I haven't posted anything in a while, so here.

Note: Transformers Prime. Relic hunt. Grab your saddles.

Thoughts

: Comm :

"Starscream, assemble the troops and secure the relic. Knock Out, you shall assist him. "

Megatron cast a glance to Soundwave signaling the request of a ground bridge before turning to leave the command center. He paused a moment beside his first Lieutenant.

"Do not fail me again, or I will not be as merciful as I once was." Sparing a final jagged tooth sneer at the trembling seeker he continued on his way down the terminal. Once the Warlord was out of sight the seeker sagged in relief.

"Honestly. He blames me for our most recent catastrophes, yet he was the one to lose to the Prime in their latest scuffle. If he had listened to my brilliant suggestion before engaging the enemy, he might have-"

"Cool your jets, Commander. Our liege gave us orders while you were too busy cowering, if I remember correctly."

The seeker growled in response and was about to retort when a slender figure loomed above him, extending a slim servo towards a monitor. Starscream rolled his optics and headed towards the Nemesis main deck, Knock Out trailing behind him seemingly uninterested. The seeker pressed a digit to his helm.

: All fliers report to the Nemesis deck and prepare to mobilize! :

Exiting the main hub onto the Nemesis deck, Starscream turned and stood near the edge gazing out to the cloudless horizon. Moments later, and a rush of pedes, ten fliers appeared in line behind the second in command. Receiving coordinates from Soundwave via comm, Starscream sported a cackle and a sideways glance towards the red Aston Martin.

"Have fun driving, Doctor." With that the seeker gracefully dived off the deck, sensors once dormant now awakening in the ecstasy of free fall. Accessing his transformation protocols, plates shifted and rearranged in the form of an F-15 Fighter Jet before he ignited his thrusters and took off, ten identical Cybertronian jet modes in tow.

Rolling his eyes with a huff, Knock Out headed into the newly opened ground bridge and stepped out onto a marshy turf. Sneering in disgust, he looked around in dismay to find murky water and reeds too close for comfort. Cursing the seeker silently, he sidestepped around the offending areas until he was on the main road. Folding down into his alternate form, he took off, rocks and wet dirt being flicked away mercilessly from his tires.

: Ugh, can you believe this place? It'll take forever to get this off my rims. : Knock Out growled across his comm.

Had he been in his bipedal form, the grin plastered across the seeker's face would have been evident. : Ah, yes, quite a drawback for you ground pounders. We fliers never have to deal with such annoyances such as the disgusting filth that covers this planet. Ahh, to bask in the freedom of the sky, one cannot compare. I don't see why you and those Autobots confine yourselves to the ground as such. :

Knock Out internally groaned at the seeker's ranting. : Spare me the details, Starscream. What's important is we retrieve this relic so I can wash this filth off my magnificent frame. :

Sending the file with the coordinates of the relic across their comm to Knock Out, Starscream increased the power to his thrusters and shot forward to the designated area. : Perhaps it would be easier if you were not so slow. I'm sure it must be such a hinder to have the ground confining you to select speeds. :

Growling in aggravation, Knock Out pushed his tires faster, ignoring the speed limits staggered along the road. The insolence of that mech! The flier was obviously not aware of his own speed capabilities as compared to a regular ground vehicle. Tilting his mirror towards the sky, he could no longer see the seeker or the vehicons in plain sight. Maybe if he was lucky, he would miss the scuffle entirely and he could enjoy a nice long wash and wax when he returned to the Nemesis. Preparing a processor full for the ignorant seeker, he settled on listening to local radio stations as he focused on the road.

"Decepticons, attack!"

Diving down towards the source of the signal, Starscream activated his weapon protocols and prepared to fire off a round of missiles. A charged energon blast interrupted his focus as he swerved and spun to avoid getting hit, thrusters alive with the thrill of battle. His own blasters hummed to life as he took aim on the Autobot two wheeler Arcee and let loose a barrage of shots. The motorcycle expertly swerved around the shots before transforming and firing her own shots to the jet. Starscream barrel rolled around each shot before transforming down into his bipedal mode behind the group of firing vehicons. Leveling his servo with his face plates, he activated the rockets on his servo and took aim at the Autobot Leader. Distracted by a vehicon attempting to sneak up behind him, Optimus didn't notice the missile headed straight for him until it was too late. It exploded in a cascade of sparks upon his non-gun servo, causing him to hiss in pain and stagger to his knees. Energon lines hissed and sparked as they were torn open to the world rending his servo useless, energon beginning to seem from vital fuel lines. Noticing their fallen leader, the Autobots moved in to defend him from the cascade of energon bullets.

One down, three more to go. Starscream smirked to himself as he prepared to launch his second missile at the Autobot Scout, before he was knocked down by the Autobot femme. Scrambling to his pedes, he barely had time to look up before he was being slashed and maimed by sharp energy blades. Snarling, Arcee lunged at him again, her blades digging into his soft protoform beneath his armor. He howled in pain and drew back his clawed servos to rake across her chassis in retaliation. She raised her servos to block his punches, then she flipped forward, knocking him down with her pedes, her servos transforming into guns as they flared hungrily to life.

"This ends here, Starscream."

Scrap! His optics widened in fear as his processor raced to find a way out of this. An astrosecond later he opened his mouth to form some sort of rebuke to fool the femme when Arcee lurched forward, optics wide and mouth agape. She slumped to the side hissing in pain, electricity crackling along her frame as stasis threatened to take hold. Turning his optics forward, none other than Knock Out strode towards him, twirling his energon prod with a self-satisfied smirk on his face plates.

"Well, well, well, isn't this a surprise. What was that about us inferior ground pounders?"

