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Bots are lucky they still have a city like Iacon to call home.The war with the Quintessons was horrible, and it’s a miracle Iacon is still standing at all.At least, that’s what Sentinel Prime says.Cybertronians are born with their T-cogs removed to keep everyone safe, and are thusly divided into groups, to ensure everyone stays that way.The Constructicons represent the pursuit of knowledge and technical expertise. No solution is out of reach for them.The Circle of Light are led by Dai Atlas, who promotes pacifism. They distance themselves from any and all conflict, as their philosophy promotes enlightenment, serenity, and balance.The Enforcers of the Tyrest Accord are led by Ultra Magnus. They uphold Cybertronian law with absolute integrity, ensuring that the truth is always revealed and that justice is served, no matter the cost.And then there’s the Wreckers. They protect the city, willing to face extreme danger without hesitation.Truthfully, Orion always admired them, even as a sparkling. There was no mission too difficult, no risk they won’t take at least once.Many think the Wreckers upset the balance, being the only faction permitted to have T-cogs. And Orion can’t say he doesn’t agree, at least a little.But Orion’s faction is the Technobots. Everyone likes to call them “clanks”. But truly, Orion’s life is luckier than others. All knowledge is in pursuit of sharing it with everyone, even the miner bots with no faction.Because their role is so vital to the city, every faction trusts them to make the big decisions for Sentinel to carry out.Alpha Trion and Sentinel work together.Truly, this system has ensured Cybertron’s survival. They all have a place.But not Orion Pax.Alpha Trion always says nothing is more valuable than knowledge, but Orion still feels as clueless as he’s always been.Emotions are a no-no for Technobots, as is imagination, because they distract from researching for unbiased logic and data needed to help everyone else.But all of that isn’t going to matter anymore after today’s test.Naturally, there’s always the worry you won’t get the faction you came online into, and have to walk away from the only life you’ve ever known, but for Orion, there’s the bigger fear that he’ll be told not to go anywhere at all.Times like this, Orion wishes he was more like his best friend, Dion. He’s never had to think about where he belongs. He just does.But above all, everyone is told the same thing: trust in Primus.It’s believed only Primus himself knows who you were always meant to be, and where you truly belong.Is Orion Pax a Constructicon hiding beneath the mesh of a Technobot?Or perhaps waiting to be brought into the Circle of Light?Does he have a secret talent of enforcing justice?Did he have it all along under Alpha Trion?Or is Orion about to become something bigger than himself?

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“Orion.” Alpha Trion approaches him. “Tell me how you’re feeling about the test. Honestly.”“I’m alright, Alpha Trion.” Orion is sure he’s telling the truth, but another part of him thinks it might also be a lie. “Was it the same for you?”“No.” Alpha Trion replies. “But I was alive before the test was ever put in place. But I don’t think I would’ve had anything to worry about, and neither should you.”
As Orion and Dion make their way to the testing center, Dion suddenly stops to help a miner carry a heavy load, calling, “Hey Orion, wanna help out some?”
“You know, knowledge isn’t the only thing that can help miners.” Dion reprimands him as they get closer. “Ever think of that?”“I was actually.” Orion says.“Well don’t just think, do it.” Dion says.“Easy for you to say.” Orion mutters.“Orion, come on.” Dion scoffs. “Trust that Primus knows where you belong.”As they finally reach their line, Orion can’t help but look at the others, and the names proudly displaying their factions.Constructicons.Circle of Light.Enforcers of the Tyrest Accord.Technobots.Wreckers.“Hey.” Someone not part of the Technobots approaches. “Tell me, all the important knowledge you all find in the archives, you share it with the miners?”The Technobots all not, but the bot shakes his helm. “That’s a lie. Everyone already knows you pick and choose what we’re allowed to know. Why bother lying?”When no one answers, the bot gets agitated. “What’s wrong with you clanks, huh? You just stupid or something?”Orion starts to step forward, but Dion stops him. “Don’t.”A noise behind them makes them all turn, and there’s the Wreckers, making their way to their line.Orion only smiles, then follows his own line inside.
“50 cycles ago, after Sentinel defeated the Quintessons, he created a system he believed would keep the peace among Cybertronians. Today is an aptitude test based on your personality that will tell you which faction you belong in. The best thing you could do is choose the faction your test says you’re best suited for, but you have the free will to choose whichever one you wish at tomorrow’s ceremony, no matter the results. Be warned, once you decide, you can never leave. Choose wisely.”
Orion steals a look at Dion, nods once, then walks through his door.
Inside the room is a berth rigged with some kind of equipment, and the door slams behind him, which makes Orion turn his head only for his optics to widen at the miniature energon fountain on display.“Why do all of you Technobots immediately look at that stupid fountain?” the bot at the computer wonders.“Energon is just a fuel source.” Orion replies.“I am aware.” The bot quips. “Lay down.”Orion walks over slowly and complies, while the bot straps him down.“My name is Glyph. I’m going to be the one administering your test.” She says. “You’ll be faced with multiple choices that will determine your eligibility for each faction, until one outshines the rest. But I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Most get the same faction they came online into, and you’ve got Technobot written all over you.”Glyph holds up a syringe filled with something green, making Orion ask, “What is that?”“Synthetic energon.” Glyph explains, then makes quick work of jabbing it into Orion’s mesh and pushing it in.Orion winces at the stab, closing his optics.
But when he opens them again, the room is empty except for himself.He’s also not in the room anymore, replaced by a bridge over the energon rivers in the center of Iacon.Not sure what’s happening, he walks closer, kneeling and reaching out to see if he can touch the flowing energon, when he sees someone approach to kneel next to him.He turns his helm, and he’s met with a mirror image of himself.“Choose.” The mirror self says, right as a burst of noise from other bots on the bridge reach Orion’s audials. “Before you run out of time.”“Choose what?” Orion asks. “What’s the danger?”“Choose.” The mirror self repeats.“What am I choosing?” Orion demands, right as a bomb appears in front of him, ticking down the kliks until it goes off.Orion stands up and backs away in a panic, until he remembers the crowd is still largely unaware of the bomb.“LOOK OUT!” he shouts, which succeeds in getting several bots to turn and see the bomb and make a dash to get off the bridge.That done, Orion kneels back down, covering the bomb with his frame, and when he looks again, the bomb is miraculously diffused, no longer in danger of going off.Orion sighs in relief, until he hears behind him, “Hey!”, and turns his helm to see.In seconds, he’s running to catch upon seeing a bot pushed and nearly fall off the side of the bridge, before Orion gets there in time to grab his servo.“Don’t!” Orion hears behind him. “He’s the one that planted the bombs!”That changes things, and for a second, Orion hesitates, and that hesitation is enough for someone to shove Orion right off, and all he can do is hold on tight to the suspected bomber’s servo, even as they both hit the energon rivers.
Orion startles awake, immediately noticing he’s back in the testing room.“You need to get out of here.” Glyph orders. “I’m sneaking you out the back.”“What result did I get?” Orion tries to ask, but Glyph’s not listening, pulling him away. “What did I do?”“As far as anyone is going to know, you had a bad reaction to the synthetic energon, and you had to go home early.” Glyph instructs.“But what about my results?” Orion insists.“Technobot.” Glyph replies in a deadpan, which makes Orion’s shoulders droop, before the bot continues. “And Constructicon. And Wrecker.”“Wrecker…” Orion repeats, stunned.“Your results didn’t produce one faction.” The bot explains.“What?” Orion exclaims. “That’s not supposed to happen. The test is designed so only one faction can come up.”“No it’s not.” Glyph says. “What happened to you is rare. Very rare. It’s what’s referred to as an ‘Ascendant’.”Orion keeps staring at Glyph, as she says, “No one can ever know what happened here. Especially not Alpha Trion. As far as Iacon knows, your result was Technobot, because that’s the result I’m going to put in the system.”“But how am I supposed to choose a faction now?” Orion demands. “This test was supposed to tell me where I belong! What faction I’m meant to be in! We’re supposed to trust that Primus knows where we’re all meant to be!”“Primus doesn’t know everything.” Glyph says flatly. “The only one who can decide your fate now is you.”

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Orion makes his way back to the archives, his pedes feeling heavier with every step, when he stops in his tracks upon spotting the miners.They all look so tired and exhausted, and Orion knows he’s going to feel guilty for this, but he just walks right past them, not saying anything.
Orion’s just grabbed some energon cubes when Dion finds him.“What happened?” Dion asks immediately. “I waited for you after I finished my test, but you weren’t there.”“I had a bad reaction to the serum, so they told me to go home.” Orion lies.“Did you get your result?” Dion pushes.Orion nods, hoping Dion won’t push any further.But since when does Primus care about what he wants?“So what did you get?” Dion asks.Instead of answering, Orion asks, “What did you get?”Dion only smiles.
“Why didn’t you inform someone?” Alpha Trion demands when he meets up with both Dion and Orion in the archives later.“I told you, I had a bad reaction.” Orion repeats for what feels like the umpteenth time.“Orion.” Alpha Trion says with a sigh. “Do you not understand how vulnerable we are? It’s only because we answer to Sentinel they haven’t raided the archives to take all the knowledge stored here for themselves.”“Who hasn’t?” This is news to Orion.“Constructicons.” Alpha Trion explains. “They believe Sentinel should be looking to them instead of the answers, instead of us. We can’t give them any more ammunition. Sentinel himself isn’t immune.”“Really?” Again, Orion is surprised. “Why not?”“Something from years ago.” Alpha Trion says offhandedly. “Supposedly he mistreated a born mining bot, and the bot retaliated by defecting.”“Is that true?” Orion demands.“Can’t be.” Alpha Trion says. “Defections happen over less.”Orion looks at the energon in his hand, thinking back to the bubbling energon fountain in the testing room.“Don’t fall asleep in here.” Alpha Trion says. “You need all the sleep you can get for tomorrow.”Dion and Orion nod and start to put some of the datapads away, before Alpha Trion stops them again.“Wait.” The other two bots look at him, so Alpha Trion continues, “I’m proud to have been your mentor.”He reaches out a servo to rest on both of their shoulders.“And I’m proud of whoever you’ll become, from here on out.”Then he leaves them alone, but right as Orion goes back to putting datapads away, Dion says, “No, Orion, wait.”Orion turns his helm, as Dion says, “At tomorrow’s ceremony…you need to think of him.” He nods in the direction Alpha Trion left.“I know.” Orion assures.“And you too.” Dion adds.And that, finally, leaves a sinking feeling in Orion’s spark, one he’s still thinking on even as they both settle in for the night.
The next day, Orion stops to look at all of Iacon gathering in the ceremony building, all of them seated with their factions.He sees the stage, where the 6 bowls representing each faction are already set up.Then suddenly, he, Dion and Alpha Trion are stopped by Sentinel Prime himself.“Sentinel.” Alpha Trion says in that same emotionless tone Orion has never understood.“Alpha Trion.” Sentinel replies heartily. “How goes the rumor squashing?”“We’re doing everything we can.” Again, Alpha Trion’s voice is devoid of emotion, and Orion can’t for the life of him understand why his mentor would act like this with Sentinel Prime of all bots.“Make it snappy, yeah?” Sentinel Prime says.“I suspect we already know who did it.” Alpha Trion replies.“I assure you, if it was Constructicons, I’ll deal with them myself. ” Sentinel Prime enunciates, then looks to Orion and Dion. “And so it appears your little sparklings are ready to become full grown bots. Must’ve slipped my mind. Remind me, what’re your names?”“I’m Dion.” Dion steps forward first, so Sentinel Prime shakes his hand, then turns.“Great, and how about you?”“Orion.” Dion answers for him.“Looks like all eyes are gonna be on you today.” Sentinel Prime says. “And I’m sure your mentor here is going to be thrilled regardless of which faction you pick.”“There’s no picking involved.” Orion says before he can think better of it. “Primus already decided before we ever walked in the room. The test is just supposed to reflect that decision.”“But ultimately, the choice is yours.” Sentinel Prime reminds him.“No it’s not.” Orion rolls his optics. “Not really.”“Orion--” Dion tries to shush him, but Sentinel Prime holds up a servo.“No, don’t.” Then he looks right at Orion. “The only choice that matters today is the one that you know deep down in your spark, without a single doubt, is the right one. Don’t just pick and be done with it or try to prove something you know isn’t true. Pick because the only one who truly knows you, aside from Primus, is you. Choose wisely. But something tells me you already knew before I said anything.”Sentinel Prime gives one last nod, then leaves to go up to the stage.

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After everyone’s seated, Sentinel Prime addresses them.“The system is a well-oiled machine, made up of cogs, everyone here. The only way to ensure it doesn’t break down for good is for all of you to discover where you truly belong. The only future worth seeing is one where all our bots know what it holds for them. When this room empties out, you will be a fully grown bot, ready to sacrifice your life for Cybertron’s survival. No sacrifice, no victory.”“No sacrifice, no victory.” The audience repeats.Alpha Trion places a servo on Orion’s shoulder. “Your future holds the key to Cybertron’s survival. No matter the faction.”Like Orion wasn’t nervous enough already, but he just stays quiet as one by one, bots are called to the stage in reverse order.He watches them pick up the knife, slice open a servo, just enough so it leaks energon, hold the servo over one of the corresponding bowls, and let a single drop of energon fall in, marking their choice.Golden alloy seeds for the Circle of Light, polished energon shards for the Enforcers, recycled steel shavings for Constructicons, and so on.When a faction is chosen, the corresponding faction erupts in applause.But as Orion keeps watching, he notices not all choices are without some discontent. Some bots are visibly upset at seeing a bot choose a different faction.He hears all the factions be chosen at least once, even the Technobots, but when he hears, “Dion!”, he turns to watch as Dion stands up.Dion practically sprints up to the stage and picks up the knife.Orion starts to relax, sure he’s about to hear the inevitable call of another Technobot.“Constructicon.”
What?
There’s a visible gasp as Orion’s mouthpiece drops open, looking to Alpha Trion, who only looks slightly surprised.“Orion Pax.”Now his nerves are working overtime, and Dion’s choice didn’t help things either, but after a look at Alpha Trion one more time, Orion makes himself get up and slowly move down to the stage.He swears he can feel every single pair of optics staring at him as he picks up the knife and slices open his servo.As the energon wells up, he clenches his servo to keep it from dropping.He starts to hover it over the Technobot bowl, filled with liquid cybermatter.It’s almost so simple. All he has to do is open his hand, and it’ll all be over.But then, right as the drop of energon is about to fall, he finds himself moving it away, dropping it into the bowl of molten metal instead.“Wrecker.”He hears the Wreckers erupt in applause as he sets the knife down, and walks over to where they’re waiting, too terrified to look at Alpha Trion's face.One bot stands up, telling him, “Welcome to the Wreckers!”, as he gestures for him to sit with them, and so Orion does.
Later, after the ceremony finally ends, Orion steals a final look back at Alpha Trion, who looks as stoic and steel faced as ever, giving nothing away.And then he’s gone from view, so Orion runs to run to catch up with the rest of the Wreckers.

