Hammerhead.
Warnings: Violence, bad language, gore and possibly some sex.
"Through this doorway what's on the other side, never knowing exactly what I'll find, locked and loaded, voices screaming: let's go, come on do it, here we go!" – Hammerhead, the Offspring.
Timing: Post season 2 finale, set few weeks after Beauty of the Beast in my very own BotB Prime Timeline (due to the fact that season 3 – The Beast Hunters is about to be aired at the end of March).
Rating: M (alternative – if there will be any – or extended chapters will go MA and will be available on my Tumblr account, the address is available on my profile page).
Pairings: Megatron and June, Bumblebee and Miko, maybe some Shockwave and Arcee.
Disclaimer: Transformers Prime © Hasbro. Story's plot and OC's © me. There may be some OC's that aren't mine – they belong to their respective creators.
Easy Living
This is a thing I've never known before
It's called easy livin'
This is a place I've never seen before
And I've been forgiven
Easy livin' and I've been forgiven
Since you've taken your place in my heart
Somewhere along the lonely road I had tried to find ya
Day after day on the windy road I had walked behind ya
Easy livin and I've been forgiven
Since you've taken your place in my heart– "Easy Living" Uriah Heep
Soundwave stopped typing when Shockwave entered the command centre of New Kaon. The ex-senator was last to arrive.
Starscream as always came first and when Soundwave walked in, the seeker was already happily exploring vast and insensible depths of internet in search of whatever amusement he could find there, which in this morning happened to be an old MTV animated show called Celebrity Deathmach on You Tube.
When Shockwave arrived Soundwave was finishing his daily full scan of New Kaon computer network. Doing so he was also able to spy on all internet activity which usually provided him with interesting blackmail material. Nemesis would be scanned next.
"Soundwave, when you will finish the scan, connect us with the Autobots." Shockwave addressed the silent mech and received curt nod as an answer.
Starscream paused in his morning entertainment and watched Soundwave displaying the scan report, saving it in separate file and start to dial.
There was silent beeping noise as the connection was established, then few signals informing that the line was free and then there was Ratchet's sleepy but irritated face.
"What do you want?"
"Greetings, the purpose of us contacting you are Lord Megatron's condition. Can we speak with Prime?" Shockwave spoke in his usual indifferent voice.
"No. He is out."
"Can we speak with Megatron himself then?" Shockwave remained calm.
Ratchet gave him his most irritated look. "He is recharging right now."
"Can you tell us about his status right now?" Starscream cut in from behind Shockwave. He had more experience with Autobot Medic.
"I finished all repairs, today I will re-install him his little T-cog addition and then he will need few days of peace so all the repairs can take-in and all wields can absorb properly; which, as you know, is very important during transformation, especially for flying frames… "
"Yes, yes, yes, we know." Starscream interrupted the incoming lecture. "In other words, Megatron is almost healed."
"Yes." Ratchet scowled. He really couldn't stand the Decepticon SIC. "He should start to move more freely today, and by tomorrow he should be able to walk without much pain…"
"Curious." Starscream grinned wickedly. "Since when do you care so much about our One True Master?"
"Since if I won't you will accuse us of not holding our bargains and blame us for everything and anything that you will be able to." Ratchet snapped; his patience evaporating. "Do you want anything else?"
"No, this is all we required." Shockwave stepped in before Starscream could aggravate the over-nervous medic even more. "We will contact you later today or tomorrow and will want to speak to Lord Megatron."
"Do as you please. Now, if there's nothing more I can do for you… GOOD DAY!" And the connection was abruptly severed when Ratchet disconnected.
"That went well." Starscream turned around and leaned against the console while crossing his arms over his chassis.
"Soon Lord Megatron will return to his full strength and we will proceed with hunting down and destroying the threat that the new weapon nullifying the threat." Shockwave pointed out the obvious.
