Tomorrow, the Predacons curiously followed a group of Vehicons on their hunt for Knockout. In the new neighbourhood of red metal brick houses, he was found waiting on the steps of one of them.
"Hello, boys," he said. "I was hoping you would come. I have a lot of things to move and need your help."
As it turned out, this meant carrying Knockout to the Nemesis and transporting his supplies. Knockout looked expectantly at Predaking, who growled initially but stopped when the Vehicons looked at him hopefully. Sighing in beast mode, he let Knockout climb onto him.
On their way out of the city, Whirl zipped after them and challenged, "Where do you think you're going? Is this a revolt?"
"Ha!" Knockout laughed from Predaking's back. "Do I look like a fine leader, riding on the back of a Predacon?"
Predaking tilted sharply; Knockout cried out and scrambled to hold on.
In the Nemesis, the Predacons and Vehicons crowded the med bay and Knockout's nearby personal quarters. While transporting Knockout's property outside, Ratchet surprised Predaking in one of the halls.
"While you're here, I might as well check on how your optic is healing." He beckoned for Predaking to follow him back to the med bay. Predaking picked up the pace and his brethren followed behind. Ratchet still sounded guarded, but not as impatient or frustrated as the last time.
Embarrassment crept in again when Predaking sat down on the floor. The very curious Ripclaw leaned over to catch a glimpse of his injured optic, but Ratchet waved her away.
"Yip yip yip! Give me space, I'm trying to work here."
She backed off. Knockout made an amused noise by the door. As much as Predaking tried to reject his embarrassment, he couldn't when Vehicons also stopped to watch. Ratchet pried off the eyepatch and the room's light struck Predaking's left eye. He blinked until his vision adjusted. Ratchet's frowning face was perfectly clear as he inspected his old wound.
"It's healed well…" Ratchet said. "You should be fine to go without the patch now. However, as I said before, contact me if you experience any pain."
"Yes, I shall…" Predaking stood up and made himself busy. He was glad it was more or less over. The thin scratch marks still tangible around his eye would disappear on their own.
Once Ratchet left, Knockout murmured, "So, do you have any idea where Screamer is now?"
Predaking glared.
"Just curious, I'm not asking you to capture him or anything…"
"Do you intend to reunite with your comrade?" he growled.
Knockout replied, "Not really. He's quite rude, so I'm starting to think I might be better off without him. Although, I was wondering if he was lurking around."
Predaking checked, noticing that his ability to pinpoint Starscream's location was fading.
"He is far from here," he begrudgingly replied.
"He isn't near here or Iacon?"
"No."
Predaking envisioned Starscream curled up somewhere isolated and dark, lamenting over his past mistakes. It was a satisfying thought.
"Let's finish what we were doing," Predaking announced.
Once Knockout's things were taken outside, the Vehicons were no longer useful. It was up to the Predacons to carry everything. In Iacon, everything went into Knockout's house—
"Studio!" Knockout insisted.
—and a jet Vehicon, likely Ciel, lined up at the door. He went inside when Knockout was ready, and not knowing how long the process would take, everyone else returned to work on the neighbourhood.
Bulkhead and Wheeljack approached the Predacons at work. Predaking half expected trouble from them.
Bulkhead said, "Uh, so this is long overdue… but we just wanted to thank you for helping us fight Unicron. We're, er, glad to have you on our side now. Thanks for everything you've been doing here. Oh also, for not terminating Starscream. Now we can give him a trial… if we can just find him."
"Hmm…" Predaking did not want to smile, but a slight one fought its way onto his lips. "Of course, joining forces was only logical. There would be no world to live on had we not."
"Heh heh," Darksteel chuckled. "You sounded like Shockwave."
"Anyway," Bulkhead continued, "If you're interested… you can claim some of the large-sized houses we've made. They don't have any halls or rooms, just large spaces. So you could have a roof over your head in beast form
"Why would we require a roof?" Predaking replied.
"Well, you know… If the weather gets bad or if you wanna store any valuables in a safe place… There will be locks on the doors."
"Will the houses be spacious enough to contain us all?"
Bulkhead's eyes widened. "We'd have to make a very large one for that!"
"Then have it done," Predaking said.
"But see…" Bulkhead tried to show him a diagram on his datapad. "We already have a plan… There wouldn't be space for a… mansion."
"Have it put at the end of the street." Predaking jabbed the screen.
The Wreckers glanced at each other.
"Alright…" Bulkhead said.
Wheeljack sighed and rolled his eyes.
"That house would have to be massive to contain us all in beast form!" Darksteel exclaimed.
"We'll make it," an eavesdropping Vehicon said. "Anything for you."
The Autobots glanced around in surprise as the Vehicons nodded along. Then Bulkhead looked uneased and Wheeljack suspicious, before they took their leave.
Before sunset's orange and pink rays stretched across the sky, a light blue jet streaked from the neighbourhood into the sky. The Vehicons stopped all work and stared at their brother performing in loops over the houses.
A Vehicon exhaled, "He did it… He chose his own colours!"
The sky-blue Vehicon transformed and landed neatly on a rooftop. His hands fell on his hips and he also puffed his chest in the way Altero had. Now all could see that he wasn't just sky-blue, but also had white on his wingtips and darker blue details elsewhere. And his eye band was no longer orange, but light yellow.
"I am like the sky of Earth and Cybertron! My eye is like the colour of the suns and my wing tips are like clouds!" he crowed.
