While Megatron was getting his house in order, Chromia was coming out of her induced stasis. She saw Optimus and Ratchet\u2019s blurry outlines, then her audio receptors picked up that they were speaking. It soon became clear to her when Optimus spoke again. \u201cRatchet, you\u2019re absolutely sure about this?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt in my mind, Sir,\u201d answered Ratchet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh no.\u201d Optimus sat on an empty repair berth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cO\u2026Optimus?\u201d asked Chromia. Both Prime and medic then turned to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cChromia, you\u2019re awake.\u201d Optimus\u2019 statement came out as one of surprise. \u201cHow are you feeling?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA little groggy,\u201d answered Chromia, \u201csore too. But I\u2019m all right. How\u2019d the mission go?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell, to get the bad stuff out of the way, Scattershot and his team disobeyed my orders for them to stay put and Arthur gave his life to stop Morgane. Their respective actions, though, saved our stories and reality as we know it, and the Autobots now have two stable Combiners. Scattershot and his brothers are calling themselves the Technobots and their combined form is Computron.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry about Arthur, but I\u2019m glad that we won.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, we won, but Megatron returned with a new jet mode.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUh oh. Well, I\u2019m sure that, thanks to Ratchet, I\u2019ll be there to\u2026\u201d Chromia then got a good look at her surroundings. \u201cHold on a cycle, I\u2019m in a different\u2026\u201d panic then set into her. \u201cBack of the repair bay?!\u201d She turned to Ratchet. \u201cWhat did you find?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cChromia, easy!\u201d urged Ratchet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe back of the repair isn\u2019t called the Dead Zone for no reason, Ratchet! What did you find?!\u201d Ratchet hesitated, then sighed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMetal Fatigue.\u201d Those two words echoed throughout Chromia\u2019s head. Metal Fatigue: a weakening of metal due to stress, leading to an accumulation of small cracks, an illness no Transformer wants to be afflicted with. The least worrisome is stage one, where an overhaul would cure the patient. If it\u2019s stage five and the patient chooses the overhaul, there\u2019s a nine to one chance they would die during the procedure. It\u2019s a terminal illness no one of metallic origin wants to be afflicted with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cH\u2026How bad?\u201d asked Chromia once she found her voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s stage three at the limbs, but\u2026\u201d Ratchet faltered before continuing, \u201c\u2026but it\u2019s stage five at the Spark Chamber. It was practically dangerous to move you here. But don\u2019t panic, we\u2019re doing everything we can to reestablish communications with Cybertron! With any luck, this localized version of stage five won\u2019t\u2026Chromia, are you listening?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOptimus Prime, Ratchet,\u201d declared Chromia, \u201cI request medical euthanasia!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYOU WHAT?!\u201d shouted the two mechs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSHE WHAT?!\u201d cried Prowl once everyone heard Chromia\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s absurd!\u201d protested Grimlock. \u201cCan\u2019t you talk her out of this?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRatchet and I,\u201d explained Optimus, \u201cspent two hours trying, but her mind\u2019s made up. Besides, the law is very clear on this matter: a soldier\u2019s right to end their life on their terms in a situation such as this is absolute. We all have to oblige this request, no matter how much we disagree with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe can talk to her, Sir,\u201d offered Kup. \u201cShe\u2019s probably feeling a little down. Whatever\u2019s she\u2019s got-\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMetal Fatigue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026Sir?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe has Metal Fatigue, stage five localized in the Spark Chamber. Swoop and Ratchet told me it was a miracle she didn\u2019t break down sooner than she did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow long does she have?\u201d asked Hot Rod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf left untreated, a few months. Even if she is treated, you all know the odds of survival on stage five fatigue-ridden bots. In light of these details, I hesitate to call her decision an irrational one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While most bots and allies agreed, the topic was very divisive. Some wanted her to take the overhaul while others wanted their colleagues to respect her wishes to end her life. One thing everyone agreed on was wanting to see her, but the repair bay in a wartime isn\u2019t like a hospital with visiting hours. Everyone was wracked with anxiety. To make matters worse, word about Megatron\u2019s plan to leave Mobius to reestablish communications with Cybertron reached Optimus. He believed that the Decepticons would gain allies from other planets, so he made the decision to pursue the Decepticons with the Ark<\/em>. What made the work so worrisome is that everyone wanted to see Chromia, but it wasn\u2019t practical. However, Strongarm managed to get some insight on the matter during a visit to Ratchet. She sat down on a berth near Chromia. \u201cRegs?\u201d asked Chromia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey, Free-Wheeler,\u201d greeted Strongarm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat are you doing here? Wait, you don\u2019t have\u2026?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo, no, nothing so serious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThen, what are you doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGot a pain that feels like a burr on my rotator. Ratchet\u2019s trusting my feelings, but I just want to be sure before I start taking care of it. I should be out by this afternoon after a little examination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Unlike me.\u201d The mood went serious real fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m not gonna gold-plate it; your decision\u2019s caused a stir among the ranks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhere do YOU sit on the matter?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m reminded of the time during the first war that I got Cosmic Rust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen you and Prowl had a mission at the Autobot colony on Antilla? He refused to leave your side because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, he\u2019s a sweet bot under the rulebooks he buries himself with. In any case, after the corrostop, I was sure it\u2019d be the end of me, and I would go for medical euthanasia. But, thanks to the stage three overhaul breakthrough, I got a new lease on life!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo, you think I should take the overhaul?\u201d Strongarm winced at Chromia\u2019s question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t know. My Metal Fatigue didn\u2019t reach my Spark Chamber. Like most of us, I just want to be sure you\u2019re not being too hasty with this decision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt the start, I thought I was, but given how extensive the Spark Chamber Fatigue is\u2026\u201d Chromia trailed off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhere in the Spark Chamber did Ratchet and Swoop find it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt would be quicker to tell you where they DIDN\u2019T find it. An overhaul would be too expensive and-\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat if the funds were available?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven if they were and the odds of survival were in my favor, how much longer could I go on? I\u2019m 90,000 years old, you know!\u201d Strongarm bridled at this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m just as old and Kup\u2019s older than all of us! I don\u2019t know about him, but I don\u2019t see myself picking medical euthanasia anytime soon!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIs that because you haven\u2019t considered the future?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d Chromia drew in a breath before she began her explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStrongarm, our generation is full of nothing but fighters. The generations after that, up to Optimus\u2019, knew peace. We spent our entire adult lives fighting and felt out of place once the war ended, no matter what we did. I know elderly Transformers are the best-treated elderly people in the galaxy, but how far can our wartime advice take future generations? Even the advice of the generations before us didn\u2019t support ours forever. Our advice will only meet the same fate. Sooner or later, our time will come. This is MY time and I choose to go out this way. Do you understand?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, Chromia, I do.\u201d Strongarm meant it. She understood Chromia\u2019s feelings. Ratchet told Strongarm he was ready to examine her. As he induced stasis, she thought about what Chromia said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While Megatron was getting his house in order, Chromia was coming out of her induced stasis. She saw Optimus and Ratchet\u2019s blurry outlines, then her audio receptors picked up that they were speaking. It soon became clear to her when Optimus spoke again. \u201cRatchet, you\u2019re absolutely sure about this?!\u201d \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt in my mind, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,667],"tags":[146,337],"class_list":["post-4270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transformers-mobian-chronicles","category-transformers-mobian-chronicles-arc-17-living-stories","tag-sonic","tag-transformers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4270"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4272,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4270\/revisions\/4272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}