Disclaimer:Transformers belongs to Hasbro, Takara, etc. The only thing in this that belongs to me is Arcee's sister.
"Wakey, wakey," Knockout said, greeting Smokescreen as the Autobots' new recruit as he was strapped to the medical slab in the Nemesis' laboratory as Smokescreen regained consciousness as the Decepticon medic leaned over Smokescreen.
"What?!" Smokescreen gasped in horror as he tried to climb out of the medical slab and give the decepticon medic a piece of his mind. However, he found that he couldn't as he looked down and saw that he was restrained to the medical slab by Energon cuffs, forcing him to cease his movements.
"If you're looking for your Phase Shifter, finder's keepers," Knockout smirked as he held up his wrist with the Phase Shifter attached to it.
"Enough prattling, Knockout!" Megatron snapped impatiently at the Decepticon medic as he revealed himself before walking up to Smokescreen, "Hand me the final Iacon relic, now."
"Yeah, I can't really help you. That's the only one I was packing," Smokescreen informed the Decepticon warlord as he gestured to the Phase Shifter on Knockout's wrist with his helm.
"Soundwave," Megatron said, calling out to his communications chief as he stood behind the Decepticon warlord.
Knowing what Megatron wanted, Soundwave brought up one of the decrypted coordinates from the Iacon Database; more specifically, Smokescreen's picture that was slowly being revealed on the black spaces of his visor.
"You got the wrong idea, chief. Optimus Prime's the one who can decode the Iacon Database," Smokescreen reminded them.
"Ah, but you misunderstand. The final entry has been decoded by us! ANd according to our findings, it would appear I do indeed have the right guy," Megatron said as he smiled wickedly as the picture on Soundwave's visor finally finished unveiling itself.
"The question is, what is it that you are still packing?" Knockout mused.
With a scanner, Knockout took a glance at Smokescreen's internal systems. When he finally reached Smokescreen's midsection, everything became clear to them. They seemed to understand why Smokescreen was so confused to begin with and why the final Iacon relic revealed a picture of him rather than coordinates. Smokescreen wasn't the actual relic. He was the final relic's containment unit.
"Why, hidden treasure, of course!" Knockout chuckled.
Smokescreen had no idea what Megatron and Knockout would do with him. But he already knew that it wasn't going to be good.
"Smokescreen must have been taken aboard the Decepticon warship," Ratchet stated, gravely, "Tracing his signal through its shielding will be impossible."
"Continue monitoring all frequencies, Ratchet. Far more than Smokescreen's fate may be at stake," Optimus told him.
"Yeah, I would hate it if anything bad happens to him," Chromette added, agreeing with Optimus.
"I…don't get it," Bulkhead admitted with confusion, "How could Smoke be an Omega Key?"
"Perhaps he isn't the key, but its container," Ratchet suggested.
"I have a feeling that you're right, Ratchet," Chromette said, agreeing with the medic.
"The other Iacon relics were sent to Earth in pods. Why not this one?" Arcee asked with confusion.
"When the Decepticons stormed Iacon, it may have been too late for Alpha Trion to launch the final Omega Key into space. At least by standard means," Optimus surmised.
"So smokescreen assumed everything went black because he was hit by Decepticons," Arcee added.
"But Alpha Trion's the one who actually turned out the kid's lights," Bulkhead said, finishing Arcee's train of thought.
"It stands to reason that my mentor did not want Smokescreen to know what he was carrying in the event of capture," Optimus surmised.
"And with a mobile relic, Alpha Trion couldn't possibly supply fixed coordinates," Arcee added with realization.
"So the big A slipped us a clue instead. Smoke's mug shot," Bulkhead finished for Optimus and Arcee.
"That actually makes a lot of sense," Chromette told them.
"The Decepticons got to Smokescreen first," Ratchet reminded everyone, "I fear they have decoded the same clue."
"Yet another of these identical relics?" Megatron said with disbelief as he and Knockout stared at a monitor above them that showed what Knockout's scanner found inside of Smockescreen's chassis, "Remove it swiftly."
"With pleasure," Knockout smirked as he transformed his servo into his rotating saw as it began to rotate around, "I do so resent a finish flashier than my own."
