Chương 11: LOG-011.

I'd been right, Megatron hadn't been too happy about the loss of yet another relic. I'd been quick to vacate the area while he went on another raging rant, berating a stoic Dreadwing. I considered our current state of affairs, even as I slowly made my way to the flight deck. We possessed two Keys. With the Autobots holding on to the other two.

Presumably they had discovered Smokescreen's importance, as Soundwave had been quick to share the details of his latest discovery with the rest of the crew, namely that the final Key rested within the young mech. Considering he wasn't sitting in the brig, that meant the Autobots had managed to extract it from him. Somehow. Maybe Ratchet had to wrench open his chest plating? Whatever. In the end all it meant was that we were (relatively) evenly matched, with no Starscream to tilt the odds in anyone's favor.

Picking a side was getting more and more difficult to do. I'm pretty sure Optimus still wasn't actually aware of my presence here on Earth. Passing the final door, I turned to glance at a lounging Predaking, only for the dragon to quickly stand up at my presence. Tilting my helm, I spoke before turning to stare at the clear sky ahead of us.

"I'm going flying. Need to clear my processor." Quickly shifting to my new jet mode, I took off, my new air form rapidly generating distance between me and the Nemesis. It seemed Predaking had elected to follow me, as with a roar and a flap of his wings, the predacon leaped into the air, chasing my tail. Responding to a brief communication from Soundwave, which could be distilled into a query on just where I was going, I gave the silent mech the excuse of practicing with my new alt mode.

He replied with an affirmative and didn't bother me after that. Was going out without dedicated guards a bit risky? Yes. Did I care all that much? No. Continuing to jet through the air with a robotic dragon hot on my heels, I finally did something I'd been ignoring for the past few days. I opened up my communication suite and programmed a rudimentary connection to the Internet. Turned out Decepticon cyberwarfare programs could slice through most interference, with my enhanced processor bruteforcing the rest.

Convenient.

"Now... let's see if Nevada has any scenic areas that aren't crawling with people..." Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

We'd settled in a canyon of sorts. Smaller than the one that Skyquake had rested in, but longer. It provided plenty of cover, alongside a modicum of privacy. Of course Predaking had quickly busied himself with exploring the new area, even as I sat down on a particularly sturdy boulder and tore through as much of the internet as I could. It was... alright.

I spent some time just watching random videos for a while, then I decided to see if I could correlate satellite imagery with what my memories indicated was the location of Prime's base. It was... surprisingly easy. Especially once I figured out where Jack, Miko and Rafael lived. The three children were registered citizens after all. All I needed to do was follow the trail the government had given me, and then correlate their positions with the vaguely mountainous area my human side remembered.

Of course there wasn't exactly anything I could do with the location. I wouldn't give it up to Megatron, for obvious reasons. But I also couldn't just show up. I'd be detained and placed into stasis at best, no matter Optimus and I's previous dealings. At worst Arcee would put another shot into my optic. Cycling air in and out of my vents, I turned my helm at a croon coming from beside me.

"Done looking around, are you?" The draconic hunter that had elected to wrap himself around me gave another low croon, before resting his helm on the ground.

"Mm. Mood." Turning to stare up at the darkening sky, I let myself just... sit. No thinking. No planning for the future. Just... sitting. Hardly a logical use of my time, but the tiny spark of emotion that existed within my processor begged for just a little break. So I obliged. I leaned back into Predaking's large frame, scratching at his long neck with my lone servo. We ended up sitting there, just relaxing, until the stars finally decided to show themselves.

Once the day had gone and truly given way to night, I got up with a grunt. Predaking turning to stare at me with a confused optic.

"Let's go. I want to mess around a little. See if we can't cause some trouble."

It was whim, pure and simple. Something I never would have allowed to affect me post Shadowplay. I'd spent a long while focusing on the future, on what was practical. After all this, I'd likely go back to doing just that. But just for tonight, I'd have some fun goofing around with my creation. I liked to think I'd earned it.

"Keep up a steady burn, just enough to scorch the road. That's it. Veer a little to the left." The predacon didn't respond, focusing utterly on the task I'd assigned him. Namely, burning alien style crop circles into the parking lot. Or would they be parking lot circles? Either way, we'd taken our time flying to Jasper, before finally settling on the outskirts. I'd had fun just driving around in my tank mode for a bit, Predaking chasing after me on all fours.

I'd even managed to do a short drift, though the road had taken a decent bit of damage from the stunt. Honestly, we'd wandered around like a pair of bored teenagers with nothing to do, messing around with whatever piqued our interest. Jasper was a sleepy town, so if anyone saw us they didn't make it obvious. I'd debated making our way to a military base in an attempt to get myself a more subtle alt mode, before realising the futility of the idea. Tanks weren't subtle, and really, I had no reason to hide.

While Optimus, and Megatron to an extent, might have cared about the whole robots in disguise thing, I didn't.

"You're done?" Predaking responded with a chuff, stepping back so I could examine his artwork. Mhm, geometric circles, occasionally connected by a long, sweeping curve. I wished the local authorities luck figuring this one out. Stretching slightly, I nodded to myself before requesting a groundbridge. The sun was starting to rise and I'd rather not have the local news screaming about an alien jet and a robotic dragon flying over the skies of Jasper. Even if it'd be a little funny.

Letting Predaking go through first, I took one last glance at the primitive civilisation around me and began to traverse the swirling green portal. It had been a good day off, even if I hadn't actually done anything of note.