#or take a moment to rest after a long journey back to the Decepticons. He needs to get to work. And for that he needs Soundwave

[cluescorner]

ALL TIMER MEGASOUND PANEL JUST DROPPED

Me, like 8 hours ago: Whatever happens in Skybound today I'm gonna be so normal about it

Me, now: Holy shit

[in1-nutshell]

Susan and Ironhide get discovered

SFW, Platonic, Mention of injuries, Slight Angst, Human reader

TFP

I wrote this before the request for continuation of Susan and Ironhide began. I sort of forgot I had it written, until I found it. Welp, better late than never!

If someone had told Susan 2 weeks ago that she would not only end up making her grandpa proud but also make a new friend, she might have taken you to the nurse’s office.

Ever since she had found Ironhide, things in life seemed a lot more colorful.

She was thrusted into the world of Cybertron and its war. Her new friend, Ironhide, had been held prisoner for a while on a Decepticon spaceship before managing to snag an escape pod and arriving to Earth.

Sadly, due to his rough landing, his com link and long-range scanners were busted. Meaning even if he did find someone, it would be a while until he actually knew there was anyone nearby.

“What are ya doin’ kid?”

Ironhide questioned once he saw Susan try and lift a side to an old communicator. He gently shut it back into place.

“I’m going fix it.” She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Kid, ya don’t even know our technology. Compared to yer’s, and I mean this with no offense, pretty primitive in comparison.”

Susan nodded.

“I’m still gonna to try. If me trying means any step closer to finding our teammates then I’m all in for it!”

Ironhide’s spark felt a bit warmer.

“Kid, yer’ already doing a lot for me.”

“Its not enough though.” Susan muttered just loud enough for Ironhide to hear.

Ironhide smiled a bit at the human before patting her head a bit.

Susan blinked a bit before smiling at the older mech.

The young girl swore to help him on his journey to find anyone on his team or side of the war. Susan was well aware of people like herself looking for any sign of alien life form, sadly not all of them had peaceful intentions like she did. She eventually made the hard decision to take down her alien sighting blog. If this page meant hurting Ironhide, she rather not have it at all.

Ironhide found out about her ultimate decision after finding her crying a bit at the deleted page. He felt a bit guilty for making her lose something that meant a lot to her. A bit more salt to the wound once Susan opened about her grandfather and the reason why she actively sought out for other life amongst the stars. The older mech made it up to her by bringing her along to get his new alt mode to blend in with the rest of Earth’s vehicles.

Susan was bouncing all over the place the moment Ironhide managed to scan a big red pickup truck.

As weeks stretched on into months, the two ended up falling into a routine.

Ironhide, after reading up on Earth traffic laws, would drop Susan off at school, then he would either work on his com line or he would go around town looking over some of the vehicles and seeing if any were his comrades. So far, none of his trips have been successful.

After school was over, Ironhide would go and pick Susan up and then they would go to Susan’s grandfather’s old, abandoned workshop. This was where she would try and work on Ironhide’s communication equipment while telling each other their day and stories.

The old workshop was the one thing Susan’s grandfather had left her and her parents either were kind enough to let her have it, or still didn’t realize it was part of their property. Either way, it was their place. It was a place where inventions were made, and things were fixed.

Though the last invention Susan tried to make was a spark detection device for Ironhide. They had driven into one of the smaller canyons, far from the town. Susan gave him specific instructions to hide, and she would use the device to find him. From Ironhide’s little hiding place the device looked like it was working… until it suddenly exploded.

Susan screamed in pain and surprise as she quickly let go of the device.

Ironhide quickly ran to her side, kneeling and servos hovered over her crouched body. He was only getting to know some bits about human patch work, but he hadn’t gotten to the lesson on ‘What to do when a machine explodes in your face’.

“Kid! Kid! Suzzy you, okay?”

He gently helped her sit up.

The girl’s hands slowly left her face as she grabbed onto one of Ironhide’s digits.

She had some cuts on her face as well as some slight burns and soot.

“I’m fine ‘Hide. Not the first time this has happened to me.”

The bot face dropped at this.

“What do you mean ‘not the first time’?”

Was it strange that the girl reminded him a bit of Wheeljack and Perceptor?

Susan tried to stand up straight but was carefully cupped into the red mechs servos. He looked grim.

“I think tha’ enough for today.”

“But—”

“Suzzy, the machine practically exploded on yerself and you still want to do something?”

Susan yawned a bit.

“Maybe a nap will do.”

The mech raised an optic.

“After you clean up.”

“After I clean up.”

It was nice to have a friend that looked out for the other. Susan felt complete knowing she had at least one friend in this world that didn’t mind all of her.

Which brings up the trio.

Jack, Raf, and Miko.

Susan did her best to keep all conversation with them to a minimum or if absolutely necessary. They never gave her a reason why they didn’t show up to her watch party. As much as she wanted an answer to it, the girl ended up shelfing it as another trick and she didn’t want to hold a grudge for that long anyways.

It was for the best.

She did notice Jack and Raf try to have a conversation with her sometimes, but it never stuck and usually ended up with them both leaving. The thought was appreciated, but it still didn’t cover up what they did and the fact they never acknowledge that they didn’t go to the party as well.

Miko didn’t even attempt to talk to her.

But no matter, Susa still had Ironhide.

Not even her parents’ absence and words could bring her down as soon as she remembered the Cybertronian.

…

Ironhide was late.

Not when it came to picking her up. He was a very punctual mech arriving at the same time every day like clockwork. So, when Ironhide didn’t arrive after an hour of waiting, Susan was understandably worried about what could have happened to her friend.

But she wasn’t the only one waiting for her ride, apparently so where Jack, Raf and Miko. Which was strange to Susan too. Their rides were almost as punctual as Ironhide, though on occasion she’d see them carpool or at the even rare chance see them pile into an ambulance. The girl figured that because Jack’s mom was a nurse that she had a friend at the hospital that could give them a ride.

“Nice weather we’re having.”

The sound of the young boy’s voice made Susan jump a bit.

Raf had sat down next to her while his two other friends were either watching the road or watching him.

Susan smiled a bit.

“Yeah, I guess it’s nice.”

They fell into silence.

“So… where’s your ride?”

Susan shrugged trying to play off her anxiousness.

“Don’t know. He said he’d come pick me up, but this is the latest he’s ever been. What about your ride? You three are almost as punctual as mine… something happen?”

Raf scratched the back of his head.

“Something like that.”

Susan hummed and looked back at the road.

For a second a flash of red drove past the corner, she thought it was Ironhide.

It was just some shiny red sports car.

Doc Austen if she was correct.

Susan suddenly felt a hand on her pulling her forward.

She turned to see Raf pulling. He looked worried, what was he so worried about? The boy started walking them both to Jack and Miko who looked almost as worried as Raf. Now something was up. It was one thing for Raf to be nervous about something, the kid was nervous about a lot of things. But if Jack and MIKO were nervous about something, then there was something to be worried about.

“Susan, you need to follow us.” Raf said as the group started moving away from the street.

“Follow you? Follow you guys where? And why?”

Miko gave her a slight glare.

“Susan for once, stop asking questions and just follow us!”

Susan glared at Miko and stopped in her place.

“I’m not going anywhere until I know where you guys are going and why? Why did you guys freak out when you saw the sports car?”

Jack gave her an apologetic look.

“As much as I want to explain Susan, we really need to go. Our lives and now yours are endangered. You just need to trust us.”

Susan pursed her lips while giving him a glare as well.

“Trust isn’t exactly given Jack, its earned.”

Miko sighed loudly.

“Well, we’re about to earn it but we need to move now!”

Susan wanted to say something else, but she caught something in the trio’s eyes.

Desperation.

…If it was that bad…

Susan gulped a bit and followed the trio into some of the back alleys in the town. The group continued to weave in and around the buildings until they reached the town’s limits.

Miko reached for her phone and began to call someone.

It rang two times before a smile came onto her face.

“Bulk! We’re at the drop point. But we got another passenger with us.”

…

“No, it not them… its Susan.”

Susan felt a bit offended by how the other girl said her name.

“Yeah, I know, but we saw Knockout—”

“Don’t wear it out.”

All four humans jumped at the new voice behind them.

It was the red sports car.

It was now that Susan was closer to the car that she noticed something off about the car.

It had an insignia.

An insignia that Ironhide told her to stay away from at all cost.

“Decepticon…” Susan muttered as she watched the car transform.

Her mind immediately went to the others. She looked at them.

They all had worried looks on their faces, but none of fear… almost as if they had already—

They KNEW.

The trio knew about the bots and Cons!

Susan was too busy thinking of her realization that she barely registers the sound of something else transforming when her body was suddenly snatched up.

Her vision was blurred as she was tossed inside someone’s interior. The seatbelt was wrapped around her waist and arms tightly, defiantly was going to be a mark there when she woke up. The red sports car, Knockout, immediately slammed the accelerator and went speeding down the road leading out of the town. Susan tried squirming with the seatbelt, but it just got tighter. Her ribs started feeling more of the pressure.

“Sit still! You’re lucky that I didn’t put you in the trunk like I did to your other human friends.”

Susan’s hand carefully went into one of her pockets where the prototype S.O.S button was. She originally made it as a way to get the others attention on something important. This happened after she found out Ironhide had come in contact with a family of skunks and didn’t know how to properly approach them. She remembered the questionable looks she got at the shop after buying almost all the tomato juice in the store. Her wallet was crying that day.

Hopefully it would work this time and not blow up on her… though that could help her out of here… but it could also cause more problems.

“Can you tell me where we’re going?”

The seat tightened a bit.

The bot didn’t respond.

“Please?”

“Don’t play coy human.”

Susan winced at the harsh tone. They were driving farther and farther from the town, the sun slowly setting. Where was Ironhide?

“…What’s your name?”

“What?”

“Oh, sorry I, I mean designation. What’s your designation?”

Susan could feel the raised optic through the rear mirror.

“…Knockout. Didn’t your little Autobot friends tell you about some of our names?”

“I’m not friends with the Autobots.”

“Sure, you aren’t.”

Susan huffed a bit.

“I’m not. Since when have you seen me with any bot besides today?”

There was a silence. Susan couldn’t help but smile a bit at the sudden realization hitting the Decepticon. He grabbed the wrong human.

“Well, I still can’t just let you go. Lord Megatron will have my helm!”

This was a problem.

Megatron was a name that Susan was familiar with. Ironhide made sure to explain who the evil warlord was and what he had done. The old mech tried to keep it kid friendly at first, but after some coaxing and talking, Ironhide started telling her some of the stories with detail. That was one Decepticon that she did not want to meet.

Susan shifted a bit.

“Do you really need to take me?”

“Yes. Sorry Fleshy but there’s no talking your way out of this.”

A soft vibration came from the button. The girl smiled a bit.

“What are you smiling about?”

“You should really let me go.” Susan replied.

“Why?”

Susan just smiled a bit.

“I have a friend who on the way to beat your tailpipe.”

Before the Con would answer, a loud honking sounded out. From the rear mirror Susan could see the rusty red pickup truck speeding down the road. Ironhide was coming.

Knockout scoffed. “Did you really get more of your human friends to come and get you?”

Susan just smirked.

“Who said he was human?”

It was at that moment that Knockout looked closer at the trucks frame. The shiny Autobot badge glisten in the last of the sunrays. Suddenly Bulkhead appeared behind the new bot. And he was alone…

Oh great…

And he just got his finish done today!

No! He rather face Megatron’s wrath than ruin this finish! It took Knockout MONTHS to find this type of wax. This was supposed to last for another week!

Susan belt was suddenly let loose and was suddenly tumbling across the small dune of sand.

She was thankful enough that Knockout had the decency to slow down before throwing her out of the car. The girl half expected the Con to turn around, but he never did. If anything, he drove faster.

Susan spat out sand and tried to stand up, only to stumble back to the ground. Her legs felt like jelly, suddenly feeling lightheaded and feeling something dribbling down the side of her head. She winced a bit seeing the familiar shade of dark red liquid sticking in her fingertips. It was going to take a bit more than a couple of band aids to fix this one.

“Suzzy!”

Susan’s head started seeing some dots with how quickly she turned her head. She saw Ironhide and the green car transform. Ironhide immediately knelt next to her, gently sitting her up almost afraid that touching her more would hurt her. Susan tried to use his servo to stand, but her knees still felt like jelly. Luckily Ironhide caught her in his servos and held her up to his chassis.

He turned around and faced the green bot with the trio following closely.

Susan waved a bit at the green bot with a weak smile still clutching her head.

The bot looked at her a bit curiously before looking at Ironhide.

“You said Ratchet’s still round. Figure he can fix ‘er? She’s never had something like this before.”

Susan zoned out for a bit, but it was enough to notice Ironhide transform around her, safely buckled in the front seat and following the green car.

Silence.

“…You okay there Suzzy?”

“’m okay. Just a bit of blood.”

“That’s not wha’ I mean Susan.”

Susan. Full first name. He was serious.

“… I’m not really sure right now ‘Hide. A lot of this is… well a lot. But if this helps you—”

“Susan.”

“I mean they’re your teammates. You actually found them!”

“Susan.”

“And I get it if you go—”

“Susan!”

The girl clapped her mouth.

“Suzzy. I’m not leaving ya. I’d be a mad mech if I leave ya by yer’ lonesome. Especially after everything. I ain’t never been a bot to leave another in the scrapheap and I ain’t gonna start now.”

