The media had plenty to talk about over the next orn. Groups of mecha flooded the streets, protesting, and others hid in their homes. Tensions rose quickly, and we waited anxiously for the Council to make a move.

We didn't have to wait long. They caved within thirty joors. Halogen got on the news and stated clearly and publicly that the Council would agree to meet with Orion and Megatronus, insisting that they were willing to come to an understanding of some sort with us.

We didn't have much time to prepare, but we were all glad we'd set a short deadline for the meeting, because the city was simmering with the tension of knowing exactly what the Council was capable of.

The next orn, Mirage had a transport ready to take our two representatives. This was arguably the part of our plan that presented the most personal danger to us. Whoever we sent could easily be arrested and killed. Several other mecha, including me, had offered to go with them, but Orion and Megatronus had insisted that they had to go alone.

Elita stopped Orion on his way out to embrace him tightly, sending a quiet plea over their bond.

Stay. Please stay.

"I'll be okay," Orion said quietly.

"I feel like something will go wrong," Elita whispered.

"They wouldn't dare try anything," Megatronus said. "But Orion, you don't have to come. Unless things go badly, I'm going to be doing all the talking anyway."

"I need to be there," Orion said with conviction. I have to support Megatronus, and I feel it in my spark somehow. It's important for me to go. "I know the Council better than you do."

They're just tyrants, Megatronus thought, Bullies. I know them. I know all of them. The only way to deal with them is to be bigger than them, stronger than them. And we are, and they know it...

"I'll be all right," Orion said again to Elita. "I promise."

"Okay," she released him and stepped back.

"You had better," Chromia said, optics narrowed. "I believe I've told you several times that if anything happens to Ellie because of you, you're going to wish you were never sparked."

"I know. And I'll be all right." If I'm not all right after this, that probably means the whole city-state is in a lot of trouble.

Then the two of them left, with the fate of the entire government on their shoulders.

We waited, watching the news, hoping, tense, expectant. This had to work. If this didn't work, then we had made a serious mistake and thousands of mecha would pay for it.

The femmes chatted nervously as we sat, counting astroseconds, trying to pretend this wasn't happening. Red Alert fussed over checking everyone's rooms for dangerous things, and complained to Mirage about the "terrible security" in his tower. Ratchet sat on a bench and mumbled to himself for a while, then went to his makeshift medbay to check the basic tools Mirage had provided for him and make sure they were all functioning properly. Jazz tried to start a conversation with Prowl which was just enough of a challenge to distract him from the fact that the meeting with the Council was about to start.

We were watching the news on a large screen up on one wall, so we all saw it when Orion and Megatronus reached the Council Hall. They were escorted through cheering crowds, up the steps and inside. And then once again there was nothing to do but wait. We left the screen on, and kept our audios at least half-tuned into what the reporters were saying about the crowd and the event, but most of us were too nervous to really pay attention. It was a long time before anything else happened. The crowd in front of the building grew as more and more mecha seemed to decide they wanted to see it in person. This was a historic event, and thousands wanted to see Orion and Megatronus come down the front steps of the Council Hall and hear what they had to say.

But that wasn't the way things happened.

After a little less than a joor, Megatronus came out by himself. We all watched on the screen as he started walking down the steps. He didn't talk to anyone, and ignored enforcement who were helpfully trying to clear a way through the crowd. And, once it became obvious the reporters and other mecha weren't going to let him through, he transformed and flew away. The camera followed him, but he flew around the side of a tall government building and out of sight.

Something had happened.

There was speculating, shouting, arguing. The news anchors and reporters were having a lot of fun with the whole situation.

Something bad had happened.

"Where's Orion?" Ratchet voiced the obvious question.

Everyone looked to Elita, who was staring at the screen still.

"Ellie?" Moonracer asked. "Is he all right? Can you tell?"

"I think so…" Elita said. "He's confused… maybe worried. Something's gone wrong."

"Megatronus just left him in there!" Chromia said.

