{{episode|
|otherseries=''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|Transformers: Prime]]'' ep 49
|prev=Hard Knocks
|next=Patch (episode)
|image=InsideJobKnockOutSmokescreen.jpg
|caption=Having fun, Knock Out?
|title="Inside Job"
|airdate=[[October 12]], [[2012]]
|written by=[[Bob Skir|Robert N. Skir]]
|directed by=[[Scooter Tidwell]]
|animation studio=[[Polygon Pictures]]
|production company=[[Hasbro Studios]]
}}

'''When Smokescreen is captured, he learns the location of the Omega Key and attempts to retrieve all the other stolen keys.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Smokescreen (Prime)|Smokescreen]] recovers consciousness to find himself on a slab in the [[Trypticon (Prime)|Decepticon warship]] with [[Knock Out (Prime)|Knock Out]] standing over him. [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]] demands the final relic, pointing out [[Soundwave (Prime)|Soundwave]]'s work decrypting the Iacon database has revealed an image of Smokescreen, but Smokescreen is merely confused as to what it means. Knock Out scans the [[Autobot]], and finds the last relic is hidden inside.

The other Autobots, meanwhile, realize that the Decepticons must have decoded the last coordinates and speculate that Smokescreen holds the [[Omega Key]] inside him, largely due to being installed within him while unconscious by [[Alpha Trion (Prime)|Alpha Trion]].

Knock Out advances on the alarmed Smokescreen with a rotary saw, only to reveal he's actually going to use the [[phase shifter]] to do the operation. He reaches inside Smokescreen and soon has the Omega Key in hand. Smokescreen refuses to tell the Decepticons what the Omega Keys are, but Megatron has ways of finding out.

[[Image:InsideJobStarscream.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Cue unnecessarily lame evil laugh in 5, 4, 3, 2...]]
[[Starscream (Prime)|Starscream]] ruminates on the one Omega Key he possesses, while talking to his [[Starscream clone (Prime)|dead clone]]. Imagining himself in charge of a reborn [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], he quickly realizes that he doesn't have the resources he would need to rule it.

Megatron listens in on Prime's briefing about the Omega Keys, thanks to a [[cortical psychic patch]] hooked up to Smokescreen. Once they've learned all they need, Knock Out unplugs the pair and Megatron orders Knock Out to use the patch to find the location of the [[Autobot Outpost Omega One|Autobot base]] so they can retrieve the other Omega Keys. After Megatron leaves to put their new key in a safe place, Knock Out moves in, only for Smokescreen to grab the phase shifter attached to his wrist and uses it to free himself. The pair grapple until Smokescreen manages to pull the device from his opponent's wrist, leaving Knock Out embedded in a bulkhead. Though Knock Out points out Smokescreen has no means of escape from the ship, Smokescreen has plans of his own. Through use of the phase shifter, he's able to catch up with Megatron near the storage area, where he snatches back the Omega Key and takes the one in storage as well. The Decepticons attempt to stop him, but their firepower passes straight through him. He eventually reaches the outer hull, only to be confronted by Megatron. With no other choice, the Autobot jumps off the ship.

At the Autobot base, [[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] picks up Smokescreen's signal, but has trouble locking on due to the fact that Smokescreen's plummeting through the air. Harried by [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicons]], Smokescreen drops towards the [[GroundBridge]] Ratchet opens, only to be knocked off-course by Megatron. He uses the phase shifter to pass through the ground. Moments later, Megatron lands and demands his subordinates search the wreckage. Smokescreen bridges back to base, where the Autobots congratulate him, but wonder where the fourth key is. They're answered moments later when they get a message from Starscream offering the key in return for the replacement of his [[transformation cog|T-Cog]]. Having considered it, [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] decides it's too important to not take Starscream up on his offer.

Optimus, Ratchet and [[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]] bridge to a forested location and approach Starscream, only to find him apparently dead. It is, of course, just the dead clone, and the real Starscream uses [[Red Energon]] to nip through the GroundBridge into the Autobot base. Moving too fast to be seen, he is tempted at first to finish off the slow-moving Autobots, but goes to find the Omega Keys first. The Autobots in the field realize they've been deceived just as Starscream blows open the vault holding the keys. Though Optimus orders [[Arcee (Prime)|Arcee]] to close the GroundBridge, it's too slow to prevent Starscream from escaping the base. He stops to mock Optimus, Ratchet and Bulkhead, only for the Red Energon to wear off right at the worst possible moment. After firing a missile at the Autobots, he frantically opens his own GroundBridge and escapes back to the ''[[Harbinger]]''. Though Bulkhead and Ratchet believe they can get the keys back Optimus grimly announces the fate of Cybertron is now in Starscream's hands.