Susan couldn’t help but shed a tear at what Ironhide had said. She gently traced circles on the steering wheel.

Whatever was going to happen, Susan wasn’t going to be left alone. Ironhide was going to make sure that never happened.

…As well as find out why in the world Bulkhead, of all bots, gave him a face when he mentioned about saving Susan from Knockout. He was going to have a few words with Prime and Ratchet if he was going to get to the bottom of this.

Please tell me this is what TFP Ironhide would look like. This is Ironhide right?

[anony-man]

Chubformers drabble #94!

Character: Megatron (TFP)

Word count: 840

His tanks were so, so full, his belly a sloshing, jiggling mass of fat that spilled out onto his lap, but Megatron wasn’t finished—not even close.

It should have been impossible for such strange medical care to actually work, but he had to admit to slowly feeling his strength return with each passing day. Granted, Megatron had never been informed by his flighty doctor of any post-coma treatment plans, but Soundwave had insisted, so he followed through.

There was hardly enough energon on the ship, let alone on the planet, for a strict diet as this to have been sustainable, but each day was the same. After a while, he had stopped bothering to pester his communications officer about just how he’d managed to procure so much fuel.

Each day was the same, though Megatron found he was getting stronger and fatter with every waking morning. A fuel pump hooked straight to their energon reserves had been wheeled into his chambers the moment he was well enough to walk from the medibay, and Soundwave had been rather insistent that it be used every morning—and every afternoon, and evening, and night—without fail.

Starscream was no help, having gone straight to scheming and sniveling as soon as Megatron returned to consciousness, and his pathetic excuse for a doctor was not much assistance beyond life-sustaining support. It was better that he entrust Soundwave with his healing journey from then on, he supposed. At least Soundwave still seemed to boast a working processor.

The third in command’s attentiveness and clingy tendencies hadn’t slipped his attention, but Megatron couldn’t really point it out when he was constantly being forced to lock his lips around the opening of a funnel anytime the bot came into his room.

Waking up after nearly dying had taken quite the toll on his systems, as it seemed, so of course the assistance was gladly received. Besides, it was working… slowly. Soundwave had always known best when Megatron wasn’t at his peak, and the Con leader was more than happy to step back and let his companion take over for a change.

Each morning was the same, and nothing changed for a while. The stronger he grew, the more confident he became, and it wasn’t long before Megatron was well enough to return to his duties as Decepticon lord. However, progress was forever halted by breaks between the hours for what he had begrudgingly begun to refer to as Soundwave’s home remedies.

The hiss of the fuel pump as energon flowed through its tubes was a sound Megatron had grown used to hearing during every feeding session. Their source of fuel was thin and diluted, a watered down version of the rich and nutritious substances found on their home planet, but it did the job.

Fewer nutrients meant more fuel intake, which meant longer hours spent slumped in his berth swallowing down mouthful after mouthful while his servos frantically soothed the churning quake of his overly-stuffed belly.

He was almost finished with this round, thank Primus. An end to the fueling meant he could sit and catch his breath while his stuffed, sloshing tanks had the chance to process the gallons of fuel pumped inside them. A few more painful gulps that left him aching were all he could manage before Megatron was struggling to pull the tube from his mouth, but like clockwork, the fuel pump across the room sputtered and slowed.

Finished at last. Now there was only a few rounds of fueling left to go for the day, and Megatron could finally rest easy—at least, he could try. It was always so difficult to catch up on recharge when his belly was full of liquid energon.

Megatron pulled the tube free of his mouth with a sigh, then struggled to sit upright atop his berth. His thighs were forced apart to accommodate the massive bulging dome of his belly, and as he moved to lean back against the headboard, the slosh of his tanks gave a painful, ominous rumble.

“Ohh,” he groaned, pausing long enough to gently rub the swell of his gut. “Urrrrrp—ah… much better.”

There. Finally, a bit of relief. He let his helm fall back against the wall and closed his optics, focused instead on the gurgle of his belly and the dull ache of too much fuel in too little time. It was a challenge, chugging himself into a bloated food coma every few hours, but it was what Soundwave had instructed.

The discomfort would pass. He’d feel fine given time, and he could go right back to overlooking the ship from the comfort of his room. Megatron snuggled up against the headboard, a contented sigh slipping past parted lips as he patted the swell of his belly. He’d do it all over again in another few hours, and again after that, but it was worth it.

He was healing, thanks to Soundwave, and with one round of fuel chugging at a time, he would come back stronger than before.

[your-local-tyrant]

Scar

Deep within an old mine located somewhere in silver ridge Nebraska, the imposing frame of a mighty tyrant sat between the arms of a throne. He had been sitting in the dim atmosphere for a while now, a few hours at least. The tyrant had grown completely bored out of his processor and was half asleep. Not much was going on in terms of action, it was a very slow day, so he was simply left alone with his thoughts and the light from a nearby monitor.

At first, the tyrants thoughts focused on conquest and what he might do after he had planet cybertron under his thumb. He'd also think about the sweet taste of revenge that came with it and what it might be like to see the light die out in optimus optics. A small smirk would appear on his face as he thought about it, oh how he relished the idea of hurting him. Perhaps he wouldn't kill him outright, but keep him as a prisoner instead, occasionally coming by to pick him apart piece by piece and watching as his enemy slowly lost hope.

Optimus had caused armada quite a lot of pain in the past when he officially began his journey as a tyrant. Ever since he took his first city, optimus always showed up to try and stop or delay Armada's efforts and no matter how hard he'd try, he never seemed to be rid of optimus. The autobots were like pests that kept coming back no matter how hard he kept swatting them away. It was starting to annoy him, but perhaps the trouble would make his victory worth the pain.

A heavy sigh would escape him and the tyrant leaned over to the side, resting his head on his pointed knuckles again. Ever since the autobots obtained minicons of their own, things have become a lot more complicated and it was starting to put mental strain on the decepticons. Armada didn't show it but he could definitely feel it within his own ranks. The mood around the base was more depressing and work was starting to become sluggish, taking much longer than it should.

Armada slowly looked down until the gaze of his optics met his legs and the thick armor that covered them. He'd stare at his dented and scarred armor for a while, the faint glow of the monitor was just bright enough to highlight and bring out all the details of the scars and dents that covered his legs. The gaze of his optics softened slightly as he seen the blemishes, recalling how he had gotten each one.

Armada reached out to touch his scars and traced his clawed digits along them as if to admire them or relive them; the fire in his gaze faded slightly as he did so. There was no doubt that the tyrant had been through a lot, his whole body was covered in seemingly endless scars and each one of them told a story that he remembered well, but after a few moments he would pause. He began to feel a dull ache begin to travel across his forehelm from his missing horn. 'Perhaps it is another migraine' he thought and sighed again, leaning back up into a more normal sitting position and lowering his arm.

The tyrants optics dimmed. Even after everything he had been through, there was one scar that left a toll on him and nearly cost him his life. The other scars did not bother him in the slightest, but this one ran deep and still caused him occasional pain even years after he had gotten it. It wasn't anything he couldn't handle of course, but the migraines that came with the pain were annoying. He couldn't focus on anything for too long or even think without it becoming worse, so he was forced to rest until it passed.

Armada raised his hand up to his head and gently felt along the deep canyon like scar on his forehelm, tracing along it until he reached the remains of his damaged horn. He winced, it was still sensitive. This scar was the main reason why he hated optimus so much. The tyrant took great pride in having his mighty horns, he had cherished them and now one of them had been stolen by his greatest enemy. To add more salt to his wound, Optimus had even used the tyrants own weapon, the star saber, against him and even kept the severed horn as a trophy item.

The fire in Armada's optics flared to life once again as he remembered what optimus had done. Without warning he'd punch the arm of his throne out of anger causing the metal to dent beneath his fist. He was very frustrated and the growing migraine didn't help. Perhaps he could sleep it off this time. He was terribly sleep deprived anyway, so a little down time couldn't hurt.

Deep down Armada did not hate his scars, and even though he could easily have them removed or fixed, he simply did not want to. He kept and carried his scars because he wanted everyone to know what they had created. He wanted them all to know why he become a tyrant...

[lifetimeshipper]

No End In Sight

Chapter 32

~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as Arcee gets through the Ground Bridge and into the base she's so familiar with, she's caught up in a big bear hug by Bumblebee. All the 'Bots make it through the Ground Bridge with Optimus being the last one through, all of their sparks swelling with happiness to have Arcee back with the team once more.

"Arcee!"

Arcee looks over at Jack, who is looking at her with a mixture of happiness and concern. Arcee smiles at him, "Hey, Jack. Hope you've been staying out of trouble."

Jack scoffs, "You know me, Arcee," he says, trying to be nonchalant about it. "It's good to see you again, and I'm happy you're back to normal."

Arcee's spark breaks when she thinks of what she could have done to her team, her friends, while she was under Megatron's control. "I'm sorry for anything I may have done if I had hurt you in any way." She looks to the rest of her team, "All of you."

Optimus walks over to her. "Nobody here is mad at you, Arcee. We know you weren't in control of your own actions. Megatron used you to get to us and take us down, and for a bit there, he almost succeeded. We were all worried about you and just wanted you back."

Arcee smiled at him before Ratchet led her to Med Bay so he could scan her for any injuries or any kind of tracker that the Decepticons could have put on her. He finds nothing, no hidden injuries and no tracker, and he feels relieved. He then proceeds to reactivating her weapons while they told her about what's been happening with them while she was gone.

While Optimus is watching them, he can't help but have some skepticism rise in his processor. Megatron has never been willing to just let Arcee go, he's been fighting them all this time to keep Arcee his prisoner. So, why is he so willing to let her go now? He's happy to have Arcee back to make their team whole again, but he can't shake the feeling that there's more to this than just using her as a deal-breaker to win them over.

When Ratchet finished with Arcee, he walked over to Optimus, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He asks in a hushed tone.

"That Megatron is up to something?" Optimus asks back in a hushed tone as well.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm happy she's back with us. But I can't shake the question in my processor. Why did he let her go so easily? He has to be planning something."

"That's the exact thing I was just thinking myself. We will just have to wait and see what the outcome will be."

"So, what are we going to do about Megatron?" Bulkhead asks.

"I know that desperate times call for desperate measures, but bringing Megatron here?" Ratchet says as he walks away.

"How can you even think of bringing that monster near these children after what he did to Raf?" June asks in a scolding manner as she stands behind Raf and puts her hands on his shoulders.

"He will be closely monitored," Optimus reassures them. "And only allowed to linger long enough to send us on our journey, not one moment more."

"What's gonna stop the 'Con from calling in an airstrike if he knows where you live?" Fowler asks.

"By Ground Bridging Megatron here, he will be unable to get a fix on our coordinates."

"Optimus, what's gonna happen to you when all your matrix energy is released?" Jack asks.

"The power within the matrix has not previously been utilized in this particular manner," Optimus responds.

"But, you have an idea. Don't you?"

"Autobots, if humankind is to be saved, I have no choice but to proceed. But you do."

The other Autobots think it over for a moment, but it's an easy choice for them. "Well, I don't know about humankind, but I'm willing to do it, for Miko," Bulkhead speaks up first.

"For Jack," Arcee follows as they look over at the kids.

Bumblebee looks back at Ratchet, who is standing behind them, but before he can ask the question, Ratchet speaks. "No, Bumblebee, you're still not fit for battle." Bumblebee is disappointed, but he understands; he still has a long way to go before he's fully recovered and ready to get back into action.

"Don't worry, 'Bee, I know you would help defend us if you could," Raf says with a smile, and Bumblebee nods. He certainly would.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Megatron continues shooting at the Unicron manifestations as more forms. He shoots at one, bringing him down to his knee. He flies up and circles around to go in for another attack when he hears Optimus on the comm.

 :: Megatron, we are sending transport. ::

"You can always be relied upon to listen to reason, Optimus," he says as he flips over and flies to one of the manifestations. He transforms and punches the thing in the head, making it crumble, before transforming back into jet mode. He flies closer to the ground and transforms again, landing on his feet as a Ground Bridge opens up in front of him.

Megatron walks through the Ground Bridge and comes out the other side to find the Autobots all standing in front of him. They transform their servos into their blasters just in case Megatron decides to make an attempt at attacking them. Megatron pays them no mind as he looks around at the base, "So, this is where the magic happens. Quaint."

The humans all peered around the corner to look at the warlord and Raf is filled with rage at seeing the one that almost cost him his life. Raf runs out to confront him with the others trying to stop him to no avail, "You...!" Raf says as Jack grabs him by the shoulder to stop him.

Megatron looks down at the boy, "Ah..." He begins speaking as he takes a step towards him, but Arcee runs over to get in his way with her blasters pointing at him. "...you're looking much better than the last time we met, little one. Humans, resilient."

Jack takes Raf by the shoulders to pull him back, "Come on, Raf, he isn't worth it." June walks forward to take Raf back to where they were.

Jack glances up at Megatron before turning to walk away, only to be stopped by Megatron speaking. "And you, I never forget a face, even that of a human."

Jack turns back to look at him again then turns to walk away. Miko watches Jack walk away before she looks at Megatron. "You double-cross anyone, mine is the face you'll never forget! NEVER!" She shouts at him before Fowler grabs her and carries her away.