"No," I said. He wouldn't. If nothing else, Megatronus wouldn't have left Orion to the mercy of the Council. Something else had happened.

"Then what was that?" Chromia demanded, jabbing a finger in the direction of the hologram.

Prowl narrowed his optics, thinking.

I tried comming Megatronus, but he didn't answer.

"Well, something obviously went wrong," Jazz said from his seat at the side of the room. "We gotta go figure out what happened, see if we can get Orion out of there..."

"I doubt the Council agreed to make Megatronus a Prime," Prowl said quietly.

"You think?" Chromia snapped.

"But what happened to Orion?" Perceptor said.

"Presumably he's still inside, trying to negotiate," Prowl said. "I've observed he has somewhat more of an even temper than our former gladiator."

"But Megatronus wouldn't just storm off and leave him there, would he?" Red Alert looked to me. "If that were the case?"

"Unless he was angry with Orion for some reason," Mirage mused.

"What do you know?" Moonracer glared at the noblemech. "Angry at Orion? How the pit could anyone be angry with Orion?"

"Oh, I could," Chromia said. "But I don't see a reason Megatronus would. Ellie, are you all right?"

Elita nodded. From what she could sense, he was all right. She tried to send Orion reassurance over the bond. He responded in kind for a moment and she was comforted.

And then he was gone.

Elita gasped, then screamed when the first wave of pain hit. Chromia lunged forward and caught her before she fell. She could sense a tiny echo of the pain through her sibling bond with Elita and knew what it meant.

Everyone stared for a moment, then panicked.

"What's wrong?"

"Is she all right?"

"What happened?"

"Out of the way!" Ratchet shoved through the tightening circle of concerned mecha to where Chromia was supporting the screaming pink femme.

"It's the bond," Chromia said quietly. "Broken."

Primus… Ratchet thought. That could mean he's offline. "I…" No. No, no… "Get her to my office."

Chromia picked her sister up and the three femmes all followed him.

If a bonded mech or femme knew they were going to offline, they sometimes broke off the bond beforehand. It would hurt more that way, but it wouldn't put their partner's life at risk.

"What do we do now?" Red Alert demanded.

Jazz stood up. "I'll go…"

"No," Prowl said. "We have to wait. We don't have enough information about the situation yet. If we start saying something's happened to Orion it will cause…"

"Who put you in charge?" Red Alert demanded. "You're an enforcer. You work for the government. This is your fault somehow, isn't it? You wanted something to go wrong! You planned this somehow."

"Whoa, don't just start pointing fingers," Jazz said.

"And you! You're a criminal."

"Would everyone calm down?" Perceptor said, but no one was listening to him.

"Maybe it's your fault," Jazz said. "You're so keen ta pin this on someone else."

Ironhide wasn't there to yell at everyone to shut up, and this was getting out of control.

I commed Chromia. "Help?"

She didn't answer, but grudgingly came back into the room where Red Alert and Jazz were still yelling at each other.

"Everyone SHUT UP!" Chromia screamed. Relative quiet descended and they all looked at her. "My sister is in agony and all you're doing is making noise! If you're bored, you can figure out how to get that idiot of a librarian back here so that if he's not already offline, I can kill him!" With that, she turned and stormed back into Ratchet's office.

"Before this devolves into name-calling again," Perceptor said. "It might be prudent to determine who is in charge now that our two normal leaders are missing."

Everyone came to the same conclusion and looked at me.

"Soundwave," Jazz said.

"What do we do?" Red Alert demanded.

Great. Anything but this. I wished I could defer to someone else, but there wasn't anyone else who I really thought was in a good frame of mind to be in charge at the moment. What should we do? Oh, Primus, I was going to have to talk. "Prowl's right," I said. "We need to know more… Mirage? We would be gra-ateful if y-you'd go find out. I-I do-on't think anyone else could do it."

Mirage nodded. "I shall attempt to locate Megatronus and find out what happened to Orion." He disappeared and left the room.

