What a wonderful world! [Book 2]

{14} - Rediscovering the past

(God Look at Wildbreak, he's so fraggin' adorable)

Cascade's head perked up when the familiar sound of a groundbridge caught his attention. He looked over his shoulder, spotting the swirling portal that had appeared a few feet away from him. Knockout and Breakdown came through a few seconds later, quickly making their way over to him.

"Primus... where could this pod have come from?" Knockout mumbled, kneeling down next to Cascade and the unconscious mech.

Breakdown glanced at the mech, studying him for a moment while Knockout checked over him. Something about him seemed.... strangely familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He shook the thought away and looked at Cascade, who had stood up and was now watching Knockout work nervously. "What's wrong, kiddo?" He asked, rubbing Cascade's shoulder. "I'm sure he'll be okay."

"It's not that I'm worried he won't make it..." Cascade murmured, glancing up at his sire. "It's just... why does he look so much like me? Like.. an older version of me." He asked, so many questions burning in his head. And he wanted answers to all of them.

Breakdown honestly didn't know how to answer that question. Why did that mech look so oddly familiar, but so strange at the same time? It was almost like he knew this mech at one point. "I don't know, Cas'. I really don't know. We'll figure out soon enough, Okay?" He finally answered, looking back to Knockout. "How is he?"

"For the most part, he's perfectly fine. The crash caused him to have some head trauma, but the pod otherwise protected him. We should bring him back to the Nemesis so I can perform a full scan." Knockout mumbled, standing up and looking at Breakdown.

"Will Megatron be mad at me?" Cascade asked, a hint of fear in his voice.

"No, sweetie. If anything, he'll be pleased that you found a fellow Decepticon." Knockout replied, smiling softly at Cascade.

"Okay.. that's a relief..." Cascade sighed, still staring at the mech for a bit before looking away. "So he's going to be okay, right?"

"Yes, I'm quite sure of it. When he wakes up, we'll ask him if he remembers anything." Knockout replied, gesturing for Breakdown to carry the mech to the groundbridge portal.

Cascade nodded, watching as his sire bent down and carefully scooped up the mech in his arms. He followed Breakdown to the portal, glancing over his shoulder at the pod before looking back ahead.

-The Nemesis, a few hours later-

Knockout had just finished the last scan and was now checking the database to see if he could identify the unconscious mech that was currently laying on one of the medberths.

Breakdown and Cascade were reading in the berthroom, patiently awaiting the news from Knockout.

Knockout's fingers flew across the keyboard as he typed, his optics scanning the screen before him. He was starting to get frustrated when every search ended in a dead end. Why did it seem like there was no information on this mech in the database? Every Decepticon was logged into the database, regardless of whether they were on board the Nemesis or not. So why wasn't this mech in the system?

He decided to try something else: a genetic scan. This scan would analyze a bot's genetics and identify them that way. He would also be able to tell who the parents were due to the CNA.

Knockout sighed, shutting down the computer and walking over to a counter. He got a small scanner and walked back over to the unconscious mech, tapping a few things on the device before getting a vial of energon he had drawn from the mech earlier to make sure nothing was wrong with him. He injected the energon into the device, waiting a moment for it to be analyzed.

Once the results popped up, he only looked at them for a split second before his optics widened and he froze. 'That name....' he thought, staring at the screen. The information was presented neatly in order:

Designation: Wildbreak

Age: Classified

Faction: Decepticons

Function: Brawler  

Sire: Breakdown (Decepticon)

Carrier: Knockout (Decepticon)

Birth date: Classified 

-Continued on next page-

Knockout stopped reading after that, his hands trembling now. Everything was flooding into his mind like a dam had ruptured. Things he didn't even remember were coming back to him like they happened yesterday. Why was this happening? And then it hit him.

"Breakdown!" He yelled, throwing the scanner aside and darting into the berthroom. He grabbed the mech by the arm and hauled him up from the berth. "Breakdown you need to see this!"

"What? What's going on?" Cascade asked, wanting to know as well.

"Hang on, Cas'. Just stay here for a moment." Breakdown quickly said as Knockout dragged him out of the room, the door closing behind him.

Cascade sighed, sitting back on the berth and nervously tapping his knee with his fingers. 'What's going on? Why did he look so scared? Was he scared?' A million questions popped up in his head, but he ignored most of them. He knew he needed to wait to get the answers to them.

"What has got you so riled up, Sweetspark?" Breakdown asked, a hint of concern in his voice as Knockout grabbed the scanner again.

"I-I took that energon sample from earlier and p-put it in so I could identify the mech.... and t-this is what came up..." Knockout stammered, quickly handing Breakdown the scanner before he dropped it from trembling so much.

Breakdown raised an optic ridge, peering down at the scanner and reading what was on the screen silently. His optic widened when he read the same information Knockout had read, his gaze immediately flicking to the mech on the medberth. "How come...... how come it seemed like we...... w-we forgot about him..?" He mumbled, not even sure what he was saying.

"I don't know..... it's like he was wiped from our memories..." Knockout mumbled, gently shaking Breakdown's arm. "But do you know what this means?! We had a sparkling out there this entire time that we didn't even remember! Cascade has an older brother!"

"It's all coming back to me now...." Breakdown murmured, still staring blankly at the mech. Or should he say, Wildbreak. His son.

He could remember everything now. The day they named Wildbreak. The day Wildbreak took his first steps. Everything. It was like a chunk of his memories had been put back into place after being separated for so long. But what happened? Why did they forget? What made them forget?

"How could we forget our firstborn, Breakdown? How could we!? I don't understand!" Knockout exclaimed in distress, though he was overwhelmed with joy at the same time.

"I.... I don't know, Knock. But we're getting to the bottom of this...." Breakdown mumbled, bending down to kiss Knockout on the top of his helm. "But for now.... let's just hope he remembers us when he wakes up..."