Normal Perspective:
A few days had passed since the Project Damocles incident, and things had returned to normal. Bulkhead had been able to fully recover from the injuries he received from the Tox-En incident, and was now allowed to back onto the field full-time again.
However, the previous incident was not without its problems in the aftermath.
Due to the Decepticons finding out where Raf lived, he and his family had to be relocated with help from Agent Fowler. While this didn't seem to be a huge problem, concerns had been brought up by the humans about if the base would be discovered due to it being so close to the town due to previous incidents, with the recent one being the main concern, but Optimus was able to quell those fears, saying that if the Decepticons do travel through the town as they had done previous times, their base's location would remain secret and undetectable.
Another concern was with the newest recruit, Smokescreen. Because the Autobots had been so busy in their battle with the Decepticons and averting crises, they had put the rookie's teachings about living on Earth on the back burner, which soon came to a head.
One day, almost a week since the Damocles incident, Bumblebee and Smokescreen were racing down the roads of Nevada in search of an Energon signal, with the scout doing his best to make the rookie slow down, but the racer would only ignore him and laugh it off.
"Energon's signal's gettin' stronger." Smokescreen said into his comm. "About five kliks due north."
"<:Smokescreen, you need to slow down! There are speed limits that we need to obey on this planet!:>"
"What do you mean 'Speed Limit'?!" Smokescreen asked, not seeing why such things were needed. "I have a gauge in here that goes to 150! If the humans who designed my vehicle form didn't want it to go that fast, they shouldn't have given me the option!"
He then floored it, trying to see if he could go to the limit. Unfortunately, because Bumblebee had been trying to get him to slow down, he failed to warn the rookie that he was driving on the wrong side of the road, to which the racer just barely missed an on-coming vehicle, the two cars swerving to miss each other, and came to a halt.
The driver of the other car got out, angered, carrying a crowbar, not knowing that the vehicle wasn't a real race car.
"Hey! Indy 500!" The man shouted at the "driver", as he walked over to the car. "When I'm through with you, you're gonna need more than a pit crew to put you back together!"
This was a big mistake, for Smokescreen blew it by transforming right in front of the man, who could only stare in shock, as the rookie leaned down, getting in the man's face.
"Bring it!" He said, angered, causing the man to cower in fear and drop the crowbar. "Who's the tough guy now, huh?!"
Bumblebee, who caught up, honked and transformed, knowing that it was pointless to hide himself now, and jogged up to the rookie, shoving him back.
"<:Smokescreen! What in Primus's name are you doing?! We're supposed to keep ourselves hidden, and we are not supposed to harm the humans!:>"
But Smokescreen just laughed.
"Relax Bumblebee! I'm just messin' around!"
The man then got out his phone, snapping a picture of the two, to which Bumblebee tried to stop him, but it was no use.
They had been caught...
-----
Later, at the base, Jack and Jessica, after being informed about what had happened, searched for the picture, and eventually found it. Miko had been grounded by her host parents, and Vince was at his dad's auto shop for a shift, leaving them the only humans at the base aside from Michael.
"Found it." Jack called to the bots. "Old road rage didn't waste any time posting your mug shots." He joked. "Raf will scrub this as soon as he's back from house hunting."
"Is this what you learned from serving Alpha Trion?!" Ratchet asked in anger, while Knockout and Starscream snickered to each other, finding it amusing, while Breakdown stayed silent. "I highly doubt he would've condoned such irresponsible behavior!"
"Blowing your cover is not ok!" Arcee scolded.
"Even I wouldn't do something so reckless and irresponsible!" Cliffjumper added.
Despite seeing this coming, Michael too was upset with the rookie for doing something so stupid, as well as getting his boyfriend caught in the crossfire, and getting him put on the internet again.
"Sorry guys." Smokescreen said sadly. "I know I messed up."
"While Ratchet, Arcee, and Cliffjumper are correct," Optimus said, as he walked up behind the rookie. "I believe we are all equally responsible for this incident."
"Excuse me?!" Cliffjumper asked in shock and slight annoyance.
"Us?!" Arcee asked.
"How?!" Ratchet asked.
"It wasn't my fault!" Starscream and Knockout said together before looking at each other, glaring, then looking away.