Arcee shakes her helm as she laughs a bit, same old Miko. Her attention is drawn back to Megatron when she hears him chuckle, and she finds him looking at her. "I see they wasted no time in reactivating your weapons, my dear."

Repulsion and anger fill her, she hates it when he calls her that and she knows he does it to annoy her. Oh, how she wants to blast a hole in his spark chamber and make him pay for everything he has put her through.

Optimus stands next to Megatron, "Ratchet, obtain the destination coordinates from our guest." Megatron walks around him to go over to the monitor. Ratchet walks over to the monitor as well and starts typing while Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Arcee keep their blasters fixated on Megatron.

Optimus walks over to the humans who are heading to the back. "Jack." Jack turns around to look at Optimus. Optimus looks back at the others before kneeling down to his level, "Will you keep something for me?" He asks with a hint of hesitation.

Jack can tell that he's a bit worried about something but doesn't know what and he doesn't question it, he just shrugs, "Sure." Optimus brings out an object to hand to him, the thing transforms to a smaller size and Jack takes it from him. "What is it?" Jack asks as he looks at it.

Optimus looks away, "It is..." Optimus pauses for a second before looking at the boy again, "The key to the Ground Bridge power supply."

"Okay, but shouldn't Ratchet have this?"

Optimus looks down, "Perhaps." He takes another momentary pause before looking up at him again. "But I've been impressed by how much you have matured since we first met. As such, I feel you have earned the responsibility of safeguarding this device until I return."

Jack looks down at the thing in his hand, then looks up at Optimus, "I won't let you down."

Optimus stands up as he looks down at him, he then turns and walks away. Optimus walks over to the others to see Ratchet just finishing putting in the coordinates Megatron was giving him. Ratchet opens up the Ground Bridge and Megatron goes to stand next to it and waits for them.

Arcee looks up at him as they come to a stop in front of him, and he looks down at her. "You first," Arcee says with a gesture.

"As you wish," Megatron says as he does a bow. He turns to walk through the Ground Bridge, and Arcee, along with the rest of the 'Bots, turns to look back at the humans who walk over to them.

"Wish there was more time for us to catch up," Arcee says to Jack.

Jack smiles at her, "We'll have plenty of time to catch up when you return."

Arcee just smiles as she turns to walk through the Ground Bridge with Bulkhead following her. Optimus stops to look back at their human allies one more time before following the other two through the Ground Bridge. Bumblebee and Ratchet walk over to watch them leave, and Bumblebee feels bad that he can't go with them and help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Megatron, Optimus, Bulkhead, and Arcee walk through the other side of the Ground Bridge and they look around, they find themselves on one of many of what looks to be walkways with pulsing purple lights running along the sides. They stop for a second to have a good look around at their surroundings. Arcee walks towards Megatron to ask the question, "So, how long before Unicron knows we're here?"

Megatron glances back at her over his shoulder, "Make no mistake, he already does." He starts walking and Optimus starts walking as well to follow him. Arcee and Bulkhead look at each other before they start to follow them. They don't know what awaits them inside Unicron but they're going to keep their guards up and take on anything that Unicron throws at them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[nova--spark]

Decepticons becoming human you say?! Well I have some head cannons for you!!! (Don't have to use them but ill offer them up incase you want to turn the decepticons human)

Megatron had came along many strange things in his journeys but one thing he didn't expect was to find an exiled cybertronian sorceress. He had been able to sympathize with Quintessas plight since he too was in (self imposed) exile. It seemed like they'd get along well until Quintessa revealed what she did to Team Prime. Megatron, ever the diplomat, immediately demanded she change them back. But instead she decided to turn Megatron, and all who were once associated with him, human. She also exiled them all to earth. Though they didn't all wind up in the exact same place. They all ended up around Jasper (She sent them there to cause Team Prime even more grief)

Megatron ended up in the middle of the city, he was disoriented and only vaguely remembered what happened. A kind couple took him in and it turns out that couple had a child who talked about her social studies teacher Mrs. Pax. After a bit more prodding he found out Mrs. Elita Pax had a librarian husband named Mr. Orion Pax. Megatron immediately took that as an opportunity to fuck with his oldest friend and rival. He took up a job at the same school under and alias (you can pick out their human names). And for weeks it drove Optimus and Elita crazy since this new teacher looks and acts so much like Megatron but it’s not like they can just go up and ask him. At the moment they only had proof of Knockout turning human, not every former decepticon. So it’s possible this is just some human who has an uncanny resemblance to Megatron. Smokescreen spends a lot of time spying on the new teacher trying to get proof of his real identity. The kids love Megatron and he’s surprisingly patient with them. Despite only choosing this career path to fuck with his old friends he ends up growing protective of his students.

Knockout had already been on earth when the change occurred so imagine his horror when one day he was just human. Some of the autobots (Wheeljack and Bulkhead) took this moment to tease Knockout about his predicament since he laughed at them. Given Knockouts previous profession you think he’d end up in the medbay with Jack, June, and Ratchet. But with his lack of medical license he can really only work as an assistant which isn’t his style. He ended up finding his true calling when Miko introduced him to makeup. Part of me wants to make him an influencer but if you don’t want that he could just be a makeup artist. His makeup is more on the avante garde side (which is to be expected from an alien). But it’s popular none the less.

StarScream was not only sent to earth but Quintessa also managed to wake him from his coma. He woke up right outside the base HangerE was located in. He was surrounded by guards questioning what this weird looking human was doing here and if they needed to call an ambulance. Miko came out to see what was going on and as soon as StarScream saw her he immediately ran off. It didn’t take long for everyone to realize that the weird looking guy was StarScream and that all of the decepticons have been turned human. (Also giving Op and Lita proof that Megatron was the new teacher at their school). StarScream spent a decent amount of time evading the government and Team Prime but is eventually caught by Team Bee and dragged back to Jasper where Team Prime gives him two choices. Help them find a way to reverse this or spend the rest of his time as a human in a jail cell. StarScream used to be a scientist (at least he was in G1, not as sure about Prime and TFwiki was uncertain) so his knowledge could be useful.

Soundwave was pulled from his other dimensional prison and found himself in a body that was incapable of speech. He wandered around Jasper until he found Megatron who brought him to the human autobots. He now spends his time helping on the tech side of things while learning sign language from Raf and Bee.

Shockwave woke up on the outskirts of Jasper. Back on Cybertron, Knockout has tried to contact him for help finding a way to reverse what had happened to Team Prime. He had ignored his messages, deeming it not his problem. But now it was his problem. And the most logical course of action was to regroup with Team Prime and try to find a cure for this. Team Prime was hesitant to take him in but Knockout argued his knowledge surpassed his, Ratchet, and Starscream’s knowledge combined and it would be foolish to turn him away, especially when he was offering his help willingly. So he ends up working with StarScream under a very close supervision. And funnily enough him and StarScream actually started getting closer. Neither would call the other a friend (they’re both far too prideful for that) but they start gaining a begrudging respect for eachother

Arachnid probably deserves her own post but needless to say, she managed to get off the moon. And now that she’s back on earth in her new human form she’s not just coming for Jack but all of the kids. They’ll make good trophies for when she returns to Cybertron 😈

This is a fantastic idea, i will be using it, and a great way to remind

Mortal Machines =/= Reborn Spark Prequel

They happen in separate timelines because shenanigans reasons!

Enjoy folks, because this will in fact be h i l a r i o u s now.

And to make it easy

Megatron: Steel Gray hair with the faintest golden touches and left completely down, deep violet eyes, tanned skin marred in scars, stands at 6ft 9

Knockout: Slicked back red hair, immaculate pale skin, well dressed and made up with make up to compliment his scarlet red eyes, stands at 5ft 10

StarScream: Black and grey hair, with faint red streaking, a handful of scars with pale skin and crimson red eyes, standing at 5ft 11

Soundwave: Dark ebony skin, and his face unknown as he wears a mask a majority of the time, but was spotted in one instance to have lavender eyes, he wears his dark indigo hair in braids and stands at roughly 6ft 4

Shockwave: Dark skin, and deep red eyes, he has only one that functions, the other scarred and blind. His hair is not very long, but is pulled back neatly. He stands at an imposing 6ft 6

Airachnid: 5ft 5, lightly tanned skin near black hair with the lightest hints of royal purple and gold, magenta eyes, flawless make up and the eerie sense that she is more than just a human. One could even say they've noted fangs in her smile.

[pastelpaperplanes]

You mostly draw Megatron with Crusade in his Cybertronian look but in your canons it was said that while carrying the spark Megs wore his Marauder look. Did Megatron changed bodies or is the Canon changed?

yes! haha so hmm let’s see. So far up until A Little Too Familiar I have tossed Crusade into my Crackship AU—because with the Cybertron’s future AU with a whole lot of my other sparklings, ones that have considered backstories, they wouldn’t exist because of Shamus and Envoy!—and yes in the Crack AU, Megan does sport his Marauder Upgrade.

I’m still 1000% open to keeping Crusade as like,,a cameo for the Crack AU but I will say I’m getting far too attached to their character to better NOT explore them more in a more intricate backstory kind of sense! Many of the asks I’ve answered previously about Crusade’s personality and future are still canon—with the exemption that Crusade has a far more present/loving relationship with their Carrier, who as a literal helicopter parent is near suffocating in his protectiveness and efforts to keep his sparkling away from the hands and influence of the Autobots, even if that means locking them away on the Nemesis far too much to be healthy, and lying straight to their face, and others, about their origins.

Since the TFN 2021 S4 kickoff script reading I’ve been leaning towards guess what—a whole other AU that continues RIGHT after that point, much like where the CF AU would—only certain rescission within the timeline have been changed leading to, in some relationships, a vastly different setting for a next generation! (No, I don’t think I’d create a whole ton of other sparklings in place, for example a planned Strika/Lugnut kiddo wouldn’t happen for obvious reasons, nor would Shmaus or Envoy exist!! Who would remain, THAT I will figure out later down the line.) So Megatron is not in his Marauder form, Optimus is named Magnus, Jazz is with team Prime/Ninja Corps, Sentinel is still a dick figures, Prowl is still dead and so forth.

What I have planned is sort of like where the Deceptions sport a retreat after their bust on Earth when attempting to take over the central line of techno organic energon. The Cons faced losses, high command was scrambled and still very much injured from their cruel, and unusual keeping within Trypticon, heavy sacrifices turned out to NOT reap greater rewards, and the troops are still starving—and starving, scared mecha are far more dangerous than angry ones.

Optimus is still coming to terms that he is due to lead Cybertron, under the title of Optimus Magnus as soon as he’s back, whether he likes it or not as the front lines are still very much on edge with the evermore increasingly violent rouge Con raids.

I made some commentary on the reading as a whole which was PHENOMENAL and I’m still riding the high that is the fanTASTIC work that was put into is, like god. There was a brief but hilarious moment from Rattletrap where he attempted to sell off a crudely photoshopped Megop photograph as dirt—a part of me thought it would be even MORE hilarious if said photo was actually, used and Op was left sputtering after a double take going like how did they find that. HOW.

My poor, poor fanfic loving heart got going on of course the What if the Enemies Were Fraternizing Throughout the Whole of The Show, Morals be Damned in Those Stolen Moments Because I Like YOU For Some Reason trope. Wow is me, be still my beating HEART. It did not stop—so I made another AU :D yayyyyy

Basically the creation of Crusade follows along in this timeline in that sense. They were a product of one too many lonely nights in some far off abandoned cave that never could quite seem to end with a civil conversation, let alone spark apprehension from the other when it came to going toe to toe of the battlefield for the sake of their Causes. A Comfort without Strings relationship, even if they did come to grow fond of each other, not that they’d ever admit it—a confession, in a sense, would only hurt both parties knowing that the two would never give up their motivations in the ‘impossible ‘case that said feelings were mutual.

From the looks of it, the Autobots did not once tend to the Deceptions during their stay at Trypticon. Megs still sported bare struts and tattered armor up to his escape—it would be believable that medics never once ran scans, let alone were ordered to get anywhere near the high command. With already being in such poor shape, battered, humiliated, starved, violated (those minicons?? homage to Trepan??? yikessssss) and sedated—it would be believable that Megatron wouldn’t pay notice to a small flutter in his spark amongst all the pain and anxiety, at least until he finally could gather his bearings under the lockdown of his temporary fortress stuck on Earth.

Megatron, knowing he was alone, now extremely vulnerable, heavily outnumbered and out favored by his remaining struggling troops, called upon his definitely not most favorite sub team to cower behind—the DJD, to meet his blaring distress beacon.

Tarn and his crew, with the help of the rest of high command’s signal dampeners, are able to as covertly as possible—minus the world sweeper size of the Peaceful Tyranny and the paralyzing droning on of the Empyrean Suite that Tarn just loves so dearly—made it off planet save for a few bumps and bruises from the small force of Team Prime. The High & Mighty Megatron was no where to be seen in the action. Probably off in a hurry to lick his wounds in retreat after getting his ass handed to him, many assumed, but Nickel knew better. Tarn knew better. Something was terribly wrong in order to resort to a ‘cowardly’ extraction and evasion mission.

