A/N: I'm a little later in the morning than I'd intended to be, but here you are! The last couple weeks have been rather uneventful, so that's why there's been no notes. I mean, wedding planning is coming along if you need something to know.
Writing is still going well. I actually have a chapter buffer now thanks to this schedule I implemented and it's actually really nice. I ended up moving a scene from one chapter to another again, so it helps manage when that happens in a less confusing way for you guys. It's less stressful, as well. I was able to have a week of slow writing last week without feeling overly stressed about it. I can see why so many comic artists do a schedule. I remember doing a schedule before, but it was more difficult because I was writing, like, 3-4 stories at the same time. I think that was my whole problem before. Maybe this one story at a time approach will help me see this one through to completion. We can hope! That's the plan! I am having a lot of fun, still!
Chapter 13: Moving On
It was decidedly nice not having a meeting in secret in a darkened medbay, I decided first as I sat at the table in a room within that same medbay three days after Chromia and Elita had arrived. While medbay was still now the best place for meetings besides the ship, it was now lit and open and there was no longer a need for secrecy.
Besides myself, around the table sat Optimus, Elita, Ironhide, Prowl, Jazz, and Chromia. The twins had taken over guard duty of the prisoner for the day. Ratchet and Wheeljack were busy with the Ground Bridge and Bumblebee and Arcee were off base, investigating an artifact location. Our concern about Bulkhead and the hiccup of the shifter didn't put a stop to the artifact concerns. Only now the Decepticons wouldn't receive word about when we'd go after them and eventually they would catch on to that.
"Any progress with our prisoner, Prowl?" Optimus asked, starting the meeting off.
"Minimal," Prowl said, his doorwings the only betrayal of his frustration. "All we have gotten out of him thus far is what we already know. That he replaced Bulkhead on the Energon Harvester mission."
I raised my hand.
"I know what you have to say, Shadebreaker," Optimus said, sighing. "And you are still healing from your ordeal with Sunstreaker. We are not sending you back in time."
"I would just be the transport," I argued. "And it's time travel. We're not limited to doing it now. Just pointing that out." I lowered my hand, and helm a bit to indicate that was all I had to say.
"Time travel seems….risky," Elita said, looking at me in concern.
"It is," I said, hesitating just slightly. "I'm just saying it's an option. I've already done it once without screwing everything up. But that time didn't involve interfering in anything. But…my whole presence here could be considered interfering." I shrugged a bit.
"Yes, but you're not interfering with the flow of time by merely existing," Jazz pointed out.
"Am I not?" I asked, raising my optic ridges. "I'm not native to this timeline, far as we know. The timeline has already deviated from its expected course by quite a margin. It's the butterfly effect. One small change can make big changes occur. Going back in time for Bulkhead could end up being the worst idea, but it might be the best option. It's impossible to know for sure as of yet. Just as it was impossible for me to know for certain if it'd be safe to share my information, but I felt the risks of not were greater given the variables."
"I think," Chromia said carefully. "We should stick with trying to find out where Bulkhead is for now. Time travel is tricky and dangerous business and it sounds like a lot of variables need to be taken into account before it is even attempted."
I nodded in agreement.
"It is not entirely off the table, but I agree," Prowl said, picking up a datapad. "Handled incorrectly or having one thing go awry could easily tip the entire cosmic balance into disarray. While it could theoretically go off without a hitch, the risks are too great to go into it without more information."
"Anyone else have any thoughts?" Optimus asked. When no one did, he moved on. "Very well, then. Shadebreaker, am I right that you have shared with us all of the artifact locations you have now?"
"All that I can pinpoint," I confirmed. "As you already know, there was one that never gave me enough information to go off of. The Cybertronian Data Cylinder. So unless we get a signal from it, it's a shot in the dark if we go searching for it."
"Which is unfortunate, given what you said it contains," Prowl frowned at his datapad.
"It would be quite handy to have a full formula," I agreed. "But I did provide Ratchet with the partial formula."
"Formula for what?" Chromia asked curiously.
"Synthetic energon," Optimus supplied.
"Coupled with the Energon Harvester, our energon supply worries would be pretty much over," Prowl said. "If we either acquire the cylinder or Ratchet can complete the formula on his own."
"If it exists and we beat the 'Cons to it, it would give us at least an even playing field, if not an advantage in the energy department," I said. "Given the 'Cons have their hands in most of the Earth's energon deposits."
"If?" Chromia asked.
"We have already identified some of Shadebreaker's information to be faulty," Optimus said. "Such as a potential location of the AllSpark she investigated. As well as the Omega Keys."
"You were able to confirm what Ser-ket claimed, then?" I asked, tilting my helm.
Optimus nodded. "It seems in her arrogance, she let slip a critical piece of information."
"So they don't exist or they are located in different places," I said thoughtfully. "Hmm."
"Which do you think is more likely?" Ironhide asked gruffly.
I shrugged. "I mean," I said, then looked at Optimus. "After obtaining the Star Saber, have you received a message from Alpha Trion at all?"
Optimus paused, as if not expecting this question. Then he shook his helm. "No," he said carefully. "Should I have?"
"If the Omega Keys existed?" I asked. "I would've expected you to. Unless the timing is off? Maybe? In the show that was how you even knew to look for them. But acquiring the Star Saber was the trigger for the message, as it was embedded in the sword itself. I would've expected it to trigger by now. My money is on they don't exist in this timeline based on that and the fact the second location showed no sign of one. Double confirmation seems pretty solid evidence to me, given that was the only continuity in which the Omega Keys even existed."
"I can agree with that," Elita agreed.
"So you almost got fried by that Predacon for nothing?" Jazz asked incredulously.
"Information?" I asked with a shrug. "Everyone survived, at least. And it led to us knowing we had to sus out a mole. It wasn't completely useless."
Ironhide made a noise of displeasure. "You came awful close to death for that information, fembot."
"To be fair, we thought we were going after something. And I faced that Predacon to keep Optimus and the others alive. Not just willy nilly. In case you forgot."
"She's as temperamental as you, Prowl." Chromia said, chuckling.
"I believe you are the temperamental one," Prowl shot back nonchalantly.
My wings shifted slightly and I frowned, tilting my helm. I was being temperamental, wasn't I? Why? Was it just stress? Was there something else?
"Is there any other information you have, Shadebreaker, that you feel safe telling us?" Optimus asked, bring my attention back to the meeting. "That you have not shared previously."
I thought about that for a moment. A long moment. A moment that was more like several minutes. I went over everything in my helm, as well as checked and cross-referenced dates. I tilted my helm with a frown.
"Not that I am certain will come into play," I said carefully. "Or that I'm certain we can do anything in the now about. Everything is different. There are…things…events, but…after Makeshift ended up not even being Makeshift…I'm inclined not to share things until something comes up and it's clear my knowledge will be useful rather than misleading. If I set us up to deal with one thing and then another thing happens, it could end up pretty bad depending on the scenario."
Optimus nodded. "I understand," he said. Then he pressed a button on the table. "Next up on the docket is the matter of the AllSpark." A holomap of the Earth appeared with the possible AllSpark locations I had provided him light up in three small blue dots. "These are locations Shadebreaker has provided where she believes it could be possible it could be."
"Possible being the keyword," I said dryly. "I had only other realities to go off of. But starting somewhere is better than nowhere since the most likely location was a bust."
"What are the odds for these locations?" Chromia asked.
I shrugged. "Same as any other," I said. "Maybe a bit better. I don't know the stats on the odds of the AllSpark being in the same place in two realities not part of the same continuity family. Other than Earth as a general whole, anyways." I stopped myself from making a snarky comment about my wayward father and the fact he could probably tell us.
We moved on, discussing a plan to investigate each location. A couple of the locations we could investigate on our own, but the third one we would need human help, as it was located inside Hoover Dam. Whether the humans would cooperate with us if it was there was a whole other thing to be seen. I wondered if Sector 7 existed if they would be open to working with us or not.
As I wondered, I also shared my limited knowledge of the organization with the gathered bots. I made sure to make it clear that I did not know if the organization existed in this timeline or not. It didn't in Prime, but neither had N.E.S.T. and said organization was from the same reality. And I warned caution in the event they did. They ended up working with the 'Bots in that reality, but not before harming them and causing problems. It was hard to know what kind of organization they were if they existed in this reality and we had not yet heard about them.
After that, it was a matter of housekeeping. A decision had to be made about who would be given the next two quarters that were ready to be moved into. The first two that had been completed had been given to Optimus and Elita, as well as Ironhide and Chromia—everyone agreeing bonded pairs took precedence and that they deserved having space to bond and reacquaint themselves without worry of intrusions. As much as possible, at least. But, due to the way the quarters were being built, there were now two more quarters ready.
Eventually, we convinced Prowl to accept one of them—allowing him the privacy he preferred and a place of safety and rest we all thought he deserved as our hard-working second-in-command. The other one took some time to decide on. Ratchet was likely a permanent resident of medbay, as the base's only medic and I was still recovering, so we were easy to rule out. The problem was that everyone deserved quarters just as much as everyone else. Eventually, I suggested we make cards with every bot's names on them and do a random drawing. They accepted this idea and Arcee ended up getting it, which she was sure to be happy to hear.
"Are there any questions or concerns that anyone wishes to address while we are gathered?" Optimus asked after that was dealt with.
I hesitated before lifting my hand slightly. "I…have one…" I said quietly.
Bumblebee whirled as he and Arcee tromped through the snow of the arctic.
"You said it, 'Bee," Arcee agreed, looking around the snowy landscape. "Good news is, no sign of the 'Cons. For once. Now we just gotta figure out if the humans have found the armor like Shadebreaker thought might've happened or if it's still at the bottom of the sea." The scanner she held in her hands was definitely picking up something.
Bumblebee whirled in concern as they came to the edge of the icy sea.
"Good question," Arcee said. She pulled a device from subspace Wheeljack had given her. "We'll just have to hope this device Wheeljack cooked up works."
Bumblebee nodded and signed fervently, volunteering himself to go.
Arcee shook her helm, already placing the device on her bicep. "Uh-huh," she said. "I'm lighter. I need you up here to pull me back up."
Bumblebee made a noise of reluctant acceptance before taking out some climbing gear from subspace.
He helped Arcee get geared up to delve into the water in order to climb down the ice to descend. Once they were certain she was secure, Bumblebee checked all the buckles a third time and connected the rope to her, ensuring it was secure as well.
"Ok," Arcee said, turning Wheeljack's device on and running checks on it. It buffered the cold, aiding her systems in keeping her core temperature from dropping to too cold of temperatures. "I'll pull twice when I need you to pull me up. Got it?"
Bumblebee whirled an affirmative, a determined look on his face.
Arcee nodded and then they stood at the edge. They blasted a hole in the ice, opening a way into the water below. Then she began her descent, bracing against the cold that penetrated her frame. Even with Wheeljack's extra layer of protection there was no denying how cold the water of the arctic was. How the humans would remove anything from it was beyond her.
Every several yards, Arcee would pause to remove a scanner—waterproof and proven to withstand enough pressure to be safe at the depths of ocean they could potentially need for this retrieval—to check for vicinity to the artifact. It definitely was picking up something. It wasn't until Arcee was near the bottom, close to the end of the rope, that she found it.
There you are, she thought as she saw the form of something clearly not of Earth origin frozen in the ice wall. It was close enough to the edge to be seen in vague detail, but not quite in full detail. It might take a bit to chisel out.
Prowl, Ironhide and Chromia stepped out of the portal into the jungle not long after the meeting had ended. Optimus hadn't wanted to waste any time in investigating the AllSpark locations. It was only a matter of time before the Decepticons figured out they wouldn't be informed when they'd be able to ambush them at the sites of the artifacts, after all. And the AllSpark locations weren't a matter they might wait on to begin with.
"How do we know the 'Cons haven't investigated this place already?" Chromia asked as they started making their way through the dense jungle.
"We don't," Ironhide gruffed, keeping an optic on the scanner as he pushed foliage out of his way.
"If it was here, there will be traces." Prowl said, wings alert as his optics scanned their surroundings.
"And perhaps another trap," Chromia said.
Ironhide couldn't help but agree. Even if the AllSpark wasn't here, there was a very real possibility that the Decepticons were lying in wait for them to investigate. They may not be entirely reliant on their shifter friend for that capability.
Too bad bonds don't work the way Shadebreaker had hoped, Ironhide thought to himself dryly.
The femme had hoped friendship bonds might open a way for them to reach her if they needed an extraction and their comms were jammed, but unfortunately the distance would be too great. She might get a vague sense that something was wrong, but there wouldn't be a way for her to know for certain which bond it was from. At least, not with her level of experience with bonds.
Plus, most bots preferred their bonds to grow naturally, so as good natured as her intentions were, they weren't practical when no one wanted to artificially boost their bond's strength. Ironhide was glad when she'd accepted those answers and apologized for any offense. She had asked the question with enough care and innocence in her tone that the bots had given her grace with ease. She still had a lot to learn about Cybertronian culture.
They searched the jungle in silence, alert for any signs of Decepticons, humans or the AllSpark. Anything that might give them some clue as to what their next move might be.
"Didn't Shadebreaker say there was some kind of temple for the AllSpark?" Chromia asked after they'd been searching for a couple hours.
Prowl nodded, looking around. "A large one," he confirmed, consulting a datapad for a moment. "Of similar make to the Mayan temples, if it were to follow the same specifications as that reality's location." His doorwings shifted.
"What if it don't?" Ironhide asked gruffly as he followed something the scanner had picked up. He took a few steps more and then pulled aside some foliage to reveal a large stone slab covered with Cybertronian writing.
Chromia and Prowl shared a look.
"Should we tell Optimus we found something?" Chromia asked. "It could be it."
"It could also be something else entirely," Prowl pointed out logically. He stepped forward, fingers touching the ancient writing. "These are written in the ancient language of the Primes. Dating this site well before the ejection of the AllSpark."
"Doesn't rule out it being here," Ironhide gruffed.
"Clear out more of the foliage," Prowl ordered. "Let us see what we are looking at."
The three of them hacked the vines away and uprooted some of the other plants as needed to clear the structure. It was a much larger structure than Ironhide had initially assumed, taking up more space than the three of them combined. And every inch of it was covered in the writing of the ancients Prowl had identified.
"Do either of you read Ancient Primic?" Chromia asked.
Prowl and Ironhide shared a look.
"Optimus or Elita might be able to decipher it," Prowl said after a moment.
They took pictures of the entire structure, making sure to get the entire inscription documented for decoding back at base. Then they looked closer around the structure to determine if there was anymore to it. They were about to move on when Chromia lightly touched one of the runes and then suddenly the writing lit up in a wave going out from that one character.
"What the-?" She asked, retracting her hand immediately.
There was a rumbling as Ironhide and Prowl moved to gather behind her to observe. As they watched, the stone structure shifted and moved, folding in on itself to make way for a passageway to appear before them. Once it stopped, a staircase sat before them, lit by lights similar to those found lighting tunnels back on Cybertron.
They all shared a look.
"Well," Chromia said. "Who wants to go into the mysterious passageway first?"
Prowl's doorwings twitched just slightly at that, but he said nothing as he made the first move to enter into the structure that had opened before them, drawing his weapon in case of an ambush. They had no idea what to expect, after all.
Ironhide and Chromia shared a look before following, though not without sending an update to base so they'd be aware of what was going on.
I sipped on my energon as I watched the main computer in the tent intently. I watched the lifesigns of each bot who was away and kept an optic on their coordinates as well—and the status of the comm-signals. Only the teams seeking out the AllSpark were away now, consisting of the same bots who had been in the meeting.
Arcee and Bumblebee had called for pickup not long ago—the confirmed Apex Armor in hand. They reported they had gone uncontested by either Decepticons or humans, which was a relief. I had sent them to medbay to go through defrosting procedures with Ratchet and they had taken the armor with them.
.:Optimus to base,:. Optimus's voice came through the comms. .:We have completed our investigation of our coordinates and request transportation home.:.
.:Copy that, boss bot,:. I replied.
I opened a portal and waited for the Prime to come through with Elita and Jazz. Once the three were through, each a little frosty, but nowhere near as much as Bumblebee and Arcee had been, I closed the portal. I glanced back at them, looking them up and down and noting the lack of anything in their servos.
"No luck?" I asked.
"That place was nothing but an empty wasteland of snow," Jazz said, brushing some of said substance off his shoulder.
I sighed slightly and turned back to the computer.
"Any word from our other away teams?" Optimus asked, stepping up next to me.
"Arcee and Bumblebee got back a bit ago," I replied, swirling my energon. "Apex Armor in hand, having had no 'Con troubles. They're defrosting in medbay. Prowl's team have made an interesting discovery."
"Interesting how?" Elita asked as I took a sip of my energon.
"They found something," I said. "Not what I expected them to find if it was the AllSpark. It could still be the AllSpark. Some kind of underground structure of seemingly Cybertronian origin. From some time before the war."
"Before the war?" Jazz asked, sounding perplexed. "Ya mean, Cybertronians have been here before?"
"Apparently," I replied. "It's not unheard of in the multiverse. In some realities our kind visits Earth periodically from the beginning of time for one reason or another. Like our planets' fates are forever intertwined in the cosmic balance. It's not entirely farfetched. But it's also kind of an easy plot excuse for why the war brings Autobot and Decepticon here. Plus the obvious energon deposits being evidence enough." I shrugged. "We could get philosophical about it all day and not come to a solid conclusion. I have my own theories that may or may not hold any water. We'll just have to see what they find."
"What does the Matrix say, OP? You think they're about to find the AllSpark?" Jazz asked.
Optimus hummed. "I cannot say for certain," he said. "But I feel whatever it is will be of great importance."
My wings shifted at that and I watched their coordinates move with a bit more focus. I also kept an optic on the readings around them for signs of the Decepticons arriving in the area.
"Strange," Prowl said.
"You don't say," Chromia said sarcastically.
Prowl shot her a withering look before turning back to the deadend they had run into. He reached out and traced the lines of light, analyzing the wall and the art that decorated it.
The art seemed to depict several bots facing down a great foe, but it was highly stylised. If he squinted, one of the bots depicted looked kind of like Optimus. Next to him, however, was a bot that looked kind of like Megatron, so Prowl thought he must be seeing things. Optimus and Megatron fighting side by side didn't make any sense.
These were ancient depictions, as well. From long before the two bots existed. Logically, it was more likely these two were the respective leaders' ancestors if there was any connection at all. Perhaps their ancestors had visited Earth and vanquished a mighty foe together at one time.
None of the other bots were detailed enough to make out any recognizable features. Those two seemed to be the prominent subjects of this mural.
"Taking pictures for the report?" Chromia asked.
Prowl nodded as he moved around the room doing just that. Then he came across a small rune and paused. He reached out to touch it. It glew red as if denying him something.
"Chromia," he called.
Chromia looked over from where she was analyzing the bots on the mural with Ironhide, debating with him if one of them looked like him. "What?"
"Come here for a second," Prowl said, not taking his optics off the rune.
He saw Chromia share a look with Ironhide before doing as he told her. Her mate followed, naturally.
"What do you need, Prowl?" Chromia asked, looking at the rune he was staring at so intently.
"This place opened at your touch, did it not?" Prowl asked.
"Yeah," Chromia said. "But what does that have to do with anything? It probably would've opened for either of you."
"It did not, however," Prowl said. "It opened for you."
"So?" Ironhide asked gruffly.
Prowl reached out and touched the rune, causing it to light up in red again. Then he backed up and motioned for Chromia to try.
Raising an optic ridge, Chromia moved forward and then reached a hand out toward the rune. Almost before her fingers had even touched it, the rune began to glow faintly blue. Once she did, it glew brighter and then that glow branched out in branching patterns. The wall shifted and folded in on itself as the structure outside had, revealing another hallway.
"That's…" Chromia said, feeling perplexed.
"Indeed," Prowl agreed.
After a brief deliberation, the three Autobots started cautiously down the hallway. They kept their sensors on alert for any signs of traps or other kinds of trouble. And along the way they gazed as the images on the wall seemed to depict a great battle against the same foe the previous mural had. There were smaller enemies as well that seemed to take on similar forms to the main one.
All along the images seemed to be leading back toward the mural they were leaving behind. Or from it, depending how you looked at it. On one wall it seemed like it was going toward the room they had come from while on the other it seemed to be departing, from what Prowl could decipher.
They came to another room—one much smaller than the previous one. The art ran along the wall, connecting the scene in what seemed like a great big circle. In the center of the back wall was a symbol that Prowl recognized vaguely as being similar to their current symbol for "time" and the presence and prominence of it perplexed him.
In the center of the room was a pedestal and sitting upon it was a shard of….something.
"What is it?" Chromia wondered as they approached it.
"Something," Prowl said, "I think, that is meant for you."
"What makes you say that?" Ironhide asked, not sure he liked the idea of his mate just reaching out and grabbing some unknown object and not knowing what might happen as a result.
"And what will happen once I take it?" Chromia asked.
"This place has only responded to you," Prowl pointed out. "As for what will happen. I do not know. We can only know by you reaching out and taking it."
"What if one of us takes it instead?" Ironhide asked.
"I imagine a failsafe of some kind will activate," Prowl said. "Though maybe not. Nothing happened when I touched the rune earlier. It merely denied us entrance."
Ironhide reached out to try to grab it, but a barrier stopped his hand. He retracted his hand and shook it a little as if it had shocked him, scowling.
"Well that answers that," Chromia said.
She tentatively reached out herself, hesitating at the distance her mate had hit the shield. When she moved forward, however, her hand met no resistance and she was able to pluck the shard off the pedestal with no trouble.
They waited with tense frames for a few moments, waiting for something, anything, to happen.
"That was anticlimactic," Chromia said dryly.
"I'll call Shadebreaker for pickup," Ironhide said gruffly, moving away.
Prowl shifted a doorwing, disconcerted as he stared at the shard in Chromia's servos. It looked rather unremarkable. Why was it hidden with such security measures? And why was it that Chromia was the bot to unlock them? And what was the energy that his wing sensors were picking up from it?
Optimus waited outside the tent with Elita, Jazz and Shadebreaker for Prowl's team to come through the portal. He could sense his bots' curiosity about what they had found in the jungles of Africa and couldn't deny how curious he was himself.
Prowl came through first with Ironhide and Chromia right behind him.
"Welcome back," Optimus greeted as they approached them.
Prowl bowed his helm in acknowledgement.
"You found something?" Shadebreaker asked, tone curious, but also containing a small amount of anxiety.
"Was it the AllSpark?" Jazz asked.
"Unfortunately not," Ironhide replied gruffly.
Optimus was about to speak, but then stopped as he got a notice on a line that had been inactive for a very, very long time. He pardoned himself and moved away from his bots for some distance, leaving them in concern and confusion.
.:Megatron,:. He greeted on the long dormant channel they had used before the war, when they had been Orion Pax and Megatronus.
.:Brother! How gracious of you to answer!:. Megatron's voice returned. .:A pity we cannot have this conversation face to face, don't you think?:.
.:What is this about, Megatron?:. Optimus asked, knowing the mech only used this line to gloat or to mock.
.:I have noticed a strange silence from one of my own. I suspect you have found Steadishift lurking among you. Don't you wish to know what happened to your Bulkhead, brother?:.
To taunt, then. .:We will find him soon enough.:.
.:Oh, but you may find soon enough may be too late, dear brother,:. Megatron said silkily. .:Unless, of course, you're willing to make a deal.:.
Optimus considered for a moment what Megatron might want in exchange for a moment. He could think of a few things. .:What kind of deal?:.
.:One where you get what you want and I get what I want.:. Megatron replied ignominiously.
Years ago, in the early days, Optimus might've had to resist the urge to grind his denta. Not now, though.
.:And what do you want, Megatron?:. Optimus asked.
.:A word, brother. With a certain daughter of a Prime. You know who I mean.:. Megatron replied.
Optimus frowned, optics moving to glance back towards the bots he had left behind. They were gathered, talking quietly as Chromia showed them something. Shadebreaker was reaching out to poke it with a frown on her face, clearly not recognizing it.
.:For what purpose?:. Optimus asked.
.:My purpose is my own.:. Megatron replied shortly. .:I'll give you time to mull it over. But not too much. Don't want you to get too cozy now, do I?:.
Megatron ended the connection there and Optimus was left feeling a sense of unease. His first thought was to decline the trade, to find another way to rescue Bulkhead. But Steadishift was being stubbornly tightlipped and he didn't feel much better about sending bots through time to change the course of events, even carefully as Shadebreaker had suggested. They had no way of knowing how removing Bulkhead from the timeline entirely for a stretch might affect things.
But he also had no idea what kind of words Megatron wanted to exchange with Shadebreaker and how that might affect things. Yet it seemed like the most controllable outcome. As much as he hated the idea of putting their newest member within arms reach of the tyrant mech. Megatron could do much damage to the poor femme who had already suffered so much. But messing with the timeline could do much more damage to everyone.
Optimus looked back fully at Shadebreaker, who had taken the shard fully from Chromia now and was holding it up to the sun as the bots looked at it as if doing so might give them some insight. He knew she wanted to do whatever it took to save Bulkhead. He just hoped it wouldn't cost her spark to do so.
He sighed heavily and moved to rejoin them. None of them were going to be happy about what he had to tell them.