"We weren't even there!" Bulkhead argued, while Michael sighed.
"<:He's right.:>"
"Well, 'Bee was." Bulkhead added.
"<:Bulkhead!:>"
"Our recent efforts have been so intensely focused on averting crises," Optimus explained. "That we have overlooked simple matters, such as teaching Smokescreen how to best function on this planet. It is an oversight that must be corrected."
"Optimus, I'm honored to train under you, and will do whatever it takes to make things right." Smokescreen said sincerely. "To make you proud."
"Perhaps the best way for you to learn about the human world is from a human." Optimus said.
"Smokescreen gets his own partner?" Arcee asked.
"Puh-lease!" Ratchet scoffed. "Isn't having five and a half humans here enough?!"
Silence fell in the room as everyone, even the former Decepticons, sent him odd looks.
Even Optimus.
Ratchet just looked around at them all before scoffing again, then he sighed and returned to his work.
"I was referring to one already among us." Optimus said, looking over at Jack.
"Uh, sure, Optimus." Jack said, willing to take up being Smokescreen's charge for a while. "Robots in disguise. Traffic laws. Don't beat down humans. I can bring Smokescreen up to speed."
"We've all put in curbside duty." Bulkhead added, putting a servo on Smokescreen's shoulder-plate, as Jack climbed down from the human area. "Part of the gig."
"Then let's go for a drive, teach." He said, looking down at Jack and transforming, and the teen climbed in. Then, they sped out of the base as Arcee watched on, then she turned to Optimus, finally voicing her concerns since the rookie was no longer in the room to hear her.
"Optimus, with all due respect," She began, as she walked over to him. "Agent Fowler is out relocating Raf's family because the 'Cons discovered where he lives. Meanwhile, Smokescreen, in all his wisdom, chooses a vehicle mode with screaming double 38's on the doors, making him an easy target. Granted, Michael has a similar problem with his color-scheme, but he's shown himself to be responsible when it comes to using it in public, even if he did have that one incident with Barricade back when Jessica first arrived here. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't more than concerned about Jack's safety."
"Nonetheless," Optimus replied. "The fact remains that our new recruit is in need of instruction. I believe that Smokescreen's Spark is in the right place, and that he now understands the necessity of protecting humanity."
Meanwhile, out in Jasper, Smokescreen and Jack were driving through the town as the teen instructed the mech on how to obey the laws of Earth's road traffic.
"Okay, intersection." Jack said. "Let's review. Light's green?"
"Green for Go." Smokescreen answered.
Jack then looked up ahead, seeing that the light was yellow.
"And yellow?"
"Go faster!" Smokescreen said excitedly, and floored it.
"Woah woah, Smokescreen!" Jack said, trying to get him to slow down, but the mech ignored him. Suddenly, the light changed to red, and Smokescreen slammed his brakes on hard, skidding along the pavement as his wheels locked, coming to a halt just before the light.
"Just messin' around!" Smokescreen laughed.
"Ha ha." Jack said sarcastically. The sound of a loud engine caught his attention, and he looked in the mirror, then he looked back, before realizing who it was. "Uh oh." He then ducked down as the car pulled up alongside, with Smokescreen rolling up his window.
"What is it?!" He asked, thinking it was an enemy. "'Cons?!"
"Just someone from school I'd rather not talk to." Jack replied, trying to keep himself out of view.
The owner of the car was Nathan, one of Vince's former friends, and the new school bully at Jasper Highschool. In the time Vince had spent with the Autobots, he had slowly mellowed out, and stopped being a bully. Unfortunately, most of his friends, especially Nathan, didn't accept this, and he was kicked from their circle, though the redhead didn't care, and instead hung out with the other kids of Team Prime, though a few of his other friends still hung out with him from time to time, for they didn't want to completely cut him off, but they stayed away from the others. Nathan had soon made a name for himself as the new school bully during that time, and became a must-to-avoid.
His car, like Bumblebee and Vince's car, was a muscle car. However, unlike Bumblebee, despite its appearance, Nathan's car wasn't an Urbana 500. Instead, it was a 2011 Chevy Camaro. It was painted crimson red with green and purple flames running along the sides, similar to Vince's car.
