"The day misspent, the love misplaced, has inside it the seed of redemption.
Nothing is exempt from resurrection."
~Kay Ryan, Say Uncle

>>•<<

Megatron . . ."

The warlord groaned, his body shifting slightly as he came to, confused for a moment as to where he was. He had been battling Jack Darby, and then-

"Megatron!"

He jerked up in surprise, optics flying open before crying out briefly in pain and shutting them again, bright light having short-circuited his sensors momentarily. Opening them again and yet holding his hand up as a shield, he glared into the light.

"Who are you?!" He demands. "And why am I not one with the Allspark?"

"The dark energon within you has tainted your spark, and kept you anchored to the world of the undead." The voice explains, echoing softly with ancient power. "For you are not alive, and yet not fully dead."

"You didn't answer my first question." He growled.

"I am Primus. Creator of your world, and your spark."

His optics widened, yet he stared at the ground, now too fearful to date look up. "Impossible!"

"And yet it is I." Primus said without much else explanation. "You have the potential for change, Megatron. Jack Darby has extinguished your spark and taken a liking to your image; which is not what I have planned for him."

"Then why don't you just change him?" Megatron growled.

"I do not like to dapple in the comings and goings of my creations, nor the creations of others." Primus explained. "Not in the direct sense. But, if you are to agree to my terms, I will make you an agent for my doings, and you will set right what you have done wrong to the humans."

Megatron tried to look up, only to hiss in pain as a light burned his optics again. "And if I refused?"

"You will be left to the mercy of Unicron." The deities' voice was reluctant, even sad. "And that is a path of unbearable pain and torture that even I would not venture towards."

The Decepticon thought for a long moment before he let out a long ex-vent, glaring at his feet. "What are your conditions?"

Primus sounded pleased. "That you will end your war with Optimus Prime. Not by surrendering, but by sharing common ground. Go back to your original beliefs of equality, justice, and peace. You do not have to lower yourself below Optimus Prime, but equate yourself to him. Cast aside your pride, your hurt, and your anger. Return to Cybertron, restore it, and establish not a dictatorship, or a monarchy, but a many faceted government that appeals to the needs of the people, not just the wants." The god then sighed. "But if you refuse these requests, and go to Unicron, I cannot save you from him."

All of what Primus had asked went against everything Megatron had been fighting for. Make himself an equal to Optimus Prime?! To not rule Cybertron and Earth? He had wanted to overthrow Cybertron's government in the first place, and now Primus wanted to reestablish it?!

"Work together with Optimus Prime to save Jack Darby, and the other humans, and I will instill upon you the title of Prime."

His train of thought stopped, and then careened. Prime? After so long, and what I've done?

But the title of Prime would give him the power he needed to be a part of Cybertron's government, to have influence over the rule making decisions. He wanted the title, coveted it. And to do one simple task would be enough to have Primus give it to him. He could "save" Jack Darby, and the other former humans. In fact, he could go a step further.

He could restore their humanity.

"If I accept . . ." He stated slowly. "And do as you ask, that will give me the title of Prime?"

"Yes."

"No strings attached?"

"None at all. The title will be yours to bear."

The warlord pretended to think long and hard, his red optics finally having the ability to look into the light, a determined expression on his face.

"I accept."

>>•<<

"June." Arcee called out softly. "Juuuune."

She froze as heavy footsteps clanked past her, but it was only Shockwave making another round through the ship. The theory was that if June realized the Decepticons were active and looking for her, she would be constantly on the move to keep hiding; and eventually she would run into Arcee.

Crawling around in the floor ventilation system wasn't Arcee's ideal version of fun, but it was the only place they could think that June would be able to hide in. There was no way she could just run around the halls of the ship without getting caught at some point.

"June." She calls again, looking around in hopes of spotting the human. She had left her coat in her original cell, so Arcee thought it would be easy to spot a mint-green human in "scrubs" hiding out. But she had yet to have any luck.

"Ar . . . Arcee?"

"June? Where are you?" The femme bot asked a little louder, but keeping her voice to a minimum. She crawled a little farther, relief filling her protoform as the human crawled out of a small nook, looking frazzled and slightly thinner than normal but alive.

"Arcee?! What are you doing here?" June asked in surprise, keeping her voice down.

"I'm here to find you." Arcee crawled closer and picked up the human, noticing her body was abnormally cold against her digits. "Are you hurt?"

