Shattered Team (Rewritten)

Chapter 17: Obtaining The Forge

             Back at the autobot base, the humans were there, this time discussing the bots going back home. Miko says to her buddy "I might not be the first human on Cybertron, but I can still be the first human exchange student!" Jack says to his friend "Why didn't you tell us about the Omega keys before?" Arcee explains "You probably didn't notice but things have been kind of intense around here." Raf asks his beeping BFF "So, you guys could really be going home soon, huh?" Miko doesn't give time for Bee to reply by shouting out "Don't worry, Raf, you'll come visit! Once we get our place set up, he can bunk with us! Right Bulk?" Bulkhead stuttered. He didn't know how to tell her that she couldn't breath Cybertronian air and would only survive in a space suit for so long. "Uh, Miko-" "You are taking me with you, right?" The girl begs.

           Ratchet stops them "Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves here? Not only do we lack any actual method of reaching Cybertron, but Starscream now controls the sole means  of our planets restoration." "As far as we know." Prime adds. Bumblebee asks "=<You think he tried getting back with the decepticons?>=" Arcee agrees "He might have used the Omega Keys to buy back Megatron's favor." Ratchet makes a joke "Hmph, without trying to sell them to the highest bidder? It wouldn't surprise me if he had the nerve to contact us and—"

Another time skip, the bots retrieve The Forge after Dreadwing gives it to them.

        When they got back to base, Smokescreen stood far away from them, in fear of Optimus as he held the relic. He remembered what he did to him after Megatron re-showed him through the Cortical Psychic Patch.

           Arcee looked back to him, questionably every few seconds, wondering why he looked so nervous around Optimus holding the massive hammer

          Ratchet speaks up "With the decepticons in possession of all 4 Omega Keys, an appropriate use of The Forge would be to replicate our own." Optimus argues "Even with such power their reconstruction would require a level of expertise I do not possess." Arcee adds "I guess we better hope Megatron doesn't destroy the keys to prevent anyone from ever going home." Optimus places the hammer down "Megatron may be evil but I believe he will use the keys for their intended purpose."

            Bulkhead comments "Well, I'd say we let him keep em and do the work for us." Everyone stares at him. Smokescreen stutters "I-I.... kind of..... have to agree with you." Bulk continues "Yeah! I mean, what difference does it make who restores Cybertron!?" Optimus glares at the rookie and then glances at Bulk for a second, then announcing "If Megatron revives Cybertron, he will no doubt use it to his political advantage." The wrecker stutters "You, wha, you..... you.... You lost me."

         Prime continues "In all likelihood the leader of the decepticons will portray himself as our planets savior and brand all autobots as war criminals." Arcee agrees "The grand deception continues."

             For an odd reason, Smokescreen disagreed. He thought back to the time where it was Megatron and himself alone in the pyramid. The Megatron that Optimus was talking about would have just extinguished his spark and left without hesitation or a second thought. The reverse, or the actual one stuttered to kill him. Was he the first autobot that Megatron wouldn't  kill at the moment in time, making Optimus right? Or was there something different about him that Megatron saw. He needed answers.... Fast.

            Ratchet steps forward "Megatron's so called achievement could influence Cybertron for eons to come, poisoning the sparks and minds of its returning citizens, hardly the ideal way to begin a new age." Prime stops him "But there is hope. For while Megatron may have the keys, he has yet to discover the existence of The Omega Lock itself. Everyone got surprised. "Omega Lock?" Bulkhead questions. Arcee adds "Wait, now you lost me." Optimus continues "That which the 4 relics were designed to activate. We must locate the device before Megatron does and secure it until we can recover the keys."

             Ratchet argues "There are no more Iacon entries to decode. This lock could be anywhere on earth!" The leader stops his old friend "Actually it is on Cybertron." Everyone gasped "What!?" "How do you know?" Ratchet questions. Prime turns his back on them, resting the massive hammer on his shoulder plate. He states "Alpha Trion  revealed its location to me during the message conveyed by The Star Saber." Ratchet steps forward "And you didn't think to tell us." Smokescreen saw Prime fists tense. He ran forward but stopped as Prime turned and said "Alpha Trion did not wish it so." Ratchet turned to Smokescreen who was beside him now. Smokes stepped back, grabbing one of his arms.

            The chief walks over to the space between the groundbridge and the wall to jump down to work on charging it "With the Forge of Solus Prime, we now possess the means of reaching Cybertron. I must work quickly as our tactical advantage over Megatron will not last long...."