Smokescreen squirmed as he tried to escape Knockout's approaching saw as he walked towards the Autobots' newest recruit and when the teeth of Knockout's rotating saw were close to scraping his tanks, Knockout stopped moving his rotating saw towards Smokescreen's tanks.
"Ha! Made you squirm," Knockout smirked as he transformed his rotating saw back into his servo before testing the Phase Shifter as he phased his left servo through his right arm's door two times, "Trippy." He then stomped his pede on the floor twice, "And intuitive. Proper grounding ensures that its user won't phase through the floor."
"I said swiftly!" Megatron snapped impatiently at the Decepticon medic.
Knockout then suddenly phased his servo into Smokescreen's chassis, causing Smokescreen to grunt.
"Get your stinkin' hand out of my gears!" Smokescreen ordered the Decepticon medic in a strained voice.
"Mm, and…" Knockout muttered as he suddenly reached the fourth Omega Key within Smokescreen's chassis and grabbed it, "Gotcha!" He then pulled the fourth Omega Key out of Smokescreen's chassis and showed it to Megatron.
"Tell me the function of these relics," Megatron requested the Autobots' newest recruit.
"Doorstops? Shavers? Bling? Beats me," Smokescreen lied with a casual shrug and smirk.
"Hmm. A pity this little gadget won't allow me to just reach into his brain pan and pluck out the info," Knockout muttered in disappointment.
"Fortunately, we possess a device that can," Megatron stated as he walked up next to Knockout and in front of Smokescreen.
Smokescreen knew what he was talking about, having heard stories when he was training in the Elite Guard after he was forged about a device that Megatron was talking about, created by the Decepticons' mad scientist, Shockwave and how Megatron and Shockwave used it on Prisoners. The device he was talking about was the Cortical Psychic Patch.
"Individually, each of these so-called Omega keys is useless. Yet possessing even a single one grants me tremendous negotiating power with either Autobots or Decepticons," Starscream sneered, excitedly as he held the Omega Key that he took from Smokescreen in his servos and stood in one of the hallways of the Harbinger as he walked towards the lifeless husk of the clone of him, who tried to kill him, "Still, imagine if I manage to acquire the other three. I could revive Cybertron and seize the throne as Starscream the first, Supreme Overlord and Emperor of Destruction!
Lead Cybertron back into another Golden Age after Sentinel Zeta Prime destroyed all of the Space Bridges to stop the Rust Plague from spreading from the Cybertronian colony worlds when the Age of Rust began. Bring every Cybertronian back under the Caste System unlike what Megatron started his movement that he named 'Decepticons' originally stood for before he started the war and became corrupted from his lust for power.
I will reunite the Cybertronian colony worlds such as Velocitron, Junkion and Gigantion with Cybertron and rule as their Emperor as well and form an Empire. They will all bow before me. And build statues of me in my honor!" He then crackled a laugh for a few seconds before stopping, "A-ha…Eh…"
He then groaned as he realized something and that is that there would be major setbacks with his plan and the many cons outweighed the little pros that there were with his plans. Not to mention the low chances he had of actual success with his plans.
Among the cons of his plans succeeding was that he didn't have the amount of power that Megatron or Optimus Prime had when the war for Cybertron began and held from their respective followers and that he was a seeker and air commander before the war along with a scientist, who worked on Trypticon Station. Those were things deep inside his internal systems and the back of his twisted mind, albeit not as twisted as his former master and that no matter how hard he tried, he would never gain the power to rule Cybertron or its former colony worlds as Emperor.
"But unlike Megatron, I lack the necessary infrastructure to enforce such a reign. No warship, no army. Only my meager laboratory finds, a Ground Bridge remote control, a single remaining dose of Red Energon, and you, old friend," He listed before walking up to the deceased corpse of his clone, who tried to assassinate him, a few months ago, "But I would all too gladly trade this simply to be stored to my former glory."
"While I am unfamiliar with the Lore of these Omega Keys, Alpha Trion knew many secrets, and the ancients possessed technology that has long been lost to what we consider modern science. Whatever their function, this much is certain. We cannot restore Cybertron without all four Omega Keys in our possession," Optimus said explaining the purpose of the Omega Keys with Megatron standing behind them with his normal right arm from the elbow below instead of Liege Maximo's right arm from the elbow below as Knockout was using a Cortical Psychic Patch on him so he and Smokescreen so the Decepticon could access Smokescreen's memories to learn the purpose of the Omega Keys with Knockout watching from a monitor within the laboratory, "The future of our home world depends on it."
