"Oh! D-16!" Charoite exclaimed in a mocking tone. "The ungrateful bot who testified against me when the only thing I was really guilty of was being a hero who didn't legally have to save you! Great to see you in this…" Charoite looked around and was surprised to see what seemed like a rocky wasteland, some parts of the rocks glowing purple and dark pink. She figured the glowing was probably more obvious at night. "…kind of interesting place! She looked down and noticed she was sitting on a raised slab. Clearly it was being used as a bed.
Megatron's face became severe. "Believe me, knowing what I know now, I completely regret testifying against you. We lived in a society of lies, and I was manipulated my whole life. I'm the leader of an army I've named, 'Decepticons.'" Megatron gestured toward a distant crowd of bots. "We're dedicated to fighting against all forms of deception. I hope our fixing you makes up for it. I found you, Starscream welded you together, and many of us, myself included, gave you our oil. You lost a lot. You were barely alive.
Charoite raised her eyebrows. She looked down at her chest and noticed hints of a circle to the left of it. A piece of metal had been welded onto her and reconstructed to blend into the rest of her. She chuckled with relief, both at herself being alive, and at how much the new piece looked like it was always a part of her. "Wow! You all did a great job! Thanks! You still kept me gorgeous!"
Megatron blinked with a nod.
"Well, you've certainly made a name for yourself! Good for you, uh…Megatron." She noticed an icon of Megatronus Prime's purple, sharp-angled face branded in the middle of Megatron's chest. She saw the black helmeted, red, black, and white bot, who she figured was Starscream, had an identical image on his wing. "You're a fan of Megatronus too! Cool! I have an alarm clock of him!"
Charoite's spark sunk. Sentinel. Iacon City. The Iacon 5000. She desperately wished for everything to be the way it was before that stupid trip to the surface. She didn't know how long she had been unconscious, but it felt like only minutes ago when Sentinel did nothing as the Quintesson leader chased and stabbed her. She would never again feel Sentinel's arms around her, his lips against hers. No more time spent together, not even eating cubes of energon together. Since bots discovered her, maybe they could help her get back to Iacon, and she could race in the Iacon 5000, or the next one if she missed it. Sentinel, however, wasn't someone she could go back to.
He left her to die.
"Tell me," Megatron leaned in closer to Charoite. "How did you end up stranded out here?"
Charoite grabbed her head and broke down.
"Are you serious, woman? Over a simple question?" Starscream rolled his eyes.
Megatron shot him a fierce look, his eyes flashing a brighter red. His eyes dimmed back as he looked at Charoite. His tone became softer. "Did Sentinel bring you here?"
"Yes!" Charoite replied louder than she meant to, "W-We were all going to the surface, and S-Sentinel said he had a bargain going on with the Quintessons, and then I found out our energon was part of the bargain, and the leader wanted me to bow to him, and I wouldn't, and…" Charoite's crying continued.
Megatron sighed. "I'm sorry. You should know that a lot's changed since then. You see, Sentinel was paying off the Quintessons to—"
"I know!" Charoite cried. "To keep his way of life and so they would stay away from us!"
"How much else do you know?" Starscream asked in a sharp tone.
"What else is there? How could this get any worse?"
Charoite saw Megatron and Starscream's faces slowly drop. Oh, no. What else was Sentinel hiding?
Megatron lowered his head. "Charoite, Sentinel was never a Prime. He was an aide for the Primes. He murdered them and took over Cybertron. He started paying off the Quintessons afterwards."
"W-What?" Charoite's jaw trembled, her voice shaking. "No, no, no, it can't be. He would never. No!"
"Charoite," Megatron gestured towards his transformation cog. "My…former friends and I were stranded up here too, once. We discovered Alpha Trion was still alive in a cave but was unconscious. We gave him energon, he woke up, and he told us, and showed us the whole story. When Sentinel killed the Primes, he took the Matrix of Leadership for himself, but because he wasn't worthy, it disappeared in his hands, and nobody saw it for a long time. He then removed the cogs of some of the newborn bots and forced them to mine to pay off his debt to the Quintessons. Apparently every Cybertronian was born with a cog."
"No, no, no, no, no! This cant—I don't believe you!" Charoite got off of the slab. Her legs faltered as she rushed to grab her "bed."
Megatron let out a mild groan. "Soundwave!"
A bot rushed over. He was mostly blue on top, with some orange and red, his bottom half mainly silver. His chest was a rectangle outlined with orange.
"Soundwave, scan me."
He projected circular lights onto Megatron. "Scanning electrical impulses," Soundwave said, his voice deep and monotone. He turned to Charoite. "He speaks the truth."
"No!" Charoite yelled, her crying resumed.
Nobody said a word for a few seconds.
"I found you when we were on our way to search for Alpha Trion. We saw you were still alive, so I, Starscream, Shockwave, and Soundwave took you back while the rest continued the search. He wasn't found, and my former friends and I hadn't seen him in Cybertron, so I assume he was killed by the soldiers or by Airachnid or by Sentinel. When my 'friends' and I met Alpha Trion, he gave us the cogs of the fallen Primes, and then Sentinel's soldiers came for us. Alpha Trion stayed behind to fight them." Megatron's tone grew angry. "The bot I used to call my best friend, Orion Pax, ended up receiving the Matrix after he stupidly jumped in front of me when I tried to get rid of that false Prime."
Charoite was terrified to ask, but she had to. She didn't want to still care for Sentinel, but she did. "Where's Sentinel?"
Starscream smirked. "Which half?"
"Starscream!" Megatron snapped.
Weakness took over Charoite. As her vision faded to black, she saw Megatron rush to catch her falling body.