It is a bright sunny day in Jasper, Nevada, as we see the Autobot base hidden behind a rock mountain. Then something most unexpected happened with the medic. Ratchet: "Optimus, you're not gonna believe this. I've just pinpointed the location of the Decepticon warship." Optimus: "How did you penetrate their cloaking technology." "I didn't. I was experimenting the variable frequency wavelengths when I stumbled upon it." Nakala: "That shouldn't bypass their cloaking." Ratchet: "You're right. It wouldn't. Their ship must be experiencing an electromagnetic breach. Arcee: "With Megatron deceased and the element of surprise..." Bulkhead: "...We could do some serious damage." Elita then noticed something else pop up on the screen. "Wait, what's that?" she asked. Ratchet turned to see an Autobot ship appear. Ratchet: "Also on the same frequency, and Autobot emergency beacon." Optimus: "The Decepticons can wait. There may be Autobots in distress. Ratchet, bring your medical kit. Elita, come with us."

A ground bridge opens at what looks to be a desert, and out comes not only Optimus, Elita, and Ratchet, but Nakala as well. He decided to be a bit more active in these missions to better understand his own kind. It was nighttime there, but the moon gave off enough light for them to see the damaged ship. Optimus: "A crash landing." Elita: "Looks like it's been buried here for centuries." The trio walk over to the ship and Optimus starts cutting a hole to enter through since the actual entrance is no where in sight. They entered through the hole with flashlights on and began to look around. Ratchet: "If they traveled in stasis mode, there may be survivors." he pointed out before the entire ship started to shake, making everyone lose their balance a bit before it settled down. They make their way down a long hallway and they see a closed door that Optimus has to pry open. Once he does and they walk inside the room, they see dead Autobots. None of them look like they died in the crash, blaster fire, or low on energon. Elita: "What happened here??" she asked with Nakala next to her, quiet as usual, but still surprised at what he was seeing.

Ratchet scans one of the fallen Autobots and is surprised at what his scanners are showing him. "These Autobots didn't perish in the crash. They're displaying the effects... of a virus." Optimus: "This is a plague ship." he said before trying to take a step forward, only to be stopped by his medic. Ratchet: "Don't! Touch! Anything! The virus could still be active." The entire ship decide to shake again after he said that, causing everyone to lose their balance again, but fall to the ground this time. After it stopped, a metal clang was heard from above Optimus, so he looked up to see the dead body of another Autobot. They're body was hanging from something, but the shaking let it fall a bit more, causing some of the infected energon to land right in Optimus's neck. Ratchet and Elita: "NO!" they say while Nakala also gives a concerned lookr.

Back at the Autobot base, we see Optimus laying on a berth with his metallic skin looking rusty and ruined around his right optic. Elita was there on her knees holding Optimus' hand while Ratchet took a scan to see if he can get info on what the virus is. Once the scan was complete, he was surprised to see what it was. Ratchet: "Cybonic plague." he said causing the 'bots to look at each other. "It's only contagious if contact is made with the infected energon." Ratchet explained. Miko: "What was a plague doing in an Autobot spaceship." Arcee: "It's passengers were infected. The virus wiped out millions on Cybertron during the great war." Ratchet: "Cybonic plague was engineered in the Decepticon's biological-warfare program... by Megatron himself." Raf: "You...have a cure don't you?" Before Ratchet could answer, Optimus groans before mustering the strength to speak. "[straining] No cure." Elita: "Plz don't talk, Optimus. You need to save your strength." she said with concern and fear in her voice.

Jack: "Would Megatron create a disease without having a cure. I mean, what if he caught it by accident?" Bulkhead: "It's not like we can ask Megatron, Jack. He's pushing up lug nuts." Nakala, who is standing by the other 'bots, points to the screen with the Decepticon warship on it. Bulkhead: "What about the warship?" he asked, causing Nakala to put his arm down and give him a look that said, "You serious?" Ratchet: "Of course. If a cure does exist, it'll be in the Decepticon database. And we still have a fix on their warship's location." Arcee: "Nakala, come with." Elita: "Please hurry, you two. This virus doesn't let you live long enough to see the next day."

