I watched as Ratchet worked on Bumblebee, dutifully ignoring the energon that had began to coat the medic's hands. In todays battle, one of Megatron's stray blasts from his cannon had hit the scout, almost deactivating him permanently. We had retreated immediately, but I don't know if it had been soon enough.

Finally, Ratchet sat his tools down, washed his hands, and grabbed a cloth to start wiping the young scout down, removing the energon that was dripping from his armor. I walked forward slowly as Ratchet started to tremble. Gently, I grabbed the cloth and finished wiping down the scout before leading the medic away from the prone form.

"He should live,"Ratchet said, his voice no more than a whisper. "If nothing goes wrong he should make a full recovery."

"That is good," I said as I led the medic through the door of my room and sat him on the berth.

Ratchet didn't say another word, just sat there staring at his trembling hands like he could still see Bumblebee's energon on them. I sat on the berth next to him and rubbed soothing circles on his back.

"I don't know if I can take much more of this," he finally said, voice cracking from the weight of his sorrow. "This war has gone on for too long, taking too many lives. How many more times will I have to see Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead, or even you on that table before it this war claims you as well? Before someone gets in a lucky shot? Before I am the only one left after having to watch each of you die despite my best efforts?"

The shaking had steadily grown as he spoke. I pulled the medic closer and did my best to comfort him as he slowly broke down.

"Why? Why do we still fight? There is not much left to fight for. Cybertron is destroyed, the system that had sparked the war ended long ago, the very people we have fought for are on the verge of extinction, there is no point in fighting any longer, no valid reason," Ratchet said as tears began to fall down his face.

"All I want is for this pointless war to be over. Is that too much to ask for?"

I pulled his head to my shoulder and he wrapped his arms around me, clinging to me as he finally broke down into painful sobs. He cried for the home he might never see again, for those that died, for the agony we all have suffered. He wept for what could have been and what wasn't. He sobbed in the grief that had been ignored for centuries in favor of keeping us alive.

I held him through it all, whispering words of comfort that made little difference in the face of the waves of grief that threatened to swallow him whole. I did not worry that he would lose himself in sorrow, though, he was far too strong for that, so I held him close in his time of need and gave him what little comfort I could.

Eventually the heart broken sobs had tampered down and Ratchet fell into a deep recharge, no doubt exhausted from both the surgery he had preformed earlier in the day and finally letting out the emotions that he had kept pent up for so long.

I gently laid him down on my berth and extracted myself from his arms, even as he tried to pull me closer. As much as I would like to stay with him, I have a job to do.

It was child's play to hack into the Decepticon database, especially after I had left several back doors into their network when I was there as Orion. Soon I had everything I needed to know.

I told my team that I was going out on patrol and put Arcee in charge of the base with instructions to let Ratchet sleep unless there was an emergency, and to watch over Bumblebee. Then I went to the ground bridge and entered the set of coordinates I had taken from the Decepticon database.

I went through the ground bridge and hid a smile when I saw no one was around. I was in an unused storage room in the Nemesis. I carefully made my way to Megatron's quarters, using the map I had downloaded along with the Decepticon tracking beacons to avoid everyone on the ship. Soon I was at my destination, now all I had to do was wait.

"It is almost funny how unguarded even a warlord is when they walk into a room they think of as theirs," I can't help but think as Megatron walks right past me towards his berth.

I didn't give him a chance to notice I was there. I sprung forward and shoved a cable into the data port on the back of his neck and downloaded the virus I had created. Megatron couldn't even make a sound as he fell to the ground.

"Sorry about this, Megatron, but the war must end," I told him right before his spark gave its final beat.

I was debating whether or not to put him on his berth when the door behind me opened.

"Lord Megatron-" Knockout started but stopped when he saw me standing next to the fallen corpse of his leader.

The Decepticon medic stared at the lifeless frame for a minute before just shaking his head and asking, "Does Ratchet finally want us dead?"

I hid my surprise at that comment. My species was rare even when Cybertron was thriving, few knew we even existed let alone anything about us.

"No, he wants the war to end," I told Knockout, allowing none of what I was thinking to show on my face.

"And that could not be achieved while Megatron was alive," he concluded.

I nodded.

"Nor can it be achieved while Starscream, Shockwave, or Soundwave still function," the medic continued without any emotion.

I nodded again.

"I can help."

I looked at him with visible surprise, "Why?"

"Did you know I warned Megatron about your race? Yet he ignored me when I told him that you would stop at nothing to fulfill the wish of your chosen. They all ignored my advise, I am not stupid enough to do the same. I will not stand in the way of your goals."

"But why help me?" I asked him.

"Your medic is not the only one to grow tired of this war, nor the Decepticons, Optimus Prime. I have never been regarded very highly in the Decepticons because of my build and because my fighting abilities differ vastly from everyone else. Breakdown was the one who kept the worse of the ridicule and mistreatment at bay, however, ever since Breakdown died there opinion, and treatment, of me has gotten worse. I am tired of all of this, it is time for something new."

I took a closer look at Knockout. I could see the tole everything was taking. His paint was dull with scratches in it, his shoulders slumped, and his optics were dark and weary. He looked exhausted, like all of the fight was drained out of him.

"I will gladly accept your help," I told him.

He gave me a tired smile and asked, "What's your plan?"

"With your help I can fake a virus that infected and killed my targets. After that you would be the highest ranking officer and you could call for a cease fire," I told him.

"That could work, but more than just Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave wold have to be killed to justify a cease fire," Knockout warned.

"Well you said that your treatment has gotten worse right?" I asked with a wicked smile.

