Brig
     Although this room seems newly constructed, you immediately get the 
impression of a solid, secure foundation. Bland, seamless metal walls, 
plain stone benches, and a secure forcefield over the featureless door 
make this room seem unbreachable by any Decepticon prisoners stored 
here. Work is obviously still in progress here: two unfinished cells can 
be seen at the far end of the room.

Kup enters from the hall to the north.
Kup walks in slowly, not sure what he is going to find. Upon seeing 
Rodimus, he walks even slower, trying not to make any noise.
Rodimus is standing before the forcefielded entrance to the cell holding 
Prime's body, just watching in complete silence, not moving.
Kup says, "It's all beginning, isn't it? Just like it did in your time 
line."
Rodimus startles and spins around, flailing one fist out before him 
before he recognizes the voice and lowers his arm. "No," he blurts 
finally, recovering. "No, it's... not like my timeline at all." He turns 
back slowly to look at the body, then back to Kup, his expression 
clearly uncomfortable.
Kup says, "But it's all turning out the same. They have awakened 
Trypticon... the only difference between your story and what is 
happening is that right now, we still have Sky Lynx in custody and 
Grimlock leads them. I tell you, he's just as bad."
Rodimus rubs his arm distractedly and mutters, "Believe me, I know 
that."
Rodimus draws himself up sharply and says with a larger note of 
confidence, "However, we're on the right track to a cure this time, and 
with our technology we may be able to develop the antivirus that we 
couldn't the first time around."
Kup says, "Honestly lad, how close are we to the cure? It seems like 
every time they try to free Lynxy they get a little closer... and take a 
few more of us down with them. In what turned out ot be their 
diversionary attack, Moonracer, Firestone, Irontread and myself all took 
severe damage at the hands of merely three of the Dinobots, while 
Ramhorn became infected."
Rodimus says grimly, "If we don't have at least a solid start on one 
soon, then we won't get one at all. We're down to the wire and Whiz is 
pretty sure she an-- pretty sure she's on the right track," he recovers 
the slip quickly. "I honestly expect a new development shortly."
Rodimus trails off, "And if not..."
Rodimus slides an uncomfortable look at Prime's body before forcing his 
optics back to Kup.
Kup says, "We're all dead..... starting with Arcee........"
Rodimus says sharply, "We're NOT. No one's dead."
Kup says soflty, "Can Whiz do it without Pak-Gor?"
Rodimus looks suddenly pained and looks down at the floor. "She has to," 
he rumbles softly, his voice tight with emotion.
Knightmare enters from the hall to the north.
Rodimus is standing before the cell containing Prime's body, facing Kup 
who seems to be lagging out.
Knightmare says, "Pardon the intrusion ..."
Kup watches Rodimus as he repsonds with not the best of news, "I have 
been in touch with Magnus on Earth and think that we might have stumbled 
on to something that might make us able to handle the dinos."
Rodimus nods distractedly to Knightmare, then shifts his attention back 
to Kup. "What's that?"
Knightmare nods respectfully. "I know that the standing orders are to 
keep Nova out of all Autobot areas, but Sidearm just insisted I ask. She 
claims it's important. (Although why, I have no idea. Mutter mutter.)"
Knightmare heads north into the hallway...
Kup says, "Well, I was talking with Trailbreaker and Blaster, who were 
on Earth when the Dinobots were first built, and asked them how they got 
them under control in the first place...."
Rodimus smiles faintly. "there was a way to control them?"
Kup says, "They both recalled Wheeljack having some device that shut the 
Dinos down without doing any damage to them. Now, this device was only 
used on Slag, Sludge, and Grimlock... but if we could take those three 
out of the equation.. it could turn the tides with little to no 
bloodshed."
Kup says, "I relayed this to Ultra Magnus, and asked him to look into 
it."
Rodimus rubs his chin. "I never knew about that one. You think the 
device is still in existence?"
Kup says, "I don't know... we can only hope that it was not buried with 
Wheeljack."
Kup says, "Or destroyed because the Dinos were brought under.... started 
to agree with the Autobots."