I turned to the others. "We-e don't want panic. I'll send out a message telling everyone to sta-ay calm until we know what happened." I sincerely hoped our mecha in the city would listen and not jump to conclusions.

"What about the rest of us?" Jazz asked, unhappy that he hadn't been sent out to help Mirage.

"Stay here," I said. "Wait."

Oh, Primus. Orion could be dead. I tried to think if there was anything else we could do. Megatronus was wandering the city, who knew where, potentially in danger, and Orion…

If he was offline, we were going to have a war on our hands. But why would Megatronus have left him in there before he had offlined or whatever had happened? Why? It didn't make any sense.

I couldn't think about it right now. We'd find out eventually.

"Megatronus will come back." I assured them all. "He'll tell us what happened."

We could still hear Elita sobbing in the other room.

I left everyone to argue, and went to my room, which also served as my office. There, I tried to determine what had happened and asked through our network if anyone had seen Megatronus. I got several reports of sightings from various locations around the sector, but it didn't seem like he'd talked to anyone.

Mirage came back half a joor later. He didn't have Megatronus with him, but seemed to think he'd accomplished what I'd sent him to do. I looked up from my computer when he entered the main room.

"Orion!" Jazz said, noticing them first.

Them?

Yes, Orion was there with him, standing next to him. I checked my range—I knew it should be covering both of them.

It wasn't.

That wasn't Orion. It couldn't be.

I couldn't hear him.

"Orion, what happened?" Perceptor stood. "Why didn't you comm. us? We all thought you might be hurt or offline…"

"You did?" Orion asked. "Why? What happened?"

"Megatronus came out of the Council Hall alone," Perceptor said.

"Where is he?"

"We don't know," Jazz said. "What happened, mech?"

Chromia came storming out of Ratchet's office. "You!" she said. "How dare you show up here, perfectly all right!"

"What?" Orion still looked confused. "I'm sorry if I worried…"

"What do you mean, what!" Chromia took a step forward and saw realization dawn in Orion's optics.

"Oh no…" he said, faceplate suddenly slack with dread. "Where is she?"

"You're not going near her!" Chromia growled.

Elita, in Ratchet's office, sat up shakily, listening, trying to determine if it was really Orion's voice.

"Hang on…" Jazz said. Why is he so surprised?

"I didn't realize…"

"You didn't realize what?" Chromia demanded.

"I didn't realize the bond had broken," Orion said. "Is she all right?"

"You didn't… what do you fragging think?" Chromia said.

In Ratchet's office, Elita took a deep vent, wincing. "Ratchet? That's him, isn't it? Is he all right? I need to see…"

Ratchet glanced at Moonracer, who nodded and came out into the main room. "Hey you. Get over here."

"Absolutely not," Chromia said.

"Ellie wants to see him," Moonracer said. "Let him."

Chromia clenched her fists, but made no more protest as Orion crossed the room and entered Ratchet's makeshift medbay with everyone else following, still waiting to hear what had happened. Normally, I would have known, but Orion's processor was as silent as that of a machine. Like Alpha Trion or Maccadam.

I got up.

Orion stopped just inside the door of the medbay, and he and Elita stared at each other. For a moment, Elita was relieved that Orion seemed to be unhurt. Then she looked away, shaking.

"I'm so sorry," Orion stumbled forward, and despite Chromia's cry of protest, he reached out and gathered Elita into his arms. She clutched at him, whimpering, spark throbbing, as he sat on the berth, holding her.

Everyone else filed in and I got up from my computer and joined them. I and entered Ratchet's makeshift medbay just behind Prowl. Ratchet glared at us, wishing he could shout at us all to get out of his office, but Orion was here and he wanted answers as much as the rest of us.

"What happened?" Perceptor asked again.

Orion looked down.

"Were you attacked? Did the Council try to arrest you?" Prowl asked.

"No." Orion said. "No…"

"Why?" Elita whispered.