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Okay, whatever doubts Orion had about his choice?They’re long gone now as he starts running alongside the other Wreckers through the streets of Iacon.He’s not as fast as the rest of them, but that just means he’s treated to the sight of some of them climbing buildings.Until he realizes everyone’s doing it, and that means he’s going to have to as well.He walks over to where another Wrecker has started climbing, looking up, then just approaches and starts climbing.It’s hard on his servos, not being used to using them like this. It’s harder on his pedes, as he has to move carefully so he doesn’t slip along the edge.Finally, he makes it up to the top, choosing not to think too hard on the fact that he’s the last one up.Really, what else is he supposed to feel right now besides proud of himself for getting up there at all?He chuckles to himself as the train arrives, narrowly missing his helm as it comes to a stop.Then he realizes the other Wreckers are following it, one calling, “Come on, slowpoke!”, so Orion hurries to catch up.He watches as one by one, the Wreckers jump to grab the side of the train, holding onto the closed door handle, before pulling it open and throwing themselves inside.Orion can see the back of the train now, and he knows if he doesn’t jump now, he’s not gonna make it, so he closes his optics and just does it. He barely gets on before his frame is swung around by the door, narrowly missing the yellow and black bot.“Sorry!” Orion says quickly as he sits down.“Hey, you made it, didn’t you?” is the other bot’s reply, before introducing himself, “I’m B. B-127.”“Orion Pax.” Orion shakes his servo.“I’m pretty sure they just tried to offline us back there.” B-127 jokes.Orion only shakes his helm, still trying to catch his breath. Whether out of excitement or exhaustion remains to be seen.
The train takes them all over the city, but just when Orion’s getting used to it, he hears someone call, “This is our stop!”Orion walks to the still open door, as the train not only doesn’t stop, but one by one, bots start jumping out of it onto a nearby rooftop.“They want us to jump!” Orion exclaims, looking back at B, who looks just as shocked as him.“They what? ”“What if we stay on the train?” they hear behind them,“Duh, you’d be put to work in the mines.” Orion recognizes that same snarky voice from before, accusing Technobots of lying to him.The train slowly empties out, so B asks, “Wanna do it at the same time?”“Okay!” Orion agrees, taking several steps back, and counts, “1…2…3!”They both sprint and jump, neither one of them daring to look down, before they finally make it onto the rooftop, though not nearly as gracefully on their feet as the others, the ground digging into their frames.But after all’s said and done, they both take one look at each other and burst out laughing.“Wreckers, front and center!” They hear a commanding voice order, so Orio makes his way towards the others, in front of a blue bot with a battle mask.“My name is Darkwing. I’m your new boss. If you’re going to be a Wrecker, you have to go through here.” Darkwing gestures behind him. “And if you don’t, then you chose the wrong faction.”“Is there something to break our fall?” one gutsy bot asks.“Jump and find out.” Darkwing replies curtly. “Unless you’re a coward.”“Didn’t we just jump off the train?” B-127 whispers to Orion. “What’s with Wreckers jumping all over the place?”“Someone’s gotta take the leap.” Darkwing says. “Who’s it gonna be?”No one dares speak, not about to humiliate themselves, and the longer Orion watches everyone stay dead silent, the more shocked he is when he finds himself raising a servo.“I am.”Everyone turns to look at him, clearing the way so Orion can walk towards the edge of the building.As Darkwing moves out of the way, Orion looks down into the hole, not seeing anything, then looks back at Darkwing and everyone else.Then he steps up to the edge, pointedly not reacting to the catcall, “You’re not fooling anyone, clank! Get down before you hurt yourself!”Orion looks down again, the hole now looking smaller from where he’s standing.“While we’re still young, if you don’t mind.” Darkwing says exasperatedly.For just a brief second, he contemplates stepping down. Defecting and living out the remainder of his cycles as a miner.And then his pedes are pushing him off the building, and he’s falling through the air, the hole rushing up to meet him as he falls right through it, and what feels like only nano-kliks later, his feet hit a cushioned landing area, absorbing the impact.His cadulens seem to suddenly be incapable of moving, before he registers a bot pulling him up, only realizing just then that he’d been crouching.“What, did someone dare you to go first?” the gunmetal gray bot with orange tinted optics asks.“No.” Orion denies indignantly, as the other bot asks him,“Name?”“My name? It’s--” Orion stops himself, which the bot notices.“What, you don’t like it? You can change it, but it’s gotta be good. One of the few favors allowed in initiation.”“Well when you put it like that…” Orion hesitates, then says, “I’m Pax.”“First jumper is Pax!” the bot calls out, then says, “Welcome to the Wreckers.”The bot leaves then, right as Pax hears another bot scream before hitting the landing area.
“If you were born into the Wreckers, go with Chromia.” The gray bot says. “If you transferred, you’re with me.”Several bots leave with the turquoise and chrome bot, while the gray bot addresses those who remain.“My expertise lies in combat strategy, but for the duration of your training, I’m your instructor.” He starts. “My name’s D-16. Or just D, if that’s easier.”“Why don’t you have a name like Darkwing?” B-127 asks.“Who are you?” D-16 demands.“B-127. Or Bee, Or--”“B-127.” D-16 approaches him, shutting him up. “Let me offer some advice you may never get again. If you’re gonna make it as a Wrecker, shut up. Is that clear?”“Yes…sir.” B says nervously.“That’s better.” D-16 steps away, calling over his shoulder, “This way!”
As they’re led further into the facility, Pax can’t help but notice the Megatronus Prime decal on D-16’s arm.But that’s promptly forgotten about when they reach what looks like some kind of arena area, more Wreckers down below.“Welcome to Kaon.” D-16 says. “This is your new home among the Wreckers.”Pax is barely able to understand he’s not in Iacon anymore, so blown away by everything he sees.
As D-16 leads them to a room, he says, “This is where you’ll be recharging for the next handful of megacycles.”“Is this for us or femmes?” one bot asks.“You’ll all be sharing.” D-16 replies, then at some excited looks, he adds, “ That includes relieving yourselves.”, smirking at the way everyone’s faceplates drop, joking, “Bet you’re excited, Enforcers. Nothing to hide.”Before he leaves them to it, he tells them, “Time to receive your cogs.”, prompting a murmur of excitement.
Out of everything Pax seen so far? This leaves them all behind in the dust.He looks down as himself, watching his transformation take place.His frame becomes reinforced with more durable metal, his joints become more fluid and flexible, his chest becomes bigger, all of his senses sharper, and when he finally has a moment to vent, he realizes he’s actually significantly bigger than he used to be.He looks at the other new Wreckers in astonishment, all of them with the same look reflected back at him.

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As Pax and B walk into the mess hall, they see they’re not the only ones who gained a few inches from their transformation.There’s tall bots, shiny bots, even a few bots that don’t look much different.Pax and B start looking for a table, getting frustrated when the available seats start filling up.Finally, B gestures with his helm to the table with some open spots next to D-16.“Better than nothing, right?” B points out.Pax shrugs, but just takes the seat next to D-16, while B takes the one on Pax’s other side.Everyone starts grabbing the energon cubes set up on the tables, so Pax and B follow suit, but Pax can’t help but stare at the bright color of the cube in his hand.“What’s the matter?” B asks, curious.“Nothing.” Pax says quickly. “I just…didn’t know energon could look like this.”“Technobots learn to just accept any energon they’re given, no matter the quality.” A bulky looking bot on the other side of the table pipes up.“I’m sorry, who are you?” B demands, looking at him.“Oh pardon me. I’m Bulkhead.” The bot introduces. “Wrecker born.”“Why am I not surprised?” B laughs, then says to Pax. “Okay, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m surprised you even need to eat. Isn’t knowledge everything, even fuel to you guys? I wouldn’t have stayed either.”“You gotta hold your own if you’re gonna hang out with an Enforcer.” Bulkhead pipes up.“Excuse me?” B demands.“You’re all high and mighty in the name of upholding the law.” Bulkhead points out.“You mean like you’re doing right now?” the bot next to Bulkhead says, making them all look at him.“Thanks, Hot Shot.” B praises. “And at least we’re trying to keep Cybertron from falling apart.”“Who says the Wreckers aren’t doing that too?” Bulkhead argues.“Will you all shut up already?” D-16’s voice startles them, all turning their helms to look at their instructor glaring at them. “You’re all Wreckers now.”And that, for whatever reason, makes Pax bold enough to ask, “Did you transfer like us? Or were you born a Wrecker?”D-16’s glare hardens. “This is a joke, right?”“Uh…” Pax trails off nervously. “No?”“Did I somehow give you the impression we’re friends?” D-16 demands.“Oh I dunno.” Pax replies jokingly, even as his processor screams at him to shut up. “Your sales pitch was pretty convincing.”For just a second, D-16 hardened glare drops in slight amusement, definitely not expecting that, but as Pax turns back to his energon, D-16 mutters, “Watch yourself.” under his breath.“Are you insane?” B whispers to Pax.“He was top of the scoreboard every week.” Bulkhead adds in a whisper. “They wanted to promote him to Field Commander, but he refused.”Suddenly, a burst of noise erupts in the mess hall as their higher ups stand on the balcony above them.“Rise, initiates.”Everyone complies.“You’ve chosen this faction, given the honor to defend your fellow bot. It is our most deeply held belief that the cog in your chassis, and the spark that resides in each and any one of you, drives you to transform your world, to make it better than how you entered it. Never forget that. Till all are one.”The room erupts in applause again, then suddenly, B and Pax are lifted into the air by their fellow bots, and they laugh as they’re lifted across the room from servo to servo.