Rodimus chuckles hollowly. "Brought under control. You can say it."
Kup says, "No... Optimus would turn over in his grave to hear me refer 
to their allegiance to him and the Autobot cause as being brought under 
control. He never would have let us call it that. He never wanted to 
'control' anything."
Rodimus frowns sharply as though slapped across the face. "No," he 
agrees softly, "I guess you're right. But it's control that we need 
now.. allegiance can come later, when we've found a solution."
Kup turns from Rodimus to Prime, almost muttering 'You wouldn't have 
allowed it either'
Rodimus looks hurt, looking away from the body with a pained wince. 
"What's that supposed to mean."
Kup says, "I have noticed how different you are lad... it reminds me of 
how much I changed throughout the wars with the cons..."
Rodimus draws his features together in a frown of tight pain. "I've 
tried not to change. I've tried to keep the important parts. But we've 
been through a worse hell than Cybertron ever saw before. I did my 
best."
Kup says, "I am sure you have lad.. and it is hard to see someone whom 
you have fought beside turn against you and kill friends...."
Rodimus mutters hoarsely, "...and rip your heart out..."
Kup lowers his head, "Yeah.. that too"
Kup says, "Has anyone discussed what has happened to our Pak-Gor?"
You say, "Your Pak-Gor? Oh... yes, I know he regained consciousness 
when.. ours.. died..."
Rodimus finds his gaze repeatedly dragged back to Prime's body before he 
can school his optics back to Kup's face.
Kup says, "Right, I''m sure he is a bit dazed by waking up in his state, 
do you know if he has been informed of anything."
Rodimus shakes his head. "I haven't spoken with him. I don't know if 
anyone else has or not."


** Again, spoiler space: kinda mushy stuff with Arcee, though there's 
nothing physical in there beyond hugging. More "regular" stuff with Whiz 
follows; there's a note like this to mark the end of this section.**






Arcee enters from the hall to the north.
Arcee strides in the door, after making sure that nothing really is 
going on in here, "Ahh, there you are Rodimus."
Kup says, "I'll see what I can do with Pakky and keep in touch with 
Magnus about the device."
Kup looks from Rodimus to Prime and finally to Arcee, "I'll leave you 
guys alone, I'm sure you still have a lot to talk about."
Kup has disconnected.
Rodimus looks up a bit distantly and nods distractedly to Arcee, 
standing in front of Prime's cell.
Arcee walks slowly to your side, gazing into the cell, "How are you 
doing, Rodimus?" She questions without looking at you.
Rodimus sighs softly and looks back at the body with an expression of 
controlled, distant pain. "I'm fine," he says quietly. "Just... came 
down here to think."
Arcee nods and smiles slightly, "As you can see, thanks to Whiz, I 
survived..."
Rodimus says quietly, "Yeah." He looks down briefly at the floor. "She 
told me you would have died if she hadn't used advanced technology... 
I'm so sorry. I didn't mean this to happen to you again. I wanted to 
deflect it."
Arcee looks at Rodimus curiously, tilting her head, "I see ... but in my 
own time, it's only happened once. I've been injured badly before you 
know..."
Rodimus says hoarsely, "Not like this. You would have died if it had 
been left to current tech.."
Arcee nods slowly, "Yes, but I didn't." She smiles a bit more, "Rodimus, 
why is it bothering you so much?"
You say, "I guess I'm wondering if maybe I'm meddling with something I 
shouldn't."
Arcee shakes her head, "There's no way to fix that now, is there. You're 
here and can't take that back."
You say, "I wouldn't want to, anyway." He looks over at Arcee fully for 
the first time, his optics still unnervingly even with hers. "If it 
meant tearing apart the space-time continuum as I know it, I'd still try 
to save you."
Arcee looks back, her expression softening as she states quietly, "I 
know you would..."
Rodimus looks quietly back at the body, repeating softly, "Yeah, I 
would..."
Arcee smiles and looks back to the body, folding her arms across her 
somewhat freshy painted armor, "Things will turn out for the best... I 
believe you made the right decision.