"Hungry, but not starving." June admitted, a bottle of water in her hand. "I saw traps the Decepticons laid out for me . . . Propping a box up with a stick only works in movies."

Arcee didn't have the humor capacity nor the time to laugh. "June, I know this is going to sound incredibly scary, strange, and untrue, but I need you to trust me." She took a long vent. "Jack killed Megatron, and is now leader of the Decepticons. He's going to kill us all."

June stared at her for a long time. "You're . . . What . . . No! Jack would never do that!"

"The only way I can show you is if I hand you over to the Decepticons to show him." Arcee noticed her fear, and rushed to explain when she began to struggle. "No, listen! Us and the Decepticons . . . We're working together. This is how bad the situation is, June. And we need your help. Jack thinks you're dead, and if we show him that you're alive-"

"You have been fighting the Decepticons for years, and they transformed my son and his friends into one of you, and now you're saying you're working together?!"

"I need you to trust me." Arcee looked at her desperately. "Please. Do this not just for me, but for Jack. For Miko and Raf." The woman stilled, and Arcee begged her one last time. "Please."

June paused, her gut feeling and her mind tugging her in different directions. Finally, she swallowed a large amount of nervous saliva, and opened her mouth to reply.

"Well, well, well." The roughened voice of Megatronus interrupted her.

>>•<<

"Scalpel?"

"Check."

"Forceps?"

"Check."

"Holding containers?"

"Check."

"Welder?"

"Check."

"Alright then; let's get started." Ratchet grumbled, Miko and Rafael laying out on tables. Their bodies were currently being pumped with the Cybertronian equivalent of anesthesia, optics shuttering closed as they relaxed. Bulkhead and Bumblebee stood on standby, as well as two containers meant to hold the pieces of spark that would eventually come out of their bodies. Miko was chosen to go first, Ratchet manually opening her chest plates to take a look at her spark.

"Bulkhead, I need you to be on standby." Ratchet ordered as he took one of Knock Out's scalpel, as well as a pair of tweezers. With the latter he gently prodded Miko's spark, finding the red piece that fit snugly against the rest of the vital organ, contrasting to the blue glow that was the rest of her.

"Be gentle." Knock Out squeaked.

Ratchet growled softly. "Well, now that you mention it . . ." He carefully grasped onto the strand with his forceps, Knock Out flinching as his spark shard reacted with a slight sense of pain. The older medic then took another set and beckoned Bulkhead to come as close as he could, the Autobot opening his spark chamber to reveal his large, kind spark.

"This might pinch a little." Ratchet warned, taking a small piece of Bulkhead and gently pried it from him, a wispy strand still connecting the loose piece to its original owner. "Hold this." He commanded Knock Out, who gently took the tool. "Put it as close to her spark as possible. I want to cut yours out and then immediately replace them."

"You got it." Knock Out did as told, feeling a sudden magnetism as he got closer. Ratchet took the scalpel and cleaved off the wisp that connected the Decepticon's spark shard to Miko, and almost immediately her spark dimmed.

"Give it to her now!!" Ratchet barked, and Knock Out gave a yelp before he let go, the spark shard of Bulkhead immediately sticking, revitalizing Miko's spark.

"Whew." He breathed, watching as Ratchet put his free shard into the holding container. "It worked."

"Thank the Allspark." Ratchet muttered. "Now let's do Rafael. Bulkhead, you rest."

"Yes sir." The giant Autobot felt weird, almost like he had a hole in his spark, but nonetheless he was happy that now Miko was safe from Decepticon influence.

Rafael proved easier, now that the two medics knew what they were doing, Bumblebee donating his spark shard to his charge and feeling very much like Bulkhead did. They both would do anything for their charges; and with Arcee on the Nemesis, they knew she was feeling the same.

Knock Out picked up the two holding containers. "Now, once Arcee affirms that she has located the human, I'll be off."

"Oh no you won't." Smokescreen crossed his arms. "Not until we get Arcee, June, and Jack back in one piece."

"Allow me to help." Came a voice from the back of the base.

Knock Our dropped his and Soundwave's spark shards, their containers shattering as he whirled, a tall, menacing figure emerging from the shadows, the other Autobots immediately on the defensive, Optimus Prime's optics widening with disbelief.

"Lord Megatron?!" The medic shrieked.