"Sometimes, you just need time."

Shockwave bowed his helm slightly as he let P.O.T. down from his shoulder, the small Cybertronian creation offering the Warlord a bow as well, “Lord Megatron.”

“Shockwave, this is quite an unexpected turn,” Megatron said, his optics turning to look at a certain power-hungry seeker, “I thought you'd perished on Cybertron.”

“Yes, as did we all,” Starscream said simply, his entire frame a tense mess of nerves. 

“Reports of my demise were greatly premature,” Shockwave said, “A pair of Autobots infiltrated my facility on Cybertron, sabotaging my space bridge. I gave chase but failed to accurately calculate the outcome. I awoke in the rubble, blinded. It soon became clear that I was marooned on our dead planet with no means of communication.”

“In time, I repaired my wounds and resumed my experiments,” Shockwave gestured to P.O.T. who blinked as everycon’s optics turned to her for a split second, “The solitude enabled me to make tremendous advances in my research.”

“Until one day, my instruments detected a massive surge of unidentifiable energy. I traveled to investigate its origin at the edge of the Sea of Rust, where I encountered your salvage team and the smoldering wreckage of the Omega Lock. But this was not the search party I had anticipated so long ago. Leaving one unanswered question,” Shockwave said, his optic landing on Starscream as Megatron moved to also look at the grey seeker, “Why was I left for scrap, abandoned? Why?”

P.O.T. was unimpressed when the grey seeker started stammering his excuse. Even she had been taught not to lie to those above her, “Th-the-the explosion, i-it collapsed the power-core chamber,” Starscream stammered nervously, his optics darting around nervously, “The last thing anyone witnessed was you charging into the space-bridge portal. No one saw you come back out!”

Unfortunately, P.O.T. knew that her father would find the stupid seeker’s excuse logical, so she kept her intake shut, “I find your reply to be logical,” Shockwave nodded in acceptance.

“But you will be pleased to know that I avenged your seeming demise by personally terminating the Autobot Cliffjumper,” Starscream tried to work his way into P.O.T.’s father’s good data-pads.

P.O.T. rolled her dark grey optics at the seeker, something that got the stupid seeker’s attention, and giving her a small glare in return that quickly disappeared when Knockout, the Decepticons medic, started talking, “Careful, Starscream. You may dislocate a landing gear patting yourself on the back.”

P.O.T. stifled a small giggle, ducking her helm down when her father glanced at her, giving her a warning through their link. He had no time for her glitches.

“As Megatron's First Lieutenant, allow me to welcome you back to the winning team,” Starscream announced, only to be put down quickly by the leader of the Decepticons.

“And allow me to clarify the new chain of command,” Megatron told the ‘cons gathered there, “While Starscream will retain authority over military operations, Shockwave will be my First Lieutenant in charge of all scientific endeavors.”

Starscream’s optics widened, “Uh, so you are saying we shall each report directly to you?”

Megatron nodded, his red optics watching the seeker carefully before he turned and started walking away with Knockout and Shockwave in tow, “Affirmative.”

P.O.T.’s dark grey optics caught the expression on Starscream’s faceplates, and she sent a picture to her father before following after the much, much, much taller Cybertronians.

Her audio receptors caught the seeker’s last words as she followed after her father silently, “Completely logical, my liege.”

🖤

“Anything?” Bumblebee asked Raf with a slight sigh. Raf wasn’t the only one hoping for news on Team Prime.

“Nada, Bee,” Raf sighed, his eyes scanning the laptop screen in front of him, “Just the same old rubber masks and bad C.G., but the usual conspiracy websites might be our only chance to- Whoa!”

Raf’s eyes widened at the image on the screen, “I found something! It's Ratchet!”

“Really?” Bumblebee asked, his voice extremely hopeful.

Raf’s eyes caught another image, a video this time, his eyes widening in surprise as a choked gasp left his throat. A dark brown haired girl was holding her hand out as a light green glow radiated from her hand to the person lying on the ground in obvious pain, although, wonderment was in the man’s eyes as the green glow seemed to help knit his wound together. 

“What is it?” Bumblebee asked, jerking Raf out of his shock.

“I-” Raf blinked, rubbing his eyes as the girl’s face turned to the camera that was recording her, then the feed turned static. But there was no mistaking who the girl was, even if her eyes had changed, “I think Pan’s alive.”

“WHAT?”

🖤

"Lord Megatron, surely our Autobot prisoner is a better source of information than this primitive data net," Shockwave gestured at the computer that had been linked to the human interweb network.