Knockout walked over to the back of the slab that Smokescreen was laying on and grabbed the Cortical Psychic Patch attached to the back of Smokescreen's helm as he detached it from the back of Smokescreen's helm, "That's a wrap," He proclaimed, causing Smokescrean to exhale sharply from discomfort before he went to disconnect the other end of the Cortical Psychic Patch from Megatron.
"The power to remake Cybertron as I see fit," Megatron said as he stood up from the medical slab that he was laying on, "I will pry the other two keys from Optimus Prime's lifeless fingers. We must find the exact location of the Autobot base. Patch in and tear apart Smokescreen's mind, if you must."
"Me?!" Knockout asked with protest.
"Who else? Do you think I would entrust you to see this key safely to the vault containing the other one," Megatron explained, dryly before leaving the laboratory.
"Once more, into the brain pan," Knockout sighed as he walked over to Smokescreen.
"No! Not again! Stay out of my head!" Smokescreen pleaded.
"Now. Now. You'll only make things worse for yourself," Knockout told the Autobots' newest recruit as he chuckled before he began to walk away from him before Smokescreen grabbed the Phase Shifter as he activated it from Knockout's wrist.
"Worse how?" Smokescreen asked the Decepticon medic as he freed himself from the medical slab's Energon cuffs as they began to struggle over control of the Phase Shifter as they began walking around the room before Smokescreen walked backwards towards one of the Nemesis' walls as he phased and fell through the wall and landed in the hallway outside of the laboratory on his aft. Within his grasp was the Phase Shifter, which he removed from the Decepticon medic's wrist during the struggle. Knockout, on the other hand, was only partially through and was stuck within the wall. Something he wasn't too happy about.
"Well, aren't you the clever one?" Knockout muttered before he tried to free himself from the wall as he grunted, but ultimately failing to free himself from the wall, "This ship is miles in the sky and swarming with Decepticons! Do you really think you can escape?"
"Who says I'm lookin' to escape?" Smokescreen retorted as he placed the Phase Shifter back over his right arm's wrist and activated it before running down the hall, leaving Knockout as the Decepticon Medic clenched his servos in anger and screamed.
As two Vehicons were walking down one of the halls of the Nemesis and walked down a corner of the hall, Smokescreen phased through one of the walls and quickly and quietly ran down the hall from where the Vehicons were walking from. He soon phased through another wall as Megatron walked down the hall with the fourth Omega Key in his servos as Smokescreen looked around the hall and saw the Decepticon warlord walking down the hall with the fourth Omega Key in his servos and realized that the room in front of Megatron and was walking towards was the vault where the second Omega Key was being held before he stepped out of the wall and deactivated the Phase Shifter and began running towards the side of the Decepticon warlord.
"Think fast!" Smokescreen exclaimed as he grabbed the fourth Omega Key from Megatron's servos before reactivating the Phase Shifter and phased through the door to the Vault.
"What?!" Megatron roared with surprise before growing as he typed in commands on a console next to him to open the door to the vault and saw that the second Omega Key was gone and walked over to the table where the second Omega Key was being held above and hovered over was gone and slammed his servo on the table in anger as he realized that SMokescreen took it, "NO!"
As Smokescreen ran down the halls of the Nemesis, he stopped running as a squad of six Vehicons began to surround him.
"Oh, this isn't the way out?" He asked the Vehicons before they began to fire their blasters at the Autobots' newest recruit, only for the Vehicons' firepower to phase through Smokescreen as he threw one of the Omega Keys in the air for a second as it landed back in his servo as the Vehicons' firepower hit each other as every single Vehicon fell to the floor, dead before Smokescreen ran and phased through another wall. As he left the wall, he phased through an Insecticon as he phased through another wall before the Insecticon growled at him in anger.
When Smokescreen phased through the next wall, he saw that he didn't phase into another hallway like he did before. He saw that he was standing on top of the Nemesis. Since he didn't possess flight, there was no way for him to fly into the skies. Megatron, accompanied by several Ground and Jet Vehicons, joined Smokescreen on top of the Decepticons' warship. This ruled out the Autobots' newest recruit walking back inside the Nemesis and finding another way out.
