What Makes No Difference Is No Difference (WMNDIND 18)

-0-On an organic planet

Prowl stood on the hard baked earth that formulated a huge landing port in a vast jungle clearing, one where ships stood ready to fly and others flew in to land. Some carried small groups of refugees and others soldiers, some of them new who had finally made their way forward. He was watching a ship coming in, one still in space which was burning down into the atmosphere on its way to land. It carried a number of disagreeable individuals, not least among them the redoubtable Impactor.

It had rained all morning, sheets of it, then the clouds parted. The heat of the sun with a humidity of nearly 100% had sucked all the water back up drying the surface of the ground to a concrete-like hardness. Trees still dripped in the forests beyond but the canopies were dried out. Now that they were, huge blossoms opened up, multicolored flowers that only bloomed in the intense drier heat of midday. By night or if the rain came again, they would close up to ride out the downpours.

Given that they'd scanned for a planet without obvious sentient life for their base and fall back area, this strange blossom turned out to be the dominant semi-sentient life form here. It communicated with other blossoms by biochemical scent, a noxious smell in and of itself and therefore had pride of place and protection by the Autobots.

There were microscopic forms of life in lakes and stagnant pools which were everywhere, more bacteria and viruses than he'd seen in ages anywhere else. Forests covered the planet, forests that thrived in the torrential rains and intense sunlight along with small fish-like creatures in the one great ocean that covered half the world to the south. They were the simplest of forms, the fishes, with less discernible self awareness than the flowers.

Nothing was smarter than the flowers so they took extreme care not to disturb them, building their bases here after a lot of scientific researching of the local areas. He felt the heat, something in the range of 145 degrees settle on his metallic skin and raise his internals. Without a thought he adjusted his temperature as he watched the ship come in for a landing. Nearby, the plants who lived here did the same so they wouldn't whither and die under the onslaught from their binary suns.

The ship landed, then the ramp slid out slamming into the ground hard. Impactor appeared at the hatch, then walked down, making his way toward Prowl. He paused before him, then nodded. "Prowl. We have a present from Prime."

Prowl nodded, glancing at the rag tag group coming off the ship to walk haphazardly toward him. Other mechs helped those on board, dragging them toward Prowl and an uncertain fate.

Prowl was not like Prime, everyone knew. Prowl wanted to win and it was said ethics could be situational around him. He had more in common with Impactor than he knew.

Both were intensely devoted to the Autobot Cause. They were both incredibly skilled as fighters and gave no quarter in battle. Both were smart and tactical. Both were prepared to do what it took to win. Yet, their temperaments were different. Impactor inspired incredible feats from his mechs. Prowl was less charismatic and more respected. Both actually were amazing leaders but Prowl was analytical and reasoned, thereby harder to know. No one ever accused Impactor of being the same.

"Did Prime send any messages?" Prowl asked Impactor as the grumbling group got closer.

"He says they're yours. I think you might want to figure out what Shockwave is doing in his system and why he's turned on Megatron," Impactor said as the group stopped before the two.

Prowl nodded to Impactor, then turned his cold blue optics upon the group who stilled for a moment. Prowl was as intimidating in person as in tales told among the mechs on both sides. "Welcome to Camp Dead End. I'm your host, Prowl. I would hope you'll be forthcoming in your answers to my questions but if you aren't I won't be deterred. Shall we go?" he asked, then nodded to the guards. "Take them to the brig. Bring Birdbrain to me in the big conference room in Ops Center. Have the processor tech meet me there."

The guards nodded, then dragged the howling pack off, separating Birdbrain halfway there to go to the Ops Center.

Both watched, then Prowl turned to Impactor. "What is your assignment now?"

"We're tracking the bad guys," Impactor said with a smirk. "It's what we do."

Prowl nodded. "I would like to have you search a sector for me, one in which refugees say roving bots harass them on world and in transit. I want them eradicated or captured. Bring them here for interrogation if you get lucky. Either way, I will be pleased."