We now see the Nemesis flying above the beautiful night sky. A ground bridge portal opens up from within and we see Arcee and Nakala come out of it with weapons ready. Arcee: "Let's start with the lab." she said leading the way. They luckily didn't have any encounter with a vechicon or one of the higher ups. Once they got to the door near the lab, Knockout walks out unexpectedly. Luckily Arcee was quite the acrobatic so she perched herself against the wall. Nakala did the same, but instead of using his acrobatic skill, he used the claws of his tentacles. Knockout felt something was off at first but shrugged it off as nothing and made his way to the bridge. The two jump down and enter the lab where a console is posted. Arcee starts searching through while Nakala stands guard. Arcee: "I'm in the network."

Ratchet is going away on the medical console, searching through Optimus' condition, while Elita stays exactly where she was when Arcee and Nakala left. Optimus turns to her and tries to speak again in his strained voice. "Elita... Were...you..." Optimus didn't need to finish his sentence for Elita already knew what he was going to ask. "Infected? No. Neither was Ratchet. We're both fine. And you will be too." she says trying not to let a tear fall. Optimus groans and turns his head back toward the ceiling. Elita: "Stay strong, Optimus. I'm not going to lose you. Especially like this." Ratchet looks at the two hoping the same thing Elita was. Arcee: "If it's here, I don't see it." she says suddenly through the comms. Ratchet: "Are you certain, Arcee?" Arcee: "I searched every file. Nothing." Elita: "Please search again Arcee! You might've missed something!" Arcee: "I scanned the entire database!" While the arguing was going on, Nakala took a peep through the window part of the other door and saw something that shocked him to his core. Nakala: "*But...that's...impossible.*" Ratchet: "Did you use a redundant quantum algorithm?" Arcee: "Don't tell me how to research. You think you' are the only ones that care about Optimus?"

Before anything else could be said or done, Nakala uses one of his tentacle claws to grab Arcee's right arm. This makes Arcee jump as she looks at the claw and toward Nakala, who had a worried and shocked look on his face. Knowing Nakala wasn't one with showing his emotions often, this definitely had to be something big. Arcee: "Nakala, what's wrong?" she asked feeling concerned herself as she walked toward him. Ratchet: "What is it? What's going on?" Once Arcee got to the same window Nakala was at, she looked in and was immediately feeling fear, shock, and anger as the door opens up. It was Megatron, alive and mostly well, which they couldn't believe. Arcee knew what an explosion similar to ground-zero was, but Nakala did. That is until he was told what it can be compared to, and that made him believe that Megatron was dead.

Arcee: "It's Megatron. He's...alive." she said shocking everyone else at base. Jack and Elita: "What?!" Ratchet: "That's not possible." Arcee: "Well, we're staring right at him." she said walking up to the warlord with blaster ready. "Good news is, Megatron isn't exactly staring back." Optimus: "[strained] Megatron." he says causing everyone in the room to look at him. Arcee: "He's critical, hooked up to life support. Time to finish this once and for all." she said powering up her blaster that she has aimed at the tube connected to Megatron's spark. Ratchet: "WAIT! DON'T!" Arcee: "One good reason -- Fast." "Megatron may be Optimus' only hope for survival." Once that was said, Arcee powers down her blaster. "What are you talking about?" "Does he display brain-wave activity?" Arcee looked at the health monitor and saw that Megatron was indeed displaying brain-wave activity. Arcee: "Spiking hard. His sick mind is still at work." Ratchet: "Perfect! If a cure exists, Megatron may be the only one who knows it. You must enter his brain...and find it."

Arcee: "Enter Megatron's brain? Ratchet, are you out of your fragging my mind?!" Ratchet: "The Decepticon laboratory should contain all the equipment for a cortical psychic patch." Nakala learned what the cortical psychic patch from Ratchet, but never thought he would actually see it happen. He could even tell Arcee was not up to it. He doesn't blame her, the thought of a mind/body split is scary. Arcee: "No way! Have you ever even performed the procedure?!" Ratchet: "No. But I have thoroughly studied the theoretical literature. Invented by Decepticons outlawed by Autobots." he says slamming his fist on the console. "Woah! Can't we just haul Megatron through the ground bridge, buy us some time to figure this out?" Ratchet lost his cool a bit when she said "buy us some time." "Time is something that Optimus does not have! One of you must try this! I will NOT allow Optimus to pass knowing that Megatron will outlive him!" Elita: "Please, Arcee, you have to!" Arcee: "Ratchet, Elita, I would lay down my life for Optimus -- Anytime, anywhere. But a mind/body split?" Nakala: "I'll do it." Arcee turns to Nakala with a surprised face. "Y-You will?" Jack: "Nakala, a-are you sure?" Nakala: "Given the circumstances, more than anything. What do we need to do, Ratchet?"

