Resistance

"Take aim," Spike whispered to Antilles. "That is high value target one. Fire on my command."

"Yes, sir," The marksmen said, putting a sighting on Megatron's helm. Information stolen from MECH said that was where their processor units lie. From there, it would be easy to unleash the bigger artillery.

"Optimus won't like this," Lennox said from the other side.

"It is still our country," Spike reminded him. "Our planet that they've turned into their warzone. We do enough on our own."

"But this is Megatron, and all we got is some glorified peashooters."

"Still, orders from the brass say this happens," Spike said, standing straighter, continuing to watch. He tried to read the mouth movements, stances. Usually, the big bots had come to blows by then. Hell, with the ring slowly going around Megatron, he would have thought it would have been a turkey shoot for the Autobots, but they all held their fire. Why?

"Fire," He said with absolute certainty. If the Autobots wouldn't do anything, he would.

There was the hum, the crack from the slug as it shot towards Megatron.

It bounced off his dermal plating.

"Who did that?" Megatron asked, putting a hand to the cheek plate on his helm. He levied his blaster towards the humans, amused as he fired. "The vermin have toys now. Interesting."

"Jump!" Lennox yelled.

Optimus rushed him, pushing him to the ground. Scattering the other Autobots gave them room. Bumblebee, Kup, and Hot Rod took positions behind a part of the ship, firing down on Megatron. Prowl and Elita-One took up a barrage from the other side, careful not to hit Optimus as the two rivals pummeled each other with their fists.

They pushed into each other, Megatron ignoring the shots as they wore down his shielding. No one was going to come to his aid this time. It made him more determined to keep fighting. He laughed. "This is how I always hoped it would happen," he whispered to Optimus as he clamped, his massive arms wrapping around the Autobot leader. The Autobot soldiers stopped firing.

Optimus wriggled to get free. "Keep firing," Megatron yelled. "When my spark finally explodes, I'll be sure Optimus arrives to the Pit with me!"

"Take this to the pit!" Bulkhead rushed Megatron, his wrecking ball swinging at his back. It clanged away harmlessly, but it was enough to distract the bigger bot to release Optimus. Megatron ignored him, keeping his focus on the Autobot leader rather than turning on one of the underlings. Optimus was struggling to regain his footing.

"We have you," Optimus said. "You know how this ends."

"Then it ends," Megatron challenged. "Or will you balk in the last moment like every other time I have been in the palm of your hand, Optimus Prime?"

Optimus gritted, his own blaster finally coming up to pin Megatron. "We're defeated. Our home is gone. Why do we keep fighting?"

"Why do we?" Megatron smirked. "Why do we, indeed?"

"What do you intend to rule when this is over?"

"This was never about ruling anything!" Megatron proclaimed, his arms going up as he began to orate to the assembled Cybertronians. He pointed at Optimus. "It had been about stopping you from replacing the old leaders with more of the same. That is what you advocated."

"I did not poison Cybertron, Megatron," Optimus grimaced, finally giving up. He looked to his soldiers. "Autobots, leave the King to what he has left."

He turned, taking several steps before turning his head. "Transform and roll out." He transformed, driving away.

The other Autobots looked at each other. They looked at Megatron, uncertainty clear. Megatron stood alone in the dark, watching Optimus Prime drive away in the dust.

"Take your dead and go, Megatron," Kup yelled down, lowering his rifle. "Before the humans decide to drop something nasty on us."

Megatron looked down, gathering the remains of Soundwave into his arms. He rose slowly into the night air. A gate met him in the stratosphere that he flew into, and back to the Nemesis.

Kup shook his head, "What a fine mess we've made. What a silly, fragging mess." He looked up at Hot Rod and Bumblebee. "You two, help Prowl and I carry Ironhide back to Ratchet, so we can celebrate the old slag heap like he'd want."

"No, I've got him," Bulkhead transformed, making sure there was room for him in truck bed.

