On the Steelhaven, as the Elite Guard were making their way back to Cybertron, there was an explosion within the brig. Moments later, blasted his way through the ship's hull was Starscream.
"VENGEANCE WILL BE MINE, MEGATRON!" Starscream roared.
On Dinobot island, Prowl was looking at some deer and sitting beside him was Moonracer, who was filming it with her drone. However, there was a crash, and the deer ran away.
"What you looking guys looking at?" Bulkhead asked.
"Nothing anymore," Prowl sighed.
"You know, being on this planet makes me wonder why organic planets are forbidden to travel to," Moonracer pondered. "Granted, the one that Optimus and Elita wandered onto was dangerous, but that could be true on any planet."
"Prowl, any sign of the Dinobots?" Ratchet asked them on their comlinks.
"Negative Ratchet, I'm starting to think that those reports were nothing more than exaggeration," said Prowl
"We are not taking any chances, Prowl," said Optimus. "That's why I let Ratchet lend you his EMP generator and those stasis cuffs,"
"Still, I hardly think that they are necessary," said Prowl looking at the EMP generator that Ratchet had lent him. "The Dinobots are territorial but left alone there perfectly happy." They heard a roar, and then they saw Grimlock jumping out of the bushes and charging straight at them.
"He doesn't look too happy to me," said Bulkhead.
Grimlock then scooted them with his tail Prowl and Moonracer dodged it, but Bulkhead wasn't so lucky. He crashed into some trees. He then turned to face Prowl with fire coming out of his nostrils.
"Grimlock!" said Prowl and then quickly jumped out of the way to avoid Grimlock's fire breath. "Grimlock, it's me, Prowl!" Grimlock then turned to face a tree with a nest full of baby birds. "No!" he activated his EMP generator as Grimlock was about to use his fire breath on the tree and fire at him. The impact of the blast caused the nest to fall along with Grimlock.
"You really nailed him," said Bulkhead as Moonracer helped him up.
"I had no chose," said Prowl. Then the other Dinobots arrived, and Prowl walked up to Grimlock.
"You better put the stasis cuffs on him. He could come out of that," Bulkhead suggested.
"I think we will be all right for… Hello!" Prowl had noticed a large metal spike in Grimlocks foot.
"Ouch," said Moonracer as she examined it. "No wonder he was going on a rampage."
Prowl immediately contacted base. "Ratchet, we've got a medical situation. A large spike is wedged in Grimlock's foot."
"All right, listen up, set the EMP gen to about sixty per cent and adjust the beam to its most narrow focus. Now give three pulses on the spike, then pull that sucker out," Ratchet told him.
Prowl adjusted the EMP to Ratchet's specifications and then blasted the spike three times. However, when he attempted to pull it out, it just wouldn't budge.
"Here, let me help," Bulkhead offered, moving him aside, and with one good pull, he yanked it out.
"Me Grimlock… better," Grimlock sighed with relief.
Prowl put the nest back on its branch.
"Nice job, kid, just like a born media bot," said Ratchet proudly.
"Guess you like EMP generator now," said Bulkhead as he stoked Grimlock with his claws.
"I wouldn't say that. But it's more useful than I expected. Still, we will have to use Sari's key to fix the damage to Grimlock's foot."
"I'm afraid that Bumblebee and Sari left on an important fact-finding mission this morning someplace called Five Banners Roller Coaster Kingdom," said Optimus.
"Optimus, we're receiving a transmission from Ultra Magnus; I'm patching it through," Elita announced.
Optimus, Elita and Ratchet then stood to attention when Ultra Magnus appeared on one of the monitors.
"Ultra Magnus to Optimus Prime, I've got some bad news about a Deca-cycle ago the Decepticon prisoner Starscream escaped," Ultra Magnus informed them. "I would have contacted you sooner, but our ship's tachyon transmitter was missing."
Megatron had managed to intercept that transmission and looked up at the tachyon transmitter he had stolen.
"Now I wonder how that could have happened?" he said with a small smile on his face. "Lugnut, send out a transmission offering a reward to any Decepticon who brings the traitor Starscream to me."
Prowl soon began to lead Bulkhead and Moonracer to their ship. "Starscream may return to earth. We should try and track him."
"How? We can't track any of the Decepticons," Bulkhead asked.
"True, they managed to mask their energy signatures somehow. But perhaps Teletran-1's more sensitive scanners will be able to pick up his signals. We could send up a probe from the ship."
When they got to the ship, they did just that. The probe fired up into space and started scanning.
"Whatever method they using to hide their energy signatures, not even Teletran-1 seems to be able to pick them up," Moonracer frowned.