Nathan looked at the car next to him, seeing a familiar head poking out from the window, and he smirked, finding it amusing that Jack now had a racecar instead of his motorcycle, and reached into his take-out bag.
"Drive!" Jack urged, wanting to get away from him.
"Red light, teach." Smokescreen replied. "No can do."
Jack looked out of the window to see Nathan throw a burger at the window, making it a mess, then he speed off once the light went green.
"Seriously?!" Smokescreen asked in annoyance, not wanting to be a doormat.
"Just... let it go." Jack said, knowing that trying to do anything would land them in trouble, as the rest of the burger fell off the window.
In response, Smokescreen jerked forward as they headed off again.
"Are you kiddin' me?" He asked. "Where's your self-respect?! We gotta stand up for ourselves!"
"We also have to follow Optimus's rule." Jack argued. "It's just not about protecting humans. You can't harm 'em either."
"Who said anything about harming?" Smokescreen asked with a smirk.
Reluctantly, Jack went along with Smokescreen's idea for payback.
Later, as the evening began to roll around, the two arrived back at the base laughing hysterically. Smokescreen pulled in and Jack got out, allowing the mech to transform.
"I am so posting this tonight!" Jack laughed, catching the attention of Cliffjumper, Ratchet, Arcee, Breakdown, Michael, and Bumblebee, who were in the Command Center, and looked over at them. Jack then he looked up at the others and turned his phone toward them. "Arcee, Arcee, check out Nathan's car!"
"The new school bully?" She asked, as she and Cliffjumper walked over and leaned down to look at the phone.
The picture showed the front of Nathan's car covered in food.
Cliffjumper did his best to keep himself from laughing while Arcee just stared at it.
"Heh heh! Hey Nate, did you want fries with that?!" Jack asked, as he and Smokescreen burst out laughing again.
"Let me get this straight." Arcee said, as she and Cliffjumper stood to their full heights again, the red mech still trying to keep himself from laughing. "So you taught Smokescreen everything he never needed to know about fast food?" She asked, though it sounded more like a statement.
"He passed Driver's Ed." Jack said simply as he walked over to the human area. "Work hard, play hard."
"Yeah, no humans were harmed in the making of these photos." Smokescreen said as he walked away. "Honest."
The bots looked at each other at this, but Michael smirked.
"/I can think of another way to play hard./" He said through his bond with Bumblebee, making the scout's optics widen and making his faceplate go bright blue, making the Techno-Organic laugh. Nobody asked about what was going on between the two, and went about their business as usual.
Meanwhile, in the skies of Earth the Nemesis flew in, Soundwave had finished decoding another set of Iacon coordinates, and showed his progress to Megatron.
"You have decoded the next Iacon coordinates?" Megatron asked, looking at the silent mech's visor. "Excellent Soundwave. Then it is time to beta test our decoy." He said, walking over to a table and picking up a small device.
Later, at the base, Optimus was once again decoding the Iacon Database.
"I have nearly finished decoding the next Iacon coordinates." He said to Ratchet, who was standing behind him. Before the medic could reply, a sensor went off.
"You may not need to complete your task, Optimus." He said. Then, a signal popped up.
"An Iacon Locator Beacon." The Prime said.
"It seems that the Decepticons have excavated the next relic." The CMO said, knowing that they needed to recover it fast before they got away with it.
"Ratchet, triangulate coordinates and activate the Groundbridge." Optimus ordered, and the medic did just that; the Prime walking over to it just as the rest of the team entered the room.
"Bring on the 'Cons!" Bulkhead said.
"Let's kick some tailpipe!" Cliffjumper added.
"Where is Smokescreen?" Optimus asked, realizing that the rookie was missing.
"Out training again with Jack." Arcee answered unenthusiastically.
"Don't worry Optimus, I can stay behind to wait for them to get back." Michael offered.
Optimus considered for a moment, then nodded once.
"Very well." Then he turned towards the Groundbridge. "Autobots! Transform and roll out!"
The Autobots complied and headed through the portal, except for Michael, who went to stand with Ratchet by the Groundbridge controls to wait.
-----
At a mountain site in the evening, a mining operation was being carried out, with the Decepticons working to unearth the relic they had located, with the Insecticons helping to move the stones out of the way.
