May stop posting here and only continue on archiveofourown . org

Typhoon will soon be on her way!

Starscream isn't out of the woods for a hot minute.

Soundwave does as promised.

And not to worry, I haven't forgotten about our favorite Saleen.

Typhoon felt she was finally ready to go home. It was early afternoon. She sat up, looking at herself. Her arms were longer, claws that weren't as defined were now complete. Her body felt slightly different. The runes over her body were defined and more had even appeared.

"Man, you keep changing." Tyler then said, popping an orange curled something into his mouth.

"Huh?" She had heard him but couldn't understand what he was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"Those markings on you were glowing. Was pretty cool. It was like watching a LED rainbow go over you."

"You like to watch others sleep?"

"When they're as fascinating as you, yeah," he let out a small chuckle and popped another cheese curl into his mouth. "You've been out for a while, I didn't wanna have to leave you out here glowing like that, Ty… You picked a hell of a place to land; I tell you what. It's like a ghost town out there,"

Typhoon nodded, "Was better than landing the middle of nowhere with nothing for miles."

Tyler smirked at her attempts at humor, "Did you know we're in Wyoming? I've never been to Wyoming…"

"How close is Wyoming to Nevada?" the Seeker interrupted.

Tyler shrugged, "Eh, if my memory of the US map serves me right, we're pretty close,"

"Let me know when you are ready. I have access to other flight systems now, so it should be quicker," The femme paused and looked up, "I feel something strange, but I don't know how to interpret it."

"I think we should wait till evening when there's less of a chance of you being seen."

The white femme nodded, though it was hard to keep back the excitement about seeing her creators again.

Meanwhile, in the Nevadan desert, everyone who saw Megatron fall at Soundwave's feet were staring in horror and confusion. All of them were wondering how she did it. Others were worried she would turn that on them.

Optimus didn't think she would. She was here for Megatron and Shockwave. From the sidelines, he watched what had happened, deciding if his Autobots would even be needed at this point. He glanced over at Hook, then back to the Decepticons picking off the last of Megatron's men. They still had Devastator – not like he would be needed, either. Soundwave had already dispersed with Megatron. His optics grazed to Shockwave, who seemed a tad confused with what had happened. "Hook," he called.

Said Constructicon looked over at Optimus, "Yeah, Prime?"

"Your forces are not needed here, I don't think. Might I suggest you return to my base and help with Starscream."

Hook looked at his other Constructicons who waved him off, "Go, we got this."

Hook gave them a suspicious look, waited a beat longer before transforming, and headed away. He had wanted to go instead of Ratchet in the first place, but he also knew his responsibilities here. Starscream was in good hands until he got to the Autobot base.

Meanwhile, Shockwave was struck still by what he was seeing around him. He was in even more disbelief that Soundwave had killed Megatron with an ease no one knew she could do if the surprise around them had been any indication. And the worst part was that she hadn't even touched him. He'd felt something hit him when he'd gone to approach the telepath earlier, and he almost hadn't made it away from it as his systems had weakened almost instantly. He wondered if he'd underestimated her.

Well, that was obvious, as he had seen the face she had shown to Megatron. Now, he began to wonder what else she could do and wondered what exactly he was dealing with. He wasn't afraid, oh, no, because he had Unicron's protection from this… creature. But what other tricks was the telepath hiding?

"Soundwave," he addressed the telepath, trying to gauge where her mind was at the moment, "You've had plenty of time for that Sparkling to tell you all about what I told Starscream. Why did you save him?"

Soundwave remained silent, gauging Shockwave herself. She had already underestimated him once. That would not happen again. She had brought the EM field back to herself, still learning how to use it. With a small movement of it, she attempted to use it to feel his presence. She wanted to understand Shockwave a little more before she knew how to attack him and put a stop to him once and for all. He seemed to be affected by the field earlier, but that could have been surprise.

"Just so you know, not all of it was the truth. I'll let you figure out what I was truthful about and what I lied about," Shockwave said as he reached for his hold. He decided to use his bait as he had before. If he could get past whatever Soundwave had done, he could disable her. Permanently. He opened it slowly, the movement catching Soundwave's attention immediately. He grinned to himself as her attention was drawn to him.

