Ep. 1.5 - Trial and Verdict - [Closed]

[Optimus Prime]

Episode 1.5 | Week One | Day 4


It had been just shy of two days since the MECH incident where they recovered a new Autobot and Air Raid, and while Optimus had plenty of time to read personal reports and try to assist in any way he could, the situation didn't really permit for a proper statement to be given to Fowler until after the fact. It was not a conscious decision to be neglectful, and was rather uncharacteristic for the Prime, (Even though it was less than 48 hours) but sometimes schedules between their species didn't line up properly, and this was especially true when both had important responsibilities to tend to on either side. But despite this delay, Optimus was now able to give the time he needed to the human.

Time that would ideally be uninterrupted.

The Prime stood within the control room beside one of the many raised platforms, looking over at Agent Fowler with a calm expression that masked layers of exhaustion. It was a new type of fatigue he was feeling, the newly found weight and uncertainty on what had befallen Air Raid, planting that many more obstacles into an already rocky situation. He also had not recharged yet, too much running through his processor to permit him to properly shut down without medical aid, and he was not about to do something so frivolous. He spent the time typing out the recount on what occurred, as well as reading others statements, and wishing to try to offer his assistance if possible in regards to Air Raid.

All of this he tried to hide it from Fowler, and focused in on catching him up to speed with these fleeting few moments they were both free to do so.

"...Upon arrival to site, we witnessed the previously missing Air Raid assaulting an, at the moment, unidentified mech assumed to be the one to initiate the distress signal-"

Optimus gave a very dry report over what had occurred, figuring if Agent Fowler needed him to elaborate upon anything, that the human would be first to speak up with no care about interrupting. As such, he didn't need to regularly pause and make sure what he was saying was understood, for he also knew he would be giving a digital copy of the report to Fowler as well. This statement would also have other details that could be scanned over with a finer toothed comb later such as precise coordinates.

"-Air Raid received substantial damaged of human making, surmised to be of MECH origin. This damage and integration of auxiliary mechanics controlled him against his will and turned him against us-"

The Prime continued forth, explaining the broad details of getting Smokescreen to safety, and retrieving and restraining Air Raid and the mech's subsequent lockup and mental shut down. Through the entire report Optimus seemed detached and not truly involved with the situation. He had already invested significant time fretting over what happened around the clock, and could not be burdened with displaying it simply for the human's sake.

"-Once I was able to return to the field, my primary goal became searching for the unidentified individual that had fired upon Air Raid and Wheeljack."

[Deleted]

Agent Fowler stood on the platform and listened, his expression grim.

He had arrived earlier through the service elevator, and immediately gotten down to business. He had made it clear that he desired a report on any and all Autobot encounters with MECH. Each report was greeted darkly, and with all due seriousness. The suspicion that many of its current members had likely come from his own military forces seemed to weigh heavily upon the man.

Now, his grey suit was slightly rumpled, his scowl a little more lined than usual. Evidently Optimus was not the only one who had not seen many opportunities for rest over the past few days.

"So, just to summarize," said Fowler. He held up one hand, a finger raised. "On the plus side, we have a new Autobot on Earth. And one who knows his way around a gun. That's good news. But on the downside: MECH has discovered a way to not just capture and detain a Cybertronian, but remotely control them like a toy. If that doesn't just chap my star-spangled shorts."

His scowl deepened, but he only crossed his arms over his chest.

"I gotta say, Prime, I'm not too happy about the sound of any of this. What if MECH takes over another one of your boys and turns them against human military forces? Or, god forbid, a civilian settlement? How am I supposed to respond to that? You Autobots and even the 'Cons go out of your way to avoid drawing attention to yourselves. Somehow I suspect that MECH is gonna be less shy about it."

Fowler's mouth thinned. "I don't want to turn my forces against one of your troops, but a remote controlled alien robot zombie stomping down the main street of a large city isn't something you yourself can fix by throwing more alien robots at it. Rafael doesn't have enough LOLcats to blanket out the kind of media attention that would draw."

[Optimus Prime]

Optimus halted his progression on the chain of events, permitting Fowler to get in his questions. He was able to keep up with what the small human was saying, up until the end of his first chunk of words. The Prime didn't understand it, but he didn't pay it much heed either, completely bypassing the expression to be able to focus on that which was actually important. He didn't need to waste processor power to figure out how cracking clothing equated to this moment.