Starscream's optics flashed as he staggered to his pedes. "Save the dramatics, Knock Out, we have Autobots to deal with."

Lifting his servo with a flourish, Knock Out gestured over to where the remaining two Autobots were surrounded by the vehicons, the group closing in with blasters raised.

"I suggest we locate the relic quickly, while we still have the advantage, Commander."

Accessing his data files, Starscream singled out the signal which lead to a small crevice in the rocks behind them. Carefully examining it, he reached a servo in and felt a long metal object. Straining for a moment, he produced what appeared to be a long cylinder shaped object composed of a light metal. Turning it over in his servos, he noticed a few Cybertronian glyphs inscribed on its surface and a few seams along the edges.

"Knock Out, I believe we have what we came for. I am sure Megatron will be exceptionally pleased to learn that I have recovered another relic as he requested." Starscream sneered as he headed toward the vehicons, raising a servo to access his comm for a ground bridge. Before he could move though, a servo shot out and grabbed ahold of one end of the relic.

"You?! Please, if I hadn't shown up, you would have been scrapped! I'll be taking this to Megatron personally." He yanked hard on the relic, causing Starscream to lose his footing but not break his hold on the device.

Starscream pulled back on the device and growled threateningly. "I arrived here before you did and located it in the first place. The Autobots would have taken it and left before you had even shown up had I not stopped them!"

Knock Out scoffed and tugged back on his end, ignorant to a faint hum beginning to resonate from within the device. The Autobots and vehicons had long ago turned their attention to the struggling pair, waiting to see what would happen. Optimus had finally come to his pedes, grasping his heavily damaged servo and was prepared to act accordingly should something happen. "Stopped them? I was the one that stopped the Autobots and secured the relic without your help!"

"You glitch head! I was the one to take down the Prime!"

"Megatron couldn't trust you as far as he could throw you! Which is why he sent me along to make sure it was done correctly!"

"As second in command I order you to stand down!"

"Shove it up your tailpipe seeker!"

With a loud click both ends that the Decepticon officers were holding onto extended outward, a golden light beginning to flare out from the relic. Both Decepticons stopped struggling and stared, mouth plates agape and optics wide, as the light grew and a loud hum filled the air. Still refusing the release their hold, they covered their ear finals as the hum grew loud and shrill, piercing their audio receptors. The vehicons and Autobots flinched back and covered their optics as the light grew too bright to stare at. Thin tendrils of grey and red light escaped between Starscream and Knock Outs' chassis as the light grew too bright to see through. With a burst of light and a large shockwave, the two were thrown apart, the relic landing unharmed in the dirt and closing back in on itself. Both Decepticons were knocked into stasis on the side as the Autobots took the opportunity to turn on the vehicons, blasters hot and charged. The Autobot leader scooped up the small femme left unconscious on the side with his good servo while Bumblebee cautiously picked up the relic, holding it far from his chassis as if it were about to explode at any moment. Warding off the last of the Decepticon fliers, Bulkhead pressed a digit to his helm.

"Ratchet, we need a ground bridge. Prepare sick bay, we got injured coming in."

A ground bridge appeared behind the group and they all disappeared into the portal, it closing swiftly behind them.

Processor 89%. Weapons optimal. Transformation protocols online. Chassis 29% damaged.

Warnings of minor injuries and offending substances in his bio net flashed across his HUD. He groaned and pushed them aside as his optics fought to focus again. There was something dark shading over his helm blocking out everything else.

"Knock Out. Sir. Please awake, we must report back to our liege."

That voice. Couldn't it tell he was disoriented? Just a few more breems…

"Knock Out!" The once blurry image of a vehicon stood above him as he finally conceded and opened his optics. Ah, Steve, that was his designation. "Knock Out, sir. The Autobots stole the relic."

Autobots? Relic? His features scrunched as he struggled to remember what had happened before he had been knocked out. Wait. Knock Out. KNOCK OUT. He leapt to his pedes and glanced around to see a few vehicons surrounding him and another figure a few meters over. Huh. Why do I feel… Shorter? Focusing on the vehicons, they seemed to be optic level with him. Wait, Steve… He called me… Neither answering nor responding to the flier, he glanced down at his chassis and pedes. Ice cold terror shot through his fuel lines as what he saw was not his normal grey armored chassis and high-heeled thrusters. Instead they were replaced by a strikingly familiar red chassis and pointed silver pedes. Optics widening in dread, he glanced at his servos to find the same result. Biting down on his glossa, he strode over to the other group of vehicons and shoved them out of his way, grumbling obscenities. Chassis shaking in trepidation, he peered down at the figure, straight into the optics of none other than himself.

H-How could… But I'm not… That's my body!

He watched as his own body's optics widened and his mouth opened a few times, a strangled choke coming out of his vocalizer before his optics rolled back and he fell down, knocked back into stasis. His processor stalled as he tried to make light of the situation thrust upon him. The vehicons were quick to heft the fallen seeker between them and head through a newly opened ground bridge nearby. As he headed toward the glowing portal, he couldn't help but keep glancing down to see if his optics were playing tricks on him. Nope. The reds still there. Suddenly remembering something, he paused in his wake. Not only was he in the body of an egotistical associate of his, he had failed to retrieve the relic.

How am I going to explain this one to Megatron?

Well, there you go. I haven't read this over; it was intended as a one-shot, but I wouldn't mind adding to it if you guys actually enjoyed reading it. I enjoy reading comments and I'm open to suggestions or requests for future chapters or stories, so feel free to PM or Review. Whatever pleases you. Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, favorite'd or followed my last story, Support. Happy 2014 everyone.