Orion trembled. "I would never… Elita you know I'd never hurt you on purpose. I didn't even realize…"

"What. Happened?" Chromia said. "You have two astroseconds to convince me not to kill you."

Orion looked at me imploringly. Everyone else followed suit. I wasn't sure what to say. I still wasn't sure this was real. This was impossible.

"Are you… really Orion?" I asked.

Everyone stiffened.

Orion blinked. "W-what?" he stuttered. "What do you mean?"

"I can't hear you." I said each word slowly, feeling uncertain. Not quite sure if I wanted to admit it. If I said it out loud, would that make this real? Would that make him fake? Who was he? He looked like Orion and talked like Orion.

Everyone looked at him. Even Elita stared up at him in horror.

"I was speaking to the Council," Orion said. "Things weren't going well, and I was trying to prevent them from throwing us out or arresting us. And suddenly Alpha Trion gets up and… and…"

"And what?" Perceptor asked.

"They had refused to make Megatronus a Prime," Orion said quietly, "I'd been trying to change their minds about it. They… chose me instead."

Everyone stared. "What?" Chromia demanded.

"They appointed me as a Prime," Orion said.

"What?" Jazz echoed. "That wasn't the plan."

"I know," Orion said. "And I didn't expect this to happen. I still can't believe it … but Megatronus stormed out before I could stop him."

"They just made ya a Prime?" Jazz asked. "And ya just… went along with it?"

"It happened so quickly," Orion said. "And it felt right, in the moment. They asked me if I would accept the responsibility…" He shook his helm. "…I told them I would. There wasn't much of a ceremony. Alpha Trion had me say some things and then…"

Silence fell.

"Megatronus was gonna be the Prime," Jazz said. "That was gonna be this great big historical thing. A slave becoming a Prime. Now we won't have the public on our side the way we wanted."

Ratchet huffed. "And forget about having Megatronus on our side."

"I'll just have to apologize—tell them I don't want this. I don't know if it's possible to reverse... I don't have the matrix yet, of course, but something did change when they appointed me. I felt it. I didn't mean for this to happen, though. And…" he looked down at Elita and shuttered his optics. "I'm so sorry."

"I can't verify his honesty," I said quietly.

They all stared at him again. His story sounded a little unlikely. Perceptor believed him. Elita believed him. So did Ratchet. Everyone else was skeptical.

Then Megatronus came into my range. He'd found his way back by himself and come in through the balcony. He frowned as he looked around the front room, wondering where we were. I opened the door to Ratchet's office and he headed toward us. He took the door from me and slammed it open all the way, but didn't come in.

"Megatronus!" Orion said. "Don't be angry, I didn't…"

"Don't call me that," Megatronus growled. "Don't speak to me at all you sparkless liar."

Orion looked down. "I didn't…"

"I see you came back here to tell everyone your version of what happened." He narrowed his optics. "Soundwave, tell me this is just some sort of misunderstanding." Tell me that and I'll know you're lying too. I'll know you're on his side.

"I can't," I said.

Megatronus looked at me.

"Apparently," Jazz said. "Soundwave can't read their minds. Ya know, Primes."

Megatronus's optics blazed. "You had them go through with it while you were still there…"

"It all happened so fast…"

"Don't play the fool, Orion Pax! You waited. You rode my popularity until it took you to the Council and you told them exactly what they wanted to hear!"

"No…" Orion said.

"You promised to pacify the public, whether or not the Council made any changes!"

"That's not what…"

"Unfortunately for you,Prime, Soundwave can still read my processor, and confirm what I'm saying."

Orion looked at me, wide-opticed.

