SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY I TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE! Please don't kill me! But life and other stories got in the way!

Not to mention that I kinda lost interest in Transformers: Prime for a while, but I regained it recently.

As usual, I own nothing except for any original characters I include.

ENJOY!

or not…


The armada Starscream had sent to exterminate Wheeljack landed at the coordinates that was provided by the tracking device that was installed prior to Wheeljack's escape. The armada transformed and landed on their pedes before charging their cannons and began searching the area, watching their backs as they did.

"We're at the coordinates, Commander Starscream," one Seeker reported.

"Hold fast," Starscream ordered over the commlink as he tracked their movements on the main computer aboard the Nemesis, "They are approaching your position."

Immediately, the armada stiffened and prepared for battle as they saw something approaching them from the stream they were standing near.

Could it be the Autobot they were sent to kill? Starscream did say that Wheeljack was approaching their position.

What they saw come round the bend wasn't Wheeljack or even a part of him. Instead, they saw what looked like a piece of wood or debris from something. What it was wasn't clear as it was too far away from the armada for them to positively identify it, but they knew it wasn't a threat, so they lowered their cannons.

From the rocky structure overlooking the scene, Wheeljack, Bulkhead and Miko were surveying the scene before them. They knew what was going to happen next.

And they were going to love it.

"Target's in range," Bulkhead observed.

With a smirk, Wheeljack held a detonator in his head, ready to press the button when the time was right.

The item that was floating down the stream towards the armada was, in fact, a small log. But it wasn't the log that was important.

It's what's hidden inside it.

The tracking device Starscream had planted on Wheeljack before his escape attached to one of Wheeljack's signature grenades.

"And….boom!"

"GRENADE!"

Wheeljack, Bulkhead and Miko enjoyed the fire show that unfolded before them.


Starscream, on the other hand, wasn't.

"He… he… HE TRICKED US!" Starscream cried in disbelief.

Behind him, Megatron was watching the entire thing. He knew that Starscream's plan wouldn't succeed. They rarely did after all. But he did find some enjoyment in this.

Despite all appearances, Wheeljack was smarter than he let on.


"How did you know the Cons planted a tracker on you?" Miko asked Wheeljack as the smoke from the explosion began to clear.

"I figured the Cons were up to something. So I did a little poking around under my hood," Wheeljack answered.

"That's my Jackie!" Bulkhead cackled.

"So what's our next move?" Miko demanded.

"I salvaged some munitions from the Jackhammer on my way out," Wheeljack began before he transformed into his vehicular mode, "You think that made a loud noise? Just wait."

With those words said, Wheeljack took off at a high speed. Eager to get on the road as well, Bulkhead was quick to transform and open the passenger door for Miko. Immediately, the young Japanese teenager jumped into the passenger seat, allowing Bulkhead to chase after his fellow Wrecker.


Meanwhile, Raf and Bumblebee had managed to find the wreckage of the Harbinger Starscream had used as his base of operations when he went rogue. As Raf suspected, the ship was loaded with Cybertronian technology, which explained how Starscream lasted as long as he did before rejoining Megatron.

Right now, though, the technology was dead. Starscream had disconnected all of the equipment before he left to offer Megatron the four Omega Keys. So Bumblebee and Raf had to reconnect everything.

They just hoped they did it right, because Ratchet was the one who usually did this sort of thing.

"Hold it right there, dad," Raf instructed as he danced around the keyboard and pressed some buttons on the screen, "Now…powering up.

They saw the bright flash and heard the hum as everything began to power up…only for the flash and the hum to disappear as quickly as they appeared. They hadn't hooked everything up correctly.

"Keep trying. We'll figure it out," Raf promised.

Then he heard the all-too-familiar gibberish yelling.

"RATCHET!" Bumblebee bleeped happily.

"You're mis-calibrating the Energon transducer," Ratchet observed.

"Ratchet!" Raf cheered.

"Now stay out of my way so I can work!" Ratchet ordered as he approached the computer and began correcting the mistakes Bumblebee and Raf had made.

Bumblebee approached Cayden, who was just waking up from his nap and was cheering at the sight of his Uncle Ratchet.

Things were finally starting to look up.

For them at least.


For Jack and Arcee, as they zoomed across God knows where, things weren't hopeful.

"When things were this bad, Optimus slipped me a key card," Jack recalled, "Something we can hang our hopes on."

