In the next few days Selenia explored the base,
marveling at the immense size and maze-like diversity of the
Black Fortress.  Her younger siblings were only too eager
to lead her into all their favorite haunts and corners, and
Selenia enjoyed their company -- but found she learned
more about the actual lay-out of the base when she explored
on her own.  She learned quickly that Soundwave could
almost always be found either in the weapons lab/repair bay
deep below ground, or in the upper-level communications
center that could link up with almost all the Decepticon
troops on the planet, and even had interplanetary capability.
     Besides this huge and sophisticated center, there
were innumerable smaller communications consoles
scattered throughout the Fortress, most linking up only
within the base or within the province of Polyhex, but some
having planet-wide capability as well.  Selenia found herself
strangely drawn to these outreach points -- often she found
herself standing in front of one of the screens and consoles,
unable to remember arriving there, and not sure why she
was staring at a dark screen.  A dozen times she'd been on
the verge of telling Soundwave about these disquieting
lapses of memory -- but, Soundwave was actively involved
in helping Megatron plan a major assault, and she didn't
want to distract him.  Maybe her lapses were merely after-
effects of getting her identity back, she reasoned.  And, she
felt she had caused Soundwave quite enough worry already,
without adding to it further.  So, when she heard footsteps
behind her and turned around, startled, to realize she was in
the main communications center, she dismissed it without
much further thought.
     She had turned to face someone she had known long
ago.  "Starscream!" she exclaimed.
     "Selenia," he replied coolly, looking her up and
down.  "Rumor had it you were back from the dead.  I
guess it's true."  He didn't sound especially pleased.  They
had never much cared for each other, even in the beginning.
When Selenia's relationship with Megatron had become
more intimate, she and Starscream had found themselves
vying in some sense for Megatron's attention.  And later,
when Starscream began to be constantly, and sometimes
violently, at odds with Megatron, their initial dislike of each
other had deepened into something that approached enmity.
     "You do realize this is a restricted area?" Starscream
persisted.
     "I was looking for my creator," Selenia snapped
defensively.
     "Well he's not here," Starscream stated the obvious,
"so you can go now."
     She fixed him with a level glare.  "I'll go when I'm
good and ready."
     Starscream, to her annoyance, laughed.  "So, you're
not the fluffy bit of tinfoil you used to be."
     "From anyone but you, I would almost take that as a
compliment," Selenia answered sarcastically.
     Starscream shrugged.  "Take it any way you like."
He wandered around her in a casual circle, looking her over.
"You going to pick up where you left off with Megatron?"
he asked, his tone taking on a subtly needling quality.
     Selenia whirled on him.  "I don't see what possible
business that could be of yours!"
     Starscream held out his hands in a gesture of utter
innocence.  "Hey, I was just attempting to make
conversation.  You were always so touchy."
     "And you were always such an arrogant jerk, always
looking to stir up trouble--!"
     "What's going on in here?" demanded a voice from
the entranceway.  Megatron strode into the huge circular
room.  "Is he bothering you, Selenia?"
     "Yes," she stated emphatically, as Starscream
simultaneously voiced an indignant "No!"
     "But then again," he continued with a smirk at
Megatron, "seeing as you two are, shall we say, *close*, I
don't suppose you'd believe me over her."
     "Get out of here," Megatron snarled at him, "while
you can still walk."
     Grinning to himself, but nevertheless keeping
Megatron at a safe distance, Starscream left the chamber.
     "I can't believe he's still around!" Selenia exclaimed.
"I thought for sure, after you two had that massive falling-
out, that it was only a matter of time before you twisted his
head off."
     "I've been on the verge of doing just that a thousand
times," Megatron said.
     "But surely he's not your Subcommander anymore,"
Selenia said.
     "Well, actually, he is."
     "What?!" Selenia exclaimed.  "But why?"
     "Quite simply, he's good at it," Megatron told her.
"And don't ever tell him I said that."
     "Not to worry."  She regarded him skeptically.
"But, I remember all the trouble he tried to make for you,
shortly before I -- was captured.  If he's still the same--"
     "Worse," Megatron interrupted with a touch of
annoyance.
     "Then how can his abilities outweigh the risk of
keeping him around -- and in such a high-ranking position?"