"Frenzy…" she said in awe. Fury once again flared through Soundwave, and her visor flickered.

Shockwave wrapped his claws about Frenzy and yanked him out roughly, "You've been quite the nuisance in there, haven't you…" he growled to the what he believed to be symbiot, squeezing tight in annoyance. His optic went to Soundwave and saw her staring. "Oh, yes, I still have it. I brought it in case you would not obey."

"Boss! Help!" Frenzy cried in panic over the spread-link.

"Calm, Frenzy," Soundwave said soothingly out loud to him. "It will be over soon."

"Yes, yes it will," Shockwave responded.

That field flared angrily again. Shockwave was caught by surprise and then panicked as he went to move and found he couldn't. It caught him and he stopped dead, feeling heavy over him, as if a giant weight was pushing on him. Confusion swam through him for a moment as suddenly he found it incredibly difficult to put together a coherent thought. Somehow, Soundwave was messing with his ability to think. Shockwave's movements became jerky and as incoherent as his processors were as he attempted to pull his processors free from whatever Soundwave was doing, but the harder he tried, the firmer her grasp became on him. What was this ability?

Frenzy's reaction was what got Soundwave to pull back. His little body couldn't handle what she was doing to Shockwave, and he went limp and unresponsive in Shockwave's hand almost as soon as she flared the field to catch him. Monitoring his vitals, Soundwave ascertained that she could grab Frenzy without him being seriously harmed by her field. Approaching quickly, she took him with ease from Shockwave's confused grasp. Assessing the damage to Frenzy, she unknowingly released Shockwave.

Shockwave, realizing he was suddenly free, backed quickly, nearly tripping in his quickness to escape. He didn't know how far Soundwave could reach with that whatever she did, so he just turned and ran away. When he felt he might be far enough, he took a moment to consider what had happened.

Soundwave held Frenzy close to her chest, making sure he was unharmed by her field, but he had damage where he'd been crushed by Shockwave, "Frenzy," she said gently to him, glad to be holding him again. Frenzy roused from his position, moving jerkily, the pain and damage causing the movements.

"Boss, I …" Frenzy squirmed in Soundwave's grasp.

"Quiet now," she soothed. "You're safe."

Further away, Shockwave continued to move from Soundwave until he caught the sight of Hot Rod, who was approaching with Mirage. "Rodimus!" he yelled, eyeing both of the Autobots. "Didn't think I would find you here…"

"You will pay for what you did to my family and our planet, Teacon." Hot Rod growled, anger bursting from deep inside of him. He stopped a bit away, seeing the mech moving away from Soundwave, "Not sure where it came from, but I kinda like that ability of hers, don't you?" he asked Shockwave.

"How can she do that?" he asked out loud, though he wasn't exactly asking Hot Rod. The younger mech just heard him speak.

Hot Rod shrugged, "Pit if I know." His voice became a low toned growl, "It's the end of the line for you… finally my family can rest,"

"You? You can't stop me, whelp."

"Give me the machine you used on Ioton so I can free my people."

"You will never find it. Pathetic. Unable to protect them or the planet you hail from. How dare you tell me how this will be." Shockwave scoffed, still keeping an optic on Soundwave.

You will be defeated once and for all… Today."

"Ha! You cannot defeat me, Rodimus! You or anyone else!"

"I'm pretty sure you've met your match," Hot Rod's optics twitched toward Soundwave.

Shockwave knew who he was speaking of. "Soundwave is of no consequence to me."

"You say that now…" Hot Rod quirked a smirk at him. "I'm fairly certain Megatron thought the same thing."

Shockwave glanced back at Soundwave who strangely still hadn't moved. "I am more powerful than she is."

"I think we all seriously underestimated Starscream's Second in Command…" Hot Rod taunted. "You failed your mission."

"Unicron will have their Sparks."

Hot Rod growled darkly, "He will not! I was told we are not to touch you." His optics went to Soundwave, who was still caring for Frenzy. "You have no idea how badly I want to destroy you."

