"Some people are born for greatness, others have greatness forced upon them."

"That doesn't follow," Arcee said, frowning as she placed a servo on her hip joint, "Optimus knew Megatron."

"They were like BFFs!" Bulkhead added.

Ratchet's optics widened in realization, "If Optimus did not know his own name, perhaps it is because the title of Prime hasn't yet been granted to him."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Say again?"

Pan grinned at their expressions, despite the mood, "I wasn't like that was I?" She asked the Primes.

"Oh, no. You were much worse," Amalgamous teased.

"Not really," Vector said, rolling his optics at Amalgamous, "You were more intelligent in putting the pieces together faster."

Pan shrugged at that, "It's just plain simple logic."

"Logic that most merely glance over," Onyx pointed out and Pan shrugged again, biting her mental tongue to make sure she didn't argue back.

"With the power of the Matrix no longer within him, it would stand to reason that Optimus has reverted to his pre-Prime state: the historical archivist, Orion Pax," Ratchet said grimly.

"You mean, in his mind," June deadpanned.

"Are you telling me Prime thinks he is some kind of librarian?" Fowler practically shouted, making Pan roll her eyes yet again, "AND a Decepticon?!"

"Being a Decepticon is a choice, Agent Fowler," Ratchet frowned at the Agent, "One I have a hard time believing Optimus would make at any point in his life."

"So, if he's riding with the 'Cons," Bulkhead started, looking confused

"It's because Megatron is working some kind of voodoo," Arcee finished for him.

Pan snorted at that, reminding everyone that the selectively mute girl was still there.

"Orion Pax may not currently be an Autobot up here," Ratched pointed a digit at his helm, "but I must believe, he will never stop being one in here," the medic placed his servo over his chest where his spark lay, "We must locate him to know for certain."

"Hold up. I have a chip lodged in my behind that let's Uncle Sam know when I stop for donuts-"

Raf and Pan looked at each other and gagged.

"-Are you telling me you can't just track Prime?"

"Optimus's signal has not reappeared since he embarked for Earth's core," Ratchet said as he brought up the Team's vitals on the computer, "But we must get to work finding him. If we have any hope of initiating his contingency plan."

"Contingency plan?" Arcee asked.

"What "contingency"?" Bulkhead questioned, looking at the medic.

Miko leaned against the metal barrier, "Is that even a word?

Jack's eyes widened in understanding, "The Key card!" Jack said, bringing it out to show the others(again), "So, what does it do?"

Ratchet sighed, "It grants access to Vector Sigma, the repository of the wisdom of the Primes."

"Is that some sort of supercomputer?" Raf asked, looking curiously up at the orange and white mech.

"So, we can just download Optimus's memories back into him?"Jack grinned, "Great! Which one is the big V? Over here? Somewhere in back?"

Pan grimaced awkwardly at the situation at hand, "Sorry Jack."

Chuckles echoed from the back of her head.

"Vector Sigma is more than a "supercomputer", Jack," Ratchet said, "It is an ancient source of mystical power," the medic paused, his faceplates shifting as his mood changed, "On Cybertron."

"Cybertron!"

June turned to her son, "Jackson Darby! You will NOT be travelling to another planet."

"I'm in!" Miko cheered only for the nurse mother hen to glare at her.

"You're not going either, Miko," June snapped at the girl, Miko scowling as the nurse turned to the Autobots, "Not while one of YOU can."

"June's right," Fowler added, "Why send a boy to do a bot's job?"

"Morons," Nexus sighed with Amalgamous snickering away.

"They didn't listen to a thing Ratchet said," Alchemist grumbled.

Pan mentally rolled her eyes at the adults, "Adults," she muttered.

"Because only a Prime can access Vector Sigma," Ratchet told the two human adults, before glancing at Jack, "Or one chosen by a Prime."

Jack gulped as he looked at the key card in his hand.

"Optimus gave the Key card to Jack," Ratchet explained, "It is now imprinted with his unique biosignature."

"So, you mean Jack's like some kinda honorary Prime?" Miko queried.

"Let's just say Jack is the only one who can return Optimus to the Autobot we knew."

"Bullscrap!" Amalgamous snarled suddenly making Pan jump in surprise, her eyes wide as the other Primes instantly hushed the normally chill jokester Prime.

"Amalgamous," Prima warned.

Pan's eyebrows shifted, "What's Amalgamous talking about?"

All twelve Primes stiffened at the sound of her voice. And her question.

Pan sighed when she felt their hesitation to answer, "Never mind," she muttered, figuring that this would be one of her many questions that would go unanswered.

"But why would Optimus willfully endanger a human?" June scowled, "A child?" she added.

Jack protested, "I'm not a child, Mom!"

"Maybe Optimus believes there's more to Jack than meets the eye," Arcee told her charge's mother with narrowed optics.

"All of which is moot," Ratchet sighed, "The Key-card is useless to us without the means of reaching Cybertron, which we at present do not possess."

"Dude," Miko said, drawing their attention, "What about THAT?" she gestured to the ground bridge.

"Miko, the Ground bridge barely got them into Earth orbit, remember?" Raf reminded the (one and three quarters) older girl.

"Yeah, but Ratchet built it," Miko explained her thinking, "Can't he just turbo-charge the thing?"

"If you want to die, then well, yes," Quintus nodded, "Yes he can."

Pan giggled quietly as a thoughtful expression crossed her guardian's face plates.

Here's Chapter One.

So this is before the epilogue of WaH and before the prologue of this book. But the next chapter will be after the epilogue of WaH. If that makes any sense.

What do you think of Amalgamous' outburst?

Hope you enjoyed!
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