Either way, he dipped his helm some as a nod of agreement, silently conveying that Fowler's first set of words were correct. However, what came next was not nearly as easy of an answer. It was something Optimus had already considered though, and he knew just what his reply would be, but that in itself didn’t make it a simple thing to do. He knew he could get backlash for his decisions from his team, but he had to do what was right.

"Since Air Raid's initial disappearance, I have established a non negotiable law for exiting this outpost. Every individual must have at least one at their side, ideally both capable of combat. This has been a deterrence I believe to keep MECH at bay. This being said..."

The Prime's stance shifted with a light roll to his other foot, internals making soft hisses while the mass of his weight was redistributed to the other limb. His optics settled down upon Fowler, a decisive look that still somehow held inklings of sadness and regret for what he would say next. His voice paired with this emotion, but he knew there was little other choice.

"I will do everything in my power to protect my people, however also understand this is your world. You must do what you need, in order to protect the country you have spoken allegiance to."

Optimus didn't want to imagine Fowler's men being sent after one of his Autobots simply because there was no way to keep them from injuring humans or decimating a military outpost. He would hope he would be given a chance, that they would be able to bull rush in and drag the individual somewhere else. But if they were unable to? He would understand with a heavy heart that Fowler had to ensure the safety of innocents that need not be tangled within this conflict.

"I assume that claim of an experimental piece of technology gone rogue would far outmatch current human capabilities?"

He would happily play the role of an inanimate object within his root form for some false report of technological advancements, if it would create a cover story to permit them to help any others that would tragically fall under MECH's hands. If the world believed the military capable of making such things, than if one of his soldiers were controlled he could still ideally do something of it even in a more public area. It was not ideal at all, and would be a last ditch frantic attempt. Optimus didn't want it to go so far, but he would do what he had to.

[Deleted]

Agent Fowler hummed for a moment as he considered it. He stood square-legged and rubbed his chin.

"We might be able to pass that with a lot of fast talking and some blurry looking 'official' pictures, but we'd really have to sell it," he said sceptically. "And I'm not ready to consider that as anything but a last resort plan at best."

He scowled. "I think all we can do for now is hope that, if MECH has any plans for any other of your crew they might capture, they don't involve going public. We can contain an attack against a military base. But an attack on civilians..."

Fowler shook his head. "Anyway. At least MECH has so far shown no interest in terrorizing humans. Hate to say it, Prime, but your kind seem to be their number one target. My boys will keep on the intelligence trail and see what they can dig up. We know that MECH draws its military power from dissatisfied members of our own forces. A lead is bound to turn up from that sooner or later."

With a harrumph Agent Fowler planted his fists back into his hips.

"Getting back to what you were saying," he said. "That unidentified bogey that fired on your 'Bots - do you think it might have been MECH? Or was it a 'Con?"

[Deleted]

He was a dead mech walking.

He should have told Ratchet not to bother patching him up, he could’ve saved the old codger the trouble of picking all that shrapnel out of him. All that work of his was going to be for nothing after Thundercloud had this talk with the Prime---there was simply no possible way for the conversation to not take a drastic downward turn, given the subject that needed to be broached, and the fact that letting a commanding officer know he had disobeyed orders had never exactly turned out well for him in the past. He doubted this time would be any different.

And yet, for some inexplicable reason, he was still trying to track the Prime down.

Mecha joked about it often enough, but Thundercloud had to wonder if there wasn’t actually some truth to the rumor that he was a closet-masochist. It would explain why he was actively attempting to subject himself to an experience which he knew would be an unpleasant one, and it made a hell of a lot more sense to him than the theory that he just felt bad and wanted to assuage his guilty conscience.

Cause that was just a bunch of nonsense. No, really. Not an ounce of truth to it.

Consciences were for mecha who gave a Frag and he most certainly did not give a single Frag, nor never had he ever given a Frag before in his exceedingly long life.

As evident by the way he had moped about the base looking hangdogged for the past four or so hours while arguing with himself over what the right thing to do in his situation was. Truly, he was the pinnacle of stoicism and apathy.

The fact that he was trudging towards the control room with a visibly conflicted expression was just a fluke.