Shockwave followed his optics then looked back at him, a dark, snide look coming across his face, "You think you've won, do you?" he asked.

"Hot Rod looked around, "I'd say,"

Shockwave's main optic brew brighter, a satisfied gleam to it. "You think I would not have contingencies in plan?"

"What are you talking about?"

"What kind of fool do you take me for?"

What was Shockwave saying? "What contingencies?"

"Nothing you need to know about. Starscream's Spark is already dying," the ex-commander said, "I would have killed him sooner, but Megatron wanted him to be in as much agony as we could dish to him before he died. It's only a matter of time."

"He will not die,"

"You will all watch the fall of the blue power."

Hot Rod grew irritated, wondering how Shockwave thought he could one-up them. "You're disgusting."

"Things will begin to happen to him."

"Like what?"

The mech gave a chuff, "Do you honestly think I would tell you? I thought you knew better."

"We will find a way to repair the damage you have done."

"Find comfort in knowing you have lost the pair of blue, Rodimus. As much as your family knows about them, I know more."

"You can't know everything. No one does."

"Even if Starscream does live through what we did to him, his torture is far from over."

"You can't win,"

"I already have." Shockwave's voice grew dark, "Have you ever seen what happens during a rejection?"

"She won't reject him. They're bound together."

"It's a gruesome sight." Shockwave actually chuckled, "When I studied them, I injected only one. I didn't inject the other because I was curious what would happen, their Sparks being so pure and all…"

"What happened?"

"Imagine what would happen when one Spark of Primus knows the other is tainted by Unicron," Shockwave continued.

Soundwave, even though she had been taking care of Frenzy, had heard the interaction between Hot Rod and Shockwave. Satisfied Frenzy would be okay. She set him down, "Go to your brothers," she told him, and her glare turned on Shockwave, a low, pissed off growl rumbled from her.

Shockwave didn't answer Hot Rod. Instead, his head whipped around just as Soundwave enveloped him in that field again. This time, he could barely move. His mind was still working, this time. He looked back at Hot Rod his glare darkening, "You'll have to wait for another time for me to finish the story."

"What happened to them, Shockwave!?" Hot Rod demanded loudly.

The field around her surged and Soundwave walked to him and grabbed him by the neck. Shockwave tried to grab for her hands, but it felt as though his arms weighed tons, and he could barely move them. He knew being this close to her would be dangerous, but he also knew he had his own tricks. "It is the one thing that could destroy the blue power. Thank you for guiding me to this planet, Soundwave. I originally came for the Allspark – but I got a lot more than I ever imagined."

"Answer the question."

"Remember what I did to you last time? This time I will do so much worse."

"Unlikely," Soundwave hissed.

His body started using the Dark Energon within his own systems, his optics turning purple as well as the seams over his body.

Feeling a power surge from him and determined that he would not get away, the telepath's visor flashed, and she doubled down, the field began letting out a very low, vibrating sound. Those around them could actually see the air around her shimmer. Cables emerged from her wrist, but not only the three she had, but 6 of them. They coiled around her hand, their ends sparking with raw, white energy.

Shockwave started to feel real fear. He knew what those cables were capable of. "What are you going to do with those?" he asked, having never seen them light up like that.

Soundwave pushed down on him harder with that field in a threatening manner. "What will happen to Commander Starscream?"

"So, so many things," Shockwave's voice was awfully smug for being threatened. "Things I likely don't know myself. You should let me study them."

"Tell me!"

"I guess you'll just have to wait and see." Shockwave's previous smug voice left him as he felt pressure over him, pushing down on him like a compressor.

"Rectification will be found."

"You can't get rid of it."

"There is a way."

"No matter how powerful you are, you will never find it, Soundwave."

With that answer, she knew he wouldn't tell. He would rather die than tell. This changed things, dramatically. Now, she would force the information out of him.

Having practiced with Megatron, Soundwave literally slammed the field down on the mech she had in her hand as she felt him still trying to break free from her grasp. This time, she needed to go deeper than she had with Megatron. She needed memories and everything the mech knew.

Soundwave focused directly on his processors, as if enchanting him. The field she created seemed to swirl and steady on Shockwave as her control of him increased. She pushed at him through the field until he mentally cracked. Using that crack, she pushed the field into him, dominating his mind and body. From there, she began to search, looking for answers to their predicament with Starscream and Barricade. She kept searching, delving where the memories and thoughts led her. She knew his mind would fry, and she would cause him as much pain as possible in the process. She needed answers. Time was of the essence.

"Tell me, Soundwave, have you ever heard a Spark scream?"

The question distracted her, and perhaps that was the point, but it wasn't enough for her to relinquish her control. She couldn't imagine what it sounded like. For some reason, the thought made her Spark convulse slightly – almost in fear. What were these sensations she was feeling recently?

"Whatever you do, you will fail. You don't know the power you are dealing with. There is no cure. Others will helplessly watch the terror unfold. That's the beauty of it. I wish I had been able to see how badly the pair before suffered before the femme died."

Wait, femme?

"She actually died of a broken Spark, although she rejected her mate because he was tainted. It was actually quite twisted." Was he telling the truth? Only he knew.

Sure, she knew how to be a monster in her own right, but what Shockwave was describing was beyond even her own limits. Even though she had had her fair share of being a tormentor, never had she considered something this terrible. She didn't think it was possible. There was evil and then there was Evil. "Lies,"

Ramjet and First Aid startled when the computers Starscream had been hooked to started wailing. "Slag, no!" one of them called, but no one could be sure in the cacophony of alarms.

They moved quickly to do what they could, unsure if they could bring him back. The injuries and hopelessness were too much. The young Seeker was unresponsive to attempts so far. His Spark was fading fast.

"Hit him with the slammer!" First Aid then said as he and Ramjet worked frantically.

"'Aid, that could kill him!"

First Aid worked frantically to get Starscream's Spark to signal properly. "What other choice do we have? I can't get the signals under control! We're losing him!"

"Hold on, hold on," Ramjet said, reaching for the device. It was called a slammer because it slammed the Spark into proper signal operation, very much like a defibrillator om a human. But it had its risks. The biggest risk was the strut that was in the way. "I've never used it on a Spark this damaged."

First Aid started to work on Starscream's processors, nearly ripping his plating off in his panic. By reading the monitors before Starscream started to fail, he knew that part of his problem was his processors. They were out of sync with his Spark, likely because of his mental state mixed with his Spark's damage. "It's all we've got," the medic replied, leaning down.

They had come too far for it to end like this. He was so proud of him. "Don't you dare die on us!" Skywarp cried as he went to shake him, but backed off, thinking it would do more harm than good. The teleporter tried using their trine-bond to push through to him, but the young leader's Spark was in such disarray that it wasn't understanding what Skywarp was sending. "Screamer!"

Down by the threshold where Teri and Jess had arrived moments before, Miles stirred as he felt something. It felt like dread mixed with butterflies. They'd both felt weird since Starscream had kicked them off the base. And he'd felt something when Starscream and Barricade's bond had been severed. He hadn't said anything and Mikaela had felt Barricade. Neither he nor Mikaela spoke to anyone about it, because they weren't sure what to make of it yet. They knew it had something to do with their bond, but they couldn't figure out how.

Suddenly his hand went up over his mouth as he felt the overwhelming urge to puke. Gagging, he bent over. After a few deep breaths and concentrating to keep whatever was in his stomach in there, he growled through gritted teeth, the feeling still barely on the edge. "The hell?" he asked, looking up at the medics as they frantically moved around Starscream.

"Hey, you okay?" Mikaela asked, placing a hand on his shoulder after seeing his sudden movement.

"I don't know…" he put his hand over his mouth again, trying to look up at the Seekers. Miles watched in horror. Skywarp was panicking. Thundercracker was making shrill sounds as she moved quickly around, worried. He wasn't sure what this feeling was.

"Star?" he called. He leaned on the threshold as a pain in the right side of his head started to make its presence known. It was indescribable what he felt, as if his brain couldn't compute what was going on. "I feel like…" He didn't know where all of this was coming from, but it made better sense to think it was coming from Starscream. "Starscream?" Miles said more in wonder than calling his name. It was as if he wasn't comprehending anything in that moment, and he blinked a few times to try to understand. He wasn't sure which got him worse. The nausea or the fact Something seemed horribly wrong with Starscream. Holding the ball of his fist to the side of his head he let out a pained sound.

First Aid was using all of his knowledge to get Starscream stable while Ramjet was doing something, moving quickly, mumbling in Cybertronian. First Aid seemed to respond to the mumbles with his own mumbles, moving systematically as if they were communicating. Miles' eyes made their way to the source of their panic. Lifeblood spilled from Starscream's body over the edges of the berth. "What… What's happening to him?"

Skywarp turned his head to look at the human, his optics pleading, "I don't think I got him in time. I'm sorry," he said, not wanting to believe it himself. His optics went back to the medics who were fighting to keep the young Seeker alive. "I'm so, so sorry…"

Miles looked back at Starscream. "They musta hurt him really bad," he said, staring up at his jet. His face lost all expression as he just stared. He'd never seen him so badly damaged. "Jesus, 'Warp…" He didn't know what to say. "Can they save him?"

"I don't know."

He watched First Aid and Ramjet as they fought to keep their leader alive. They were able to keep his Spark beating but it was still weary. "Don't let him die, guys…"

"Doing our best!" Ramjet replied without looking away. He went back to telling First Aid what to do in Cybertronian. Realizing quickly what had happened, Ramjet reached past Starscream's Spark chamber to one of his thruster's mixers that had been cut into by shrapnel. It was now bleeding into his Spark chamber which was already damaged and blocking signals.

Just before Ramjet was about to use the slammer, Starscream's Spark suddenly steadied. It kind of confused the medics, but they weren't about to complain about it. They slowly backed off, letting the mech settle before they did anything else. "His processor spiked when that happened." First Aid noticed a monitor which was settling. "I think he was trying to wake up."

"That was really hard to watch, First Aid. You think it's safe to give him a sedative, so he doesn't try to wake up again?"

"A low dose, yes. Anything more could put him into an unrecoverable stasis lock."

"You don't want him awake?" Miles then asked, confused.

"Have you seen him?" Ramjet snapped. He hadn't meant to.

Miles shied back a little, wondering if he'd overstepped.

Ramjet saw the shy and frowned.

Ratchet was not prepared for what he walked in on when he entered the med bay. First Aid and Ramjet were moving around Starscream's body. He stepped forward, dread filling his Spark the closer he got. "He's nearly unrecognizable."

Both of the other medics looked up upon hearing him, not even realizing he had returned. First Aid felt instant relief, "You're back!"

There wasn't a part of the Seeker that didn't need repaired. Ratchet walked around him, assessing all of the damage. As he touched different parts of him, he pulled busted armor or pieces of debris off and threw it to the sides as he did so, saying, "Optimus released me to come. He felt I was needed here more than there."

"How are things going out there?" Ramjet asked.

"I left too early to tell." Ratchet replied, his optics fixed on his Spark. It wasn't just the purple that had his attention, it was how badly damaged it was, "Primus," he whispered to himself. He studied the Spark. Some of the readings were odd, and he figured it had something to do with it being purple.

Ratchet scowled at the readings, he was not fully comprehending what he was seeing. As he analyzed the issue, he pieced together in his mind what he would need to do to get it functioning properly. The longer it was out of cohesion, the worse things would get until there would be no hope of saving the young mech. He did know one thing… The entropy in Starscream's Spark was worsening. He needed to identify the cause and reverse it before it collapsed.

Moving closer and elbowing his way over the Spark, he set forth in his work, tediously moving shrapnel that had been missed and repairing what he could of the nodes and connectors. "I'll need the Tetronic Magnifier to see his Nano-silicon and micro-mechanics," Ratchet grumbled as he worked, "bring it here."

As he repaired the nodes, the energy from the Spark would hit them as they were supposed to. He would glance up at the monitors as he did so, watching Starscream's other vitals for signs of proper functioning. Sometimes as he worked, some strikes from the Spark would set off errors of other fixed nodes or explode a node. It was like taking one step forward and two steps back. He glanced up at the monitors when they alerted something actually promising. He'd repaired enough that his Spark would soon be able to have the strut removed. He then glanced back down at Starscream, murmuring, "Give me all information that you both have on his Spark. All of the repairs that you have done, that you're preparing to do. I also want all of the signals from when you started until you've gotten to this point."

"We've already almost lost him once. His Spark is in such disarray, very little communication is achieved. Ratchet, his Spark is exploding. I've never seen that."

"There's no telling if he's going to survive. The explosions are likely caused by that strut. I will be able to remove it. In doing so, I'll need to support him entirely."

"We have been focusing on his Spark and his internal systems. I did very little on his processors. Wheeljack is working on a way to fix his Spark chamber…"

"Can it even be fixed?"

"We don't know. We are hoping he comes up with something."

"The longer his Spark is exposed like this, the more damage it's going to incur. Its incoherence is not doing it any favors."

First Aid turned and pointed at the Energon feeds into Starscream, "I haven't been able to start feeding him Energon as his lines are not all repaired. Everything is hooked up and ready. I haven't taken a reading on his Energon yet to determine what nano-chemicals they have given him. He's lost so much…"

Ratchet considered it for a moment, then looked up at the screen that was supposed to have Starscream's Energon readings. Strangely it was at zero, "Can you explain that?"

"Uh, no. There's been a lot of weird we've come across. It's making it much harder to fix him." First Aid replied, "The only thing we can do is extract it. We haven't done that, because as you can see…"

Ratchet grunted in acknowledgement, barely hearing the mech prattle as he delved into his work. His finger turned into several needles, each going into Energon and Tardacain lines. Extracting it, his body proceeded to give him the readings First Aid hadn't gotten. "Well, his Energon is full of debris. Corrosion is running rampant. He has several nano-chemicals that alter mind state and Spark state. His Tardacain is not filtered as it should be. I suspect it is because of his Spark. You've done well so far. Focus more on getting his lines and veins fixed over cleaning out his internals. He needs fresh Energon first and foremost. When you're done with that, start on that mess," he nodded toward Starscream's shoulders. "I will focus on his Spark."

And that was why Ratchet was the actual medic and Ramjet the pseudo and First Aid the assistant. They didn't have all of the nifty tricks that Ratchet had, and he understood more than what they did. They were great for emergencies, but there were some things they just could not do.

Both nodded and moved around Starscream's internals, searching for veins that either needed cauterized, shut or repaired.

While the other two medics were working on those, Wheeljack returned, holding a couple different alloys, "Hey, 'Ratch, didn't see you come in," he said, then turned to Ramjet, "I have good news and bad news…"

"Hit me," Ramjet said, hands going crazy as he repaired what he found.

"You've given me a pit of a job here. I've gone over a couple of different ideas, but none of them, I'm afraid, will allow his membrane to grow over it. It would be like growing a whole new membrane. There are chemicals I can use to start a process, but it won't be the same. I can create a structure using ruby or sapphire – most likely titanium sapphire as ruby has chromium in it and wouldn't form well with membrane. It may allow it to climb it like the humans' lattice work. But it may not grow properly, and he will need to be monitored…"

"-What about the ability to merge?" Thundercracker interrupted.

"I was getting to that," the engineer replied briskly, "The lattice work would need to be updated and upgraded and removed as his membrane heals – if it heals. The only problem with that, is his Spark will be um… very fragile whilst healing. I would not recommend it."

Ramjet frowned. Wheeljack understood why, saying, "I understand that Seekers need to merge with their trine. I am 87% sure he will be able to after everything is repaired."

"We need that number more like 100 percent, Wheeljack. If he can't merge with his trine, the link will destabilize," Ramjet told him.

"Then I will need more time – time he probably doesn't have."

Ramjet and First Aid both looked up to Ratchet, who had a thoughtful look to him. He then nodded, "I'm afraid they are right, dear friend. If he can't merge, the trine-bond will break down and fail."

"We can't lose him as a trine-mate, Wheeljack, figure something out," Skywarp then said, afraid. "Anything,"

"Wait, what about the mica you used on Blacklight?" Mikaela then asked, remembering how they had fixed his Spark chamber.