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Pax is startled awake by loud banging, and as he sits up in his berth, he sees D-16 as he announces.“Everyone in the arena. 3 kilicks.”
The bots all gather around D-16 and Darkwing, D-16 explains first.“Wrecker training involves two stages. The first you’re no doubt excited about, the physical. Learn everything about your newly transformed frames, your weapons, your alt-modes. Use them all interchangeably so you can call upon them through sheer force of will. The second is the mental. Learn your deepest fears and don’t let them destroy you from the inside. Just because you’re not being trained with born Wreckers, doesn’t mean you don’t have to worry about competing with them. Both stages will determine where in the Wreckers you’re best suited for. Field commander, tactician, demolitions, or scout, to name a few.”“Your rank here also determines who stays.” Darkwing adds.“Stays?” B repeats.“At the end of every stage, the lowest on the scoreboard will be asked to leave.”“And go where?”“Since you’re not allowed to go back, you’d be put to work as a mining bot.” Darkwing explains.“Why did no one tell us?”“It was just enforced.” Darkwing says.“Then we had a right to know!” B protests.“Did you?” Darkwing challenges. “Is that really all it takes for you to change your mind? Just the fear of being reduced to nothing? Because if so, there’s the door. If you’re a true Wrecker, that shouldn’t matter. You wanted to be here. Now we decide if we want you here.”
Okay, it’s official. D-16 is an afthole.
Pax watches two bots spar with their battle masks down, watching them stumble and fall out of bounds as their frames don’t cooperate like they’re supposed to.
Up on the roof, they’re supposed to be learning how to use their gauntlet weapons, but even when Pax manages to summon it successfully, he still can’t hit the target.“Still not a single hit to the target, huh?” Wheeljack taunts next to him. “Not even by dumb luck?”
Running is easy enough, and possibly even a little easier with his transformed frame, as D-16 leads them towards the Recon team.“Well?” D-16 asks.“Miners are quiet. For now.” The recon bot replies.“Welcome home, clank.” Wheeljack taunts Pax. “Why don’t you go meet your new neighbors?”
“Ready to make it interesting?” Darkwing asks back in the training area.“Of course not.” D-16 replies, while Darkwing ignores him to call,“First jumper!”Pax stops sparring with B to look over.“You’re in the ring.” Darkwing orders. “Last jumper! You’re in the ring!”Pax sees Elita as he steps up to get into the ring.“How long do we get?” Elita asks.“Until you don’t get up.” Darkwing says.“Or you forfeit.” D-16 adds.“That was the old rules.” Darkwing corrects. “Now, you don’t get to forfeit.”“It’s the first fight.” D-16 tries to remind him. “We can’t lose initiates so quickly.”“If they can’t make it, we need to know.” Darkwing says.“Good thing that didn’t apply to our fight.” D-16 says bitterly.“This counts towards your score, so give it everything you got.” Darkwing orders.Elita drops her battle mask, prompting Darkwing to snap, “You too!”, so Pax drops his as well.They circle each other, before Pax finds himself stepping out of bounds.He can see the others staring at him, even hears Wheeljack’s taunt of, “Gotta do better than that, clank!”Pax just steps back in the ring, and after they circle for a moment or two, Pax charges forward, throwing a powerful right hook aimed at Elita’s faceplate, who anticipates the punch and ducks low.“Good one, Pax!” B calls from below.Pax tries to throw a left hook, but Elita shifts into a low stance and, using her momentum, swiftly counters with an upward slice with her energon blade, striking Pax right in the face.Pax only has a nanoklik to recover, so he attempts to grab Elita at the pelvis, aiming to tackle her to the ground.It doesn’t work, as Elita just grabs Pax’s shoulders, pulling him closer while delivering a series of quick punches to his midsection, forcing Pax to let go and push himself away.But Elita’s not done yet, swinging a punch right at his faceplate, actually succeeding at knocking him to the ground, to where Pax has to grab his face.Elita looks to Darkwing, who gestures for her to finish him off, and so she does, bringing her blade down in a mock strike, stopping just inches above him, even poking him just slightly, hard enough to leave one drop of energon leaking on his faceplate.Pax gets the message loud and clear and does not get up.
Pax holds the coolant gel pack to his face as Darkwing directs them over to a different part of the training area.“Alright, listen up. See this board?” Darkwing points to it. “This represents your life here with the Wreckers. We grade everything, every single day. If your name is not on this scoreboard when you finish the first stage, you’re gone.”Pax frantically searches for his, only yep, his name’s not currently on there.
“I’m doomed.” Pax laments to Bee later in their room.“No you’re not. Come on!” Bee disagrees.“I’m weaker than everyone else.” Pax says.“That just means you’re gonna end up the strongest.” Bee says.“You’re an Enforcer.” Pax reminds him. “You can’t hide anything.”“I’m not an Enforcer anymore.” Bee reminds back. “And I have literally nothing to hide.”“I think I’d have better chances with my old faction.” Hot Rod says.“That’s not how it works.” Bulkhead says. “You can’t go back even if you wanted to.”“Even if Alpha Trion did welcome me back with open arms…” Pax shakes his helm. “I’m not a Technobot anymore.”“Okay, Pax? You’re seriously bumming me out.” Bee teases, as his optics light up. “I got an idea! Let’s get our frames branded!”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Bee’s idea takes them to a place still in Kaon, with designs on the walls.“I like that one.” Bee points, taking it off the wall.“Where would that even go?” Bulkhead points out.“Any suggestions?” Bee asks.“It’s your frame, not mine.” Bulkhead says.Pax, however, is more focused on Glyph as she walks past them, and upon catching her eye, she quickly goes back to her station, restocking supplies.Pax follows her, trying, “Do you know who I am? Can we--”“Don’t even think about it.” She says. “I’m a branding artist. Only thing we have to talk about is your design.”“Is that so?” Pax walks away, then after a moment or two, comes back with a design, displaying Alpha Trion’s emblem on it. “Can you do this one for me?”Glyph looks at it for a klik, then snatches it out of his servo, pointing with the other.“Get your aft in that chair.”
A while later, the brand is finally ready, and Glyph begins pushing it into Pax’s shoulder.Pax closes his optics, wincing from the burn, when he hears.“You shouldn’t be in the Wreckers. You just made it easier for them to--”“Them?” Pax repeats, opening his optics, trying not to wince more than necessary.
“The ones who want you dead.” Glyph replies.“The Wreckers?” Pax doesn’t understand.“No. Iacon.” Glyph insists. “If you don’t belong in one place or another, you’re harder to manipulate.”“That makes no sense whatsoever.” Pax goes back to closing his optics. “I’m a Wrecker. I chose the Wreckers, so I’m going to be one, like it or not.”“Let’s hope for both our sakes you’re right.” Is Glyph’s only reply before she finally lifts the branding iron, Pax’s new badge on his shoulder.
That night, when everyone else is asleep, Pax gets up, sneaking out of the room as quietly as he can and makes his way to the training area.
He’s still striking the hanging alloy block with his energon hammer over and over, battle mask firmly in place, when D-16 comes in.But Pax doesn’t even notice, just keeps striking every which way he can.
During shooting training, he doesn’t miss a single target.
When he looks at the scoreboard, he sees his name still isn’t on it.
And now he’s back at the alloy block, barely noticing the cracks in his weapons as one by one, they’re pushed to their limits from still hitting it.When he sees D-16 come up behind him, he stops for a second, then resumes.“You’re not strong enough.” D-16 says flatly. “You need to stretch your cables.”Pax doesn’t reply, just keeps hitting the block.“You have no chance of winning if you keep this up.” D-16 goes on.“Anything you wanna add that could actually help me?” Pax snaps.“You can’t just use your weapons.” D-16 says. “You need everything.”Then D-16 throws him completely off guard by standing right in front of him, grabbing his shoulders. “You need tension here.” Then lower onto the arm guards. “And here.”Pax looks, nodding to show he’s listening.“You’re quick on your feet. If your pedes, midsection and shoulders are working together, you’ll get the drop on your opponent. Get in the window, strike at the neck.”“D-16!” they hear from behind, so D-16 tells him, “Don’t stop.”, then walks away.Pax, for a second, smiles, before he sees B and Elita fighting in the ring, and goes over to see.“Get her, Bee.” Pax whispers, right as Darkwing also stops to watch.Unfortunately, Bee’s losing pretty badly, as Elita just keeps hitting him over and over, not even bothering with her blade this time, clearly not needing it.And Bee appears to know that as well, because he scrambles to get away, holding up a servo and begging, “Enough, please!”He coughs a few times, then says, “I’m out.”Darkwing stands over him, asking, “Do you need a break?”Bee can’t even speak anymore, just nods.“Alright.” Darkwing says, holding out a servo. “Let me help you up.”Nobody knows how to react to that, but Bee’s judgment is severely impaired at the moment, so he just takes it, desperate for any peace offering he can get.“Thank you.”“Everyone, we’re taking a break!” Darkwing calls to the others. “Come with me.”
The Wreckers all follow Darkwing to the edge of the arena, as Darkwing asks, “How you feeling now?”“Better, thanks.” Bee replies, right before he’s shoved, and barely has a klik to grab the edge with both servos.There’s a collective gasp among the new Wreckers.“Here’s how this is gonna work.” Darkwing sneers. “Stay there until I say, and I’ll ignore that pathetic scrap you have the nerve to call a fight. Let go, and let the fall break you into pieces. Or forfeit. And report to the mines.”It’s even worse than that, as they see the arena walls are moist, leaking down to where Bee is hanging.“You can do it, Bee.” Pax calls, but it’s becoming clear Bee can’t, as his digits start to slowly lose their grip, retracting as they’re pulled to their limits.Just as Pax’s about to march over and grab him himself, Darkwing calls out, “And that’s time.”, and Pax doesn’t waste another second before him and Bulkhead go right over and grab a servo, pulling with all their might to get him back up.“A true Wrecker never forfeits.” Darkwing says, while Pax lets Bee lean on him as he weeps.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

As the Wreckers ride the train across Iacon, D-16 tells them with his arms crossed,

“As Wreckers, we protect every single bot in Iacon, faction or no faction. Still wondering why training is so brutal? This is it. Forfeiting is the difference between saving a life and having their spilled energon on your servos. And who’s going to make it here.”

Pax hasn’t stopped looking at D the entire time he’s spoken, but says nothing as the train finally comes to a stop.

As they get off, D-16 continues, “Just because things are settled now, doesn’t mean they’re going to stay that way. So we need to be ready to fight at a moment’s notice.”

It’s only once Pax’s stepped off he realizes they’re nearly at the surface, and when he looks up, can’t resist asking, “What’s up there?”

“Quintessons.” Bee teases.

“The Circle of Light.” Bulkhead adds.

“I meant beyond them.” Pax clarifies, ignoring Bee’s comment altogether.

“What’s left of the surface, destroyed by the Quintesson War.” Bulkhead replies.

“Any ideas?” Pax asks D-16, who just looks at him then says, with a nearly nonexistent shrug.

“All you need to know is if you’re smart, you won’t have any reason to go up there.”

Pax’s not entirely sure what to do with that, so he just resumes looking up, wondering.

Now comes a different type of training, where the bots with throwing weapons keep throwing them at the target over and over.

Pax’s energon axe has a magnetic recall system, so instead of hitting the target, he lets the axe fly

around

it, so he can catch it again, moving around to test its range.

“Looks like you found your thing.” Bee praises next to him.

Hot Shot, unfortunately, doesn’t seem to be faring as well, and Darkwing notices, telling him, “You call that a throw?”

“I’m not used to energon discs.” Hot Shot tries to explain.

“Then get used to them!” Darkwing orders. “Get them back!”

“Everyone’s still throwing their weapons!” Hot Shot points out.

“So?” Darkwing replies.

“So, I don’t particularly feel like getting offlined prematurely.” Hot Shot mouths off.

“Have it your way.” Darkwing says, then calls out. “Everybody pause.”

Once everyone complies, Darkwing says, “Stand in the target’s place.”

Hot Shot’s optics widen, but he just does as he’s told.

“D-16, care to weigh in?” Darkwing requests.

D-16 comes over, holding energon darts.

“D-16 here is going to use you for target practice while you don’t move.” Darkwing explains. “If you flinch, you’re gone.”

Pax is seething as he hears Darkwing continue.

“Something you’re gonna have to deal with is abandoning the notion you can ignore orders.”

D-16 lifts his arm, dart poised, and is just about to throw it when,

“Wait.”

D-16 and Darkwing both turn to look at Pax.

“It’s just a target. What’s the point?” Pax says logically.

“Are you volunteering?” Darkwing demands, no doubt smirking under his mask.

Pax doesn’t think, just walks over to Hot Shot, nodding for him to go, then stands in the same spot as Hot Shot rejoins the others.

“Don’t think he’ll go easy on you just because you volunteered.”
Darkwing warns.

Pax barely takes a breath when D-16 throws the first dart, and it lands right by his right cadulen.

“What did I just say, D-16?” Darkwing taunts, but D-16 just looks right at Pax as he throws another one, this time right by his helm.

“This is boring.” Darkwing huffs.

“What, you want me to flake him?” D-16 taunts back.

“Why not? He’s looking rusty anyway.” Darkwing jokes.

“You got it.” D-16 says, then throws the next dart faster, landing above his helm this time, and before Pax can brace himself, D-16’s already thrown another one, on the right side of his helm.

“Your gutsy move will be noted, clank.” Darkwing says. “And so will the fact that you stepped out of line.”

Only now does Pax register the last dart actually did hit him, as when he lifts a servo, some metal flakes and energon fall off.

“You be careful.” Darkwing warns. “We’re here to serve our city, not ourselves.”

Then to everyone else, “That’s enough for today. Get out of here.”

Pax starts to walk away, only to be stopped when he hears,

“You hurt?”

Pax looks, and D-16’s not even looking at him, just looking down at his gauntlets to put away his darts.

“You hit me.” Pax accuses, then starts to leave.

“On purpose.” D-16 says, stopping Pax once again.

“What the pits do you mean on purpose?” He demands.

“You and I both know Darkwing would’ve had a fit if you walked away unscathed.” D-16 reminds him. “If I hadn’t done something, he’d have kept it up all night until I did.”

“I’m sorry, is that your way of saying I owe you one?” Pax rolls his optics.

“No, that’s my way of calling you a dumbaft.” D-16 snaps. “Trust me, if I wanted you offlined, you’d never know what hit you.”

Then D-16 walks away, leaving Pax completely and utterly confused.

When Pax finally rejoins the other Wreckers, they’re all cheering and clapping, Bee walking over to him to pat him on the back.

“I was right. You

are

insane.” Bee says with a laugh.

“You mouthed off to Darkwing.” Bulkhead adds.

“No one’s ever done that before.”

“Oof.” Bee says suddenly, noticing the nick from where D-16 hit him. “Let’s get that fixed, shall we?”

They start to leave, but stop when Elita approaches.

“Hey, Pax.” She greets. “Nice one.”

Pax chuckles, “Thanks.”, stealing a look at Bee before they both laugh.

“Wow, I underestimated you, clank.” Wheeljack says as he approaches. “I got my eye on you.”

“Back off, Jackie.” Bulkhead warns.

“What? I’m not allowed to talk about when a fellow Wrecker makes the news?” Wheeljack doesn’t let up, tapping his gauntlet to pull up a holovid.

“

Newest Technobot transfers, Dion and Orion Pax, students of Alpha Trion, make us wonder what exactly the Technobot faction has to offer if even they can’t be bothered to stay with it?

”

Pax tries to walk away, but Wheeljack keeps following, the holovid still playing.

“

Maybe this is the sign we’ve been waiting for to disband the Technobots once and for all. The hoarding of knowledge, the one mentor from an all but dead generation, the mistreatment of their students.”

Wheeljack stops it finally to ask, “Is that true? Did Alpha Trion mistreat you like that miner Sentinel had a row with?”

“Alpha Trion never mistreated anyone.” Pax snaps angrily. “He has more fire in his spark than you and I

ever

will.”

“Not enough for you to stay, apparently.” Wheeljack taunts.

Pax doesn’t even reply to that, just stalks off with Bee, Bulkhead and Hot Shot in tow, while everyone stares at Wheeljack.

“What? You were all thinking it.” Wheeljack defends.

“Don’t let him get to you.” Bee assures Pax.

“He didn’t.” Pax replies, only for all of them to stop when they see Sentinel approach with his guards, stopping when he sees Pax.

“Pax.” Sentinel greets. “Alpha Trion’s student, isn’t it? Orion Pax?”

“Just Pax now.” Pax corrects.

“Even better.” Sentinel praises, lifting a servo to turn Pax’s shoulder to look at the brand on it. “I think you’re pretty gutsy, picking here despite your mentor and test results.”

Pax balks at that, “You saw my test results?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Sentinel replies. “All I can say is thank Primus you were able to think for yourself before anything…unfortunate happened.” Before Pax can get too weirded out by that, Sentinel’s already moving along, “Anything you need, get in touch.”

Then he and his guards leave, prompting Bee to note,

“

Please

tell me I’m not the only one seriously creeped out.”

“Nope.” Pax agrees.

“What do you think it is?” Bulkhead wonders.

“Betcha they’re tracking and killing Ascendants.” Bee says, the word stopping Pax cold. “That’s all Constructicons care about anymore now.”

“Bee, cut it out.” Bulkhead shoves him playfully, while Pax hangs back as he follows, his footsteps feeling heavier.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Pax checks the scoreboard as he heads to the sparring area, and once again, his name’s not on it.

“First fight. Wheeljack vs Pax.” He hears Darkwing call.

Pax looks to the ring where Wheeljack is already pumped and ready, while everyone else looks surprised.

“You know Darkwing’s messing with you.” Bee tells Pax as they walk over. “Payback for standing up to him.”

Pax nods once, then starts to climb up before D-16 appears out of nowhere and grabs him, pulling him back to warn,

“Not so fast.”