Impactor nodded with a smirk. "Sounds like fun," he said, then began to walk to the mess hall nearby. A meal and refuel later, he and his team would head out to protect civilians trying to find safety from renegade Decepticon ships and battle groups that were essentially roving pirates outside the command of Megatron. The problem was in transit to this base or on world in settlements. Neither would be a problem for the Wreckers.

Prowl watched him go, then walked toward Ops Center. He considered his options, then defaulted toward furthering the advancement of the Autobots. He would find out what Birdbrain knew if he had to unscrew his helm himself. He disappeared inside the building.

-0-Jasper, Nevada, Earth, Alpha Base 1-Earth

They stepped out of the elevator into the main room where everyone was gathered together. They looked at Optimus expectantly. "We captured Monstructor and sent them onward to Prowl."

Everyone stared at him a moment, then shrugged into relief.

"That slagger," Mirage said. "What a near miss that was. I suppose they were heading for Megatron then."

"No. I do not believe so. I believe that Shockwave is nearby and sent for them utilizing his codes. They were not on a trajectory that would take them to Earth," Optimus said.

"WHO'S MONSTRUCTOR!?" a voice asked from around their ankles.

Everyone looked down into the curious faces of Miko. Standing behind her, the other humans waited.

"Monstructor is a combiner, a gestalt mechanism whereby a number of individuals, from two to as many as six combine together to make one unstoppable force. This gestalt has the distinction of being the first one developed and it was done so by the Decepticons. Because they have no respect for their subjects and do not approach any problem with a humane ethical outlook, they created a monster. This mechanism when combined is murderous," Optimus said.

"I've faced off against Monstructor five times including this one and I have to say that they're the Apocalypse. The story is that even their touch brings on death," Springer said.

The others around him nodded. "Did you get them before they combined?" Drift asked.

"No. They combined but it was short lived," Optimus said. "Impactor and his crew were instrumental in taking him down."

"THE ONE WITH THE MOHAWK!? I WANT TO MEET HIM! HE'S AWESOME!" Miko said.

Bulkhead looked at her with a slight smirk. "He is that."

"What now?" Arcee asked. "Do we go look for Shockwave? What does this mean between him and Megatron? If they're on the outs then maybe we can use this to our advantage."

"I agree. What it means will be for Prowl to sort out. I want to have any message he sends no matter where I am or what I am doing, Ratchet. I also would like you and Perceptor to start hunting for any signals that might indicate Shockwave's whereabouts. He could be dug in on something that the human's refer to as Planet X."

"AWESOME! I'VE HEARD OF THAT PLANET!" Miko said. "It's supposed to be way out there in the comet mix pulling on things with its gravity."

Everyone looked at her, then she shrugged. "I like to read 'weird news' on the internet."

"If we get a reasonable fix on him we can go out and look," Wheeljack said. "We have two ships now."

"What about looking for the planet utilizing what the humans used to theorize its existence?" Perceptor said glancing at Wheeljack and Ratchet.

"The gravitational anomalies that outed its hidden possibilities?" Ratchet asked musing to himself. "Very well. Its a start," he said glancing at both mechs. "Help me re-calibrate our ghost sensors on the human's orbiting satellites. Then we can scan for any gravitational anomalies in the Oort Field that might be Planet X."

The three turned to the computational center nearby and began to work on the problem.

Optimus looked at them, then the others. "Any word on relics?"

"We're covering the northern tier of the United States," Bumblebee replied in his sing-song voice. "We can go back out again and keep up the grid searching."

"Not you, Bumblebee," Perceptor said turning toward the mini-con. "I have a device that might give you back your vocal processor. Ratchet asked me to bring it with me from Alpha Base 1 in the field."

Bee looked at Ratchet who flustered. "I heard that a very good prosthetic doctor was at the camp rescued from wandering in a refugee group. I asked him to look into your problem and sent the files. He devised something that might do the trick. NOW UNDERSTAND! IT MIGHT do the trick."