"The Keys," Megatron said as the Vehicons aimed their blasters at Smokescreen, causing him to walk backwards before reaching the edge of the warship and looked down and saw how high in the sky that the warship was flying, "A pity you are incapable of flight."
"Yeah, like I'm gonna let that stop me," Smokescreen scoffed before jumping off of the top of the Nemesis as the Vehicons fired their blasters at him with Megatron and the Vehicons watching as the Autobots' newest recruit began his lengthy and not to mention highly dangerous free fall to the ground below.
"Smokescreen's signal, it's back online!" Ratchet announced, happily as he and the rest of the Autobots saw that their newest recruit's signal reappeared on one of the Cybertronian Computer system's monitors.
"The kid escaped the warship!" Bulkhead cried.
"Thank Primus and the Allspark," Chromette muttered to herself as she placed her servo over her chassis and spark chamber as she knew that her possible future sparkmate had escaped the Decepticons' warship.
"Smokescreen to base. I could really use a Ground Bridge," Smokescreen said, contacting Ratchet and the other Autobots with his comlink.
"Retrieve the Omega Keys! QUICKLY!" Megatron immediately instructed the Vehicons.
For Megatron, they weren't reacting fast enough at obeying his orders. So to force them to hurry up, he grabbed two Vehicons, one of them being a Ground one and the other being a Jet one and threw them overboard. The Jet Vehicon transformed into its alternate mode, while the Ground Vehicon transformed into a car as he began screaming.
"Fliers! I need fliers!" Megatron snarled at the remaining Vehicons on the top of the Nemesis.
Not wanting to be thrown overboard like the two Vehicons that preceded them, the two remaining Jet Vehicons standing next to Megatron were quick to jump off of the top of the Decepticon warship and transform into their alternate modes as they took off for the skies, while Megatron maintained his snarl as he would never be happy until Smokescreen was captured again and regained possession of the two Omega Keys.
"Setting coordinates," Ratchet reported before noticing that something was off with Smokescreen, "That's strange."
"What's the problem?" Arcee inquired.
"Yeah, what's wrong, Ratchet?" Chromette asked, agreeing with her sister.
"Smokescreen's telemetry data doesn't make sense," Ratchet answered, "I can't lock onto his position."
Smokescreen placed the two Omega Keys onto the back of his door-like wings, causing his descent to increase as he continued to skydive towards the ground below.
Above him, Jet Vehicons began to open fire upon him as he continued to skydive towards the ground below. Knowing what would happen next, Smokescreen activated the Phase shifter. Something that he learned was that it was better safe than sorry. Quickly, he learned that he was lucky that he did as one of the Jet Vehicons that were attacking from above flew right through him towards the ground below. Instantly, Smokescreen transformed his servos into his blaster and fired them at the Jet Vehicon. In mid-air, the Jet Vehicon that was flying underneath him exploded into nothing.
"I've isolated the problem. Smokescreen's in free fall," Ratchet explained as he noticed what Smokescreen's trajectory was on one of the Cybertronian Computer System's monitors above them before reopening the comlink with their newest recruit, "Smokescreen, I'm opening a Ground Bridge directly below you."
"Brace yourselves. I'm gonna make an entrance," Smokescreen muttered as he deactivated the Phase Shifter so he wouldn't phase through the Ground Bridge portal as it appeared a few hundred feet below him.
However, knowing his luck, Smokescreen wouldn't make it through the portal. And that was due to Megatron seemingly appearing out of nowhere and knocking Smokescreen off course as he missed the Ground Bridge portal by a long shot.
"He's… off course!" Ratchet cried in horror as he noticed Smokescreen's trajectory moving away from the Ground Bridge portal by a very large margin on one of the Cybertronian Computer system's monitors, realizing what was going to happen if they didn't rescue Smokescreen in time.
"You missed?!" Both Arcee and Chromette exclaimed in disbelief.
"Make another one! Fast!" Bulkhead ordered.
"I hope proper grounding on this thing doesn't apply to actual ground," Smokescreen said as he reactivated the Phase Shifter yet again.
As the ground came closer, Smokescreen closed his optics and braced himself as he pulled his arms behind his back.
