I've Done It Again

Despite his intuition telling him that leaving with Megatron was a very bad idea, Optimus still found himself running through the streets, outside of the jail cell they were supposed to be in. His tertiary priority was to start helping with the reconstruction of Cybertron, and his secondary priority was to convince his team that he was alive, but his primary priority needed to be finding the matrix of leadership. The matrix was designed to chose a new prime, someone who could lead the planet into a better era. It wouldn't be able to do that if it was sold on the black market and then left in some creep's collection of relics.

Or the worst case scenario, Primus chose a low-life to become the next Prime. Someone who wasn't worthy but could achieve whatever selfish, hidden agenda Primus needed to get done. In that case, Optimus didn't want there to be a new Prime. Either way, he needed to find it and think very hard about how much he trusted the matrix.

Megatron pointed out that getting help was a question of whether or not Ultra Magnus ended of believing them, and even then, it would still take time. Time could mark the difference between the relic being found and the relic disappearing into an underground market.

So, here he was.

"Don't engage!" Optimus yelled as Megatron turned off the main road and down a driveway between two buildings.

"Who said you could call the shots?" Megatron demanded.

"Primus!"

The bots behind them transformed, four of them into ground-based vehicles, one of them into an air-based vehicle, and the other turned into something weird that Optimus could only assume was scanned on another planet. After that, they started gaining. Fast.

Megatron slammed his pedes into the ground and pivoted on a heel, lifting one leg up and slamming it down on the hood of one of them. Optimus groaned and quickly moved to join him. One of the enforcers drove straight at him, intending to ram him, but Optimus jumped. Unfortunately, he was too slow, so his pedes got hit and Optimus went face-first into the top of the alternative mode before getting flung at a wall. 

It felt like his frame was as easy to crush as a vehicon's. Did having the ability to dodge properly really make such a big difference? Optimus pushed off the ground and leaned against the wall. By the time he stood up, Megatron had all of the enforcers thrown into a pile, offline, but not terribly injured.

"You're pathetic," Megatron told him.

"Thanks," Optimus sighed.

"Can you transform?" Megatron asked.

Optimus searched through his database and quickly located his specs for her alternative mode. It wasn't the military-based vehicle Agent Fowler brought for him (which wouldn't have worked now anyway), but his old truck form. Oh, how much he missed this subtle frame after being reformatted.

"Yes," he answered. "But I doubt I'll be able to keep up with you."

Megatron nodded. "That's fine. I don't plan on moving too quickly. We'll find Knockout and then head off to find the robbers."

"Why Knockout?" Optimus questioned.

"We need disguises and he is the only mech I trust to do it," Megatron explained. "If the enforcers are looking for us, it will only make our job harder. Hopefully, Knockout can change our fake paint so they won't recognize us. We should also stock up on energon, medical supplies, and acquire temporary weapons... speaking of which, don't you still have yours?"

Optimus shook his helm. "No, they're gone. Robbers took my weapons too."

"Egh," Megatron made a sound of disgust.