As he made his way down the hall, Thundercloud gave himself a pep talk steeled his resolve, reminding himself that screwing up orders from the Prime himself was hardly the worst thing he had ever done. Hell, it was hardly even within the top 100 entries in his grand list of Astronomical Screw Ups during his service with the bots. He had no good reason to be apprehensive, especially since the Prime was a bleeding heart who believed in mercy and leniency and all that touchy-feely slag. It wasn’t like the mech was gonna have him flogged or executed or dishonorably discharged or anything.

...Right?

No. Course not. This was the same mech who ordered his soldiers not to kill the organics trying to kill them first. As if he would be a strict disciplinarian. The worst disciplinary action Thundercloud had to worry about was getting lectured and assigned soul-crushingly tedious duties. That, and being stared at for an uncomfortably long time in a disappointed fashion.

For some reason that was the part that made him the most reluctant to face Optimus.

He was used to being a screw up. He had more or less embraced the role as his lot in life. But screwing up while under the Prime’s command...well, that was a whole new level of failure Thundercloud wasn’t entirely sure he was proud of reaching. If he had bunked something up in a spectacularly hilarious fashion, he might have felt a bit different about things, but it was kind of hard to laugh at a helicopter full of burning corpses, even with a sense of humor as warped and morbid as his own.

That being said, it was with a small measure of reluctance that Thunder walked into the Control Room, pausing quietly in the doorway as he debated whether or not he ought to back out while he still had the chance, or lie in the bed he made for himself and get things over with. After watching Optimus and Fowler have their little back and forth for a moment or so, he finally decided, To Hell With It, and continued into the room.

He raised an arm, giving a loose wave to call attention to himself, before dropping it back to his side.

“Hey...” He began awkwardly, unsure how exactly he ought to begin the conversation.

“Uh, don’t mean to interrupt the small talk or anythin’, Boss, but if you got a minute I wanna talk to you about that thing. The, ah, the one I didn’t get around to a couple days back on account of the whole “gettin’ intimately acquainted with an explosion” business.”

[Optimus Prime]

"As would I"

Optimus simply agreed with Fowler's words, not intending to use such a tactic unless it was absolutely necessary. Trying to pawn off a Cybertronian as simply a sufficiently advanced piece of robotics manufactured by humans would be... very difficult... but if MECH pushed them into such a tight corner, it was good to at least have this rough idea in place as self protection. It wasn't anything they had to act on at this exact moment.

Nonetheless, the conversation moved on, and Optimus was planning to respond with far more than just simple agreement. His stance shifted, and he even started to open his mouth a bit in order to reply, only for footfalls to ring out and catch his attention. If the strides had continued past, it would not have halted him, but being how they stopped and the individual had come into the room? It pulled his attention over with a tilt of his helm to peer past his shoulder.

Seeing who it was, the Prime eased his weight back subconsciously, since he would be looking at another eye to eye rather than peering down at Agent Fowler. It was somewhat odd, yet weirdly nice. It made him not feel like such a giant, it made him feel far more normal and not as immense. Thundercloud was one of the few that could do this to him. But while it did bring back some familiarity, he still retained his own stance of control and power, keeping the leadership role that was expected of him. Trying to fill that icon.

"I am pleased to see you are well once more Thundercloud, and would be more than willing to speak with you, however..."

This was a bit of a double edged sword here, and he had to tread carefully. It wasn't anything bad, if he was brash it would not cause issues, but Optimus was just always so mindful of how he worded things to not cause offense. It came second nature to him, trying to appease everyone, and trying to be rightfully fair to those involved.

"I was briefing Agent Fowler on what occurred two days prior. If it is in regards to that event, than any new information is desired. If it is not, I ask if this can be addressed when I may commit myself fully to it?"

He honestly didn't wish to waste Agent Fowler's time by addressing issues that didn’t relate to the humans in any way. Social issues between individuals, or problems with accommodations, or even just questions about ones role was in the base could be handled at a different time. For all he knew Fowler had substantial work of his own to handle, and having to wait around while Optimus speaks to one of his soldiers was not ideal.

Nonetheless, the Prime turned some to speak momentarily to Fowler, catching him up exactly on who it was that had approached. He would know Thundercloud already, since it was through him the jet had gotten his Alt-Mode, and he had mentioned them by name in the briefing already, but it was better safe than sorry.