You can see where I’m going w this—so anyways YES that is the general gist of where this AU kicks off!!! Megs and Op, particularly Megs, got unlucky on their last night together—eventually all leading to the introduction of the previously secretive back up weapon that was the DJD. Coming to the rescue of their Fearless, All Powerful, and Resilient Leader?? A strange, but instantly understandable measure to resort to once Megatron reveals himself as a carrying mech, the beholder of a true heir and a testament to the resilience that is the Deceptions though the terrible reign the Autobots have held against them through the eons.

I’ll go into why he keeps Crusade on a tight leash and Op out of the loop entirely for as long as he possibly could—and how the rest of Megaton’s troops behaved around this clearly, half blooded Con sparkling their leader doted on— later!

Needless to say, Crusade’s reputation from the moment they were born was tottering on a fine line between that of pitiable condolences for their leader, and that of true Decepticon pride knowing that the one to lead them to glory some day is none other than one of the Autobots’ very own descendants.

Hope that kinda better explains things! I like Meg’s Cybertronian design, it’s sleek, it’s sexy, it’s easier to draw, and since S4 gave us a fresher design to admire of Optimus, why not have the same for his other half!

YEAHH. so new AU :D AYOOOO I’ll tag this timeline/future mentionings of Crusade and their journey as Cybertron’s Legacy AU

extremely stupid doodle under the cut! I can’t get over the duality of Old Written vs New Written Crusade ahhh 💀💀

I found a horrifically perfect tik tok audio for these two oml

Swapping Megatron stories!

[seehowsupplethespineis]

When the Wind Roars

(I can’t believe I finally finished this!!! This story was originally intended to be much shorter, but...obviously I got a bit carried away. Expect lots of angst. There’s some fluff, too, but mostly ANGST.)

(Plot Summary: In the past, Starscream and Skyfire made quite the team, but even then, that partnership was put to the test. In the present, Starscream and Skyfire do battle, as Starscream tries to rid himself of their shared memories once and for all.)

(Warnings: violence, guns, injury, a bit of disturbing imagery, death mention, lots of vengeful thoughts)

Present

The wind roared deafeningly at the peak of the mountain. It had only picked up in intensity in the few cycles they’d been stationed here, bringing with it a relentless rain that blanketed the world in hues of grey. Starscream scowled as he hastened to catch a stray bit of metal before it went tumbling off the mountainside, his feet nearly slipping out from under him in the sea of mud. He hated this weather. It was cold and wet and impossible to work in.

Of course, Starscream had faced far worse weather than this, but that was of little comfort.

Rumble was also fed up. After face planting in the mud for the fourth time, the minicon threw down his supply of metal beams with a cry of outrage.

“This is stupid!” he exclaimed, “How does Megatron expect us to build anything up here?!”

Starscream scowled at him, “I did not say you could stop working!”

Rumble’s small fists balled up at his sides, “What are you gonna do about it?”

Starscream didn’t like to be challenged. Without hesitation, he chucked the piece of metal he’d been holding at Rumble, who toppled over once more.

“I said work!” The other Decepticons hastened to comply as Rumble crawled out from under the metal, studiously avoiding Starscream’s withering glare.

In all honesty, Starscream was just as furious as Rumble, though his frustration was more because he was forced to work up here on this Primusforsaken mountain; he should be leading an attack on the Autobots, not laboring in the mud. This was far beneath him.

Despite his demand that everyone keep working, Starscream paused to look up at the sky. It was grey and murky but a ray of light shone through, reaching only so far as to give a hint of warmth.

He was reminded of another planet he’d visited millions of years ago. It was just as wet and windy as this one; just as meddlesome. He hadn’t been alone then, either, nor was he alone when he’d first visited this accursed planet.

A few rain drops splattered on his optics and Starscream violently wiped them away, an irritated snarl escaping him.

“Starscream!” It was Thundercracker.

“What now?!”

“Autobots!”

At first, Starscream didn’t believe him. There was no road up to this mountain. The wheel-bound Autobots would be unable to make it up here; even by foot, the journey was too perilous. The only way up was through flight.

Starscream’s optics widened. He lowered his servos from his face to find the mountainside cast in shadow. His gaze flicked upward.

Above him, in a halo of light, hovered a large, white jet.

Starscream felt sudden heat swell within him despite the cold.

“Shoot him out of the sky!!!”

A distant planet, millions of years ago...

“This is very likely a bad idea.”

“You say that about everything.”

“No, I only say that when a situation seems hazardous...this situation seems hazardous.”

“Honestly, Skyfire, you can be so cowardly sometimes,” Starscream transformed back to root mode as he touched down on a muddy precipice. He scowled as his feet sank into the muck but kept a chipper tone as he addressed his partner, “I can barely feel the wind!”

Skyfire set down beside him. The sudden weight of the two jets shook the cliffside, sending a few boulders tumbling over the edge. Skyfire watched their descent and frowned.

“You’ve seen the weather report, Starscream,” he said quietly, “The storm could pick up any moment now.

Starscream waved a flippant servo. Raindrops spiraled off his digits, “If it does, we can handle it! We’ve suffered through far worse, you and I.”

“Perhaps,” said Skyfire, “But nothing which hampered our ability to fly away.”

Starscream shook his head; he loved Skyfire, but sometimes he was a real pain in the afterburner. They’d been on countless exploration missions before and faced plenty of unsavory weather conditions; floods, earthquakes, they’d survived them all. What was a little storm to them?

“If you want to go, fine!” Starscream started walking, “I’ll complete this mission myself.”

He’d barely taken two steps before Skyfire was at his side, as Starscream knew he’d be. The smaller jet grinned up at him and Skyfire sighed.

“Let’s just get a lay of the land and go. We can come back for those crystal samples we’re supposed to investigate when the storm lets up.”

Starscream heaved a dramatic sigh, “That could take ages, Skyfire, and we’re on a tight schedule! We’re meant to be returning to Cybertron soon.”

Skyfire glanced away at that. Starscream narrowed his optics.

“What is it?”

Fiddling with his portable scanner, Skyfire shook his head, “It’s just...Cybertron has been so...contentious of late. Part of the reason I volunteered for this expedition was because I wanted to get away for a while.”

“I thought you volunteered because I volunteered,” Starscream said with a slight smirk.

Skyfire glanced at him and smiled, “I do have a mind of my own, you know.”

“Yes,” Starscream agreed, “And it’s smart enough to follow me.”

A laugh escaped the larger jet, “Or dumb enough.”

“Nonsense! We’re highly intelligent bots, Skyfire,” Starscream ruined the sentiment by tripping over a boulder, but Skyfire righted him before his face hit the mud. Coughing slightly to hide his embarrassment, Starscream continued,  “That’s why we work so perfectly together.”

Skyfire still kept a hold of Starscream’s arm as he considered his partner’s words. At last, he let his servo drift down to clutch Starscream’s hand.

“Interesting hypothesis.”

Starscream’s processor seemed to momentarily short out, but it came back online as Skyfire regarded him fondly with those brilliant blue eyes of his. Flustered, Starscream only stared, until eventually he managed to connect his processor back to his voice.

“Interesting fact,” he corrected, squeezing Skyfire’s hand, “That we shall prove now!”

He pointed up the mountain with his free servo. High above, the faintest gleam, as of polished metal, twinkled in the faint light.

“Those are the crystals.”

Skyfire squinted up at them and raised his scanner, “Hmm...they definitely have a high energy output. Akin to energon.”

“We need a sample,” Starscream broke away from Skyfire so he could take flight. Skyfire laid a hand on his shoulder before he could.

“Starscream, look at those clouds,” Skyfire gestured up at the - admittedly - ominous sky above them, “I would not advise flying.”

“So what, we climb?” Starscream had to shout to be heard over a sudden gust of wind.

“No, we wait until the weather becomes more favorable.”

A burst of lightning and a rumble of thunder punctuated Skyfire’s words. Starscream couldn’t deny the sudden thrill of apprehension that shot through his system, but he wasn’t about to be bested by a mere storm.

“I’m going for it!”

“Don’t!” Skyfire’s grip on his shoulder was more insistent, “The wind is picking up. You could get blown into the mountain side or crash to the ground. And those crystals are brimming with unstable energy! We shouldn’t get too-!”

“I am a scientist, Skyfire!” Starscream shook free of the other jet, “I know how to handle dangerous substances. And I know how to handle myself, thank you very much!”

Skyfire opened his mouth but whatever he said was lost to the wind.

“What?!” Starscream shouted.

“I said, we must seek shelter!”

“We’re on a cliff! Where-” Starscream’s response was cut short as a large rock tumbled down from above, forcing the smaller jet to leap out of the way. Scowling, he glanced up to where the rock had come from, and his optics widened as he saw still more crashing down.

“Move!” Skyfire yelled. As one, he and Starscream dove off the cliff and transformed back to jet mode. Instantly, Starscream felt the wind buffet his wings, threatening to splatter him against the cliff side. Okay, he conceded to himself, Maybe the weather is too much.

The rain poured down in earnest, now, blanketing Starscream’s windshield to the point where the world became a hazy, grey blur. A bolt of lightning arced down. It was far, far too close for his liking, and Starscream instinctively swerved away.

Extending his long range sensors, he sought a safe place to land below. Skyfire would be doing the same, he knew. His sensors probed the sky around him, trying to pinpoint the white jet so they could touch down together.

Something within him froze. He extended his sensors further, as far as he could. His engines faltered. The wind pressed in around him, rattling him to his very core, but he paid no heed.

In a moment’s frantic decision, Starscream transformed back to root mode and scanned the landscape with his optics.

Even as he plummeted to the ground, he called out desperately.

“SKYFIRE!”

Present

Energy bolts lit up the gloomy mountain as the Decepticons opened fire. As if sensing the sudden hostility, lightning split open the sky and a deep, resounding rumble followed soon after. Starscream’s optics were momentarily dazzled by the stunning displays surrounding him, and when they adjusted, three Autobots had leaped down from the sky to stand before him.

He recognized their leader, of course. Optimus Prime leveled a weapon at Starscream, though the jet paid little mind. Even as the Prime spoke, his voice deep and commanding, Starscream didn’t heed. Instead, he watched as the large, white jet above transformed and fell to the mountain top just behind Prime.

Something within Starscream burned as he locked gazes with Skyfire. Blazing red optics met piercing blue. They sliced through Starscream, as cold as the ice Skyfire had rested in for millions of years. Starscream didn’t recognize those eyes. He couldn’t even recall what they’d used to look like, though he remembered how they’d made him burn with a fire entirely different from the one raging within him now.

Prime shouted something. The Autobots charged. Two of them - Ironhide and Prowl - rushed to meet Thundercracker and Rumble. Prime defended himself against an emboldened Skywarp. And Skyfire, stance steady despite the shifting mud, raised his gun at Starscream.

The seething rage within him ignited and Starscream opened fire. Despite his immense size, Skyfire dodged, nearly trampling a terrified Rumble. Starscream didn’t let up, even as Skyfire took aim and forced him to launch off the ground to avoid the blast. Transforming into jet mode, he streaked through the air, null rays zeroed in on Skyfire’s bulky frame.

Skyfire fired off a few more shots, forcing Starscream to alter his course. His flight took him close to the other battling Autobots and Decepticons. Ironhide fired a few bolts at him and Starscream hurried to avoid the crossfire of his and Skyfire’s weapons. The distraction infuriated him and Starscream took a moment to fire on the red Autobot. Suitably cowed, Ironhide returned to his tussle with Rumble, leaving Starscream to focus every bit of his ire on the white mech firing on him from afar.

Their battle grew removed from that of the others. With each attack, they drew further away, further toward the edge. Starscream didn’t care. He refused to be beaten by this mountain or the wind and rain that assaulted him. He wanted Skyfire dead. That was all that mattered.

He streaked through the air. He was close now. Skyfire stood no chance. Sudden giddiness grabbed hold of Starscream as he imagined Skyfire offline at his feet. The traitor would die a traitor’s death; there would be no mercy.

But Starscream’s perceived victory was short-lived. Before he could even slow down, Skyfire dove forward, managing to come up under him. A servo closed around his wing and Starscream shrieked as Skyfire swung him into the ground. He landed painfully and it took a moment for him to recover enough to shift back to root mode. When he did, Skyfire stood over him, gun leveled at his face.

All was quiet, as if the increasing downpour had muted the world. The wind that howled so relentlessly before had petered out. The battle raging behind them was a distant nuisance, almost inconsequential. For all Starscream cared, the world consisted of only him, Skyfire, and the gun between them. The shaking gun.

Starscream’s gaze flicked to meet Skyfire’s. Those blue eyes stared back with a wavering resolve. For a moment that seemed to stretch across millions of years, neither made a move.

The wind sprang back to life, the distant battle drew nearer, and Skyfire still hadn’t fired. What are you waiting for? Starscream wanted to shout, Finish it!

But Skyfire didn’t, and this, more than anything, sent a surge of loathing through Starscream’s system. It fueled his null ray as he raised it in one deft movement.

Skyfire had no time to react. The force of the blast sent him careening back, his feet slipping in the mud, gun falling from his slack hand. There was no time for him to regain his balance.

Starscream watched him fall over the edge. He didn’t react for a few long moments after. All he could do was stare at the space Skyfire had occupied.

He’s gone, Something within Starscream’s spark shrank in on itself, I can’t see him.

His processor fixated on that one thought. I can’t see him. I can’t see him!

He stumbled forward, a desperate cry escaping him.

“SKYFIRE!!!”