Rodimus says quietly, "I know I made the right decision about you... 
none of this would be worth it unless I could save you... at least not 
to me."
Rodimus murmurs almost to himself, "Some other things, though..." he 
reaches up almost unconsciously, brushing his hand lightly against the 
forcefielded cell and jerking back startledly when it zaps him.
Arcee nods slowly toward Rodimus, her optics flickering as she takes in 
what he is saying, "You know how much I care for you, how much I love 
you.... this goes beyond my strongest emotion, thinking about just how 
..."
Arcee flinches slightly.
Rodimus works his fingers a bit to work the sting out, shaking his head. 
"Sundiver was talking to me today, asking me to try and... try and open 
it.."
Arcee's optics flicker in a blinking motion, "He did??"
Rodimus says quietly, "Yeah." He sighs and studies the floor again. "To 
try and avoid all the fighting, all the maneuvering... but I'm afraid to 
try. I don't think I can face the ramifications of that even if I 
*could* open it.."
Arcee sighs softly.
You say, "I don't know why I came down here. It hurts just to be this 
close. To it, to.. myself.. but I couldn't stay away."
Arcee nods slowly toward Rodimus, "You're the only one who knows that, 
perhaps deep down inside..."
Rodimus asks perhaps a bit more sharply than intended, "Deep down inside 
what?"
Arcee looks at Rodimus steadily, "That part of you, that you've lost."
Rodimus looks hurt. "What have I lost?"
Arcee looks at Rodimus, as evenly as he looks to her, "You've lost your 
... " she seems to be searching for just the right words, not wanting to 
offend, "What I liked most about you, the small things, you're so 
fatalistic now..."
Rodimus says as though already dead, "My optimism?"
Arcee nods, "Yes."
Rodimus turns inward for several moments before speaking, his optics 
still not quite focused on Arcee. "I haven't, really, Arcee.. I hope 
with all my being that this will turn out right. I've just.. been.. 
beaten down so much... it's hard to stay optimistic under that kind of 
pressure. But if I were a fatalist I wouldn't be here." He frowns, 
obviously upset. "Everything's just been buried inside for so long..."
Arcee reaches out to Rodimus, grasping his arms lightly and standing at 
arms length from him, "Yes, I see that, but you also border constantly 
on the implications, and things that you cannot do anything about...."
Rodimus folds his hands over his chest and rubs his upper arms briskly 
as though chilled. "There's always something I can do about it." He 
smirks dryly, "See? If I were a fatalist I wouldn't care."
Arcee steps back, nodding to Rodimus, her expression foreign at the 
moment, as though she doesn't even know who she's talking to.
Rodimus rather gapes at Arcee, working his mouth frantically for a 
moment before blurting, "Don't look at me like that.."
Arcee doesn't smile as she speaks, her optics reflecting sadness, as 
does her tone, "There was a time, you wouldn't move away from me when I 
reached out for you ..." Her voice cracks slightly, "I do love you, but 
am at a loss of what exactly you are. There are times, you are Rodimus, 
and then times, you seem to be someone else."
Rodimus flails desperately for words, trying to disperse a sudden cold 
knot in the pit of his nonexistent stomach. "I didn't mean to... you 
said I'd changed, I was trying to... I was on the defensive, I didn't 
mean it," he babbles, an undercurrent of desperation evident in his 
voice.
Arcee tilts her head, sounding frustrated, "Rodimus, please, calm 
down... I don't even KNOW what to do at the moment, in regards to you."
Rodimus snaps his mouth shut over further words, his jaw trembling.
Arcee glances at Rodimus Prime behind the forcefield, holding her hand 
out within inches of it, "I miss him...."
Rodimus clenches his jaw tightly, the gears grinding in protest under 
his flexmetal "skin." "I know..." he grates in a miserable, bare 
whisper.
Arcee looks back to Rodimus, "I'm sorry." She sighs, "There is a part of 
me, that hated you from the moment you arrived, even though, in a way, 
you took yourself from me. Then, I realized that you are Rodimus, older, 
been through a lot more, yet still him, but not 'mine'. I love you, I 
love him, but I've come to feel that you two are different.... so very 
different, and yet, so very much alike."
