Silverdust jumped when the alarm started going off. She looked around and noticed Laserbeak chirping next to her. She gently pet the cyberbird's helm before asking loudly over the sound of the alarm.

"Laserbeak, what's happening?"

Laserbeak instantly connected to the computer in the room, and showed her video images of the Autobots. Through the audio, she heard them split off into the wreckers group, stealth team, and the rescue team. She heard Chase giving orders to Boulder and Blades.

"Rescue bots! We must locate our missing team members. We must locate Heatwave and Silverdust!"

Silverdust gasped, and instantly tried to comm Chase, but a streak of electricty went through her body and she let out a scream. She knew why Megatron was choosing now to use the circlet. He didn't want her to get to the rescue bots. 

At her scream, Laserbeak immediately removed the video feed from the computer and, through the pain, Silverdust saw coding move across the screen. She realized Laserbeak was attempting to disable the circlet on her helm. She smiled softly, before moving towards the door, slightly shaking. 

"I will find my friends", she growled softly, and opened the door. She felt another shock of electricity go through her body, stronger this time. She let out another ear-piercing scream, and fell to the floor. But this time, the current of electricity didn't stop. It just kept going. And Silverdust kept screaming until her voice box couldn't make any more noise. And then... the pain suddenly stopped. She looked up and heard Laserbeak chirp from inside her room. Silverdust sat up, and looked at Laserbeak. 

"Thank you", she said with a tired voice before falling back over, unsconscious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Silverdust awoke, she was in the Decepticon medbay. She looked around for the familiar red doctor, but he was nowhere insight. Instead, an orange and white mech was in his place. Silverdust stared in confusion and looked around again. There was no sign of the red mech. In fact, the only red mech was sitting by her berth, tired yellow optics staring off into space.

"Heatwave?" Silverdust asked, her voice hoarse. "Ratchet? What's going on? What happened?"

Both mech's jumped at her voice, and instantly Heatwave was all over her. "Silverdust, are you okay? You've been out for quite a while. Are you hurting anywhere? Do you need help with anything?"

Silverdust shook her head. "I'm just... confused... last I remember was Laserbeak disabling my circlet... after Megatron started using it on me when the other Autobots started storming the Decepticon ship."

Heatwave looked relieved and sat back in his seat and looked at Ratchet, both of them silently communicating with each other.

"I will leave you two to catch up", Ratchet said. "Silverdust, you seem to be fine, but I want you to rest in here for at least two more hours. Then you may leave here and help with the reconstruction of Cybertron as well as attend Bee's ceremony to become a warrior."

"Got it", Silverdust said. "Wait. Reconstruction of Cybertron?"

Ratchet smiled, before leaving the room. Silverdust turned to Heatwave. "What all did I miss?"

Heatwave let a large vent, and ran a servo over his faceplate. "A lot. The other Autobots were successful in storming the warship. Bumblebee... Bumblebee terminated Megatron. We revived our planet via the Omega Lock Megatron built on the ship. Now all that's left is to rebuild."

Silverdust stared at him blankly. "Megatron's... dead?"

Heatwave nodded. "You're free from his tyranny, Silver. You're free from him."

Silverdust stared off into space, trying to process all the emotions that came through her system. There was shock, relief and most of all... Joy. "I'm free... I'm free! Heatwave, I'm finally free!!" Silverdust laughed happily, which caused Heatwave to laugh as well.

"Yes, yes you are, Silver. You're free."

Silverdust grinned widely, before looking to Heatwave, her smile disappearing as she looked him up and down. "Wait... how are you healed? How long have I been out? Knockout said the damage was horrible."

Heatwave hesitated before smiling softly. "You were only out for a few hours. Knockout isn't really suited for putting mech's back together, but Ratchet... with the help of Decepticon engineering was able to heal me most of the way. I'm still slightly injured and have been told to stay out of trouble, but as long as I'm not dead, that's fine by me."

Silverdust lightly punched his arm. "Yeah, no dying on me allowed. I already thought you were dead before and those were the worst five years of my life."

Both of them fell into a silence as they looked into each other's optics, all of their sadness and pain finally resurfacing as they thought back to the previous five years.

"Heatwave, I-" "Silverdust, I'm-"

They both paused once they realized they were speaking at the same time. Chuckling lightly, Silverdust gestured to Heatwave. "You first."

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you I was Wavesmasher. I wanted to every day I was here, but I couldn't because I feared what Megatron would do if he were to discover I was an Autobot in disguise."

"Heatwave, don't apologize. Trust me, I may have been sad and in pain for those five years, but when I saw you when you guys raided the Nemesis, I was filled with hope. You gave me hope. You gave me the strength to continue fighting. To continue waiting. Thank you. Thank you for being here for me. I-" Silverdust hesitated before saying it anyway. "I love you. I loved you five years ago. I love you now."

Heatwave stared at her, shock and happiness filling his optics. He didn't hesitate to wrap her up in a tight hug before pulling away to kiss her deeply. When he finally pulled away, her optics were filled with hope. 