Prowl frowned as he looked at his readings. "That strange are you two reading what I'm reading?"
"Well, I… what are you reading?" Bulkhead asked.
"I see it," said Moonracer. "It's a faint AllSpark signature, but it's not coming from Earth. It's coming from the moon."
"We should take the emergency shuttle and investigate," Prowl suggested.
Bulkhead stared at him bewildered. "Yeh! Wait, you what to do what?"
"We have stasis cuffs and an EMP generator. What more do we need?" Prowl asked.
"I don't know? How about some commonsense this is Starscream we are talking about."
"The last time we faced him, he was able to overpower all of us, including Ultra Magnus and the Elite Guard," Moonracer reminded him. "We can't just go charging it with another plan."
Prowl frowned. "I suppose your right."
"You suppose?" Bulkhead stared.
Bulkhead and Moonracer were walking away from the ship.
"I got to admit you had me going there, Prowl," said Bulkhead. "But then I thought, 'Hey, it's not your style to do something crazy like going after Starscream all by your…'" Then he and Moonracer heard a noise behind him. "'…self!'" Then the emergency shuttle flew up into space.
"How did we not see that coming?" Moonracer moaned.
Prowl was taking the emergency shuttle all the way up to the moon and was soon contacted by Optimus and the others on the comlink.
"Prowl, exactly what line of junk code is scrambling your software?" Ratchet asked.
"I've pinpointed AllSpark signal," said Prowl as he landed the shuttle. "It's coming from the Decepticon warship. Ii confirms my theory Starscream must be here."
"That's no reason to go after him on your own," Optimus argued.
"A protoform would know better," Ratchet said.
"Not even Bumblebee would do something like this," said Elita.
"Turn that shuttle around now," Optimus ordered.
"With all due respect, this is an ideal reconnaissance for a single stealthy Autobot," Prowl argued.
"You misunderstand me. That wasn't a request. What's going on with you, Prowl? This isn't like you?"
"I've seen it before a bot gets a new moderation, and suddenly he thinks sludge doesn't stick to his tailpipe," Ratchet said.
Prowl then exited the shuttle and began turning his comlink on and off. "Ratch… krsssh… Eli… krassh… Prime can't hear you there… kra… must be interference in the sec… krsssh… call you… ak… kersssh…"
"Personally, I've always found Bumblebee's fake static to be a lot more convincing," Ratchet noted.
Prowl floated through the ship's corridors, looked into a hole in the wall, and saw a big empty room.
"Looking for someone Autobot?" said a voice.
Prowl turned and saw Starscream standing behind him, pointing his null ray at him. Starscream charged his ray, ready to fire, but Prowl through his shuriken into it. Starscream roared in anger and threw the shuriken back to him, which Prowl caught. Then he jumped to catch him, but Prowl ducked, and he crashed through the hole into the next room. Prowl went after him, but Starscream came out of the rubble. Prowl used his jump jets to dogged the flying rubble.
"You will regret the day you were protoformed," Starscream snarled as he jumped to grab him, only to discover that it was a hologram. "What? Right? I forgot that little trick of yours." Then he turned around in time to see Prowl blasting him with his EMP generator causing him to crash onto the floor. Then Prowl floated down and put the stasis cuffs on him.
"Nice job, kid, but I will take it from here," said a new voice, and Prowl turned to see Lockdown wearing a poncho.
"Lockdown!
"Got to hand it to you, Prowl. You got a gift. I mean, when the bounty went out to Starscream, I figured it would be a tough hunt but you…"
Prowl then activated his jump jets, creating a small dust cloud, and Lockdown fired an energy net through it. A split second later, Prowl emerged from the dust cloud, swung a powerful kick his way, and Lockdown jumped out of the way before it made contact.
Then Starscream came back online then he noticed that he was wearing stasis cuffs. "What the EMP… stasis cuffs? Come back here and fight like Decepticons."
Prowl landed, waiting to attack again, and Lockdown tore his poncho off. The two of them then launch at one another; Lockdown used his chainsaw arm and swung it at Prowl, who managed to avoid it.
"Hey, you call this a fight?" Starscream yelled. "I'll rust before someone wins! And I'm in a vacuum!"
"Will you keep quiet?" the two of them yelled in unison.
Then Lockdown hit Prowl with his hook and then attacked with his chainsaw arm. Prowl dodged his attacks on annuities jump jets to put some distance between him and Lockdown. Lockdown then fired his hook at him but missed. Prowl was able to dodge it. He then pulled himself towards the ground and used his chainsaw arm to throw some rubble at Prowl. Prowl dodged the rubble and quickly fired his EMP generator, but Lockdown jumped out of the way and us his hook to get the height arranged.