Rodimus grates, trying to keep the tight pain in his voice from coming 
out in a squeak, "We're the same person..."
You say, "I.. remember.. everything he does... I did everything, I felt 
the same things..."
Arcee shakes her head, "No, you've been through so much more than he 
has, and hopefully will never have to go through..... You remember it 
all, yet, you have lived so much more."
Rodimus nods and says simply, "Yes."
Arcee clasps her hands before her, having nothing else to do with them 
at the moment, and looking to feel extremely terrible for what she has 
just said, "Yes." she whispers in agreement, "You came back to find just 
how much you had changed....."
Rodimus cries, "Stop *saying* that! Do you think I *like* what I've 
become?"
Arcee jumps slightly at the unexpected outburst, "I... Know you don't." 
She almost chokes on her words it seems, "It wasn't your fault."
Rodimus slams a fist ineffectually against the forcefield, turning away 
with the rebound to thunk his forehead against the opposite wall with a 
ragged sigh. "I did my best. I picked up the pieces when no one else 
would... when no one else.. could... I kept us alive... I only ever 
wanted the best for anyone..."
Rodimus mutters miserably, "I never wanted to kill the Primitives.. I 
want to save them..."
Rodimus whispers, "I wanted to save you..."
Arcee walks to Rodimus' side, sliding a hand across his back and to his 
shoulder as she tilts her head toward him, draping it lightly across his 
shoulders as he used to do to her. She speaks quietly, "Rodimus.... I 
know, I know, it's just, so odd for me...' She reaches out with her 
other hand to slip it beneath his chin and attempt to move his head so 
that he's looking at her. "You did what you had to."
Rodimus regards Arcee miserably, not even trying (unable?) to pull away. 
"I did what I had to do," he repeats quietly. "Was it worth it? Was it 
worth it to live through all of that so I could see you look at me like 
I was a stranger?"
You say, "Right here, right now, Arcee. If I die, he'll wake up." He 
waves a hand jerkily behind him at the cell. "I'll kill myself if that's 
what it would take. I've had my life; I'm on borrowed time now. You mean 
more to me than my own life..." he chokes, "I only want to do what's 
right."
Arcee looks into his optics, "It's not that you're a stranger, it's that 
what you used to be, you've buried so deeply and forgotten... eight 
million years is so long, so long to dream and war, yet you kept it 
alive, but at what cost... For some reason, you seem to have lost that 
which makes you more than just a system of mechanical parts ... bent on 
one train of thought, survival...."
Arcee winces, "No, please, don't do that."
Rodimus says bitterly, "Survival was all I could think about for a long 
time. Right now all I can think about is you. And.. that." He nods his 
head at the cell.
Arcee nods slowly, keeping her optics on him, "... I only wish, you had 
not gone through all you did...."
Rodimus says quietly, "That's what I came back to fix."
Arcee replies to that, "I know."
Rodimus sighs. "I'm sorry.." he reaches up to brush his fingers against 
Arcee's cheek, barely a feather-stroke before he pulls his hand back 
uncertainly.
Arcee moves closer to Rodimus, letting him know he hasn't done anything 
wrong as she slides her arms around him and leans her head against his 
chest.
Arcee says, "Perhaps... if you could just remember more clearly."
Rodimus slumps half against the wall, half against Arcee, sighing 
raggedly. "Remember what? I remember everything..."
Arcee shakes her head, "You remember it, yet it's like you never lived 
it."
Arcee sighs, "I wonder how things would have gone, if I had not died 
originally...."
Rodimus mutters, "I would have been a lot happier.."
Arcee nods, "I've said it before, I could not imagine life without you, 
... and I couldn't, nor do I want to.... I love you, Rodimus, you can be 
certain of that, I always have, and always will, even with the changes 
you have gone through...."
You say, "Just please don't look at me like that again.. I can't take 
it."
Arcee says, "I promise I won't....."
Arcee whispers softly to Rodimus, "Just do one thing for me, hold me 
like you used to..."