"I will have you know, Shockwave, that I have been grinding Wheeljack down for days," Starscream snipped, "If he knew anything, he would've spilled it by now."

"Again, some prove to be better at holding their tongues than others." 

"Perhaps you would have better results if instead of a club you used a scalpel," Shockwave said simply to the seeker, "I recommend a cortical psychic patch."

P.O.T. pulled her optics away from her data-pad when she felt her father's silent command for her to follow him, and the other Cybertronians.

Luckily for her, she had downloaded Nemesis's layout, so she easily snuck into a vent and followed after her father and his companions as they went through the maze of halls that Nemesis had.

🖤

“Ratchet, it's me, Raf!” Raf said excitedly, he got no answer, making him frown, “Uh, Ratchet?”

“Go away,” Ratchet grumbled, “You're interrupting my power down.”

“Come on, Ratchet,” Raf tried again, “We need your help to find the others.”

“We can't stop Megatron, not anymore,” Ratchet said, “The war is over, and we lost.”

“You're giving up?!” Raf exclaimed, his eyes wide, he hadn’t seen this coming from the medic, “We can't just give up!”

Ratchet transformed in a moment, in frustration, “Then tell me what we can do without communications, without a ground bridge, without a base of operations or resources of any kind!”

Bumblebee frowned at Ratchet, “What about the Groundbridge we know that Starscream was using?”

“Bee's right,” Raf piped up, “We know Starscream had access to a ground bridge while he was operating solo!”

“Yes, yes, he'd clearly been using the derelict Decepticon ship the Harbinger,” Ratchet rolled his optics, “What does that have to do with anything?!”

“It could be full of Cybertronian tech, and it's probably abandoned again now that Starscream's back with the 'Cons,” Raf pointed out.

“Well, resources won't be of much use,” Ratchet scoffed, “Not without someone to…” he trailed off, “...lead us.”

With Optimus out of commission, Panacea missing - again - to do whatever she needed to do, and Team Prime scattered across the globe…

No wonder hope was low.

“It's a start!” Raf claimed, looking ready to join the fight again.

“You'll have to start without me,” Ratchet snapped, he vented, “This is someone else's fight now.”

“There is no one else, Ratchet just us, just the team,” Raf begged.

“Please,” Ratchet shook his helm before transforming back into his alt-mode, “Just let me rust in peace.”

Raf shook his head at the medic’s back, “Come on, Bee.”

🖤

“I'm back,” Smokescreen announced, making Logan look up from his phone where he sat reading over the text Pan had sent him(again).

“I combed through every square micron of our old base,” Smokescreen told Optimus, “I couldn't find Ratchet's medical kit, not even a bandage.”

Logan winced, as Optimus’s broken voice box managed to rasp out, “The Forge of Solus Prime…?”

“It's gone, too,” Smokescreen shook his helm, “The 'Cons picked the place clean.”

Optimus’s optics seemed to dim slightly, “Oh,” he managed to rasp out. 

“Wait,” Smokescreen’s optics lit up with something akin to hope, “If you had the Forge, you could fix yourself up power of the Primes. Optimus, hang on just a little longer. That hammer's got to be somewhere in Megatron's fortress.”

Smokescreen went to get up, but Logan stood up as well, "Kid-"

"You're going, I'm going," Logan said firmly, leaving no room for argument, "That's final."

Smokescreen vented, an amused grin crossing his derma, "Alright then, Mini-Pan."

Logan rolled his eyes at the nickname.

🖤

"Hold it right there, Bee," Raf told his partner, "And powering up!"

"Not again," Bumblebee groaned as it failed yet again.

"Keep trying," Raf encouraged, "We'll figure it out."

"Ep, ep, ep!" The Autobot medic's familiar voice cut through the air, making Raf and Bumblebee turn to face the entrance where Ratchet stood, "You're miscalibrating the Energon transducer."

"Ratchet!" Bumblebee almost laughed in relief the same time Raf did.

Ratchet looked like he was going to move forward, but something made him pause. Or, rather, someone.

Panacea Hammer easily accepted Ratchet's servo that he held down for her, again on her face as she waved at a pair of dumbstruck males.

"Pan?" Bumblebee gaped as his partner only smiled.

Raf finally felt the link between him and Pan reopen. She was alive.

"Sorry it took so long, Raf," Pan apologized through their link as Ratchet let Pan down next to Raf on the console.

Raf only hugged her, his eyes swelling up with tears, "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Pan smiled, her voice making Raf blink in surprise as he looked into her mismatched coloured eyes.

