Less than a week later, Optimus didn't fall into recharge before me, which was really unusual. Even though I tossed and turned for an hour before falling asleep, he still wasn't there. Eventually I drifted off and wandered around in my own dreams for a while before his mind met mine on the aircraft carrier.

"Where have you been?" I asked him.

He was almost buoyant, though. "It's been an eventful night. Would you like to see?"

Relieved that whatever had delayed him was a good thing, I answered, "Sure!"

He took me to his office, where he was standing side-by-side with Prowl. In front of them were the two Seekers, still shackled.

Sandstorm was staring at the ground, and Octane asked, "So what happens to us long-term if we talk?"

"The answer to that is two-fold," Optimus said. "If you provide information to us, the Decepticons will see you as traitors and you will never be able to return to their ranks. However, we will see you as Decepticon deserters. You will be given the option of being allowed to work with us. If you prove yourselves, you could potentially be reclassified as neutrals or even Autobots. If switching sides or neutrality are distasteful, you can go voluntarily into stasis to remain hidden from your fellow Decepticons for as long as we are able to maintain a base on Earth."

Without looking up, Sandstorm demanded, "And if we don't talk?"

Optimus' voice remained even. "You'll be placed in stasis when you can't stand being grounded any longer and you request it. I cannot let you fly until I am certain that your allegiance is no longer with the Decepticons. You might end up in stasis either way, but the difference is whether your tanks will be filled with fresh energon or not."

Octane's wings twitched uncertainly. "Your Autobots say you're a true Prime, but Megatron died and came back, too."

Optimus straightened. "You've tasted the truth of my words. What I gave you was raw, fresh energon. Megatron has never been able to offer you that."

Sandstorm looked up at Optimus sharply. "You're a torturer and blasphemer. You destroyed the Cube and you tore out our battle protocols."

"Those protocols were never yours to begin with," Prowl archly said, "and they were developed at great personal cost. Your bonds were severed before you ever uploaded the stolen code and you used those protocols to buffer empathy and guilt instead of grief."

Optimus glanced Prowl's way, and his doorwings relaxed an inch lower before he more-calmly continued, "Regardless, you have been offered treatment throughout the protocol-withdrawal process and have declined it."

"As for my handling of the Cube," Optimus added, "it was but one form of the All Spark. It survived and is now housed in the Matrix of Leadership, which I possess and it will only respond to a Prime. The All Spark as housed in the Matrix produced the energon you tasted. It also has been used to heal."

"Yeah, but has it created life?" Octane demanded.

Optimus bit his tongue about Beatus – figuratively speaking – but Prowl said, "The War still rages. Even if the All Spark had a full charge, it would be foolhardy to create a youngling or sparkling now. However, the reignited Prime stands before you."

"The All Spark survived and is in our possession," Optimus repeated, just to be clear. "It has acknowledged me as a Prime, it produces energon, it heals even the mortally wounded, and it has reignited my spark."

The Decepticons exchanged a look and then seemed to come to a decision. "I won't be used as a weapon against my fellow Seekers," Sandstorm declared. "I still have friends and severed kin in the Decepticon ranks."

"Clan loyalty is admirable," Optimus evenly said.

"So we're not going to give you base locations or anything like that," Octane said. "I'm not going to be responsible for my fellow Decepticons being murdered in recharge."

Optimus felt a flash of exasperation but he didn't let it show.

"Then what will you tell us?" Prowl demanded.

"Whatever will help you actually end this war with as few casualties as possible," Sandstorm said. "Megatron can't defeat the All Spark, and it's sided with you. This war is over – it's just a matter of how many mechs die before everyone realizes the Prime won."

"We've tasted that energon," Octane added. "You are the Prime, the rightful leader of Cybertron, but we're not ready to be Autobots – and we might never be."

Nodding in agreement, Sandstorm said, "We'll tell you all we can, you'll fill our energon tanks, and then you'll put us into stasis."

Optimus would have preferred them actually defecting – coming over to the Autobots – but the Seekers giving him even grudging, limited allegiance was more than he'd honestly expected. "When do you want to be removed from stasis?" Optimus asked.

Octane thought for a moment before answering, "When the War is over, when everyone can have energon without needing to sell their allegiance to get it."

"When the War is over and we won't have to fight you or our kin," Sandstorm said. "And then I'll be willing to fly at your side, Prime."