Bee looked at Ratchet, then flung himself at the big medic. Hugging him tightly, he replied in the sing-song lilt of NeoCybex, the common language of most Cybertronians. "RATCHET! THIS IS … IS AWESOME!"

"I hope so, Bee," Ratchet said hugging Bee warmly. He held him a moment, then turned to Perceptor. "When can we do this for him?"

"Now?" Perceptor said glancing at Wheeljack. "If you could do this for now, I will rejoin you, Wheeljack."

"No problem," Wheeljack said with a grin directed to Bumblebee. "It'd be my pleasure."

"Then you can assist, Ratchet," Perceptor said. "It really is a simple replacement but the calibration is the trick."

The three walked toward the med bay nearby with Ironhide's optics following. Then the group turned to the bridge and began to go on their missions.

Miko watched them, then leaned into Jack and Raf. "Did you see the way Ironhide looked at Ratchet when he hugged Bee?"

"What do you mean?" Raf asked in his twelve year old fuddledness.

"I don't know but something is up," Miko said as she pondered the moment.

Jack watched the last bot leave, then Optimus walk to the back of the facility with Magnus. "Let it go, Miko. Do you hear me?" he said as he began to walk to the stairs and his homework with Raf following.

"I HEAR YA!" Miko replied. "I just don't have to obey you." She began to climb the steps herself.

-0-In a conference room at a fortified Autobot base on an organic planet over 100 light years from Earth

Birdbrain sat in his seat lounging with insolence as he fortified his innards against the slagging he was probably going to get. Prowl had no spark it was said and he didn't stop until he got what he wanted. Many was the mech it was said that was nearly stripped down to their last nut and bolt. It was a place none of their side wished on their worst enemy.

Prowl walked in with a mask of cold calculation on his face. This was the smartest most normal one of the six, which wasn't saying much. None of them were anywhere near that psychological sign post but he was the least stupid one of the group. He stared at Birdbrain for the length of time to see him give the smallest tells of discomfort, then he pulled a chair to sit.

"Well, *Prowl*, you here to pull my arms and legs off?" Birdbrain asked with a savage smirk.

Prowl waited a beat, then shook his helm slightly. "No. I'm here to add your dead spark casing to my collection."

Birdbrain flinched again. "You're a machine. No spark, no emotions. I won't make it easy for you."

Prowl sat back considering the mech before him, then unsubbed a kit that he'd used as a policeman in Praxus back in the orn. "You won't have to. I'll make it easy for you."

Birdbrain looked at the kit. "That's illegal on Cybertron."

"This isn't Cybertron and frankly, no one's going to know," Prowl said coldly.

It was silent in the room but the sounds of machines in the Ops Center outside could faintly be heard through the wooden walls of the building.

Birdbrain stared at Prowl doing the math. The machine would allow Prowl to pillage his mind. He would have no defenses. Prowl would get what he wanted and if he was lucky, the big fragger wouldn't 'accidentally' erase his processor and use him for waste maintenance in a half drone state of pillaged mentality. "You're a fragger. You think you're so much better than us, then you threaten me with that. What makes you think I care?"

Prowl leaned forward on his elbows, then laced his fingers together. "First of all, nothing is worse than you. I've seen what's left of places where you've been. Secondly, you seem to think that I care about your lack of caring. Thirdly and most important, I am Second-In-Command of the Autobot Armed Forces. Everything and everyone depends upon me doing whatever I have to do to win.

"Given that you're the sacrifice sitting here with information I need to know, given that your past is excremental and the line of death behind you vast and long, no one is going to hold it against me if I have to pull your optics out of your head with pliers to get what I need to know. So … what are you going to do here, Birdbrain? Die for someone who doesn't care about you and yours or live by telling me what you know?"

The coldness in Prowl's optics chilled Birdbrain to the superstructure.

-0-TBC 2-20-16 01-24-2021