Warning: This chapter contains a bit of gore and violence.

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A few years ago...

Optimus looked over his team in worry. The loss of the children had been hard on all of them, including himself. It had already been a few weeks, but the only significant change was Agent Fowler. He had gone nearly back to normal, shouting angrily at them and demanding better results. They knew he missed the kids too, and Optimus had suspicions that he was actually angry with them for it, but he kept it to himself.

His team had all changed considerably. Bumblebee hadn't said a word to anyone, and didn't do much of anything. He would simply stare off into space. If something was needed of him he would do so without a word or hesitation. He was blank, like an empty shell. Bulkhead was depressed, and a bit angry. When he spoke, it sounded like a constant sigh. He didn't really have the desire to do anything, except take his anger out on the wall late at night. Ratchet was even worse. He was even snappier than usual, even getting angry with the Prime from time to time. Most of the 'bots didn't argue when he ordered them around, which seemed to make him even more angry for some reason. When he was silent or working, his optics were usually tired and sad. Optimus knew his old friend was having trouble resting, and that nightmares plagued him. Arcee... well, he barely knew how she was acting. He would have to guess distant, since she was always on patrol duty. She returned late every day and immediately went straight to her quarters, unwilling to talk to anyone. Optimus hadn't been able to actually speak to her yet. Smokescreen was trying to keep the mood up, but to no avail. He was often alone in the halls, a blank look over his faceplate. Ultra Magnus had no idea how to react. He was more silent than usual. He knew he actually missed the children, but didn't know whether it was appropriate or not to let his emotions get the better of him at a time like this. Wheeljack was always with Bulkhead. He missed the little wrecker, too, but he knew that Bulkhead had loved her more than he. He tried to comfort him the best he could, but his own efforts were dreary as well. 

Optimus knew that he himself was breaking as well. He had vowed that he would never allow human casualties, but in the end the ones he cared most about ended up dying. His spark ached for them, and he wanted to mourn just as much as the bots were. Just as much as their families had. He was sorry that only June Darby was the one who knew what had really happened to them. He still hadn't heard from her since then.

As much as he wanted to be upset with the others, he had to remain strong for the team. Times were tougher now, and he needed to stay the way he was if they were going to move past it. He kept his normal stance as calm leader, hoping that it would eventually reassure them.

It was a small hope.

"Prime!" Agent Fowler growled angrily. The man stormed into base with a furious look in his eye.

Optimus turned to the agent, while at the same time, an alarm started to go off. The bots all turned to Ratchet, who looked up at the monitor with a scowl.

"Decepticon activity," he grumbled. "What else?"

"Then your alarm should have been going off half an hour ago," Fowler hissed. "Those 'Cons have been wrecking a military base for nearly an hour now! 

The Autobots, who were surprisingly all present, gave each other woeful looks.

"The system must have a bug," Ratchet muttered. "I haven't been able to fix a few of them since.."

"Ratchet, open a Bridge," Optimus told his old friend gently. "Agent Fowler, you know I do not want any humans sacrificing their lives to the Decepticons."

The agent glared at him, and Optimus knew what he was saying in his eyes. Nonetheless, he turned and contacted the military telling them to retreat and that the Autobots were on their way.

"Autobots," Optimus said, raising his voice. "We must proceed with caution."

The rest of them all nodded in agreement, save for Arcee. Now that they were about to face action, most of the team seemed to regain focus. Optimus hoped it was a small step towards returning to normal.

"Roll out!" he commanded, changing into his alt. mode. The others followed him into the Groundbridge, hot on his heels. 

When they made it through, they immediately started receiving blast fire. Arcee changed into her biped mode, pure fury splashed across her faceplate. She drew her blasters and charged them, shouting angrily.

"Arcee!" Optimus cried, trying to run after her. The others did as well, but were pinned down by the sudden numbers that had appeared. "Fall back! You cannot attack alone!" he shouted after her.

"Watch me!" she growled as she continued to attack. "These sick bots murdered them!" She ran towards the large government building, retracting her guns and pulling out her arm blades. "I'll destroy them all," she growled darkly, disappearing into the building.

Optimus shouted in worry and rage as he tried to follow, but now Dreadwing himself had arrived. The large Con took Wheeljack by the neck cords and threw him aside, not before nearly crushing the life out of the wrecker.

"Jackie!" Bulkhead yelled, smashing his way towards him.

Optimus charged for the Con, and the two immediately faced off in battle. Bulkhead ran over to his friend as the titans fought, feeling the sparks fly but didn't care. Wheeljack grunted, trying to get up, but his neck cords were crushed. Bulkhead could hear his labored and painful venting as he collapsed back to the ground.

Optimus saw this as well and drew back from his fight with Dreadwing. "Bulkhead, Ultra Magnus, help Wheeljack back to base!" he ordered. "Ratchet, open a Bridge and prepare sick bay! Bumblebee, Smokescreen, do you think you can hold off the rest of them while I retrieve Arcee?"

Bumblebee whirled his approval and gave his leader a thumbs up, while Smokescreen punched another Con with a smirk. Optimus nodded to the young bots and raced towards the building that Arcee had run into. 

He raced past the destruction and prayed silently that Arcee was alright. He should have known she would have been bitter in battle. She wouldn't care if she put herself in harm's way now. She just wanted revenge. He felt shudders rise in his chassis as he passed several dead and destroyed Vehicons. 

Then he heard a scream.

Optics widening in fear, Optimus turned the corner towards the scream.

He met the cold, hard gaze of Megatron himself. His spark twisted horribly as his gaze slowly fell lower and lower, passing the sharp dentas curled into a smirk, and landing slightly below his chest chassis. Arcee hung limply, her optics flickering. Her faceplate was twisted in pain and surprise. Slowly, she looked down to her own chest chassis, where the warlord's blade was stabbed right through her spark. She weakly coughed up Energon, which joined the puddle dripping at her pedes, and looked back up to her leader.

He screamed in rage and rushed forward. Megatron chuckled darkly.

As her optics finally began to go dark, the corners of her mouth twitched up slightly.

"I'm sorry, Optimus," she whispered hoarsely. "That wasn't.. very.. tactical.. was it?"

The Prime slammed into the Decepticon warlord just as her spark finally gave out. 

"Megatron!" he screamed, feeling lubricant rise in his optics, but refusing to let them fall. Megatron thrust the dead Autobot away as he was collided by the Prime. He grunted and rolled away quickly before he could draw another blow from his enemy's fist. Optimus roared with despair and anger, bringing out his giant blaster and sending thousands of blasts at him.

A Groudbridge appeared from behind Megatron. The warlord sneered and jumped away, disappearing in a flash of color. 

Optimus Prime didn't scream again. He slowly turned to his dead friend and gently slid his servos under her chassis, lifting her without a word and exciting the building. He looked over her with sorrow, spark breaking as he saw she was still smiling.

The others had finished the battle outside. The remaining 'Cons must have bridged away, because there were none alive left on the field. The rest of the team turned when they heard him coming. A collective gasp was heard and Bumblebee whirred in terror and despair. Bulkhead, with Wheeljack following, now recovered, ran over to Optimus, optics looking over his dead friend.

"What.. happened?" Smokescreen asked quietly, voice breaking.

Optimus shook his helm. "Megatron," he replied, his voice dark and painful.

Wheeljack sighed, optics sad and regretful, and reached a servo to his audio receptor. "Ratchet.. we need a bridge."

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Poor Arcee. ;-;