"Does... does this mean that you..." Silverdust trailed off. Heatwave smiled.

"Yes, Silverdust. I love you too."

Silverdust immediately launched herself at Heatwave, hugging him tightly. Heatwave was shocked, but hugged back after he got over that shock. They stayed like that for a few more minutes, before pulling away and just talking about what occurred for them over the past five years. They spoke about the explosions that killed Chief Burns, both expressing their sorrow and grief. They spoke of how they missed each other deeply and were happy to be with each other once more. And they also spoke of their plans for the future.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Silverdust stood next to Heatwave and the other Autobots in a line behind Bumblebee, who knelt on the ground before Optimus, who was speaking. Bumblebee was about to be named a warrior, and Silverdust was so excited for him.

"In the company of your fellow Autobots, in the presence of our Creator, Primus, the living core of our planet, and by the authority vested in me by the Matrix of Leadership..." Optimus gently tapped Bumblebee's shoulders with the Star Saber before continuing to speak. "Bumblebee, arise, a warrior."

Bumblebee stood, and looked at Optimus. Silverdust quickly darted out from the line and clapped her best friend on the back. "You did it, Bee! You're finally a warrior!"

Bumblebee grinned. "Thanks Dusty!" 

Silverdust grinned back, though she was still surprised that her best friend had his voice back when she had woken up. Heatwave hadn't told her that in his more thorough explanation so when she first saw her friend, she was surprised by it, to Bumblebee's amusement. He was pleased to tell her what happened though, and Silverdust had grinned happily for him.

As the other Autobots surrounded Bumblebee and congratulated him, Silverdust stepped back and moved towards her adopted sire. She wasn't able to say anything though, as Wheeljack shouted loudly "Let's get this party started!" and set off several explosives, destroying a statue of her birth sire. Silverdust stared at it, unsure of what to feel. Yes, she was glad to be free of Megatron, but she... she didn't feel right about his death. Like... it wasn't the end of him.

Optimus' voice cut through Silverdust's thoughts. "I am sorry to interrupt your celebration..." Silverdust heard Arcee and Bulkhead's voices in the background but paid no attention to what they said, her full focus on her leader, and the mech she considered to be her Sire. "...but I must take my leave of you."

Silverdust stared in shock, barely registering Ultra Magnus asking why.

"Though Cybertron is once again able to support life, our planet is currently incapable of generating new lives. Not until I retrieve the wellspring from which all life on Cybertron is born, and ultimately returns... The AllSpark."

"You mean... it isn't here?" Smokescreen asked.

"Nor has it been, Smokescreen", Optimus answered. "Not for thousands of years. As the war for Cybertron reached it's tipping point, and the Decepticon army appeared to be unstoppable, I opted to safeguard the Allspark from Megatron by covertly sending it to a distant sector of the galaxy. The Matrix of Leadership will enable me to guide us to its location."

Silverdust looked down to the ground. Just when she was reunited with him, her adopted Sire was going to go and find something dearly important to the planet, and to all who resided here.

"These remain dangerous times, Bumblebee. We cannot leave Cybertron unsecured, not with Starscream and Shockwave unaccounted for."

"Not to mention our stray predacon", Ultra Magnus added. Silverdust butted in.

"Hey! Predaking is actually really nice once you treat him with the respect he deserves. He isn't just a beast, he is a living, breathing Cybertronian who can walk and think like us."

Everyone stared at the Decepticon princess, who shifted her gaze to the ground, embarrassed.

"No one was saying he wasn't", Bumblebee said gently. "He's just attacked us before, and may attack us now if we aren't careful."

Silverdust shook her head again, but didn't say anything and instead moved towards Heatwave, and hid slightly behind him, silently listening to everything else that was said.

As Optimus put different parts of team Prime in charge of different aspects of everything that would need to be done, Silverdust thoughts ran astray. She prayed that Predaking was safe and that he would not attack unprovoked. She didn't think he would, because he only attacked because he was loyal to Megatron. Now that he was aligned to no side, she hoped that he would stay neutral and not align himself with anything or anyone.

As everyone went to their assigned jobs, Optimus approached Silverdust, to speak with her before he left on his journey.

"Silverdust", he called lightly. Silverdust turned to look at him. "You will work closely with Ultra Magnus. Your ability to fly will be extremely useful."

"There's only one problem with that, Optimus... Megatron had my t-cog removed after one of my escape attempts..."

Optimus hummed in thought. "Speak with Knockout about this matter. He is currently in the brig of the warship, but he should be able to tell you what happened with your t-cog. Then go talk with Ratchet about reinstalling it."

Silverdust nodded, and went on her way. Optimus watched softly, his optics softening. The femme had changed over time, but she still held the same fire in her spark since he found her as a sparkling. He smiled softly at the femme he called his daughter before turning to Wheeljack. "Let us begin our journey."