Chapter 12

A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome back! I'm glad to see y'all're enjoying the story and I hope this new chapter's up to y'all's expectations. Anyways, I'm just the writer, my friend owns Emerald, and all the other characters belong to Hasbro or DC.

/comms/

"'Bee/Soundwave"

Telepathy

Autobot Base, July 13, 12:45PDT

The main hangar of the base was unusually quiet as Ratchet typed on his monitor, filling out the data for the new medical files for the Young Justice League as Flash so eloquently named it. He was grateful for the silence, it meant he wasn't going to be distracted by overly excitable human younglings or have to worry about another of Bulkhead's mishaps.

However, the silence did make him take notice that the typing at another station nearby had stopped for some time now. Glancing over, he could see Optimus resting his chin against his knuckles, the Prime appearing to be lost in thought as he looked over the same report he'd been working on for the past joor.

"Optimus, why so glum?" Ratchet spoke up, stepping away from his station to stand by his friend. "This planet, all planets, are finally free from Megatron's tyranny."

Prime gave a low sigh, "I do not disagree, Ratchet. It's just…a small part of me hoped to change Megatron's mind, not extinguish his spark."

Ratchet rolled his eyes, of course that was what Prime was brooding about. "Optimus, his vileness was not slain by your hand, but by his own twisted arrogance!" he scoffed. "And I know Solarflare is probably saying the exact same thing!"

Beside him, Prime flared his own EM field in a quiet warning.

It wasn't threatening, no; Ratchet knew what the Prime's EM field felt like when Optimus was truly pissed, and it was an experience he could go the rest of his life without repeating. This was more of…a reminder to think through the situation and keep a cool head.

Ratchet would admit, he never liked Megatron. He tolerated the man when he and Optimus were friends, but something about him had always rubbed him the wrong way. However, that dislike quickly turned to hate after the Youth Sectors. Yet, even then, had Optimus brought him a dying Megatron and asked him to save his life, Ratchet would've. That only changed after Tyger Pax. After that nightmare, Ratchet swore that even if the warmonger was dying in front of him, he wouldn't even grant the man a painless death.

In fact, he'd probably twist the knife for good measure.

Especially since he was the reason their planet was all but dead.

Optimus, however, had always been rather…touchy about the subject of Megatron. Granted, it shouldn't have been surprising, the pair had been close friends. Not to mention there was the little detail that the infernal warmonger was the brother of Optimus's own mate. But still, after what happened to Bumblebee…he figured Megatron's death would be something to celebrate.

However, as much as it pained him to admit it, Optimus was likely devastated about the loss. Even if he didn't openly show it. Megatron had once been his friend and brother, someone he trusted with his life and the life of his mate. Of course, some part of him would still hope the man he knew was still in there somewhere.

"I'm sorry. I know you three had quite a history."

"Yes," Optimus acknowledged, "but the Megatron we once fought beside, perished eons ago." The Prime sighed, leaning back in his seat with a grim frown, "The Decepticons may be in disarray but they aren't without leadership. It will not take long for word of Megatron's demise to spread throughout his ranks, and many of the fleet captains will not take well to Starscream's takeover; it's likely some will try to initiate hostile takeovers themselves. He will do something to cement his station as the new head of the Decepticons, and while Starscream is no Megatron, he is far from predictable."

Ratchet almost groaned.

Starscream.

The idea that that idiot was in charge of the Decepticons almost made him wish for Megatron back. He was like, as humans said, a cockroach; no matter how many times one seemed to kill him he somehow came crawling back. And, unlike Megatron, Starscream would not be able to beat his men into submission if they stepped out of line. No. Starscream didn't command the same fear over his soldiers the way his predecessor did. It wouldn't be long before factions start to split off, making their job that much harder.

The medic opened his mouth to respond when an explosion rocked the base, smoke filling the hall leading from the sparring room to the hangar, cutting off whatever he was about to say. Sprinting down the hall, Ratchet pulled out his blades, ready for a fight.

However, instead of seeing supervillains or 'Cons, he and Optimus were greeted by a group of teenagers sprawled on the floor around a black scorch mark that had not been there before.

"Ow," Wally coughed, sitting up, parts of his hair smoking.

"What in the Allspark is going on in here?" the medic demanded.

"An experiment," Emerald replied.

"A poorly planned experiment," Robin agreed with a grimace. "We, uh, well—you know how Cybertronians can release EMPs?"

Ratchet raised a brow, sharing a surprised glance with Optimus. While the explosion should've have been a surprise given the younglings' previous antics, the fact that it was scientific certainly interested the medic. "Yes?"

"Well," Kid Flash chimed in, rubbing the back of his head, "we were curious how they could affect Robin's gear, and well…" he trailed off, motioning to the scorch mark, "now we know."

"Why did you need to know that?"

"We are going to be doing missions together," Bumblebee spoke up, giving a shrug. "Figured it wouldn't hurt to check to see if my powers had an effect on Rob's tech. And now we know that using EMPs probably won't be the best idea."