She had a sudden flash of insight.  "That's a lot of
sentimental value to attach to a dead friendship, Megatron."
     "Don't be ridiculous," he snapped.  "What are you
doing in here, anyway?  This is a restricted area--!"
     "Okay, okay, I'm sorry I brought it up.  I was just
looking for Soundwave.  I know you're planning some kind
of major assault on the Autobots.  I want to know how I
can help."
     The anger in his eyes slowly faded.  "Alright," he
said.  "We've discovered a weak spot in the defenses of
Iacon -- a way to attack the city from an ancient
subterranean tunnel system that doesn't even show up on
most of the maps...."  He continued to outline his plan to
her in detail.  Iacon was the Autobot equivalent of Polyhex,
the stronghold of the enemy forces, the seat of command.
For a while it was just like old times, Selenia thought --
Megatron explaining his grand plans to her, his optics
flashing with the anticipation of success, and Selenia herself
getting caught up in the excitement.  But when he finished,
saying, "The destruction of Iacon, Selenia, will rip the fuel
pump out of the Autobot resistance" -- he closed his fist
over empty air in a crushing motion, and reached out with
his other hand in an unconscious gesture, to lay an arm
around her shoulders -- she pulled back from his touch.
Megatron, far more concerned with his anticipated victory
than with her, barely noticed.  But for Selenia, the
excitement had abruptly ended.  Despite Starscream's
needling insinuations, she could not see herself "picking up
where she left off" with Megatron.  What she had admired
in her youth as his idealistic ambition, she saw now as
boundless greed; what she had formerly thought of as his
indomitable courage, now seemed to her pure ruthlessness.
He was, without question, as physically attractive now as he
had been then.  But Selenia was no longer attracted to him.
Or -- was it some vestige of Sabotage, she wondered, that
was responsible for her changed viewpoint?  Deep in
thought, she drifted from the communications center.
     "Selenia!"  She heard Megatron call her as though
from a great distance.  He followed her, grabbed her by the
shoulders and spun her around to face him.  "Where are you
going?  I thought you wanted to help."
     "I -- I do."  She forced herself not to pull away from
him just then.
     "Then you obviously weren't listening.  I just told
you I want you to join us in the attack."
     "Me?"  She gaped at him.  There was a time when
she would have given anything to hear those words.
     "Of course -- we might have use of your talents.  I
know you've managed to get in and out of places that were
thought to be impregnable.  I also know you've become a
highly skilled fighter.  It would be a waste to leave you
behind."
     Selenia did her best to muster a facade of
enthusiasm, that she somehow did not feel.
               * * *
     Typhon leaned back from the computer screen and
stretched his creaking joints.  Three times he'd been
transferred into new replicas of his original body, after that
blasted Decepticon female had nearly killed him in her self-
destruct overload.  Some freak aftershock of the damage
had caused his neural pathways to deteriorate rapidly in the
first two bodies; in the third, the pathways held, but he was
forever after plagued with a painful grinding in his joints, for
which no rational cause or cure had yet been found.  A
fourth transfer, he was told, would probably kill him.  So
he'd lived in this body, letting its imperfections feed his
hatred for the Decepticons.
     But moments such as now made it worthwhile.  He'd
received some important information, so important that he
had not hesitated to pass it on to Iacon.  A strange bunch, at
Iacon -- while they pretended to deplore his methods, they
always appreciated his results.  And his results, this time,
would be that the Decepticons would not get even halfway
to Iacon.  He'd already arranged to have the powerful
motion-sensor explosives planted along the subterranean
route.
     He thought of the Decepticon female, as always,
with two simultaneous and divergent sets of emotions.  He
often fantasized about getting her back into his clutches, just
one more time, and doing unspeakable things to her.  He
pictured her dying at his hands, a defeated and broken thing,
and smiled wistfully.  Perhaps some day he would give her
the order to seek out his base and return.
     On the other hand, she was like a creation to him.  A
kind of love/hate obsession writhed and twisted itself
around his mental image of her.  He had made her over, in
countless hours, weeks, months of mental manipulation, into
someone so different that she might as well have been a
newly-created robot.  Better yet, the personality she
assumed was only the top layer of a set of implanted
instructions and impulses that were buried much deeper.  It
made little difference that she had now discarded Typhon's
carefully constructed surface-layer personality; she was, if
anything, even more dangerous now.  The truly delicious
part was that he had made her over into an Autobot -- and
she didn't even know it!
