Science

"Back to the Future has now been added to the list of movies Wheeljack and Perceptor are not allowed to watch." Optimus Prime's tone was weary and he stared at his second, Prowl, who let his doorwings slump in uncharacteristic exasperation, but everyone was getting tired of Wheeljack and Perceptor's terrible duo. Ratchet was around to pick up the pieces most of the time, but it was still hard to deal with half of the base disappearing in a few moments because of an experiment gone wrong.

"Please tell me they haven't built a time machine," Prowl said, looking up desperately. "Please, Optimus, tell me that they haven't built one and that we got away with this almost completely unharmed?" the begging tone and look from his subordinate was so desperate that Optimus almost didn't have the spark to tell him the opposite, but he knew he had to.

"They've built two actually. One looks like a giant DeLorean and the other reminds me of Astrotrain," pausing for a moment, he shrugged idly. Prowl was trying to process this, and he was clearly failing. "It's okay, Prowl. I have had Redalert and Inferno secure them so that they're safe from Wheeljack and Perceptor--"

"Are you sure it's not Astrotrain? No one's seen him lately," Prowl interrupted suddenly, his optics brightening with something akin to dread. "We've been receiving transmissions from Megatron to return his soldier and I've had to tell him we don't have him..."

Dread spiked in Optimus' spark, and he would have gulped if he had the structure and parts to do so. Astrotrain was missing, and the new time machine very clearly looked like the grey and purple triple-changer, and if Megatron was calling for him... "... Ok, kidnapping has now been added to the list of things they are not allowed to do."

--

"Once again, Megatron, I can do nothing but apologize," he received the battered Hound in exchange for Astrotrain, who was peeling metal off of him with an expression of disgust. "I had no idea that Wheeljack and Perceptor were using Astrotrain for science..." a small smile quirked from behind his faceplates, and the mech supposed that it transferred to his optics when Megatron scowled in fury.

"Just keep your officers from kidnapping mine, and maybe the next time we won't have to abduct your subordinates!" Hissing as he flew off, Megatron and the rest of his troops disappeared. Optimus watched for a moment, turning to Wheeljack and Perceptor with a glint of steel in his optics. He watched them cringe for a moment before letting out an intake softly.

"Can't you two ever stay out of trouble?"

"Come on, Prime, you know it was fun!" Wheeljack protested, his ear flaps lighting up a cheerful blue. "They never knew what hit them!"

"Indeed, it was a most satisfactory experiment, Wheeljack," Perceptor agreed, grinning a little deviously at his friend. "We should perform these actions more often, do you not agree?"

"Definitely! We should kidnap Starscream next though and convert him into..."

As the talk melted into a debate Optimus just walked away, feeling defeat settle into his core. There was no talking the two out of their plots, and the Prime hoped fervently that Ratchet would be willing to pick up the pieces once more.

Primus help them all, Wheeljack and Perceptor were on the loose.