"It cannot be used on an older Spark. It's too fragile. His Spark would destroy it," Ratchet told her, his voice somber.

"Oh,"

While Ratchet worked on Starscream's Spark, Ramjet and First Aid moved onto the giant holes in the Seeker's shoulders, removing debris, debriding and sealing off lines so that proper Energon flow could begin. They still hadn't been able to get Starscream's self-repair system started, so they didn't need to worry about damaging newly healed parts as they went along.

They moved methodically. "I think he's ready to be fed Energon if you've got that side sealed up," Ramjet offered.

First Aid only nodded, not looking away from his work.

Ratchet gave a sound of agreement, "Slowly, though. Don't want to overwhelm his systems. I'm still fixing the nodes. Some are already corroded and will require replacements, and his Spark is destroying some as well. Luckily, by some freak of nature, I have extras."

Soundwave was done with him. She wasn't waiting for him to say anything more. The cables that had come from her wrist moved around her hand, preparing to invade. She made sure he could feel them, as well. They began splitting, becoming smaller with each split, becoming nano-scaled. They found their way in his neck. Some moved over his face and drilled in through the front of his helm. Others went up each side of his helm, each going through his audials. Some even went up through his jaw, drilling in. Shockwave shrieked when they'd penetrated into his processors, He began to feel like his body was enveloped by something and that something was crawling into every opening it could find. It was an actual physical sensation of what humans might consider bugs under their skin.

Soundwave accessed his processors in ways she never had before, down to single processes. She began using this ability to dig into his mind, finding out everything she could learn about Stars-Mates. She also knew the damage she was doing to him while she did.

He'd never felt more violated. He didn't think it was what Soundwave had done earlier with Megatron. This was different. This was worse. Much worse. The many cables connected to various parts of his processors and took them over, reading whatever his mind had to offer. He realized his entire body was locked as it was and no matter what he did, he could not get free. He tried to scream, but the sound would not form. Her hand clamped down on his neck and the sound intensified.

Shockwave, feeling his mind unraveling from her assault, tried to figure a way that she wouldn't turn him into scrap. The more his sensors and receptors began to burn, the more desperate he was becoming. He was losing this battle.

'I… I can stop it! I can stop Unicron!'

'Lies,'

Shockwave felt himself becoming disoriented. 'I know how to save them!'

Soundwave continued to dig and search. If she was going to learn how deep she could go, she could think of no better subject. She found that he could not stop it. He could not reverse what he had done. She wormed her way into his mind. She got into every part of Shockwave's processor down to his base operating system and…

… oh, what was this?

She prodded it. For a second, she wondered if everyone had it. This would be his demise.

The mech saw warnings across his HUD as the telepath went through his silico-neurons and other synapses that made him who and what he was. One warning blared over all of them: Spark Self-Destruction code – Activated.

What was Soundwave doing? How? True panic began to set in. He couldn't stop it. He had never heard of such a thing, ever. Quickly searching his processor, he found one horrifying fact: There were no protocols he could access to reverse the code!

'DIE!'

Soundwave knew what he was thinking. Her claws sunk deeper into his neck and metal began to snap as she sensed his fear. The cables began deliberately setting off pain receptors from his processors over his entire body as they went through. Garbled, pained screams escaped his vocal processors.

Hatred grew heavier in that field as Soundwave searched his mind. Tried to find out what she could about the pair of blue. The more information she came across, the angrier she became. Changing tactics, the field that emanated from the telepath seemed to crawl all through the mech she held before her. It got into every crevice, every wire, every cable, literally tearing the mech apart from the inside. Those that watched were beginning to actually feel sorry for him as they watched his armor begin to bulge away from his proto-form. Energon and Tardacain started seeping from between every seam over his body. He started to smolder and smoke from various places as wires singed.

His main optic shattered as a cable made its way through it, then the other two. With what comprehension he could, he screamed, "No… Soundwave, please!"

Soundwave wasn't sure she had ever felt such satisfaction. Shockwave's body began twitching as systems began overheating and shutting down. Other cables and lines began sparking over his body as well, making his body go limp from loss of control.