"Good bot," Kup said, patting his hood. "Prowl?"

"Sergeant?"

"Guess we're stuck here," He said, looking around, counting humans.

"Looks like it," Elita agreed.

"I've been worse places," Kup sighed.

"And you'll tell us about them, right?" Hot Rod smirked.

"Everyone of them," Kup said. He pat Ironhide's darkened head, the pigments already fading when Bumblebee and Hot Rod had him settled. "And some of the others I saw with this old lug."

"I will remain and keep watch here," Prowl said. "I will keep in contact, however." He transformed, kicking up dust to begin looking in on their human contingent.

"Well, you heard the bot," Kup said to the others. "Transform and roll out."

Then they all did, and began a slow procession back to base, following Bulkhead and Ironhide.

OoOoOoOoO

"They're back already," Arcee said, sitting close to Jack. She could hear the revving of Optimus' engines as he rumbled down the tunnel. It sounded loud and angry. He transformed and marched straight to his office. She had never seen him do anything like that before.

"Didn't go well," Jack said, looking up. "Has anything today?"

"My tires are still intact," Arcee tried her best to smile, holding onto him.

"There's that," Jack agreed, leaning in.

Slowly, the others came rolling in one by one behind Bulkhead. The big, red bot, Ironhide was in his back.

"Oh no," Jack's heart sunk.

He felt a ping from the communicator in his lapel. "Jack, come to my office."

"Optimus would like to speak to me," Jack said, taking Arcee's hand and squeezing it.

"Okay," Arcee rose with him.

"I think he means alone," Jack replied.

"Oh, sure," Arcee nodded. The projection dropped away and out of his arms. He sighed as her body came to life as she joined Ratchet in discovering what happened. Jack assumed he would find out from Optimus himself. He stood up, stared for a long moment at the door before beginning to the walk towards it.

OoOoOoOoO

Optimus' data cable was hooked into his personal terminal. Throughout the day, before exhaustion had finally hit, Rafael had restarted Teletraan 1 after Slipstream's attack on the ancient databank. He was jacked in, communing with it. The husk of the Matrix lay in his chamber to facilitate his connection.

Rather than think, he searched. He had felt Miko, the true essence of the exuberant human girl touch his spark as she warned him of Megatron's arrival. Knowing that she was alive. Knowing that she was inhabiting a Cybertronian form... He clung to the impression that she was happy. Concerned for them, but happy as a bot. Even he could tell she was not happiest of human beings. He trolled their archives, searching for other cases, other instances where the transfer had been a success. He needed to know that beyond her initial contentment, that she would be able to adjust and thrive.

The deeper he went, the deeper he dove into their history. Ancient voices sung through Teletraan, just as they had chanted through the Matrix of Leadership. He rushed through the data streams, back to the source of all their knowledge. He grasped for the remains of Primus in their machines, the bits of Primus that were still in him.

He found even more, pushing past their god, into the crudest of programming known to Cybetronians. It held the truth and the secrets to Miko and their planet that crossed the heavens. Many intelligences were briefly awoken from long slumber inside their computers. They all looked back at Optimus Prime and smiled meekly. Then they all turned their backs to him.

"Not now, old buddy," a familiar voice said. "Still work to be done."

The Secrets of the Well were only to be revealed when he would be returned to it...

"Optimus?" The sound of a human's voice vibrated his sensors... Jackson Darby.

He flew back through Teletraan back to his body. His cables slithered back under his dermal plating. "Jack."

"You wanted to speak to me?" The young human male asked tentatively.

"Yes," Optimus looked down, unable to meet the human's eyes. They had become steely, always watching. "I thought you would want to know that Miko warned us that Megatron was approaching. She is safe in a Cybertronian frame."

"Really?" Jack smiled. "That's... That's amazing. I mean, I still don't understand how, but..." He swallowed hard. "So she's okay? Do you know when she'll be back?"

"She is with Slipstream," Prime replied.