On the bridge of the ship, Starscream is there in a bad mood because of a certain reason. Starscream:  "Why has the electromagnetic shielding not been repaired?!" Vehicon: "The crews is working as quickly as they can, Lord-" He didn't get to finish his sentence because Starscream smacked him to shut him up, not wanting to hear any excuses. "We are leaking a trail! All the Autobots need do to pinpoint our position is access the correct frequency wavelength. Accelerate your efforts!" "Yes, Lord Starscream." the vehicon trooper said before walking away with the other two that were with him. Skyquake is there still unhappy with having Starscream being addressed as "Lord." His one true master will always be Megatron, and no one else can truly replace him. But he does admit that Starscream did have good plans, including the one with Makeshift. The only reason it didn't work is because Starscream focuses on saving himself first, which made him not realize he could've thrown the grenade away from the group. Not wanting to be around Starscream anymore, he decided to leave as well.

Knockout then walks in and makes his presence well known. "Doctor in the house." Starscream: "Ah, Knockout. And how is the patient doing today?" "Same old. [sigh]" "And inglorious fate that he should remain in this vegetative state." "On the contrary. Megatron's body may be scrap metal, but his mind is still percolating." "Keep that to yourself. That blasted Soundwave sees and hears everything." "The eyes and ears of the Decepticons." Starscream: "Well, as long as their master remains in limbo, so does their cause. The Decepticons deserve a strong, alert leader." Knockout: "One who will require a loyal second in command." Starscream chuckles at this, already getting Knockout is saying. "A candidate would need to earn that post by making a strong case to said eyes and ears." "A case for showing mercy, Lord Starscream?" "You scratch my back, I scratch yours."

Back at the lab, Arcee is plugging in the cortical psychic cable into the berth Megatron is on and heads over to the hiding place where Nakala is waiting in his human form. Again, a bit of his traits from his Cybertronian form can also be accessed in his human form, so the cortical psychich patch should work still. Arcee: "Are you absolutely sure about this, Nakala?" Nakala holds her hand with both of his and says in his usual voice, "I'll be fine, Arcee. There's no going back now anyways. Like Ratchet said, we don't have much time." He lets go of Arcee's hand and stares while blushing. She quickly shakes it off and tells Ratchet that they're ready. Ratchet: "Initiate cortical psychic patch." Nakala turns around so Arcee can have better access to the back of his head, where she attaches the patch. Luckily for everyone, it worked.

Nakala looks over himself to see if he really alright then looks at his surroundings. He had no idea where the hell he was, but he had no time. He had to search for the cure, if it even exists that is. He starts walking down the bridge he was on that had spikes on the side. From what he could tell, and what he was told, he believed he was on Cybertron. Ratchet: "Communications downlink activated. This will allow us to see and hear everything Nakala does while within Megatron's subconscious mind." Jack: "Woah, where's that?" Elita: "It's Kaon, the Decepticon capital back on Cybertron." Bulkhead: "Ratch, Optimus' vitals." Ratchet: "I know. Quickly, Nakala. I know you're in unknown territory, but you must figure out where information might be filed in Megatron's mind." Nakala wasted no time as he started running on the bridge now while also looking around. Once he climbed up some stairs, he stopped when he saw Optimus just some distance in front of him, just standing there. He was confused at first, but Ratchet spoke up.