Megatron was also there to oversee the operation and to recover the relic himself.
A drone moved yet another boulder out of the way, and stared at what he found, then turned to call his leader over.
"Lord Megatron!"
The Warlord heard him, and walked over, knowing that they had found something.
"I hope that our new acquisition is of Decepticon origin." He said as he walked over, but his expression changed to that of shock as he recognized the relic they had found.
It was a sword, but not just any sword. It was a sword of the ancients.
"Power of this magnitude must never be allowed to fall into the hands of Optimus Prime, no matter the cost!"
He then walked up to it, and grasped the hilt. Then, he pulled.
But it didn't move.
He pulled harder, but it still wouldn't budge.
No matter how hard he pulled, it stayed firmly in the rock, and he eventually pulled so hard that he lost his grip on it. Enraged, he fired his fusion cannon at it repeatedly in hopes of breaking the rock around it apart, kicking up a large dust cloud.
The dust cleared, only to reveal that neither the blade, nor the boulder, had received any damage at all.
"The rock is impermeable." He realized. "The relic is emanating a protective shield! It will only respond to the power of a Prime! Ahhhhgggg! We will remove it, even if we have to take the entire mountain!"
At the base, a second signal popped up, and Ratchet proceeded to comm. Optimus.
"Optimus, I just picked up a second Iacon Locator Beacon."
Static.
Ratchet and Michael looked at each other, then back at the screen.
"Optimus, do you read?"
Still nothing.
Meanwhile, in a foggy area, the rest of the Autobots were searching for the first relic.
"No sign of 'Cons." Bulkhead sighed. The bots stopped, as Arcee, who had the scanner, and Optimus looked at each other, then they headed on, unaware that Soundwave was flying overhead with a device built into a replica of the containers used to transport the previous relics through space.
Back at the base, Smokescreen and Jack arrived back, with the teen climbing out and the mech transforming, both of them laughing hysterically again.
"Oh dude, my boss is gonna freak!" Jack said, trying to control his laughter.
"That thing we stuffed into his tailpipe! What's it called again?" Smokescreen asked.
"Pizza!" Jack replied, and the two burst out laughing again.
"Will you two keep it down?!" Ratchet asked, annoyed, and turned back to the console. "Arcee? Bulkhead? Cliffjumper? Can anyone hear me?"
"Ratchet, what's goin' on?" Jack asked, now serious.
"Our sensors detected a second Iacon Locator Beacon." The CMO responded. "But I can't reach Optimus."
"I'll go." Smokescreen offered.
"Alone?!" Ratchet asked, surprised.
"No, he won't." Michael spoke up. "I'll go with him."
Ratchet considered for a moment, then sighed.
"Fine." He conceded, then he walked over to the Groundbridge and fired it up.
Smokescreen looked at it, then back at Ratchet, who walked back to the console. He then looked at the human area.
Jessica wasn't there, for she was relaxing in her room.
"He says fine," Smokescreen said, looking down at Jack. "But I don't think he really wants us to go alone."
Jack's eyes widened.
"Smokescreen, no." Michael said firmly. "It's too dangerous."
"Aw, he'll be fine." The rookie assured. "Trust me."
Michael could only sigh, knowing that the rookie wasn't going to change his mind.
"Fine..." He said at last. "But if I get in trouble, it'll be entirely your fault."
The trio then walked into the portal, with Ratchet being none the wiser.
At the destination point, a bridge opened, and Jack walked out first.
"I just pulled a Miko." He sighed, as Michael and Smokescreen exited the portal behind him.
"Let's go grab a relic!" Smokescreen said, punching a fist into his servo, and he ran on ahead, with Jack and Michael following behind as the Groundbridge closed. The trio hid behind rocks and looked out at the site ahead of them, their gazes locking onto the relic in the rock.
"Woah, it's a sword." Jack said, recognizing the relic's look.
"Not just any sword." Smokescreen said. "That looks like the Star Saber. A legendary weapon forged by Solus Prime, as lore would have it. It's rumored to wield the power of the Matrix."