               * * *
     "I'm not certain she's ready for this," Soundwave
was saying.  He and Megatron stood alone in the huge
audience chamber that doubled as a throne room.  "There's
still a lot of confusion in her mind, a lot of impenetrable
blockades in her thoughts, that even I am unable to reach.
With time, perhaps, but as things stand--"
     "I don't see the problem," Megatron countered.
"She knows her own identity again.  Isn't that the most
important part?  And she's certainly proven that she has the
battle and survival skills that we're going to need on this
mission.  She's far too valuable to leave behind."
     "She may not be as valuable as you think, right now.
Sometimes it seems she's at war with herself.  Her own
confusion may hinder her effectiveness and thereby
endanger her."
     "I doubt it.  She survived too long, alone and against
all odds, to make a fatal mistake now.  Like any good
warrior, her reactions have become instinctive.  We need
those reactions, those instincts, against the Autobots."
     Soundwave still looked skeptical.
     "Alright," Megatron added, "If it makes you feel any
better, I'll keep her in sight at all times.   I promise you,
Soundwave, I'll bring her back safely."
     At that moment the large, heavy entrance doors slid
open, and Starscream walked quickly into the chamber.
"Megatron, I--"  He stopped upon seeing Soundwave.  "I
need to talk to you.  *Alone*."
     Megatron's optics flickered in annoyance.
"Anything you have to say to me can be said--"
     "--in front of Soundwave, I know," Starscream
impatiently finished the familiar sentence.  "Have it your
way, then.  But *he's* not going to like it."
     When had Starscream ever cared what Soundwave
liked, Megatron wondered.  Starscream had always seen
Soundwave as a rival, a target of intense and irrational
jealousy, even though Soundwave was not the least bit
threatened by, or threatening to, Starscream.  Starscream
took every opportunity to try and incite trouble, and
delighted in making nasty little needling remarks that
Soundwave rarely ever condescended to answer.  But this
time, Megatron could see, Starscream was not playing his
little games.  He was dead serious.  "Well, what is it, then?"
Megatron demanded.
     "Call off the attack on Iacon.  I'm convinced we're
walking into a trap," Starscream told him.
     "Don't be stupid," Megatron said dismissively.  He
had planned everything to the smallest detail.  Even as they
spoke, many of his best warriors were assembling in the
Fortress' lowest sublevel and preparing for the assault.  "The
Autobots have no idea we're coming."
     "I think there's a good chance they do," Starscream
argued.  "Haven't you been keeping track of our outgoing
shipments lately?  Weapons, fuel, replacement parts, sent
from Polyhex to our warriors all over the planet.  In the last
week alone, four out of five emergency shipments were
intercepted by Autobots -- who weren't supposed to know
about them!  Of those four intercepted shipments, we were
only able to salvage one.  That's a pretty abysmal record,
considering what our security procedure is supposed to be
like!"
     It was true -- Megatron had seen the reports.  He'd
been momentarily angry about them, but he'd been so
involved in planning his assault that he'd quickly put the
failures out of his mind.  And what did this have to do with
Iacon, anyway?
     "I think we have a traitor in our midst," Starscream
said, as though answering Megatron's thought.
     "You mean, other than you?" Megatron laughed.
     "I'm loyal to the Decepticon cause!" Starscream
exclaimed indignantly.  "But someone is leaking information
to the Autobots.  If they knew about our emergency
shipments, they probably know about our attack plans, too."
An expression of malicious pleasure flickered across his
face.  "And you know, it's funny, but all the trouble started
right around the time Selenia arrived."
     Soundwave took a step toward him.  "If you're
going to make accusations, you'd better have some proof,"
he warned.
     "Merely an observation," Starscream replied, with
his classic expression of such innocence that it was
obviously meant to be fake.
     *Now* he was playing his little games, and they
never failed to make Megatron angry.  He knew what
Starscream was doing.  By accusing Selenia of treason, he
was merely trying to get to Soundwave -- it was the only
subject that could rattle Soundwave's composure.  Perhaps
there *was* a leak inside Polyhex, but Megatron would
never believe it was Selenia.  True, she had been somewhat
distant and cold since her return, but then, she'd been
through a great deal.  "That's enough out of you," he
snapped.  "Now, let's go.  We have Autobots to destroy."
