"Vesper!" Optimus cried, catching the femme as she stopped screaming in agony and collapsed to the ground. Her body was convulsing, and the Prime began to panic as he cradled her in his arms. "Vesper, respond, please!" he cried, his voice thick with horror and fear. He trailed his fingers along her cheek as she stopped convulsing so violently and just twitched. Her optics had rolled back in her head, and she was utterly unresponsive.
The other members of Team Prime watched sadly as Optimus tried to rouse his sparkmate, but he was having very little success in that endeavour. Haeres, standing near the cannon, had a small smirk on his face, the device hanging between two of his fingers. He was the only one who knew what he'd done, but as he turned on his heel he laughed. Everyone – minus Bumblebee and Vesper, for obvious reasons – looked over at him, and Ratchet felt his servos clench as he took a step forward.
"What have you done to Vesper?!" he yelled, demanding to know what had happened. Alice and the other humans all huddled behind Wheeljack and Bulkhead as Haeres turned back to the others and flashed them an innocent smile. "Answer me!" Ratchet roared, one of his servos transforming into a blade as he pointed at the green Decepticon.
"You shall see soon enough," was the cryptic response that everyone received before Haeres turned again and walked away, leaving Team Prime alone on top of the Nemesis. Nobody really knew what that meant, but none of them could care. They all just wanted to know what had happened, and if waiting was the only way to figure out, then they were prepared to wait as long as they needed to.
They waited for what seemed like hours. Optimus had Vesper lying on the ground, just maintaining a vigilant eye on her, and every so often he spoke to the others… but only if spoken to. Alice and Ratchet were sitting near to him, offering him comfort, and the others were sitting near Bumblebee, who was not awake and probably wouldn't wake for a while.
Vesper finally began to stir, and Optimus found himself intensely relieved as her optics – still their beautiful cyan – began to open. His relief disappeared and was replaced with confusion when he tried to see what she was thinking of… and found himself unable to. This puzzled him; ever since they'd met, Optimus had found himself able to feel Vesper's emotions and look into her mind… but now he couldn't.
So, he opted for the next best thing. "Vesper?" he breathed as the femme slowly sat up, seeming a little dazed. "It is me, Optimus," he said, putting his servo on her shoulder. She slowly turned her head and gazed down at his hand, then her optics trailed up his arm and fixated on his face. He smiled gently, hiding the fact that he was getting more and more troubled by being unable to get any sort of emotion or thought from her. The others were relieved that she was awake, even if she seemed to be a little blank, and were completely unaware that something seemed to be wrong.
That changed when Vesper's expression became ominously dark, and she hissed, "Get your servo off of me, Prime." Optimus was alarmed by the venom in her voice, and the specific emphasis on the word 'Prime'. But he was even more alarmed when Vesper's own servo snaked out, wrapped around his wrist and twisted it in a way that caused Optimus to howl in pain and try to jerk away. Everyone's eyes widened, and Ratchet leapt to help, but Vesper released her current victim and – taking use of the martial arts training she'd had – quickly jumped up and kicked Ratchet back. She landed on the palms of her hands, then flipped around so that she was somewhat crouched on the ground.
"What's gotten into her?!" Alice exclaimed as she hobbled over to Ratchet, who had landed heavily on his back and was groaning in pain. The medic slowly sat up and rubbed his lower back, one of his eyes squeezed shut and his teeth grit.
"I don't know, but she's not the Vesper she was before," he said, attempting to stand. The other bots had jumped to the defence of Bee and the humans, who were all terrified and unsure of what was going on. Nobody really knew what was happening; the sweet, shy femme that they'd grown accustomed to had just attacked the one she had seemed to love with all of her spark. That was odd to them. Actually, her directly attacking anyone unless provoked was odd.
"Vesper, are you alright?" Optimus asked, his voice calm, as if he was talking to a confused sparkling. He placed his hands in front of him, palms facing Vesper, showing her that he wasn't going to harm her.
"I am fine," Vesper said, her voice dark and filled with a kind of burning hate that made Optimus' spark twinge painfully in his chest. "Why are you asking, Autobot?"
The way she said the word 'Autobot' confirmed a fear that Optimus didn't even know he'd possessed; his dear sparkmate, the one he vowed to protect and love with everything he had… was no longer on his side. She had betrayed him. And he had no idea why.
"Optimus!" Ultra Magnus suddenly yelled, but the Prime barely heard him. His whole body had gone numb, and his spark felt like it had shattered and was now on the floor at his feet. He was unable to comprehend anything but the fact that, for some reason, Vesper had ripped his spark out of his chest and didn't appear to be feeling any remorse for it whatsoever.
Getting struck in the head, however, seemed to knock him out of his befuddled state, and he looked around to find Ultra Magnus standing near him, hammer in hand and the conduits on his fingers exposed. Vesper was standing in front of Magnus, a horrific snarl on her normally happy face. Her single blade was revealed, but her blaster was still hidden. She didn't need it, however; with her training, she really only needed her blade and her body to be a weapon.
"Do not hurt her!" Optimus suddenly begged, getting to his feet and grabbing Ultra Magnus' arm. The warrior looked at the Prime using his peripheral vision, then shook his head once before turning back to face Vesper.
"I have no choice, sir," was the only thing that he said before Vesper jumped towards them, and Magnus quickly used his hammer to block her blade. Then he extended one of his servos – the one with the conduits exposed – and managed to brush her throat with it. That small touch was enough to send a ginormous flood of electricity through the femme, and she screamed yet again in agony before falling unconscious and collapsing. As he watched her fall, Optimus' spark broke again, but there was nothing he could do anymore.
"We have to go," Ratchet said, limping over with Alice in hand and standing next to Optimus. Bulkhead picked up Bumblebee while Wheeljack picked up the other humans. "I'm sorry, but she's no longer an Autobot."
Hearing those words made Optimus want to scream and cry, but he suppressed that and simply managed a slow, shaky nod. Then he turned on his heel and followed the others as they ran down the hallway, stopping once to look back at his sparkmate with a broken, miserable expression on his face for the briefest of minutes before following them.
It was only after they'd left that Haeres finally re-emerged. He walked over to Vesper and knelt down next to her, a devious smirk on his face. "Thank you, my dear," he breathed, even though he knew that his student couldn't hear him. "My experiment has been a wondrous success, do you not agree?"
This he said to a purple, cyclopean 'Con who strode out, and as Shockwave walked over he said, "It is logical to believe that we can apply this to the other Autobots."
Haeres nodded as he picked Vesper up and hefted her over his shoulder. "Indeed, Shockwave. But that can wait." He smiled as he walked over to the door, then stopped and looked back at the cyclopean 'Con. "After all, it will only be a matter of time before Optimus Prime returns for her."
And then, with a maniacal laugh, he walked back down the corridor, leaving Shockwave standing on the top of the Nemesis alone.