Optimus solemnly nodded. "Agreed."

The Seekers exchanged another look, and then Sandstorm started talking. "Our trine's loyalty was to Megatron. We haven't had many dealings with Shockwave directly. Most of what we know is either rumor or hints that command has dropped. I'm not sure if it's valuable enough…"

"It will be," Optimus assured them. "Whatever you know will be worth the exchange – as long as it's the full truth."

Sandstorm nodded. "We don't know exactly what Shockwave is planning but Octane…"

The other Seeker jumped in. "I was on the bridge after Shockwave had arranged for us to send a shipment of ultra-refined wiring."

"Neural wiring?" Prowl interrupted.

"Yeah. We had to scavenge it from whatever offline frames we could find – including our own mechs – so it wasn't anyone's favorite task. But Megatron said, 'Take courage, mechs. This will turn the tide, and our dead will be avenged. Thanks to Shockwave's ingenuity and your steely sparks, the Decepticons will end this war victoriously within the next half-vorn.'"

"He said that," Optimus demanded, and the Seekers stood straighter at the fierceness in his tone.

"Those exact words," Octane insisted.

"Go on," Prowl said.

"We've been recovering empty shells, offline drones, even scrap from ruined buildings," Sandstorm continued. "I figure we've salvaged enough metal to make 15,000 drones. The thousand we used in the attack were nothing compared to whatever is coming."

"And what, precisely, is coming?" Prowl asked.

"We don't know," Sandstorm insisted. "Something big and elaborate, that's all we know for sure."

Optimus crossed his arms. "You said you heard rumors."

"I don't know the details," Octane said, "but I have friends in three different trines that were hauling all the cargo they could carry through the space-bridge in the… a distant system. Mostly metals, some synthetics, even protoform alloy."

Optimus and Prowl exchanged a glance at that.

"Protoform alloy?" Prowl asked.

Octane shrugged. "That was all they were carrying at first – a couple hundred runs at least. Later it was salvaged plating, common wiring, that sort of thing."

"Like I said," Sandstorm added, "something big."

Prowl narrowed his optics at the Seekers. "If the focus has been on construction, what was the motive for your raid on Earth?"

Sandstorm's optics darkened to crimson. "They needed to stop you before you could interfere with their plan. Especially after you fragged us over the last time."

"Clarify," Prowl said. "What do you mean, 'fragged you over the last time'?"

Sandstorm glared at him. "Remember when you fragged up the space-bridge system? I lost a lot of friends that solar cycle."

"We all did," Octane said. "We lost a tenth of our forces in that last campaign under Megatron."

Surprise swept through Optimus – the 'bots had no idea the Decepticon losses had been that bad – but it was muted by the painful memory of Ultra Magnus' death. "We lost half of the Autobots in this solar system that day," Optimus countered, "including the last of my parents' kin. And we weren't the aggressors."

"That day," Octane grumbled.

Prowl opened his mouth to continue, but Optimus held up his hand for him to stop. My brother glared silently at Octane until the Seeker had the decency to look away and tilt his head in a slight apology.

Satisfied that it was the best he'd get, Optimus nodded to Prowl to continue. "If that was the last offensive helmed by Megatron, who has been leading the Decepticons since?"

Almost eagerly, Octane said, "Oh, Megatron's still in charge – don't get your processors scrambled on that score – but he's been letting Shockwave have more of a say."

"And like I said," Sandstorm added, "they had to stop you. Soundwave figured out you were building something – something big of your own – and what else could it be but some kind of superweapon? So Shockwave ordered a preemptive raid to stop you."

Optimus felt a weary kind of defeat at that. All their efforts were focused on trying to make Cybertron's salvation possible, and the Decepticons thought they'd been building a machine of destruction. That defeat made it into his voice. "It was a solar harvester. We are trying to reenergize the All Spark. Its power has been drained to almost nothing."

Octane looked from Prowl to Optimus suspiciously. "I thought you were swimming in energon."

"No one goes without," Optimus said, "not even Decepticon prisoners of war, but we have to accommodate the All Spark's low power level. It needs a recharge, and thanks to your raid, it might not receive one in time."

The Seekers exchanged a stunned look, but Optimus asked Prowl, "Are you satisfied?"

He considered the Seekers closely, his doorwings twitching and adjusting in slight motions that made Octane squirm. "When is this 'something big' coming?" he finally asked.