Ratchet's brows furrowed, as he knelt down by the scorch mark. Crossing EMPs with explosives had never crossed his mind before, he figured the explosive devices would be disarmed, not explode as a result. On one hand it would be handy for future use, on the other, there was now an apparent risk of one of the non-superpowered Leaguers blowing up should their explosives come into contact with a Cybertronian EMP burst. A risk that would likely end up with him spending hours in surgery trying to fix the damage.

Clearly the equipment would have to be modified to withstand such an attack.

He'd have to contact Batman and Flash, he was sure the Dark Knight and the speedster would enjoy assisting him in such an experiment. If it went well, they could even look into making other League equipment resistant to such attacks—not to mention Red Tornado would potentially be damaged should one occur. Granted, such repairs would take numerous joors of testing and modeling to determine the proper variables affecting sensitivity and what triggered certain system failures or explosions.

But the true challenge of the experiment would not go unappreciated.

He was just shocked such an idea came from the kids. They never had expressed such an interest in the scientific process before, let alone Cybertronian biology.

"Uh…Doc, you ok? You have that 'mad scientist' look."

"I do not have a look!" Ratchet scolded, cuffing the teenager on the back of the head. "However, I do appreciate you all bringing this apparent flaw in our strategy to my attention."

"Speaking of working as a team," Optimus interrupted, "I believe it is time for your first training exercise. Suit up and meet up at the groundbridge in five."

"Training exercise?" Wally asked looking to the others as the adults left the room. "We don't need any training in teamwork, we already know how."

"Correction," 'Bee scoffed, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall, "y'all know how to work with your mentors. Working in a team is a completely different concept. Or do I need to remind y'all of Saturday?"

"What happened Saturday?" Miss Martian asked.

"Nothing, Green Cheeks!" the speedster snapped glaring at his friend.

"I wouldn't say nothing," Robin disagreed. "'Bee's right, Saturday was a disaster. We were all on completely different pages."

"Seriously, what happened?" Superboy questioned.

"Long story short, we were hanging out in Central City, found out the Shadows were trying to assassinate someone connected with Cadmus, and because we didn't know what the heck everyone else was doing we barely managed to save her life and capture the bad guys," Emerald replied.

"And Optimus probably found out and is taking us on this training assignment to prevent it from happening it again," Kaldur sighed.

"Probably," Emerald agreed pulling out her ring, and slipping it on her finger allowing a wave of green light to pass over her as her uniform appeared. "Well, I'm ready to go."

"Of course you are."

-.-

Canyonlands National Park 2:15MDT

"Now, I know all of you are used to working with your mentors," Optimus started, crossing his arms as he looked over the group of teenagers standing before him, "However, working in a team is different. All of you have different skill sets and experiences, and not knowing how to work with it will hinder you on missions. Today, you're going to learn how to properly communicate with your teammates, understand their strengths and weaknesses to use them to your advantage and to give you the best odds of success, and learn how to use your surrounding environment to your advantage. Think of this exercise as a tournament of sorts. You'll be starting off in teams of two in different regions of the canyon; your goal is to be the last team standing—without severely hurting each other."

"What do the winners get?" Kid Flash asked, his hand shooting up into the air.

"Winners get to pick their teammates for the next round. We'll go until everyone has been partnered with each other at least once," Optimus stated. "From there we'll increase the team size to teams of three and run through it again. Now, since there is an uneven number, Bumblebee will be working with me to monitor the matches and make sure no one gets hurt."

"Why doesn't he have to participate?!" KF complained.

"Because I've been working on different teams for the past few millennia," the scout snickered. "Anyways, I've made the teams that I think will have the most…interesting results for the first match: Team 1 is Rob and Em, Team 2 is KF and Superboy, and Team 3 is Aqualad and Miss M. Good luck guys, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

"You have ten minutes to separate and plan, after that the match will begin," Prime spoke.

The teens didn't need to be told twice, quickly dispersing to try to plan their victories. Undoubtedly this challenge would invigorate their competitive streaks, so at least they wouldn't be holding back completely. Of course, that also meant that they had to keep an eye out for cheating.

"Most interesting results," Optimus repeated tiredly, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "do I want to know what you mean by that?"

"Probably not."

"…Go to your spot to watch the matches."

'Bee grinned at his father's exasperation behind his mask, giving him a playful salute as he turned to jog to his spot. His friends were quiet as he wove through the desert canyons, no doubt wanting to keep their plans as secret as possible to make sure they won. Well…he assumed Rob, Em, Aqualad, and Miss M were planning; KF was probably talking at a million miles an hour to SB and the guy would be catching every third word, so their strategy was going to be entertaining to watch.

Of course, that was why he paired them together. He might as well get some entertainment out of this.

Feeling a slight tremor under his feet, the scout slowed to a stop, crouching on the ground as he pressed his palm on it. Sure enough, he could feel a slight tremor; and, considering they weren't near any fault lines, the likelihood of it being an earthquake was minimal at best. Odds were, it was either one of his friends concocting a plan to use the environment to their advantage, or worse, it was a rockslide.

"Sir, I'm detecting a disturbance approximately two kliks southeast of my current location, moving to investigate."

