Author's Notes: I am really happy with how this chapter turned out! I needed to practice writing action sequences, and this was as good a place as any to do that! I also want to say thank you to everyone for all of your support. On with the fic :)

Chapter 6

Spark and Soul

The Autobots arrived at the oil rig to find Decepticons overrunning the place! There were the Constructicons, the Reflector triplets, all 6 members of the seekers, and the Stunticons! 20 total! This was going to be a rough battle.

"There's only 10 of us!" Wheeljack exclaimed when he saw the forces below them, "Optimus, we need backup!"

"Agreed," Optimus said solemnly, "Wheeljack, call in the Dinobots."

"The Dinobots?" Ratchet blanched, "Why don't you just call in Megatron for backup? The last time we fought with the Dinobots they damaged our side nearly as badly as the enemy!"

"Hey, don't worry Ratchet, I've been working with them!" Wheeljack raised his hands in a placating manner, "They're good fighters, and they need the exercise. Don't worry, Optimus, I'll call them."

"Good," Optimus nodded.

"Ya know, when ya said we might as well call Megatron, it made me notice somethin'. Ol' Buckethead isn't down there," Jazz pointed out, "What do ya think is goin' on?"

No one had the chance to answer him, however, because at that moment the seekers opened fire on Skyfire! The Autobots hopped out and landed on the oil platform while Skyfire transformed to join the fight!

Bumblebee snuck past enemy lines unnoticed to get to their new doomsday device to see if he could shut it off. He knew he would probably have to wait for Wheeljack, but he had to at least try.

The Coneheads surrounded Skyfire and took potshots at him from all directions! No single hit was devastating, but the combined force was enough to injure Skyfire and send him careening into the water! He felt himself sinking, but didn't know what to do to stop it. Where was Seaspray when they needed him?

As his body sunk and all that was left above water was his hand, he felt sharp talons lift him out of the water to safety! It was Swoop!

Skyfire coughed for a few seconds, but then finally said "Wow...Talk about great timing…"

"Me Swoop, him Grimlock, and him Snarl were already nearby," Swoop replied in between squawks, "Him Slag and him Sludge coming soon."

Skyfire didn't even want to know what 3 Dinobots were doing near the Gulf of Mexico and at that point it didn't even matter.

Ironhide, Cliffjumper, and Prowl were busy trying to fight off Devastator, but weren't having a lot of success with that. Ironhide managed to shoot at one of the elbow joints and it seemed like the gestalt was going down, but then they noticed another giant coming at them...Menasor!

"Aw, frag!" Ironhide spat as he reloaded his pistol.

The three of them couldn't handle both gestalts, and everyone else was busy with other Decepticons! They thought they were doomed, but then they saw Grimlock and Snarl charging into battle to tackle Menasor! They dog piled the Stunticon gestalt, leaving Ironhide Cliffjumper and Prowl to take out Devastator!

Menasor took so much damage that the combiner team had to separate! Dead End was the most badly damaged, and Breakdown had to get him to safety before the tyrannosaurus decided to use him for a chew toy!

Grimlock chased after Motormaster, and Snarl transformed into robot mode and went after Drag Strip and Wildrider. Before Snarl could catch up to them, however, he was tackled from the side by Thundercracker!

Thundercracker pinned down the Dinobot, but knew he wouldn't be able to hold the much stronger mech for long! He took out a vibroblade and began to slice down the struggling mech's chest! Energon poured out and Snarl let out a primal scream! The Decepticon showed no pity for his prey as he began to rip apart the chest of his helpless enemy!

Thundercracker knew this would be his only chance! He would cut the main fuel lines and rip out the spark chamber! If he was quick, the Dinobot wouldn't have to suffer for very long. He held his blade carefully, but when Thundercracker looked inside the chest cavity of the Dinobot, he couldn't believe his optics!

"AAAAHHH!" Thundercracker's powerful booming voice carried all over the rig as he screamed and quickly flew away from the bleeding Dinobot!

Skywarp, who was pounding Windcharger into the ground, noticed his wingmech's distress and teleported up to the sky where Thundercracker was still trying to escape. He looked back at Starscream...He was fighting Jazz. Good, he wouldn't notice his trine flying off without him.

"Hey, TC!" Skywarp called out to Thundercracker, "What happened?"

Thundercracker stopped, but he was still shaking. He didn't even remember to transform into jet mode before flying off! He looked like a mech that had seen the matrix!

"TC? Come on, bro! What's wrong?" Skywarp asked as sincerely as he could manage (which still wasn't that impressive).

"No...sparks…" Thundercracker mumbled under his breath.

"What?" Skywarp asked; confused.

"They have no sparks!" Thundercracker suddenly shouted, causing Skywarp to flinch a little, "I ripped open a Dinobot, and it didn't have a spark! They're not alive! Those brain-damaged monsters are undead! How can you kill something that isn't alive?"

Thundercracker was freaking out, and Skywarp didn't quite know what to do about it. He was so focused on his friend's outburst that it took him a minute to realize the implications of what Thundercracker had said.

"Wait a minute, TC!" Skywarp exclaimed, causing Thundercracker to stop muttering to himself, "Wheeljack created those things, right? Well, how did he do it without the vector sigma?"

"I always assumed he used part of his own spark, or at least another Autobot's," Thundercracker explained; too tired to panic now, "Now I see the truth. Wheeljack, that horrible mad scientist, has figured out how to make Cybertronians, not drones but real Cybertronians, without sparks. Do you understand what this means?"

"Uh...We finally know why they're stupid?" Skywarp offered feebly.

"No!" Thundercracker bellowed, "It means the Autobots have the means to make an army of zombie slaves to kill us all! It only took two of them to take out Menasor! We have to eliminate this threat!"