Knockout nodded cautiously.

"I have never been one to prevent someone from exacting revenge on those that have done them wrong."

Knockout's optics gleamed at that, "How considerate."

…

We went after Soundwave first, because he was the only one who had any hope of being able to stop our plan. All things considered, he was as easy to kill as Megatron. I had Knockout district him as I came up behind him and downloaded the virus into his system. He was dead before he fully realized what was happening.

After that Knockout called for a ship wide quarantine to keep everyone else in place and to help make their story more believable. Next we went after the other two, killing the the same way we did Soundwave.

"I guess despite how little they thought of their medic that never really expected him to betray them," I thought with a laugh. "Oh well, that just makes things easier for us."

The next hour was spent killing half of the remaining crew members, leaving only those essential to the continued function of the ship, not that anyone would notice that little fact.

"That was the last of them,"Knockout told me.

"Good. I need to get back to base before anyone gets suspicious."

Knockout nodded, "I will call your base in a few hours after I inform the crew of what has happened."

I nodded my thanks to him as I inputted the coordinates into the ground bridge controls. I was about to leave when Knockout grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into a kiss.

"If you are ever interested in a threesome call me," Knockout said as he pulled away.

"Convince Ratchet and I would be happy to let you join in. I always did have a thing for medics," I said with a smirk then walked through the bridge.

"Any trouble?" I asked Arcee as I walked into the base.

"None."

"Good. Your shift should be over in an hour, try to get some recharge," I advised.

"You as well sir."

I nodded and after I checked on Bumblebee I headed to my quarters. I smiled at the sight that greeted me. Ratchet was curled into a ball in a sound recharge. Gently I played down and wrapped my arms around him. I fell into recharge with a smile on my face.

A few hours later Bulkhead knocked on my door to tell me that the Decepticons were hailing us. I thanked him and got up, Ratchet doing the same having been woken by our conversation.

"I wonder what they could want?" Ratchet grumbled, his vulnerability from last night gone.

"I guess we shall see," I said as we walked into the main room.

On the screen was Knockout looking like he hadn't gotten a decent recharge in days.

"Why have you called?" I asked, addressing him like I would anyone else.

"I have called for a truce," he began but was cut off by Bulkhead.

"Yeah right. A Con asking for a truce? You have got to be joking. What is Megatron planning" he sneered at the Decepticon medic only to back off at the glare that he was given.

"I'm afraid our dear leader shall never plan anything ever again. He's dead," Knockout sneered back.

Everyone seemed to freeze at that.

"What do you mean Megatron is dead?" I asked somberly.

"He is dead, deactivated, no longer functioning along with about half of the rest of the crew," Knockout said with a scowl.

"Half the crew!" Ratchet exclaimed. "How did that happen?"

"The same way most idiots get deactivated, he touched something he shouldn't have."

We waited for him to elaborate.

With a sigh he finally gave in, "Apparently after the battle with you he stumble across a cybertronian container made to store relics. He had thought he had found something that could be used as a weapon against you, so he opened it. It was empty so everyone thought it had just been a misfire, that is until Lord Megatron was found dead in his quarters."

I had to admit, the Decepticon medic was a great story teller. He had my team hanging on to his every word.

"I had his body transferred to the med bay and I locked myself in there to find out what had happened. In the end, that decision might have saved my life. I found out that in that container had been a preserved virus that killed anyone infected within a few hours, and it spread by touch."

That gained him a startled gasp.

Knockout continued, ignoring the gasp, "By the time I initiated a quarantine half the ship was infected."

"Wait, didn't you say you looked over Megatron's body? Doesn't that mean you were infected too?" Ratchet asked.

"No, luckily for me, the virus can only survive in a living host. Once the host dies the virus follows with in seconds."

"Fascinating," Ratchet muttered.

Knockout gave a dry laugh, "Indeed."

Ratchet coughed in embarrassment, "Please continue."

"The virus has finally died out, along with over half of our crew. Among the diseased are Soundwave, Starscream, and Shockwave leaving me the highest ranking officer of the Decepticon Army. The thing is, we were already low on energon, while we can double the time it can last now, with half our crew gone and our leader dead we can not afford to continue to fight against you and attempt to find more fuel. So I along with the remaining crew member decided it would be best to call for a truce, it's not like there is a lot left fight over," the last part was muttered under his breath but all of us heard the bitter words anyway.

"Excuse us a minute," I said and led my team away from the screen.

"It could be a trap," Arcee pointed out immediately.

Ratchet snorted, "Of course it could be a trap."

"Can we really afford to not try? We may be able to hold out for a while longer, but eventually we will run out of luck," I reminded them. "Let us try."

"You're too trusting," Ratchet admonished.

"Do we have much of a choice? Besides he looked sincere."

"And by that you mean his paint was all scratched up and that he could use a few days worth of recharge," Bulkhead translated.

Ratchet snorted again, "Fine you have my support."

"You are right, we can't go on for much longer like this," Arcee agreed, looking in the direction of the med bay where Bumblebee still laid in stasis.

"If it turns out to be a trap I can just pound them," Bulkhead agreed hitting his fist into his hand in demonstration.

With that we walked back over to the screen.

"We agree to your truce," I told Knockout.

The medics shoulders slumped in relief, "Thank you. As a show of trust we shall allow you to decide the place and time we should meet to discuss the details of the truce."

I informed him that we would send him the coordinates once they were decided upon and he cut the connection.

Back in my quarters I pulled Ratchet into a hug and said, "I guess your wish came true."Wish It