"Now, sorry to break up the reunion," Ratchet said, giving the humans time to move out of his way, "But, you're going to need to step out of my way so I can work," 

Pan laughed as Raf smiled.

It was good to be back. Together.

🖤

"So, not only did you fail to destroy the Autobots but you allowed their number to increase! Is there no one who can bring me their heads?!"

"If I may, lord Megatron," Shockeave interjected, his voice making his daughter look up from her data-pad, "During my exile on Cybertron, I resumed work on a long-dormant project one that I believe may provide a solution to our current problem."

"Cyber nucleic acid?" Knockout asked, his optics widening slightly.

"The building blocks of all Cybertronian life," Shockwave confirmed, "This hails from a specimen I excavated upon our planet and has yielded promising results."

"The Autobots continue to evade us," Starscream interrupted, "What makes you think we can afford to wait for the answer to our prayers to birthed in some Petri dish?"

"You misunderstand," Shockwave shook his helm slightly at the skittish seeker, "The subject has been fully cultivated. It need only be transported from my laboratory on Cybertron."

"Then by all means," Megatron smirked trumpiantly, "Activate the space bridge."

P.O.T. didn't even need to look at her father to know that he wanted her to come with him. Her small frame was the perfect surprise for the Autobots, as they would either need her, or a Mini-bot that knew the codes, to enter her father's laboratory.

Starscream, the stupid seeker was surprised to see P.O.T. easily keeping up with the taller Cybertronians as they went to the space bridge. Her "human" size wasn't a weakness for her. It was her strength.

Shockwave allowed his daughter onto his servo, it being much quicker for the both of them, and he stepped through the space bridge.

P.O.T. immediately jumped from her father's servo after arriving on Cybertron, easily managing to make it to her father's computer before he did. Shockwave taking a moment to look at the Predacon which had grown slightly in his short absence.

"P.O.T.," Shockwave said, giving her a nod.

P.O.T. gave her own nod back in confirmation, before easily entering the codes that would allow the Predacon to finally be born.

P.O.T. rejoined her father as the liquid that the Predacon had been kept in slowly drained away.

It took a few moments, but soon enough, the Predacons bright yellow optics snapped open. It's optics looking around for a moment, before landing on Shockwave and P.O.T.. Red optic meeting yellow, and yellow optics meeting dark grey.

🖤

Megatron was lost. 

Not in a way that he had gotten lost as in where he was, but rather where he stood. Simply put, he had lost his mind(processor).

On one servo, he needed to rid the universe of any, and all Autobots. He needed to extinguish Optimus Prime's spark. Megatron needed to prove that he had been right even after all these eons.

But, on the other servo, he was tired. Tired of fighting, tired of this war that had killed millions of sparks, tired of keeping everyone distant in fear of being betrayed by them. Megatron just wanted to be back in the loving household that Pocahontas Smith had offered him, even after finding out that he was a murderous Cybertronian.

Megatron's two personalities was conflicting with each other, causing a madness that was only sane. 

And it was all Pocahontas Smith's fault. 

She had changed him in ways he couldn't even begin to describe. She had given him a new outlook on life, showing him the beauty in the horror that the world(s) held. She had been the one to give him a chance, even after he had nearly killed her. Hana had been the only one to love him for who he was(even if she didn't like a fair bit of what he did do). She accepted him for him.

But, he ruined it.

The space bridge opening back up made Megatron drift out of his thoughts, his split personalities immediately going back to fighting with each other.

Shockwave returned by himself, offering Megatron a low bow, "I present to you, my liege the ultimate Autobot hunter."

Optics widened, seeker stepped back in cowardly fear, medic openly gaped, Vehicons aimed their blasters in case of need.

P.O.T. hid her amused grin from the tall Cybertronians from her place by her new sibling's side.

The Predacon let out a roar that had the other Decepticons shaking in their frames. 

Ultimate Autobot ('please can we add seeker!' P.O.T. mentally begged) Hunter indeed.

Here's Chapter Three!

Sorry it took so long. I've been in a bit of a pickle lately, my life got really busy, I kept getting too tired to write, I kept getting writers block when I did want to write, I kept having way too many ideas that weren't "H̶a̶p̶p̶y̶ Ending?" related.
(FYI; Don't look in my Docs. I'm not kidding.)

I simply love P.O.T., even with her sorta toxic relationship with Shockwave, she still finds joy in life. She's going to be an essential part for her "sibling" in the future.😉

Hope you enjoyed!
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