/Understood Bumblebee, proceed with caution/

Creeping down the now looming canyon walls, he could make out a blue glow reflecting off the rocks from a turn up ahead. Fortunately, he didn't even need to reach the bend to figure out the source of the disturbance.

Nope, he had his answer as soon as he felt the familiar EMF field flare out in an attempt to make its owner seem more intimidating than he really was.

Sighing, the scout pulled back and tapped his commlink again, "Dad, Starscream's up to something."

/Understood, I'm in route now/

"Awaken warrior. RISE AND SERVE YOUR NEW MASTER!"

Primus, clearly the Buckethead's demise had done nothing to diminish the seeker's ego. At least this was going to be interesting.

"Skyquake serves only one master," a new voice replied.

Ok, 'Bee did not know whoever the frag that was. Furrowing his brows, the scout snuck towards the targets, his curiosity getting the better of him as he peered around the corner. As expected, the annoying now leader of the Decepticons stood in front of another Cybertronian in green and red armor. Who he hadn't expected to be there was a certain spymaster.

Yanking his EM field close, 'Bee paused for a moment to make sure that Soundwave hadn't noticed his presence. Fortunately, he seemed just about as interested in the argument between the other two as the scout was.

Relieved that for the most part he seemed to be unnoticed for the time being, he began to look over the new adversary, he was tall, probably about his father's height, so he was probably not a full seeker like Starscream; harder to take down, but easier to evade. Judging from the scars on his face, the man had probably seen some combat…actually, one of the scuffs on his armor looked like it came from his mom's axe. So, if he somehow survived an encounter with her, then he was probably more experienced in combat than most; another ex-gladiator more than likely.

"Your loyalty and devotion will set a fine example for the troops," Starscream started, drawing the scout from his thoughts. "No need to be timid, Skyquake, you may bow."

The new 'Con scowled angrily, "You fail to grasp my meaning."

Oh, sweet Primus this was gonna be good.

"I am here on a mission, assigned to me by my one master: Megatron," Skyquake finished.

Starscream gave a nervous laugh, "Yes, him…uh, sadly, Lord Megatron is no longer with us…"

"Impossible!"

"WHY IS THIS SO DIFFICULT FOR EVERYONE TO ACCEPT?!" Starscream exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "Skyquake! I located you! I awakened you! Thus, I, Lord Starscream, am your new master!"

Where was the popcorn when he needed it, because at this rate the 'Cons were going to tear each other apart from the inside and 'Bee was not about to give up his front row seats.

"Bumblebee," Optimus spoke quietly, approaching from behind, "what have you gathered?"

The scout smirked, "Just front row seats to Starscream's latest aft whooping by some new 'Con."

He didn't need to glance behind him to know his father was slightly annoyed and wanted an actual intel report.

"Starscream and Soundwave appear to have woken up a 'Con named Skyquake from a stasis pod they dug out from the canyon walls. He mentioned being assigned to the mission by Megatron, so I can only assume he's guarding a major energon cache. Judging from the look of him, I think he used to be a gladiator, which is likely why he was assigned to the mission. Starscream is currently trying to convince him that the slagmaker's dead and he's somehow in charge; and it's not going well. Our best option would be to let them take each other out and eliminate the weakened victor."

"Understood, hold your position."

Nodding, 'Bee pressed himself against the wall, readying his cannons and waiting for the order to strike.

What he didn't expect was his father to casually stroll up to the feuding Decepticons. "Skyquake," Prime greeted.

Shoving Starscream aside, the man turned to face the newcomer, "Optimus Prime, I haven't seen you since the battle of Technar. Megatron ordered me to annihilate you."

"That was a long time ago."

"That may be Prime, but my orders still stand!"

Well, more like they were floating around as space dust, but whatever.

"Is this ancient war still worth fighting? When so many comrades have been lost? And worlds destroyed?" Prime spoke. "If you want to be a true leader Starscream then stary from Megatron's path, and lead the Decepticons towards peace."

Sometimes, 'Bee really hated his father's pacifistic nature; Megatron was more likely to rise from the dead than for Starscream to bring peace.

"I would be willing to consider a truce," the seeker drawled, smirking to himself, "if you would be willing to bow before me, Optimus Prime."

Screw peace, 'Bee was going to kill the aft himself just for that.

Evidently, Skyquake agreed.

"Again?! Bow to this!" the man exclaimed, decking the smaller in the face, dust flying from the canyon walls.

Prying himself from the wall, Starscream quickly scrambled away, practically leaping behind Soundwave. The silent spy seemed to pay the coward no heed as a bridge appeared underneath the pair, allowing them to fall through.

They weren't gone, no, 'Bee could still feel the cowardly 'Con's EM field flaring in fright, but it meant that Soundwave was uninterested in getting involved this time. Which was good for everyone, because, as much as 'Bee prided himself in his skills, he knew that the Spymaster was way out of his league.

"Skyquake," Optimus began again, "this is a new era, on another world, side with the Autobots and help me end this conflict forever!"

"I will never side with a Prime!" Skyquake spat, throwing the first punch.

Curse his father and his pacifistic tendencies.