Sandstorm shook his helm. "I don't know. If you've put the pieces together like we have, though, they're probably getting close to finishing it. It's primarily plating and common wiring that we're shipping to them now."

"How long has construction been ongoing?"

"A few orbital cycles, that we know of," Sandstorm answered. "I think that sparkless Pit-spawn Shockwave must have started planning it within a few orns of our defeat in the space-bridges."

Prowl's doorwings relaxed. "If you recall any other information relevant to the questions I have asked, I expect you to volunteer it now."

Octane and Sandstorm exchanged another look, and then Octane said, "We've told you everything we know about it."

"Sandstorm?" Optimus said on a hunch.

"I've told you everything about those questions," Sandstorm said.

"But?" Prowl prompted.

"But… I don't know if it matters, but Megatron's mechs think this solar system is cursed. Skywarp has told us tales that freeze the energon lines… Megatron's crash landing vorns ago. Lennox. The fleshy youngling who smelted Megatron's spark. The Pit-spawn Twitch virus. And then the space-bridge malfunction made the rumors spread like a supernova, along with word of the Star Saber. Most of us are convinced now that the planet itself is deadly to Decepticons."

"Perhaps it is less that this planet is hostile to Decepticons and more that the All Spark has made it a refuge for Autobots," Optimus answered.

"If...if I never fly again, I have severed kin still online in Megatron's ranks," Sandstorm said. "For the sake of what we've told you today, I ask the Prime to grant them mercy."

Optimus' spark warmed with hope, and he rested a hand on Sandstorm's shoulder. "It is our goal to save as many sparks as possible, even among the Decepticons. If I have my desire, Sandstorm, you will fly with your kin again – after it's safe to bring you out of stasis."

Sandstorm bowed his helm in acknowledgement. "Thank you, Prime."

Optimus let his hand fall to his side again and, turning, he nodded to Prowl.

From his subspace, Prowl produced two proper energon cups like the ones used back on Cybertron.

Optimus' armor shifted aside, and the Matrix levitated out to hover above his open palm.

Both Seekers froze. "Is that…?" Sandstorm asked.

"The Matrix of Leadership, which currently houses the All Spark." Optimus held it over first one cup and then the other, and drop by drop, the Matrix filled them with energon.

Sandstorm fell to his knees, Octane half a beat behind him.

When both cups were full, Optimus returned the Matrix to his frame.

Picking up the brimming cups, Prowl turned and extended them to the Seekers. "The light of your optics is dim," he said, and I recognized it as the ancient, ritual greeting from the Temple at Simfur.

The Seekers recognized the words, too, and Sandstorm made a sound suspiciously like a sob.

"Drink and receive power," Prowl continued, and both Decepticon deserters reverently accepted the gift.

"And one day," Optimus promised, "we will fly together. For now, drink your fill."

…

After the Seekers were topped off and escorted from Optimus' office, he asked Prowl, "Your thoughts?"

"Shockwave means to give them life, whatever he's building," Prowl answered, "though 'they' could be anything from an army of individuals to several squads of gestalts."

"But we hold the All Spark. They can neither grant life nor sustain it with fresh energon."

Prowl's doorwings dipped. "Elita One's spark was drained – along with scores of other Autobots' – to create Starscream's abomination All Spark and the resulting hatchlings. Perhaps Shockwave plans to utilize similar technology."

Optimus' shoulders drooped. "Perhaps."

"We can take comfort in one thing," Prowl said. "The crew of the Iron Will won an even greater victory than we realized."

My brother nodded. "Small wonder that the Seekers were concerned about protecting their friends."

"And even smaller wonder that they think this solar system's cursed."

Prowl left then, and switching from memory to the present, Optimus turned to me.

"Do you believe the Seekers?" I asked. He'd seemed to.

"It is something of a gamble, but yes. The Matrix was…comfortable with them in a way it wasn't in the med bay."

I might be a Prime, but most of the metaphysical stuff was way beyond me. I simply repeated, "Watch your back, brother."

He solemnly nodded in agreement.

It was then that something Sandstorm had said finally registered in my brain. "Wait. Did they say that all the Decepticons were afraid of Lennox?"

…

Annabelle was the one cooking the next night, so I caught her and Mikaela in the kitchen where Daemon and 'Trice wouldn't overhear. "So Annabelle…you heard about the Seekers who were wounded in the raid on Diego Garcia, right?"