"Is that good?" Jack wondered. "She got Miko into this."

"I cannot say," Optimus replied, a frown now apparent on his face. "Miko is willful, and with luck, she will turn Slipstream fully to the other side. For the time being, Slipstream has seemed to have renounced her ties as a Decepticon."

"How can we be sure?"

"I believe her attack on Starscream, and the others is evidence enough," Prime said. "And she did not fly to Megatron's aide."

Jack nodded grimly as he accepted the information. "Should I tell Raf, the others?"

"I will," Optimus promised. "In time."

"So then..." Jack looked down, uncertainty if he should bring up what happened when Optimus marched in. Or he and Arcee's relationship. Or anything else he knew he should talk to Optimus Prime about.

He decided to just face it instead of worrying about it. "Is there anything else?"

Optimus looked down towards Jack before looking away.

"Is everything..." Jack started. "Okay?"

"No," Optimus Prime said with honest before turning away back to the terminal.

"So then you don't want to talk about it?" Jack wondered.

"Arcee requested to remain with you," Prime said. "She will remain your guardian."

"I..." Jack frowned, studying the Autobot leader. That could not be what was troubling him. He swallowed hard, his face turning red from embarrassment. "She said you were fine with it."

"I am," Optimus said.

"Then...?"

"You may go, Jack." His hesitancy was clear in his voice.

The young man folded his arms, sighed, and waited. He glanced towards the closed door, but did not make a move. He took several steps forward. "Optimus, if you've got a problem with Arcee and I-"

Slowly, the large bot turned to look at him again, "No, it is not that. Arcee makes her own choices, which is the given right of all Cybertronians, and you are a human of the soundest of minds. Perhaps it is time Arcee know something in her life other than warfare. One day, there must be a peace."

"Right," Jack nodded as he studied Optimus Prime. For once, he did not know what to say, and Prime had something on his spark. He looked back at the door, realizing. He put a hand on Optimus's leg.

"Look, they're all still mourning Ironhide too. Arcee said you two were friends..."

Optimus looked down at the human. Jack had never seen Prime seem so much at a loss, even in the days after his time with the Decepticons. "You should be out there with them, mourning. You're more than just their leader."

"I...I know," Optimus looked down and away.

"Can I ask what happened?" Jack decided to go for broke. Something happened on the battlefield that had shaken Prime. The others had not said, but they had ridden back as stunned as Optimus. Just like there were things... He pushed down his own memory of the day down into the nightmares and dark where they belong.

"I turned my back on Megatron." The old bot frowned. "I tried a tactic that had never occurred to me in centuries of combat. He was alone, surrounded. I denied him the battle."

"Oh," The human looked away himself. "What were we going to do? Arrest Megatron?"

"Precisely, Jack."

"Optimus." Ratchet's voice echoed through the room over the comms. "We are getting a transmission. I believe it is Miko."

"Well, let's go answer it." Jack smirked. "Find out what mess she's gotten into now."

OoOoOoOoO

"Breakdown." Knock Out pointed to a corner of the two story warehouse on the outskirts of a little town in Nevada called Jasper. He pointed to the next door. "Me." He pointed towards another room that had been carved out on the other side of the building. "You can park your chassis in there."

He stamped the floor. "Shielded energon storage."

"Clever," Swindle looked around. "Not a bad set up, if I do say so myself." There were tires, cleaning supplies, piles of wax. There was a large mirror leaning against a long wall. The floor was stunningly clean. "Do all this yourself?"

"Breakdown is handy around the garage," Knock Out replied with a smirk.

"Doesn't seem like a bad place to bunk down," Swindle shook his head. "I'd swore I'd never come back to this filthy little rock, but hard times, right?"

"Hard times," Knock Out agreed. "But Earth isn't so bad. They do appreciate good machine work."

"And television," Swindle saw a large sheet mounted to a wall with a moving image projected onto to it.

"Breakdown does like his stories," Knock Out shrugged.