Past

Not even the relentless gale could slow Starscream’s descent. He tore through the air, the wind shrieking as if in protest, his limbs flailing uselessly. He knew he needed to transform; if he didn’t, he’d be nothing but a mound of smashed metal and circuitry. As the image flashed in his mind, he couldn’t help but envision a similar corpse, this one much larger and a stark white against the dark landscape.

Starscream quashed the thought as soon as it arose. Skyfire wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be. Those were two differing thoughts, Starscream knew, but his processor couldn’t help but bounce between them. He’s not dead, because if he is then...There was no conclusion that Starscream dared consider, so he focused his processor, attempting to ignore the threat of his imminent demise.

He felt his transformation cog whir to life, though the transformation was made clumsy by the unconventional circumstances. The mess of green below drew nearer, serving as an unnecessary reminder that he needed to pull up fast.

Acting purely on instinct, his engines rocketed him forward. He felt leaves skim his wings as he struggled to pull upward, making for the murky grey of the clouds above. The wind was a constant assailant that threatened to dash him into the trees or the mountainside. Lightning split open the sky over and over, closer and closer.

Was that what happened? Had Skyfire been hit by a stray lightning bolt? The concept forced Starscream to tax his engines harder than he ever had. With a burst of speed, he shot upward, letting the trees be swallowed by the mist once more. Again, he extended his sensors and cursed his lack of visibility.

“SKYFIRE!!!”

No response. Starscream knew he wasn’t thinking straight as he veered closer to the mountain, seeking any hint that Skyfire may have crashed. His wing clipped a jutting boulder and he nearly smashed into the cliff face himself as he went careening off course. He was forced to climb higher in a desperate attempt not to meet with the rocks below.

Where is he? He couldn’t think. Couldn’t see, Where is he?!

Something glittered nearby, almost like…

Metal. Starscream threw himself forward, heedless of the risk, “Skyfire!!!”

The wind pulled at his wings, trying to drag him down. The noise was cacophonous, forcing his engines to roar all the louder. He would not be bested. He was so close…

The glittering material suddenly sharpened into focus. The hope glittering just as brightly within him dimmed.

In the faint light shimmered the very reason for this accursed mission. The energy crystals. No sign of Skyfire.

Starscream’s spark sank. He was sure it would drop right out of his fuselage and shatter on the jagged rocks far below. Maybe another spark was already waiting for it.

Thunder continued to growl overhead. Lightning tore through the darkness and illuminated the entire cliff side in brilliant white. An instinctive part of Starscream knew what was coming, but there was no time to react. He could only stare as the lightning zigzagged down and struck the shimmering rocks.

The crystals exploded. Shards smashed open Starscream’s cockpit and embedded themselves in his battered frame. He may have screamed, but he couldn’t hear it. Stabbing pain coursed through his entire being. It overwhelmed him, so much so that he didn’t realize he was falling until he smashed into a jutting, sloped cliff. The impact jarred loose a faint recollection.

Those crystals are brimming with unstable energy! We shouldn’t get too-

Skyfire had warned him. He’d warned him about everything, and what had Starscream said? Honestly, Skyfire, you can be so cowardly sometimes.

He felt himself sliding slowly toward the edge. Desperately, he forced himself to transform. His cockpit grated over the rocky terrain and another dizzying bout of agony washed over him. He could hear his scream this time.

Legs dangling into nothingness, Starscream sought for something to grab onto. His servos dug into the mud, clutching at nothing but loose pebbles. The cliff was too unstable and his body too heavy. The inevitable outcome to his struggles became alarmingly clear.

I’m going to fall, he stilled and felt himself slip further, I’m going to die.

There would be no saving himself this time; he’d smash to pieces on the rocks below before his taxed transformation cog could even come online. His vision flickered as his cockpit continued to grind over the rocks, bringing him ever closer to his doom. All Starscream could manage now was a faint whimper, his screams spent.

He knew he deserved this; it was his fault that he and Skyfire had been caught up in this Primusforsaken storm on this Primusforsaken planet. His fault that Skyfire was likely a shattered corpse on the mountain side. Still, as he began his final descent, a voice - a shameful voice that refused to be quieted no matter how much he tried - shrieked in his head, clamoring to be heard above all else.

I don’t want to die!

Terror seized his spark, shocking his limbs into one last, frantic attempt at salvation. It was futile.

I DON’T WANT TO DIE!

He fell. Opening his mouth, he let out a final, broken scream.

“Skyfire!!!”

“I’ve got you!”

As suddenly as the fall had begun, it stopped. His arm pulled taught and lances of pain pierced through it and his cockpit. The world disappeared, sapped of everything but a cold blackness. After countless moments, warmth and color seeped back in, as a familiar voice, the one that had called to him, spoke again. It was insistent, desperate, as were the arms clasping his limp form. Starscream’s optics fritzed a bit before coming back online. He was in some kind of cave. He could see the deep grey of the sky just beyond and feel the wind and rain graze his wing. It was all remote though. He was more aware of the arms wrapped protectively about him, the feel of someone large and sturdy holding him close. Above all else, he saw brilliant blue optics staring down at him. He watched them soften as a quiet sigh reached his auditory sensors. It was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard.

“Thank Primus,” Skyfire breathed, “Starscream, can you hear me?”

Starscream wanted to respond but he couldn’t. All he could do was stare, drinking in the sight of the bot before him. Skyfire was alive. Somehow his mind couldn’t yet process it. He was here. They were together again.

Skyfire’s anxious voice broke in on his thoughts, “It’s okay, Starscream, it’s okay,” It was only then that the smaller jet realized he’d started babbling.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” he gasped, “I’m sorry!”

“It’s okay,” Skyfire repeated, “We’re okay.”

Starscream couldn’t stop, “We almost died! I-I almost killed us!”

“But we’re okay now,” Skyfire replied gently, “I’ve got you.”

He rested a servo on the back of Starscream’s head. The touch snapped Starscream back to his senses and he shoved him away. The movement sent shards of pain through him and he clutched a servo to the mangled cockpit situated over his chest.

“Don’t,” he hissed as Skyfire reached for him. He was still shielded by the cave, but he could feel the wind lap hungrily at his wings as he moved backward.

He stopped -  afraid to move any further - and met Skyfire’s worried gaze.

“How...” he began, pausing for a moment to gather his strength, “How can you...This is all my fault! I should have listened to you! Skyfire, I...You could have died because of me.”

“I didn’t.”

“Stop saying that!”

Skyfire regarded him helplessly. Starscream hated it.

“Why aren’t you mad?” he prompted angrily, “You should be furious! You should be...Stop looking at me like that!!!”

He didn’t. “Do you want me to be mad?” Skyfire asked quietly.

Yes...No. “I don’t know!!! Just-” he had to pause before the pain overwhelmed him.

Skyfire moved closer. Starscream told himself not to, but his whole frame ached and trembled and he yearned to be back in Skyfire’s arms, so when Skyfire reached again, the smaller jet could do nothing but melt into him. He cursed his weakness.

“Starscream,” Skyfire’s voice pierced through the turmoil within him. Defeated, Starscream could only listen.

“I’m not angry with you. I don’t think I could ever be angry with you. Don’t ask me why; I don’t know either. What I do know is that I lost you in the storm and assumed the worst, so even though you’re upset, I’d like to just hold you for a while, if that’s okay.”

It was far too easy to comply. Already relaxed against Skyfire, Starscream let himself be pulled closer. The larger jet took special care not to aggravate his injury. It would need to be dealt with, but not now. Right this moment, all Starscream needed was the surety of Skyfire’s arms around him. All his guilt and shame still burned within him, but he couldn’t focus on it if he tried.

They were safe. They were together. That was all that mattered.

“I’ve got you,” Skyfire murmured again, “I’ve always got you.”

Present

The edge of the mountain was shrouded in rain and mist. Even as Starscream dove toward it, he couldn’t be certain he hadn’t flung himself off. His arm extended into nothing. His feet dug into the mud as he felt himself fall forward, just barely managing to snag a jutting rock.

As his entire frame came to a jarring halt, Starscream’s processor seemed to rattle with it. What was he doing? He couldn’t think. The image of Skyfire’s frightened face as he tumbled over the edge was seared into his mind. It was all he could focus on.

I’ve got you. I’ve always got you.

“Skyfire!!!” The call reverberated through Starscream’s spark, splitting it open as forgotten feelings and buried dreams clawed their way out. He couldn’t halt the flood; it washed over him, drowning him in memories.

“Starscream!”

That voice - as it always had - snapped him from the mire of his mind. He peered downward. Just below him, hanging by a crumbling ledge, was Skyfire.

For a moment, it was Starscream hanging for dear life, crying out for rescue. He blinked and the roles reversed again. 

As his precarious handhold collapsed beneath his digits, Skyfire desperately tried to bring another servo up to help. He was forced to stop as the movement only made him slip faster. Rain hissed over the place where Starscream had shot him and he grimaced as smoke blended with the mist. He looked up, blue optics shining in the gloom. Starscream nearly lost his grip when they focused on him.

He recognized those optics. They were the very same that used to look at him as if he were the most lovely thing in the universe. Even when they’d explored new, vibrant planets, he’d felt those optics gazing at him with a fondness that made him want to both laugh and scream. He wasn’t sure which he did now, but from the way the blue of Skyfire’s eyes widened with recognition of his own, he figured it was laughter.

“Skyfire…” he reached for him.

Eyes shining, Skyfire’s servo lifted to meet his, “...Starscream?”

His handhold crumbled even more but neither paid any heed. The storm and the clash of Autobots and Decepticons became remote. This time, though, the world didn’t seem to shrink until it was just the two of them. It seemed to grow. Starscream felt a heavy weight in his spark start to lift. His servo reached past millions of years to seek out that familiar yet forgotten touch. He wanted it more than anything, just a hint at what they once were and could be again.

In the faltering light, the insignia affixed to Skyfire’s chest gleamed.

The world shrank. The weight in Starscream’s spark settled back down until he almost felt it would drag him over the edge.

He snatched his hand away just as Skyfire’s digits grazed his own. The touch was like electricity arcing through him. It was tantalizingly, achingly familiar. It promised love and security and everything that had been denied him for millions of years.

It was a convincing lie, but Starscream couldn’t be fooled that easily. 

As he stood up slowly, Skyfire’s round, wide, and impossibly blue optics followed him. Starscream wanted to plunge his digits into them until the Autobot started screaming. The flicker of horror he felt at the thought died instantly as Skyfire spoke again.

“Starscream?” he repeated, his voice wavering.

It was his voice, and for the first time in his long, painful life, Starscream was not consoled by it.

“You…” His voice should have been lost to the wind but somehow Skyfire heard and grew deathly silent.

Memories collided within Starscream’s mind. Skyfire holding him, speaking softly to him, laughing with him, exploring with him, rescuing him...

They were all lies. Skyfire betrayed him. Starscream had circled half the globe searching for him, carried the weight of guilt for so long that it had become as familiar as flight, suffered in silence for cycles upon cycles, all for what?

“Starscream,” the Autobot begged, “Please.”

The plea was music to Starscream’s auditory sensors. He let it play, let Skyfire try to sway him again, enjoying every moment of the Autobot’s agony.

Skyfire’s voice grew quiet, “Don’t you remember?”

Starscream hesitated. He did remember. All of it. His fists clenched as his foot stomped downward.

“TRAITOR!!!”

Helpless, Skyfire could only give a strangled cry as Starscream’s foot crunched into his upturned face. The Decepticon watched his enemy fall, his own face lighting up with a terrible grin.

Skyfire barely managed to slow his descent by digging his servos into the muddy cliffside just enough to crash into a protruding ledge. He lay there motionless for countless moments, his recent fall marked by dents in his fuselage and muddy stains dimming his crisp white. He looked broken. Starscream couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this happy.

When Skyfire at last came to, his gaze was unfocused. The clear blue of his eyes were crusted with dirt and likely cracked by the impact of Starscream’s foot. The steady rain did a poor job of washing all the muck from his frame, only succeeding in making it bleed into the remaining white. His optics turned upward and somehow found Starscream in the hazy mist. He almost seemed to know where the other jet was without needing to see.

It was there, atop that war torn peak, that Skyfire first looked upon Starscream with fury. No, not fury. Hate.

“Skyfire!” Optimus Prime’s booming voice echoed across the mountain, “Where are you?”

Starscream turned. The Autobots stood on a field of victory, the remains of the Decepticons’ machine scattered amongst its fallen creators. He scowled and turned to confront his foes, when he felt a sudden whoosh of air blast past him. Looking up, he watched as Skyfire sailed over his head to land heavily on the mountaintop.

Without hesitation, Starscream opened fire, only to hit the dirt when the other Autobots returned it. By the time he tentatively lifted his head, all three Autobots had retreated into Skyfire’s fuselage. NO! Starscream rushed forward, his guns vainly attempting to bring the cargo plane down even though he knew he was out of range.

“NO!” he shrieked into the mist, “COME BACK, YOU COWARD!”

But Skyfire had already been lost to the grey sky, leaving Starscream alone. Again.

He continued to stare at the space where he’d last seen Skyfire, unable to look away. He felt as if he’d been awoken from a cruel dream. It took every bit of his willpower not to scream his agony into the sky above. All he wanted in that moment was to hunt Skyfire down and make him suffer. He wanted to hear his screams of terror as he at last cornered him and slammed him into the dirt, gun pointed right between those too blue optics.

