Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

After the core stopped pulsating, a dull metallic cracking sound came from the top of the vector head.

She raised her slightly numb right arm, put away the Soul-Suppressing Spear, and then bent down to pull out the double-edged sword stuck in the ground and put it away.

The Blade of Time returned to his palm, its blade slicing through space, revealing the ground where the battle had just ended.

The vector is introduced in one step.

When she appeared, the outside was eerily quiet, with rocks scattered everywhere as a result of the collapse of the manifested entities.

Bumblebee was the first to discover the spatial rift, and immediately let out a joyful shout, attracting dozens of gazes.

The moment she stepped out, before she even had a chance to steady herself, the ambulance was already rushing in front of her: "How are you?!"

"Still alive."

The scanning light swept from her head to her feet. The vector didn't resist, but the optical mirror bypassed the ambulance and looked elsewhere.

Optimus Prime is still there, holding the completely sealed AllSpark container.

Megatron's shoulder armor and arms were in a terrible state after being ravaged by Unicron, but at least he was still standing.

Smokescreen, Arcee, Bumblebee, Partition, Ultra Magnus, Alita, Jazz, Soundwave, Starscream, Shockwave, Skyward, 97...

Crystal was sitting on the ground, the whole machine shining like a giant reflector. When she saw her come out, she struggled to raise her hand and say, "Hi."

Vector: "...Are you alright? Also, for the safety of everyone's optical lenses, I think you really need to get your matte finish applied."

-

Fuller's communications were quickly connected: "Earthquakes have basically disappeared globally; things have stabilized."

The voice of the human command center came from the background: "Volcanic activity is also decreasing. We are still confirming the disaster situation in various regions, but the worst is over."

The vector finally released its last spark: "Where are Jack and the others?"

"Safe," Optimus Prime replied.

Looking at the vector, the two machines stared at each other, briefly confirming each other's status.

The ambulance was still scanning the area: "Your energy reserves are dropping so badly, how high of a power setting were you on just now?!"

"maximum."

The ambulance driver scoffed, "I shouldn't have asked."

-

After the war ended, the wounded were gradually gathered, and human rescue vehicles entered the disaster area.

The land bridge was used for transportation, and the Decepticons, Autobots, and Fatalisks naturally joined together to carry the wounded.

The list of dead and injured is gradually being compiled, and it is much better than they initially expected, but it is still impossible for it to be zero.

The Magic Knights, driven by the dark super-energy entities, also ceased all activity.

After the consciousness of the Cosmic Emperor was sealed, the dark purple light of the corpse was completely extinguished.

Jiuqi stood there for a long time, and finally just bent down and gently closed their open optical glasses.

Yin Vector walked over to her and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. The two remained silent for a long time.

You win, you win; but what you lose, you lose.

-

The cleanup took a long time, until humans basically took over the surface disaster relief, and they were finally able to deal with another matter—the ultimate key.

Unicron had crushed two of them in front of Graviton before. She remembered the locations: one was an open underground cave, and the other was among several low hills.

"Split up." The vector pointer brought up two locations. "I'll go to this one."

Megatron glanced at another spot: "I'll go to the second one."

Optimus Prime said, "I can come along."

Both the vector and Megatron looked at him at the same time; one was somewhat suspicious because of the energy he sensed, while the other's gaze remained as impatient as ever.

Vector: "Let the ambulance take care of you first."

Megatron: "Get out of the way."

Optimus Prime: "..."

The two keys were shattered beyond recognition, but fortunately Unicron only crushed them, not ground them into powder.

Following the residual energy and metallic characteristics, the gravitational vector gradually extracted fragments from between the large rubble, totaling dozens of pieces of varying sizes.

She squatted on the ground, staring at those things: "Can they still be repaired...?"

Megatron quickly sent a message from the other side: "Found it."

Vector reference: [Is it complete?]

Do you think I'll leak?

-

They then quickly returned to Cybertron with the key.

There is still a lot of cleanup work to be done on Earth, but the Ultimate Key is related to Cybertron itself, and it is not safe to leave it on Earth, which has just experienced the awakening of Unicron.

Jack, Maggie, and Raffi wanted to come along, but Fuller and Jane held them back.

Before leaving, the vector said to them, "We will come back."

