My servos were shaking, no, my frame was shaking. In front of me stood Shockwave as he wrestled away Megatron's canon, his shot missing me by mere inches, I could still feel the heat that licked at the side of my helm.

"Sh-Shockwave..." I breathed, and the shorter mech pushed Megatron with a force I didn't know he had.

"That, was a grave mistake," Shockwave seethed, and everyone but me took several steps back at his apparent anger, a fury that rolled off of him in waves.

Megatron stumbled, trying to find his balance.

"You would protect a traitor?" Megatron seethed his canon powering down, though I knew he would happily warm it up again.

"I do not protect a traitor," Shockwave stated firmly, "I protect my Sparkmate."

The lies just never end, do they?

"Sparkmate or not, she has been caught about to steal Decepticon information, and hand it over to the Autobots."

Shockwave looked to me as I shook behind him, and I could only cry as I shook my helm 'no'. It's not true. What reason would I have to betray a cause the object of my affections has put so much time into? Remembering the USB I had acquired before coming here, I took it from my subspace and offered it to them.

"Th-this contains the pr-progress of the Synth-En project," I cursed myself for stuttering, "I was told b-by a vehicon to come here, I-I thought you wanted to know how far I had gotten in m-my studies."

"And you did not think that I would have just gone myself?" Megatron growled, and I shook my helm once more. I didn't think of that, "And where is this vehicon you say told you about a supposed calling?"

I looked behind him, and the others stood idly by, making no move, and I was left with the answer of 'I don't know'.

"So we are left with one conclusion, traitor,"

"She is no traitor, Lord Megatron," Shockwave insisted, and I clung to him as I hid behind the bulk of his frame.

"Yet you have no evidence to prove otherwise," Megatron noted, and I knew that my carrier had thought this out, "The Synth-En project will be handed to you, Shockwave," Megatron said firmly, "For the sake of her being your sparkmate, I promise that she will have a swift execution."

I felt the tears roll off in streams of a fading blue as Shockwave moved me to his side, and I was forced to look up at him as he held my helm. I won't ever be able to feel his gentle touch again. The variables are against me, and I have no evidence to prove my innocence. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, nothing but hate to watch me die. Shockwave's antenea swiveled as he thought, perhaps ways out of this predicament, or maybe the fact that I'm truly not trustworthy. Is he believing this lie too?

"I find no other way out of this," Shockwave sighed, and looked to Megatron, "This will be my last goodbye."

I shrieked as several blows resounded throughout the bridge, the three shots shaking me to my core, and I felt my cooling fans kick in as my spark desperately tried to keep up with my anxieties and pained audio receptors. I opened my optics, not realizing I had kept them shut for so long, finding a smoking canon by Shockwave's side, and a motionless Decepticon war lord on the floor of his own ship, covered in the purple of dark energon that now pooled on the floor, his chassis ripped open by the three blasts that had extinguished his spark. The air was silent, and the atmosphere hot with the shock of what had just happened. Starscream rushed in with Soundwave, Predaking not to far behind, and looked to the carnage that is now Megatron's form.

"WHO DID THIS?!" Starscream screeched.

There was a long pause before Shockwave took responsibility.

"I did," he stated with a firmness not many were willing to combat.

"Traitor!" Starscream shouted, "How DARE you offline our leader!"

"~Why~" Soundwave asked through a recording, looking to my shaking form as I tried to hide myself behind Shockwave even more.

"Megatron threatened the life of (Y/D)," Shockwave stated, and then looked to the group of vehicons who had willingly framed me, just to get rid of me, "On account of false information."

My carrier began to back away, but was pushed out by the others behind her, hoping that this peace offering would calm the enraged scientist, and divert his attention to the main cause of the matter.

"She is a VEHICON, Shockwave," Starscream argued, earning a shot to his helm, missing him by mere millimeters as Shockwave's blast singed the wall beside him.

"And you a mere pawn in Megatron's game," he stated, "Next time, I will not miss."

The vehicons were dismissed, and my carrier escorted to the brig. The only ones remaining being Shockwave, Soundwave, Predaking, Knockout (who was late to the party), Starscream, and me, as well as the now offlined form of Megatron. The Autobots would be envious with how easily the warmonger was taken down. Shockwave never let me go, keeping my secure to his side with his one servo. I leaned into him, not willing to leave him as my spark slowed to a normal rate, and my cooling fans stopped, my systems syncing to the cyclops as he spoke to the audience, only one being a complete aft as he argued, and was soon silenced with the threat of being offlined by Shockwave, and in a less merciful manner.

"I now command the Decepticons," he stated, but I gave no reaction to this mutiny, still trying to process all of what happened. I was in a position I shouldn't have been able to come out of. Shockwave's decision was unprecedented, and now... now what?

I was surprised by the acceptance of it all... Shockwave was now the leader of the entire Decepticon faction, Predaking happily spoke up, wanting to be my body guard. I felt my cooling fans kick on at his comment of every queen needing protection, and a soft rumble was felt from Shockwave. Was he chuckling at me? Everything stayed relatively the same, only the roles of Second in command and First were switched. Soundwave and Starscream's jobs were the same, but the title was just flipped, Knockout stayed the same though.

"Change in command and I'm left out?" he complained, though it wasn't as obnoxious as Starscream as he was threatened once more, and he silenced himself.

Once they had left, and Shockwave and I found ourselves alone, he looked down to me, and I up to him.

"Why..."

"I believe I answered that already."

"No... I mean... why risk it all, just for me? I'm not-"

"You are who you are," he answered before I could finish, "And I did it, because it was the logical thing that my spark told me to do."

Beginning to cry again, I let my helm rest on his chassis, Shockwave running his servo up and down my dented and hurting back plates, but his touch was soft, and gentle, making the pain ebb until all I could feel was his servo, lulling me into a state of relaxed tranquility.