Rodimus doesn't respond verbally, gathering Arcee tenderly in his arms 
and pressing his cheek against hers, silently.
Arcee is completely silent.
@pemit *rc=\[I love you.]










** Okay, it's safe now. ;) **


Whiz enters from the hall to the north.
Whiz's expression is carefully blank.
Arcee's optics flicker in surprise at something that surprised her, but 
it's not Whiz, since she isn't paying much attention to anyone but 
Rodimus.
You sense: Arcee looks a bit uncertain, "How ... did you do that...?"
Rodimus, as Whiz walks in, is half-slumped against the back wall, his 
forehead braced against Arcee's shoulder in a posture of silent misery, 
his arms around her.
Arcee jumps, not having expected Whiz to be down here, or anyone at all 
for that matter.
Rodimus blinks and looks up startledly, then withdraws again, mumbling 
in a roughly emotional voice, "No... no, you're not interrupting."
Arcee turns around to face Whiz, glancing at Rodimus with a questioning 
look across her optics.
Whiz takes refuge behind her scientific facade. "The strain on your 
systems from being in the same room with your past self is probably 
inadvisable, but you knew that when you entered."
Rodimus says quietly, "I don't know why I came down here. I had to."
Whiz says, "I was just ensuring that you hadn't sent yourself into a 
state of temporal shock."
Rodimus shrugs and looks away evasively.
Arcee looks about to say something, opening her mouth, but nothing comes 
out, as she looks at Rodimus again, her expression curious.
Whiz says distantly, "Well, since you appear to still be - functional - 
I will be on my way. Don't hurt yourself."
Rodimus sighs. "Whiz, you don't have to go.."
Whiz's optics betray a slight pain. "Yes... I mean... I can't stay."
Rodimus tightens his jaw. He mutters to himself, "... I... I..." 
You sense "Rodimus tightens his jaw. "No matter what I do I always hurt 
someone..""
Rodimus tries a different tack. "I thought your forcefield was supposed 
to protect us from that. It can't hurt any more than it does anywhere 
else, anyway."
You say, "Not for me, anyway."
Whiz looks uncomfortable. "It can only do so much. Extreme proximity is 
still inadvisable."
Arcee winces visibly, at the thought.
Whiz looks pointedly at the unconscious body, then Arcee. "This is 
extremely awkward. Two of you, the two of us..."
Arcee folds her arms, and now looks to Whiz, not quite understanding 
what she's saying.
Rodimus shakes his head again, looking distantly at Prime's body. He 
mutters something to himself, then snaps back to reality sharply at that 
comment. "Could anything be more awkward anyway?"
Whiz says, "More awkward than this?"
Whiz says, "Only if our past selves were actually awake."
Rodimus shrugs. "I feel standing in the middle of a tesseract; how about 
you?"
Whiz looks at the confused Arcee and her optics crinkle slightly. "This 
is not exactly a situation I have ever envisioned. I am not... 
prepared... to deal with it."
Arcee seems to suddenly catch onto something, as she moves a bit jerkily 
from Rodimus, "I'll just... go, I have some things to see to."
Whiz says firmly, "No. I am the one who interrupted. There is no need."
Arcee pauses, still extremely lost it seems, and going over things in 
her head, "No, it's fine, you were obvioiusly looking for him."
Arcee shifts from one foot to the other, her extreme discomfort in the 
situation showing rather blandly.
Whiz doesn't show much behind her unemotional mask.
Whiz says, "I do not require privacy of any kind, however. I merely 
wished to ensure that all was well."
Whiz actually takes in Arcee fully for the first time and looks 
startled.
Whiz says, "C.. camouflage?"

        Just above average for a transformer, Arcee stands with an air 
of sophistication and a warrior's finesse that is not often found in one 
place at the same time. Her dark blue body is curved and contoured in 
the fashion of a terran female, but no less powerful than that of most 
of her Autobot comrades. A teal sheen runs through the blue paint when 
she turns into the light, while black detailing gleams from some areas. 