Soundwave squeezed the rest of the way with her claws, breaking the mech's spinal structure and destroying his nervous system. Less than a minute later, his Spark exploded, throwing shattered membrane and parts of his chest at the femme. Everyone backed up a step when she let go and he dropped to the ground, dead. No one could believe what they had seen.

She watched him drop. The telepath's visor flashed as she searched for any other enemy. Now, only Sunstorm was left. The femme finally stated, her visor not quite returning to the red it used to be, "All threats have been dealt with."

Others turned their look onto Soundwave, who hadn't moved. She was still thinking about what she had done to Shockwave. Believe it or not, she didn't even know those codes existed and it opened a whole new can of worms, so to speak. "What are you…? How…?" she heard a random voice ask in confusion.

Soundwave seemed just as freaked out as everyone else. She didn't speak, she hardly moved, only staring at the body below her. When she had said she would kill them, this is not what she imagined at all. She raised her hands to look at them in front of her. Opening and closing them once or twice, she felt the EM field she had used earlier dissipate into nothingness. The femme suddenly took off for the sky, disappearing out of sight.

Thrust watched her go, then scrunched his nose plates at the carnage the telepath had inflicted. "Whatever she did, that was both fascinating and really disturbing. Too bad 'Screamer missed it."

"Holy Primus, Ratchet, you need to see this!"

"I'm busy, Sideswipe." Ratchet replied, annoyed at being interrupted in such tedious work.

"Seriously, though. You need to see what Soundwave did to Megatron and Shockwave!"

"It can wait."

Sideswipe wasn't hearing it. He sent the video as emergency priority, which Ratchet could not ignore.

He tried to ignore it until he couldn't any longer. He hit a stopping point and paused to see what the excitement was about. The more he watched the more horrified his expression became, "Holy Primus," Ratchet said to himself, seeing something that defied science.

The Vornsworn. Not much was known of the cause, though there were a few triggers. The loss of synchronization of the Spark and mind to the point reality is lost was the most well-known. Little was known about the afflicted. Very few were said to make it out of it once they reached stasis stage. As far as anyone could remember, no one who'd come out of it had been right in the head again. They may come to realize slowly that they were living reality, but they always had something just wrong with how they thought. Many, many vorns had been spent researching a cure, and nothing had been found short of lobotomizing a victim. Much would be learned in the time to come.

For Barricade there was no light… only the absence of it. Nothing but emptiness. There was no actual recognition of awareness. It just happened. She was aware, but she wasn't sure how. There was no up, nor down, no left nor right, but simply existence without form. Her mind was functioning, but she was unable to process the outside world. It was as if it was just a state of conscious stasis – a conscious coma, if you will. The last thing she remembered was screaming for Starscream as he faded away from her. The next moment she was in a dream-like state with her Spark in a state of confusion and pain. She wondered if this was this a dream. Though she could never remember a dream that was as vivid as this… nor so empty.

She wasn't even sure how she was seeing, as she was not using her optics as far as she knew. Maybe that's why it was dark. But then again, her body didn't feel right either. She wasn't sure if she had limbs or not, because she couldn't feel them, and when she went to move, there was no movement, but she clearly felt in her mind that she had limbs and she moved. It was confusing. Maybe she was paralyzed? She also felt as if she was floating, but she couldn't be sure.

This must have been the Pit they all spoke about. She knew this was where she belonged. She had ruined everything. Here, she would remain. There was no way she could redeem herself from such catastrophe.

She'd never given into guilt before, but now, she knew nothing else but guilt and sparkbreak from losing Starscream and endangering their Sparklings. It burned into her like a scorching iron – wormed its way into every part of her being. She had done so much wrong.

She left Starscream to die.

She'd almost killed Mikaela.

Blacklight had been hurt because of her.

They took Typhoon.

Blacklight was missing, possibly dead.

She got Typhoon killed.

She got Starscream killed.

She was to blame for all of it.

…All of it.

You wouldn't think everyone would miraculously be okay, did you? Fight me.

This is turning out to be longer than anticipated. I zigged instead of zagging.