Shattered Team (Rewritten)

Chapter 8: Scared Smoke

         On the ship, Megatron was admiring the relic that Knockout brought back "Hm. It appears identical to the one taken from me by Optimus Prime." He removes it from Knockout's hand and looks at it for himself "Ah, perhaps it is a decoy the autobots allowed you to seize as a means of sabotage." Knockout counters "Unlikely, my liege. They battled too desperately for it." Megatron cocks a ridge "Then pieces of a larger puzzle perhaps. Besides that, any sign of the rookie?" Knockout replies "We will tell you if we see him."

            Beeping is heard as Soundwave finishes decoding another set. Megatron smiles "Excellent, Soundwave. With any luck these coordinates will shed some light on the subject." Knockout comments "Soundwave's on fire. And so am I!!" He cocks the weapon again. He turns to leave but Megatron comments "Keep your vanity in check, doctor." The medic turns around and asks "Haven't I proven myself!?" The gladiator corrects what his medic was thinking "Your scientific expertise remains of greater use to me analyzing our latest acquisition." He stares deeply at the key in his hand "I must know what this relic is and what it can do...."

             At the autobot base, Optimus was talking with the 2 that returned. Arcee apologizes "I'm sorry, Optimus. Knockout was there waiting for us. Seems the cons are improving their decoding skills." Ratchet adds "And it seems that with 2 keys already separated, no one possesses the means to revive Cybertron." Prime explains "While our quest to restore our planet may have reached a stalemate. Securing the remaining keys is still the most prudent course of action." Smokescreen says "Man it must have been crazy with Knocko going all sonic. Aw, I wish I'd been there. I would have—" Arcee interrupts him "Would've what? Recovered the key like Prime did the first one?" Smokescreen didn't mean it like that but he agreed anyways "M-maybe... Who knows?" Optimus glares at him. Smokescreen got more nervous "I-I just want us firing on all cylinders, you know...."

(Ps, the stars saber did not break due to Rage.) (((The shadow, not the feeling)))

                "I also have a pretty good track record so far.... N-not to brag or anything..." Smokescreen  finishes. Arcee groans in pain, standing up. She was also furious with Smokescreen. She rubs her arm and walks away. Smokescreen stepped away from her to not disrupt her path. Bulkhead says to him "Look, kid. Arcee and Bumblebee are no slouches. And Optimus is just fine. His Starsaber too. Even if he didn't have it, we'd be fine. He was on fire for eons before he even discovered of its location on earth. Of course you wouldn't know that; you've been locked in stasis the whole time we've been fighting this war." Smokescreen reasons back "Exactly, and I'm ready to make up for lost time." Bulkhead argues "When Optimus says you're ready. You got be in this for the long haul—."

       Fear struck through Smokescreen's spark like an arrow. His breathing stopped completely and Ratchet noticed how the room quickly fell silent. Smokescreen started tearing up in fear at what Bulkhead said.  Bulkhead wasn't expecting this reaction "Was it something I said?" Ratchet hurried over to Smokescreen "He's having a panic attack." He blurts out, helping the bot sit down. Optimus looked over nervously, thinking that he was about to expose it.

            Bulkhead questions "What did I say? Did I say it too aggressively?" Ratchet grabs a buffer for focus noise. He holds it near Smokescreen and turns it on and off every so few seconds. "Focus on the noise, Smokescreen." Smokescreen snapped out of it quickly. "It's alright. Just stay calm." The medic assured him. Bulkhead was still in questioning at what triggered the panic attack.