[[Image:InsideJobKnockOut.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Well, this is awkward...]]
Despite Knock Out's pleas, Megatron refuses to release him from the wall. Megatron and [[Dreadwing (Prime)|Dreadwing]] return to the bridge, where they find Starscream who has come with a peace offering of four Omega Keys.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Smokescreen (Prime)|Smokescreen]] (2)
*[[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] (5)
*[[Arcee (Prime)|Arcee]] (6)
*[[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] (7)
*[[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]] (8)
*[[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] (9)

|c2=
*[[Knock Out (Prime)|Knock Out]] (1)
*[[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]] (3)
*[[Soundwave (Prime)|Soundwave]] (4)
*[[Starscream (Prime)|Starscream]] (10)
*[[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicons]] (11)
*[[Insecticon (Prime)|Insecticon]] (12)
*[[Dreadwing (Prime)|Dreadwing]] (13)

}}

==Quotes==
"Tell me the function of these relics." 
"Door stop, shavers, bling? Beats me."
:—'''Megatron''' and '''Smokescreen'''

"Autobots, maintain positions!" (said in VERY slow motion) 
"I'm sorry what was that? Mblemblemble!"
:—'''Starscream''' using the power of red energon to taunt '''Optimus'''.

==Notes==
[[Image:TFP Inside Job Starscream fistful of keys.jpg|thumb||250px|Beware Starscreams bearing gifts...]]

===Animation and technical errors===
*Megatron's vehicle mode still has his fusion cannon, despite the arm it was attached to being removed. Furthermore, if one watches Megatron's transformation scene, it's blocked off by smoke, making it impossible to see what exactly happens with his fusion cannon and his different arm.
*Smokescreen's momentum suddenly disappears upon phasing through the ground. Based on where he exits, he couldn't have landed much lower than the Vehicons did. Speaking of momentum, how exactly were the Autobots planning to catch Smokescreen when he came out of the GroundBridge at terminal velocity? (Comment- just like when Jack and Miko bridged inside a moving train in "Convoy", the exit on Smokesreen's side would be moving so he would pop out of the groundbridge at a more-less safe velocity- most likeley Bulkhead and/or Optimus would catch him or Ratchet would make use of the Polarizer- the device that stuck Bulkhead and Arcee together in "Metal attraction" and Smokescreen lost his momentum most likely by using a slope as "ground" inside the ground, so he lost most of his momentum and that's why he reappeared there)
*Starscream's super speed is depicted inconsistently. Though visible to the viewers while moving, the Autobots apparently cannot see him even though he takes time to stand still, closely in front of them and gloat before grabbing the keys. His destruction of the door to the Omega Keys also moves at an inconsistent pace; the initial explosion is enough to consume the door instantly, only to slow down before the blast reaches Starscream.
*An early external shot of the [[Trypticon_(Prime)|Decepticon warship]] has its "eyes" and running lights illuminated in [[Dark Energon]] purple; later in the episode they are their normal red.

===Continuity notes===
*This episode continues from [[Hard Knocks|the previous one]], starting not long after Smokescreen's capture and subsequent restraint.
*The [[cortical psychic patch]] is used to extract information from Smokescreen, having been used previously in "[[Sick Mind]]" and "[[Out of the Past]]".
*Starscream lists off numerous items he's acquired or stolen in previous episodes; the Omega Key from "Hard Knocks", the processed Red Energon (which he acquired in "[[New Recruit]]" and refined in "Hard Knocks"), his GroundBridge remote first seen in "[[Triangulation]]", his murdered clone from "[[Armada (episode)|Armada]]", and the T-cog he scavenged from said clone in "Triangulation".
*Ratchet recalls Starscream's lack of a T-cog, which he learned about in "[[Crossfire]]". Starscream lost his in "[[Operation Bumblebee, Part 2]]".
*While Starscream is looking for the Omega Keys in the Autobot's Vault, he comes across [[Airachnid (Prime)|Airachnid]] in stasis, which occurred back in "[[Armada (episode)|Armada]]".
*Even though the [[Star Saber (Prima)|Star Saber]] was destroyed in "[[Alpha/Omega]]", Optimus stills wears the hilt Ratchet made him.
Starscream once again called Airachnid a "wreatch".

===Transformers references===
* One of Starscream's self-proclaimed titles as the new ruler of Cybertron is "[[Emperor of Destruction]]". He also refers to himself as Cybertron's [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]], which originated in the Marvel UK story [[State Games]] as the pre-war rulers of Cybertron.

===Real-world references===

===Trivia===
*This episode explains why the phase shifter doesn't phase the user through everything, neatly tying up the issues of how it can be used with such versatility.
*This is the third episode in a row where no humans appear.
*This is the first episode in the series where we get to hear Optimus scream in frustration.
*This is the first time since "Darkness rising, part 1" that we get to see a (car) vehicon in his vehicle mode (the one Megatron tossed off the Warship who turned into a car and fell to his demise).

[[Category:Prime episodes]]