Earth One

Change is Imminent - Chapter 10

"He did not sound too happy." Crankcase announced as the O.B.A. team settled into the lab after just returning from Megatron's office. How many more times would they find themselves in there for something as stupid as this?

"I wonder why." Vortex added in a sarcastic manner, becoming even more bored by the second. Bombshell chuckled at his little friend, but the conversation never picked up after that.

Megatron was infuriated back there, and he even threatened to disband the team altogether. Hook was able to calm him down, but the pressure was on. This was serious. This wasn't some experiment that they could mess up and fix. They only have one shot at this. Or else...

After a few minutes, the team was enveloped in an uncomfortable silence, and Reflector thought this was the perfect opportunity to ask the question that was burning in his processor the moment they stepped out of the space bridge.

"When you guys teleported, what happened on that planet?" He chimed, and the room perked up instantly. None of them have had the chance to share what they went through yet, especially because since their return, everything was so quickly paced they barely had time to think.

Hook bit his glossa as he anticipated someone was going to start speaking before he could. Long Haul looked at Crankcase with a small smile behind his face mask, and he smiled foolishly and scratched the back of his helm in an awkward laugh. But before he could share his more exciting story, Bombshell leaped at the opportunity to talk.

"It. Was. Amazing. The planet was Raydon 342, and we found ourselves in an interesting situation." He said as he began his monologue, and Vortex had cut him off short, thankfully. He found that what they did at Raydon was far less story worthy than what the others did.

"Okay, now you have the context, and that's all we need from Bombshell. What we all want to know is what happened to Crankcase and Long Haul." Vortex ushered as he gave Bombshell a death stare, and returned his gaze to Crankcase, who was clearing his vocalizer. Hook leaned in, also curious as to how he had succumbed such a great injury, and survive for as long as he did.

"Well, Long Haul and I thought that we were on Earth after we ran away from we thought was a human, and that's when... " His vocalizer died at that part as he made an embarrassing realization. Long Haul cocked his helm in confusion, then his visor went dim and his shoulders slumped as he looked away from Crankcase in disappointment.

"What? 'That's when' what?" Vortex pushed as he was anxiously waiting for a response from the two silent mechs in front of him. Long Haul vented loudly before addressing the team again.

"Well, Crankcase made quite the mistake." He said, looking over at Crankcase. He looked at his servos in shame, until he returned his gaze up to the team with an awkward smile as Long Haul spoke of his accident.

"He commed the Earth One team, telling them that we were on the planet already."

"You. Did. What?" Hook said, trying to keep his composure. He couldn't believe his audials, and he had to hear this one more time. This was a joke, right?

"I told Prowl that we were on Earth." Crankcase admitted, adding a detail to his story that seemed to push it, just a little.

"You told Prowl. Okay, that's okay-" Hook tried to reassure, but was cut off by Bombshell.

"You do realize that you just jeopardized the whole team, right? We were supposed to be a secret, unknown to them, incognito on Earth. This just defeated our entire strategy. Now what are we going to do once we do get there? Earth One's going to think-"

"Could you shut your vocalizer for two slagging minutes? It's fine, he already did it, there's no point in dwelling on this. Earth One is still traveling in space if his comm was able to reach them. Either way, it's not like we could go back in time and- you know, never mind that. Don't want to give the esteemed scientist any ideas." Vortex said, putting the group at ease. That, except for Bombshell, but he didn't say anything in protest.