"What are you going to do?" Megatronus growled. "Sit there apologizing and looking innocent? Manipulate everyone into believing you? You're a leech, Pax. An energon-draining leech. And you've got what you wanted now, don't you?" I thought I could trust him. I should have known not to trust anyone from Iacon. "Well. I am going to continue to fight for the freedom of this city's mecha. Only I'm not going to do it from the comfort of a rich mech's tower. And anyone who wants to join me is welcome. You'll be able to find me. I'll be in the city for three orns." He looked at me. I think I can expect to see you there, Soundwave. Don't let Orion send any double agents. Unless you're one. Then I'll just have to deal with you when that comes up. "Anyone is welcome," He glared at Orion. "Except for you. You've already chosen your side. If I see your faceplate again, traitor, make no mistake I will kill you."

Orion stared at him, apparently at a loss for words.

"The rest of you will have to make a choice between the Council and the mecha of the city. Let's find out, shall we, how many of you were lying the whole time." He turned to leave. "Three orns," he called over his shoulder.

Orion stood, letting go of Elita. "Wait, Megatronus, don't go…"

Megatronus turned around and fired his arm cannon. Prowl saw and shoved Orion out of the way. The shot hit the wall across the room, leaving a smoking black mark. Then Megatronus turned and walked away again. No one called after him.

He left the tower the same way he'd come, leaping from the balcony to transform and fly away.

"He's insane!" Ratchet said.

"Is he?" Jazz asked, looking at Orion.

Orion stared at Prowl. "That might have hit you…"

"Well it was certainly going to hit you," Prowl said, and nodded deferentially, "Prime, sir."

"No," Orion said. "Do not. Do not call me that."

"What do we do?" Red Alert demanded. "He'll incite the public to riot."

"Yeah," Jazz said. "That was the back-up plan, wasn't it? If things went wrong, we weren't just gonna stand back and watch everything collapse, were we? Well things obviously didn't go well. No offense, Orion mech, but we needed Megatronus ta be the Prime. And it's kinda hard ta believe ya just accidentally said yes when they asked ya if ya wanted ta take his place."

Orion averted his gaze again.

"Leave him alone," Elita said quietly.

"You're defending him," Jazz said. "Do ya hear yourself, Elita? He just essentially left you and now just cuz he said sorry and looks sad about it ya're just gonna…"

"Hey," Moonracer said.

"Sorry," Jazz said, then looked at Orion again. "This mech's manipulating ya, ya know. He's doing it ta all of us. Me too. I wanna believe him, but..."

"Jazz," Orion said, sounding strained. "I never intended…"

"How do you know?" Jazz said. "Ya get what ya want, Orion. Always, always, always. I'm pretty sure if ya really didn't want ta be a Prime, ya could have talked your way out of it." He shook his helm. "I'm not buyin' it." He turned and walked away. I need time to think about this, to figure out what I'm going to do. I have to be careful. I don't want to join the wrong side. Not again… He walked out of my range.

Orion sat down again and put his faceplate in his hands. We all stood around waiting for an explanation, or for someone else to speak.

"All right," Ratchet said. "Everyone out but Orion and Elita. Out!"

"But…" Moonracer said.

"I said get out!" Ratchet snapped. "I need to make sure they're all right, just get out!"

We left them there and Ratchet slammed the door.

I listened through Ratchet and Elita's audios as Orion explained in broken, halting phrases that Primes couldn't bond.

But it was all a puppet show to me. I couldn't hear him. There was no reason for me to believe he was sincere, or even telling the truth.

There was no question in my processor. I went to my room and warned my symbiots that we were leaving soon, then went to the computer and waited for information about where Megatronus was.

Within a few more joors, it was all over the news. The Council had appointed Orion Pax to become Optimus Prime, and he and Megatronus were no longer working together. The vast majority of our following were outraged, and they flocked to Megatronus by the thousands. It wasn't hard to find out where they were congregating.

But I couldn't join them until I'd completed a few tasks.

I stayed at Mirage's tower over the off-cycle, gathering information, preparing to leave.

Then, the next orn, I waited until Ratchet was alone, and went to talk to him in his office.

"Oh, Soundwave," he said, when he saw me. "What do you want?"

"I'm going."

