Author's Note: I'm sort of back in the transformers fandom ... just finished watching Cyberverse and am debating about watching the Netflix series.
Bridge, Nemesis
"Shockwave, why don't you tell us who our new allies are?"
"Yes, Lord Megatron. The two headed draconian with wings is Hun-Gurr. Unlike TwinStrike, the two headed one without wings, Hun-Gurr's heads seems to have two different personalities. Rippersnapper is the one Soundwave captured, and Blight is the one I retrieved. Windrazor is the one Starscream convinced."
"And their mental state?"
"For the most part, feral. Windrazor and Hun-Gurr have the most intelligence." Shockwave reported. "They are resisting Predaking's leadership, but that may be because they were allowed to develop outside controlled conditions."
"I'm surprised that the non-flyers escaped." Starscream offered.
"Just barely, Blight's leg has traces of the unstable metal. It does not impede his function."
"And what of the ones that joined the Autobots?"
"I recommend we monitor the situation. The Predacons would not follow a weak leader and the only one the Autobots have available is Ripclaw."
"I would not count out Optimus Prime. He has a habit of getting unlikely allies." Megatron studied the screen. "I noticed that our troops sent to the signal echoes have not returned."
Soundwave stepped forward, showing one of the echo locations.
"Mission Accomplished! We've got Paddles! Anyone need help?" The human girl announced.
"Well done. Return to base and wait for further instructions." Optimus's voice ordered.
Soundwave ended the clip.
"So, some of your old pets managed to survive." Megatron noted.
"And joined the Autobots." Starscream pointed out.
"A turn of events that had a less than 0.6382 percent chance of happening. Their survival alone was a virtual impossibility."
Soundwave showed the second location.
Bumblebee's familiar beeping reporting another ancient Predacon was now in tow and they had voted for Roadhauler as their leader.
Soundwave once again ended the clip.
"Who's Roadhauler?" Starscream blinked.
Soundwave showed multiple signals.
"Analysis of previous Bumblebee communications suggests that he uses cybertronian designations for the human charges." Shockwave studied the readouts. "Most likely Roadhauler is the designation he uses for Ripclaw."
"Hmm, so two of the ancient Predacons have not only survived, they've joined the Autobots!" Starscream looked annoyed.
"Can they be tracked?"
"I will go through the frequencies I used. It is interesting that they chose an unstable leader."
"Not so surprising, Optimus did choose him as an honorary Prime." Megatron glanced at the readouts. "I had hoped the boy's transformation to a beast would be to our benefit, but it seems that whatever instability caused by the Synth-En has been negligible."
"Or to his benefit, given the aggressive nature of the Predacons." Starscream noted.
"We'll have to wait and see what happens." Megatron turned back to the plans for the Omega lock.
Medical Bay, Nemesis
Knockout was not expecting to be accosted by Predaking. Again. Especially as Knockout was in the middle of repairing himself.
"Aren't you supposed to be getting the others in line?" Knockout scrambled to finish the last repair.
"Shockwave has temporarily put them in stasis so I may speak to them individually. Hun-Gurr believes themselves to be my superior." Predaking studied him. "Would it not be better to have Shockwave repair you?"
"I don't trust Shockwave to repair me. He thinks my desire to look good is illogical and would probably just do the bare basics." Knockout grumbled.
"I see." Predaking got way too close. "I understand now."
"You understand what?"
"You wished for Ripclaw to be your pack mate because you are also alone." Predaking's simple statement was enough to make Knockout freeze.
"That's none of your concern." Knockout managed. "Don't you have a pack to wrangle?"
"In a moment, I heard you had the best understanding of human customs."
"Among the Decepticons, yes. Why?"
"I spoke with Ripclaw's carrier. She was furious at my treatment of the cursed autobot she was in."
"Mm. Humans bond fairly easily with others- there's an entire section of the internet dedicated to humans bonding with other predatory species, the different types of familial bonds, and even inanimate objects if no people or animals are available to bond with. Which Autobot was it?"
"She called him Smokescreen."
"Ah, he's a rookie, and despite the age difference she'd register him as roughly the age of her own child. Humans tend to adopt anything they perceive as either similar in age or younger than them." Knockout shrugged. "Sometimes they'll adopt things older than them."
"I see, so theoretically, had I not mauled the Autobot…"
"If she thought you sincere, she probably would have helped you. Unfortunately, you and I are most likely on her list of beings she will try to kill because we have hurt those she considers family." Knockout paused. "Why are you asking?"
"… Hun-Gurr refuses to accept me. Because I required aid from Lord Megatron to pin him."
"Keep trying. And … I'd be more careful about this type of conversation in the future, it almost sounds like you want to leave the Decepticons."
"… That's not my intention." Predaking left.
Knockout watched him.
It wasn't the first time Knockout had considered leaving the Decepticons and going neutral, but it was the first time he had thought of encouraging such a feeling. Predaking hadn't actually killed any Autobots, unless Smokescreen had offlined, and the Autobots would accept his sob story.
Knockout turned back to his own repairs, and ignored his own traitorous thoughts.
Unit E
Optimus was surprised to see Jack still awake after midnight, especially after the argument earlier. The human turned Predacon had been spending quite a bit of time in a partial power down trying to conserve energy, and the fights had been brutal for someone recovering.
"Roadhauler. I thought you were resting."
"Optimus. I couldn't, and we still have access to the Iacon database so I thought I'd do some reading. Paddles mentioned a few things that I wanted to look at."
"The different types of transformers." Optimus read from the screen.
"Yes." Jack glanced at the screen. "Though I'm not sure where to start, and I'm not sure of most of the words."
This, Optimus could help him with.
"The thirteen primes created their descendants, though we're not certain of all of them. Different types of transformers that settled in different parts of Cybertron." Optimus pulled up the files. "Those that are descendants of the Predacons can scan beast modes, but are unable to scan vehicles, amoung them the original dinobots."
"Paddles said he naturally had a beast mode, but Shockwave further modified it." Jack noted.
"Most likely Shockwave was looking to see the difference between the fossils and their descendants." Optimus theorized before moving on. "Micronus Prime spawned the Minicons who are small in stature but capable of linking to a larger transformers. The insecticons and Airachnid are another group, but it's not recorded to which of the Thirteen they belonged, like wise the Seekers like Starscream who have always had flight. Then there are those like Makeshift, descendants of Amalgus Prime, capable of taking many forms. The combiners were descendants of Nexus Prime, originally."
"And yet there's only a handful of types I've seen." Jack glanced at the list.
"Indeed. Ratchet told you that as Orion Pax I had noticed growing corruption. What he did not tell you was that it was a systematic erasure of all those that weren't descendants of Prima, the leader of the Thirteen."
"Let me guess, strict enforcement of a caste system and those that protested went missing?" Jack asked, surprising Optimus. "Sounds like a mix of our historical Roman Empire and some more modern Dictators."
"A similarity I am grieved to hear." Optimus admitted. "The Senate began labeling those viewed as criminals as 'decepticons', imprisoning many of them in stasis and only reprogramming those they could use. It was why I reached out to Megatron back then, I knew he could use the data to help those in need."
"Only, once he was denied what he wanted, he started doing the exact same things as the Senate?" Blue optics studied him.
"Yes. And I am afraid that the Senate merely shifted their behavior underground until they were destroyed by Megatron."
Jack didn't speak for a moment.
"Is that why you hesitated to finish off Megatron for so long? Because he was able to stop what you couldn't?"
Optimus looked away, not having expected the question. Or how accurate it was. Jack had always been perceptive.
"Because that's not a bad thing. It sounds like the Senate and their associates wanted you to be more of a figurehead than to give up what they were doing." Jack noted. "But after that ..." Jack trailed off and transformed. The transformation to Wolf mode was better now.
"I hesitated. When he continued his attacks I sought out the matrix, hoping for guidance for a quick end to the war." Optimus admitted.
"You were in a situation where the lawful government was corrupt, one of your friends turned out to be willing to mass murder people when he didn't get his way, you had to be the responsible one and neither one of those two sides were going to get over themselves to help. I don't think anyone else could have done better." Jack bumped his head against Optimus's arm, and then froze.
Optimus just gently rested a hand on Jack's shoulder. "It is alright, I have observed that you were fairly tactile as a human, and that the Predacons are more similar to that. You were being cautious after your transformation."
"Still should have been more careful."
"You were unable to tell the difference between an ally and a Vehicon because you could smell the Vehicon scent and reacted to what in your unstable state you assumed was an attack. Bumblebee's arm is not seriously damaged, we have seen the damage a Predacon can do." Both of them glanced at the still form of Smokescreen, who had yet to online. "What happened was an accident that we knew could happen; And while keeping you restricted to base or someplace separate from humans is perhaps the logical choice, I do not think it would be good for your recovery." Optimus frowned. "I also do not agree with your assessment that you need to be killed should you lose control."
"Optimus, do you know what rabies are?"
"Something that Nurse Darby had to give shots for."
"It's a disease, and it causes confusion and aggression. In animals, especially dogs and wolves, the best thing to do is put them down before they attack or kill anyone. I look like a giant wolf, Optimus, the humans on the base are going to hear that I attacked Bumblebee and draw parallels. It's better that they hear you're willing to put me down one way or another, than have them think you're okay with me being a potential threat." Jack explained.
"I understand. I was not aware of that concern." Optimus studied Jack, who just shrugged.
"It's not something we talk about often, but it's something we know." Jack sighed. "It's better than me coming out of a haze and discovering my teeth are in someone else, only they're not intact."
"If you are certain." Optimus felt tired in a way that had nothing to do with exhaustion. Jack nudged his arm again.
"I'm equally certain that that Ratchet will figure something out, before it becomes an issue." Jack reassured him.
"You should get some rest. You'll be working with your team in the morning."
"Alright." Jack stretched.
Optimus watched as Jack went to the pile that the Predacons had made. They were all in beast mode, Sky-Byte was laying on top of Paddles, who's neck and tail encircled the area Razorclaw and Divebomb were. Jack slipped into the center, and Divebomb and Razorclaw briefly woke to shift closer to Jack.
Next up, MECH returns, with a villain from G1 at the helm.
I'll give you a hint- Vogel mentioned him.