“Now what?” Pax snaps, trying to pull away, but D-16’s grip just gets tighter.

“Remember what I told you? Get in the window, strike to the neck. And don’t take your optics off him, not for one klik. He has a wide stance, making it hard to pivot. Understand?”

Pax nods, so D-16 releases him, letting him get in the ring.

Both bots drop their battle masks, and Wheeljack taunts, “This fight isn’t fair, is it? I almost don’t wanna fight at all.”

“Don’t listen to him, Pax.” Bee calls from below, right as Wheeljack tries to pivot, so Pax throws a punch to the neck, making Wheeljack cry out, before recovering and throwing one back.

Pax goes for another one, but Wheeljack goes for the abdomen, using that as a distraction to get a strike to the face, then another one.

Wheeljack swings and pivots again, but Pax’s ready for it, grabbing the arm and pulling it behind to incapacitate him, jabbing his knee to Wheeljack’s torso over and over, which gives Wheeljack the chance to punch Pax’s abdomen right back, and when Pax winces, Wheeljack throws him right off, tossing him to the floor, then kicking him.

“Enough teasing. Show me a real fight.” Darkwing taunts as Pax gets back up.

Wheeljack doesn’t even bother waiting, just lands a punch right to Pax’s face, knocking Pax right back to the floor.

And as he lands, faceplate leaking energon, somewhere in his blurred optics he sees D-16 walking away from the ring.

He doesn’t even flinch as Wheeljack lands a final kick to the helm, knocking whatever consciousness he had right out.

When Pax wakes up and looks around, the first thing he sees is Bee and Bulkhead standing by his berth in the medbay.

“You look…” Bee tries, then fails, “Like you’re a few nanokliks away from joining with the Allspark.”

Pax huffs out a laugh, then asks, “How long was I out?”

“Almost an entire solar cycle.” Bulkhead tells him.

“A what?” Pax exclaims. “What’s the scoreboard? Is my name on it?”

Both Bee and Bulkhead look somber as Bee says, “Your name still didn’t make it.”

But before Pax can think too hard on

that

he notices, “Where’d you get those enhancements?”, pointing at them.

Bee and Bulkhead share a look, before Bulkhead takes the lead this time, “Combat simulations.”

Pax’s optics widen for a second before he pushes himself up, with Bee protesting, “Hey, stop. What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m going out there.” Pax says, like it’s obvious.

“No you’re not.” Bee says.

“Darkwing says you’re out.” Bulkhead says.

“Excuse me?” Pax demands, feeling his spark drop.

“You’re done.” Bulkhead clarifies.

Pax can only shake his helm, not really listening as Bulkhead tries to say, “Your mentor works with Sentinel, Pax. Maybe you can pull a few strings and go back to the archives.”

Pax just lays back on the berth in frustration.

“Look, we’re sorry.” Bee says, and Pax knows he means it.

“Bee, we need to get going before the train leaves without us.” Bulkhead says guiltily.

“Got it.” Bee says, still looking at Pax as he comes closer, hugging him once. “See ya, Pax.”

“See you.” Pax echoes, then watches them leave, even as his processor starts racing.

The train’s just finished picking up the last of the Wreckers and pulled out of the station when D-16 walks to the open doorway.

And it’s because he’s standing there he sees Pax making a run for the train, none of the safety enhancements in place.

D-16’s optics widen before he looks to make sure no one else has noticed, then once Pax gets closer, reaches out a servo.

Pax makes a grab for it, and D-16 wastes no time yanking him onto the train.

Once he’s vertical, Pax says, “Thanks.”

“Pax?” Bee exclaims behind him.

“What are you doing here?” Hot Shot demands.

“Couldn’t miss it.” Pax replies as Darkwing approaches.

“Who said you could be here?” he demands.

“I did.” Pax says steadily.

“Oh did you?” Darkwing says, tone giving nothing away.

Pax steals a look at D-16, who hasn’t said a word, then back to Darkwing as he finally says, “Alright then.”, and walks to another part of the train.

Pax looks at D-16 again, but this time, he sees a small smile on his faceplate.

Then Bee interrupts, “Here, take my seat.”, pulling Pax away, and the moment’s broken.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

As the train keeps moving, D-16 drops a bunch of gear on the floor, to get everyone’s attention.

“The game we’re playing is called Retrieve the AllSpark.”

“Weapon of choice is the energon blade.” Darkwing orders, holding a blade up. “If your upgrades didn’t give you one, grab one now. If they did, grab a force dampening cap.”

“Are you serious?” Elita scoffs, right as Darkwing strikes her across the face with it, making her cry out.

“Energy dampening alloy.” Darkwing explains. “It contains feedback sensors that deliver a simulated shock upon impact, mimicking the pain or discomfort of a real Energon blade. Doesn’t last long.”

Then, “Teams of two. Me and D-16 will be captains.”

“You get first pick.” D-16 says immediately.

“Blurr, with me.” Darkwing decides.

“I’ll take my chances with the clank.” D-16 says next.

“Going for the underdogs?” Darkwing taunts. “Don’t know if that’s smart or stupid.”

“You’ll find out pretty quick when we win.” D-16 says smugly.

As they run through the city of Tarn at night, one bot asks, “Where’s Darkwing’s team?”

“Betcha they went to the other side.” Another one says logically.

D-16 holds up the fake AllSpark cube, ordering, “Headlamps off. Huddle up.”

Everyone complies, then D-16 asks, “Strategy. We need any and all ideas.”

“Hide the cube.”

“Send a tram of scouts to find where they hid theirs. See if we can see their cube.”

“Blast them all away.”

“That’s winning by default. Not fun at all.”

People keep talking over each other, which makes it easy enough for Pax to step back and walk towards the old power plant and climb the ladder.

“Uh oh, you ready to end it all?” he hears D-16 tease from below.

“Just need a vantage point.” Pax replies coolly.

“Smart. You come up with that on your own?”

Pax risks looking down, and upon noticing D-16 about to climb the ladder, Pax snaps, “Please don’t follow me up here.”

“You shouldn’t be out here at all. Wheeljack kicked the scrap out of you.” D-16 replies as he starts climbing anyway.

“Oh now you care?” Pax huffs. “Could’ve fooled me with the way you walked out right before I lost consciousness.”

“The alternative being what, watching you get hurt?” D-16 fires back, and that’s enough to give Pax pause as he keeps climbing silently.

In fact, that pause is what makes him step a little too hard on the next rung on the ladder, and his pede falls right through it, making him lose his balance and hang by his servos.

“Don’t move!” D-16 calls as he rushes to climb up, then says, “Lower yourself slowly. Stand on my shoulders.”

“What?” Pax exclaims, unable to see anything but the big looming height below him.

“It’s okay, I can take it! Trust me!” D-16 insists, and Pax has no choice other than to listen, holding on tightly as he lowers his pedes until they hit something solid.

“There we go.” D-16 says below him. “You okay?”

“Me? I’m standing on

your

shoulders.” Pax points out.

“I think we’re high enough.” D-16 says.

“No way. We can’t see anything from here. We need to reach the top.” Pax argues, then uses D-16’s shoulders to push himself up to the next rung after the missing one, before realizing D-16 hasn’t moved, instead looking around for nonexistent spectators.

“You okay down there?” Pax calls with a tease, but when D-16 still doesn’t move, Pax realizes, “You’re telling me a tough bot like you is scared of being exposed?”

“Is it so different from whatever you’re afraid of?” D-16 points out.

Pax reaches out a servo to pull D-16 past the broken ladder rung, noting, “And here I was thinking you were invincible.”, before continuing the climb.

“Pax, come on!” D-16 calls as Pax doesn’t listen, just makes it all the way to the top in plain view for anyone to see.

“The rules just don’t apply to you, do they?” He mutters, before resuming the climb to follow.

When

he

reaches the top, Pax grabs his servo and pulls him over, and they both take a moment to smile at each other as they look down.

“Not so scary now, is it?” Pax says, as D-16

still

hasn’t stopped looking around.

“Nice hunch.” D-16 finally says, right as Pax gasps.

“I knew it!” He points a digit. “There’s their cube!”

“So what’s the plan?” D-16 asks Pax when they finally rejoin the others.

“Two groups.” Pax decides. “One to distract Darkwing, the other to get the cube.”

The distraction team waits for Darkwing’s bots to spot them, then charge in right as sparks start flying from the clashing of blades.

That taken care of, D-16 and Pax stay hidden, with Pax following D-16’s lead as he nods, “Go.”

“Bee, with me.” Pax orders, as they move up ahead.

When they reach an alleyway that breaks off, they split off to hide.

Bee looks to see if anyone’s there, then upon finding no one, looks the other way, but again, no one.

He should’ve known better, as the moment he drops his guard, Wheeljack’s right there, pointing a blade in his face.

“You’ll have to tell me what it feels like.”

“No need. You can tell us yourself.”

Wheeljack doesn’t even have time to turn around as Pax comes up from behind, striking once across the face to knock him down.

“Stupid clank.” Wheeljack mutters, clutching his face, despite no mark or energon spilled.

“Big dummy.” Bee replies cheerfully before he and Pax keep moving.

“That was so cool!” Bee gushes.

D-16, meanwhile, is holding his own, grabbing Darkwing’s bots as shields while also getting hits on others, before it’s him and Darkwing.

They circle each other, daring the other to make the first hit.

D-16 swings, but it misses. Darkwing swings, same thing.

This goes on for a while until finally, D-16 lands a hit on Darkwing, knocking him down, then one more to make sure he stays down.

Pax and Bee slowly make their way up the building, until Bee says, “You go for the cube. I’ll guard down here.”

Pax nods, then bursts through the door to the roof, blade swinging as Elita’s right there, trying to get a hit on him.

Pax’s blade at one point retracts, and Elita tries to charge at him, but Pax quickly kicks her back, then dodges when she tries to lunge at him, and he doesn’t even wait for her to get the drop, just knocking a punch right across the face and running for the glowing cube, walking to the edge of the building and holding it up.

Down below, as the Wreckers cheer, Bee joins Pax, both of them keeping one servo on the cube as they keep it raised in victory.

As they all walk back, Smokescreen calls out, “Hey Pax!”, making the bot stop.

“Yeah?”

“You coming with?”

“To where?”

“We’re taking a shortcut.” Smokescreen explains. “Little Wrecker initiation.”

D-16, a few steps ahead of them, only shakes his head.

The so-called shortcut takes them to the top of a skyscraper, one that’s even taller than the power plant.

“Holy Primus.” Pax gasps as he looks out over the edge, before realizing someone’s being strapped to a glide harness, then pushed off the building.

Pax watches the bot disappear, as Smokescreen says, “Now you.”, holding out a servo.

Honestly, after everything he’s done today, this is by far the easiest, so he takes it, while Smokescreen straps the harness onto his back.

“Don’t forget about the emergency brake.” He warns.

“I won’t.” Pax promises, right as he’s pushed off the building.

The harness activates immediately, sending him soaring through the city, past other skyscrapers that he can’t believe he doesn’t crash into, even seeing his reflection in a window and the power plant down below.

At one point, he’s propelled through a hole in a building, then yanked down and straight back up, like a boomerang.

It sincerely feels like the city never ends, until he hears the shouts,

“Hit the brakes!”

“Hit the brakes!”

“Hit the brakes!”

Remembering, Pax pushes on the emergency brake button, which succeeds in activating right before his faceplate smashes into the wall.

Below him, the Wreckers clap and cheer as they help get him down.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Hey Pax!”Pax turns to look as D-16 approaches, upon seeing him return with the others.“Hi.” Pax greets.“Hi.” D-16 smiles. “Congrats on the win.”“Thanks.” Pax smiles back.“I just wanted to say that you really kicked aft out there.” D-16 says. “That took guts.”Pax has the nerve to look embarrassed at the compliment, but just shrugs, “I guess.”But it looks like D-16 can tell, because he says, “Alright, you can go now. Your friends are probably waiting on you.”Pax nods gratefully. “You got it.”They both nod, then go their separate ways.
“If your name is on the list, you will move onto stage two.” The higher up bot tells them later. “If you’re not, we have nothing more to teach you. Good luck.”All Wreckers watch as names appear on the board one by one. Bots start cheering, clapping, even whistling when they see theirs.Wheeljack comes as no surprise, nor does Bee, but Pax makes it a point to pat him on the shoulder anyway. “Congratulations.”But then, right at the very bottom, where names officially stop showing up, is his own name, right there for the entire faction to see:

Pax.

He feels Bee hug him, congratulating, “You did it!”, but Pax just keeps looking at it, a permanent smile stuck on his face.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“We pass stage one, and

this

is how we celebrate?” Bee rolls his optics as he and Pax unload another crate of energon from the mines. “Somehow I thought that would be the exception to the tough love rule.”

Pax laughs, but says nothing as he goes to grab another crate.

Or at least that’s what he was

planning

to do, before a weird reflection shines in his optics.

“What the…” Pax says, trying to shield his optics, before he sees the source coming from someone hidden in the distance.

He’s not sure why, but his gut says he should go check it out. After stealing a look to make sure no one’s paying attention to him, he climbs the crates and sneaks out the back, making his way towards the refracted light.

It leads him towards an alleyway, with a few stray bots here and there, but no one that looks like they’re waiting for him.

The servo that grabs him takes care of that, making Pax nearly cry out before he sees who it is, optics widening.

“Alpha Trion?” Pax gasps, relief making his entire frame droop. “What are you doing here?”

“I knew they’d put you on energon distribution duty.” Alpha Trion explains. “But even I am amazed at how much good the Wrecker life has done for you. You should’ve been given a cog a long time ago.”

“You shouldn’t be here.” Pax warns.

“I am aware. But I had to.” Alpha Trion says. “I fear you’re in grave danger.”

“What are you talking about?” Pax asks, confused.

“There’s something I need to know.” Alpha Trion says instead. “Your story about having a bad reaction to the synthetic energon for your test was a lie, wasn’t it?”

“What? Why would you ask me that?” Pax demands, but Alpha Trion isn’t deterred.

“You need to tell me the truth. What were your results?” Alpha Trion insists.

Pax

really

doesn’t want to lie to his former mentor, and Alpha Trion seems to sense it, because he assures him, “There’s no need to lie. Not you. Not to me.”