Meiqi was clearly reluctant, but Jack nodded. Raffi asked, "Soon?"

The vector thought for a moment: "It will be quick."

-

Cybertron wasn't idle either; BICk0 had already prepared all the personnel and equipment they could mobilize.

As soon as a group of machines emerged from the passage, the first thing the secretary noticed was the index vector.

"Welcome back." The secretary tried to suppress her trembling voice, but in the end she couldn't help but step forward and give Yin Xiang a big hug.

Yin Xiang also hugged her, saying, "You've worked hard."

BICk0 quickly pushed the button open, looked down to switch interfaces: "The Ultimate Key Storage Area is ready."

They went into the storage area and placed the three divine keys together on the same platform.

One was intact, the other two were shattered as if they had been in a shredder.

Smokescreen stood to the side, frowning as he watched.

Just as the vector was about to ask Optimus Prime what the unusual energy in his chest was, Optimus Prime spoke first: "Repair the God Key first."

"Now?"

"The sooner we confirm whether the Ultimate Key can still be recovered, the better."

The reasoning was perfectly valid, but the vector still felt that the machine answered too quickly.

However, the Divine Key is indeed important; it represents Cybertron's chance to restore its complete life-giving environment.

"Alright then." She let it go for now.

Smokescreen stood behind Optimus Prime, and the optical lens flickered nervously, but fortunately no one noticed.

-

The Hammer of the Pride of the World was brought here, and after a series of uses, it had little energy left.

The vector places the two broken ultimate keys together.

Optimus Prime gripped the hammer handle, golden light shone, and with the first strike, a large number of fragments floated into the air.

The second time, the broken pieces began to piece together. The parts that had been crushed by the Cosmic Emperor melted and were recreated in the divine power, with the complex patterns connecting one by one.

As the two ultimate keys took shape simultaneously, the golden light suddenly flashed for a moment when the last fragment was put back in place, and then went out.

On the platform, the three complete divine keys lay quietly together.

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

The vector stared at it for a few seconds: "...It's finally fixed this time."

BICk0 quickly arranged for the highest level of sealing, and shockwave and ambulance tests confirmed that there were no abnormalities.

Then Vector noticed something else: after Optimus Prime loosened the hammer, it did not light up again, but remained dim, and the patterns on its surface faded away.

She poked it twice, but there was no response: "...Is it broken?"

Optimus Prime replied, "It has run out of internal energy."

The vector looked at it twice and felt a little regretful. This hammer was really useful, but repairing the bridge, rescuing people, and now repairing the Divine Key was indeed an overload of work.

"Then put it away." She didn't think much of it.

Optimus Prime lowered his optical glasses: "Hmm."

Smokescreen stood by without saying a word.

-

In the following matches, the injured went to the medical tower, while those with minor injuries lined up on their own. The global disaster situation was continuously synchronized through the joint channel.

The judicial authorities are compiling injury and death records and subsequent compensation; both the Autobots and Decepticons are verifying their members; and the Ultimate Key has been locked.

The container containing the consciousness of the Cosmic Emperor was also sent to the highest level of isolation zone.

Megatron stood in front of the casualty list for a long time.

At some point in the past, he had thought that if the war really ended, perhaps he should leave Cybertron and never come back.

That sounds like some kind of punishment, or atonement.

But now, looking at the names left behind by death because of this war and their past choices, he suddenly realized something else—if he just left like this, others would still have to clean up the mess, and he was just running away from what he should be facing.

Megatron closed the list, but he will remain and take responsibility for his mistakes.

-

When Yin Vector finally sat down, he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten something.

She put down the energy drink she had just taken a couple of sips from and immediately looked up, just in time to see Optimus Prime walking past from the other side.

"stop."

Optimus Prime stopped walking, and so did the smoke screen.

Yin Vector slowly put down the cup: "Come here."

Optimus Prime knew he couldn't escape, so he simply held a small-scale meeting.

"Pulse Vector," she said, pointing to Optimus Prime's chest as she sat with Smokescreen at the table. "Explain," she continued, "I sensed something was wrong here when I was on Earth. There was an extremely strong life energy emanating from the Matrix of Leadership."

Optimus Prime finally spoke: "That's the AllSpark."

