Enter Dante, The Rev-9: Book 2: Revelations

Chapter 1: Orion Pax: Part 1

3rd Person POV

Autobot Base

Dante paced across the floor of the base, mind whirling. It had been a week since they had lost Optimus, and they were barely holding on. Elita had it the worst. She rarely spoke up anymore, and honestly, Dante couldn't help but blame himself. The Rev-9 continued to do everything he could, hacking every satellite and surveillance system across the globe, yet he couldn't locate the Nemesis.

"That doesn't follow," Arcee said, getting Dante's attention. "Optimus knew Megatron, so how could he have lost his memories?"

"Yeah," Bulkhead agreed. "They were like BFF's."

Bumblebee whirred in agreement.

"If Optimus did not know his own name," Ratchet stated, "perhaps it is because the title of Prime hasn't yet been granted to him."

"Huh?" Fowler asked in confusion.

"Come again?" Miko checked.

"You mean that he's reverted back to Orion Pax in terms of his mental state?" Dante clarified. On the inside, he berated himself for not seeing this coming. Some future help I am, the Rev-9 thought bitterly.

Ratchet nodded. "Essentially."

"Are you telling me that Prime thinks he some kind of librarian and a Decepticon?!" Fowler demanded.

"Being a Decepticon is a choice, Agent Fowler," Ratchet explained. "One that I have a hard time believing Optimus would make at any point in his life."

"So why would he ride with the Cons?" Bulkhead asked in confusion.

"He probably thinks that Megatron is still his friend," Dante mused. "Megatron probably deceived Optimus into thinking that the Decepticons are his allies and the Autobots are the enemy. He's called a Decepticon for a reason."

Ratchet nodded. "Orion Pax may not currently be an Autobot up here," he tapped his head for emphasis, "but I must believe he will never stop being one on the inside. We must locate him to know for certain."

"Hold up," Fowler said, raising his hands. "I have a chip lodged in my behind that lets Uncle Sam know when I stop for donuts. Are you telling me you can't just track Prime?"

"Optimus's signal has not reappeared since he embarked for earth's core," Ratchet stated, pulling up a monitor. "But we must get to work finding him if we have any hope of initiating his contingency plan."

"Contingency plan?" Elita asked quietly, a desperate hope in her voice.

"What contingency?" Bulkhead asked.

"Is that even a word?" Miko asked in confusion.

"The keycard," Jack realized, holding up the Key to Vector Sigma. "So, what's it do?"

"It grants access to Vector Sigma," Ratchet explained. "The repository of the wisdom of the Primes."

"Is that some sort of supercomputer?" Raf asked.

"So we can just download Optimus's memories back into him?" Jack asked excitedly. "Great! Which one's the big V? Over here? Somewhere in back?"

"I don't think it's that easy," Dante stated, "seeing as how Ratchet seems to refer to Vector Sigma with a sense of reverence, I'm guessing that it's an ancient source of mystical power somewhere on Cybertron."