How could you do this? He’d scream, Did any of it matter? Did I matter?

Starscream knew the answer already. He turned to face his forces, who all looked to him for guidance.

“Decepticons, take flight!” Without waiting to see if they followed, Starscream transformed and took to the air. To his dismay, there was no trace of the Autobots. They’d be back, though; they never stayed down.

One of them will, Starscream vowed, That traitor will die by my hand.

The rain continued to pour as three jets - and one passenger cassette - returned to their base, leaving the mountain top to be shrouded in mist once more. All they left of their battle were the remnants of an evil machine and a singular gun that had slipped from a foolish Autobot’s hand.

Epilogue- Past

The flight back to Cybertron felt like it lasted millions of cycles. Crouched in Skyfire’s fuselage, Starscream lamented as much to his partner. Skyfire’s only response was an exasperated yet fond sigh; Starscream could tell he was just glad to hear him speak without wheezing.

The damage to his cockpit was extensive but not life-threatening. After a thorough inspection, Skyfire had determined as much. He’d carefully removed some of the smaller bits of crystal from Starscream’s frame and left the larger ones to be handled by a medic. Starscream had wanted to appear brave, but he hadn’t been able to stifle the quiet whimper that escaped him. Luckily, Skyfire responded by wrapping him up in another hug, which had instantly soothed the smaller jet.

When they at last returned to Cybertron, Skyfire was quick to usher him to a medic. In fact, Starscream’s feet barely touched the ground before Skyfire scooped him up and rushed into the medical facility. The hospital was just one branch of the science center that had been built there. For the most part, the civil unrest that had broken out over Cybertron had not affected the science community. It was only a matter of time, though.

Starscream and Skyfire were meant to report to their superiors in the Scientific Exploration department. After much convincing from Starscream, Skyfire had at last agreed to leave his side and speak with the higher-ups, taking a few samples of crystal with him, also at Starscream’s urging. It was what they’d been sent for, after all; it shouldn’t matter that they’d ended up having to gather it from Starscream’s mangled cockpit.

The procedure to repair his cockpit was fairly long but luckily Starscream was in stasis for most of it. When he awakened and examined himself, he was pleased by the results. He didn’t think he’d ever seen his windows shine quite so brightly. He couldn’t help but hope Skyfire would notice, too.

Skyfire was pacing in the waiting room when he emerged. The moment Skyfire spotted him, he almost seemed to teleport to his side.

“Are you okay? I was worried something had gone wrong.”

“Don’t worry, Skyfire,” Starscream said with a slight smile, “I am the picture of health.”

Skyfire looked him up and down, “You’re certainly...shinier,” he said with a bit of awe.

Starscream beamed internally, “Thank you for noticing.”

The two walked out side by side, arms brushing. Starscream wanted to savor the moment, but his curiosity got the better of him.

“So, what did our bosses have to say?” he asked, barely hiding his disdain. He didn’t like having to report to superiors; he’d rather make his own decisions than comply with someone else’s. Maybe one day…

“The crystals seem promising, though they’ll have to perform further tests,” Skyfire replied, “In the meantime, there’s another planet they want us to investigate right away. It’s uncharted, as of yet. There might not even be intelligent life on the surface, though long distance scans hint to a great energy source.”

Ordinarily, Starscream would have leaped for joy at an assignment such as this, but as he watched Skyfire speak, he couldn’t help but recall how close he’d been to losing him. They were lucky to stand here together at all.

Sensing his hesitation, Skyfire favored Starscream with a concerned frown, “What’s the matter?”

“You know what’s the matter,” Starscream huffed. He didn’t mean to take his anger out on his partner - especially since he was really mad at himself - but it was difficult. Skyfire didn’t respond in kind, though. He never did.

“It’ll be okay, Starscream,” Skyfire reached down to grasp his servo firmly, “So long as we’re together, we’ll be okay.”

And because Skyfire’s voice never failed to console him, Starscream believed what he said. He squeezed his servo back and smiled up into Skyfire’s brilliant blue eyes.

“Together, then.”

[poptimus-prime]

They/Them Pronouns when referring to me please and thank

Me explaining every episode of season one of Transformers: Prime poorly in 3 sentences or less.

Transcript below the cut

Darkness Rising, Part 1: The Rock--I mean Cliffjumper--gets absolutely FUCKED. The rest of the Autobots decide to adopt some kids who are being bullied by Vehicons, and proceed to explain they’re fighting over food after a long civil war.

Darkness Rising, Part 2: Megatron rolls up with grape flavored rock candy and wants to raise a zombie army. Cliffjumper can’t catch a break even when he’s DEAD. 

Darkness Rising, Part 3: Ratchet and Optimus, AKA the team parents™, go out to figure out what Megatron wants to do with his rock candy. The kids are left with Bulkhead and Agent Fowler gets fucked over by Robot Bird Man #2.

Darkness Rising, Part 4: Agent Fowler gets unfucked over and the Team Parents almost get eaten by zombie robots. Megatron controls the Zombie Robots because he stabbed himself with his rock candy.

Darkness Rising, Part 5: The gang has to keep the Cons from using the Bifrost Bridge to send zombie bots from Cybertron to Earth. Megatron gets fucking YEETED...or does he?

Masters and Students: Ratchet likes science fairs a bit TOO much. Starscream tries and fails to use Skyquake to make everyone onboard the Nemesis his bitch.

Scrapheap: Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Bee get absolutely fucked over by a termite-flesh eating parasitic hybrid while Arcee and Optimus slowly freeze to death at one of the poles. Raf never got his snowball, but to be honest none of them care because jeez everyone almost DIED. 

Con Job: Bulkhead’s war boyfriend is coming over to say hi. Decepticons get to him first and use his face to infiltrate the base because they have a shapeshifting friend they didn’t think to use until now.

Convoy: Optimus and the gang have to help Agent Fowler with his UberEats side hustle and it almost causes a nuclear meltdown because M.E.C.H. just really want a piece of that cake. Ratchet confirms Cybertonians can and do get thigh-burn. Fuck Silas Counter: One.

Deus Ex Machina: Bulkhead takes Miko to Greece and they find out about a vampire device. Cue Indiana Jones meets Night at the Museum style bullshit. The name of this episode gets mentioned by name AND used as a trope.

Speed Metal: Bumblebee and Jack do bad boy things and go illegal racing because Jack has a dick measuring contest with a guy from school. Knockout kidnaps said guy and everything goes sideways.

Predatory: Doc Ok’s twin robot sister, Airachnid, comes back with a vengeance. Her and Arcee have major beef that almost ends with everyone dead.

Sick Mind: Optimus gets the literal fucking plague. Ratchet encourages illegal mind hacking technology so Bumblebee can buzz around in Megatron’s head and get a cure. This is supposedly successful.

Out of His Head: Megatron is now buzzing around in Bumblebee’s head and is trying to get back to his own body. Optimus single handedly stops global warming even though Ratchet LITERALLY just told him to take it easy. Welcome back Megatwon.

Shadowzone: Miko does some bullshit and gets all 3 of the kids sent to the shadow realm with a Zombiecon. Starscream loses his arm and the game of bullshit with Knockout.

Operation: Breakdown: Breakdown and Bulkhead have big beefy boy beef until M.E.C.H. shows up. Megatron says fuck Breakdown lives, but the Autobots at give a bit of a fuck. Fuck Silas counter: Two. 

Criss Cross: Airachnid teams up with M.E.C.H. and they kidnap Jack’s mom as bait for Arcee. This goes as badly for M.E.C.H. as you would expect. Fuck Silas counter: Three.

Metal Attraction: Bulkhead and Arcee get put in the get along sweater. The get along sweater device doesn’t end up in Megatron’s hands, but Spider Bitch does.

Rock Bottom: Jack, Miko, Arcee, and Bulkhead get trapped in an energon mine because Megatron happened. Miko almost suffocates...fun times. The series would have ended a lot sooner if Jack wouldn’t have been the bigger person and just drilled into Megatron’s head. 

Partners: Starscream and Airachnid play freeze dance with the Autobots. Starscream says fuck Decepticons lives and tries to defect after Spider Bitch betrays him.

T.M.I.: Bulkhead gets to learn via osmosis, but they have to make it stop before Bulkhead just becomes a talking book. What book was it? The Autobot Cookbook: A Recipe for Synthetic Energon.

Stronger, Faster: Ratchet discovers what a sugar high is and accidentally commits a heterosexuality while under the influence. Megatron gets absolutely fucking decked by Doctor Grandpa. Bookmark this episode for later, it comes back to bite them in the ass HARD.

One Shall Fall: Optimus has a burning bush moment. Megatron makes an attempt on Bumblebee’s life that ends up almost yeeting Raf to the Shadow Realm again. Optimus decides he must, in fact, kill a bitch.

One Shall Rise, Part 1: Unicron wakes up from his dirt nap and decides to cause fuck shit. Come to find out that Unicron IS the core of planet Earth and has to be stopped if the planet’s gonna survive.

One Shall Rise, Part 2: Optimus and Megatron bury the hatchet for 22 minutes. Jack gets a souvenir from Optimus. Cue Journey to the Center of the Earth.

One Shall Rise, Part 3: Ratchet exposition dumps. Unicron can get fucked, and he does get fucked.

[libermachinae]

Fault Lines Under the Living Room

Part I: Listen - Chapter 1: A Commotion, Eager and Anxious (Previous)

Also available on AO3! Summary:  Arcee arrives on the Lost Light just as someone else is getting ready to leave. Chapter Word Count: 3010

---

“Hey, you’ve reached Captain Rodimus’ personal hailing frequency. If you’re calling to complain again about mandatory hab sweeps, please refer to recent events involving briefcases and the hereafter outlawed opening of. If you have news involving foolish, ridiculous, or nonsensical obstacles in our quest, input 1 to be transferred directly to Megatron’s personal comm line. If you have a complaint regarding sign placement, grammatically incorrect maintenance manuals, or that weird temperature difference between floors 7 and 8, input 2 for Ultra Magnus. If you’re lonely and want someone to talk to, input 3 for automatic directions to Swerve’s. Input 4 to be connected with me, provided I’m—”

Beep.

“Rodimus?”

“Blaster! Great timing, we just got back from Fortuna. Don’t talk too long, though, Magnus just handed me my prep for the hearing and these datapads are engraved with his personal insignia.”

“Sure, Rodimus. I’ve got incoming transmission from an unknown caller, not laying down any codes I’m familiar with. Tried pressing for details, but all they’re letting slip is they want to talk to you. Want me to patch them through?”

“Hm. On the one hand, unknown caller with mysterious intentions almost always means trouble, right?”

“We’ve ended up in some axel grease for it in the past, yeah.”

“And the reason we set down on Scarvix was to avoid creating more problems while we deal with the fallout from the last batch.”

“I thought it was to give the crew a day off?”

“And that’s why you’re our morale guy. Ratchet would probably tell me to ignore it, right?”

“I guess.”

“You don’t think he would?”

“Not really sure how the CMO’s opinion is relevant.”

Because Ratchet’s vote was the only one he knew.

“Yeah, never mind,” Rodimus said with a shrug, almost losing his balance in the process. “Ultra Magnus would say the same thing, anyway, and he’s counting on me to get to the hearing on time. He cares so much , he ‘summarized’ Brainstorm’s alleged code infringements himself.” He shifted the armload of datapads. The topmost pad was hanging off the edge, preparing for freefall, but trying to tilt it back to safety risked upsetting the rest of the pile.

“Nice of him,” Blaster said.

“Yep, super nice. He went to so much trouble. Really dug into the details, researched historical precedents, looked at the case from every angle. He probably buried his essay on the origins of Decepticon as an adjective somewhere in here.” The datapad tilted and dropped. Rodimus shifted his weight to one leg and kicked with the other, bouncing the pad off his knee and catching it with his teeth. “You know ‘at? Hure, ‘ut the comm hrough. ‘robably just a co’arketer, anyay.”

“Yes, sir.”

The familiar click and beat of a line being transferred. Rodimus deposited the datapad on top of his stack and started walking again, forgoing his office in favor of a detour to the middle decks. The view there was more impressive, the angle revealing the organic landscape that stretched between the Lost Light and Fortuna, a popular interstellar rest stop with enough mechanical business to make it worth the daytrip. Chomskians were their patrons of choice, but a hand over the faction insignia and most folks would let it slide. Walking the length of the Lost Light revealed a subtly changing view as the gleam of the mechanoid hub altered the silhouette of the city, and Rodimus busied himself tracking the shuttles, jets, and personal aircraft traveling in and out, letting it distract him until his comm came back.

“Am I speaking to Captain Rodimus?” an unfamiliar voice asked. Cybertronian, definitely, but otherwise unknown.

Cool .

“Yep, captain of the Lost Light and quester for the Knights of Cybertron,” he said. “What’s up?”

“This is Autobot Arcee, requesting permission to dock in the Lost Light’s shuttle bay.”

“Arcee?” Rodimus went through the list of all the Autobots he knew, ignoring the space where Arcee’s origin should have been. Some folks, MTOs especially, didn’t like to broadcast that information, and it wasn’t strictly necessary for a personal database search. Regardless, “Sorry, Arcee, I’m not remembering you. Who did you serve under?”

“New recruit. Was working with Prowl for a bit, now Optimus Prime. We’ve met.”