Ratchet blinked. "You… going where?"

Then he understood.

"What?" he demanded. "You're insane too then. Megatron is…"

"More trustworthy than Orion," I finished for him. "I'm going. You should come."

"No," Ratchet said. "Absolutely not. Megatron wants war! Hah! I told you we shouldn't bring him here. I said it was a bad idea, and no one listened. Perceptor said it too. And Ironhide."

"You do-on't trust me?" I asked.

Ratchet hesitated. "You're saying Megatron is right?"

I nodded.

"And Orion betrayed him and told the Council what they wanted to hear so they'd make him a Prime."

I nodded again.

"No. Look, I've known Orion longer than I've known Megatron."

"And y-you've known me even longer," I said.

"I have," Ratchet said. "But I can see that Megatron is insane."

"No," I said.

"Yes he is," Ratchet said.

"You're blind."

Ratchet looked directly at my screen. "Not as blind as you think. He talks like Searchlight… he even has a similar kind of recklessness. Except that Searchlight was good and he's not."

"He's mo-ore like Searchlight than you know," I said. "Trust me. Co-ome with me."

Ratchet sighed. "You don't know Orion was lying. Just because you can't read his mind—"

"But I can read Megatronus's."

Ratchet snorted. "And I can't read your mind, Soundwave, can I? How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Come with me."

"I said no," Ratchet said. And the longer you argue with me the less I like the idea. "You're making a mistake. I know you want that idiotic gladiator to be right. You always defend him, always back his side of the argument. Why? Do you want violence too?"

"Look," I said. "If you don't believe me who-o will you be-elieve? Megatronus has had to fight. He's been in the places that need to change. Orion's pampered, naïve, a fool."

"Then why did Primus choose him?"

"Primus didn't!" I said. "He-e talked himself i-into the posi-ition."

Ratchet shook his helm. "I can't believe we're having this argument. Get out! If you're going to leave then leave, but I'm staying here. And when you realize you're wrong, maybe I'll try to talk Orion into letting you come back."

Fine then.

I turned and walked away. One more conversation and then I would leave. We had Jazz, but everyone else planned to stay. However, I wouldn't be a loyal friend to Searchlight if I didn't at least try to get our greatest potential asset on our side.

He was waiting for me in his room.

"Sit down," Prowl said, gesturing to a chair set up in the middle of the small room. He was seated on the berth, watching me carefully.

"Prowl…" I said.

"I've been expecting you," Prowl said. "Though you might as well give up now. The gladiator is much better with words than you are and he wasn't able to convince me to go with him."

"But he was te-elling the truth."

Prowl raised an optic ridge. Oh, really. "They all trusted you to be honest with them but I don't think you were. Unless you can offer me some proof that he isn't going to hurt anyone unnecessarily..."

I was silent.

"Of course, you would try. If you can convince me to join you, then Orion is finished. Likewise, if you stay here, then we have a sure win… It's not too late to change your mind and stay. Surely you don't want a war."

"Megatronus doesn't want war."

"Doesn't he?" Prowl asked. "But he will have one, the way he's acting. If you stay here you might be able to stop it."

"Don't try to convince me." I said.

Prowl's doorwings twitched. "But you've come to convince me, haven't you? You so desperately want me on your side that you're willing to come in here and actually talk to me, when you hate talking so much." Prowl smirked. "But I have made my decision already. Maybe you do see something in that gladiator that we don't. But if he really doesn't want war, then what does he want?"

I was at a loss for a moment. "He wants freedom."

"Freedom for who?"

"Everyone."

"The Council too? How about mecha like Mirage? And who can define freedom? Does he mean equality? How does he intend to establish that?"

I looked down. He was going to win this, like he'd won that board game. Arguing with this mech brought nothing but frustration.

I stood. "You will regret not coming with me. I'm sure if you change your mind that Megatron will welcome you."

Prowl let out a huff of laughter and shook his helm.

I left, and headed to my room to get my symbiots.

