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“Optimus, I...” Ratchet turned away from the Nemesis' control panel to face the Prime, as well as the rest of the team. “was never able to learn Shockwave's side of the cybermatter equation... this,” he gestured to the diagram of the 'Cons' makeshift omega lock on the screen before them. “may be all we ever have. And Cybertron is a much larger planet than Earth...”
“What're you sayin' Doc?” Wheeljack asked, not quite putting two and two together.
“You're saying there isn't enough to restore the entire planet.” Arcee stated sadly.
A wave of disappointment washed over the other Autobots as this sank in. All that fighting and desperation to take hold of the ship for the hope that they would finally restore Cybertron to its former glory- and it turned out they had just gotten their hopes up for nothing. Again.
Looking around at the devastated faces of his robot friends, Jack spoke up from where he stood next to Miko. “Wait, but... can't you use this matter to restore the original Omega Lock?”
“Yeah!” Miko shouted, “That thing had the power to bring back the whole planet by itself, right? Why not just fix that and then use it?”
The others looked to Ratchet hopefully, but the old mech merely let out a long vent and pinched his olfactory ridge in irritation. “No... no, if only it were that simple.” he mumbled. Then continued in a louder voice, “The Omega Lock was a mystical artifact. The likelihood of restoring it with mere cybermatter is... infinitesimal. No, we lost hope of restoring that artifact when the Forge of Solus Prime was drained.” Ratchet glanced at Smokescreen but only for half a second.
“Well what if you only restored part of the planet?” Raf took a few steps closer to Ratchet from where he stood on the control panel. “I mean, if part of the planet were able to sustain life then maybe after awhile it could spread. It'd take some time, but-”
“But what's to stop the opposite from happening?” Ratchet interrupted, “We have no way of knowing if the restored area would grow or shrink over time. And the cybermatter we have now would have gone to waste.”
Silence fell over the group again as no one else had a solution to offer. A moment passed and discouragement set in again... Then suddenly, a voice rang out from behind Team Prime-
“Well well well, sounds like you 'Bots are in quite a predicament.”
Each of the 'Bots spun around to face the room's entrance and saw Knockout leaning against the frame of the door, his arms folded across his chassis and a nasty smirk on his face.
Wheeljack took a step towards the 'Con angrily, “Well, maybe we oughta just take our disappointment out on you ! Cuz you're lookin' a little too happy about it to me.”
Miko stepped up next to the Wrecker, pounding the fists of the Apex Armor together threateningly, “Yeah! I say we wipe that stupid smile right off 'is face!”
Knockout's smug grin faded and he groaned, looking rather irritated. “Ugh. Honestly, what's wrong with you Autobots? You didn't even consider...” he mumbled. Then he stood up straight and continued louder, “What I meant was: it seems to me that you can't do this by yourselves. Maybe you need some help. Maybe you need-” he lifted his arms in a dramatic gesture, “-Shockwave's lab assistant?”
“Wait!” Ratchet hurried forward, moving in front of the other Autobots. “You mean to say you know the other half of the formula for cybermatter?!”
Knockout's smile returned, “Why it's almost poetic, isn't it?” he practically chirped, “A planet destroyed by two warring factions, only to be restored again by them working together. Why its bringing coolant to my optics.”
“And?” Ultra Magnus asked, glaring at Knockout. “What is it you would want in return for this assistance?”
Knockout looked at Ultra Magnus to glare back, “It's my planet too, you know.” he snapped. “And besides, you seem to have cut the head off the proverbial snake of the Decepticons.” he smiled again and shrugged, “I figure it couldn't hurt to try and join the winning team.”