He had to hold himself back from shutting down the call. The datapads wobbled and he quickly righted himself.

“We have?” People who worked for Prowl were strategic about when they released that information. If she really was a new recruit, it was possible no one had explained to her yet that, ultimately, everything led back to him. It was the only justification he could find for staying on the line and not telling Ultra Magnus to initiate an immediate sweep for unauthorized listening devices.

“Well, no. But I crashed a shuttle for you. Into Galvatron.”

“You did?” And just like that he had forgotten Prowl entirely.

“I did. Me and a few others. It didn’t do much, but you and Optimus managed to take care of Vector Sigma anyway, so, bygones.”

Why couldn’t he remember this? It sounded awesome .

“Totally,” Rodimus said, feeling a swell of pride as he remembered the moment Optimus had set aside his doubts and trusted Rodimus’ word on the Matrix. Up until that point, his chosen name had felt ill-fitting, like the myriad of function tests that preceded a new harvest’s official classification. Or, in his darker moments, like the Primes of old, who claimed the Matrix’s blessing despite no legitimate connection to it. Optimus had put his faith in Rodimus, though, in his connection to the Matrix, and that faith had been rewarded , not punished . For once, his destiny hadn’t been priced in spilled energon.

Not that they hadn’t seen any.

“So you decided to get the brand and make it permanent?” he asked, pulling himself back to the present.

“Yes.”

“Then yeah, come aboard. ‘The more the merrier,’ as Megatron would never say. When do you estimate your arrival?”

“I’ve just breached atmosphere, should be there in an hour.”

“Perfect. I’ll send instructions along to open the shuttle bay doors and will be there to meet you.” He passed the news to Megatron and Ultra Magnus and was unsurprised when only the latter acknowledged the alert, as well as a bunch of forms that seemed incredibly tedious and not worth the bandwidth. Maybe once the hearing was over, he could sit down with his co-captain and remind him of the responsibilities he had agreed to as part of his deal. That would be a proper, leader-like thing to do.

Or he could let Megatron continue to wallow in whatever new misery he had concocted for himself. It certainly made his shifts easier.

He and Arcee exchanged farewells and his comm powered down, leaving Rodimus to strategize. Arcee’s arrival meant he did not have enough time to get back to his office, read through all of Magnus’ files, and make it to the shuttle bay, especially with all the effort it would take to even work himself up to unlocking the datapads. Better to make a good impression on their new guest and bump out the least pressing task. He could do his reading once Arcee was settled.

Walking around weighed down by the burden of knowledge was a drag, though, so he stuck to the part of the plan that involved getting rid of the datapads. He spent the remaining walk to his office (longer now after he had inadvertently walked in the opposite direction while on the comm) thinking about what he could do with the surprise free time. Maybe take a quick lap around the lower decks or make his first official visit to “Visages”. Something fun, carefree, and just barely skirting regulations; something normal , to start the work of convincing everyone, again, that things were going to be fine.

~*~

Ratchet was not stalling.

There was a chance he was overpreparing, but better that than the opposite. The galaxy was a big place, and if he was even slightly accurate in his guess of how far Drift would wander in his search for redemption, he would be touching corners of it even the war had never brought him to. So, an abundance of fuel was necessary, at least enough to last two bots a month plus about half that for the journey outward. Then medical supplies: wiremesh bandages, nanite gel, intravenous lines, sparkstarters, sorted boxes of nuts and screws, antiviral uploads, rust repellant, strut stabilizers, soldering wires… The shuttle was turning out better equipped than some of the mobile surgeries he had worked from during the war; even some hospitals had been dangerously low on materials he now found in abundance. For the first time, he had the resources to make sure nothing and no one would be lost to shortage, and he intended to take advantage of that new luxury.

Following that, the next logical step had been to make the rest of the shuttle comfortable as well. Two Morphy berths with recharge docks. A media library of music and movies to pass the time (the former Cyclonus’ recommendations, the latter, Swerve’s). A few selections from his private engex stash. A box of data blockers he had buried deep among the medical supplies and would claim were standard for any med kit if interrogated.

He nudged the box of Hex pieces against the wall with his foot. Was it alright there was nowhere to sit beside the naviconsole and the berths? He had though Drift would appreciate the economy of a smaller shuttle, but with the cargo loaded the atmosphere was shifting from cozy to cramped. Would Drift feel claustrophobic, reminded of squatters’ dens and Decepticon outposts? Drift was also a high-energy bot, who would probably itch for a chance to spin his wheels from time to time. Were the fuel reserves large enough to accommodate multiple planet stops?

Ratchet’s knuckle had worked its way between his teeth before he realized what he was doing. Dropping his hand, he forced himself to turn around and exit the small spacecraft. He was committed. Out of anyone on board, Drift had done the most to earn this home. If no one else was going to step up and do the right thing by returning it to him, Ratchet would resign to do it himself.

He heard a commotion, eager and anxious, as he stepped out into the shuttle bay. The hangar doors were opening, sunlight slipping through the growing crack, and several parked crafts were being taxied out of the way. Not wanting to get cut off by wandering shuttles, he hurried to the pedestrian entrance, where most of the voices were coming from: a small crowd, loiterers looking for the new source of intrigue. Whirl and Tailgate were among them, providing running commentary as the unwieldly ships skirted just shy of scraping each other’s paint off, so it was no surprise to find Cyclonus standing further off.

Perfect. Though Ratchet and Cyclonus were not on bad terms, neither had ever tried to expand their relationship past the occasional long-suffering glance. If it had been one of the bots who had his spark twisting every time he bumped into them in the hallways, Ratchet would have worried about giving his plan away, but he doubted Cyclonus cared whether the something-like-guilt was visible.

“Cyclonus,” he greeted.

“Ratchet.” The older of the two offered a polite nod, though his gaze returned to the door.

“What’s going on? Somebody forget something in Fortuna?” Ratchet kept his voice light, curiosity without investment. A change in routine could mean nothing, but by now everyone knew it could also be the start of something weird, dangerous, or a combination of the two. Either way, it would end up among Swerve’s stand-up material.

“New arrival,” Cyclonus said. “Arcee of the Darklands: a tested warrior with a spark that rivaled Galvatron’s.”

Might as well have called herself Foreboding of Doom and saved his declarative archives the search. Ratchet wondered if he should move his departure up.

“Is she here? Did I miss it?”

Rodimus’ panicked shouts preceded his stumble into the hangar. Ratchet greeted him with a pointed look, which he shouldered by simply not noticing it while his gaze darted around the room.

“Not yet, Rodimus,” Hoist announced over the loudspeaker. “We’re just getting the last shuttles cleared for landing.”

“Oh, thank Primus,” Rodimus said, tilting his head back as his fans released a cloud of warm air. “Fantastic.”

“You look like you gunned it to get here,” Ratchet said, waving away the smell of an overheated engine.

“No, that would be speeding, which is definitely against spacetime law,” Rodimus said, straightening to flash Ratchet a deeply unappreciated grin. “I ran. I told Arcee I would be here to meet her, and it would make for a pretty bad impression of the ship if the captain failed to live up to his promise.”

“Don’t you have a hearing to be getting ready for?” Ratchet asked, the question slipping past his censors. Slag. That was not the note he wanted to leave on. The stress of his impending departure was getting to him more than he had realized.

Rodimus shrugged, unaffected.

“Magnus gave me all the materials, just need to read them. Won’t take long.”

That stirred something in Ratchet’s spark.

“Good to know our justice system is under such attentive care.”

“Perhaps this is a conversation that would be better saved for when we are not moments from new introductions,” Cyclonus interjected, his deep bass distracting enough to halt those emotional processes of Ratchet’s that started to loop out of control whenever Rodimus opened his mouth. He set his vocalizer to standby, not trusting it to wait for his command, and wondered whether it would be better to get out sooner. Before his own smart mouth made his worries a reality.

The appearance of the approaching shuttle did not ease his concerns. Starting as a speck above the horizon, all optics were on it as it approached, a little blob of a spacecraft dangling over the city of Fortuna. Big, for a single occupant. Ratchet hoped he was wrong, but he noticed something further odd as it came nearer.

Whirl took care of that loose thread of optimism.

“It’s purple,” he said, with a coy look at Cyclonus, who ignored it with enviable steadiness.

“It’s a Decepticon vessel.” Ratchet had seen enough in his time. After the fall of Tyger Pax, Autobot regulations had outlawed all colors between navy and magenta for ships, and he could think of no other species brazen enough to steer a spacecraft directly into civilian airspace. “Rodimus?”

“Blaster confirmed Arcee’s ident after our call,” Rodimus said. “Bit of a garish choice for a ride, but it’s her.” He had maneuvered himself to the front of the group, standing at the front like he was putting himself on display for an honored guest.

“That is rich, coming from you.”

“Thanks, Ratch,” Rodimus said, casting over his shoulder a wink and a grin before he turned back to face the oncoming ship. Ratchet’s frown deepened and he ignored the way the gesture reminded him of Drift.

He never knew what the bot had seen in Rodimus. Short-sighted, selfish, and with an ego that could have powered the ship if he could have been bothered to contribute that much, Rodimus’ ability to perform feats no one else would attempt meant he was also prone to making mistakes they neither could have imagined. For all the time Ratchet had spent on the Lost Light , he still had no idea the limits of chaos Rodimus was capable of summoning to it, so he let triage and combat protocols idle in the background while they waited.

It was not a nice landing. The thrusters were still burning several hundred feet out, so they all heard the roar of wind buffeting ailerons as the shuttle struggled to slow itself down. It was only by the combined effects of the Lost Light ’s buffeting shield and the shuttle’s reverse engines that they did not suffer a catastrophic collision, and even then, the shuttle bounced as it finally touched down, coming within feet of kissing Huffer’s personal speeder. Ratchet still did not remember to vent as it struggled through taxiing, twice having to reattempt a maneuver as the combined efforts of Hoist, Rodimus, and a group of volunteers guided it to its designated space. Only when the engines finally shut down did Ratchet hear the collective sigh of multiple hydraulics systems releasing their tension.

“Guess Darkland warriors don’t need to know how to drive,” Ratchet muttered. He thought he heard Cyclonus huff, which was enough to get a chuckle out of him.

That was it, though, because in the next moment Rodimus was rushing to the lowering hatch, his spoiler flicking behind him like an insect wing. Ratchet caught a glimpse of a labyrinthine cargo hold before Arcee stepped forward, filling the space, and descended rapidly. He tensed, ready for something else to come charging out from behind her, but besides a look passed between her and Cyclonus nothing immediately hostile revealed itself.

“Welcome to the Lost Light,” Rodimus said, standing aside to let Arcee descend. The hatch raised as soon as she was standing on the Lost Light’s floor, blocking Ratchet’s view again.

“Yes, thank you.” Her tone was clipped, not the melodic veil of sophistication Ratchet had come to associate with Cyclonus, and she scanned the assembled bots with a look of blatant suspicion. Ratchet could relate to that, if nothing else.

He glanced at the purple ship once more while Rodimus led Arcee in the direction of the rec rooms while the rest of the crowd dispersed. Ratchet himself would never believe in anything as a sign or omen, but the sight of the purple plating made old welds ache, and he found his resolve. He would go get a drink. He would attend the hearing. And then, goodbyes or no, he was leaving that night.

[primroseprime2019]

Con Job

"Alright! Chores are done! Now can we do some dune-bashing?!" Miko pleaded Bulkhead from her position on his shoulder as he walked into the command centre.

"I don't know, Miko. Last time, I spent a week picking sand out of my articulators. But there's a monster-truck rally in town," Bulkhead offered, causing Miko to light up.

"What is it with you and monster-truck rallies?" Paige asked as she leaned into Optimus, resting on his shoulder.

"They're awesome!" Miko answered casually.

"Optimus! I'm receiving a signal from a restricted band! It appears to be coming from a starship within the solar system," Ratchet reported, "It's an Autobot identification beacon!"

"So there are other bots out there?" Jack surmised.

"The masses scattered to the galaxy after Cybertron finally went dark. But 'Cons have been known to fake traps with false beacons," Arcee pointed out. Paige looked down at the mention of Cybertron but she was hiding her sadness at the fact that she was most likely the last Galatrian in the world.

And it hurt. Optimus, almost as if he sensed her sadness, gently brushed the girl's back with his digit before he looked back at the screens.

"Unknown vessel, this is Autobot Outpost Omega One. Identify yourself."

After some static, they got the answer they were looking for. And it made Bulkhead happy.

"I've had warmer welcomes from Decepticon combat grenades!"

"Wheeljack?!" Bulkhead exclaimed excitedly as he ran forward, causing Miko to nearly fall off his shoulder, "You old 'Con crusher! What are you doing all the way out here?!"

"Bulkhead? That you? What's with all the security?"

"The rock we're on is crawling with 'Cons. How soon can you get here and even the odds?" Bulkhead asked.

"Sometime tomorrow...if I put metal to the pedal."

"Another bot's coming here! How cool is that?!" Miko gushed excitedly.

"Wheeljack... I know him by reputation only. Can you verify his voiceprint?" Optimus asked.

"He is 1000% the real deal, Optimus," Bulkhead nodded.

"Aw, y'all wouldn't forget about us so easily, would ya?" A mech's voice asked playfully. Arcee widened her optics in surprise, "Jazz?"