Which Pax already knows, has

always

known, so he takes a deep vent in, then just comes right out with it. “Multiple factions.”

“You’re an Ascendant?” Alpha Trion asks, making Pax’s eyes widen in surprise, before Alpha Trion turns serious again.

“Do not say a word to anyone about this. Not your fellow peers, nor your instructors. Trust no one.”

“Why?” Pax asks desperately.

“Sentinel sees Ascendants as a threat to his reign as Prime.” Alpha Trion spits out the last word. “Constructicons are hunting them down.”

“I don’t understand.” Pax says, optics glistening with coolant. “What’s wrong with me?”

“Absolutely nothing.” Alpha Trion says immediately. “But they don’t see it that way. All they see is a bot that doesn’t fit in. Your processor works unlike anything I’ve seen in cycles. And that scares Sentinel, thus it scares everyone else. And now that you’ve reached stage two, you’re even more likely to get caught. They’re going to monitor your thoughts and watch how you react when confronted with your worst fears. But it's not impossible. You can still become a Wrecker. It’s happened before.”

“How do you know?” Pax asks. “How do you know so much about the Wreckers?”

“Don’t trouble yourself with that.” Alpha Trion instructs. “They can’t know the truth about you. Not yet.”

“Wait, did you lie?” Pax says, not wanting to believe it. “Were you a Wrecker?”

“Orion--”

“Hey!”

Pax turns to look, seeing a Wrecker supervisor standing there, arms crossed. “What are you doing over here?”

Pax turns back, and Alpha Trion is gone, so he just looks at the supervisor, no explanation for him to give.

“Energon’s been distributed.” The supervisor says. “We gotta get going. Now.”

Pax just nods, then follows him back.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Pax sits outside the testing room with the others, waiting for his turn as the door opens, and Elita walks out with two other bots assisting her.

“What happened to her?” Bee wonders, as D-16 comes out.

“You’re next, Pax.” He says, and Pax hesitates for only a second before standing up and following D-16 inside the room.

Surprisingly, it’s set up much like his faction test was. A berth with a monitor off to the side.

Though with Alpha Trion’s warnings still ringing in his audials, just looking at it makes Pax feel nauseous.

“Lay down.” D-16 orders, shutting the door behind them and walking over to the monitor, picking up a syringe.

“This is an energon compound. When injected, it’ll stimulate your fight or flight response.”

“Wonderful.” Pax replies emotionlessly, sitting down on the berth.

“It’s going to be triggered just so that you’ll experience hallucinations, and the transmitters will display what you’re seeing on this monitor.” D-16 explains.

“You’re going to read my thoughts?” Pax asks.

“I am.” D-16 confirms, then comes closer, pushing him with one servo. “Down you go.”

Pax does, unable to not notice the gentle grip on his arm as D-16 holds it down so he can inject the serum into his neck.

Pax winces, shutting his optics as D-16 says,

“It’s going to show you your worst fears, Pax. Most of the bots here have been alive since before the war, which results in a servo full of bad fears.”

Pax opens his optics at that, catching D-16’s optics as he keeps talking,

“You have to teach yourself to stay calm. Slow your breathing down and make your pulse stay relaxed, so you can focus on what’s happening.”

Pax feels his vision start to blur, then black out, D-16’s voice the last thing he hears.

“Don’t lose hope.”

When Pax opens his optics again, he’s definitely not in the testing room anymore.

Instead it looks like he’s back in Iacon.

And it’s exploding.

Until he looks down, and sees a blast come from his own weapon, aimed right at the city as it knocks down the statue in front of him.

“Stop!” Pax shouts, but his weapons won’t listen, instead firing

another

shot, this time right at a bunch of civilians.

He tries every which way to will his weapons to stop, but they have a mind of their own, firing at anything that moves.

Worse, he can feel his spark pounding wildly, like it’s about to burst out of his chassis, and he falls to the ground, right into a puddle of Energon.

Except.

As Pax looks, he notices how perfect the puddle looks, unlike any Energon puddle he’s ever seen.

And all at once, he understands.

“I didn’t do anything.”

He looks down again, and the weapons disappear back into his arms.

Then he kneels, gathering up the puddle of energon in his servos, and takes a long drink.

Pax gasps awake and tries to get up, not realizing D-16’s servos are holding him down until he hears,

“Pax,

stop

! You’re awake!”

Pax stops struggling at that, optics blown wide as he looks at D-16.

“Are you okay?” D-16 demands.

Pax can’t even answer, as he leans forward, holding his helm in his servos, before giving up and pacing around the room, trying to calm himself down.

“How long do you think you were in there?” D-16 asks.

“Uh…” Pax trails off, still not fully recovered. “20 kilicks?”

“One.” D-16 corrects. “Faster than

any

Wrecker has ever done. Especially the first time.”

Then he asks, “How’d you make your weapons stop? I couldn’t tell from the monitor.”

“I uh…” Pax struggles to stay coherent. “I drank the energon.”

D-16 seems to accept that, as he says, “Well then, next time should be a breeze.”

“I have to go back in there?” Pax protests weakly.

“Oh yeah.” D-16 says. “You gotta do it over and over before your job placement final, but I can safely say you’re gonna be the one to beat. Congrats.”

“I was alone.” Bee tells the group, after they all meet up in the sleeping area. “No one to talk to, no noise, nothing. And when I screamed, nothing came out.”

Bee looks at Pax, “But you weren’t even fazed.”

“Are you kidding?” Pax shakes his helm. “I absolutely was. I hated every second.”

“No need to be modest.” Bulkhead pipes up. “

I

didn’t even get close to your time. That was amazing.”

“Won’t be so amazing when he’s the reason you’re sent to work in the mines.” Wheeljack taunts.

“Not gonna happen.” Bulkhead says, shaking his helm.

“You guys do remember he barely made it out of stage one, right?” Wheeljack reminds them all. “Which means any one of you is down there in his place.”

“Wheeljack, shut up.” Bee snaps.

“What, I’m not allowed to ask how that’s possible?” Wheeljack points out, then looks at Pax. “What’s your secret?”

“There’s no secret.” Pax says tiredly.

“What you just did is literally

impossible

.” Wheeljack emphasizes. “Technobots are supposed to share knowledge with everyone, right? Share your knowledge with us.”

When Pax doesn’t reply, Wheeljack adds, “Or even just with

them

.”, pointing at Bee, Hot Shot and Bulkhead. “So they don’t hate you for knocking them out of the running.”, then walks away.

Bulkhead asks, “Jackie’s just blowing smoke, right? There’s no secret?”

“No.” Pax says immediately, but from how Bee, Bulkhead and Hot Shot look at each other, they clearly don’t buy it. “I don’t have any secret, I swear.”

Pax watches all of his friends, including Bee, walk away from him.

“Wait!” he calls, but none of them turn around, instead keep walking with Wheeljack of all people, and when Pax tries to go after them, his pedes won’t move.

He looks down, and sees nothing amiss, so he looks up, only for his optics to widen right as an avalanche of energon falls on top of him.

It all crushes his entire frame from the weight, and though he tries to consume as much as he can, it only seems to get replaced with more energon and get even heavier.

Finally, Pax can’t consume anymore without making himself sick, and just lets the pile completely immobilize him.

Until.

Pax attempts to look around best he can, which is next to impossible, surrounded by the glow of the energon.

“Wait.” Pax says suddenly, then as he checks his vitals for any kind of damage, realizes, “I’m not really here.”

He moves, and there’s no pain as he does so, so he takes an even bigger risk, slowly lifting a pede up to the rest of his frame, and kicks as hard as he can, which succeeds in knocking the entire pile off of him.

Pax startles awake, only this time, D-16 is still at the monitor, looking at him in surprise.

“How did you do that?” D-16 demands.

“Do what?” Pax asks, still disoriented.

“How did you knock the pile of energon off of you?” D-16 asks.

Pax shrugs, not understanding what D-16 is getting at. “I kicked it?”

“You kicked it.” D-16 repeats. “From under a pile of energon that had you completely immobilized.”

Then D-16 shuts off the monitor, sitting next to the berth.

“Okay, Pax? You need to tell me the truth. Now.” D-16 orders. “What did you get on your test results? Your faction test?”

“Technobots.” Pax lies.

“Don’t lie to me.” D-16 warns.

“

Excuse

me?” Pax snaps.

“You’re lying, and I don’t appreciate it.” D-16 snaps back.

“What could I possibly have to gain by lying to you?” Pax rolls his optics.

D-16 leans in closer, voice hard as he says, “Pax, I can make this either very easy, or very difficult. What. Did you get. On your test results?”

Pax shakes his head and lies again, “Technobots.”

It’s clear D-16 doesn’t believe him, but he just gets up and says, “Fine. Get out of here.”, as he walks to the monitor.

Feeling properly chastised, Pax stands up and heads for the door.

“Hey Pax?”

Pax turns to look at D-16, curious.

“Word to the wise? Wreckers can’t just knock over energon like that.”

Pax just opens the door and walks out, not saying a word.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“I knew a bot like you once. Swerve.” Glyph tells Pax next time he visits her. “He breezed through stage two. Last day of training, one of the Wrecker higher ups came to see. Next time I saw him, his lifeless frame was found by the Well of the AllSparks. They murdered him.”

“Who?” Pax asks quietly.

“Your Wrecker bosses.” Glyph says. “They can’t know about you. Ever.”

“Unless they already do.” Pax points out.

“If that were true,” Glyph replies. “You wouldn’t be standing here right now.”

Pax bursts out of the building, pedes moving faster even as he has no real direction in mind.

He gets on the train, which is miraculously empty as it goes back to Iacon.

He can almost

feel

all the weird looks and stares he gets as he walks through Iacon, knowing they’re all wondering what in the pits is a Wrecker doing out of Kaon.

But he doesn’t care about any of it, just walking straight towards the Constructicon building and walking right inside.

“Orion?” he hears Dion’s voice before he sees him, but Pax wastes no time walking right over and hugging him.

Dion pulls away first, demanding, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here because I’m in over my helm and I need help.” Pax begs, and that’s apparently all Dion needs to hear as he leads them away to a quiet corner.

“Start talking.” The request is soft, but Pax can still hear the order in Dion’s voice.

“I’m not good enough to be a Wrecker.” Pax starts, testing the waters. “And everyone can tell I don’t belong there.”

“You have to.” Dion says immediately.

“But I don’t. I--” Pax cuts himself. He wants to tell Dion the truth

so much

, but remembering Dion’s a Constructicon now, he just shakes his helm. “I’m just not picking it up fast enough.”

Dion laughs in relief. “I’d be surprised if you

did

. We’ve always said the Wreckers upset the balance.”

“I think my best bet is going back to the Technobots.” Pax says thoughtfully.

“That’s impossible.” Dion says.

“I know—”

“They’ll never let you anywhere near it again.” Dion cuts him off.

“Who won’t?” Dion demands.

“The Constructicons.” Diona admits, making his eyes go wide. “They’re not letting Technobots do anything except their job.”

“So what, Constructicons rule Iacon now?” Pax scoffs at the idea, but Dion’s faceplate stays serious.

“That might be happening sooner than you think.” Dion says.

“

What

?” Pax gasps.

“Constructicons have always known what’s best for Cybertron.” Dion replies like it’s obvious. “Technobots are idealistic fools.”

“Dion!” Pax protests. “I know you don’t mean that.”

“All the other factions want us in charge too, now that Technobots are hanging by a thread.” Dion says.

“They’re lying.” Pax says. “That’s just what they want you to think because--”

“They’re right.”

“No they’re not!” Pax exclaims. “There’s liars everywhere, even here. They know all the right things to tell you, so you’ll do whatever they want. Why can’t you see that?”

“Orion…” Dion sighs. “You need to leave.”

Pax’s stung by this, but seeing Dion’s serious, just says, “Good choice, going to the Constructicons. For a second I thought I saw the Technobot I once knew.”

Then he leaves.

Or at least he tries to, before two bots stop him.

“You need to come with me.”

Pax pays no mind to them, but when one tries to grab him, he doesn’t think, just swings a servo and knocks the bot down, and right as he’s about to go after the other one, he hears above him.

“Wait!”

Pax looks up, and there’s Sentinel Prime looking down at him, worried.

“Everything okay down there?”

“Yep.” Pax dusts himself off. “Everything’s fine.”

Of course that’s not enough to satisfy Sentinel, as Pax is told to follow him into his office.

In a word, it’s ginormous.

“Have a seat.” Sentinel gestures to the chair in front of the desk, and Pax complies.

“I’m glad we could meet up like this.” Sentinel says.

“Are you?” Pax asks idly.

“Do you like being a Wrecker?” Sentinel asks.

“I do.” Pax replies, not even lying.

“And yet you came to see your friend.” Sentinel says.

“I just wanted to see him.” Pax says, and again, that’s not a lie.

“Have you been to see Alpha Trion?” Sentinel asks.

“No, I haven’t.” Pax admits.

“Has to be hard, doesn't it?” Sentinel says. “Moving on? But it’s for the best, given how well bots fit in with their new positions. That’s what’s most important. Even if there’s a few bumps and bruises along the way. That’s not what we were made for. And that’s exactly why we need to let it go.”

“You think we need to let go of what we were made for?” Pax asks.

“I think what we were made for is a danger to our way of life.” Sentinel says. “We were made to change our world to the point of destruction. And that will never happen as long as there’s still a spark in my chassis. That’s the only reason Cybertron has thrived since the end of the war.”

Now he looks right in Pax’s optics, saying, “And I need your help.”

“Me?” Pax asks, confused. “What am I supposed to do?”

“You can’t tell me you don’t know about Technobots trying to undo the natural order of the factions and breaking protocol, offering sanctuary to Ascendants?”

Pax barely flinches, then says steadily, “No, I hadn’t heard. But now that I have, my only regret is that I didn’t leave sooner.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” Sentinel smiles. “I need bots that are going to reinforce protocol, even if it affects someone you know. Someone you look up to.”

Pax nods. “Absolutely.”, not that he’s sure about that anymore.

“Excellent.” Sentinel says. “I’ll send someone to escort you back to the train to Kaon.”