Prowl kept on firing then Lockdown noticed that someone was being uncharacteristically quiet. "Uh, Prowl noticed anything odd?"
Prowl looked down to see somebody missing. "Where's Starscream?"
"What kind of stasis cuffs are you packing? He shouldn't be able to more?"
The two of them then quickly made their way outside, making their way through a hole in the roof, and then they saw Starscream hovering over the emergency shuttle, and then he blasted it into pieces. Smirking, he then headed straight towards Earth.
"Well, it's been a blast, but I got to bolt," said Lockdown. "That's the richness bounty in history getting away."
Then suddenly, the cloak around his ship deactivated, and he quickly entered inside it.
Prowl quickly activated his jump jets to catch up and only just managed to grab hold of the ship before it took off.
Lockdown was trying to find Starscream, but with not much success.
"Where are you, Starscream? Where's that good old Decepticon energy signature?" Lockdown asked himself.
He then heard a noise behind him, realising that Prowl had played Stowaway.
"You won't find him like that," said Prowl. Lockdown quickly spun around and attacked him with his chainsaw arm, but Prowl activated a shield mode that he took. "Hope you don't mind me borrowing one of your modes? But let's not waste time fighting while are quarry is getting away."
Lockdown stared at him curiously. "Wait, a Nanoklik… our quarry?"
"I know the unique Allspark energy signature to track Starscream, but I need to use your ship's sensors, so partners?"
"You got some spark plugs to be busting in here, I give you that. So you what to play bounty hunter, then you better be ready to go all the way." Lockdown then walked to his trophy case. "I think we both know that EMPs and stasis cuffs aren't going to cut it with Starscream. But since you like my trophy modes so much, why not take a few more and do the job right." He then through a helmet to Prowl. "That is if your bot enough to use them."
Prowl looked down at the helmet. "Whatever it takes to get the job done, right?"
A few minutes later, he was wearing samurai armour.
"Couldn't put it better myself," Lockdown smiled.
Then Lockdown ship landed and used its holographic cloak to look like a warehouse.
"Ready to roll, kid?" Lockdown asked.
Then they both transformed to vehicle mode, but when Prowl transformed, his armour changed into a sidecar.
"Improvise!" he said when he saw the sidecar.
Both Prowl and Lockdown were now diving on the highway.
"I recalibrated your ships sensors to seek AllSpark radiation of a certain intensity," said Prowl
"And there's our bot," said Lockdown using his sensors.
Then as they drove by an overpass, they saw Starscream hiding behind one of the pillars and quickly transformed to robot mode.
"No! No, please! Leave me alone!" Starscream pleaded.
"Maybe it's me, but that doesn't sound like the Starscream I know," Lockdown frowned.
"Getaway! Getaway! Don't hurt me!" Starscream screamed and then flew off.
Then Prowl used his jump jets, which had been greatly amplified thanks to the upgrades. "Ha-ha, jump jet boosters nice," he said smiling.
With the added boost of his boosters, he was able to catch up with Starscream, who screamed upon seeing him. Starscream then tried a fly away from him, but Prowl easily managed to keep up.
"How does it feel to be outflow by an Autobot Starscream?" Prowl.
Lockdown was following them in his vehicle mode. "Stop showing off and keep your optic on the price."
Starscream stopped and flew away again, but Prowl turned and fired his EMP generator. "Can't I do both?"
The blast hit Starscream, and seconds later, he crashed down to the ground. Prowl floated down back onto the road just as Lockdown drove up. He then transformed to robot mode and slapped a pair of stasis cuffs on Starscream.
Lockdown looked at him curiously. "You know you remind me of someone. Oh, yeah… me." He then activated his comlink. "Lockdown to Megatron."
"You… you're working for Megatron?" Prowl stared.
Lockdown raised an eye. "Who do you think issued that bounty… Autobots?"
"Lockdown, I should have known you would be going after Starscream," said Megatron.
"Then I hope you're ready to folk over that bounty because I got your bot right here."
"Where can we meet?"
"There's a big abandoned warehouse in old Detroit I like. I'm sending the coordinates now."
Then Starscream came back online, and Lockdown bent down. "Don't take me to Megatron. Please, anything but Megatron!"
"Don't worry, you are not going to Megatron," said Prowl as he was aiming his EMP generator at Lockdown.