"Us?" Jack repeated curiously. "I'm here with Jazz and Wheeljack," Prowl chuckled.

"Don't leave us out, ya old mech," another voice said and Primrose widened her optics with joy and surprise.

"WhiteRain, Nightwalker!" She said excitedly. "Hiya Prim," the other femme said.

"Hey, Rosie," Nightwalker said excitedly.

"New bots! And they sound cool!" Paige said happily. Upon hearing that, Optimus and Ratchet softly glared at the girl.

"You're all cool too," Paige said quickly with a smile and the others chuckled. "Whatever you say, Sweetspark," Ratchet chuckled.

"Who's the little lady?" Jazz asked. "You'll see her soon," Ratchet chuckled.

"We will send landing coordinates, Wheeljack. Safe journey," Optimus bidded.

"See you soon, buddy. I'll make sure you get a proper welcome," Bulkhead promised before the transmission was terminated.

"So...who's the boyfriend?" Arcee asked casually.

"Me and Jacky go way back. We were part of the same warrior unit: The Wreckers. Which means the 'Cons are gonna wish he never found us," Bulkhead proclaimed.

"Oh boy," Primrose grimaced as she facepalmed dramatically, "And I thought we had enough male ego around here!"

"Try living with them for as long as I have," Arcee retorted with a smirk.

"I don't know how you survive," Primrose chuckled.

"Hey!" Bulkhead exclaimed in mock offence.

◊◊◊◊

"Wheeljack? You old 'Con Crusher! What are you doing all the way out here?"

"Bulkhead? That you? What's will all the security?"

"The rock we're on is crawling with 'Cons. How soon can you get here and even the odds?"

"A war hero, hmmm?" Ember pondered aloud.

"We haven't much time. Makeshift!" Starscream called out.

Makeshift approached the three Decepticons. As soon as Makeshift was close enough, Soundwave stuck out his clawed tentacle and stabbed Makeshift. Within moments, Makeshift wasn't himself anymore.

"Let us give the Autobots a proper welcome," Ember said with a soft yet dark chuckle.

◊◊◊◊

"Wheeljack's ship is approaching the landing zone," Arcee reported happily.

"You think he's here to visit?" Raf asked.

"Maybe he'll stay! Hm, has to find his own human, though," Miko mused, "How about Paige?"

"No!" Bulkhead, Primrose and Arcee protested and Bumblebee glanced at Optimus who's shoulders tensed up with protectiveness upon hearing Miko.

"GroundBridge cycling up," Ratchet reported proudly, before sparks flew from the controls, causing him to grumble as he whacked it with his fist, "Blasted Scraplets! The equipment hasn't been the same since the infestation." "What are they like?" Paige asked, looking to Primrose, "the new bots, I mean."

"Jazz and Prowl are complete opposites of each other," Primrose chuckled, "Jazz is a bit of a musical delight while Prowl is a little by-the-book. WhiteRain is sassy and creative although her personality says different and Nightwalker's just a cowboy- rowdy and rambunctious."

"Him, Cliff and I would get into all kinds of mischief," Arcee chuckled. Paige smiled softly and she leaned into Arcee's neck cables.

"So Wheeljack's gonna land halfway around the world?" Jack began, "and then you'll just bridge him and the others here?"

"We can't risk revealing the location of our base. Just in case the Decepticons are tracking Wheeljack's ship," Optimus explained the reasoning behind this action.

"Someone wanna calm Bulkhead's pacing?" Primrose asked as she gestured to the pacing Bulkhead.

"Allow me," Miko smirked before approaching the railing, "Dude! I've never seen you so stoked!"

"You're gonna love Wheeljack! We were like brothers! And tonight, we're gonna party!" Bulkhead proclaimed.

"Sweet!" Miko cheered. The alarms went off.

"Bogies! Closing fast on Wheeljack's position!" Arcee reported.

"'Con scum!" Bulkhead exclaimed in anger.

◊◊◊◊

Wheeljack's ship, the Jackhammer, flew through the air, being tailed by five Decepticons who shot at the Autobot ship.

The Jackhammer dodged every shot except one. A blaster shot hit the engine and the ship made a huge dent in the desert as it crashed and skidded for a few feet.

The Vehicons landed and transformed into their bipedal forms. One of them took a step forward only to be met with a blaster to the chestplates and it fell to the ground.

WhiteRain, Nightwalker, Jazz, Prowl and Wheeljack stepped out of the smoke. Nightwalker's blaster was out and smoking.

"You trying to ruin our day, you're gonna have to try harder than that," Wheeljack said before he activated his battle mask and the five Autobots charged at the Vehicons, drawing their weapons.

◊◊◊◊

Echo watched the scene on the screen, her wings twitching slightly. Ember turned to Soundwave, "swiftly now. Before the other Autobots arrive."

Soundwave only nodded in response.

◊◊◊◊

"Open the bridge, Ratchet! We're missing all the action!" Bulkhead pointed out.

"I'll prepare sick bay," Ratchet decided as he activated the bridge.

"Who for? The 'Cons? This is Wheeljack we're talking about!" Bulkhead scoffed in disbelief before running into the portal with Arcee and Bumblebee following him.

"Why do I get the feeling that something bad is about to happen?" Primrose suddenly asked.

"Prim, you worry way too much," Firestorm teased her affectionately.

"I can't help it, Fire. It runs in the family!" Primrose defended as she jerked her helm in Optimus' direction.

"I heard that," Optimus called out from the other side of the room.

"You were meant to!" Primrose called back. "It's strange that Bulkhead only talks of Wheeljack and not of the other bots," Paige said, tilting her head slightly.

"Well Bulkhead and Wheeljack have known each other since the War began," Ratchet said, "trust me, imagine how their reunion will look."

◊◊◊◊

When Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee arrived at the scene, they were expecting a fight. They were expecting to be attacked by the Decepticons. So they had their blasters ready to go. However, there was no need. Surrounding them were dismantled Decepticon warriors. Bulkhead could only stand and watch in pure amazement as Wheeljack ran his blade through the remaining Decepticon and he fell to the ground.

"I taught him that," Bulkhead chuckled proudly.

"Ever think we might need a hand here?" Nightwalker asked as he sheathed his blades and he and the others approached the three Autobots.

"What? And spoil the show?" Bulkhead scoffed.

"You missed one," Arcee said, placing her servo on her hip. WhiteRain unlocked her blaster and shot the remaining Vehicon right in the faceplates, taking care of it quickly.

"If this is all you got, then this planet is in much bigger trouble than I thought," Wheeljack remarked. Bulkhead widened his optics before he hurried up to the other two Wreckers and picked them up into a hug, laughing with joy.

Nightwalker chuckled as he and Arcee clapped servos together and patted each other's backs.

Jazz smiled as he rubbed Bumblebee's helm and Prowl chuckled. Arcee grinned as she watched the two Wreckers.

"Haha, watch the finish, you old wrecking ball," WhiteRain chuckled.

◊◊◊◊

The ground bridge opened and the Autobots ran into the base. Ratchet jumped slightly when the controls sparked and so did the ground bridge.

"Jacky, Rain, come here. Meet my other best buddy, Miko. She can wreck with the best of us," Bulkhead boasted.

"Hiya," Miko greeted.

"You keeping Bulkhead out of trouble?" WhiteRain asked as she leaned in closer.

"I try. But trouble finds us anyway," Miko answered. "More like you find trouble," Primrose chuckled as she hugged Nightwalker and WhiteRain.

"We're gonna get along just fine," Wheeljack chuckled and he walked up to Optimus, "Optimus Prime. It's a privilege."

"Likewise, soldier," Optimus said, "What have you to report from your long journey?"

"Been bouncing from rock to rock searching for signs of friend or foe. Now I find both," Wheeljack shrugged casually.

"We are few but strong. We have suffered losses. But we have grown. And we would relish welcoming a new member into our fold," Optimus said.

"I would be honored," Wheeljack smiled.

"Then let's get this party started!" Bulkhead cheered as he slapped Wheeljack's back and they bumped chests.

"Oh joy," Ratchet said sarcastically with a frown. Jazz looked around before he saw Paige hiding behind Arcee's pede.

Jazz smiled softly and he bent down on one knee and held his servo out. "C'mon out, Lil Lady. I won't hurt ya."

Paige looked up at Arcee who gave a reassuring nod and the girl walked over to Jazz before she climbed into his servo.

"You're a Galatrian," Prowl said, blinking in surprise, "I've heard of you but I didn't think there'd be one on Earth of all places." "She's so cute and tiny," WhiteRain said with a giggle.

Paige blushed and she waved her fist at the other femme, "I'm not tiny!" "Fiesty little thing," Nightwalker snickered.

◊◊◊◊

"The moment Makeshift passed through their GroundBridge, we lost their signal," Starscream announced, "the Autobot base is no doubt heavilly shielded to prevent us from locating it. No matter. I have complete faith in Makeshift," Starscream reassured himself as he and Soundwave walked into a prison cell with Wheeljack- the real one- hanging from energy-suspended shackles.

"Our inside man is already inside," Starscream said. Wheeljack looked at the two Decepticons with narrowed optics, "tell Megatron he's fragged in the helm if he thinks Bulkhead won't sniff out an imposter."

"Haven't you heard? Someone else leads the Decepticons now," Starscream said, a hint of bitterness in his tone.

"You? Ha!" Wheeljack scoffed with laughter. Starscream growled and raised his claws to strike the Autobot only for Soundwave to grab him by the wrist.

"Yes," Starscream hissed and he yanked his servo away, "yes he may be yet of use," he looked back at Wheeljack, "Makeshift is very good at keeping up appearances. He need only fool your friends long enough to open their ground bridge from within so that I may finally learn the location of the Autobot base and send in my strike team to stain its floor with the spilled energon of Optimus Prime."

◊◊◊◊

Loud electric guitar music filled the atrium as Miko played for the group, dancing a bit as she did. Paige and Raf sat nearby listening.

"Come on, Wheeljack! Show me what you got!" Bulkhead challenged as he caught the metal ball and threw it back, "Nice lob!"

"So...what's that about?" Jack asked.

"It's called lobbing. A favourite pass-time on Cybertron. Especially among the warrior class," Arcee clarified.

"Come on, Raf! Show us some moves!" Miko encouraged as the familiar beats filled the room.

"Oh, alright...," Raf sighed as he stood up...and did the robot.

"Of course. The robot," Jack laughed. Paige laughed as Bumblebee copied Raf.

"Oh the irony," Nightwalker laughed before he decided to join the two.

Paige watched Miko play her guitar and she walked away. "Hey Paige, can you sing something for us?" Miko asked, a smug grin on her face, "I'm sure Wheeljack would love to hear your voice for the first time."

Paige felt her cheeks warm up as everyone looked at her, even Ratchet. "U-um," Paige said and she glared at Miko, "you are so dead."

Miko stuck her tongue out at her. Paige sighed before she placed her phone on the amp and plugged it in.

"Said there's nothing that we can't do when we're dancing," Paige sang, "I can feel the music more when I'm with you. With your hands on me, I feel my heartbeat racing. Now."

"Had to let go of everything that I know," She continued, swinging her hips a little, "before, -ore, -ore. One, two, three, yeah, come with me. We can work it differently. One, two, three, and dance with me tonight! And maybe all our dreams are coming true. And, baby, I can feel you feel it too. So just let me move you. One, two, three, yeah, come with me. We can work it differently! Said one, two, three, and dance with me tonight. And maybe all our dreams are coming true and, baby, I can feel you feel it too. So just let me move you! Let me move you!"

"Yeah, little faster, little slower, it don't matter. 'Cause I never knew myself this good till now. And I hope you know this change in me forever. Forever," she did a little twirl, "had to let go of everything that I know. Before, -ore, -ore! One, two, three, yeah, come with me. We can work it differently. One, two, three, and dance with me tonight! And maybe all our dreams are coming true. And, baby, I can feel you feel it too. So just let me move you. One, two, three, yeah, come with me. We can work it differently! Said one, two, three, and dance with me tonight. And maybe all our dreams are coming true and, baby, I can feel you feel it too. So just let me move you! One, two, three, yeah, come with me. We can work it differently! Said one, two, three, and dance with me tonight. And maybe all our dreams are coming true and, baby, I can feel you feel it too. So just let me move you! Let me move you!"

She wasn't even aware Ratchet was staring at her with astonishment and the sudden applause startled her. She smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck as her cheeks turned red.

"You weren't kidding. She has an amazing voice," Jazz said, his visor glowing with delight. "I agree," Prowl chuckled.

Paige blushed more and squeaked in surprise when Ratchet scooped her up into his servo. Jack smiled and shook his head with amusement. "Where's Optimus?" He asked Arcee, suddenly noticing the absence of the Prime.

"Went for a drive. Primes don't party," Arcee answered with a smirk. "But I'll be sure to show him this when he gets back," WhiteRain said with a grin.

"Comin' at ya!" Bulkhead warned as he threw the lob ball...that Wheeljack missed and it smashed into the GroundBridge controls.

"You know, I am attempting to perform sensitive calibrations here!" Ratchet snapped, "and you almost hurt Paige!"

"Sorry, Doc. Guess we're a little charged up," Wheeljack apologized as he picked up the ball and he gently patted Paige's head with a digit, "sorry, Kit. You built this bridge from scratch, huh?"

"I did," Ratchet nodded.

"That's quite a feat of engineering," