Ch. 73

Knockout groaned loudly as he shuffled from the hallway into the main room of the Autobot base, "This place is CRAMPED!"

Breakdown followed behind him and shrugged, "I tried to warn you, doc. Best recharge you're gonna get is when you're in vehicle mode."

The red mech pouted loudly, "But I like to spread out."

Ratchet scowled from his work station and set down a rough framework he was welding, "Would you stop complaining?! We've been making this place work for far longer than you have!"

Knockout scoffed, "Sure you have. But your base had only five bots to contend with. Not nine all running around."

"I can assure you," Starscream grumbled tiredly from beside a computer console, "that no one can 'run around' in here. And don't you dare think about running off, we may need you..."

Soundwave silently typed into the console the seeker was leaning against, only nodding slightly to agree with the silver mech's statement.

Knockout groaned, "I need to rev my engine! Can't I take a drive around the canyon? I won't go alone, I'll take Breakdown and Bumblebee, at least then we can race a bit!"

"No one is going anywhere," Arcee stated firmly as she walked in, carrying a datapad, "not until we figure out what's going on."

Starscream took the datapad from the femme as she walked passed and frowned at it, "Really, really?! You know, Agent Fowler's intel is giving us nothing, nothing at all to help with this whole MECH debacle."

"Well if someone hadn't changed so much," Knockout hissed.

The silver mech's wings flared on either side of his chassis, a growl emanating from deep within his chestplate, "I expect that from Ratchet, NOT from you!"

Optimus' large form slowly made its way into the main room to investigate the noise he had heard coming down the hall. The Prime watched as Ratchet slowly over-welded the frame he was working on. Knockout continued to bicker noisily with Arcee and Starscream while Breakdown simply shook his helm. Even Soundwave, whose productivity was known to be legendary, was slipping up as he typed into the console he was working on.

Optimus allowed himself a simple intake, before addressing the room, "Autobots. Esteemed guests," the room quickly silenced and a multitude of optics settled on the large mech, save for Soundwave's faceplate which was still glued to the computer screen, "I understand that tensions are high. Many events have changed in the passed few days, as have accommodations for most of us here. I am working with Agent Fowler now to find more suitable arrangements for the four of you so that we may work together more efficiently."

Knockout rolled his optics and Starscream sighed, "Don't bother. We have accommodations, we just haven't been able to leave to get to them."

Breakdown smirked a little, "It'd be nice to have an actual berth to lay on."

Knockout purred at the thought, but it was quickly robbed from him when Ratchet spoke up, "You won't even tell us where this... this 'secondary base' is! You just escaped Megatron, do you really think being without additional support will do you any good?"

Optimus went to the older mech's side, resting a servo on his shoulder plating, "Easy, old friend."

Ratchet grumbled as he went back to welding his frame and the Prime looked over to Starscream, "Perhaps it is best if you inform us of the next event."

The seeker leveled out his wings with a huff and thought hard, "Well, we just finished killing off my armada. What should have happened in the end result would have been the Nemesis crashing off somewhere in the desert, but that didn't happen."

Knockout huffed with him, "No, it did not."

Starscream crossed his arms, "The result of that would have forced Megatron to use dark energon on the ship to repair itself."

Ratchet stopped welding to look up in horror, "A ship that size? Exposed to that kind of fuel source?!"

Breakdown shrugged, "Relax, doc. Scream got rid of Unicron which stopped dark energon from doing anything anymore."

Knockout nudged the blue mech back as he stepped forward, "Furthermore, thanks to my innovative prowess, we didn't need to have Bulkhead damage the ship to bring it down."

Starscream snarled, "I- you- I was the one who did all the work!"

Knockout sneered and crossed his arms, "I jumped off the side of the ship and flew like a radiant badaft."

"I had to push you off the side!"

"Please, everyone!" Optimus' voice echoed over; the bots fell silent and the Prime continued, "The details of what has already transpired is irrelevant in this moment. From what I understand, this event, what was supposed to take place, will no longer matter as it will never happen."

Knockout sighed and shrugged, Starscream simply nodding, "Yes, Optimus. Because of how we- I said WE, Knockout," the red mech glared and the seeker continued, "because of how we handled the last event, this next one will not happen."

"And neither will the ones after."

Knockout quickly covered his own mouth after the comment slipped out but Arcee quickly turned on Starscream, frowning, "What was supposed to happen after that, Starscream? Care to share with the rest of us?"

The seeker glared angrily at the red mech, but still managed to grumble, "Well. It goes like this: the Nemesis decodes four Iacon relic locations. It starts heading towards one and disables the Decepticon army when Megatron tries to interfere. The children get onto the ship, they collect enough of the database to give you these four coordinates and stop the ship's rampage, and it quickly becomes a race to who gets what."

Knockout pouted softly, touching at his chestplate, "I'm supposed to get sandpapered."

Optimus blinked gently, "You mentioned before that you managed to collect many of these relics and place them within a protected location. Starscream, may I ask that these relics be placed in our current base for safe keeping?"

"That's a no, Optimus," Starscream said quickly, "partially because you don't get all of them to begin with," the Prime frowned softly, but allowed the silver mech to continue, "The only device you do manage to retrieve is the Phase Shifter, but I've grown emotionally attached to it."

Knockout scowled, "You said I get to try it out."

Starscream sneered, "Well, I'm not going to be nice enough to let you anymore, am I?"

The red mech began to intake quickly, then pointed angrily at the seeker, "We fixed up part of the Harbinger, the relics are there!"

"You traitor!"

"You promised we were sharing!"

"Enough, all of you!" Ratchet finally hollered, glaring, "Regardless of what was supposed to happen, or what transpired before for you Starscream, this timeline is changing now! So what happened before is now a figment; it can never occur again. What you should do now is either bring those relics here or have them moved to a secondary location so that we all have access to them."

Starscream growled, "Do you know how long it took to dig out those treasures?! The pain I endured and repairs I had to make to myself?! It wasn't a simple stroll into a cave, Doctor!"

Optimus held in a sigh, "We understand that, Starscream. So what do you think is best then? Are they truly safe in this 'part of the Harbinger'?"

The seeker felt his anger quickly subside and he fidgeted, "Well... I mean, yes... They have been so far."

Breakdown nodded, "We didn't skimp on security. Whole side of the ship Starscream chose is rigged with sensors and energy scrambling nodes. Nothing would be able to get in without us knowing."

"Then why don't we just let the four of you station yourselves there?" Arcee inquired, "You'd have to let us check the place out first, give us an open look around, but if you say it's safe then what's the harm?"

Ratchet scoffed and grumbled, but Optimus nodded, "If this location is deemed acceptable, and the four of you are willing to defend it and the relics, then I only have one request to make."

Starscream's wings perked, "And... what would that be then?"

The Prime smiled and gestured to a small section of Ratchet's workstation, small, precut pieces of metal sitting on the table, "May I ask that we formally accept the four of you as soldiers of the Autobot faction?"