     He strode out of the chamber, followed by
Soundwave and Starscream.
     "Okay, fine," Starscream muttered to himself, just
loudly enough for Megatron to overhear.  "I'll just sit back
and watch your plans fall apart.  But don't say I didn't warn
you."
               * * *
     Selenia checked her weapons one more time, making
sure they were fully powered.  She looked around at this,
the lowest sublevel of the Black Fortress, where a sizable
fighting force of Decepticons had assembled.  Many were
re-checking their weapons, as she was; some were silent and
intense, focused on the upcoming conflict; some were loud
and talkative, bolstering their courage with a final show of
bravado.  Selenia herself felt strangely empty.
     "Hey, Selenia!"
     She turned to see Rumble standing beside her, with
both guns in his hands.  He grinned up at her.  "Ain't this
great?"
     She usually had to smile at the tough-guy accent he
tried to affect, but this time she wasn't amused.  "What are
*you* doing here?" she demanded.
     "What d'ya mean?  I'm attacking Iacon, same as
you."
     "You can't be serious!  The others too?"
     "Sure."  Rumble gave her a puzzled look.  Overkill
and Frenzy disentangled themselves from the surrounding
crowd and joined him.  They too were armed for battle.
     A horrible sense of foreboding gathered inside her.
Frantically she scanned the crowd for Soundwave, spinning
around to find he had come up behind her.  He held a
concussion grenade out to her.  "Some extra firepower," he
said.  "Just in case."
     Selenia took the grenade and slipped it into her chest
compartment, along with the other odds and ends that she'd
stashed there -- when had she picked up some of this stuff,
she wondered absently? -- and gestured at her brothers.
"Surely you're not letting them come with us?"
     "Of course," Soundwave said.
     "But they're much too young!" Selenia protested.
"When I was their age, you wouldn't even let me go out
alone at night!"
     "They've had to grow up quickly, at least in some
ways," Soundwave said.  "Don't worry, they're competent
warriors.  If I learned anything from what happened to you,
I found that it's better to teach them to look after
themselves than try to shield them from dangerous
situations.  They'll be fine."  He squeezed her shoulder
reassuringly.  "What about you?  Are you alright?"
     "Yes of course," she answered automatically,
dropping her gaze so Soundwave would not see the doubt
in her eyes.
     "Decepticons!" came the voice of Megatron.  He
stood by the doors that led out into the subsurface shaft.
"The downfall of Iacon will mark a turning point in the war.
With the decimation of the Autobot high command on
Cybertron, conquering the rest of the planet will be easy.
This battle is no mere border-skirmish.  It will determine the
future of the Decepticon empire.  I expect each of you to
use full destructive force.  We take no prisoners, and we
destroy everything.  Decepticons forever!"
     "Decepticons forever!" echoed the assembled
warriors.  "Hail Megatron!" shouted others.
     A ruined city flashed vividly and painfully through
Selenia's mind.  She felt an irrational surge of hatred for
Megatron, and checked herself.  These were Sabotage-
thoughts, not Selenia-thoughts.  After this mission, she
vowed, she would tell Soundwave that too much of
Sabotage still lurked within her, and also about the memory-
lapses.  Yesterday, for instance, she had found herself
before this very same subterranean entrance, alone, as
though she'd just come through from the other side, but
unable to remember anything more.  Yes, as soon as this
was over and they were safely back in Polyhex, she would
tell him, first thing.
     The army moved forward as the huge doors slid
open.  A yawning, straight-sided chasm gaped behind it and
the Decepticons dropped down into the open void,
activating their flight-engines, many transforming to aircraft
modes.  It was a vertical drop for some distance, until an
equally large square-sided horizontal tunnel met the shaft at
a right angle.  Megatron led his warriors through a maze of
tunnels so large that the whole army could easily remain in
flight.  These were the main service-tunnels that ran beneath
the subsurface of Cybertron -- before the war they had
housed a network of transportation systems which had long
been dismantled for spare parts.  They were large enough to
make traveling to distant Iacon quick and easy -- but they
were also well-known, reasonably well mapped, and, close
to the enemy province, well guarded.  The tunnels that
Megatron intended to use to transport his forces directly
below Iacon were much older, much smaller, ran deeper,
and were all but unexplored.  Selenia had the uneasy
sensation that she recognized the spot where Megatron
landed and pulled up a metal plate in the floor of the large
tunnel, to expose a much narrower shaft that dropped down
into the old tunnel-system.
     Once within the tangled maze of the old tunnels, the
Decepticons often had to proceed single-file.  Selenia kept
near the head of the column, close to Soundwave, who
stayed close to Megatron.  Starscream, as Subcommander,
also stayed near the front.  "I don't think Megatron knows
where he's going," he smirked to Selenia once, but she
ignored him.  Megatron knew exactly where he was going --
more and more she had the feeling that she recognized the
route.
     For instance, there should be an open area up ahead,
large enough for most of the army to gather together.  From
this there were three tunnels leading forward, of which they
would have to take the central one, as well as several other
tunnels leading off to the sides and back the way they'd
come.  When they arrived at just such a place, Selenia began
to be seriously concerned.  Why did she know this place?
Had she been here as Sabotage?  If so, when?  She wished
fervently that the mission was already over, that she was
back at the Fortress and could have a long talk with
Soundwave about her confusion.  Now was certainly not the
time or the place.
     "I don't believe this!" Megatron exclaimed angrily up
ahead.
     Selenia came forward and saw that the central tunnel
leading toward Iacon was blocked by a great mass of
twisted and shredded metal that had collapsed from above.
"Soundwave," Megatron demanded, "when was the last
time Ravage came through here to double-check the route?"
     "Three days ago," Soundwave replied, as Ravage
melted out of the shadows behind him and seated himself at
his creator's feet.  "The tunnel was clear at that time.  The
cave-in must have occurred within the last few hours."
     "Looks more like a bombing," Starscream observed
casually.  "But then, what do I know?"  He offered
Megatron an innocuous look.
     The Decepticon leader glared at him.  Annoyed at
the delay, he immediately assigned a group of warriors,
including Starscream, to clear the tunnel.  It was obviously
going to take some time.  "Ravage, Soundwave, see if you
can find another route through this tunnel to the left," he
ordered.  "Selenia, you and I will explore the one leading to
the right."
     Selenia followed him in.  Without the light from the
many glowing eyes of the other Decepticons, the narrow
tunnel was almost completely dark.  Megatron was
impatient and moved quickly; Selenia realized they would
soon come to a more open dead end that sported a few dim
light-banks in the ceiling, that had not yet burned out over
the millennia.  She was inexplicably both relieved and
startled when they did arrive at just such a place.
     There was an outline of a removable panel in the
ceiling at the other end of the small room, which looked like
it would lead to another tunnel above.  "What do you bet,
that's an alternate route past the blocked tunnel?"  Megatron
said.  "Next stop, Iacon."  He grinned like a predator who
had enjoyed the hunt and was about to close in for the kill.
     Another surge of pure hatred washed over Selenia.
"Yes, I'm sure that's the alternate route," she said.  "Open
it."
     With an air of confident satisfaction, Megatron
strode toward the panel.
     Suddenly a shadow soared into the room.
"Laserbeak!" Selenia gasped.  Her brother's mind touched
hers briefly, communicating his anticipation, his eagerness
to enter the alternate route and leave behind all the delay.
He flew straight toward the panel.
     Selenia leapt forward, shot past Megatron, and
snatched Laserbeak out of the air.  But he'd already gotten
too close to the motion sensor.  With an earthshattering
blast, the ceiling panel blew inward, along with most of the
ceiling.  Selenia spun so her back was toward the blast and
threw herself forward, covering Laserbeak with her body.
He screeched in panic and transformed into his cassette
shape, additionally shrinking down to a much smaller size.
Even as sharp-edged shrapnel tore into her from above,
Selenia shoved Laserbeak into her chest compartment.
     The first blast had set off the others, strung in a
chain around this section of the tunnels.  The floor was
heaving, and Selenia found it hard to struggle to her feet.
Smoke and flames poured in around her from all sides.  She
felt a powerful grip on her arm, and saw the silhouette of
Megatron outlined against the smoke.  He pulled her
forward and they ran back the way they had come.
     They rejoined the army to find them in heated battle
with Autobots who poured in streams out of most of the
side-tunnels.  Soundwave and Ravage burst out of the last
forward-leading tunnel, with smoke and flames close
behind.  All three forward-leading routes had now been
blocked off by the chain of explosions.
     And the Autobots were trying to cut off their route
back to Polyhex.  Selenia fought side-by-side with
Megatron, matching his furious, desperate determination.
What had been planned as a battle of conquest had become
a fight for survival.  Selenia used all of her skills, all of her
weaponry, and slowly, very slowly, they fought their way
toward the one tunnel that would lead them back to base.
And it was blocked by a squadron of Autobots!
     "Cover me for a moment!" she shouted to
Megatron, and snapped open her cockpit, snatching the
grenade out of her chest compartment.  Laserbeak was still
there, safe, and the knowledge gave her added courage.
She activated the grenade, darted forward until she was
within range, and flung the explosive into the center of the
group of Autobots.  The blast threw them in all directions.
Those who managed to recover were felled by Selenia's
electric bolts -- she had hurled herself at them even before
the aftershocks of the explosion had died.
     The way back to Polyhex was clear.  The
Decepticons streamed toward it, clawing and fighting and
pushing past one another to enter the narrow tunnel, with
few keeping the presence of mind to cover the retreat.
Their losses were staggering.
     At some point during the mad flight back toward
base, Selenia began to feel the shrapnel that had torn into
her back, began to sense the fuel that was leaking out of
her, began to falter with a sudden, sickening weakness.  She
had only the vague sensation that someone took hold of her,
someone very powerful, and carried her the rest of the way
back to the Fortress.
               * * *
     The area that had formerly served as the repair bay
had spread to include not only the entire weapons lab, but
several adjoining rooms.  Damaged Decepticons were laid
out everywhere, even atop lab tables and on mats on the
floor.  Soundwave and the repaireons under his command
labored to attend to those first who were most critically
damaged, but for all their efforts, Megatron could see as he
entered the repair bay that many would leak to death before
they could receive attention.  A cold fury crystallized inside
him.  Everything had been planned, everything would have
been perfect.  Even terrible casualties such as these would
have been worthwhile, if only the objective had been
accomplished.  But this way, it was all wasted.  Good
warriors, dying for nothing  ... there was only one way
things could have gone so badly wrong.
     He looked around for the closest repaireon.  He
caught sight of Repairs Specialist Talon, second in rank and
skill only to Soundwave, and the "second in skill" part was
debatable.  Megatron motioned him aside.  "Where do I find
Selenia?" he demanded.  After handing her over to the
repaireons, he'd lost track of her in the tumult of returning
to base.  "Has she been repaired?"
     Talon shrank back from the barely restrained fury in
Megatron's voice and eyes.  "Yes, she's been repaired," he
answered.  "She's still resting.  You'll find her along the far
wall of the weapons lab, where the pulse cannons used to
be.  Now, if you'll excuse me, Commander--"  He hurried
off to tend to his next patient.
     The experimental pulse cannons had been moved out
into the hallway to create more space.  Megatron moved
swiftly toward the spot along the far wall where they'd
stood, and rounded a lab table -- fuel pooled at its base, the
Decepticon stretched out on top was already dead -- and
against the wall, amidst many others that were occupied, lay
a vacant mat.  "Damn," Megatron snarled, and hurried out
of the repair ward.  She couldn't have been gone long.
Chances were that she would make for one of the above-
ground exits, but which one?  Taking a chance on a snap
decision, Megatron headed for the nearest air-access portal.
     She was there, waiting for the lock on the portal to
cycle open.  She hadn't even turned on the lights in the small
dim chamber.  She whirled, startled, as Megatron entered
and slammed down the lever on the portal controls, which
reversed the unlocking cycle and kept the hatch firmly shut.
She backed away, slowly and warily, but her gaze was
steady.  Megatron made sure to keep himself between her
and the doorway to the corridor.  "Why are you in such a
hurry to leave us?" he asked.  He tried, and failed, to keep
the icy anger out of his tone.