"Where are we going?" Frenzy asked me cheerfully.

"To find Megatronus."

"Isn't he… angry at us?" Ravage asked. He hadn't quite been able to grasp the situation.

"Not at me," I said.

"Are we coming back afterward?" Frenzy asked. "I like it here. Except that there are so many things I'm not allowed to touch."

"We aren't coming back," I said. We got to the elevator and I stepped in. The door closed and we started to sink toward ground level.

"Is everyone else coming later?" Frenzy asked.

"No," Rumble said. He understood a little better. "Megatronus and Orion aren't going to work together anymore, are they?"

"No," I said.

Too bad, Laserbeak thought. I didn't hate Orion.

Well, that was a first.

"They aren't?" Frenzy asked. "They should. They're friends. You should talk to them and get them to work together again."

"No," I said. "We're just going to join Megatronus. Is that… a-all right with everyone?"

"It's fine with us," Rumble said. "We'll go wherever you do, Soundwave."

Same here, Laserbeak thought.

"Ravage?"

"Yes," Ravage said. "Is Ratchet coming?"

"No."

Ravage looked at me. What? Really? But he has to go with you. You're friends.

"Not anymore."

Ravage stared up at me. You can't stop being friends. Searchlight made you promise. I remember that.

My spark froze. He had made us promise that, hadn't he? Maybe I should have tried harder to get Ratchet to come with me. If Searchlight were here, though, he would have convinced Ratchet to come…

Except that he had tried that as well. And Ratchet hadn't listened to him either.

And if the choice between Ratchet and Searchlight wasn't a very difficult one.

I took in a deep vent. "It'll work out. We're doing the right thing. Maybe Ratchet will see that and come join us later. Orion can't be-e truste-ed."

"Ok," Ravage said. "That's all right then."

I found Megatronus in a crowd, as always. "…They have betrayed you. They've thrown their lot in with the Council." He saw me, smiled and discretely waved me over, then went back to addressing the crowd.

"We'll let them! I say let them. They aren't the mecha of the city. They never truly cared for you. They used me to gain support among the masses.," He shook his helm. "The only thing they want to free is themselves. But I was never interested in playing politics. I say let them have their lies. We will tear them down and expose them!"

There was a cheer.

Megatronus smiled. "But we're not going to call ourselves Autobot. Autobot was a scam, and we're through being lied to. We're through being patronized. By our might! By our strength in numbers we will show the world who is lying."

I reached him and stood by him, waiting for him to finish.

"They'll try to push us down. Try to call us liars and warmongers. But if that's inevitable, then we'll beat them to it. We, my mecha, will be called Decepticons."

A shiver ran through the crowd and the sun dome seemed darker all of a sudden. As if this were something inevitable. The name, however foolish it was, sounded right when Megatronus said it.

"And I, Megatron, will lead you all to freedom—but not through talking and pretty ideals and politics! We will take our freedom!"

More cheering.

"Decepticons?" Megatronus said, raising a hand high. "Who's with me?"

My processor was dizzy with their conviction. They raised their hands, and Megatronus fired up into the sky. The shot was swallowed in the blue of the atmosphere.

Then he was finished. He turned to me. Come.

I followed him into a nearby building.

"Soundwave," he said. "I am going to make the decision to trust you."

I nodded. "Thank you."

"And just so you know, if you betray me, you'll regret it."

I nodded again. "Understood."

"Is anyone else coming?"

"Jazz."

"I already spoke to him," Megatronus said. "Anyone else?"

I shook my helm. "I couldn't co-onvince them."

"That's alright," Megatronus said. "I don't need them. You and Jazz will be enough." He smirked, then sighed. "I honestly thought I could trust Orion. Tell me truthfully, were you lying for him the whole time?"

He wanted to hear it. But I had to tell the truth. "As far as I ca-an tell, he didn't intend to be-ecome a Prime. But the ma-ain reason he wa-anted to bring you to-o Iacon was to gain support from the me-echa here."