It’s quiet as he walks back into the Wrecker training facility.

Almost too quiet.

He’s proven right when someone grabs him from behind, and he barely yelps before a servo is clamped down over his mouthpiece.

If it were just the one, maybe he’d be able to get away, but apparently whoever it is his accomplices as they assist in dragging him over to the arena, same place Bee almost fell to his death.

Even as his pedes feel the edge, he struggles and fights with all his might.

“Come on, push him in!” one bot says, right as Pax finally gets the idea to grab one of their faces, succeeding in pulling off a cloaking mask, revealing Hot Shot, of all people.

Pax’s fear turns to fury in an instant, but right as he’s about to lunge at him, they’re all stopped at the sound of a cannon being pointed right at all their faces.

“Drop him.

Now

.” D-16 orders angrily, then smacks them across the faceplates with the barrel of his gun.

As the fight continues, Pax watches in a daze, still not fully understanding what’s happening.

“Pax?

Pax!

Can you hear me?”

Pax startles, then relaxes when he sees that D-16 has apparently finished and is now standing right next to him.

“Are you okay?” D-16 demands.

Somehow Pax feels his helm nodding robotically, so D-16 says, “That’s it, you’re coming with me.”, and leads them both out of there.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Pax just sits on D-16’s berth, staring at nothing as D-16 rejoins him with an energon cube.

“Take it.” He orders.

Pax looks at it, then does. “Thanks.”

“No one’s stupid enough to come in here.” D-16 assures. “Safest place you can be right now.”

Then he kneels, taking Pax’s

still

shaking servos as he unfolds them, looking at the dents as he rubs some clear gel on them.

Pax winces, trying to pull away, but when D-16 looks at him, Pax apologizes. “S-sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” D-16 is quick to say, then resumes fixing him up best he can.

Now that Pax’s thoughts have had a moment to catch up with the rest of him, he finally says, “Primus, Hot Shot…”

“He went after you because you surpassed him and that knocked him off the list.” D-16 says immediately. “So he resents himself for not doing better, and takes it out on you. But that’s all just a fancy way of saying he’s terrified.”

“Who wouldn’t be?” Pax challenges.

“No, that’s not what I mean.” D-16 shakes his helm. “Bots like Hot Shot, fear’s their biggest weakness.”

Then he looks up at Pax. “But you? Fear doesn’t destroy you, it makes you more alive than ever.” He pauses, then adds, “I see it every single time, and I

still

can’t believe it.”

They stay like that for a moment, Pax still on the berth, D-16 still kneeling, before D-16 stands up.

“Get some sleep.” He says, back to business. “You need it.”

“Okay…” Pax acknowledges, looking at the decidedly small berth.

“Relax, I’ll just be on the floor.” D-16 assures, then goes off to another corner of the room.

The next morning, when Pax wakes up, he realizes one, he’s not in his own bed.

That’s enough to get him to sit up abruptly to look around, right as last night hits him all over again.

The other thing he realizes is D-16 isn’t in the corner Pax saw him crawl off to.

Trying to be quiet, he starts to get out of the bed, right as D-16 comes back, noticing.

“Bout time you woke up. How you feeling now?” D-16 asks.

“Best sleep I’ve had in a while.” Pax admits.

“That’s good.” D-16 says, then asks, “Where were you yesterday?”

“Back to Iacon.” Pax shrugs. “To visit my friend Dion.”

“Aw, what’s the matter?” D-16 teases. “Getting bored with us already?”

“Actually, Dion told me something interesting.” Pax finds himself admitting. “He thinks the Constructicons are going to wipe out the Technobots. Is that even possible?”

D-16 looks at him for a second, then nods. “Absolutely. In fact not only is it possible, there’s no telling what they’d do to make it happen.”

“What’s Alpha Trion supposed to do?” Pax says thoughtfully.

“I know.” D-16 agrees. “But don’t you think you should be a little more worried about

you’re

gonna do?”

Pax holds his gaze for a second, then nods. “You’re right.”

He knows D-16 has to be expecting him to say more, but just says, “I better go.”, then finally stands up and leaves.

Pax makes it just in time for the first meal of the day.

He goes straight to where Bee’s already sitting, and plops himself down, exhaustion returning amidst the loudness of the mess hall.

“Hey.” Bee greets, patting Pax’s shoulder, and Pax just smiles tiredly and pats him back.

“Did you get in a fight?” Bee asks suddenly, noticing the gel on Pax’s servos.

“Yeah, actually.” Pax admits.

“Where’d you go last night?” Bee asks, clearly worried.

“Pax, I need to talk to you.”

Hot Shot’s voice and servo tapping him startles Pax so badly he flinches and stands up abruptly.

“Look, I want to apologize, okay?” Hot Shot begs. “I don’t know why I did that. Please don’t hate me.”

Pax turns angry, suddenly, and gets right up in Hot Shot’s faceplate.

“If you so much as

think

about coming anywhere me again, I’ll burn you alive, you understand me?” Pax seethes.

“Pax--”

“Get out!” Pax shouts. “How

dare

you have the nerve to call yourself a Wrecker?”

Hot Shot seems to finally get the hint, and nods, turns and leaves.

“Hot Shot?” Bee asks, after Pax’s told them everything. “That’s not like him.”

But Bulkhead seems to notice something, turning to point out, “What’s going on over there?”

The three get up to follow the stream of bots, but it’s Pax who sees
them pull Hot Shot’s offlined body out first, reeling back in shock.

“No…” He gasps, right as Bee joins in upon seeing it himself.

Pax tries to go straight for the dorm, but D-16 notices and stops him.

“Pax, wait.” He calls.

Pax is in

no mood

for this, and says so, “Go away.”, and keeps moving.

Really, he shouldn’t be so surprised when D-16 grabs his arm to turn him back around.

“Stop that. Look, I’m sorry about what happened with Hot Shot, okay?”

Pax’s already shaking his helm. “He’s one with the AllSpark because of me.”

“

No

.” D-16 says insistently, squeezing both of Pax’s shoulders. “You can’t blame yourself for what Hot Shot did out of his own free will. He was about to be sent to the mines. He wasn’t going to get through the final.”

“Guess I have

that

to look forward to.” Pax says idly, which prompts D-16 to ask.

“Oh?”

Pax’s just so

done

with all of the secrets and lying, to where he just looks D-16 right in the eye and says, “You can stop playing dumb anytime now.”

Pax sees the moment D-16 understands, because there’s a resolve that settles in his optics as he nods.

“And as soon as your bosses find out, I’m gonna die.” Pax adds, right as D-16 shakes him.

“No you’re not.” D-16 declares. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

D-16’s idea turns out to be to go back to the testing room.Pax barely follows him in before D-16 orders, “Close the door.”Pax does, as D-16 explains, “We’re practicing.”“Practicing my greatest fears?” Pax guesses.“No.” D-16 says. “Mine. Both of us are going to take the serum.”Pax’s suspicions are already raised, “Do you even know how to do that?”“In theory.” D-16 replies, holding up the syringe.“Are you sure about this?” Pax asks worriedly.“What makes you think I’m not?” D-16 challenges with a laugh.Pax would laugh if he wasn’t so frustrated. “You—I—you’ve kept your secrets airtight all this time. And now you’re okay with bursting them wide open for the clank to see in perfect technicolor?”“What, are you scared?” D-16 asks, for once, looking genuinely concerned instead of stoic.“Aren’t you?” Pax asks back.There’s a nanoklik, then D-16 says, “Not even a little.”, then lifts the syringe to inject himself.Then he comes closer to Pax, lifting the syringe to put just enough pressure on his neck to inject the rest.That done, he picks up a large cord, and places it on the back of Pax’s helm, then attaches it to his own chassis, before lying down on the berth, watching as Pax falls unconscious, then following a moment later.
When they wake up, Pax notices they’re in a giant arena, bigger than the one in their facility.And Megatron is on the podium, arms chained to his sides as a screen shows his misdeeds.“Fear of exposure.” Pax remembers. “I had a feeling, but I didn’t know it was like this.” As he comes closer to the podium, he sees the chains glow with infused energon.“D, it isn’t real.” Pax tells him. “Pull away, step off the podium.”“No.” D-16 says immediately. “That’s what an Ascendant would do. A Wrecker has to break themselves free. If you’re going to pass the final without being found out, you have to think like a Wrecker. Use your wits and brute strength to force your way out.”D-16 leans forward to leverage himself, slamming a pede down on the podium, making it wobble while also dislodging the chains.He kicks it harder, now that it’s weakened, and the chains finally snap off, the energon leaking out of them so they slide right off his servos, to which, D-16 picks up the knocked over podium and throws it t the screen, destroying it, causing sparks to fly everywhere, making Pax cover his optics.
When he uncovers them, they’re in a dark room with an incinerator on a conveyor belt.They both try to run away from the fire, as D-16 explains, “Fear of dying alone and forgotten. Find a way out of here. What do Wreckers do?”Pax picks up the garbage, throwing it in the incinerator in an attempt to overload it and slow it down.“There you go.” D-16 praises, despite being out of breath, but as Pax starts tossing frantically, he says, “Slow down. Not like we’re about to be smelted or anything.”Then suddenly, Pax jumps up towards the garbage chute, pulling D-16 up with him and off the belt.
When they land, they’re somewhere else again.But D walks right over to the medical table lined with instruments, picking up some extraction tools.“Wreckers are privy to knowledge that even the Technobots don’t know. Knowledge that would destroy everyone from the inside out.” D-16 says as he walks over to the newly onlined sparkling strapped to the berth.“Why does it have a cog?” Pax demands, all but ordering with his optics for D-16 to look at him.But of course the gunmetal gray bot doesn’t, just says, “Because that’s how it was born. How all sons and daughters of Cybertron are born.”D-16 leans over the bot. “I have to remove the cog from its chest.”, and lifts his servos to start, “But I won’t.” until suddenly, the sparkling is replaced with Pax, looking up at D-16, horrified.“So I spare them.” D-16 says emotionlessly as he places a hand over Pax’s optics, and summons his weapon, and fires a blast right at Pax’s faceplate, not looking.
When they both look again, Pax recognizes the place immediately.“What are we doing in the mines?” He demands, as D-16 keeps walking away.“This one’s the worst.” He explains. “The one that’s hiding underneath all the other ones.”, then stops, looking at another bot that’s come in the room.It’s Sentinel Prime, and immediately, Pax understands.“Sentinel mistreated a minor.” He recalls. “Who was it?”“D-16.” Sentinel says, as multiple Sentinels suddenly appear, all saying the same thing. “D-16. D-16. D-16.”They all start to close in on them, as one says, “D-16, can’t you see this is as good as it’ll ever get for you? For everyone down here?”But then, right as a Sentinel copy’s about to lift his energon blaster to fire right at D-16, Pax finds himself shouting, “STOP!”, and swinging his axe, knocking it down, and when D-16 hits another one, that somehow knocks the rest of them down.
In kliks, Pax gasps awake, but his only concern is to look up at D-16, who’s holding his helm as he tosses the cord from the cortical psychic patch away.
Now they’ve moved to D-16’s room, and Pax finds D-16 off to himself.“That’s why you never changed your name, isn’t it?” Pax asks softly. “You didn’t want to forget what happened to you.”“I will never forget.” D-16 replies. “Doesn’t matter how many times I do the test, they’re all right there.”Pax’s optics lower for a second, until they land on the Megatronus Prime decal on his arm.“Okay, I got a question.” Pax says, chuckling at his own absurdity.“Shoot.” D-16 replies.“Why do you wear that decal?” Pax asks.“Megatronus Prime is said to be the greatest Prime to ever live.” D-16 replies. “But that’s not why I wear it.”Now he turns just enough to look at Pax. “Do you want to know why?”Pax knows he could and probably should say no, and neither would lose any recharge over it.But really, after everything he saw in D-16’s processor, what’s one more thing?“Yes.”D-16 nods, then lifts his arm as he carefully peels the decal off, revealing several deep scratches and grooves in the same shape as the decal.Pax lifts a servo, taking care to look and make sure he’s not hurting D-16 as he touches a digit to them.“The faction substances.” Pax realizes, recognizing the damage from datapads in the archives. “Why would you do this to yourself?” He swears he’s not accusing, but seeing D like this just hurts .“Because I don’t fight for any one thing, or any one bot.”
D-16 replies. “I can’t forget a single one. I have to become something bigger than myself, hiding under my mesh, waiting to be brought into the light with secret talents I had all along.”D-16 moves closer, joking, “Except the secrets part is no longer true.”Then he wraps his arms around Pax and pulls him right to him, hugging him tight.And come on, what else is Pax supposed to do except hug back?They both stay right there, letting it ground them as they lean on each other.Finally, Pax rests his helm on D-16 ‘s shoulder. “I don’t know what we’re doing.”“I don’t care.” D-16 says. “I’m just glad we made it.”They pull apart, smiling now, but it’s D-16 who lists a servo up first, digits curled into a fist, so Pax mirrors it, bumping them together.“I got your back.” D-16 promises. “Always.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Pax wakes up to someone knocking on his helm, and once his optics are focused, he sees D-16 smirking down at him.“Hey there.” Pax smiles back, unable to hide how safe he feels here, like this, with D.“Hey.” D-16 replies. “Come with me. You’re gonna want to see this.”Pax nods, then sits up from the berth.
D-16 takes them to a rooftop, shushing for Pax to stay quiet as they slowly approach the edge, looking down.“See that?” D-16 whispers.“Are those…Constructicons?” Pax demands quietly.“Uh huh.” D-16 confirms. “They’ve been coming here every single day. I’ve been watching them. This has been going on for megacycles.”“Why would they come to the Wreckers?” Pax wonders in confusion.“They’ve been bringing stuff.” D-16 says. “Monitors.” Then he holds up a syringe. “Along with this.”Pax’s optics widen, taking it. “What is it?”“Some kind of compound that when injected, makes you more vulnerable to suggestion.” D-16 says, then points in the Constructicons’ general direction. “But anyone with that much? They don’t just want an army. If they’re here, they’re going for complete annihilation.”Pax looks down at the serum again, spark pounding right as they hear over an intercom,“ Attention all Wrecker initiates, please board the train to Iacon for final testing. ”Pax can’t even comprehend how he’s supposed to think about that now with what he and D have just uncovered.But apparently D does, because he’s right there, servo squeezing his shoulder.“You’re gonna pass.” He promises. “I know it.”And for the moment, Pax just lets them stay like that, not brushing off D or the assurance, but not fully accepting them, either.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