     Selenia said nothing, only watched him.  Her eyes
gleamed in the dimness, accentuating her delicately beautiful
face.  For a moment Megatron saw her as she had been long
ago.  He had been fond of her -- hadn't loved her, exactly,
but she'd been available, eager to please, and amusingly
naive.  She was none of those things anymore.  She was the
worst of all possible things.  Even worse than that,
Starscream had been right -- *again* -- and would not soon
let anyone forget it.
     "I know what you are," Megatron growled,
advancing on her.  "I knew the moment you pulled
Laserbeak back from that blast.  You knew it was coming
because you planted it -- or informed someone who did, it
makes no difference.  You're a traitor, and you know that I
know -- and that's why you're trying to sneak away into the
night.  Because you remember that the one thing I hate most
in all the galaxies is a traitor."  He reached out and grabbed
her arms, pinning her forcefully back against the wall.  He
tightened his grip until he could feel his fingers gouging into
her metal.  He wanted to shake her until she snapped in half.
     A moment later he pulled back from her.  She had
activated her electric force-field and sent bolts of pain into
his hands.  The field sparked and crackled around her body,
making it impossible for him to touch her.  He snapped up
his right arm, aiming his fusion cannon right at her head.
"Save your power," he snarled.  "You know my fusion
cannon can puncture your force field like paper."
     The electric crackle faded into blackness.  "Do it,
then," she said.  Her look was an odd mixture of defiance
and sadness.  "Get it over with and be rid of me, even
though you don't know why I did it, even though *I* don't
know why I did it, even though neither one of us has all the
facts.  But you're not one to let facts stand in your way, are
you?
     "You told me about what you hate ... well, what *I*
hate is Transformers like you, who have turned this whole
planet into a wasteland, willing to destroy everything that
gets in your way.  You don't care about anything or anyone
except yourself and your own mad quest for power!"
     Megatron held his aim steady, though he could feel
himself tremble with fury.  "Is that what the Autobots told
you, you filthy traitor?!"  In a moment, he reminded himself,
she would be gone -- molten to a pool of bubbling metal and
singed circuitry, and if he could control himself just a little
bit longer, he would be able to truly savor her death.  If only
her self-destruct sequence back in the Bismuth Mountains
had been successful, today's disaster would have been
avoided.  Right at this moment he might have been at Iacon,
overseeing the execution of whatever Autobots remained
there--
     His thoughts stopped short as he suddenly
remembered how Soundwave had lost contact with Selenia,
that first time.  All the light had gone out of his eyes.  He'd
seemed on the verge of collapse, and Megatron had taken
hold of his shoulders to steady him -- and the light had come
back on in his eyes, but dimly.  "She's gone," he'd said, very
quietly, "Selenia is dead."  And he'd walked away, and spent
a lot of time by himself after that, but never discussed
Selenia again.  Soundwave's absolute silence on the subject
had disturbed Megatron far more than if he had openly
displayed his grief.  Those who did not know him well,
might have said that Soundwave must not have felt the loss
very deeply; Megatron knew that nothing was farther from
the truth.  He thought it significant that, of all the children
Soundwave created later, not one of them was female.
     Slowly, very slowly, Megatron lowered his fusion
cannon.  "You're wrong, Selenia," he said.  "I'm not going
to kill you, because Soundwave would feel you die.  I
would have to explain to him not only that I killed his
creation, but also why.  I will not be responsible for putting
him through that much pain again."  He stepped to the
controls for the air-access portal and keyed in the unlocking
sequence.
     A few moments passed before the hatch cycled
open.  Selenia drew a shuddering breath.  "You -- you're not
going to tell Soundwave that I was the -- the--"  She
couldn't bring out the word.
     "The traitor," Megatron finished.  "No.  It would kill
him.  But don't ever cross my path again, Selenia, or so help
me, *I* will kill *you*.  And if I ever hear of Sabotage
again, I'll come after you myself."
     Selenia edged toward the open portal.  "Don't
worry, Megatron," she said quietly.  "Sabotage is dead."
And so is Selenia, she added to herself as she turned away
and stepped out through the portal.  She hovered for a
moment as her flight engines kicked in, then transformed
and streaked away into the velvet-black star-flecked sky.
What identity she would assume now, and where she would
go, she could not even begin to guess.

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