"Thundercloud was our aerial support during this confrontation with MECH."

[Deleted]

Though Fowler had looked surprised by the interruption, recognition had been swift. He nodded at Thundercloud.

"Aerial support, eh?" he said. "Good to hear you're putting that alternate mode we gave you to good use. Seems you 'Bots could use the fliers these days."

Particularly with one grounded, was what he did not say. Instead the big man scratched his chin.

"Like Prime mentioned, we were just talking about the brouha you and MECH and Air Raid and this unknown assailant got mixed up in a few days ago," he said. "My boys in Intelligence are trying to put a clear picture together of what happened so we can move on and plan our response to it. If you've got anything to add - anything we don't know, anything from an aerial perspective - then I want to hear it. Unless you're here to talk about something completely different. Then-"

He shrugged. "I've got most of what I need, Prime. You can send the rest to me in a report if you need a moment with one of your troops."

[Deleted]

Thundercloud looked from Optimus, to Fowler, then back to Optimus, wondering in the back of his mind which one of the two would be more livid with him once this was all said and done. He was pretty sure the Prime didn’t know how to outwardly emote, so at least he wouldn’t have to worry about getting screamed at, but part of him would have almost preferred a thorough chewing-out in place of cold, silent anger.

Loud anger, he could handle. Hot tempers exploded, and you saw the worst that was to come all in one massive, concentrated burst. Quiet anger simmered, drew itself out. It was harder to gauge how long it would last, or how intense it was going to be. If Thundercloud was gonna have someone be royally torqued off at him, he’d prefer them to just explode and get it over with rather than leave him wondering for Primus knew how long if they were still concealing their anger, or if it had finally run out.

Who knew, maybe he’d get lucky and be the first person to make the notoriously stoic Prime so livid he actually raised his voice.

Clearing his throat to stall for time, Thundercloud glanced around the room for a moment, as if suddenly very interested in the building’s interior design. He finally looked back to the Prime once he gathered his thoughts enough to come up with a way to phrase The Incident in a way that (hopefully) wouldn’t be completely self-damning.

“Uh, yeah, about that.” He gestured lamely, waving his hand loosely, before dropping it back at his side once he realized he didn’t even know what he was gesturing towards.

He breathed out a deep sigh, suddenly aggravated by his own hesitation, before his shoulders squared and he looked back to Optimus with a stony, determined expression. He wanted to get things over with quick, and by Primus that’s what he was gonna do, even if it meant he had to jump head first out of the pan and into the fire.

“I’m not gonna jerk you around, Boss, I fragged up. MECH’s probably real damn pissed at us right now, ‘cause I found out the hard way manmade copters can’t take a tackle like ours can.” He grimaced slightly, having the decency to look remorseful for his mistake.

“Copter blew up, then I got blown up by a different copter, so I didn’t get the chance to tell you before now.”

He glanced between Fowler and Optimus again, warily gauging their expressions to see how screwed he was.

“So uh...yeah. I fragged up. Already said that, but it kinda bears repeating.”

[Optimus Prime]

Optimus was not one to outwardly emote, this was true. He tended to just crush down and dissipate angers he may feel with a smothering layer of reasoning and rational. He didn't want to think what it would be like if his well of patience were to ever cap off, as it would definitely be a different side of him he didn't want to experience ((if it was even possible since his emotional crippling when he became Prime)). At this point and time however, he was the furthest one could be from such a state, simply patiently waiting for what was to occur.

Despite casting a side glance at Fowler when a few unknown words were spoken by the human, Optimus' attention was locked back down upon Thundercloud while the jet spoke, or more... tried to. The clearing of the throat was an obvious stall for time more so than any need to reset a vocalizer. The glancing around the room was also evident, and simply put Optimus on minor guard that what was going to be said wasn't in Thunder's favor.

This couldn't have been any more accurate.

What had been spoken of took a couple passes for the Prime to fully understand all the implications. Each pass in his processor were only mere fractions of seconds, but the calculations unfolded like a book in front of his optics. At first it was simply the fact that Thunder had caused senseless destruction to a human vehicle, which in itself was problematic, but then came the realization that by doing so it was a violation of his orders to only clip wings and not OBLITERATE a target. Thunder was specifically told to not destroy the aerial vehicles. The Prime didn't even have a fraction of a second to contemplate this factor, before the glaringly obvious slapped him in the face.