"Oh, but my dear Shockwave… "Starscream flashed his denta in what looked like the most devious smile in all history. "Why destroy the weapon when it is so effective? We should commandeer it and use for our own advantage." Both 'Waves glared at him silently. "Of course it will most definitely require improvements, crude human technology is no match for ours, but they managed quite some feat. I can't deny that they are bunch of shrewd little vermin, and I do speak out of my own experience."
"Your proposition is… logical." Shockwave stirred his antennae. "After applying proper modifications the new weapon may prove useful."
Soundwave stared silently at his fellow officers for a moment, then he displayed image of two cakes covered with various fruits.
Shockwave only stared not knowing what all that meant, but Starscream optics grew large and he huffed in anger.
"He just called us fruitcakes!" Shockwave gave him a stare that would be blank of not for the fact that all his stares were blank; Starscream rolled his optics recalling that Shockwave didn't grasp Earth slang, at least not yet. "That means nutcases, crackpots, lunatics, crazy, mentally ill!"
"Why do you believe that this idea is not sound, Soundwave?" Shockwave remained stoic; he wanted Soundwave to explain his point of view in case he could add something of value.
Soundwave displayed the image of energon puddle that they found on the site of the assault, one that Megatron left. Then he displayed image of Megatron and images of all officers present on Earth. The meaning was clear, at least to Shockwave.
"You are concerned that this new weapon could be used against any of us if it would fall in wrong servos." That wasn't a question. Shockwave pondered for a moment. "This is possible that someone could use it against us. You are correct, yet such a weapon would be great asset. I believe this requires consultation with Lord Megatron."
Soundwave nodded once in agreement.
"Then we will present my proposition to Lord Megatron and discuss all pros and cons, then he will decide." Starscream shrugged, they would have to do it anyway so there was little he could argue about.
Soundwave nodded and return to his work, he had Nemesis to scan.
Shockwave started to work on his own console, some serious equations rolled through his screen as he proceeded.
Starscream watched both Decepticons for a moment and then saved a bookmark to the video he was watching before, entertainment had to wait. The Air Commander opened new window and started to read energon scouting reports.
oOo
Ratchet poked Megatron with one digit. The Warlord mumbled something illegitimate and kept on recharging. Ratchet frowned; this was just as bad as with Team Prime, with exception of Optimus who always woke on his own. Ratchet poked Megatron again, this time harder and the Decepticon stirred slightly. He still hadn't had his hydraulics fully filled with hydraulic fluid so his movements were limited.
The Warmonger opened his red optics and gave Ratchet angry stare; he didn't like to be woken in such manner. He didn't care if he was a guest here, he didn't care if this was the mech who would operate on him – no one poked Megatron as if he was some dead organic creature on the beach.
Before the large grey mech had a chance to open his mouth Ratchet spoke. "It's about time; it's nearly eight o'clock of local time. It is time for your last surgery."
"Now?" Megatron was surprised that Ratchet wanted to operate at such an early hour. Decepticons adapted human time measure for practical reasons and it took, lately everyone (including Shockwave) used local time units.
"Yes, now. I want to finish it, or be at least half way through the procedure before children will come and start their usual weekend racket."
Megatron optic brows rose high, he heard about this "weekend" before, his troops were using this word, Starscream mentioned it few times, Knockout constantly babbled about weekend illegal raced and how they were the best. Even Soundwave used it frequently. Megatron assumed that it was a name of holiday or something like that.
Ratchet noticed confusion of his patient and took pity on the mech. "Weekend is two last days of the week. Human week counts seven days, five are called 'week-days' and that's when humans work and learn. Two remaining are called 'weekend' and then humans rest. Or in our case come to the base and cause mayhem."
"Shouldn't they be here already then of it is their free day?" Megatron tried to lift himself but his arms wouldn't move.
"No, they will arrive later." Ratchet reached for thin cable and attached it to Megatron's chassis right above his spark chamber. "Now I will induce stasis."
Megatron glanced at the console and then everything went dark.
Later.
Bulkhead came to halt and Miko jumped out of him with wide grin plastered to her face, after her Rafael calmly got out and thanked Bulkhead for a ride. The green ATV's engine rumbled louder and then everything started to shift as the ex-Wrecker assumed his robot form. The green giant looked over; there was his entire team minus Ratchet, Optimus and Bumblebee.
