LOG-009.

  "Mm."

  I continued rooting around inside Silas' repurposed sparkchamber for a moment, before finally withdrawing. I'd been in the middle of flicking some mystery fluid off my digit when a vehicon had burst in behind me, rapidly cycling oxygen in and out of his fans in an effort to cool down.

  "C-commander Shockwave!"

  Turning to stare at the Grounder, I picked out a piece of bone that had managed to wedge itself in between my joints, tilting my helm.

  "Yes?"

  He just looked at me for a moment, before seemingly shaking himself.

  "Uhm-yes. The predacon! It's returned with Starscream in tow! It's currently...restraining him out on the flight deck. Lord Megatron has also been informed."

  Nodding, I stepped forward and gave the soldier a pat on the shoulder.

  "Good work. Please inform the Zaku outside to organise my tools. And take some time to visit Knockout, you appear to have an issue with your cooling systems."

  The vehicon slowly nodded as I strode past him, making my way into the hallway.

  Now, let's see what Predaking had gotten up to...

  ---

  Megatron, Dreadwing and several vehicon Seekers were already out on the flight deck when I arrived. More specifically, they were surrounding an incredibly pleased looking Predaking.

  Now, where was Sta-

  The wretched groan that erupted from beneath my robo-dragon clued me in as to the former commander's position. Making my way past a pair of guards, my singular optic made contact with Megatron's own blazing red orbs.

  "Ah, Shockwave. It would seem our resident beast has returned with it's prey. I don't suppose you could command it to relinquish it's newest chew toy?"

  The smug amusement was strong with this one.

  Nodding, I stepped past the warlord, locking optics with Predaking.

  I gestured to the miserable Seeker trapped beneath the predacon's claws.

  He chuffed, snapping his jaws.

  I slowly pulled a servofull of energon pellets from my subspace.

  The big baby practically threw the Seeker towards a pair of guards who quickly cuffed the whimpering mech. In turn, I tossed the pellets Predaking's way, the big lug snapping them up with a pleased growl.

  I turned around to see both Dreadwing and Megatron staring at me.

  "...The predacon got used to them during it's initial growth phase. They have proven an effective motivational tool."

  To his credit, the gladiator nodded and turned towards a kneeling Starscream, the traitor already talking.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "Ah, my Lord. Wait, wait just a-"

  A few vehicons winced as their former commander was sent flying, Megatron's stolen arm doing an effective job at essentially backhanding Starscream through the air.

  Shrugging to myself, I made my way back inside. They would call me when they needed me. Besides, while I didn't exactly hate Starscream (I don't think I actually could, at best I could manage mild dislike) I wasn't in any real hurry to help him. The slagger had left me for dead on Cybertron. Kinda.

  Briefly exchanging nods with an incredibly pleased looking Knockout (I idly noticed the Resonance Blaster attached to his wrist plate) I made my way back to my lab.

  ...Oh. Was the medic off to retrieve one of the Omega Keys?

  Which meant that Dreadwing would soon be deployed to retrieve yet another relic. With Bulkhead and...Smokescreen engaging him.

  Right, the elite guard initiate also carried a Key. Unbeknownst to him, or anyone aside from myself for that matter. For now at least.

  Of course then Starscream would get involved and...no. He wouldn't get involved. Since I'd had Predaking retrieve him.

  "Hm...slightly annoying...though not unexpected. The butterflies were always gonna take off at some point I guess."

  Grabbing a nearby datapad, I fiddled with it for a moment, giving my servo something to do while I planned.

  "I could dispatch the Zakus..." The Harbinger would presumably still be there, and if I was really lucky, Predaking would have snagged Starscream before the crippled Seeker could make use of his singular dose of red energon.

  As for Dreadwing's future fight...should I even really do anything? Either the Autobots would get the Key, or we would, in which case I'd likely be assigned to study it in an effort to ascertain it's function.

  Hm. Autobots or Decepticons?

  It was a good question, considering I had differing views, each with their own biases.

  The Autobots were the flailing remnants of cybertron's pre-war government, which was...bad.

  I let go of the datapad to avoid cracking it. Despite my still near zero emotional capacity, certain, very old memories still managed to piss me off just a little bit.

  Fucking Functionists. Fucking Council. Fuck.

  But...team Prime weren't like that, assuming the show had portrayed them correctly. They were genuinely good people, for the most part.

  Although that...admittedly didn't mean much to me. One couldn't quite look at Optimus Prime the same way when distinctly remembering the awkward Orion Pax, a mere data clerk at the time, damn near glitching upon realising that a politician had taken an interest in him.

  Setting the datapad back in it's place, I turned around and made my way to the berth I'd ordered installed, sitting down.

  That was another thing. I remembered the speeches. The policies I'd attempted to push forward.

  I'd been a senator, before they'd butchered me.

  Assholes.

  ...Which was an IDW thing, as far as my human side remembered. Yet Orion remained an archivist, rather than a cop.

  "Going to have to keep that in mind...this is real. Who knows what's correct?"

  Popping open a hidden latch on my cannon, I began delicately sorting through the internal components, still thinking.

  There was plenty of reasons to work with Optimus, aside from Megatron being an unstable, vengeful dark energon fueled bastard at the best of times.

  For one, I could probably convince the Prime to take me on. Hell, he'd probably welcome my 'return' with open arms. Primus knew he'd tried his best to...fix me. Way back then. Plus there was the whole robot space Jesus thing.

  Even when I'd gone full Decepticon, he had continued making attempts to contact me, before presumably realising the sheer futility of his efforts. Appealing to the emotional side of a bot that had undergone Shadowplay wasn't exactly the brightest move. Albeit he was still fairly inexperienced at the time.

  ...I found myself actually somewhat glad for the emotional dampening. This entire branch of thought was depressing as hell.

  Settling down on the berth, I shut off my optic, plunging myself into darkness.

  There was plenty to do, and I had lots of ideas. I'd sleep on them for now, and decide on a course of action later.

  But first...

  [COMM LINK ESTABLISHED.]

  "Shockwave?"

  "Dreadwing, I would make a request."

  A moment of silence.

  "Very well, what do you require?"

  Shutting my cannon back up, I stretched my legs for a second.

  "I understand that you tend to personally undertake missions on your lonesome. I would ask that you allow a pair of my Zakus to accompany you whenever you might next depart."

  I could practically hear the Decepticon crossing his arms.

  "For what purpose? I do not require protection, and the rank and file tend to slow me down at the best of times."

  Well, I wanted boots on the ground that would report back to me on any potential changes to the timeline, but I couldn't exactly say that...

  "I believe it would be a beneficial training experience for my creations to witness a seasoned warrior in action. At present the extent of their combat experience amounts to some basic sparring with an Insecticon and whatever combat modules I could load into their processors."

  I mentally smiled at his response. I'd got him, considering I could hear the tiny bit of satisfaction in his voice at having his skills acknowledged.

  "Very well, I suppose I could spare the time to impart what wisdom I can unto these mechs. I shall have them accompany me on my next sortie."

  I nodded, even if he couldn't see it.

  "Thank you, Dreadwing."

  Another pause, slightly longer this time.

  "...It is of no consequence, Shockwave."