Then Lockdown fired a bola at Prowl, tying him up and falling on the road. "Oh, yeah, he is. Megatron pays better than the Elite Guard. Soon as I get back with my reward, you and I are going to have a little spark to spark." Then he drove away with Starscream screaming.
Fortunately for Prowl, the other Autobots arrived, and Optimus used his axe to cut through the bola.
"You're lucky we could trace your energy signature," said Optimus looking at and disapprovingly.
"And you're lucky that you didn't go offline," Elita scolded.
"If we hurry, we catch Lockdown and Starscream," Prowl urgently as he rose to his feet.
"What now you are going after two Decepticons? What's gone into you lately?" Optimus asked.
"I'll tell you what's gone it to him modes and upgrades," Ratchet answered.
"I'm just doing what is necessary to capture Starscream," Prowl argued, and then he transformed to vehicle mode and drove off. Reluctantly the others transformed their vehicle modes and followed him.
"Really then, how nauseously is that sidecar?" Ratchet asked.
"You may not have noticed, but the Decepticons are bigger, stronger, and more powerful than we are. If you what to play with the big bot, you got to be big," said Prowl plainly.
"Now you're starting to sound like that bounty bot," Bulkhead noted.
"Prowl, I have the ability to download any powers I want, but I don't let all that power go to my processor," said Elita.
"You're starting to act like Sentinel, trying to act tough and disregarding everything around him," said Moonracer.
"It's my fault lending you that EMP gen," Ratchet sighed. "I thought you could handle the responsibility."
"I can handle the responsibility. If you could see what I can do with these modes," Prowl argued.
Then they saw Lockdown towing Starscream.
"Looks like you are going to get your chance. There's Lockdown with Starscream," said Optimus.
Then Bulkhead saw a harrier jet fly over them. "Then who's that?"
"Probably just arguer harrier jet," Prowl answered.
Then the jet turned to face them, the Autobots and stopped and then the jet transformed and standing in front of them was Starscream. "Guess again, Autobot. Well, if it isn't my favourite band of plucky little Autobots."
"Autobots, prepare for battle!" Optimus said as they transformed to robot mode.
"Wait, you misunderstand. Noble Optimus Prime, cunning Elita-1, brave Moonracer, wise Ratchet, stealthy Prowl and mighty...eh…"
"Bulkhead!" Bulkhead growled angrily.
"Ooh, that's too bad," said Starscream and continued. "I come not to fight but to offer a deal."
"What kind of deal?" Optimus asked.
"To work together, team up if you will and rid the galaxy of the scourge that is Megatron. Thus paving away for peace between Autobot and Decepticons," Starscream offered.
"Enough talk," said Prowl as he pulled out a sort of spear that can electrify enemies on contact.
"Nice looking toy. But I got to jet," said Starscream and took off.
But Prowl just went after him and stuck the spear in his neck joint. He screamed in agony and crashed through a tree, and banged into Optimus. Then Prowl activated the ion swords in his new arm plates and cut off Starscreams null rays, then he landed on the road and put a pair of stasis cuffs on him.
"Consider yourself grounded," said Prowl
Ratchet glared at him disapprovingly. "Nice work, Mr Happy Modes. Why don't you just use the EMP?"
"Where's the fun in that?" Prowl asked with a smile.
"Well, for starters, you might have done a little less damage to everything around you," Ratchet said, pointing to the tree and on the ground was a nest with two broken eggs around it.
"Not only that, but you disregarded your own team," Elita snapped as she helped Optimus up.
"That sneak attack was perfect," Starscream praised. "Much more effective than that fighting with honour nonsense. Are you sure that you don't have some Decepticon oil in your tubs?"
Prowl just stood there in shock
"Think maybe it's time to ditch those modes?" Ratchet asked.
Prowl backed away, still trying to comprehend what he had just done. "I know your right, and I will. But just as soon as I capture that other Starscream."
Then before anyone could stop him, he transformed to vehicle mode and drove off.
"I still don't understand how there are two Starscream?" Moonracer frowned.
Elita was examining their Starscream thoroughly. "If I would have to venture a guess, I would say that this Starscream is a clone."
"Is that even possible?" Optimus asked. "Even if Starscream was able to make a copy of himself would still be an empty husk."
Moonracer eyes widened. "Unless he has an AllSpark fragment."
"Then he would be able to give his clones life," said Elita.
"Simply brilliant, you certainly do have quite the scientific mind," Starscream praised.
"Though it would seem as if each of his clones have been given one aspect of his personality. In our case, this clone has his sycophant."
"His what?" Bulkhead asked.
"He's a suck-up," Moonracer explained.