Ratchet: "It's not Optimus, Nakala... but a figment of Megatron's mind. It cannot see or hear you." Nakala walks up to the figment and just stares at it. He tries to see if he can touch it, but an evil laughter was heard, causing Nakala to look around before he spotted Megatron on top of a cliff in front of him. "Optimus Prime, your Autobot armies are defeated. Bow before your new master." Optimus Prime: "Never, Megatron. One shall stand. One shall fall." the figment said as it turned around and unsheathed it's blade. Megatron: "So be it." he said before jumping down and unsheathing his as well. The two charged at each other and were about to clash blades. At least, that's what it seemed like to Nakala, who hid behind a rock to watch what he thought was a memory. That is until he aw Optimus get turned to dust after Megatron slashed him. Nakala: "What the?!" he yelled quietly. Bulkhead: "That never happened." Ratchet: "It's not a memory. We're seeing Kaon as Megatron has re-created it... in his darkest dreams."

Nakala stayed hidden as he watched Megatron start walking away. He planned on following him close behind, but another Optimus emerged from the rock he was hiding behind. Optimus Prime: "Megatron, your treachery ends here." it said unsheathing its blade. Megatron turned around and sheathed his blade and powered up his blaster and terminated the figment in one blast. But then he noticed Nakala, who was not behind any cover. Nakala was focused on what he was looking it that he forgot to take cover again. All this was so new to him. Megatron walked up Nakala and said, "Ah. The Autobot's new alien recruit. What did they say you're called again? A human? I must say that I'm rather impressed that you survived this far with your fleshiness. If it weren't for the Autobots, and those two weapons of the Primes, you would've perished on the first battle you went too. But none of that changes the fact... [unsheathes his blade] that punishment for trespassing in my domain is your destruction!"

Megatron raises his blade in the air as he prepares to end Nakala's life. Nakala reacted quickly by grabbing his staff and held it above his head with both hands to block the attack. But when Megatron swung down, the blade instead phased through Nakala, confusing them both. Megatron: "How can this be?!" he asks before trying to attack Nakala again only for all his attacks to go right through him as well. Jack: "How is Megatron not able to touch Nakala?" Ratchet: "Because he's not a creation of Megatron's mind, Nakala is immune to his physical attack." Back in the mind, Megatron walks around Nakala, trying to figure out how he wasn't able to kill the human. "You're not wearing phase-displacement armor. Your eyes track my movements so you're not a hologram. And I do not believe in spirits. So tell me, human, what are you?!" Before anything else could be said or done between the two, the voice of another Optimus was heard from behind Nakala. "Megatron." The two look in the direction of the voice and see not only Optimus, but Elita and...another Nakala?"

Miko: "Uh-oh. Special guest stars." Ratchet: "This is not good." Nakala looks back at Megatron before heading over to the creations of his mind. After looking at Optimus and Elita for a second, he stood in front of his double and tried to get its attention by waving his hand in front of its face. He even slowly moved his hand toward it to see if he can touch it, only for his hand to phase through it twice. Nakala shivers and shudders at this as he pulled his hand back and giving his double a look that said "Uber freaky." Megatron lets out a roar before blasting at the apparitions, turning them to dust. Though the Nakala one dodged out of the way and tries to put up a fight, because the warlord is allowing it. After it dodged, it charged toward Megatron, who tried to blast the apparition again. It dodges again by sliding on its knees and took a few more steps forward before jumping in the air to dodge another. Grabbing its staff from its back and slamming it down toward Megatron. Megatron blocked it, but the apparition saw this coming. It used the momentum it still had to flip over Megatron and land behind him. It brought out the blade in the staff and tried to swing with a 180 turn around at his Megatron's head, but he moved a bit to dodge. With the hand the weapon is in now behind the rest of apparitions body, it tried to stab Megatron in the chest. Megatron grabbed the weapon with his left hand and moved to the left while pulling the forward. The purpose for that was to move his victim closer to him so he can punch it in the stomach. He did so, causing the apparition to lose his grip on its weapon and allowing Megatron to take it and stab it in the head before it even had time to recover, turning the apparition and blade to dust.

Nakala had a sense of fear take over him at the sight of what had happened to himself, but quickly tried to hide it as he looked back at Megatron with a stern look. Megatron: "You are real. They were not." he said before taking a few steps to the side and stopping to chuckle. "A cortical psychic patch. How unexpected." Ratchet: "We've stirred Megatron from his oblivion. He is becoming self-aware. Megatron: "If this is my subconscious, what are you doing inside my head?!" Meanwhile, Arcee is impatiently, while also concerned, waiting for Nakala. She really doesn't understand these feelings, but all she knows is she doesn't want to lose Nakala. Not only that, Optimus doesn't have much time left. "Come on, Nakala. What are you doing in there?" After she said that, the doors open and it is revealed that Starscream has entered with Knockout and Soundwave. Skyquake has come along as well to see the condition of his one true master.

