control panel. Moments later, a ground bridge opened wide.

"The very moment you're in trouble."

Optimus nodded and walked into the light. He stepped out into a dark, empty hallway. The ground bridge closed and he heard the sound of conversation growing closer. He stepped back, pressing himself against the wall as a pair of footsteps came down the hall.

"So just let me know when you finish, okay? I need to see how it looks."

"Sure thing," the other responded.

One set of began to walk away, and the other turned the corner in view of Optimus. Before he could shout, Optimus had the drone around the neck, canon pointed at his helm. "I am looking for someone, and you will cooperate in leading them to me."

The winged Eradicon struggled against him. "I won't tell you anything," he croaked, his vocals distorted from being compacted against Optimus' arm.

"Listen up," Optimus growled, growing uncharacteristically angry. "I will do this with or without your help. With your help I may have a chance at stealth, thus sparing the lives of an unknown number of your brethren. I will leave with what I came for, and the Decepticon Army will be no less off than before. But if you refuse to help me, I will have no choice but to navigate on my own, undoubtedly running into troops on the way. I will blast through each and every one of them until I reach my goal, and the Energon will be on your servos, soldier. So tell me now, if someone were to be interrogated, where is the most likely place they would be taken?"

Optimus loosened his hold on the drone's throat, allowing his vocals to function properly. The Eradicon was quiet for a moment before finally choosing to speak. "There's an interrogation room. It's near the bow of the ship."

"Take me there."

Elsewhere on the ship, a broken, cuffed frame crashed to the interrogation room floor.

Starscream flicked Energon from the tips of his claws. The predatory smirk he'd worn when they first began was gone, long since replace by an exhausted, worn out snarl. "Do think this is about time, drone? I can make you suffer for a lunar cycle, if that's what you're looking for!"

Karl's audios barely registered it. He was sinking down into his memory banks, surrounding himself with moments that were furthest from pain. The warm, cramped barracks with the clamor of fellow Vehicons all around…a black highway baked by the sun, the thrum of his healthy t-cog as he drove along...a thick vein of Energon in the earth raising a chorus of triumphant laughter…and, as his visor dimmed, a place where large, kind servos cleansed him with utmost gentleness. As static began to fill his processor, he could almost hear the sound of hot water raining down.

Then the talons descended on his already gaping thigh wound, broadening it until the sound of his own shrieks brought back him to mental clarity.

"Tell me what you saw!"

There was so much he had failed, his promise to Ratchet being one of them. So much that he would never be able to repay, not even with assurances that they'd been right all along.

But this much he could do for them.

"Not…telling you a thing."

Optimus walked quietly through the Nemesis, canon aimed at the Eradicon ahead of him. There came a set of voices growing closer and the Eradicon whispered back to him. "This way," he said icily, turning and leading Optimus down a different narrow hallway, a side route most definitely meant for maintenance. They reached a room with poor lighting and climbed a long ladder to an upper level of the ship. Optimus remained a close distance with the Eradicon, managing to keep his weapon extended as he climbed.

They stepped through a maintenance room identical to the one below, and out into a hallway.

"Your Autobot slagger is in there," the drone said, pointing to a door that was a few feet ahead. Optimus approached the door, pressing his audio to the side. He paid little attention when the Eradicon began to run away, his focus on the sound of Starscream's vocals spitting out angry words. Hope filled him, because Starscream would have no one to snap at if the worst had happen.

"This is your final warning," he heard Starscream say, "or do you enjoy having my claw sunken into you?"

Without another second's thought, Optimus aimed at the door's control panel and blasted it. The door opened and he stepped inside and began shooting.

Success had been so close at hand, Starscream had thought. With the Vehicon's gleaming Energon cable laid out for the cutting, information was sure to follow. After all, even the most unbreakable mining drone was still just a mining drone…not a scout, not a soldier.

A horrified yelp was all he had time to emit, then the Autobot's volley of fire was raining down upon him. For neither the first not last time, the seeker's quickness saved his life as he dodged behind his array of interrogation implements, laser blasts singeing the tip of one wing and gouging the portable table.

Drained of fortitude as he was, Starscream took the only option he saw available to him and bolted for the door. He was gone as quickly as Optimus had come.

Karl pushed himself up from the pool of Energon he lie in, all the while trying to clear his visual feed as the cannon fire quieted. The pain didn't diminish just because the impossible had occurred, but it made no difference. As he lifted his leaden helm, he was smiling within…visor brightening as though the Allspark were opening up before him, and nothing but peace lay ahead.

Optimus closed his weapon. His relief was interminable when he saw Karl alive, but the state of him cuffed on the table, covered in Energon, made Optimus want to tear the claws from Starscream's servos. His optics narrowed, unable to disguise the rage in his expression as he approached. He onlined his comm link as he walked. 'Ratchet, activate the ground bridge.'

The bridge appeared in seconds, just as Optimus reached the table. He didn't look away from Karl for an instant, afraid he might disappear again. And he stayed quiet, too angry to speak as he lifted the Vehicon into his arms and headed for the ground bridge.

Karl offlined his visor, listening to the sounds of the ground bridge roaring around them and the crackle of Optimus's spark beneath it all. The myriad things he'd longed to say were failing him, and all he could do was curl his digits softly over the Autobot's chestplate.

To be continued.