Michael thought back to the other variations of the sword, as well as the weapons that shared its name. He then thought about the many stories of how the weapon came to be. One story said that it was forged from the core of a star, while another said that it was created out of three bots and wielded itself. He wasn't sure what stories were true, and which ones weren't, but what he did know was that the Matrix once adorned the hilt of the legendary blade.
"I'm gonna make Optimus proud." Smokescreen said, determined to make the one he admired most proud of him.
"Not a good idea." Jack said, seeing a familiar figure among the Decepticons at the site.
"Why?" The rookie asked.
"'Cause Megatron's here." Jack replied. Smokescreen and Michael looked over, seeing the Warlord himself. Michael's left optic went red in anger, and he began venting through his gritted denta, which Smokescreen and Jack noticed. "Michael, remember, he isn't worth it."
"I know..." Michael said in a low voice, but then proceeded to calm himself down.
"The Dark Lord himself..." Smokescreen whispered, but then became confident. "He won't know what hit him." And he went to move, but Jack and Michael stopped him.
"Smokescreen, wait. Something isn't right. Why doesn't Megatron just take the Star Saber?" Jack asked.
"Germaphobe?" Smokescreen guessed.
"Seriously, we need to wait for backup." Jack insisted, but Smokescreen ignored him.
"You heard Ratchet." He said, jumping onto the rock. "Backup's not available right now."
"Smokescreen! Wait! Only the power of a Prime can activate the-... Ugh!" Michael groaned, for his call fell on deaf audials. All he and Jack could do was watch as the rookie charged toward the site.
Meanwhile, the Decepticons were still clearing away the rocks when Megatron called out.
"Enough! Commence transport!"
A cable was lowered from the Nemesis, and was attached to the boulder. Then, it was reeled up, tightening the cable, but it held.
Before the operation could continue however, the Decepticons caught sight of Smokescreen, who traded blaster fire with them, taking the drones out as he passed them, catching Megatron's attention.
"Who in the Pits of Kaon is that?!" Megatron asked, not recognizing him at all.
Taking out the rest of the drones in his way, he charged for the boulder, and grabbed the hilt of the Star Saber, but like with Megatron, it didn't react to Smokescreen's touch, and it remained firmly in the rock.
"Scrap! It's really in there tight." He said, but was then hit in the back-struts by a drone's blaster fire, knocking the rookie to the ground.
He was now captured.
Jack and Michael watched from their hiding spot, worried.
"No... No, this can't be happening..." Jack said, and pulled out his phone, dialing the base's comm. "Ratchet, you gotta get Optimus here now. Smokescreen went for the relic. It's called the Star Sabe-" He never finished as the sound of an Insecticon behind him caught his attention, and he cut himself off.
Michael instantly tackled the beast to keep Jack safe, but they both knew that the Techno-Organic wouldn't be able to take them out on his own.
They needed help fast.
-----
At the base, Ratchet listened to Jack's plea, which was followed by the sounds of Michael grunting and the screeches and hisses of the Insecticons.
"Where in the name of Cybertron are you?" Ratchet asked, but he received no response. "And did you say "Star Sabe"?"
Ratchet then realized what Jack actually meant.
"Oh my... Jack! Michael!"
The line then went dead. Ratchet then attempted to call the others again.
"Optimus, please respond!" He said desperately, but still got no answer. "I can see that you're alive Optimus. Why won't you answer me?"
At the foggy area, the Autobots were still having no luck with finding anything, for the signal appeared to move each time they got near it.
"Ugh!" Arcee groaned, after the signal moved for the umpteenth time. "Every time we get close to the beacon, the signal moves."
"Why would it constantly be moving like that?" Cliffjumper asked.
"All this leg-work is giving me itchy fists!" Bulkhead complained, as he bashed his fists together.
"Same here." Breakdown agreed.
"Something isn't right." Starscream said.
"Thanks, Commander Obvious." Knockout said, to which the seeker growled in response.
"It seems that we've been led astray by a Decepticon trick." Optimus realized.
Just then, a Groundbridge opened near them, and Ratchet came running out, having decided to locate them himself.
"We have a situation!"
Back at the site, Jack was still evading the Insecticons, while Michael desperately tried to fight them off, but he was knocked to the ground. The 'Cons then began to chase Jack, who was racing for a mound of rocks. Michael noticed this, and knew he would be safe, and got up, racing for the Star Saber. He knew he wasn't able to wield it, but he had to keep the relic safe.
He was able to reach it, and grabbed onto it, but to Michael's complete shock, the blade reacted to his touch, and began to glow a bluish-white light. Getting over his shock, he pulled hard on it, and it moved the tiniest bit, but the rock began to move and lift into the air, forcing Michael to let go of it.
Megatron noticed this, and fired a single shot at the mech as he tried to go for the blade again, getting hit and knocking him to the ground, and the Warlord began to walk over to him.
Smokescreen had seen everything, and was in awe.
Meanwhile, Jack was able to reach the mound of rocks and hide in them, but he knew he wouldn't be safe in there forever.
Back at the site, Megatron approached the downed Michael.
"Well, if it isn't Michael." He sneered. "You continue to be full of surprises, even after all this time. You are really starting to become a metallic thorn in my side."
"Good." Michael growled. "I hope to one day shove it through your Spark chamber."
The Warlord growled, and was about to strike him, but the sound of blaster fire caught his attention, and he looked over to see the rest of the Autobots arriving and taking on the Vehicons.
Knockout and Breakdown were hesitant to take the Vehicons on, for it was their first offical mission against the Decepticons, though knew that they had to, but decided to pull a Michael and not kill them, and let the Autobots take them out instead.
"Where's Optimus?!" Megatron asked, and looked to see the Prime scaling the mountain. This allowed Michael to get up, transform into his jet mode, and follow the Prime. "Keep Prime and Crovan from the relic!"
Megatron transformed, a few Eradicons joining him, allowing Smokescreen to also get up, for he was forced to his knees by the 'Cons.
He deployed a blaster, but a drone behind him did the same, but before it could fire, a blue blaster shot knocked it to the ground, and Bulkhead ran up.
"I've got your back." He said, returning the favor that Smokescreen had done for him a few days previously. The two then looked as the others took on the rest of the 'Cons. Arcee took out a few drones, then saw the Insecticons over by the rocks, and realized what was going on.
The bugs cleared away the rocks, and were just about to grab Jack when the Autobots were able to take them out, with Arcee arriving to retrieve her charge.
"What could you possibly have been thinking?!" She asked in anger.
On the mountain, Optimus transformed and drove on as the Decepticons followed, firing at him.
Below, the rest of the team, plus Jack, regrouped to watch.
Flooring it, Optimus charged at an inclining rock, sending him into the air. At the same time, Michael flew in from the side between Optimus and the rock. One of the shots hit the Prime, sending him spinning.
"OPTIMUS! NOW!" Michael called out. Optimus transformed as he reached the green jet, using him as a stepping stone to let the Prime reach the blade.
With the extra boost, the Prime propelled himself forward, reaching his arm out as he reached the blade, as Michael flew around to join the rest of the team, transforming and landing near them, before running up to join them in watching Optimus.
Optimus grabbed the blade, the sudden extra weight pulling the rock down and making it sway, as one of the drones smashed into a corner of it. The blade didn't react for a moment, but then it could sense the Matrix within the red and blue mech, and the blade reacted, glowing a pure blue, and it slid out from the rock, the Prime and the blade falling to the ground, just as the Decepticons reached the ship, and ran to enter it.
The Prime slammed to the ground in a glowing light, sending up a large dust cloud. The dust cleared, and Optimus pulled the blade from the ground, turning it and holding it upright in one servo.
Smokescreen then walked up and spoke.
"I loosened it for him."
Michael just scoffed, knowing that he had just as much like with it as Megatron did, but he couldn't help but wonder why the blade reacted to him when he wasn't a Prime in the slightest.
Was it because of the Keyblade, or was there more to it than that?
Inside the Nemesis, Megatron growled.
"Drop the mountain on him." He ordered.
The grabber holding the rock then let go of it, and it rolled down towards Optimus, shocking the Autobots, who yelled out to him, but the Prime didn't move. Instead, he slowly turned around, took a stance, and slashed up, slicing the rock in half, shocking everyone in the area, while Michael watched in awe.
"Did he just...?" Bulkhead asked, shocked.