Before Smokescreen knew it, he was phasing through the ground unharmed. Two of the Jet Vehicons didn't pull up in time and exploded upon impact. Megatron, having flown since sometime after Soundwave and his Minicon, Laserbeak along with another of his Minicons that he had during the War for Cybertron, Rumble revived him with Dark Energon after the Autobot Titan, Metroplex killed him and when Starscream was coronating himself as leader of the Decepticons before Megatron allowed him back into the Decepticons for a few decades after he fled from the Decepticon warlord's wrath and since he and the rest of the Decepticons came to Earth, managed to fly away. The Ground Vehicon, who was screaming the entire time he was free falling, was killed as well as he exploded upon impact with the ground.
To the horror of the Autobots and especially Chromette, Smokescreen's signal vanished like nothing. Everyone had a hard time believing that they had seen what just happened. they had come so close to bringing Smokescreen home, where he belonged. Something they weren't counting on was to lose their friend and what could have been Chromette's possible future sparkmate all over again. However, this time, they knew that he wasn't going to pull one of his famous stunts, he was gone forever.
"No!" Ratchet said as he closed his optics, causing Chromette to look away in shock and sadness as she also closed her optics.
"Scour the Wreckage!" Megatron ordered as he and the remaining two Jet Vehicons landed and transformed into their robot forms near the wreckage of the other two Jet Vehicons and Ground Vehicon, "I WANT THOSE KEYS!"
Beneath their pedes, Smokescreen was emerging from a rock wall into a canyon as he phased through the wall. Pain was radiating throughout his entire frame as he moved around. Something that he knew was that he never wanted to pull that stunt ever again.
"Hey, Ratchet," Smokescreen said, contacting Ratchet with his comlink, causing every Autobot in the Autobot base to look happy with Chromette looking the happiest, knowing that her possible future sparkmate is alive, "I could still really use that Ground Bridge."
"Did I tell you? Destiny! Alpha Trion knew I'd keep it safe," Smokescreen stated, happily as he stood next to a metal box-shaped container with both Omega Keys that he stole from the Nemesis on top of it after he explained how he escaped the Decepticons' warship, Megatron discovering what the Omega Keys were for after interrogating him after Knockout took the fourth Omega Key out of his chassis and how he got both Omega Keys from Megatron before Arcee sighed in frustrated as Chromette smirked at him.
"Nice work, kid," Arcee told him as she recalled what Jack told her when she got mad at him and talked to him in her quarters with her comlink as she decided not to give their newest recruit another lecture.
"Yeah, I agree with my sister, great job, Smoke," Chromette said, agreeing with her twin sister before Bumblebee beeped a response as he counted and held up two of his digits.
"It was the only key in Megatron's vault," Smokescreen explained.
"Then three keys are accounted for," Optimus proclaimed as he picked up both of the Omega Keys with one of his servos.
"Then the fourth is still somewhere on the 'Cons' warship," Bulkhead stated.
"Unless…Megatron never had it to begin with," Arcee shrugged.
"If Megatron never had it, then I think I know who does," Chromette told everyone.
"Who, Sis?" Arcee asked her.
"Let's just say he's a 'Con who went rogue quite a while ago," Chromette answered.
"A high frequency…" Ratchet said as the Cybertronian Computer system picked up another signal as a picture of Starscream appeared on it along with a location pinpointed somewhere within South America, "With an embedded message."
"Starscream," Bulkhead snarled.
"I have obtained something of interest to you which seems to be of no practical use to me," Ratchet said, reading Starscream's embedded message to everyone.
"Was I right or was I right?" Chromette asked everyone with a smirk as she now knew that her suggestion was correct.
"It's gotta be the Omega Key!" Bulkhead stated.
"Agreed, Bulk," Chromette said, agreeing with the former Wrecker.
"He's the one who blindsided me!" Smokescreen realized.
"What else could Scream be referring to?" Arcee asked everyone.
"I agree with you, Sis," Chromette told her, agreeing with her sister.
"Yip! Yip! There's more," Ratchet said, cutting in before reading the rest of Starscream's embedded message, "Bring medical kit. I only ask for the surgical replacement of my T-Cog in return."
"Like we're gonna give Scream back his wings," Bulkhead scoffed after he chuckled.
"Without the missing key, Cybertron will remain devoid of life," Ratchet reminded everyone as he turned back around towards them from the Cybertronian Computer system, showing how desperate he was to revive their home planet.