As Pax is led to the room where his final exam takes place, his nerves go haywire when he sees how many bots are here.Not just the higher ups and Darkwing he was expecting, Sentinel Prime’s here too.D approaches him, reminding him, “They’re going to watch your fear simulations on that screen.” He points to it. “Get through them all like a Wrecker and be quick about it.”“I remember.” Pax assures. “I finish too fast, they’ll know I’m an Ascendant and execute me before I even wake up. I don’t finish fast enough, the serum will snuff out my spark.”“Exactly.” D nods. “No pressure.”, then walks away, leaving Pax to walk over to the berth alone.He steps onto the platform and lays down on the berth, as Glyph picks up the syringe, whispering, “Good luck, Pax.”, as she administers it. “You’re gonna need it.”Pax lets his helm fall back, closing his optics as the serum pulls him under.
He wakes up back in the heart of Iacon, back to his weapons malfunctioning and unable to stop them.Back to the blast fired at a bunch of civilians, falling into a puddle of energon.Same as before, but this time, instead of drinking the energon, he crawls to the edge of the bridge, so the weapons can fire away from everything, and begins scanning his vitals.Upon seeing the error message Control Systems Offline, he taps his comm link.“Team, my control systems appear to be offline. Someone needs to step up while I attempt a manual override.”“ Copy that, boss. ”That done, he says next, “Medic? I need assistance. Walk me through the manual override.”
In the real world, Sentinel watches Pax’s prone body on the berth as it twitches.
But the simulation’s not over yet this time, as when he almost finishes the medic’s instructions, his servos become bound, unable to do anything while his weapons keep firing.Quickly, he lifts a pede to stomp down on the bindings, stretching it until he can fire his weapons at it, and his servos break free.
“Good, good.” D-16 whispers quietly as he keeps his optics on the screen.
Once the manual override is complete, Pax falls to the ground in relief, only to realize he’s back in the room with the energon, and as he looks up, here it comes now, falling right on top of him.He tries to fight it, but once he’s back to being immobilized, he has to stop himself from kicking the energon off.
Sentinel’s optics narrow as he watches, ready to give any such order he pleases at a moment’s notice.
But he remembers just in time, and stops to think about his options.He looks around, trying to ignore the bright color of the energon so it doesn’t blind him, before he remembers.Of course. Why didn’t he think of it before?Resolved, he takes as deep a breath as he can and wills himself to transform.His frame begins to shift and realign. Shoulder plates, chest panels, and leg components slide open and rotate, his legs retract as the lower parts pivot, feet rotating and folding inward, treads emerging.His upper body rotates, arms reorienting themselves as well, shoulders shifting. His chest panel splits apart, while shoulders and back components fold down.Finally, Pax's helm tucks into the body, a portion of his neck reconfiguring and morphing to further integrate into the design of the vehicle.Then with some final snaps and configurations, his transformation is complete, and upon checking his vitals, the energon has been displaced and fallen off of him.
In the real world, Pax’s unconscious body gasps and shudders.
Pax’s mouth gasps as he realizes D is standing over him, trying to shove a blade through his chassis.“D, why?” Pax begs, even as he tries to push him back.“This is what you wanted.” D taunts, then uses the moment to his advantage to thrust the blade towards Pax’s chest.So Pax does the only thing he can do, by grabbing it with his bare servos, overpowering D, and closing his eyes as he feels the blade slam through metal and wires, right through D’s spark.
He sits up from the berth with a gasp, which is met with applause, then immediately goes over to D, who’s just staring at him with his arms crossed.“Can we pretend you didn’t see that?” Pax begs.“Not a chance.” D says with a grin, right as Sentinel Prime approaches, clapping.“Well done, Orion Pax.” He praises. “Now just one more thing. Pull out your axe.”Pax does, as some of Sentinel’s guards bring Alpha Trion forward.“I think you can take it from here.” Sentinel says cryptically.Pax’s optics widen in horror, “What?”“You can’t be a Wrecker with one pede still in Technobots.” Sentinel says.“Forget it.” Pax says immediately.“No sacrifice, no victory.” Sentinel reminds him.Pax looks down, looks right in Alpha Trion’s optics. It’s not real. He hears in his mind, then drops his battle mask and swings.
Pax sits up with a start, this time with D right there, holding his arms to steady him.“You okay?” D asks, but Pax’s too busy looking over at Sentinel, who appears to be whispering something with the Wrecker higher ups.“I think we pulled it off.” D says encouragingly, which makes Pax smile, so D helps him up from the berth. “We’re out of here.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Congratulations to our newest Wreckers.” The higher ups address
them from above the rec area.

The room erupts in applause, as Pax grabs B in a hug, the lingering paranoia still present alongside the relief.

They’re still cheering and hugging as all the Wreckers are sorted into
lines.

“Everyone start lining up!” Darkwing calls.

“What’s happening?” Pax wonders.

“Alright, listen!” Darkwing says. “Before you all leave, sort yourself into 4 lines. You will all be planted with a tracking chip. Don’t overreact, it’s just for safety reasons.”

Pax looks ahead to where a bot is injecting a Wrecker right into the neck, and when he looks around, his optics widen, upon realizing,

“Wait, where’s D?”

When all he gets in return are shaking helms and shrugs, he makes a run for it to try and find him, only for Darkwing to plant himself right in front of him.

“I guess this is where I owe you an apology.” Darkwing says, voice deceptively cheery. “I would’ve had you as one of the first, but I’m in a good mood.”

That’s all the warning Pax gets before a sharp shooting pain is jabbed into the neck, making him grab it.

“Ow!” Pax snaps.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?” Darkwing says knowingly. “But you’re a Wrecker now.”

Then he leaves Pax there, who just walks back to the dorm room, not sure what else he can do.

Pax wakes to a noise, and when his optics turn on, he sees other Wreckers getting up one by one, even B.

“B, what--” But he stops cold when he sees B’s optics have turned red, and don’t appear to recognize him as he stares at Pax for several more seconds, then follows the other Wreckers out.

Taking the hint, he also gets out of his berth, rubbing the sting in his neck, before he remembers with a gasp,

“No…”

He follows the other red eyed Wreckers out, getting into a line with the rest of them, pretending to be as dead faced as the rest of them.

As he moves closer, he hears a command leader tell Darkwing, “They can still see and hear everything. The information just doesn’t go in like it’s supposed to. Now the transmitter is pulling the strings.”

He watches one line pull out their weapons, then hears someone call out.

“What’s happening?”

Pax turns and sees another red eyed Wrecker, but this one appears to be more coherent, asking, “Why are we doing this?”, and walking to another bot, begging, “Someone say something!”

“Ascendant.” Pax hears a higher up whisper to Darkwing, then watches Darkwing approach the confused bot.

“Calm down. It’s all going to be alright. It’s just protocol.” Darkwing says, right before he pulls out his weapon and snuffs the bot’s spark out.

All the Wreckers are loaded into the train, and a quick glance at Pax’s reflection confirms his optics are also red, though his processor has yet to succumb.

As the train pulls out of Kaon, Pax tries to hold as still as possible, but when he sees D up ahead, he knows he can’t.

He slowly maneuvers his way through the red opticed, dead faced Wreckers, taking care to not arouse suspicion.

He can’t deny how jarring it is, seeing all the friends he’s come to know like this.

But all he cares about right now is getting to D. Even when he passes by B, he only gives the yellow bot a sad look before continuing on.

Finally, he makes it, and plants himself directly next to D, forcing himself to look at him,

needing

to know if against all odds, he still has one friend that’s not entirely gone.

D keeps looking dead ahead, and Pax’s spark drops, ready to blow his cover and not care, when he feels it.

A knock to his servo.

Given they’re standing on a moving train, it could’ve easily been an accident, one no one else would’ve thought twice about.

But Pax knows.

He looks down, and there it is: D’s servo closed into some semblance of a fist, right next to Pax’s, digit joints poking at him.

And so Pax does the only thing he can do and mirrors it, accidentally-on-purpose bumping his own digit joints back, optics closed as he doesn’t dare let himself do anything else.

