Universe: Prime, AU timeline after Toxicity
Characters: Knockout, Jack, Soundwave (and basically everyone else)
For this story I tried pretty hard to keep everyone in character and make it mostly dialogue and action driven… Y'know so it'd be more like an actual episode.
That's all. Enjoy!
Thoughts and criticisms are encouraged and appreciated
"I already told you, I don't know what time I'll be home."
"Okay Jack, but just call me when you're on your way so I know you're-"
"Mom! I think you're making a bigger deal out of this than you should."
"Well, I just want to make sure you don't do anything too dangerous."
"Mom we've been over this! It was just New York."
"In the subway tunnels, which also happened to be crawling with Decepticons at the time! Plus, Arcee mentioned you actually hit one of them with a train?!"
"What? Arcee, you told her about that?" Jack glared down at the Autobot. Arcee's plating shuffled irritably in response. She didn't say anything, instead opting to stay focused on driving.
The pair were on the desert road just outside of Jasper and coming close to the Autobot base. Jack had been busy arguing with June on his headset since he'd gotten off his shift at KO burger. His yelling at Arcee had been the first complete sentence he had directed at her since she'd picked him up.
Rather than let Jack continue to snap at Arcee, June went ahead and answered for her, "Yes she told me, because Arcee is actually a responsible guardian." There was a moment's pause as June sighed heavily, "Jack… just… no more missions for awhile, okay? I worry enough without you being-"
"What's that mom? I think….. breaking up…. I… entering base-"
"What?! Are you riding Arcee while talking on your phone?! Jackson Darby don't you dare hang up on-" Jack quickly pressed a button on his phone ending the call before she could finish.
"Jack! We haven't entered the signal dampeners around the base yet." Arcee scolded, "You shouldn't hang up on your mom like that. She's just worried about you."
"I know." Jack sighed, "But she's been kind of unbearable lately… I mean, she called me three times during my shift today. That's overkill even for her." As he spoke the two pulled through the entrance of the base and into the main room. Jack took off his helmet as he dismounted Arcee and she transformed into her robot mode.
"Well regardless, don't expect me to lie to your mom just to cover for you." Arcee grumbled, crossing her arms across her chassis, "She's trusting me with your protection, after all."
"Maybe it's you bots protecting us humans most of the time, but sometimes you need us to look out for you too." Jack reasoned, "I mean, we wouldn't have even gotten those coordinates if us humans hadn't snuck onto the 'Cons ship."
"What's your point?"
"My point is, that's why I didn't want to promise my mom no more missions." Jack continued, "I know it can be dangerous, but that's not gonna stop me from doing what's right."
"What's going on, now?" Jack looked over at Miko. She was by the medical table where Ratchet was standing over Bulkhead, "Is your mom peeved at you or something, Jack?"
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it, Miko." Jack waved her question away and climbed up the ladder towards the couch where Raf was stationed with his laptop.
Arcee turned away from him and headed over to Ratchet, "So how's the patient today, doctor?" she asked.
"Good news."Ratchet lowered his scanner with half a smile cracked on his face, "Bulkhead is well on his way to recovery."
The green Autobot groaned as he rolled over and tried to get off the examining table. "Thanks, doc! I'm sure not feelin' it though." He started reaching back to scratch at the still burned scar on his back where the Insecticon, Hardshell, had blasted him just two days ago. Ratchet slapped his servo away.
"Slow down, Bulk. You may be all patched up but recovery still takes time." he continued as he gently pushed Bulkhead back down into a sitting position, "You were exposed to that Tox-En for a prolonged period, after all. You'll have to take it easy until we can be sure it hasn't adversely affected your healing process."
"No worries, Ratchet!" the doctor looked down at Miko who was standing by their feet. She smacked her fist on Bulkhead's massive ankle with a resounding CLANG and smiled, "I'll be right by his side to make sure the big lug doesn't go messing up your handiwork!"
Ratchet let out a low scoff and was about to make a snarky comment, but he was interrupted by a voice behind him. "Autobots-" The attention in the room quickly turned to Optimus who stood in front of the computer dashboard. On the screen were projected the archives of the Iacon database, the forefront of which was a line of coordinates written out in Cybertronian. He turned around to face the other bots, "I have managed to decode the next set of coordinates from the database."
"Alright!" Bulkhead shouted, standing and transforming his arm into a wrecking ball, "Let's go digging for some ancient treasure!"
"BULKHEAD! What did I just get finished saying to you?"
"Oh, right. Sorry." he mumbled sitting back down.
Arcee stepped forward. "Don't worry, Bulk. Bee and I have got this one." she said. To which Bumblebee added a few choice clicks and whirrs, which somehow managed a chuckle out of Raf.
Optimus turned back to look at the coordinates displayed on the screen along with some of the database, "I will remain here to continue decoding the archives." he said, "The Decepticons do not yet know that we have obtained the database, and they lack considerable means of deciphering them as quickly as we do-"
"And the Decepticons have no way of detecting the Autobot frequency given off by unearthed relics." Ratchet interrupted, "They'll never know that the next set of coordinates they're working on will have already been found by us."
"Low-risk mission then?" Arcee continued.
"Indeed."
"Ha ha! Boy, would I like to see their faces when they get there to realize the relic is already gone!" Bulkhead laughed.
"It's nice to have an advantage for once." Jack chimed in, "So… Mind if I tag along?"
Arcee groaned uncertainly, "Jack. Your mom said-"
"But you just said yourself it's low-risk." Jack interrupted, "Come on, Arcee. It'll be a relief to go on a mission where the 'Cons aren't about to show up."
