TransWarped

Chapter 9: Little Olive Branches of Friendship

Bulkhead and Optimus were the only two that volunteered to stay behind and disassemble most of the assembly lines at the plan. Initially, Bulkhead thought he'd be doing most of the hard work but he'd been quickly proven wrong. The energon axe cleanly sliced through the tall mechanical arms and anything else Optimus felt needed to be cut in half.

"We might actually get this done by the end of the night," Bulkhead commented as he tossed a thick cylinder onto the ever-growing pile of scrap metal in the corner.

"Yeah, possibly. It's always easier to take something apart than put it back together." Optimus stated seconds before he bisected a track of the conveyor belt.

Bulkhead had to hand it to this Optimus Prime. Blaster or not, the bot knew how to handle an axe.

Unfortunately for him, that thought flew from his processor to his vocalizer at a speed faster than he could handle. Without giving it much thought, Bulkhead blurted out, "So they let you have an axe but you can't have a blaster?"

And he immediately regretted it.

Optimus was momentarily caught off guard by the change of subject and turned his attention from his handiwork to Bulkhead. His expression was neutral save for a slightly raised optic ridge.

The green bot tried to backtrack. "Uh, what I mean is-"

"I understand what you mean." Optimus cut him off. The truck wrenched his weapon from the conveyor belt and paused. His blue helm tilted to the right a fraction and added, "At least, I think I do. Ratchet wasn't too thrilled to learn we don't carry blasters either."

Bulkhead's own optic ridges rose. "Ratchet knew?"

"Oh yeah. It was brought up when we were talking about the space bridge's defense systems on top of Sumdac Tower. I thought he was going to blow a gasket when I told him we don't have blasters. I think his exact words were 'Who's rust-ladened processor came up with that idea?'."

Bulkhead's lip twitched upward as he imagined Ratchet's fuming rant about safety and proper defense mechanisms. "That does sound like something he'd say."

"I admit," Optimus sighed. "I should have known you were carrying weapons. You are fighting in a war."

"And you're fighting Megatron and at least six other Cons. We should both be carrying weapons." The Wrecker rolled his optics. This bot was underestimating his circumstances. Maybe they would have taken down Megatron by now if they had the proper equipment. "Does Cybertron really expect you to take down Megatron with an axe, some throwing stars, and stingers?"

"Heh. Not sure what they expect of me or my team. Their concern was the Allspark, not who we were fighting." A smile pulled at one corner of the Prime's lips. There was a twinge of bitterness in his expression and tone. "I know one thing for sure: they wouldn't have given us blasters even if we asked for them. We're not trained for it."

"You could be if the Elite Guard actually cared."

"Maybe. I'm not sure I'd trust Bumblebee with a blaster even if he was trained by Moonracer herself, and I'm sure Prowl would object to using a blaster. I don't even think Bulkhead could hold a blaster given his claws, he'd need to be modded with one and that's definitely not happening. Primus knows how Ratchet would react."

"Ah, you gotta have more faith in your team." The experienced mech shook his head. This was for their safety, not just because blasters were fun and cool. They were, but that wasn't the point he was trying to make.

"I do have faith in my team," Optimus said with honesty and conviction. He placed his axe on an unmarred section of the assembly line. "I have faith in our skills as a unit, but I also know them. I know their personalities, their strengths, and weaknesses. I don't think it'll be a smooth learning process for two bots that try hard to forget the war and three bots who've never experienced anything like it."