Vector: "...?"

Her prepared barrage of questions all stalled: "...What? Why is the AllSpark in your chest?!"

Optimus Prime's explanation is very simple.

After he and Jack found the AllSpark, they were indeed planning to bring it back to Cybertron as planned.

However, Unicron has fully awakened, and once the AllSpark enters the AllSpark Well, the powerful life signal from Primus is very likely to expose their plans.

They couldn't let Unicron know that the container was empty, so they had to find another place to hold the spark, which was the Leader Module.

Upon hearing this, the vector remained relatively calm: "And then?"

Optimus Prime paused for a moment: "After the AllSpark entered the Leadership Module, it merged with the Leadership Module and my AllSpark."

The vector slowly froze: "To what extent are we combined?"

"It cannot be directly separated at present."

The room fell silent, and the smoke began to lower.

Vector ignored him, still staring at Optimus Prime: "Then how do you get the AllSpark back to the AllSpark Well?"

Optimus Prime didn't answer immediately, and the look in his eyes gradually changed.

Optimus Prime was silent for a moment, then spoke the truth: "I will take the Matrix of Leadership with me into the AllSpark."

The vector remained motionless, its expression blank for a few seconds: "...And what about you?"

Optimus Prime looked at her, remaining silent.

The vector already understood: "You will die."

The smoke screen closes the optical lens.

Optimus Prime finally said softly, "Yes."

The vector suddenly stood up, causing the chair to slide backward.

"Ambulance." She dialed directly via private channel.

Optimus Prime: "Gravity Vector".

"Shut up." She didn't even look at him. "Ambulance, come quick."

Smokescreen cautiously spoke: "Vector..."

She turned her head instantly: "You knew too?"

The smoke screen paused for a moment, then he nodded after a few seconds: "I knew it might bind us, but I thought we still had a way! I don't want to rescue him only to watch him die again in another place."

The ignition point was already simmering, and now it was even more stifling: "There must be other ways."

-

The ambulance arrived quickly. After hearing the story, the officer seemed ready to beat the leader on the spot, his expression gradually cracking.

"The Spark Source is in your leadership module, and it's even tied to the Spark? Why are you only telling me this now?!"

The vector coldly answered for him: "Because he thinks he's already made all the arrangements."

Optimus Prime looked at her, but she completely ignored him.

The ambulance was carrying medical equipment to conduct an examination. Shockwave was quickly brought in as well. Soundwave started flipping through the data. After Jack remotely connected and learned what had happened, he only cursed Optimus Prime with one sentence: "It's your turn."

Smokescreen then recounted the entire process of transferring the leadership module and rescuing Optimus Prime, to see if it was of any reference value.

Everyone started to think that the outcome wouldn't be good.

The energy from the Spark Source has entered the outer perimeter of Optimus Prime's Spark along the Leadership Module.

Forcibly splitting it up will damage the spark, and forcibly removing the leadership module will result in even worse outcomes.

"Can you cut it?" Yin Xiang asked.

Shockwave replied emotionlessly: [Theoretically feasible. The probability of the spark being destroyed is extremely high.]

Vector: "That's not feasible! Are there any other carriers?"

There are no known ordinary materials capable of stably supporting an ignition source.

A voice came from the jack's side: "Unless you find another piece of god-grade material that can be directly used for reforging."

She's now a divinely forged machine; at worst, she can just remove one of her arms and use it as consumables.

Suddenly, the vector thought of something—the Hammer of the Pride of the Heavens.

After she rushed out, several planes followed closely behind.

Tongtian Xiaogang finished checking the three divine keys one last time and simultaneously analyzed the location of the last divine key.

The vector driver ran all the way there, asking, "Where's the hammer?"

Tong Tianxiao was taken aback for a moment: "It has been sealed as required."

"Take it out."

Tong Tianxiao didn't ask any further questions and quickly handed over the already dimmed Sai Tianjiao Hammer.

He took the vector tool without hesitation, and although he already knew the answer in his heart, he still asked, unwilling to give up, "Can we use it?"

After scanning by several machines, they all shook their heads. The Hammer of the Pride of the World was now unresponsive, and after its energy was depleted, it seemed to be nothing more than a sturdy weapon.