Her soft blue optics blaze with the fire of a strong spirit framed by 
her silvery white face and dark blue helm. A look of calmness and 
thought seems constant in her features playing behind her usually sweet 
smile. A pair of podlike projections are situated just behind her 
slender feminine shoulders, seeming to add to her look of sturdiness 
without taking away that light grace evident in her movements.
        
Arcee chuckles slightl, loosening up and glancing at her armor, "Uhm, I 
don't really know who's bright idea this was, I was this way when I came 
out of repair bay and haven't had time to get repainted...."
Whiz says, "Ah. Well, your condition could have been worse."
Rodimus sighs and slumps with one shoulder against the metal partition 
between the cells, facing away from his self's body this time. "I'm 
sorry.." he starts to push himself off the wall. "I'll leave. I'm the 
one who seems to be causing all the problems around here."
Whiz says, "Self-recriminations are an waste of precious resources."
Arcee looks to Rodimus again, "No, I do want to speak to you, I have 
questions...." Her voice lowers slightly at the final word.
Arcee shrugs back to Whiz, "In that case, I'll just remain this way 
until I'm trashed again beyond recognition." She smirks a bit, "Which 
isn't very often...."
Whiz softens slightly. "Use caution until this crisis is resolved. We 
nearly lost you."
Arcee nods and smiles a bit more, "I was using caution at that time, I 
was searching for the entrance to the femme base in Crystal city, but it 
seemed to have been locked down...or destroyed."
Rodimus remains against the wall, head bowed, clenching and unclenching 
one fist and watching as though it belongs to someone else.
Whiz says, "It is located in an area of instable tunnels, perhaps the 
entrance was somehow collapsed."
Arcee nods in agreement, "I was going through some rubble with Whisper, 
when 'he' attacked us..."
Whiz says, "Whisper relayed the events as we worked upon you."
Arcee nods, "I don't really remember much, as a matter of fact, a lot of 
things are a bit 'fuzzy'
Whiz says, "That is probably just as well, given the condition you were 
in."
Rodimus carefully stays out of the conversation for fear of turning the 
attention back to himself.
Arcee hasn't forgotten Rodimus, since she glances back toward him at 
that moment.
Whiz follows the gaze and abruptly is uncomfortable again.
Rodimus dims his optics wearily, unconsciously throwing up some kind of 
mental shield that only Krystal would really notice anyway,
Arcee sighs softly, looking at Whiz as though she wishes she'd leave.
Whiz softens immediately and asks gently, "Why are you doing this to 
yourself?"
Rodimus looks up, uncertain that he's the one being spoken to at first 
but recognizing that tone. "Doing what?"
Whiz says, "Why are you abusing yourself this way? There is no good 
reason for you to be down here, and you've already decided to do this on 
your own. Why face yourself with the temptation, and then the pain on 
top of it all?"
You say, "Because I was talking to Sundiver today."
You say, "And he wanted to know why I couldn't just.. open the Matrix 
and end this, without fighting."
You say, "And I can't help but wonder, despite it all."
You say, "I don't know why I came down here. I felt like I had to."
Whiz says, "Do you think that would solve the problem?"
You say, "I don't know. I don't know if I could even if I tried. And 
even if it did work I'm not sure I could face the ramifications of it 
all."
Rodimus mumbles, "And if it didn't work... I don't know if I could face 
that, either."
You say, "So I sit here and stare and beat myself over the head 
wondering, instead. Ingenious, isn't it?"
Rodimus sighs.
Whiz says, "You know what you're doing, and you now better than any of 
us what *it* wants."
Whiz says, "Whatever that may be."
Rodimus frowns. "I can hear it, but... it wouldn't be right..."
Whiz says quietly, "I'm not going to try to change your mind."
Rodimus mutters, "I'm not sure what my mind is any more. Part of me 
wants to try it."
Whiz says, "What would you say if you were him, and you woke up and 
found out that some other you had taken and used the Matrix while you 
were unconscious?"
Arcee sighs softly at the implications of that.
Whiz says, "I'm only playing devil's advocate - reminding you what you 
told me earilier."
Arcee silently heads out of the room.
Arcee has disconnected.