Starscream: "Knockout, if you woule be so kind as to provide your expert medical opinion to Soundwave...for the historical record." Knockout: "Simply put, unaided, Megatron could remain in this deathless slumber forever." "Our master would not have wanted to be seen this way, to stand idly by while he remains captive in his own body. It's not just." Soundwave walks forward and points to a certain thing on the medical screen. Knockout: "Brain-wave activity: Not evidence of consciousness, but merely of an endless dream from which Megatron may never wake." After a few more moments of silence, Starscream speaks up to continue his act. "Soundwave, and Skyquake, we must face reality. Megatron is lost to us." Knockout: "The only honorable option would be to show him mercy." he said closing his hand while closing his eyes. Starscream: "A simple throw of the switch." Knockout: Quick, painless, compassionate." Skyquake growled at this and Arcee had a worried look on her face. Arcee: [whispering] Ratchet, are you hearing this?" Ratchet: "If Megatron perishes, Nakala's mind will remain separated from his body -- forever." Jack: "We'll lose Nakala and Optimus?!"

Megatron: "The only way you could have entered my mind is via cortical psychic patch.  But the question remains, what happened to me?!" Nakala stands there staring at him, trying to keep the bit of fear he has hidden. He closes his eyes and points to the right to show his memories. When Megatron looks over to the direction Nakala is pointing, he sees the Autobots standing there, along with 5 humans. Ratchet: "And...Megatron?" Optimus: "Not even he could've survived ground-zero." Megatron: "Ground-zero?" he asks before his optics widened as he started to remember his plan with dark energon. Megatron: "The space bridge explosion. And yet if -- if you're in my head, I am not one with the AllSpark. So tell me, human, do I still function?!" Nakala points to his left this time and Megatron sees himself hooked up to life support, with Arcee and Nakala standing there in front of him. Arcee: "He's critical, hooked up to life support." Megatron lets out a bit of a snarl at the sight of himself like this before looking back at Nakala. "That still leaves one thing answered: What are you doing inside my head?!" Nakala looks behind Megatron this time, causing him to turn around and see Optimus on a berth with Ratchet scanning him before saying, "Cybonic plague." Megatron takes a second to process what he heard and then starts chuckling, which then turns into an evil laugh.

Megatron: "Such Irony! But after ages of endless battle, the might Optimus Prime is felled by a simple virus from distant past." Nakala does nothing but stares at him as he talks triumphantly. "And what makes you think I would save the life of my oldest enemy?" Before anything else was said or done by the two, another Optimus apparition showed up. "Megatron, your treachery is -- UGH!" Megatron shot him before it could finish its sentence, but it gave Nakala the perfect argument. He raised an eyebrow at Megatron as he smirked and motioned his head and eyes at what just happened. Megatron had lots of time with Soundwave, so he knew what the silence meant. "[chuckles] Did you not see? I do slay Optimus by my own hand, at will, whenever I desire." Nakala crossed his arms and spoke for the first time in Megatrno's mind and said, "But it's not the real Optimus. It may be by your virus, but it's not by your hand, blade, or blaster." Now this got Megatron to re-think his decision.

In the real world, Soundwave is showing on his visor two brain-wave activities, but no one seems to notice it. Starscream: "Soundwave, do I take your silence to mean you concur with Knockout's medical expertise?" Soundwave of course says nothing as he continues showing the brain-wave activities. Starscream looks over at Knockout who just shrugs, not knowing what's going on either. Starscream: "Speak now or forever hold your piece." he says reaching for the tube connected to Megatron's spark chamber, which caused Skyquake to growl. He was ready to step in and pummel Starscream if he had to. Starscream looks back at Soundwave before saying, "Going..." Arcee sees this and is ready to stop Starscream as well with her blaster. Starscream: "Going..." Soundwave then points to the cortical psychic patch, which definitely distracts him from ending Megatron. "Hmm." he says before going behind the berth to that someone is indeed using the cortical psychic patch without his knowledge. Arcee gets back behind her spot, knowing that they're gonna get seen soon. Arcee: "Scrap"