If coolant only pools but never actually leaks from his optics, it’s almost like he’s not crying at all.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When the train stops, Pax and D march along with the rest of the Wreckers through Iacon, siren blaring loudly, until Pax realizes with a start that they’re headed straight for the archives.Pax and D share a look, but just keep following inside, watching as Technobots make a run for it upon seeing them approach.As Wreckers begin apprehending any Technobots they see, Pax chances whispering to D, “We need to get Alpha Trion out of here.”, then freezing when he sees a Wrecker pull a weapon on a defenseless Technobot.“Don’t stop.” D orders quietly. “Where would he be?”Pax picks up the pace just enough so he can lead the way, trying and failing to not see the just offlined bots on the ground.
They eventually find the room Pax had seen Alpha Trion in most frequently, and once he’s sure no one will hear them, calls out,“Alpha Trion!”They make quick work of searching, but aside from them, the room is empty.“Where would he go?” D asks.“I have no idea.” Pax admits despairingly.Nothing else they can do here, they leave, battle masks dropped as they go back to pretending they’re under the serum’s control.When D sees Darkwing, he risks nodding in his direction to warn Pax, right as Darkwing plants himself right in front of him.“Who would’ve thought?” Darkwing taunts. “D-16, a miner that dug himself out of the depths, just to fall in line like everyone else.”It takes everything in D to not react as he sees Pax move to stand behind Darkwing.“Top of the leaderboard, and now look at you.” Darkwing keeps taunting. “You’re almost not worth controlling.”He starts to go, but when he hears a noise, he steps back, looking right in the optics.“What is it?” the Wrecker command leader demands.“I think he’s…” Darkwing starts, then shakes his helm. “Forget it, this’ll tell us faster than words.”He pulls out his blaster, pointing it right at D’s face.“Any last words?” Darkwing can’t resist taunting.“Funny, I was gonna ask you that.”Darkwing barely whips around as Pax points his axe at him, while the command leader points his weapon at Pax, and D points his at Darkwing.“Touch him, you’re dead.” D swears.“It was the clank?” Darkwing exclaims with a mirthless laugh as he looks at D. “Two clanks? Two clanks that are about to be one with the AllSpark?”“The only good Ascendant is a dead Ascendant.” The command leader says. “Look at where it got us.”“Oh don’t worry.” Darkwing says. “Pax here’s too soft.”“Wanna bet?” Pax snaps, pushing his axe closer, looking for an excuse to use it.Darkwing goes to point his blaster at Pax, but that’s the opening D was waiting for to knock him down from behind, then the command leader as he shouts, “GO!” at Pax as he takes off as well.They’re not fast enough, as a mindless Wrecker spots them and shoots, and Pax’s hit with a searing hot pain as he’s hit from behind.D grabs him, trying to hide them best he can as he asks, “Did they hit you?”Pax nods once, “I’ll be fine.”, but the assurance comes too late, as they’re surrounded, the command leader ordering, weapon raised,“Surrender or die.”
Pax and D are dragged away into a room in the archives, and of course, of course Sentinel Prime is here, though for once, he looks surprised to see them.“D-16.” Sentinel says. “And Orion Pax. And here I thought you were smarter than this.”“Guess even the wisdom of the Primes isn’t infinite.” D spits out.“I don’t understand.” Pax says. “All the Technobots ever wanted was to help you!”“Help me?” Sentinel laughs. “You call letting them make all the decisions to run the government based off a bunch of dusty datapads helping me?
No. Not anymore. If we want any hope of the factions staying as they are, we need to destroy them. Once and for all. Starting with you two. I can’t just let you ruin my chance to restore Cybertron to its former glory. What would that say about me?”“It says that you destroyed Cybertron with your own servos and made us suffer for it.” D taunts angrily.“Me? Please.” Sentinel says flippantly. “You did that all on your own. Thank Primus I had the sense to stop it in its tracks and keep our planet safe. And that’s exactly what I’m doing. And no one is going to stand in my way.”“So it never crossed your processor that you have it all wrong?” Pax challenges.Sentinel doesn’t answer, instead walks up to D, then orders. “He’s coming with us.”Sentinel pokes a digit into Pax’s injury, making him gasp out in pain, to which Sentinel tsks and says, “That won’t do. I try anything, it’ll just leak out. Kill him.”At that, D knocks one of the guards and lunges for Sentinel, but it’s clear he never had a chance, as he’s quickly apprehended and knocked to his knees.
Sentinel walks out, dusting himself off like it’s just another day, with the guards following him away, while Pax is dragged in the opposite direction.He’s able to catch D’s optics before a bot with multiple legs grabs him and carries him off, then Pax is forcefully shoved to the ground on his knees.With his servos tied, he can’t do much else, so he looks down into a pool of spilled energon, which grounds him enough to let resolve sit in as he holds his head high, even as the guards ready their weapons to execute him.But then a blast reaches their audials, which did not come from the guards, and Pax is barely able to duck down as a larger than life bot tears through them.When it catches Pax’s optics, he freezes, terrified, before it speaks in a voice Pax would know anywhere.“Come, Orion.”Pax gasps, “Alpha Trion?”The giant animal comes forward, taking the bonds trapping Pax in his mouth and biting, hard, until they snap off.“Get on my back. We’re out of time.” Alpha Trion orders, and Pax wastes no time complying.
As Pax rides Alpha Trion’s alt form through Iacon, he can’t help but ask, still shocked, “You knew I’d be a Wrecker all along, didn’t you?”He hears a chuckle from the four legged bot, but all Alpha Trion says is, “I have yet to be wrong about you, Orion Pax.”“Have you seen Dion?” Pax tries to ask.“There’s no time. We need to meet up with the others.” Alpha Trion says. “Stay alert.”Pax nods, blaster ready as they hide from the sudden onslaught of blasts that nearly hit them.Pax’s ready for them, taking care to only incapacitate instead of outright killing, while Alpha Trion just barrels through any that are dumb enough to not get out of the way.But that all stops immediately when Pax sees a familiar face, and he doesn’t think, he jumps off of Alpha Trion’s back and runs ahead to put himself between them.“ Bulkhead! ” He shouts, ducking to avoid the blast Bulkhead fires at him. “Stop, stop! ”But as Bulkhead only gets closer, aim getting more precise, Pax acts purely on instinct, swinging his arm, and when it’s over, he’s left standing over Bulkhead’s unconscious and gashed frame, axe drawn and dripping with energon.“Pax!” Pax somehow hears behind him. “We need to leave, now! ”Pax numbly allows himself to comply, almost robotically climbing back onto Alpha Trion’s back, turning to look back at where Bulkhead hasn’t moved.“Wait.” Pax’s mouth makes the words, but it doesn’t sound like he said anything. “ Wait! ”Alpha Trion doesn’t slow down, so Pax jumps off anyway, lifting an arm to raise his blaster in the air, and firing once, sending off a beacon into the sky, right over Bulkhead’s frame.He completely ignores Alpha Trion’s questioning look as he climbs back on, and then they’re off again.“They won’t kill him.” Pax says simply, to which Alpha Trion just replies,“Let’s hope that didn’t just cost us our freedom.”They reach another corner, and after looking, Alpha Trion says, “I’ll make quick work of them.”“No.” Pax says, jumping down. “I can do it.”, then walks right out into the open, not giving Alpha Trion a chance to argue.When the bots see him, Pax wastes no time firing him, as Alpha Trion comes charging from behind, and together, they both barrel right through them, though right as they’re about to be in the clear, one of the bots throws a knife of all things and Alpha Trion immediately dives to cover Pax with his giant alt form.“What was that?” Pax demands, sitting up as he shoots from there, then once that’s done, he turns to look back up at Alpha Trion to say, “Okay, get us out of here.”But when Alpha Trion doesn’t move, Pax becomes immediately concerned. “Alpha Trion?”Alpha Trion still says nothing, so Pax pushes himself out from under him, demanding, “What happened?”And then he sees it.Pax will never forgive himself for his stupid processor for not immediately seeing the big knife sticking out of his mentor’s chassis, optics already fading.“Alpha Trion!” Pax shouts in a panic, reaching his servos out to try and do something, anything. But it’s no use, and Pax knows it, even as he begs, “Nononononononono, please! ”Alpha Trion’s frame finally gives out, narrowly avoiding crushing Pax’s frame as it collapses.Pax drops to his knees, feeling as if his spark is about to be snuffed out right alongside his mentor’s, and finally lets coolant leak from his eyes, servo over his mouthpiece to keep from screaming.When the sounds of gunfire and blasts reach his audials again, he can only cry out, “Stop shooting!”, but of course no one hears him, nor would they care if they did.So Pax makes himself get up, closes his optics, repeating the death rite entitled to all bots, “Till all are one.”Then he leaves him there, for all appearances just another casualty in the war.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The coolant has dried on Pax’s face by the time he’s reached the building Alpha Trion was leading them.As other bots slowly come out of hiding, Pax only says, voice drained, “Alpha Trion sent me.”“Pax?”Pax turns and sees Dion standing there, but can’t even bring himself to be relieved or even happy at the sight of him now.“Where is he?” Dion pushes, but one look in Pax’s optics makes it perfectly clear.Dion slowly comes over, not sure what to do as Pax says, “He saved my life.”“Then his sacrifice will lead to our victory.” Dion says. “But we need to leave. Now.”“Are there other Wreckers out there?” a bot behind them asks.Pax glares at the bot, but says, voice still drained, “No. We cleared them all.”But as Pax starts to walk away, Dion stops him, guilt all over his faceplate as he hugs him.“You were right about everything.” He says brokenly. “The second I found out, I quit.”Then he pulls away, needing to know, “Why are the Wreckers and Constructicons working together?”“They’re brainwashed.” Pax says quickly. “They were injected with the fear serum to make them vulnerable to suggestion. If we’re going to snap them out of it, I need to get back to the Wreckers headquarters in Kaon.”“That place is locked tighter than Primus himself.” Dion reminds him. “There’s no way.”There’s only a split second before Pax says, “Yes there is.”
After knocking out some stray guards and boarding the train, Pax warns them.“This is our stop.”“What’re we gonna do?” Dion asks.“This is where the fun starts.” Pax replies, opening the train door and making a run for it as he jumps off.A moment later, Dion jumps after him, and they’re off towards the entrance to the Wrecker headquarters.He steps up to the edge, telling Dion, “It’s cushioned at the bottom to absorb impact. Just get it over with.”
Pax watches Dion land on the padding, then helps him up, asking, “You okay?”At Dion’s nod, Pax leads them through the facility, through the rec and training areas, but upon spotting someone, he orders, “Don’t move.”, then goes ahead by himself.
It’s almost too easy to catch Wheeljack by surprise, shoving him against the wall and sneering, “If you don’t want me to blow your processor to pieces, you’re going to do exactly as I say and turn around so I can see you.”Wheeljack doesn’t even fight, just puts up his servos as he slowly turns around.“Why aren’t you brainwashed?” Pax demands.“Because I’m not stupid, and they know what I bring to the table.” Wheeljack brags.“Where are they?” Pax demands again.“What do I have to gain by telling you that?” Wheeljack scoffs. “And you expect me to believe a clank is gonna do anything to me ?”“Okay that’s really starting to piss me off.” Pax says in exasperation, and lands a solid punch right across Wheeljack’s faceplate.“Where. Are. They?” Pax seethes.
Pax and Dion force Wheeljack to lead the way, as Dion asks, “Was punching him really necessary?”Pax snaps, “I don’t care about anything except stopping another Technobot from being murdered by a brainwashed Wrecker.”, then shoves Wheeljack. “Come on! ”
Thankfully, it’s not much further, and when Pax sneaks a look around the corner, he demands, “Is that it?”Wheeljack nods mutely.“I’ve seen Sentinel walk in there.” Pax remembers. “He was controlling it from right here, all this time.”But then, suddenly, he sees Dion about to go up against the guards with a discarded weapon, Pax stops him.“Dion, what are you doing?”“No sacrifice, no victory.” Dion repeats, and miraculously, those words are all Pax needs, allowing a small smile as he stands alongside him.They shout and start attacking, Pax shooting, Dion slashing away, and in moment’s, it’s over.But of course it’s not over fast enough, because as Pax looks down, Dion lies among the offlined bots.But just as quick, he’s shaking it off and walking right towards the room.“Till all are one.” Pax whispers, then opens the door, charging inside.
His axe is out as he walks through the large room, following the noise of activity until he sees the source: monitors both controlling and tracking the Wrecker’s every movement.He hides behind a pillar, but the second he sees D strapped to a chair, that’s completely forgotten about as Pax quietly rushes over.“D.” Pax whispers, carefully using his axe to cut through the bonds on D’s arms.In hindsight, probably not the best idea, given how fast D’s out of the chair and shoving him against the pillar, knocking the wind out of him.“D. D!” Pax calls out hoarsely. “This isn’t you. Wake up.”“No point in talking to him anymore.” Sentinel says as he joins them. “Incredible how easy it is to strip away someone’s autonomy with the right formula.”“D.” Pax doesn’t take his optics off of him.“He’s not D anymore.” Sentinel says. “Now there’s nothing and no one standing in my way.”“What makes you say that?” Pax knows better, but can’t resist asking.“That’s what’s so perfect about our factions.” Sentinel explains. “Place for everyone, everyone in their place. Everyone’s so concerned about fitting in, they forget everything else. Including their independence. But Ascendants want to destroy that.”He walks back to D. “But trust me, I’ve had fun squashing you at every turn. Alas, it can’t last.”Sentinel nods at a guard, who goes over to a monitor and presses a button, right as Pax goes over to D, begging.“D, I’m here. I’m he—”He’s cut off by D slugging him right across the face, then overpowering him as he holds him down.Pax attempts to kick him, but D just keeps smashing him against the floor while maintaining his strong grip.Pax somehow manages to lunge at him and catch him off guard, but D’s able to throw him off.Now they’re both vertical, so they start throwing punches; D throwing some, Pax blocking, and some Pax throwing but D blocking.“D, please! ” Pax keeps trying to reach out to him, even as D gets him on the ground again, only for Pax to punch him from upside down, get up, and dodge every punch D throws.Pax even tries to tackle him, but all that does is throw him off balance as D anticipates it and throws him into the chair he found D in.Seeing the tools on the table next to it, an idea forms in Pax’s mind, and he picks up one of the tools, pointing it at D.“Stop!” Pax orders, and by now, everyone’s watching as D just comes closer.“D, don’t do this!” Pax begs, as D snatches the tool out of Pax’s servo and aims right for his T-cog.And that, right there, freezes D in place, even as he’s clearly ready to push the tool all the way in.“D, it’s okay, I promise.” Pax promises quietly. He’s even smiling. “I’m here.”Sentinel watches with amusement, but stays quiet.D begins to struggle, arms shaking, so Pax grabs D’s arm, startling him just long enough for Pax to hit a button, pulling out D’s fusion cannon, and holding it so it’s aimed right at his face.“Don’t look away.” Pax orders gently. “Spare me.”Very slowly, D’s optics keep flickering and closing, even as Pax tries to hold his gaze.“You had my back. Now I got yours.” Pax promises, not letting go of the cannon, ready to let himself die if that’s the price to bring his friend back.It happens so fast, Pax almost misses it. But there’s no mistaking when instead of red or orange, D’s optics have turned a solid yellow.“Pax.” D gasps quietly, looking in horror as he finally registers he has a weapon pointed right at Pax’s face.“Get us out of here.” Pax says.And thank Primus, that’s all the permission D needs before he stands up and opens fire.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Finish the protocol!” Sentinel shouts as he runs to a monitor.D makes quick work of shooting everyone he can, while Pax opts for knocking them out.But when he hears the tell-tale beep of more and more Technobots dying, he forgets about the others altogether and charges right at Sentinel.Even when someone tries to grab him from behind, he quickly elbows into their face plate to make the bot let go, and doesn’t think, he throws his energon axe, watching as it makes a perfect landing right on Sentinel’s servo on the monitor.Pax struts over, not even fazed when D stops another bot from trying to intercept him.“Stop this. Now!” Pax orders.“I don’t think so.” Sentinel sneers.Pax can’t help but steal looks at the monitors, showing Wreckers firing their weapons to execute more Technobots.And then one monitor in particular shows B in plain view, still red eyed and ready to kill.That gets him to retract the axe, and shove Sentinel against the monitor, holding it to his intake.“Don’t make me ask you again. Stop this!” Pax shouts in his faceplate.“Always refreshing to see someone willing to die for their idealistic dreams.” Sentinel says. “But you’re a fool if you think they hold any weight over mine.”Pax freezes at that, giving Sentinel the opportunity to taunt, “As per usual, all talk, no do.”The situation on the monitors keeps getting worse, and finally, Pax has to admit he’s at a complete loss.He looks over at D, who’s looking back at him, looking just as lost as he is.He looks at the monitor, where B has his energon blades out, raising his servos to use them on some Technobot sparklings.Then he looks down, and he sees it. The fear serum, along with an injector.His optics widen, and he quickly looks at D, begging for D to understand.D follows Pax’s gaze, and upon seeing it, he gives the smallest nod.That done, Pax turns back to Sentinel, shoving him away.“I knew it. Even after all that, you’re still not a Wrecker.” He taunts.“No.” Pax agrees, right as D tosses him the injector. “I’m an Ascendant.”, then grabs Sentinel’s intake and jabs him in the neck before Sentinel can fight back.In seconds, he stops struggling, and his optics have a dazed look in them.“Stop the protocol and destroy the evidence.” Pax orders in a steely calm he does not feel.Behind him, D works on the screen manipulating the Wreckers’ behaviors, but Pax keeps watching as Sentinel goes to the monitor, and pushes a button, before swiping it all away.Pax’s gaze moves to the monitor where B’s still got his weapons raised, but in seconds, B’s battle mask drops, and his face is one of pure shock.And not only that, the other Wreckers are in shock as well.
“Protocol disengaged.”
Pax and D look at each other, barely able to breathe a sigh of relief before they hear,“NO!”They look, and Sentinel’s furious as he tries to get his protocol back, with no luck.Watching him, Pax feels absolutely nothing. Any anger or schadenfreude he could indulge in right now, it’s gone, wiped away like the protocol.But he can’t resist saying something .“But trust me, I’ve had fun squashing you at every turn. Alas, it can’t last.”At that, Sentinel becomes so enraged to where he lunges at Pax, even going so far as to throw a fist in his face.He’s not prepared for D to grab it instead, saying, “No, no. Allow me.”, and punching Pax just hard enough to get him out of harm’s way, then smashing his helm into Sentinel’s faceplate.Then upon turning to the camera feed, he says, “Pax, we gotta go if we don’t want to get caught.”Pax’s still rubbing his sore face as he lets D lead them away.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The second they’re out of the building, it’s a mad dash to the trains with the others.D gets on first, then one by one, so does everyone else.Pax keeps running, but right as D’s about to help him on, he calls, “I can do it!”“I never doubted that!” D calls back, then grabs him to pull him into the train anyway.
Only once the door’s closed and the train’s moving do they finally take a breath and hug.“Alpha Trion and Dion are dead.” Pax whispers.“I know.” D whispers back. “But they died protecting you, Pax. Hope like yours is too important not to.”Pax steps back, letting out a loud exhale. “There’s no hope. Not anymore. Nowhere for us to go. No mentors, no friends. What am I now?”“What’re we, steel shavings?”The voice makes Pax’s optics widen as he turns and sees B standing among the others.He doesn’t think, just rushes right over and hugs B tightly.“I’m glad to see you’re alright.” Understatement of a lifetime. Pax’s still unable to believe they’re actually here.“You are too, Pax.” B says, putting a servo on Pax’s shoulder. “You may not know what you are, but I do.”“We all do.” D corrects.“Even after what I almost let happen to you?” Pax reminds them, not that they would remember.“Especially then.” D says, reminding Pax he’s still there too.With that, all three former Wreckers move in for a group hug, and finally, finally , Pax lets his guard down.