Transformers Prime: A New Beginning

Chapter 9: Scrapheap

Normal Perspective:

A week had passed since Michael, Optimus, and Bumblebee fought Skyquake, with the Techno-Organic bringing the Decepticon's body back to the base on his own accord. In the days that followed, Michael found himself working to restore the Decepticon's body as much as he could when he had the time, with Ratchet occasionally helping him when he could, much to the CMO's reluctance and annoyance. It was a very difficult process with the amount of damage Skyquake sustained, and the lack of proper tools available in the base. Michael's ability to materialize objects helped to alleviate that issue to a degree, but it was still a long and tedious process. Michael, however, found that he rather enjoyed working with technology, especially with helping to create things, and considered it to be somewhat of a knack to him.

The others soon noticed Michael's change in behavior with him spending a lot of time in the Medbay. Especially in the backroom. They weren't able to access the room as none of them knew the access code, aside from Ratchet, and more recently, Michael. They tried to ask the Techno-Organic about what he was doing, but he refused to give them a clear answer, saying that it was just something he was working on, or just deflected the question completely. They also tried to ask Ratchet, but he would either just answer with "busy", or brush them off in his usual manner. Though they were still curious, they soon pushed it to the back of their minds, as other matters took priority.

One night, Michael had spent an extra long time in working to repair Skyquake's body, and was exhausted, barely able to stay online, having pulled an all-nighter the night before, and stayed up all of the next day going on patrols, tiring him out even further, but he had pushed himself to stay up to get some more progress done on repairing Skyquake, though he knew he needed to sleep soon.

The Autobots, or any Cybertronian for that matter, could go for days without recharging, though did so when they could to keep their systems and bodies from straining themselves due to lack of rest and self-maintenance. Michael, who was only half-Cybertronian, wasn't gifted with this luxury, and required just as much sleep and rest as a normal human did.

After finishing up a few smaller repairs to Skyquake, he decided to turn in early for the night, but before he did, he decided to check and see what was going on in the Command Center. When he got there, he found Bumblebee and Bulkhead over in the outer room of the Medbay undergoing repairs after bringing something back from what he assumed to be the Arctic. Because Michael was so tired, it slipped his mind as to what event was transpiring before him as he headed to his room and immediately fell into recharge.

Unbeknownst to him, he would come to regret staying up for so long as the next day approached.

Michael's POV:

I found myself waking up a little late the next morning, although quite well rested now. I checked the time on my alarm clock, and saw that it was 9:30 A.M. I usually woke up between 5 AM and 6 AM to start my day, so I was surprised to wake up later than usual, but then I remembered how early I went to sleep and why. I just sighed, and made a mental note to myself to not lose track of the time again. I got out of bed, and headed towards the Command Center, deciding to skip my routine for the day. Skipping it for one day couldn't hurt, right? After all, I had to skip it before when I was a runaway.

When I made it to the Command Center, I found Ratchet, Arcee, Optimus, and Cliffjumper already up. Bulkhead and Bumblebee were out picking up the kids from their homes, as it was a Saturday. Ratchet activated the Groundbridge, as Optimus and Arcee were preparing to leave.

"Arcee and I will search for any clues which might explain the origin of our Arctic find." Optimus said.

"Only until your sensors sound." Ratchet said. "Remember, once your core temperature drops into the blue zone, system failures aren't likely. They're imminent." The CMO finished, as Optimus' and Arcee's insignia's flashed blue.