"Does Megatron know about this little garage of yours?"

"Uh," Knock Out frowned as he was not sure. "I do not believe Dear Leader could fathom hiding and living among the fleshlings as such, even as a necessity for survival."

"No, he does seem to have a one tracked mind," Swindle turned to look at the hideout one more time. "A good customer, but one that is bad for business. We could set ourselves up pretty decently here, at least."

"Written off your ship?" Knock Out wondered.

"Its beacon went off a cycle ago," Swindle shrugged again, walking into the room. "And the Autobots are bound to bring more to steal."

"Steal? More Autobots?" Knock Out wondered.

"Some of them set up a colony a vorn back. Some 'Cons have settled there after renouncing Megatron."

"Well, now that is interesting," Knock Out smirked. It would give them a goal to work towards rather than just racing and rusting.

There was a tap, then the sound of glass being cut. A pane dropped from the roof of the warehouse.

"A colony?" A spidery creature dropped down to the ground in front of the 'Cons.

"Mother and Father have a fight?" Knock Out asked, attempting to be nonplussed by Airachnid's appearance, even as he cursed the damage done, and the mess on his floor.

"I decided it was time for some alone time," Airachnid transformed to her two legged form before looking around herself. "Yes, yes, this will do nicely for a hideout."

"It will?" Knock Out looked at Swindle, his horror at the idea slipping past his mask.

"Oh, it will," She said. "I might even allow you mere combaticons to remain."

"Is that so?" Knock Out asked, wondering if he should power up his energon rod and put an end to it.

Swindle looked between them, "I'm sure we can work something out. No need for violence among apparent allies."

"So true," Airachnid agreed, moving to take a seat at the large, Cybertronian sized couch at the other end of room. She folded her legs. "Is it agreeable?"

"This must have been quite a falling out," Knock Out whispered before shaking his head. How was he going to explain this to Breakdown when he returned from his oil run?

"Now, Swindle, dear," She patted the seat beside her. "Tell me more about this Autobot colony."

"Anything for my favorite doxy," Swindle smirked as he swaggered over.

"I'm not a whore anymore," Airachnid reminded him.

"And I'm not your pimp, anymore," He leaned back and laughed. "Now, what's Megatron done now?

Of course, he would take her side, Knock Out thought. He had not bargained for a femme to hang out in his racing club. Especially with one with so little of a feminine touch.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Time to go," Arcee said as it approached dawn. Fowler had taken June home some hours before. The Autobots had started to settle into their power cycles. The base was quieting down. Jack was glad to see Elita slip away with Optimus Prime. Hopefully, she could help him.

He sat on Arcee's seat, his helmet covering his head. He rubbed Arcee's metal affectionately. He hoped that she could do something for him. Still, his heart ached over Miko...over the woman that did it to her. He still hurt for what he did to the woman whose name he hadn't even known until Miko filled them on all the details. He leaned forward as her engine started up.

"Jack," Arcee asked in his ear. They were already rumbling down the tunnel. "Do we have to go home?"

"Probably not?"

"Good," Arcee said. Her voice sounded like she was still weighing something.

The doors opened in front of them and they were on the road again. He glanced left to see the sun rising over the mountains in the east. He was eighteen years old and one day, he realized. He was with the woman he loved. He had friends, and his mother was happy. He even had rle models rather than an empty, sentimental birthday card for a father. Things were going to work out.

"Then, let's find a motel," Arcee replied. "And find out what else we can do with a few nanites."

"Uhmm," Jack swallowed hard. He blushed "Sure."

OoOoOoOoO

The sound of Megatron clanged through the halls as he passed the remains of several of his soldiers. He could not miss how they were all drained of energon, their sparks casually tossed aside, clear evidence of Airachnid's handiwork when she chose to go for a rampage.

He had carried Soundwave's corpse before tossing it into the recycler to have it smelted down into new chassis for his minions. With a long, exhalation of gases, Megatron put his feelings to rest.