"<:He did...:>"
"Wow..." Cliffjumper replied, just as shocked.
"No way..." Jack said, shaking his head in amazement.
Optimus then looked at the Nemesis, while Megatron adorned an expression of complete shock on his faceplate as he looked through the video feed.
As if he knew the Warlord was watching, Optimus did something he would rarely ever do.
He winked.
Then, he charged up a run, and performed a Spin Attack, sending out a blue sword beam of energy, which crashed right into the Nemesis, jolting everyone inside it around.
"It can do that?" Smokescreen asked, to which no one gave him a reply.
The Nemesis then took off to the skies once more as Megatron realized something.
"We Decepticons... now face our darkest hour..."
-----
Back at the base, Ratchet fired the bridge up as Jessica watched from the human area, and the Autobots came through, with Smokescreen talking excitedly about what Optimus had done.
"How epic was that?!" He asked the others. "Aw, I saw it with my own optics!" He then recreated the Spin Attack that Optimus had done out of sheer disbelief. "But I still don't believe it!"
He was about to bring up Michael's shocking effect on the blade when Arcee spoke up first.
"You know what I don't believe?! That after everything you've been told, you still put a human at risk!"
"Arcee," Jack started. "It wasn't his fault, I shouldn't have-"
"Don't you even start with me! We'll talk tomorrow!" Arcee snapped, cutting him off, then she turned to Ratchet. "Send Jack home!"
As the CMO put the coordinates in and activated the Groundbridge again, Arcee looked at Michael, and her expression softened slightly. She wasn't mad at him, for she knew that grayish-green mech wouldn't willingly put someone else in danger, especially not without a good reason, and that Smokescreen must've roped him into it.
Jack tried to speak, but couldn't, and gave up, and walked towards the Groundbridge, but he stopped and looked back at Smokescreen.
"Green for Go." He said simply. Jack didn't reply, and instead entered the portal, which shut down behind him.
"We've been in need of another Autobot in our ranks," Arcee said firmly. "Not another child!"
"Look, Arcee, I was wrong, and I'm sorry... again..." Smokescreen said solemnly. "And if you need to kick me off Team Prime..."
"Disregard for human safety, or anyone's safety will not be tolerated." Optimus said firmly, as he and Michael walked up behind the white mech, who turned to face them as the Prime held the Star Saber in his servo, using the floor to hold it up. "Do you understand?"
"Fully, sir." Smokescreen said. Everyone then turned to look at the Prime, who spoke up again.
"We must never lose sight of the fact that upon this Earth, we are titans. And such power must be used wisely..."
Suddenly, the Star Saber began to glow on its own. At the same time, Michael's Keyblade summoned itself to his servo automatically, and began to glow in a bluish-white light, casting the room in a very blue and bluish-white hue, catching everyone's attention and surprising them all.
While Keyblades could be summoned by their wielder at any time, they could also summon themselves to their wielder's hand, or servo, when necessary.
The two mechs held up their respective blades upright, grasping their hilts with both servos.
"Woah..." Jessica whispered, completely awed by the sight.
"Woah." Bulkhead said, surprised.
"Wow." Cliffjumper said.
"Optimus, Michael, speak to me." Ratchet said, but neither replied, as they stared into the light of their blades. "Optimus."
"I am receiving a message..." Optimus said at last.
"So am I..." Michael added.
"From whom?" Ratchet asked, as the others walked closer.
The two mechs were silent for a moment, then they spoke in unison.
"Alpha Trion."
~~~
A/N: Legacy is now done! Yay! Not much to say here, but we've now come to the final relic hunt. The idea for the Star Saber to react to Michael's touch was brought up to me from an outside source, which I found interesting, and went with it. But why do you think Michael had an effect on the legendary blade? And what do you guys think of the chapter? Let me know in the comments!
Next Chapter: In wake of Optimus's retrieval of the Star Saber, Megatron goes to extreme lengths to find a way to counter it and bring the balance of power back in their favor. Unfortunately for the Autobots, his method gets Michael and Smokescreen caught in the crossfire. Meanwhile, it is revealed that four more relics are needing to be found and obtained by the Autobots, but the hunt for them isn't easy.