Noises from behind the crate-wall indicated that ratchet was still busy with Megatron. Optimus and Bumblebee were probably still in the paint shop, probably undergoing final evaluation after yesterday's painting and drying for the entire night. That was the reason why he picked Raf; Bumblebee was unavailable at the moment.
Miko wasted no time, she quickly climbed on platform that was set against the wall of the hangar and used to serve as some sort of catwalk. Now it was simply the place where humans hanged around while inside. The catwalk lead to small doors that led to few maintenance rooms for electric cabling and piping of the hangar. There was even one empty room that could serve as an office, but now stood empty.
"Why are you so happy, Miko?" It was Smokescreen. "I thought that you were an exchange student and that you'd be heading home after school is over. Shouldn't you be sad?"
"Dude, why should I be sad for going home?" Miko peeped cheerfully and before the young Elite Guard could answer she continued with even wider grin. "Besides, who said I'm going home… well I will be going home for some time, but only because of summer school break, after that I will return!"
"It's because of you guys." Rafael said as he climbed up in much slower and even pace. "The Government granted her 'scholarship' because she knows about you and this way it will be easier to keep her away from Decepticons." The boy continued seeing Smokescreen confused face plates. "The only condition is that she has to keep her grades at decent level."
"Yeah, lame." Miko's grin disappeared. "You know, back in Japan I had decent grades."
"We could guess." Raf shrugged. "Otherwise you wouldn't be here. You need to have good grades to get into the exchange program. Besides your grades weren't that bad. Even history and math, though you needed dome help with that." 1]
"What can I say, it's a language barrier!" Miko giggled. "But I managed. Enough 'bout the school. School is over, now it's fun time!"
"Now, you're speaking my language!" Smokescreen cheered.
"Would you mind to keep you voices down!" Ratchet's angry voice filled the hangar. "I try to work here!"
"Sorry!" Miko yelled back. "So, what do you have in mind?" She asked Smokescreen in much lower voice.
"Gather the pack, hang around, perhaps prank that Vince guy again…"
"Hold it right there. Didn't you forget something?" Arcee stepped in but seeing genuine surprise on Smokescreen's face plates she only sighed heavily. "We are to move to our new base soon, we have to prepare. And on top of that we will be hunting M.E.C.H. down."
"Aww, mech!" Smokescreen whined and stared at the ceiling. "Really, is that ALL we're going to do? Hunt those M.E.C.H. loonies and pack our stuff?"
"No, we will also be scouting for energon. And don't give me that face."
"We will also maintain the guardian duty." The low voice filled the hangar and everybody looked at the entrance where Optimus Prime stood.
His optic glowed in pale, elegant and gentle yellow, his form stood tall and proud. It was almost as if nothing happened and he never was on the brink of death. Only the optics and new paint job betrayed the calamity that befallen upon him.
The Prime moved, slowly in long, regal steps as he entered the hangar and now that the sharp summer sun didn't blinded their vision they could make out details of the new paint job. Few jaws went slack, couple of pair of optics widened to their maximum. Everyone stared and Optimus moved uneasily under their collective glare. He wasn't sure of what to expect, did his team approved his new pain job? Or did they found it revolting?
It was Miko who broke the silence. "Whoa! This new paint job rule!"
The statement was followed by sounds of appreciation and agreement. The paint job was unanimously and enthusiastically accepted, Optimus barely visibly sighed a slight vent of relief. A ghost of smile touched his lip plates for an astrosecond just as Miko pulled out her phone, quickly took a picture and send it to Jack who had morning shift at his new job, ironically it was a car wash.