You say, "I know exactly what I told you earlier and that's why I don't 
think I can bring myself to do it. It's not mine. But I can't help 
thinking about it, especially after what Sundiver said... ending it all 
without a fight."
Whiz says, "Theoretically, there is no reason to believe that. Perhaps 
in conjunction with a cure, it could be of use, but the hypothesis that 
the Matrix alone could reverse what has already occurred is a naive one, 
in my opinion."
Whiz says, "It is powerful, true, but does it really have that kind of a 
medical function?"
Rodimus gets suddenly defensive, "You don't know what it can do."
Whiz sighs. "No, I don't. But I do know that it's been in Sky Lynx's 
paws for a long time, and that proximity hasn't changed anything."
You say, "Because it hasn't accepted him, and it never will. It does 
nothing for the... for anyone it doesn't recognize as... worthy. That's 
a bad word."
Whiz says, "I understand that. You're the only one it trusts, because it 
knows that you will make the right decision."
Whiz says, "But Rodimus, if it could end this, why didn't it tell you 
before?"
You say, "But I don't know what it is this time. Half of me says try it, 
the other half is afraid to." He falters. "It... it didn't... I can't 
discern words, Whiz, it's just a feeling. And I haven't heard it at all 
in so long.. not since..." he swallows his voice dropping to a strained 
whisper, "the lab. Before we left. Sky Lynx was there. He had it.""
Whiz notices Arcee's absence and drops all pretense. "I'm sorry, 
Rodimus, I just hate to see you do this to yourself. I didn't know that 
you had been so close to it."
Whiz says, "But if you had stayed behind, the portal would have closed. 
You were needed here."
You say, "But if I'd been able to... I just don't know, what might have 
happened.."
You say, "And now I find myself sitting here, asking myself the same 
question anyway."
Whiz sighs slightly, looking at the floor. "Everything happens in its 
own time. there were other things that had to happen first. "
Whiz says, "If we hadn't come here, all those lives wouldn't have been 
saved. We could have saved what was left of what we had, but we couldn't 
have prevented the deaths. Like Arcee, or Ultra Magnus... and..."
Whiz falters, leaving the rest of her train of thought unspoken.
Rodimus says quietly, "Yeah, I know."
Whiz raises her hands, the drops them to her sides again helplessly. "I 
might never have said anything. And the anger would never have gone 
away."
Whiz says fiercely, "There *will* be a time. But only you can say if 
that time is now."
Rodimus blinks, taken somewhat by surprise at the tone. "A time for 
what?"
Whiz says, "I have been working on a hypothesis."
Whiz says, "When we avert the disaster in this timeline, which we will, 
we will most likely return to the moment that the portal closed in our 
time. Sky Lynx will still be there, but he and his troops will be 
heavily damaged by the explosion."
Whiz says, "You said you felt the Matrix with him - that only convinces 
me."
Rodimus narrows his optics. "Convinces you what...?" he asks guardedly.
Whiz says, "Somehow, you will finally get it back. You have to."
Rodimus smirks. "This is real life, Whiz. Not everything has a happy 
ending."
Whiz's lips quirk upward. "No, but simple karma would say that we have a 
LOT of god luck ahead of us."
Whiz says, "We've already had to survive our share of the bad."
Rodimus smiles, a bit distantly. "I can always hope."
Whiz says, "It's about time for us to get some justice. Or to make it 
for ourselves. We're taking the cure back with us, if it's not too late 
to reach some of them."
You say, "Hey, if we're lucky, we won't even exist. We can forget this 
whole horrible thing ever happened."
Whiz is silent, regarding the floor.
Rodimus bites his lip. "sorry. I didn't mean..."
Whiz says quietly, "That's all right. I was thinking of Flamediver and 
Outrun, too."
Whiz says, "I would rather I didn't end up this way, too."
You say, "They can still be built. And in a lot better environment than 
we gave them."
Whiz nods quietly. "But there is no sense in remaining unprepared. We 
don't know what to expect."
Rodimus echoes quietly, "Well, that too.." he trails off, then nods. 
"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst."
Whiz looks up again. "Yes. Couldn't hurt."