"A little," she said, straightening from the onion she'd been chopping.

"They finally broke and gave us some intel last night, and one of the things they said is that Megatron's mechs think Earth is cursed for Decepticons. And one of the things they cited as evidence of this curse was your dad."

"What?!" Mikaela blurted out at the same time Annabelle exclaimed, "Really?"

"Yep," I said, leaning against the far counter and fighting a grin. "Will Lennox is a Boogeyman to the Decepticons."

Annabelle broke out in peals of giggles, and laughing herself, Mikaela asked, "Does Sarah know?"

"I have no idea if either of them knows.'

Still chortling, Mikaela held out her hand for Annabelle's onion knife. "I'll keep working on dinner. Go call your folks."

"Yes ma'am!"

I fished around in a drawer for an apron until I found one. (It was the Ironman one Daemon got me last Father's Day.) As I tied it on, I asked, "Okay, boss. How can I help?"

"Caramelize these while I find the cardamom," Mikaela said, then added, "I'd love to see Sarah's face!"

…

Four days later, Optimus was yanked out of our dream. It was startling enough that I woke up, and I poked Bumblebee over our kin bond. His alarm washed back to me. My phone lit up with a text from him, and I reached for it. /Command center – ASAP!/

Trying to not wake Mikaela, I slipped out of bed, threw on my bathrobe, and hurried across the way to the human door of the Autobot Command Center.

Bumblebee was already there, and talking on the big screen was...Shockwave. The single optic made him unmistakable.

"He hailed Optimus," Bumblebee softly said in explanation. Over our kin bond, I could sense he was as stunned as I was by that.

I tried to focus on what Shockwave was saying. "...analyzing them, the only logical conclusion is that you are attempting to build another solar harvester."

After a long, tense moment, Optimus said, "Your point, Shockwave."

His eerie single optic stared unblinking at us, and I was acutely aware I was still in my bathrobe. "Can he see us?" I whispered to 'Bee.

"No, and he can't hear us, either."

My shoulders relaxed a little.

The Decepticon continued, "The only purpose of a solar harvester is to recharge the All Spark. What you have manufactured already is a significant investment of your available resources. Instead of doing something reasonable like preparing for war, you are focused on this. From these facts, I conclude two things: that you are confident you have a form of the All Spark and that the Autobots on Earth are as desperate for energon as the ones on Cybertron."

Again the silence stretched long. Finally, Optimus said, "All Cybertronians are suffering for energon, even the Decepticons."

"Yes. That is why I'm willing to strike a bargain with you, Prime."

"What the slag?" I muttered, and though his feelings were muted, I felt Optimus' surprise, too.

"Prowl's gonna blow his head gasket," Bumblebee said in agreement.

Optimus gave away nothing, though. "I'm listening."

"I have the resources to manufacture the remaining solar harvester parts within the next quarter of a Terran orbital cycle. But unless you plan to harvest the fleshlings' star, you'll need to build your solar harvester somewhere else. That means you'll need Seekers to open space-bridges for you. I happen to have Seekers in my service."

"And in exchange?"

"An ongoing percentage of the energon you harvest."

Understanding dawned on Optimus' end of the bond, but he simply said, "I will consider your offer and get back to you soon."

"Every moment's delay means more scenes like this." Then Shockwave's screen shifted to surveillance video of a cornered mech. Three others surrounded him, and I flinched to see them take him down, tearing him apart and offlining him. I'd been around enough battles for the terror of violent death to dull a bit, I guess, because that part didn't shock me, but the next part did. The three mechs drained his energon and then drank it themselves, and it hit me like a wrecking ball. It was a new and revolting horror to have nightmares about.

"These were all neutrals, Prime," Shockwave added when the screen switched to him again. "If your title means anything, you will consider my offer with them in mind as well."

My brother had blocked the bond entirely – he was probably even more horrified than I was. Still, his voice was level when he repeated, "We will get back to you soon."

The screen went dark, and an astrosecond later, we were hailed again, this time from Diego Garcia command.

"You saw that?" Optimus asked me.

"I saw enough. We have to deal."

"This is the mech who killed countless Autobots," Prowl said. "He's responsible for Annabelle's injuries and trauma."

"He's the break we've been waiting for," I retorted.