Thunder had murdered humans.

True, they were MECH, they were butchers in their own ways, but it was human lives. Human lives that would not have been wrapped into such a situation if the Cybertronian didn't come to their planet. Human lives that would not be obliterated by a turn of events caused by his own hand. If he hadn't sent a damn TANK of a JET after such fragile devices, they would still be alive able to interact with whatever family they had.

Even if MECH were to be sentenced to death for their actions against the government, it was not the Autobot's position to lay judgment. Not only where they not theirs to apply a verdict, they most definitely were not theirs to lay down an execution.

Yet Thunder did.

Intentional or not, accident or faulty mishap, he had systematically wiped out at least two lives by disobeying a direct order and not following his instructions. Not following his LEAD when the jet was on a new world he knew so very little about. One could argue the tackle was his attempt to 'clip wings' but a tackle was... so over the line it was like being surprised a thin panel of glass shatters when being slapped.

These thoughts caused a weight to settle down in his chest, a mix of emotions weaving and coiling with elements that snaked at the back of his helm, snarling hisses and whispers on how to handle this situation. Hinted nudges towards repercussions that would have been applicable centuries ago when an officer stepped out of line.

There were false memories that painted Thundercloud as someone else who got stripped of their title and sentenced by a Prime from days past. The visuals of the memories overlapped awkwardly in his vision, Thunder's wings having a hazing echo of wheels positioned off of either side of the spine, shoulder plates square and set higher on the frame, optics a wisping blue instead of the yellow that was truly there. Behind him the expanse of the control room bled away to tall windows that looked out over Cybertron.

Just as soon as the familiarity and overlay started, it halted, the memory playing out internally rather than manifesting itself in front of him. There had only been a brief moment where Optimus was blankly looking at Thundercloud while this occurred, but could be played off as him still trying to chew over and grasp all of the implications of the jet's words. The Prime ended up speaking, a dry tone, very cut and to the point betraying no acceptance, or hate, or really... any emotion that could help one guess what he was feeling. He wanted to make sure he heard right and wasn't jumping to conclusions.

"So you killed the humans."

[Deleted]

"By tackling a helicopter?" said Fowler.

The big man looked astonished. It was a peculiar expression, far from his usual look of stoic irritability. He touched his forehead briefly and then held up his hand as he stared at Thundercloud. "Let me get this straight: you full-body tackled a helo. And expected it to survive the encounter? I understand you're an alien robot, son, but good Lincoln's ghost, someone is going to have to get you up to speed on how non-Cybertronian vehicles function. And, I don't know... physics."

Fowler put his fists on his hips and snorted. And then he laughed.

"Yeah, I think it's safe to say that all of the crew on board are likely dead, Prime," he said drily. "While I would have preferred them taken prisoner for interrogation, knowing that there are two to four less MECH out there, along with one of their gunship helicopters, isn't something that is going to keep me up at night."

He nodded at Thundercloud. Unlike Optimus Prime, he did not appear particularly moved by the deaths. A little exasperated perhaps, but now that he was over the initial shock his manner had turned relaxed and slightly amused.

"Full marks for enthusiasm, son, but your method gets 'em docked back down to zero for execution," he said. "That said, you capture another one of those helos and its crew alive next time and bring them back to me, and we can talk."

[Deleted]

The Prime’s words were blunt, his tone lacking in any inflection which might have given away how he felt about the situation. While he supposed a lack of reaction was technically better than a negative reaction, Thundercloud wasn’t exactly encouraged by Optimus’ (lack of) response. Not knowing how the mech felt about the situation was somehow almost worse than being faced with outright anger, as he had no idea what to expect or what to prepare himself for.

He didn’t like this, didn’t like having to play guessing games when it came to how hard the hammer was gonna fall on his head. He didn’t think the Prime was the sort of mech who enjoyed that sort of thing, who liked watching people squirm as they tried to figure out how screwed they were, but that didn’t do much to loosen the knot in his gut.

He wasn’t proud of it, but the Prime’s words actually made him cringe a bit, his instincts prompting him to prepare for the impending doom they were convinced was fast approaching.