"I know you're feeling hopeless, Jack. That doesn't need to be your burden," Arcee said.

Arcee and Jack's conversation stopped when they heard the familiar whooshing of a jet approaching them. Arcee skidded to a stop and Jack yelled in surprise when the jet flew over them and turned around to land before them.

It wasn't a Decepticon attacking them. If it were, they would be dead by now. So Jack felt safe enough to climb off Arcee and take off his helmet while Arcee transformed, prepared for anything.

"Stay behind me," Arcee ordered.

The hatch then opened on the underside of the ship and lowered to the ground, revealing a figure in a hazy smoke. Jack knew it wasn't Alpha Trion. He didn't really see Alpha Trion as the kind to leave Cybertron that much.

Besides, this figure was the wrong color to be Alpha Trion and also didn't have the ancient symbols characteristic of one of the Original Thirteen Primes imprinted on him.

Arcee had her blasters ready to fire at the mysterious stranger…until that stranger stepped out of the smoke.

"Jack, I don't think we're gonna need that key card," Arcee remarked.

Jack was going to question why, then he got a good view of the new arrival.

"We need Ultra Magnus," Arcee proclaimed.


"So not only did you fail to destroy the Autobots, but you allowed their number to increase!" Megatron roared at Starscream, "IS THERE NO ONE WHO CAN BRING ME THEIR HEADS?!"

"If I may, Lord Megatron," Shockwave interrupted Megatron's latest verbal attack on Starscream, "During my exile on Cybertron, I resumed work on a long dormant project; one that I believe can provide a solution to our current problem."

"Cyber Nucleic Acid?!" Knock Out gasped as Shockwave brought the data up.

"The building blocks of all Cybertronian life. This specimen that I excavated from our planet has yielded promising results," Shockwave explained.

"The Autobots continue to evade us. What makes you think we can wait for the answer to our prayers to be birthed in some petri dish?" Starscream demanded.

"You misunderstand. The test subject has already been cultivated," Shockwave clarified, "And need only be transported from my laboratory on Cybertron."

Starscream gasped at that. He was hoping for something that would take too long to come into fruition so Megatron could shoot it down, citing the fact that they did not have enough time and needed to take care of the Autobots now.

"Then by all means, activate the Space Bridge," Megatron ordered.


After that little episode, Starscream needed to vent. So he went to the dungeons.

Malita was still in that same cell she shared with Wheeljack, chained to the table. She had heard nothing from anyone since Wheeljack was led to his execution. She didn't know if Wheeljack was dead or if he found some clever way to escape.

She had grown fond of the Wrecker in the time they were imprisoned together.

"I was wondering when you would come," Malita smirked, using false bravado to cover the fear she felt.

For many years, she witnessed first hand how lethal Starscream was in interrogations. Despite his cowardly antics, he was ruthless and without mercy and too cunning for his own good, living up to his reputation as an interrogator and strategist to be feared.

"SHUT UP!" Starscream roared, sticking her with a pod he had grabbed along the way, relishing in her screams of pain.

Now Malita knew what Talida felt when she tortured her a few years back. Likewise with that government agent she and Starscream had captured not long after her father's return from his three-year voyage in deep space. Agent Fowler, she thought his name was.

"Wow. Now I know how Talida and that government agent felt," Malita moaned.

"HOW DID YOU SURVIVE?!" Starscream roared, "You were not meant to survive! You were supposed to die when Megatron hit you! Anybody else would have died! I heard the stories from Knock Out and Megatron!"

"Well, I'm not like anybody else, Starscream. You should know that better than anyone," Malita drawled, "I mean, how long have we known each other?!"

"The Malita I knew never would have dreamed of betraying the Decepticon cause! Never would have betrayed her own father!" Starscream snapped.

"I grew a conscious, Starscream!" Malita spat, "I grew a conscious when Megatron – and before you say anything, I refuse to call him father after what he did to me – fired that missile into the Space Bridge to kill Arcee, Jack and Talida, who were only trying to save Optimus and piece their family back together! They were doing what I would have once done for Megatron! Or rather, the father I once had!

I cannot tell you how I survived everything! Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you! But there is one thing I do know! I am going to get out of here, I am going to find Talida if she is still alive and I am going to officially join the Autobot cause! I'm not going to hang around here and pretend to be loyal to Megatron and the Decepticons when I am, in actuality, sneaking around helping the Autobots!"