"We'll find another way," Bumblebee said, his soothing assurance pouring in over our kin bond.

"The metal that Ultra Magnus and his crewmates mined from the asteroids is pretty much gone," I bluntly said. "Most of it went into those parts. We'd be starting over from scratch. And even if we could get everything we needed here on Earth, what's to stop the Decepticons from stealing the parts again if we just try to build another harvester?" I shook my head, shook off the warmth of my bonds, and blocked them all against the pain I was about to inflict. "Besides, I have an expiration date. I've got, what, maybe another 40 years? We're too late to start over. There is no other way. If this is going to happen in my lifetime – if I'm going to fulfill my fate as the voice of the hunted to the hunter – it's going to be through Shockwave."

The 'bots looked at each other in uneasy silence, and I tentatively cracked open my bonds again. Optimus was thoughtful, but 'Bee was broken-sparked. Beatus was mostly just confused, poor kid.

"An ongoing percentage of energon is unacceptable," Prowl said. "The power it would give him among the Decepticons would result in political chaos. Fragmenting the Decepticons is not our best option, not if we want to bring this war to a swift end."

"Fine, whatever, I don't care about how you want to pitch this to him. But we need him to build his solar harvester in orbit around the right star. The All Spark showed me which one to use, and we need to make sure that's the one we go to."

Prowl looked at Optimus in disbelief, but my brother Prime nodded, backing me up.

"We have to deal," I repeated. "Haggle however much you want, but we have to do this. We can't have him building the solar harvester in orbit around the wrong star."

Optimus was the first to reply to that. "Sam, we don't have shuttle-craft that could transport you or any Earth-bound mech. Only Tracks and Sideswipe are capable of flying in space, outside of cometary forms which are only effective if used in-system or over other short distances. I am the only Autobot in this solar system who could keep up with a Seeker. Sandstorm and Octane are unwilling to defect, and even if they weren't, they would be executed by the Decepticons on sight. There is no 'we' in this. If there is any deal with Shockwave, it would mean that I would go alone among his Decepticons to recharge the Matrix." The words were cautious, but his hope was plain for me to feel across our bond.

Optimus' warning gave me pause, and I remembered the All Spark's affirmation and our worry about what it might mean.

But my heart was thundering. This was it. This was the chance we'd been waiting for, working toward my entire adult life. I knew it in my spark – now was the time to act. I reached across the miles, letting him feel the surety that was driving me. "I understand. But we both know you feel it, too. We need to make a deal with Shockwave."

"With all due respect, Samuel Prime," Prowl said, "you don't know what you are talking about. We have millenia of experience with the mech, and he is not to be trusted. Sending Optimus alone on a mission with him would be extremely dangerous. There's at best a slim chance that your brother would escape with his life."

He was right – my brain knew it – but literally every cell in my body was telling me otherwise. I knew this drive, had learned to recognize and listen to it over the years. "Your battle computer doesn't know everything, Prowl. There are just some things that can't be understood or explained empirically. The fact that I'm a Prime is one of them. And I'm telling you, as a Prime, that this is the course we need to follow."

"You're talking about sending your brother to his death," Prowl snapped.

"You're talking about damning your entire species to rust to death," I hotly answered.

"Enough," Optimus interrupted. "It is my spark to gamble or not. I will consider our options and have an answer in the morning."

…

It took me a long time to fall asleep. Prowl's words kept repeating in my mind: You're sending your brother to his death. As I'd gone about my day, consulting with everyone from Admiral Black to Will Lennox to al-Sharif about Shockwave's transmission, that feeling of rightness had gradually worn off, but Prowl's words remained. Sending Optimus alone to who knows where with however many Decepticons seemed more risky with each passing minute. But I honestly couldn't see another way.

Eventually I found myself on the aircraft carrier where we could always seem to meet in our dreams. Optimus was waiting for me at the end of the runway, like usual.

"Prowl has been my chief strategist since the beginning of the War," he said as I approached, "and I have never had reason to doubt him. His is the best battle computer of any Cybertronian – Autobot or Decepticon."

"Yeah, well, he's wrong about this," I said, coming to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him.

Optimus bowed his helm. "I know."

I blinked in surprise. "You do?"

"His calculations are no doubt correct, but I cannot follow his counsel. Not this time."

