What Have I Done?

Chapter 20: Escape Gone Wrong

The victorious Shockwave looked over at Orion and smirked, "So you're the little dude who works with Megatron?"

Orion grunted.

"Ah," the mech winced, "yeah, that looks kind of painful. Here, let me help."

The Shockwave copy grabbed Orion and helped him stand.

"Who are you?" Orion asked.

"I'm Makeshift, one of Shockwave's lab experiments. I can shift into any other bot as long as I have enough information on them." Makeshift explained, "And wow, are you lucky that I saw you during my escape attempt."

Orion winced.

Makeshift looked up as they passed a group of guards and he glared at them, "What are you looking at!? Move along!"

The guards quickly continued walking. They didn't feel like being dissected for insubordination.

Orion's optics flickered, "So are we... escaping?"

"Duh." Makeshift snorted, "What else?"

"I don't think..." Orion's steps faltered, "I can't... you should... leave me here."

Makeshift patted Orion's faceplate, "Oh, don't be dramatic. Just hold on a little longer and we'll–"

Orion offlined.

"Well, scrap." Makeshift looked at the unconscious mech and frowned, "This just got a whole lot harder."

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"KEEP MOVING!" Megatron yelled at everyone, "WE NEED TO GET OUT OF KAON NOW!"

The bots continued to rush forward in their alternative modes, but some were not as fast as others, and some were hesitant to go into the Sea of Rust, especially with Vos seekers as the only bots to aid them.

Everyone knew that the Sea of Rust was dangerous territory, with it's rampant electromagnetic storms that could short-circuit bots in a microsecond. But the seekers assured them that they'd mapped out areas that were safer to travel and their chances of survival grew in a larger group.

Megatron didn't ask what the chances were.

A gush of powerful wind suddenly knocked everyone forward, and Megatron whirled around, his optics going wide at the sight of fire erupting into the sky from the other side of Kaon. It took a moment before the thundering crack of the explosion reached them.

Hailso was gone.

"GO!" Megatron shouted, "MOVE!"

There wouldn't be much time before Kaon was blown to bits as well.

The rebels surged forward again, their pedes scrambling to get out of range of the blast. They'd already made it past the electromagnetic shield that kept storms out of Kaon, and the city began to become smaller behind them, but not small enough. They were still too close.

In the blink of an optic, the ground beneath Kaon exploded upward, throughing a shockwave and blast of heat into the Sea of Rust. Megatron was thrown forward violently, along wih the other bots around him.

His audio receptors rung and his optics malfunctioned, causing the ground and the world around him to turn black and gray.

No, wait. That was ash.

Megatron pulled himself to his pedes and a pang of heartache struck through him. His home, even though he'd hated it for so long, was gone. He'd hoped that this revolution would force the Council to see reason, and barring that, the people of Cybertron would overthrow them. He'd hoped Kaon could grow into a place that reminded him of more than suffering.

But he'd placed his hopes too high.

Cries of the injured and cries of loss filled the air. The ash blanketed the area, creating confusion and increasing hysteria. Families called out for each other. Sparklings cried.

Megatron felt a slender servo wrap around his arm and guide him through the darkness.

"I can see through the ash," Soundwave told Megatron before slipping his visor back on, it's sensors reaching through the smog.

"Lead us, then." Megatron told him before raising his voice, "Everyone grab ahold of one another and we will walk out of the ashes together!"

Soundwave pulled Megatron toward a group of bots before leaving to find more. Soon enough, the crowd was murmuring and muttering, huddled together in the darkness. Megatron felt Soundwave return to him.

"We're moving!" He called out to them and then followed Soundwave blindly.

It was a difficult trek. They could not see the dips and hills in the ground, and every once in a while, they would come upon debris that had somehow flung itself over here in the explosion. Megatron's optics burned as ash got into his lubricant and he considered closing them, but then he wouldn't able able to see when the smoke cleared. Wiping them was not an option, as his servos were wrapped around the wrists of two rebels.

He blinked rapidly as the darkness became more gray, and then, suddenly, it was blown away by a powerful blast of wind, causing everyone to stumble. Their optics adjusted to the light.

Megatron wished they hadn't.

"Get back!" He yelled as an electromagnetic storm approached, "Back into the smoke!"

"No!" As gray seeker with a red precipice on her helm ran forward, "You idiot! If we go into the ash, we won't be able to see it's attacks! There is no barrier anymore, we must forge through it!"

Megatron sneered, "We will be–"

"Shut up," the femme glared. "You asked us to lead you through the Sea of Rust. We know it well. Follow our lead."

The seeker looked outward, "Everyone transform and line up!"

Megatron scowled, but he knew the seeker was right. Shifting into his alternative mode, Megatron sped to the back of the assembly to ensure that no one was left behind.

Without further ado, they took off with two lines, one in the sky and one on the ground beneath them. Megatron tried to keep watch, but his optics darted around, looking into the storm as electric flashes struck near them.

The seekers took a sharp turn to the right and some bots failed to turn properly, forming a wide arc. Megatron followed the path of the line, even though he could have turned better. Like the others, he strayed off the path, and right as they were about to get back behind the agile seekers, there was a flash of green light.

And everything went dark.