"YOU SELFISH BITCH!" Starscream roared, stabbing Malita with the prod again, "YOU ARE A TRAITOR! YOU KNOW AS WELL AS I DO WHAT MEGATRON DOES TO TRAITORS IN HIS CAUSE! You execution is imminent, my dear. Not even I can save you. Not even Knock Out will be able to intervene to stop your death."

"I died once before and came back," Malita retorted.

"You are nothing like Princess Nadia," Starscream sneered.

"Actually, Nadia grew to regret what she had done. But by then, it was too late. She was doomed to permanently live with what she did regardless of her fate. For me, that's a fate worse than death," Malita shot back, "So it seems I'm following Princess Nadia perfectly."

"Well, good luck escaping. And if you do, good luck finding your precious Talida. She hasn't been seen or heard from since we destroyed the Autobot base. Neither has Optimus Prime or their new recruit. They could be scrap metal for all you know," Starscream smirked.

With those words said, Starscream left the cell, leaving Malita to her thoughts.

"No," she whispered.

There is no way Talida was dead. She has faced worse and come out with that occasionally annoying smirk and smart-ass comments to boot. Optimus was virtually indestructible like those titans she heard about in her childhood stories. She didn't know enough about that new recruit – Smokescreen, she thought his name was. But he seemed like a tough bot. Young, a bit naïve and too eager to battle – but he was tough. He had to be to fight alongside Optimus and Talida Prime.

Ignoring the pain she felt as the result of the after effects from the Energon prod, Malita began struggling against her bonds once more. They always had give. They always had a fail-safe. They would break eventually.

And when they did, she would run. If there was one thing Malita was famous for, it was her stealth. She could sneak around anywhere and not have anyone notice. She was more than certain that once she got out of her bonds and her cell, she could escape her prison and be long gone before Megatron or any of the other Decepticons realize.

Then she would find Talida. She would find her cousin and pray she was alive. She would also pray that Optimus and the other Autobots – their human companions included – were alive as well and were out looking for one another.

Then when all this is over and the dust finally settles, she would join the Autobos.

Where she belonged.


On the desolate planet that was once a hot spot for firepower and large battles, the only light that shone in Shockwave's laboratory was the light that shone from the Space Bridge portal. That light disappeared when Shockwave emerged from the portal and the portal closed behind him.

Shockwave then approached a large storage container filled with fluid that preserved his experiment.

Oh yes. This is what they need.

With the press of a few buttons on his console, the lab came to life around him. Lights were turned on. Machines started humming. Electricity started cackling around the containment pod that contained his desired experiment, giving it the charge it needed to come to life.

Turning around, Shockwave watched as the fluid drained and his results came to fruition.


Megatron sat on his throne in Darkmount, waiting patiently for Shockwave's return.

He did not have to wait long. Soon enough, another Space Bridge portal opened and Shockwave emerged from the portal. The portal didn't shut behind him like it did when he returned to his laboratory on Cybertron.

This indicated something else was coming through.

"I present to you, my liege, the ultimate Autobot hunter."

Everyone, except for Shockwave, naturally, gasped at the creature that emerged from the Space Bridge after the Decepticon Mad Scientist. Even Megatron was left amazed.

This creature was, for all intents and purposes, a mechanical dragon. It had the head, the scales, the body, the tail, the wings; everything that made a dragon a dragon.

The Decepticons just witnessed history coming back to life.

For standing before them, was a Predacon.


Well, shit just got real.

That ends Scattered. Now we're onto Prey as of the next chapter. After that, it's Rebellion and that marks the end of the story. There's three more stories in the Talida Prime series. The next story will cover Project Predacon to Evolution. Yeah. I know. Doesn't cover many episodes. But with the next story, I'm gonna have a lot more moments one-shots. And…I may do what I'm doing here so I can make the story a little bit longer.

The second last Talida Prime story will take place from Minus One to Deadlock. The final story will cover Predacons Rising. There may be a few twists along the way. My mind changes a lot when it comes to stories, so nothing is set in stone.

Hell. I might actually rewrite the series after I complete it. Especially Rising Darkness. That's my least favorite of the series so far.

Also, I had to add something original into it. Otherwise, I would've just copied from the entire episode there and I didn't want to do just that.