Hunt for the Thirteen

Velocitron

Maim's moans are what broke the silence next, Bata still chirping about their victory of beating them.

Knockout and Ratchet quickly brought Maim to a medical able and Clarissa and Haley commed in the other autobot teams so they could hear as they replayed Bata's recording.

"Hm," Elita said. "Nautica and Brainstorm--"

"Out like lights." Chromedome reported as Percetor stood over his fellow scientists.

"Anyone heard from Thrust or Arcee?" Elita asked. "They were probably knocked out too when the data caches were activated."

"No," Rewind reported. "But Jazz and Prowl are with them so I am sure they're fine."

"How's Maim?"

Ratchet stared at the beast bot's vitals. "She's lucky only minor physical damage and apparently no mental scars."

"Told you I'd be fine." Maim whispered.

Bata gasped, staring at her friend with a smile, the only thing distracting her from her 'victory',  "You're awake!"

"Course I--" Maim tried to get up only for Ratchet to push her back down.

"Rest." He hissed, finger in her face.

"So...we know where the relics are now, right?" Mikey asked.

He was staring at the screen where Clarissa had recorded the names of the dataholders.

"No. We know who knows where." Clarissa clarified.

"Wait, if MiaNexus--I mean Nexus," Donnie began. "Had to activate the codes in the bots for the information to be accessed, how come the location of the Enigma just popped into Soundwave's processor?"

Hailey shrugged. "According to Maim, the Enigma was 'reawakening'. We don't know why, don't know how, and don't know what Nexus wants."

Raf sat in thought for a moment, thinking over his battle with MiaNexus. "Well she--"

"Who's Override?" Casey asked. "I've heard of all those cons and mercs, but I've never heard of an Override before."

Silence descended on the base. Optimus scratched his neck, Elita coughed over the comms, Primal tried and failed to begin a sentence.

Finally, Knockout broke the silence. "She's dead."

Breakdown cut a look to his conjunx. "Technically, we never knew for sure. She stayed behind to..."

"She's dead. Just like our world." Knockout growled.

"He mean cybertron?" Leo asked Bata, who's head was down, not meeting anyone's eyes. Alex was in a mirror position. Their 3 pet mutant Hyenas surrounded them, and they also seemed to follow the mood of the room.

"No." Bata replies. "He means Velocitron."

"It was a...cybertron colony world. Known for its racers and speed..." Hailey started to explain.

"And body inequality." Knockout added.

"The Functionist council on cybertron found they were running low on energon centuries before the war." Optimus took up the story. "So they decided to cut off energon supplies to the colony world they deemed 'worthless'. Velocitron."

"But instead of just leaving the planet to die of starvation and energon," Elita-1 finished. "They ended Velocitron in one fail swoop: they sent the rust plague to the planet before cutting the space bridge."

The New York team gapped. They might not know everything about Cybertron but they knew what the rust plague was...

"But the planet's leader, Override," Clarissa explained. "Found a way to keep the bridge open. But even then, not many escaped Velocitron. Knockout, Breakdown, Blurr, Moonracer, Ransack, Crumplezone..."

"The fact is, Override is dead." Knockout repeated. "So the data is wrong."

"The data that came directly from Maim's head?" Clarissa questioned. "How can it be wrong?"

"The information died with her." Knockout said.

"Knockout..." Moonracer and Breakdown shared a look.

"The data would have transmitted to another bot." Maim argued.

The red medic through his hands up in the air. "THEN I GUESS SHE'S ALIVE!"

And with a huff--after checking Maim's vitals--he went to check on the two unconscious scenstists.

"What was that..."

Breakdown sighed. "Knockout always had...issues about out planet's leaders."

"Velocitron was great but...all people have problems and prejudices."

"The body inequality thing?" Leo asked.

Breakdown looked away.

"Functionism...body issues...speed...compatetion..." Moonracer tried. "Velocitron was sorta like your high school."

"Yikes." Mikey shook his head. "Glad I never went to high school."

"Override was always the better leader, but...yeah, Knockout really hates politicians." Breakdown sighed.

"I killed a politician." Bata said.

Everyone turned to look at her. "What? I did."

Suddenly, a large orange car sped i to the base, followed by two white cars (one with more color than the other) and a motorcycle.

"Woah man," Thrust said as she transformed. "Some heavy stuff just happened."

Looking around--at an angered Knockout, the waking-up Brainstorm and Nautica, the moaning Maim, and the paused video that showed MiaNexus--and gapped.

"Dam!" Thrust said. "I miss all the fun."