Arcee continued to look sternly at Jack and seemed about to retort, but before she could Bumblebee looked to Raf:
"BEEPboopbzzzzRRRRRTTT?"
"Sure, Bee!" Raf replied as he closed his laptop, "And maybe we can race cars together afterwards." Bee responded with a happy whirr and a thumbs up.
"Fine." Arcee groaned, "But only because there's no danger… and… don't tell your mom I let you do this."
Jack laughed as he slid down the ladder to the ground, "Oh really? So who's lying to cover for who here?"
"Apparently it's pretty devastating too. Took down an Autobot with just a short, close-range blast!"
"Whoa. That is impressive."
"Well, Soundwave's a pretty amazing bot. I heard he was the only one to even come back with a relic."
"Really? But didn't Lord Megatron send out three other teams? You're telling me they all fell short?"
Knockout looked up from the repairs he was making to the two Vehicons standing just outside his laboratory. "DON'T YOU TWO HAVE SOME WORK OR SOMETHING?!" he snapped irritably.
The drones each jumped in surprise and, both apologizing profusely, scampered off in different directions. Knockout glared out the doorway as they disappeared from view then slowly turned back to the work in front of him: Soundwave's cracked visor.
"You think you're sooo great, don't you?" he found himself mumbling, "Seems like everyone thinks their amazing communications officer can do no wrong…" Knockout continued hastily applying the last adjustments to the inner electrodes before sliding the replacement cover glass on top. Then he held it up to inspect the repairs, "Well you had better hope so, because I'll be there if you do. And we'll see if you're still in Lord Megatron's favor then."
It was pointless muttering to himself. Knockout didn't believe Soundwave was even capable of screwing up. Not even a little… and especially not enough to cause Megatron to turn on him. Soundwave's contributions to the Decepticon cause were innumerable, his loyalty to Megatron unquestionable, and his power the stuff of legends. Ugh. It made Knockout feel like reversing his intake manifold just thinking about how perfect the faceless 'Con was.
He lowered the screen with a discouraged sigh and, giving it a quick twirl in his servos, left the lab and headed for the data archives where Soundwave was working on decoding Project Iacon. As he approached, the door slid open and he headed inside.
"Soundwave, I have- OH." Knockout paused in the doorway. Before him, Soundwave stood facing the computer typing away with his servos and tentacles, but looking up at the projection along side him was Lord Megatron. The Decepticon leader looked back as Knockout entered the room, there was an apparent look of disapproval in his glare.
"Ah, Knockout." He said, "I see you've finally finished repairing Soundwave's visor?"
"Uh, indeed… Lord Megatron." Knockout muttered grasping tightly to the screen in his servos, "I apologize for the delay…"
Megatron turned to face Knockout fully as he spoke with an accusing tone, "I wonder if it would have taken you as long to repair had you not spent so much time buffing yourself."
Knockout only offered an embarrassed smile. He wasn't about to admit that he'd spent nearly all of yesterday repairing his own damages from the encounter with a subway sweeper. Especially not since he was meant to have spent the time repairing the communication chief's cracked headgear. …And his neglect was all too apparent considering there wasn't a scratch left on his shiny red exterior. Suddenly he found himself wishing he'd done a better job repairing the blasted screen.
Sensing that there was no correct way to respond, he looked past Megatron, "Uhh, Soundwave… I have your visor." he said giving the face plate a little wave.
Soundwave paused typing for a moment and turned slightly, though keeping his face just out of view. One of his tentacles lifted off the keypad and crept its way across the room. It paused in front of Knockout with its claws open and the doctor carefully placed the visor in its grasp. It quickly pulled back to Soundwave and placed the screen over his face with a small click. The tentacle then repositioned itself on the dashboard and began to work again.
"Sooo, how's the decoding coming along?" Knockout inquired as he approached them.
"Soundwave has just finished decrypting another set of coordinates." Megatron stated proudly.
"Really? That was fast."
"It would appear that when the Nemesis itself was decoding the archives, it had nearly finished a fifth set before it was stopped. Soundwave made easy work of the last few lines of data." Megatron explained, he then looked to Knockout with another disapproving glare, "Though he might have been able to work even faster if he had access to his visor."
Knockout laughed nervously, "Heh, yes, well you know how these sort of repairs go? Screens can be tricky to fully restore sometimes…" It was a weak excuse, but truthfully Soundwave was lucky to be getting anything back at all. Knockout had come close to smashing the damned thing to pieces in his frustration. After an awkward moment passed by, Knockout loudly cleared his vents:
"Ahem… Lord Megatron, allow me to lead this expedition." he continued, "I know I've had some… questionable success recently, but give me this chance to prove myself and I swear I will not fail you again!"
Megatron narrowed his optics uncertainly, but gave a short nod. "Hmm yes. See that you don't." Knockout bowed quickly and rushed out the door to assemble a mining team. There was a moment of silence before Megatron spoke up again:
"Soundwave." the clicking ceased as the 'Con paused his work and looked up at his master, "I fear that having Knockout continue unaccompanied on away missions is costing us greatly." Megatron clasped his servos together behind his back, "Without his partner he lacks the power necessary to overcome the Autobots… would you agree?"
Soundwave stared blankly back at Megatron, but after a long moment he gave a slow nod.
"Hmm… Then I believe you should trail him on this mission. And if worse comes to worse, I trust that you will not let the relic fall into enemy hands." Megatron looked back up at the coordinates displayed on the screen, "Decoding more of the database can wait for just another day; after all the Autobots are not about to start finding coordinates before we do."