Transformers Prime: A New Beginning

Chapter 43: Nemesis Prime

Normal Perspective:

Three weeks had passed since the incident at the abandoned mine, and there had been no Decepticon activity, but the Autobots didn't exactly get a break, for they had to adjust to the new residents of their base. Michael had revealed what he really was to Breakdown and Knockout, which surprised them, with the Techno-Organic putting in a good word with Autobots about them and how useful they would be on their team, and they reluctantly accepted keeping them around.

Like they had done with Starscream, they gave Knockout and Breakdown a Trial of Trust, since Knockout was switching to the Autobot's side, while Breakdown was still undecided, but decided to give him a fair chance. The blue mech wasn't so sure about returning to the Decepticons, and wanted to stay by his partner's side, so he reluctantly decided to go neutral while staying with Knockout, with the option of becoming an official Autobot remaining open for him.

It had been decided that, while they stayed at the base, they were to take the last two berth rooms, but they insisted on bunking together in the same room, given that they had done the same on the Nemesis. The Autobots were hesitant about this, given that it could be a trick and provide them an opportunity to escape or try to plan an attack, but they reluctantly agreed, and they were also given permission to leave their rooms, but only when there was an Autobot present aside from Ratchet. Unlike when Starscream was their prisoner, Knockout and Breakdown didn't have to wear stasis cuffs, for they technically weren't prisoners if they were being genuine about considering defection, and decided to be lenient with them, but their internal weapons and life signals had also been disabled as a precaution, with any external weapons being taken and hidden away as they had done with Starscream if they were to ever leave the base.

The two did their best to be nice to the Autobots and the humans as the days passed, but it wasn't easy, for since they had once been on the opposite side, nobody could really trust them. Breakdown, who was soft underneath his bulky plating, found that the humans weren't all that bad, and were actually tolerable, seeing as the ones here weren't as horrible or disgusting as MECH, and while he still had a habit of calling them fleshlings, which they, and Michael, hated, he was trying to kick it.

Knockout was, as always, keeping his paintwork as clean as he could, especially given that the Autobot base wasn't as clean or as glamorous as the Nemesis, which he complained about endlessly, which everyone either ignored or told him to shut up, much to the mech's annoyance. Starscream and Knockout also didn't hold their glossas when bringing the other's pride down, which Michael and the other humans found to be extremely amusing.

While Ratchet was somewhat thankful to have another medic in the base, he wasn't so pleased that it was Knockout, especially after the Synth-En incident. Bulkhead was still struggling to get used to seeing Breakdown in their base, let alone every day, for they both really wanted to bash the other's lights out. They did make small talk from time to time, but only about their shared interest in smashing things, but every other time they saw each other was met with glares or silence between them.

Miko did her best to be nice, but it was hard given what Breakdown nearly did to her, and would often ignore him whenever she could. The other humans did their best to be accommodating when they saw them, but they would mostly keep to themselves or hang out with their guardians, but Vince couldn't shake the feeling that Knockout seemed familiar.

So far, not much had gone wrong, but that would all change soon enough.

One night, Fowler was returning home after a meeting at one of the military bases. The meeting had gone well enough, which put him in a good mood, for the day had gone well, and he didn't have to worry about the giant alien robots living on their planet, the humans who should be living oblivious, normal lives instead of 'consulting', and a half-human/half-mechanical alien hybrid from another dimension inhabiting their world.