The other Vehicons sighed in admiration. Ciel transformed and jetted off again, twirling and looping over every construction project. Autobots began to notice and gawk at Ciel, while Knockout stood on the steps of his house, smugly smirking at the display.
Night turned out to be more time for Ciel to bask in admiration. He sat in a lobby chair, stretching back and looking around with a nonchalant air. Many other Vehicons pressed in close and fawned over his new colours.
"It's not a paint job; it's all natural," Ciel explained. "Knockout has created fashion models. You can change your colours any way you like just by scanning those models."
However, the other Vehicons were not yet sure what colours or forms they wanted. And if they did want to commit to a change, they wanted to have a name ready like Ciel before their surgeries.
In the morning, grey clouds drifted across the sky and a light rain began. A few animals loped or flew into the city, taking cover among the construction materials. Meanwhile, Autobots complained and headed indoors with their hands over their heads.
"What's wrong with the rain?" Skylynx called out to them. Even the Vehicons looked confused.
"The rain's probably acidic!" an Autobot called back. "We don't want any metal irritation!"
"The rain is damaging?" Skylynx echoed. "Huh. What about the buildings then? Will they sustain damage?"
The Autobot retreated inside. A Vehicon replied, "I believe the materials get a protective spray at the factories."
"Ah."
"The rain surely isn't that bad for us," the Vehicon went on.
While soft water splattered them, the Predacons and Vehicons gathered great sheets of metal on a bare area at the end of a street. Vehicons working on other nearby projects abandoned them to help with the construction of the Predacons' house.
The sun peeked out between the clouds and started to dry the materials. Once the Vehicons had finished their blueprints, they began to weld metal to metal. Autobots slipped back outside and watched the Predacons raise the first wall. Then, urged by Springer and Bulkhead, the Wreckers rushed into work alongside the Vehicons. For a moment Predaking paused to look around. Burly colourful bodies were mixed among the purple. Materials were passed from strong hands to small three-fingered ones. Bulkhead had glanced at the Vehicons' blueprints, nodded, and voiced no dispute.
Perhaps the Autobots could learn to respect the Vehicons, Predaking thought.
Whirl hung back with a few other Autobots, supervising the operation with drawn weapons.
Some before others…
Devcon was nowhere to be found, which was for the best. Predaking continued work but noticed later that the strange lanky Autobot, Froid, watched the construction. There was a shy look in his eyes and he stood almost out of sight, like he didn't intend to spy but would be perfectly happy to not be seen either. Fragile gold chains with red gems wrapped around his neck and hung from the sides of his head. Golden metal bands also encircled his wrists. However beautiful the jewellery was though, Predaking thought it a flaw that they all would snap if Froid needed to transform.
He rolled his eyes then saw Knockout, also hanging back and not lifting a finger. But no matter. Ciel and the other Vehicons worked hesitantly then more confidently right beside the Autobots. Normally, the groups kept a certain distance from one another. This day, together they erected a giant lord of a house that dwarfed all others on the street.
Predaking marched inside in beast mode. It was an empty space, echoing and hollow, where he could nearly spread his wings. When he lay down and stretched out his neck, Predaking could look down the street through a window. All the Predacons tested the space in beast mode, then Ripclaw proclaimed, "This place is magnificent!"
"We haven't even finished the decorations," a Vehicon said.
The exterior walls of the house were coated with a red spray. Maroon pillars and a roof were then attached. Thematically, the house began to blend in with the rest of the neighbourhood. Two wheeled Vehicons carefully spray painted fake bricks, and as a final touch, a golden Predacon symbol on the great maroon door.
"You're so artistic!" Ripclaw claimed.
"We are?" the Vehicons echoed.
"Fantastic work, everyone!" Springer declared. He glanced at the artists, Ciel, and the other Vehicons.
"Thank you," Ripclaw told the Vehicons.
Predaking realized he had almost forgotten to say his thanks. "Yes, thank you for building us this grand habitation."
Both Autobot and Vehicon workers drifted away. The sun beamed down on the giant new house, inviting in the Predacons. There was a keypad installed on the doors by one of the Wreckers, and Darksteel had chosen the password.
He told them the overly simplistic code of 1-1-1-1-1, claiming, "Who is going to be stupid enough to rob our house anyway?"
As he punched in the code, the large door pulled sideways. He flicked the energon-fuelled lights on, filling the grey space with a white light. Running his fingers across an empty shelf, Darksteel asked, "It's kinda empty. What kind of stuff do we put in here?"
Predaking transformed and settled down in the middle of the room. Personally, he didn't think he needed anything else but his brethren. His spark was warm now that the Predacons had something to share, and because both the Autobots and the Vehicons had banded together to help them.
They do not wish for us to be extinct. They have accepted us as fellow Cybertronians in this society.
Droopy-eyed, Predaking felt calmer than he ever had before. He considered the termination of the clones on Earth, but believed such a thing wouldn't have occurred had the Autobots known they were not simple animals. Ultimately, the Autobots had only been afraid of being wiped out by giant powerful beasts.
And we would have certainly wiped them out.
Predaking had tried to hunt down Wheeljack without a second thought right after he had entered this universe.
I was willing to terminate him.
Feeling so fulfilled now, with a home and three Predacons, it was hard to dwell on the past. Predaking felt ready to forget it. Tomorrow was better to think about.
But if I ever see Megatron again…
Predaking resisted curling his claws so that he wouldn't scratch the floor.