At that very moment Ratchet peeked from behind the crate wall where he was finishing wielding Megatron's abdominal plating, he was about to rebuke everyone for causing the hubbub when his optic landed on Optimus Prime. The Prime noticed his old friend's head emerge from behind the wall and he turned to face the Medic. Ratchet jaw dropped and his optics focused on his Prime. The Medic managed to gather his jaw, grunted and vanished again. Optimus almost smiled, Ratchet didn't oppose, it meant that he approved.
oOo
In the small town, near Las Vegas, Jack felt his phone vibrating, he quickly looked around but no client seemed to come and his boss was busy watching TV. He took his phone from his pocket and opened it, it was message from Miko, Jack sighed, it probably wasn't anything important but he decided that since he didn't had anything better to do he could see what she sent him. He opened the message and read the text 'Yo bro! Check THIS out!', under the text was a photo. Jack quickly looked around but there was no danger so he enlarged the picture and almost jumped: it was Optimus with the new paint job.
Jack's eyes grew large, somehow he imagined that the new paint will be just like the old one, but it wasn't. The helm, shins, inner thighs and hip plating were just as they were before - deep, rich cornflower blue with metallic quality. But the chest plates, shoulders and forearms were completely different. Someone put a blue base coat identical with the helm and hip plating, and added rich red flames with golden-yellow framing. The overall colour scheme remained the same – red and blue, with minimal adding of yellow; but the effect was entirely different. It was bolder; it made the Prime look younger, rowdyish. Miko somehow managed to catch a slight semi-smile. 2]
The young man grinned, this deserved an answer. He quickly switched to message editor and started to type.
oOo
Everyone was voicing their appreciation for the new look when a loud 'BEEP' could be heard from the entrance, it was Bumblebee who underwent the final paint shop quality control and followed Prime to the Autobots' hangar.
The young scout marched in with swing to his step, his doorwings up and in V-position, his optics bright and his optic brows slightly risen – he was happy with his new look.
"Wow 'Bee!" Raf beamed and almost jumped on the iron pipe balustrade securing the catwalk. "I wouldn't recognize you on the street! You look awesome!"
"You look like a ninja!" Miko's grin almost reached to her ears.
Bumblebee laughed in beeps and blinks. He was happy that Raf liked his new paint job and he almost melted under Miko's smile. He surely felt more mature with his colours reversed 3], more fit to be experienced soldier and, for that matter, a guardian to Raf as well as boyfriend to Miko.
There was a short 'buzz' and Miko pulled her phone out. "Oh, guys! It's Jack!" She quickly read the text message. "He said that he can't wait to see Optimus' new paint from up close. And that he'll be finishing his shift in few minutes so he'll drive here with his mum!"
Behind the crate wall Ratchet gritted his denta, there went peace and quiet that he enjoyed so much. That was the price to pay for having human allies on every day basis inside their base. He consoled himself with a thought of the new base they would have. He saw it, it was spacious, it was vastly different than the old silo they used to live in. He would have his own infirmary room, large enough to fit all his tools, medical berths and other equipment he happily snatched from Harbinger. It had doors! Real doors!
That thought calmed his maltreated nerves as he levered piece of Megatron's outer armour to find specific auxiliary inlet on his patient's left lower side – an emergency feed of the hydraulic tank. The Medic put the end of transparent rubber hose in the inlet, the fit was tight and self-sealing; then he released a clamp and the hydraulic liquid started to slowly flow its glass container where Ratchet poured it in. The inlet's sensor detected the liquid and opened the inlet's valvalet.
oOo
Knockout sauntered into the command centre of New Kaon citadel with satisfied look on his face plates. This was a good day, save for that Insecticon incident. And even that wasn't as bad as one could imagine. The Insecticon in question – Bombshell or something like that – was too tired and too happy to be free again to damage his finish. He didn't even comment on Vehicons being sluggish. He just landed on all six, stretched, sighed with relief, 'wa-la-la-ed' and galloped to Insecticon nest barking something about revenge. Whoever pranked the bug was in knee-deep slag but Knockout didn't worried about that, he didn't do it and the culprit or culprits that would land on his medical berth would have to wait until Knockout was in a mood for fixing them. In the end, they would only get what they were asking for.