"But how do we do that?" Skywarp asked in a panicked tone, "You said it yourself, TC! They can always make more! Even if we kill the Dinobots they can just make more of them!"

"No! They can't make more if they don't know how…" Thundercracker said with an edge to his voice, "Wheeljack is their master. If we get rid of Wheeljack, then we get rid of the template to the Dinobots! Where is he now?"

Skywarp searched the ground for any signs of Wheeljack, and saw him and that yellow scout Bumblebee disarming the ionic drainage device the Constructicons had built. Skywarp looked just in time to see Bumblebee run away from the device as it exploded in Wheeljack's face! The Autobot didn't even seemed fazed by the near impact!

"He really is crazy!" Skywarp whispered as he saw Wheeljack dust himself off and walk over to where Ratchet was repairing Snarl.

"Do it, 'Warp," Thundercracker said in a voice that was soft yet stern, "This will be our only chance. Take the engineer."

Skywarp nodded, realizing the seriousness of the situation, and teleported to where Wheeljack was. The white and green mech didn't even have time to react as Skywarp wrapped his arms around the engineer's waist and disappeared with him in a beam of purple light!

Megatron set Chip down beside the Seattle public library and then sat down next to it (crushing a Mercedes in the process). Chip still didn't know what Megatron was planning, but he knew there had to be some form of valuable information he wanted here, and Chip was going to do his best to sabotage the Decepticon's evil plans!

"So, let me guess, you'd like books about weapons, governments, and maybe some detailed atlases," Chip suggested cynically.

"Not bad choices, but no," Megatron replied, "I'd like some poetry books and some classic works from this planet."

"Poetry?" Chip asked incredulously, "You're interested in poetry?"

"Sure. Why not?" Megatron shrugged.

Chip gave the silver and gold mech a critical look, but ultimately decided that there was nothing dangerous about poetry, so he went inside the library without protest. He figured he could pick up some technical manuals for himself while he was in there. At least he'd have something to do instead of thinking about his eventual doom.

Megatron wasn't sure why he wanted such highbrow books. Probably because he knew he could. Ever since he had awakened in that hospital room he had been bombarded with talk about war and oppression. For just a few moments he wanted to think about the world with beautiful turns of phrase.

A few minutes later Chip came back with a lap full of heavy hardcover books. 3 books were on computer programming, mechanics, and professional hacking. These were for Chip. 3 more large books were the romantic works of Shakespeare, A book of 19th and 20th century poetry, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He hoped these would be acceptable to Megatron, though honestly he wasn't sure why he cared. This was, after all, the monster that was invading his home planet.

Megatron held out his hand, and Chip placed the books meant for the grey mech on the proffered palm. Megatron then used the data pad to scan them so he could read them without a microscope. He seriously wondered how humans could be so smart and yet so small! Their brains must've been the size of pinheads!

Chip sat beside Megatron as he read (mostly to stay in the shade), and people started to notice Megatron sitting next to the library and stared at him. Some ran across the street before they were vaporized, and others just gawked. One teenage girl even took a picture with her cell phone!

"I like this poem," Megatron said after a few minutes of peaceful silence, "It's called The Road Not Taken. It's by some guy named Frost. I feel like I can really relate to what this organic is talking about."

"Oh yeah?" Chip asked distractedly as he continued to read his book, "How so?"

"Well, he said taking the road not traveled made all the difference in his life, but at the same time I get the feeling he wonders what would've happened if he went down the other road," Megatron explained, "I feel like that. When I rejected the council and started the Decepticons it changed not only my life but my entire world! Yet I wonder if I would be the same person if I had chosen another path. I don't know. It's so hard to think! So many Decepticons were counting on me! I feel like I'm running away by retiring!"

"Wait, retiring?" Chip asked; sure he had heard that wrong.

"Yes, I retired yesterday," Megatron admitted solemnly, "I left the Decepticons to Starscream. I'm sure he'll do a good job, but I still feel like a quitter. I built up that faction from nothing! I don't know how I did it, but I did it! How can I just leave them? What if they still need me?"

"Wait, you gave Starscream command over the Decepticons?!" Chip asked; still in shock and not sure if he was hearing this right, "Starscream? The mech that has been trying to kill you for years now?"

"What? What do you mean, Chip?" Megatron asked suspiciously, "You mean...He's not my friend?"

"Friend? You two fight all the time! I've seen you shoot him before!" Chip exclaimed, "Why would you give him power? I know I shouldn't care but I'm going to ask anyway, what is going on with you?"

"Well, since you asked, I lost my memories," Megatron informed Chip, "Not all of them...Just the stuff that relates to my identity. I forgot my name, my past, and the names of my friends and acquaintances. I've been trying to get it all back, but I can't remember anything! Starscream said I was going to name him successor when I retired! How could he lie to me like that?"

"Um, does the term Decepticon mean nothing to you?" Chip asked sardonically.

Megatron scowled, but he wasn't really angry with Chip. He was angry with himself for not checking Starscream's story. He wasn't going to just stand idly by and let his enemy take what was rightfully his! He made the Decepticons, and he would do whatever it took to protect them!

"I'm going back to face Starscream," Megatron vowed, "Chip, you're coming with me!"

"What? Why me?" Chip asked; his voice rising an octave as he spoke.

"I need a witness!" Megatron insisted, "You're going to tell the others exactly what you told me, and if they agree with you then I will deal with Starscream. If, however, I find out you are my enemy, you will be terminated."

Chip wanted to protest, but before he could Megatron had subspaced his data pad and grabbed the poor boy by the chair! He flew off with Chip; leaving their library books on the ground.

Chip knew the Decepticons would corroborate his story, but he also knew that he was considered an enemy to the Decepticons. He held onto his chair for dear life knowing it might be a pointless endeavor. Megatron would probably crush him!