Charoite woke up to her name being called, along with knocks on her door.
"Char, you ready for your first trip to the surface?" Sentinel asked.
Charoite burst out of her sleeping pod, out the door, and into Sentinel's arms. "Morning, Sen! Yep! I was born ready!"
A hint of fear flashed in Sentinel's eyes. "Good to hear. Just remember what I told you last night: What happens on the surface stays on the surface. Okay?"
Charoite's eyes darted from side to side. "Okay!"
Sentinel picked Charoite up and kissed her. "Fantastic. Let's go!"
Charoite followed Sentinel, Airachnid, and the guards to the balcony.
"Okay, everybody ready?" Sentinel enthusiastically shouted.
Airachnid and the guards gave Sentinel a single, firm nod. Sentinel chuckled at Charoite's hyper, wide-grinned nod.
"Okay, gang!" Sentinel stood on the balcony and spread his golden wings. "Let's fly!" Sentinel fell backward and flew off.
Charoite flew off the balcony with the rest of the crew.
The sky on the surface had to be the most gorgeous thing Charoite ever saw. It had teal steaks of light, and the sharp rocks on the ground glowed a bright orange.
"This is gorgeous!" Charoite said as she flew up closer to Sentinel. "I can't believe you've seen this so many times!"
Sentinel nodded. "Yep! This is one of the perks of coming to the surface! One of the few for me, actually."
"I've been meaning to ask, how come we're bringing trains with us? Are they carrying weapons to be used against the Quintessons or something? Then again, they haven't been around in fifty cycles…"
Sentinel's face froze. "Well, the crates are used as part of a bargain I have with the Quintessons."
Charoite felt a painful shock in her stomach. "Wait…what? You have a bargain with Cybertron's greatest enemies? Why?"
"Relax, Char! It's fine! It's just a little way of taking control of my destiny and making sure they stay away from us!"
"Well, I mean, thank you for protecting us, I guess." Charoite felt some relief. Sentinel was merely keeping Cybertron safe, and that was the most important thing. "So, what do the Quintessons want with the crates? What's inside—"
"Look, Char." Sentinel held up a hand. "The most important thing is that I'm still a hero, and that you all are kept safe." He touched her cheek. "Especially you."
Charoite felt mostly better. She still felt like something was wrong. Surely, Sentinel wasn't doing anything that wasn't in Cybertron's best interests, right?
"Okay! We're here!" Sentinel announced.
Everyone landed. The trains came to a stop.
An enormous ship, which somewhat resembled a dusty purple beast with multiple heads slowly flew above them and landed. Quintessons exited the ship and stood in two straight lines. One of the green creatures, evidently their leader, flew out of the ship and headed straight for Sentinel.
"Sentinel!" Charoite cried. What was he going to do to Sentinel? Why was Sentinel just standing there expressionless?
Sentinel knelt. In the direction of the Quintessons.
Charoite felt her stomach drop. She frantically looked around and saw Airachnid and the golden bots doing the same.
"What in Primus are you doing?" Charoite yelled.
The Quintesson leader let out an irritated vibration and puffed out pink smoke.
Charoite was so horrified she didn't care. She grabbed Sentinel's shoulder. "Sentinel, what's going on?"
"I told you I had a secret on the surface!" Sentinel exclaimed. "What happens on the surface stays on the surface!"
"Sentinel, what's in those crates?" Charoite asked with a tremble in her voice.
Vessels extended from the ship. Cubes of energon levitated from the crates and were sucked up into the vessels.
"W-What?" Charoite backed away. "How…how could you do this?"
Sentinel reached his hands out. "Char, I'm sorry, but this is how I'm able to stay Cybertron's hero and live my life!" He grabbed her hands. "To live our lives, together, in my tower, with everything we could ever want."
Charoite's throat hurt as she nearly cried. She jerked her hands out of Sentinel's grip. "No! Not like this! You're not a hero!"
"Yes I am, Char." Sentinel frowned. "I was scared you'd get like this, so I kept putting off telling you. The truth is what I make it. I'm Cybertron's beloved hero, and you're my co-hero who will be with me forever!"
The Quintesson leader growled a pointed a tentacle at Charoite. He flew closer to Sentinel and growled louder in his face, surrounding it with pink smoke.
"Charoite, he wants you to kneel." Sentinel looked at her nervously. "Come on!"
Charoite was so upset she wasn't even scared. She crossed her arms and frowned. "No! I love Cybertron too much, and I want it to be the real truth someday that I'm their hero! Whether I'm your co-hero or not!"
The Quintesson leader approached her and growled.
"Leave me alone!" Charoite yelled. "You have our energon, so why do you care?"
The creature grabbed all of Charoite's limbs with his tentacles, picked her up, and threw her onto the ground. He let out a louder, longer growl. He flew towards her.
Charoite screamed and flew away. She looked back at Sentinel.
Sentinel held out an arm. He slowly shrunk it back as the fear on his face morphed into anger.
Charoite's pace stalled. She almost stopped running. She might as well have been dead anyway. She lost her home, her dream…
She lost Sentinel.
Charoite felt something pierce through her chest as her vision glitched and went black.
"She's waking up." A somewhat deep voice said.
"Finally!" A high-pitched, distorted voice replied. "Maybe she can tell us who she's working for in exchange for a quick death!"
"Quiet, Starscream."
"But the Sentinel decal—"
"You think I didn't see that stupid thing? I remember this girl! I know she worked for him! She might be of use to us!"
Charoite opened her eyes and saw a shiny silver bot's face peering down at her, his face pensive, his eyes red. He was a transforming bot with sharp cheeks and a long helmet. She thought he looked familiar.
Charoite gasped and sat bolt upright, causing the silver bot to cautiously hold his hands out to her. It couldn't be!
The silver bot sat back up. "Charoite, right? You may remember me. I was D-16. Call me "Megatron."