Megatronus nodded.

"And I-I can see how when gi-iven the oppo-ortunity…"

"He would take my rightful position from me," Megatronus said. "And I considered him a friend, almost a brother."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Megatronus said. "His betrayal will only make me stronger. And he will pay for it. Be prepared, Soundwave. We are leaving for Kaon in an orn and a half. I made a promise to the mecha there and I intend to keep it."

"Are… you sure…"

"That I ought to keep my promises? Yes. What else would you have me do?"

I hesitated. He was right, after all. "I apologize. Kaon is your city. Liberating it sho-ould be top priority."

"Don't just say that," Megatronus said.

"I am sincere," I told him. "And even if I have re-eservations, I will support you." I knelt. "I a-am yours to command."

I wouldn't let him down again. I'd stay with him until he saw. It would only take a taste of war and he'd lose his craving for it. This was like the time he'd almost gotten us killed in that library in Simfur, or the time Motormaster had hurt me. He would learn. We would liberate Kaon and free his friends in the mines, and then he'd see that violence wasn't the answer. He'd back down, and I'd find a way to bring him back.

And if I couldn't bring him back, at least I'd back him up like he'd always needed me to.

"I'm honored," Megatronus said. "And grateful to you."

I stood again.

"Jazz will be back next orn. Make sure he comes and speaks with me. I need him at my right hand. And I need you to blend into the background and listen. Does that sound agreeable?"

I nodded. It was what I did best.

Megatronus nodded back. "Thank you." There was something different about him. He was himself now, more than before… and less than before. He was more confident, but also…darker.

"Well then, I need to get back out there." He put a hand on my shoulder, careful of Ravage. "I'll come and talk to you again in a joor or so. Until then." He nodded, then turned and left the room. I watched him go, pulling my range in.

This was real, wasn't it? Just a few orns ago, we were wondering whether we ought to put all of that information up on the public database.

And now Autobot was broken. Megatronus was going to go back to Kaon to liberate it, and Orion was a Prime. Everything had turned upside down all of a sudden.

But things would work out. I still had my symbiots and I still had my best friend. And that was all I really needed, whatever came next.

I kept telling myself that for a long time.

The End

Notes/Acknowledgements:

1. And so we come to the end of this story. BUT IT IS NOT THE END. I have many, many things planned. So many things, you have no idea how many things I have planned.

2. That said, I'm really going to miss writing Many Voices. It was that species of rare, magical story that almost seems to write itself. Soundwave came alive and took over. Really, I was just along for the ride.

3. He's made his decision, though, and in that regard, this part of his character arc is over. While Soundwave will certainly be making appearances throughout the entire main storyline, and there will be scenes from his point of view, he won't be the main character again until a post-war side story. If I ever get that far.

4. Our reluctant young Prime will be the overall star of the next installment. The title of that story will be "Revolution" and I plan to start posting it in about two months at the beginning of January 2019. In the meantime, I'll still be posting spare parts chapters here and there, so keep an optic out for those. ;)

5. Thank you all so much for joining me on this crazy adventure! I know I wasn't super great about responding to reviews, but I appreciated every single one of them! It seemed like whenever I started to feel like fanfiction was a waste of my time, someone would say something really positive about the story. Thanks for keeping the dream alive! :P

6. I'd also like to acknowledge my four wonderful beta readers—two great friends and two awesome brothers. They did a lot of work for this story, and were an integral part of making this happen. I could not have done it without them.

7. Finally I would like to thank the amazing friend who brought me into this fandom. She's the one to thank (or blame) for this story in more ways than one. She helped me brainstorm names and fed me a steady flow of TF lore. She listened to me ramble about all my crazy ideas and sometimes stayed up into the early morning hours talking with me about them. She has supported and encouraged and beta read and stayed in touch with me, even after she graduated from college. I am eternally grateful for her friendship.

8. Happy Holidays! See you all next year!