"Ah! Bon jour ma cherries!" He tooted with his usual confidence. Ever since he learned that in German the car was 'das' and not 'der' he spoke more in French. "Isn't this a beautiful morning? For a mud ball of a planet that is."
"Knockout! This isn't so much of a morning anymore; it's closer to the noon!" Starscream spun on his high heel. "Where have you been? Racing with natives again?"
"Oh, ma generale! You wound me! No, after I freed that bug I returned to my quarters to get so more rest. I stayed late last cycle…"
"Yes and in the meantime our Lord…"
"Yes! You contacted the Autobots?" Knockout cut in causing Starscream to frown. "How is the Big M?"
"Apparently he was still recharging and by now he should be undergoing final repairs." Starscream approached Knockout while clenching and un-clenching his servos. Shockwave and Soundwave stopped their work to observe what will happen next. "We talked with Autobot Medic to whom you might have had some questions if you were present."
"Oh, I'm sure that if there was anything serious he would tell you. We do have a deal after all and you are Decepticon second in command."
Shockwave and Soundwave turned their heads to Starscream who clearly wasn't very happy with Knockout. This could prove to be interesting. Shockwave would never pass an occasion to observe Starscream, who knew when it may prove to be beneficial, the mech was unpredictable and Shockwave held no delusions: Starscream wasn't his friend.
Soundwave on his part started to recording the scene, if it wouldn't prove fit to serve as a blackmail material then it would certainly be amusing – an event worth of his attention.
"Yes, speaking of which!" Starscream barked with irritation. "Do you think I got to be the SIC by being late?"
"No." Knockout smirked. He liked to tease Starscream. Even with the risk of getting his finish scratched. "You got there by back-stabbing and aft-kissing."
Starscream only rose one opticbrow, he wouldn't allow himself to be threw off-balance by Knockout. "Maybe so, but I started those things promptly at eight!" 4]
And that was game, set, and match! Starscream won as Knockout couldn't think of anything he could use as a riposte. He only stared at Starscream who stepped away and returned to his work station.
"Whatever." Knockout tried to resume his posture. "Anyway, I'll be in my med bay…"
"But before you will resume your duties as a medic." Shockwave spoke calmly while staring at the red mech. "I would advise you to remove the paint transfer from your person."
Knockout optics grew large, then he looked down at himself. As did Starscream, Soundwave and two Vehicons that were present. And there it was, purple paint marking Knockout's hips. Soundwave immediately took few pictures. At the same moment Knockout felt his face growing warm. Not because he had some, but because he forgot to buff those before he left his quarters. He never hid the fact that he wasn't about to spend the entire war in celibacy, but marching around with paint transfer was whole different story.
He straightened his back, turned around and slowly left the command centre. After he was sure they would not hear his steps, he started to run, he needed to buff himself.
TBC
1] In most fics Miko struggles with learning and managing school material, but in reality she had to have good grades to get to the USA. It is implied that she doesn't like to study and history is her weak spot, but it doesn't mean she can't manage it; otherwise she would get into the exchange program. It doesn't mean that Miko is an all A student, but she gets along.
2] Based on Bayverse Prime's look. It's one of the things that I appreciate the most in the Bayverse series – Optimus has bitchin' paint job. I just couldn't help myself; I got to give him those flames.
3] I just followed the third season – it doesn't influence the plot so all stays the same, only Bee's new paint is simply smokin' hot!
4] I just had to. I was looking through wikiquote and found few tv-series that I like ('Allo 'Allo, Blackadder, MASH, Scrubs). These particular lines (starting with "Do you think…" and ending with "promptly at eight" comes from Scrubs, season 3, episode 16 "My Butterfly". I only changed 'ass' to 'aft'.
Hopefully the next chapter will be out next week, if everything will go according to plan. If now – then in two weeks, but I hope all will be good and I'll manage next week.
Oh, and the latest episode? Soundwave! You're my hero! I wanna marry you and have little tablets with youuuu! XD
The smiling face was just a killer! And the whole crashing part and getting de-bugged by Laserbeak? That was the mastery of bad-aft-ery!