"Ravage," He said as the creature turned to look at him. Steadily, the Nemesis remained in its low orbit through Earth's atmosphere. Ravage had done a fine job in their stead. Ravage's spine began to transform as it started to lower itself back to its animalistic form.

"No, remain at your post." Megatron commanded.

"Reconstruction: complete." A voice said into the comms.

"Very good," Megatron teeth showed as he smiled. Tentacles lowered from an open compartment on the bridge with a spark connected to the ends. A new, more heavily built chassis stepped forward mindlessly from the shadows, a bay open in the front. The tentacled spark dropped to the floor, crawling its way towards the body. Slowly, it hooked itself into the chamber. Light started to emanate from the body. Its optics glowed.

"Very clever of you, Soundwave." Megatron smirked. "Very clever. An interesting choice this time, as well." He was boxier than his previous form. He had less of the hunched, pit fighter's gait. He was strong and proud. He was nearly of a height of Megatron, or Prime, this time. He was still an interesting shade of blue, however.

Some things were hard coded, the older bot guessed.

"Where is my queen?" Megatron asked sardonically.

"Airachnid: fled. Feared assassination from the ranks."

"Figures," Megatron waved it off. "Knock Out, Breakdown, and Swindle?"

"Gone to ground."

"Energon seeking?" Megatron held no illusions they were mere cowards rather than fighters when the chips were down.

"Unknown," Soundwave replied.

"Very well, signal Shockwave," Megatron decided when he heard something rumbling down the corridor. It sounded as if someone had thrown a thermal grenade...

He forced himself not to flinch, but to meet it head on when his optics narrowed to look at the object. It triangular, pointed... Ravage bent to pick it up for her leader, handing it over. Megatron took, holding it with the tips of his talons. He smirked, seeing the dimness in the helm. Could it really be?

"We thought an offering was in order given our last encounter, Lord Megatron," The blue Seeker said as he stepped onto the bridge next to the space black one.

"Your meaning, Thundercracker?" Megatron asked.

"Your path has always been more interesting," Thundercracker replied. "And easier to comprehend."

"Kill or be killed?" Megatron wondered.

"He was surprised most of all, in the end," Thundercracker said. "I am not entirely sure he realized where the killing blow really came from. But the look on his helm when he realized we were going to survive when he would not..." The seeker grinned. "It was exquisite."

"Very well," Megatron eyed both of them wary of plans within plans. He handed the helm to Soundwave, who would begin testing it right away for its authenticity. "What reason do I have to trust either of you?"

"We brought you Starscream," Skywarp replied.

"You brought me a head," Megatron reminded him. "Not a spark, or a Starscream for me to execute by my hand."

"Would you rather we fly off," Thundercracker asked. "When there are still Autobot's to hunt?"

"No, you both will make yourselves useful to me, I am certain of it," Megatron smirked. "You may remain."

"Are we to destroy things?"

"In time, Skywarp," Megatron replied. "In time."

"Megatron?" The learned tone of an older Cybertronian voice said before the singly, yellow optic and purple outline appeared on the screen.

"Shockwave," Megatron's arms were outstretched. "Soundwave's regeneration programming was a success."

"Of course, it would be," Shockwave leaned forward, even as his image refused to show more detailed, washed out by the brightness of the light.

"I order you to come to Earth, and any other Decepticon you find on the way." Megatron decided. "Execute anyone who refuses, Field Commander."

"My Lord?" Shockwave asked.

"Bring the armada. We will eradicate the population, strip mine the planet. Then you may have the Chaos Bringer that lay beneath as your own pet, if you like."

"Certainly, Lord Megatron," Shockwave replied.

"I have grown weary of games," Megatron replied. "First, we must purge our ranks, so that we will all share a common purpose."

"Very well, my Lord," Shockwave replied. "I will signal the fleet. We will be in orbit in less than a vorn."