“...That’s the long n’ short of it, yeah.” He replied, refusing to look away from Optimus’ face and risk missing out on some sort of vital clue to his mood that might give him an idea of what was in store for him.

...For a second or two, at least. Though he wanted to watch the mech’s face like a hawk, he couldn’t help but look sharply down to Fowler as the man let out his incredulous outburst. Internally, Thundercloud prepared himself for a thorough chewing out, expecting Fowler’s words to be followed by a long, venomous rant which would only serve to remind him of how stupid he already knew his actions had been. Instead, he simply expressed his surprise and recommended he learn a thing or two about how humans--and physics--worked. Then he laughed and proceeded to more or less brush the incident off as something far less catastrophic than what Thundercloud had been anticipating.

He had only known the man for about a klik, but already Thundercloud decided he liked this Fowler guy.

“Uh...thanks?” He replied slowly, feeling somewhat blindsided by how well the human seemed to be taking things.

[Optimus Prime]

Optimus was rather upset by this turn of events, and had anticipated Fowler to be as well. He almost wished the human had not even been there, so he could handle the situation on his own, and then impart the results to him once things were settled and he had time to actually process it all. It was with these thoughts the Prime turned to peer down at the unknown variable a moment, watching as he started to piecemeal together what had occurred, sounding... not quite as upset as Optimus had anticipated.

The laugh truly caught him off guard.

Limbs stiffened a bit as he locked his stance, looking a bit 'deer in the headlights' as a human would say to describe his posture. Optimus mirrored Thunder's sentiments of being blindsided by how Fowler had responded, not particularly sure how to translate what he was hearing. Where humans so skewed in their concept of life? Was he just way over sensitive to the concept of death? It was possibly a mix of both, and he had to try to limp through this, addressing Thunder.

"I don't want you attempting any such thing until you are more versed in human transportation... durability."

Optimus interjected this quickly after Fowler had spoken of trying to apprehend a crew alive the next opportunity. If Thunder learned well, and got things more throttled and not as extreme of maneuvers, such a thing could be beneficial, it could help Fowler out greatly. But this relied on the fact Thunder wouldn't try to give the next helicopter a suplex maneuver.

"This turn of events, while unexpected, does not change how much this revelation displeases me."

Optimus spoke clearly and calmly, tone still mostly vacant, with a touch of an overlay of the obvious disapproval he was experiencing. He was doing well to simply express it trough word choice, more so than actual tone all things considered, especially when he was conflicted in front of Fowler and how lax the human was about all this.

"We are on a world that is far different from our own. You would do well to follow my lead in regards to direct interaction with the native species."

...Which ideally should be as limited as possible with Thunder's choice of alt-mode.

A jet simply was not going to be interacted with by the common populace at all, in any way imaginable. Truly the only way Thunder should ever be close and interacting with humans, would be the children, Fowler and the military he aids in directing, and MECH agents. It was by some grace of luck that Thunder discovered his strength against MECH and not an event with the children. Sometimes he did not understand himself why he let the children stay, but he had to remind himself of the fact he had to watch over them now that the Decepticons knew they knew them.

"In this situation the loss of life was not as... tragic... as it could have been, but that does not mean there should be no repercussions for your actions."

[Deleted]

Fowler rubbed his chin.

"Maybe I've got a solution for you, Prime," he said.

He strolled back and forth along the railing for several paces as he thought it over. His manner was calm, calculating. "Like you said, from the sound of things your boy here has got a real problem with 'direct interactions with the native species.'"

Fowler hooked his fingers around the quotation marks. "Well, if you don't object to losing him for a couple of days, or even week, then why don't you turn him over to me? I can arrange to have him stationed for a spell at one of our military bases. He can get a first-hand, up close education on how the military vehicles he's gonna be encountering in the fight against MECH function, as well as learn some of our basic tactics and manoeuvres, and our chain of command - while surrounded by men and women of the US fighting forces who aren't going to break if he plays rough."

The big man gave Thundercloud an appraising up and down look. "In return, he can do some flying for us. Some recon work, maybe some heavy lifting back at the base. What do you say?"

[Deleted]

Oh god, he was gonna die.