He was going, knowing there was a good chance it was to his death. What was wrong with me that I was okay with this?

He looked up and rested a hand on my shoulder. "This is my choice, Sam. Do not regret the counsel you gave."

"But the oath-affirmation thing…"

"...is exactly why I feel I must go. We hold the Matrix now, and the lineage of the Primes has been re-established, both Cybertronian and human. The final obstacle to a lasting peace and rebuilding our home is recharging the Matrix. If my life is the sacrifice necessary to achieve that victory, then so be it."

"I...don't know how to… Primus, this sounds corny, but I don't know how to be a Prime without you. I don't know how to do any of this."

The warmth of his affection enveloped me – a hug of the heart. "You do. You always have."

I closed my eyes, focusing on that affection and letting it soothe away the guilt and anxiety that had been building all day. How could I possibly deal with any of this without him? I'd always taken it for granted that I'd die first.

Optimus tried to distract me. "Making this deal with Shockwave is risky, but I do still have a slim chance at least, as Prowl pointed out. And we still need to settle on terms."

I tried to pull myself together, drawing on his seemingly-endless calm. "What did Prowl mean about not splintering the Decepticons if we want a quick end to the War?"

"If they devolve into multiple factions, then we would need to negotiate terms of surrender with them separately. This would be time-consuming and politically messy, more than likely. There is a good chance they'd start fighting among themselves." Shaking his helm, he added, "More than once we've come close to achieving peace, but something always happened to derail it. Ending a war is much more difficult than starting or even fighting one."

"So no ongoing percentage, then."

"No. It would make Shockwave dependent on us, which has its advantages, but it would also make him dangerously powerful. A set amount spread out over multiple installments would give us many of the same advantages as a percentage but it might make him think twice about challenging Megatron."

"How much are you looking at, then?"

"That decision hasn't been made yet. I need to consult with both Ratchet and Prowl to determine the amount that will be sufficient but not give them too great an advantage."

I frowned as I considered that. "Do you think they'll go for that? They're doing all the heavy lifting by building the solar harvester, after all. They're gonna want a significant cut – maybe even 50/50."

"Without the Matrix, the solar harvester is useless."

"Yeah, well, we're pretty limited when it comes to the Matrix unless it gets a boost from a solar harvester. They'll have to know that, too."

Optimus tilted his helm thoughtfully. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. Prowl and the vast majority of the Temple guardians sided with us. The Decepticons have less knowledge about the All Spark than we did, even before we knew that you and I are both Primes."

And our knowledge had grown exponentially since we'd made that discovery. "Maybe you're right."

He playfully puffed up his chassis. "Of course I am."

I knew it was an act, trying to cheer me up, but I softly laughed anyway.

…

I saw Optimus the following morning on a video conference call, along with Lennox, Prowl, and Admiral Black.

Prowl cut right to the chase. "I have been running multiple scenarios since the transmission. I cannot foresee any way to pay Shockwave in energon and have it not result in him challenging Megatron for leadership of the Decepticons."

"So the Decepticons get splintered regardless," Lennox said.

"Unless we give him enough energon to make his win over Megatron swift and decisive," I pointed out.

Prowl's doorwings twitched. "Were he to obtain that much energon, he would also likely be strong enough to draw out the War even longer."

"Without Seekers, we cannot open a space-bridge," Optimus said, "and Shockwave has made it clear their situation is increasingly desperate. The only payment he'll accept will be fresh energon."

"So you have competing objectives," Black said. "Which is more important to you – recharging the All Spark or ending the War quicker?"

Optimus lifted his chin. "The All Spark. That must be our first objective. Without it, the second one cannot happen."

"So we pay Shockwave," I summarized. "Offer him enough energon – in installments – to make him work with us but also make it clear there's a limit to the amount he'll get. We'll deal with whatever mess that creates among the Decepticons as it comes."

"Installments?" Lennox echoed, and I realized he hadn't been privy to my bond-dream with Optimus.

My brother smoothly covered for me. "An ongoing percentage would give him too much power and is a commitment we are unable to make. It's a gamble either way, but installments allow us to hedge our bets."

"Installments make sense, then," Black declared.

"And hey," I said, "once the Matrix is recharged, we won't need Shockwave anymore. You can create your own Seekers."

I could clearly feel Optimus' disapproval about my comment, but Prowl softly, thoughtfully said, "Perhaps."