The vector slowly raised its head to look at Optimus Prime. He stood not far away, so quiet that it infuriated her: "You knew all along, which is why you insisted on repairing the Divine Key first."

Smokescreen instinctively glanced at Optimus Prime, and the other machines followed suit.

"You knew the hammer's energy might be a last resort, but you still used it!"

Optimus Prime whispered, "The Ultimate Key is crucial to Cybertron's resurgence."

The vector's voice suddenly rose: "Nonsense!! Of course I know!!"

Many people around turned to look at her, but she didn't care at all: "Why didn't you tell me?!"

Optimus Prime knew her too well: "If I told you, you wouldn't agree to repair the Divine Key first, so I can't let you bear that choice."

The vector stopped completely, and after a short silence, she laughed in exasperation: "Didn't you tell me before not to make decisions for others?"

She approached step by step.

"You told me to ask Orion if he was willing to take the risk, and to not eliminate all options just because I felt it was dangerous. And what have you done now?"

The Optimus Prime optical lens dimmed slightly, and the vector pointer pointed at the already dimmed hammer.

"You kept it from me, blocked all other options, and only told me at the very end that there was no other choice?"

Her voice began to tremble.

"You're making the decision for me, leaving me with no choice but to accept it."

The surroundings were deathly silent; even the ambulance driver didn't know where to begin.

Smokescreen stood to the side, his expression growing increasingly distressed.

Optimus Prime shifted his gaze slightly, but Graviton still saw the guilt and helplessness in his eyes. He said slowly, "I'm sorry, I know this isn't fair to you."

"Then why did you do it?!" The Graviton nearly punched him. "Don't give me that nonsense about the future of Cybertron! Doesn't your life count as part of Cybertron's future?!"

Optimus Prime was speechless now.

-

For a long time afterward, Yin Xiang forced herself to calm down again; she couldn't give up yet.

Jack proposed several solutions, but all of them were rejected.

Shockwave simulations have shown that forcibly cutting off the circuit would almost certainly destroy the spark along with the flame.

The ambulance attempted to find an external alternative system that could sustain Optimus Prime's spark for a short time, but it could not withstand the impact of the spark source.

None of the numerous early leadership modules and source well data unearthed by the sound waves explicitly recorded this situation.

At one point, Yin Vector thought: Why not try to find Pu Shen and just yell, "Wake up, your son is going to die again?"

But that's far too unreliable.

Time passed slowly, but the result remained unchanged: they could not find a way to safely separate.

For Cybertron to have new life again, Optimus Prime must bring the AllSpark back to the AllSpark Well.

Finally, the ambulance dropped off the last simulation result and remained silent for a long time.

Even without a conclusion, she knew what the ambulance's condition meant, and her fingers clenched tighter and tighter.

Cleansing fluid quietly welled up in the smoke-filled eye sockets: "We can try again, there's always a way—"

He froze instantly, because he himself didn't know what else to look for.

Arcee stood to the side, her head down, concealing her expression. The Bumblebee's door flaps remained drooping, and the partition remained silent.

Tong Tianxiao stood ramrod straight, but he also looked helpless.

Alita leaned against the wall with her optical glasses closed, and Jazz didn't say a word.

No one wants to accept this, but things have come to this point and trying again won't solve anything.

"Perhaps," Organic said cautiously, "it's come to this..."

The vector immediately looked up, not even hearing who it was.

"What do you mean by 'it's come to this'? Just because things have turned out this way, does that mean we have to accept it?" She stood up abruptly. "I don't care if you accept it, I won't."

Vector paced anxiously inside the room, considering every possibility, when he looked up again and noticed Optimus Prime starting to walk outside.

Vector frowned and turned his head: "Where are you going?"

"The Well of Sparks"

Her expression instantly turned ugly: "Now?"

"We can't keep dragging this on." The blue optical glasses looked at her calmly. "Cybertron has waited too long."

The guiding flame felt like it was being clenched tightly in a hand; even though he didn't need to breathe, he still felt incredibly suffocated and in pain: "Wait."

Optimus Prime paused for a moment, but did not turn around.

"Give me at least a little more time, Optimus Prime, wait a little longer."

He finally turned around, and the vector could read his eyes—he had made up his mind.

This slag is truly ready to die.