"Broken record, I know, but…it could be a trick," Arcee warned everyone.
"I agree with my sister on this," Chromette said, agreeing with her twin, "What if all this is a trick by Starscream?"
"It is possible that Starscream does not yet realize the significance of what he holds," Optimus stated.
"And we do know that he has been incapable of flight for quite some time," Ratchet added.
"The stakes are far too great for us not to consider Starscream's proposal," Optimus said after thinking things over for a brief moment, "However, we will partake precautions."
Something that the Autobots observed was the fact that Starscream hadn't included an extra note that specifically told Ratchet to meet up with him alone. They assumed that it was because he knew that it wouldn't happen either way. That much was true by Optimus and Bulkhead deciding to accompany him as Arcee, Chromette, Bumblebee and Smokescreen remained back at base. Arcee and Chromette both stood by the Ground Bridge controls as Bumblebee and Smokescreen stood by the open Ground Bridge portal with the scout having his blasters deployed and aiming them at the portal, while Smokescreen had his arms crossed in case anything happened.
"There!" Bulkhead said as he saw Starscream slouched against a tree as both he and Optimus had their servos transformed into their blasters to check if the area was clear.
"Starscream, show us the Omega Key," Optimus ordered the former seeker, only to earn no response from Starscream.
The lack of response confused them, so he and Bulkhead approached Starscream, while Ratchet remained a few steps behind, due to his limited abilities in self-defense.
"Give it up, Scream," Bulkhead said as he nudged Starscream with his blaster.
To their surprise, Starscream didn't make a sound. Instead, he fell onto his side and they immediately assumed the worse.
"We're too late. The T-cog won't help him now," Ratchet stated as he knelt before him.
What they didn't realize was that the lifeless husk of Starscream was actually a decoy. Ratchet was examining the remains of Starscream's clone from when said clone tried to kill him after its failure in carrying out Megatron's assassination. Starscream, the real Starscream, had given himself another and the last dose of Red Energon so he could race past the Autobots and into the open Ground Bridge. That was exactly what he did as he sped into the Autobot base and past Smokescreen, Bumblebee, Arcee and Chromette with the lights flickering above him.
"It would seem I have the run of the place," Smokescreen muttered to himself before walking over to the twins, "Oh, how easy it would be to gut the two of you." He then walked in between Smokescreen and Bumblebee, "To gut all of you. But…first thing's first. Where does Optimus keeps his key ring?"
Starscream's first stop was the hallway, where the vault where the Autobots placed the Iacon relics that they collected within the past few months.
"Not here," Starscream said as he looked through one of the vault's doors before speeding over to another one, "Nope." He then sped over to yet another one, "No." He then sped over to another one and saw the stasis pod that Arcee froze Airachnid inside of just before she admitted her feelings towards Jack and when Team Prime along with Wheeljack were hunting for the four Iacon relics that were decoded by Trypticon when Megatron infused the Nemesis with Dark Energon, waking Trypticon from permanent stasis-lock before Jack and the other humans of Team Prime helped Megatron dump the Dark Energon from the warship's systems, "Bleh, I was wondering what happened to that wretch." He then sped off to yet another of the vault's doors, "Do they think I have all day?!"
The next Vault door he searched led Starscream to the success he sought after. Hovering in a blue beam in the center of the room that the vault door led to were three of the four Omega Keys.
"Ah, there you are," he muttered to himself.
"Curious. Starscream has been deceased for quite some time," Ratchet observed after running a series of scans on the deceased corpse of the clone of Starscream with a medical scanner as Bulkhead and Optimus had transformed their blasters back into their servos.
"Well, how's that possible if he just sent us a message?" Bulkhead asked in confusion.
"We have been deceived," Optimus proclaimed as he was quick to realize what had just happened.
Back in the hallway, to where each of the Iacon relics were stored, Starscream aimed his right arm at the vault door, which contained the three Omega Keys and fired a missile at the vault door, blasting open the vault door, so he could steal the three Omega Keys from the Autobots.
"Woah!" Arcee said as she felt the base shake around her.
"Is there an Intruder?" Chromette asked as she also felt the base shake around her before Bumblebee beeped a response.
"What was that?!" Smokescreen demanded at the same time.
"Arcee, Chromette, close the Ground Bridge," Optimus ordered the twins on their comlinks as the fire sprinklers activated, while Bumblebee buzzed a response.