Back in Megatron's mind, Megatron has made his final decision of what to do. Megatron: "After our deep history together, to not watch the spark ebb from Optimus' eyes with my very own..." he says before looking back at Nakala, who gave the warlord a smirk and tilted his head with an eyebrow raised. Megatron: "Well played, human." he said before opening his hand to reveal a blue cube thing with some writing flowing around in it. Nakala widened his eyes a bit as he uncrossed his arms and looked at it. Megatron: "The chemical formula for the cure you seek -- not that I expect you to know how to read it." Nakala gave a small smile as he reached for the forumla, but Megatron made it disappear. "Not yet." he said, causing Nakala to let out a small sigh before giving Megatron a straight face. He knew there was gonna be a catch here, and he already knew what it was. Megatron: "And how am I to accomplish terminating Optimus as you propose while I'm trapped here in a perpetual daydream? Once you release me from this prison, you will have the cure."

Back in the real world, Starscream is observing the cortical psychic patch and sees it's going behind something. (A/N: I don't know what they are hiding behind.) Arcee: "[whispers] Come on, come on." Megatron: "You must guarntee my recovery, or Optimus fades to gunmetal gray; the real Optimus." Nakala stands there staring at him with a straight face before a shadow appears over his eyes and smirks at the warlord, which confuses him. What Megatron didn't know is that the other Autobots were listening the whole time and Ratchet rewinded the footage and got a freeze frame of the cure. Ratchet: "Arcee, we have the forumla! Disconnect Nakala now!" And Arcee did just that as she gently detached the cord from Nakala's head. Inside Megatron's mind, Kaon started falling apart, which left Megatron confused at first of what was happening, but then he realized. "They were watching. You tricked me!" he said angrily only for his angry face to turn into a shocked one as he saw Nakala have four tentacles similar come out of his back. He didn't have time to say anything about it because Nakala did a two finger salute with a smirk as he faded away.

Megatron: "NOOOO!! Take me with you! TAKE ME!!" he yelled trying to grab onto Nakala, but failed as he too was faded away. Arcee: "Hurry, Nakala." she says shaking him. She turns around to see Starscream right next to them and aims her blaster, ready to protect Nakala. But he wakes up just as she does, feeling dizzy and disoriented. Starscream then kneels down and is surprised to see the two-wheeler and a human in the ship. Starscream: "What in..." A ground bridge opens up behind the two as Nakala stumbles in. Starscream: "Intruders!" he yells reading his blaster. Arcee: "Allow me!" she says before aiming her blaster at the tube connected to Megatron's spark chamber and destroying it. With a grin, Arcee jumps through the vortex as well. The health monitor starts doing an endless high-pitched beeping, and Starscream smirks at this before turning to Soundwave. "[sighs] It was the inevitable outcome." Skyquake has had enough of this and grabbing Starscream by the neck and held him in the air with a growl. Starscream: "[stammering] Then again, it would be wrong to allow Megatron to perish by an Autobot's hand. [clears throat] Knockout." Knockout immediately went to grab another tube and attach it to Megatron's spark chamber, causing the beeping to stop.

Back at the Autobot base, Ratchet has made the cure for the cybonic plague and Optimus is now well enough to stand up. Ratchet: "That's it." Elita: "Steady, love." they said as they helped him up. Everyone applauded and cheered for Optimus being well again, but Optimus didn't want the focus to be on him. "Please, reserve the hero's welcome for my physician... and Nakala." Everyone now starts cheering and applauding for Nakala, who is leaning against wall and gives a slightly embarrassed smile and turns away from them. Back at the ship, Starscream walks in the medical room and speaks to check on things with Megatron's condition. "And how is the patient doing today?" he asks Knockout. Knockout: "Funny you should ask. Not sure what the 'bots did in there, but Megatron's registering zero brain-wave activity." "Hmm. Meaning?" "Physically, he's stable, but now there's no where home."

While the others were cheering for Nakala, his head twitched while he was still looking away from them and his eyes widened as his pupils shrunk a bit. Megatron: "I'm out. Or should I say... in. [evil laugh]"

TO BE CONTINUED...