Once his repairs were finished, Optimus had to take care of business of his own. He was at the entrance to Maccadam’s Old Oil House in hopes that the person he would meet would be there. He saw the person in a booth, a femme with the alt-mode kibble of a white Nissan Silvia S15 and a grim expression. “Deadlock, is it?” he asked as he sat down. He then heard a gasp.
“…Why don’t you say that a little louder?” snarked the femme, Deadlock. “I don’t think they heard you in KAON!”
“Okay, sorry!” gulped Optimus. He then sighed and leaned in. “You said you had information you wanted to give me. What is it?”
“First, I need your word that I will have asylum among your team as a member of the Autobots,” Deadlock began. Optimus’ optics flickered.
“You’re…leaving the Decepticons?”
“A shadow of disgrace has fallen upon them. The Decepticon cause is one I no longer wish to be a part of.”
“Then you have my word that you’ll be an Autobot. Anything else?”
“Only that you use the information wisely.”
“You have my word there. Now, what’s going on?”
“Megatron’s attempting to breach the Vector Sigma Chamber in Kaon before the Winter Solstice.” Optimus’ optics widened at Deadlock’s news.
“What?! That’s blasphemy!”
“He received word that Starscream’s trying to keep Cybertron away from it during the Solstice.”
“Wait, Starscream can’t do that! What’s going on?!”
“He believes that you hold the key to unlocking some great secret.” Optimus then remembered something.
“Gaia said that I would discover a great secret in my lifetime. …Is that what Starscream’s trying to guard?”
“Gaia?” quizzed Deadlock.
“I’ll explain on the way to base. If you want protection from any assassins after what you did to the D.J.D, we need to go now!”
“Understood.” Deadlock then followed Optimus out of Maccadam’s.
“It’s taking DAYS to heal them all!” complained Swoop as he, Perceptor, and Ratchet tended to Optimus’ team.
“Keep going with Rattrap over there,” directed Ratchet. “Optimus is gonna need him.” Grimlock scowled at Perceptor.
“Funny,” he growled, “you don’t have a scratch on you! I wonder why!”
“Grimlock, lay off Perceptor!” barked Optimus as he and Deadlock entered the Repair Bay. “If I hear one more word against him, you’ll answer to me!”
“Optimus, what are you doing bringing HER here?!” yelped Swoop.
“Deadlock!” growled Grimlock.
“Deadlock’s left the Decepticons,” explained Optimus. “She willingly underwent a Cortical Psychic Patch to prove herself. Right now, I need her to coordinate with Teletraan 1 to prepare for anti-Starscream defenses. I only came here to tell you that Deadlock is to be treated with respect. I know her reputation precedes her, but she’s trying to atone for her sins.”
“…I’m watching you, Deadlock!” warned Grimlock.
“I’d be insulted if you didn’t,” remarked Deadlock.
“I hate to rain on y’all’s parade,” muttered Teletraan, “but, according to the data we’ve got, a forcefield won’t stop Starscream for long.”
“It’ll be better than nothing. How soon can we get underway with construction?”
“Immediately. Good thing too. I just intercepted a news broadcast that Starscream and Sunstorm are fully recovered from the assault.”
“Get to it, then.”
“So Thunderhoof forgot that I command the Decepticons as well as all of Cybertron, I see,” mused Starscream as Skywarp finished his report.
“And Nightbird’s Megatron’s wife?!” asked Sunstorm.
“It was a secret wedding before he busted us out of prison seven years ago,” explained Skywarp. “There’s more. Apparently, Nightbird’s the one who turned Megatron onto his current path.”
“It matters not,” remarked Starscream. “I must say, I never would have thought Megatron would try to enter the Vector Sigma Chamber before the Solstice. I guess he figures I’m hiding something. It won’t matter. The only one who has the key to finding out is Optimus and he’s only made moves against me, not Megatron. I must admit, it was clever of him to collapse the ceiling on us, but he only succeeded in postponing the inevitable!”
Perceptor finally finished fixing up Teletraan’s ground-based systems for the base. “There we go, Teletraan!” he cheered. “Good as new! Good thing you’ve been backing yourself up lately.”
“Yeah, had a scare on that front before the Harbinger arrived on Mobius,” replied Teletraan. “Brought the Ark across the Quintesson Neutral Zone too. Metal Sonic took control of me back then, so they had to reinstall me from a backup.”
“That…actually explains a few cryptic remarks.” Just then, the lights faded. “Wha?!”
“Sorry, Perceptor,” called Optimus as he and Grimlock entered the room, “but we’re diverting all essential power to the force-field generator.”
“But that’s absurd!”
“You got any better ideas?” asked Grimlock. “Or is your intelligence as fleeting as your courage now?”
“Grimlock!” snarled Optimus.
“As a matter of fact, I DO have a better idea,” replied Perceptor. “Get inside Starscream and disconnect the Heart of Cybertron.”
“Are you defective?!” protested Grimlock. “How are we gonna do that?!”
“Simple. We use either an external matter inducer beam or a shrinking spell to bring us to a microscopic size. Then we crawl into Starscream and rip the blasted Heart out!”
“What do you think of his intelligence now?” Optimus asked Grimlock. The Dyno-bot leader simply folded his arms and scowled.
“I reserve judgement.”
“You, Shahra, and Deadlock go with him. We’re gonna go with the shrinking spell option.”
Optimus visited Airazor after they came back from a patrol. “Hey, Airazor,” he said, “I’m about to ask you to do something crazy.”
“Any crazier than Starscream’s ambitions?” asked Airazor.
“I need you to throw a small box containing four of our guys shrunk down to microscopic size at Starscream so they can climb in and disconnect the Heart of Cybertron from him.”
“…Okay, maybe slightly crazier, but not a hard job.”
“So, you’re willing to fly some more?”
“Like a bird!”
Night was starting to fall as Shahra, Perceptor, Grimlock, and Deadlock got ready for the shrinking spell. Shahra was going to be the one casting it. “Is everyone ready?” she asked. They all nodded their readiness. “Then let’s do it.”
“Yes, let’s do it!” agreed Perceptor. “Now we’ll show Starscream that bad things come in small packages!” A golden cloud surrounded them all and they shrank down to the size of a pin.