Time seemed to slow down once again as Arcee went to shut down the Ground Bridge as she pulled the switch to deactivate the Ground Bridge upwards. Starscream suddenly walked back into the main room, carrying the three Omega Keys. For the Autobots, it would have become clear that Starscream had used one of his missiles to destroy one of the vault doors, reach inside and take the three Omega Keys.
"Now that I have your trinkets, I'm free to enjoy slitting your…" Starscream gasped in horror as he saw that Arcee was about to close the Ground Bridge with him still inside their base, "But, as I appear to be pressed for time…"
Inside the base, time resumed at normal speed again once Starscream had left. However, the same couldn't be said for the Autobots at the rendezvous point. Optimus was saying something as he, Bulkhead and Ratchet prepared to fight him as Optimus and Bulkhead both had their right arms' servos into their blasters, while Ratchet had his right arm's servo transformed into one of his blades. However, the distortion around Starscream left him unable to understand what the Prime was saying due to his deep, medium-speed speech patterns.
"I'm sorry. What was that?" Starscream said, tormenting Optimus as he mocked him by imitating his slowed speech patterns as walked past them, "You Autobots think you're so superior. But you know what you really are? SLOW!"
That was before Optimus began moving at normal speed as he aimed his blaster at the former seeker.
"The Red Energon wore off, didn't it?" Starscream chuckled, nervously.
"He has the Omega Keys!" Ratchet exclaimed as he noticed that Starscream hadd all three of their Omega Keys.
Starscream screamed like a little girl as he fired a missile from his left arm at Ratchet and Bulkhead. The medic and former Wrecker dove out of the way in time, forcing the missile to explode upon contact with the ground. Starscream ran through the forest, one arm clutching the Omega Keys and the other fumbling with the Ground Bridge remote.
"Come on!" Starscream muttered as he continued to fumble with the Ground Bridge remote.
As Optimus and Bulkhead began shooting at the rogue Decepticon with their blasters in the hopes of stopping him and reclaim the Omega Keys, Starscream managed to open a Ground Bridge portal. Desperately, Optimus tried to catch him, not wanting to leave the fate of Cybertron in Starscream's servos. To their horror, they were unable to reach Starscream. The former Decepticon had ran through the Ground Bridge, which slammed shut before them.
"NO!" Optimus roared in despair, causing Bulkhead to look at him in shock as this was the second time that he ever saw Optimus lose his cool after Ratchet blamed him for the death of his wife, Elita One when he was disrupting protocol and had Synthetic Energon within his system.
"We'll get them back" Bulkhead assured the Prime.
"The keys can be of no use to Starscream while he scrounges in the wild like some Scraplet. There must be something that we can offer him in exchange," Ratchet stated.
"The fate of Cybertron now rests in Starscream's hands…" Optimus rumbled, darkly as he turned back around towards Ratchet and Bulkhead, "Whatever his intention."
"I beg you, my liege, release me from this absurd predicament!" Knockout pleaded with Megatron as the Decepticon warlord and Dreadwing stood in front of the wall that Knockout was stuck within.
"No!" Megatron said after a brief moment of 'contemplation', "You shall serve as a constant reminder of those who dare fail me."
With those words said, Megatron and Dreadwing walked away from Knockout and the wall that the Decepticon medic was stuck within, leaving Knockout trapped in the wall after a brief struggle with Smokescreen before his escape.
"I cannot allow Optimus Prime to be the one to revive Cybertron," Megatron told Dreadwing as they walked onto the bridge of the Nemesis, "We will locate the Autobot base, invade it, and retrieve the Omega Keys."
"Been there…done that," they suddenly heard a familiar voice say and looked up at the source of the voice before glancing at the figure in horror and saw that it was Starscream and had somehow found his way aboard the Nemesis and was standing by the computers as if he had the run of the place before bow before bowing before Megatron, "Please pardon my unannounced visit, Lord Megatron."
Dreadwing then went to grab his signature cannon from his back and aim it at Starscream, only for Megatron to place a servo on his shoulder to stop him. If anyone was going to kill Starscream, it was going to be him. Also, he was interested in knowing what he had to say.
"But I come bearing a peace offering," Starscream finished as he unveiled his peace offer, which were the four Omega Keys.
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