The Prime was gonna glitch-slap him into oblivion all while maintaining that maddeningly blank expression, he just knew it. Nothing in the mech’s field or tone implied that he was angry, or really anything other than disappointed, but to Thundercloud, his choice of words were telling.

Optimus was displeased. He felt there should be “repercussions” for his actions.

Thundercloud wasn’t an idiot. He knew what those words were code for.

He couldn’t help but shoot a glance at Fowler, wondering if the Prime’s current civility was for his benefit, if things would have turned ugly much more quickly if the man hadn’t been in the room with them. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to know, honestly. The possibilities that sprang to his mind when he wondered what would have happened if he had approached the Prime while he was alone were...not pretty, to say the least.

...Maybe he was jumping to conclusions. Maybe he was making rash judgements based on past experience without factoring in the variables of his current situation, or something. Maybe the Prime was really a decent guy after all, and he was really just misinterpreting his words to mean more than they actually did.

Or Maybe his gut was right and he was gonna get hit the minute Fowler left the room.

Ah well. It wasn’t like he couldn’t take a hit or anything. Besides, he sincerely doubted the Prime would actually beat him down. Punch him, maybe, smack him upside the head and demand to know what the hell was wrong with him, but a full blown curb-stomping? Nah, that was impossible.

Even if it wasn’t, he didn’t think the guy could top the slag that went down in Garrus. There were normal every day beat-downs, and then there was G1’s own special blend of brutality. Somehow, he didn’t think a mech like Optimus would be too well-versed in the latter.

...But then again he could be wrong.

Goddamn he wished the big red and blue fragger would just emote something already so he knew how screwed he was.

He very nearly voiced this very thought out loud in a fit of frustration, when Fowler interjected with his suggestion. Torn from his musings, Thundercloud blinked in surprise before turning to look directly at the little organic, staring down at him with a wide-eyed yet otherwise blank expression that belied his complete inability to comprehend how that punishment matched the severity of his mistake.

Once Fowler finished detailing his plan, Thundercloud blinked once again, this time in mild confusion, before looking back to Optimus to gauge how he felt about that suggestion.

“I’m, ah, I’m probably shootin’ myself in the foot here, but don’t that sound kinda...light?”

[Optimus Prime]

Internalized, tucked away from the other two, an echoed presence of days past was absolutely appalled at Fowler. The little human was taking the reins on a situation right out of the PRIME'S hands and running off with them. Setting the tone of severity of the offense, and then having the gal to suggest a punishment for it as well, as if he was the one in charge. Optimus had to shove back these thoughts, knowing it was not his to have, and knowing they were the kneejerk responses of those that were no longer on the realm of the living.

Fowler was right all things considered, as much as it pained Optimus to admit, the humans that had been slain were not super viable in war, and the military was probably relieved to cut even that small force from MECH. The murder was probably not even gifted such a title of 'murder', and was more looked at as a careful removal of a small slice of rotting infection that threatened to cover more ground if left unchecked.

It was also only fair for Fowler to give his input and set the stage for what was an appropriate punishment as well. It was his loss from his species, and he could establish the tone on how an intruder from deep space would be punished for such affronts. It is because of this, Optimus eased back a bit, mulling over what was said.

Before he could formulate a response, Thundercloud voiced his concerns, which were very real concerns all things considered. To their people having to go on a field trip to learn about another alien species could be seen as almost fun to certain individuals, and the heavy lifting and recon work were minimal, if not comparable to doing recon for their own team.

"Your concern is valid Thundercloud. For this we will make a compromise."

Perhaps Thunder should have kept quiet.

"You will report to Agent Fowler for one week so long as work is being supplied. If he has no need for your aid for a few hours, you will resume repairs here at the Omega Outpost."

This would keep Thunder busy in a near constant work for a week. It would keep him occupied either doing recon, lifting things, or patching stuff together, save for the breaks he would receive for Energon, and the allotted time to seek recharge. There wouldn't really be any free time to mess around and socialize, as he otherwise may have been permitted to accomplish. That was perhaps the true punishment there, not being allotted the opportunity to get into mischief, which was... good for the Omega Outpost... but would turn the daily work into a grind.

"If you still deem this too lenient for your typical heavy handed repercussions, I am sure Fowler and I can put together enough work to keep you well occupied for orns."