"Whatever the case, we have to catch up with Prowl before he does anything stupid," said Optimus.
Prowl had managed to reach the warehouse. He then transformed to robot mode and jumped on the roof and through the window. From there, he could see Megatron, Lugnut, and Blitzwing were with Lockdown and the other Starscream.
"So Starscream, the traitor has a nice ring to it," said Megatron looking down at Starscream. "You shall sever as a reminder to any Decepticons who might—"
Then Prowl's foot hit a screw, and Megatron heard it; he quickly turned and noticed Prowl. Realising that he had been seen, he jumped down to the ground and got ready for battle.
"Bring me the Autobot interloper," Megatron ordered and both Lugnut and Blitzwing armed their guns and cannons.
"Don't do anything stupid, Prowl," said Lockdown.
Prowl was ready to fight, but just then, Optimus, Elita, Moonracer and Ratchet broke through the metal door, and the Decepticons quickly aimed their weapons at the newcomers.
Then the Autobots transformed into robot mode and pulled out their own weapons. "Let him go, Megatron," Optimus ordered.
All of them had their weapons out, ready to attack. There all stood all silent until Lockdown said, "If you bots don't mind, I'll take my bounty and run."
"Silence, fool!" Megatron roared. "Now then I—" Then Bulkhead drove in with the other Starscream and transformed into robot mode in front of Megatron. "What in the name of the AllSpark?"
"Okay, you folks look like you just discussed this, and maybe I'm just in the way," said Lockdown, slowly backing away until Megatron fired his fusion cannon at him.
"No one leaves until I find out which one is the real Starscream!" Megatron roared.
"Actually, the answer is rather simple; it's none of them," said Elita.
Then the Starscream clones' optics glowed, and their chest plates slid down to reveal splices device, which began to spin around, flashing red.
"Did you really think I would offer so little a challenge?" said Starscream's voice. "I allowed you to capture these clones to fulfil my plan to eliminate you all! Especially you, MegaFOOL! Mwahaha-hahaha! In moments you will be blown to bits, and I will become the Supreme Leader of ALL DECEPTICONS!"
"I think not, traitor," Megatron growled and fired his fusion cannon at the skylight. "Transform and rise up!"
All the Decepticons transformed to vehicle mode and flew away. Lockdown had also disappeared, clearly not wanting to stick around.
"Uh, shouldn't we be going to?" Bulkhead asked.
Optimus quickly rushed towards the nearest Starscream. "These bombs could destroy half the city. We have to stop them."
"We can't run, we can't contain the exportation, but perhaps we can move it," said Prowl as he removed his armour. "Bulkhead, bring the Starstcreams together and stand them back to back."
Bulkhead did what he was told, and Prowl began welding his armour to the clones using his ion sword.
"Take cover!" Prowl yelled and plunged his spear into the clones' backs to activate the jump jet boosters.
They all braced as the Starscream clones took off through the skylight.
Megatron and his Decepticons were flying away from the city when shooting out of the clouds worthy Starscream clones. Then seconds later, they exploded directly over the city. While Megatron and his Decepticons were far enough away to avoid the blast, they were knocked off course by the shockwave.
The Autobots had observed everything from outside the warehouse.
They walked out of the warehouse in time to see the exportation.
Optimus sighed with relief. "Good thinking, Prowl."
"Shorted out my shield mode," said Prowl as he removed the shield.
"And that slime bucket Lockdown got away again," said Ratchet frustratingly.
Then Prowl got a message on his comlink. "What do you what, Lockdown?"
"How about that spark to spark now, partner? I've been thinking you and I are kindred spirits. Like I said, you got a gift, so how about you ditch those losers and go into business with me?" he asked.
"That's very flattering, Lockdown. But I decided that all this over modification is strictly for weak processors. Playing with your toys may have been fun for a while, but in the end, it just wasn't me."
"Oh, now don't take it like that."
"Don't contact me again unless you have a strong urge to be captured and turn over to the Elite Guard," Prowl said, then he gave back Ratchet's EMP generator. "Thank you for lending me this. However, I don't believe I'll be needing it again."
Ratchet smiled and nodded.
The real Starscream was sitting aboard the Nemeses listening to an announcement from Megatron and spinning a pair of stasis cuffs around his finger.
"Attention all Decepticons, I Megatron am increasing the bounty for the traitor Starscream only this time MAKE SURE YOU GET THE REAL STARSCREAM," he yelled.
"CURSE YOU, MEGATRON!" Starscream roared. "What does it take to destroy you? Oh well, plenty more where they come from."
he then turned around and looked at all of his clones.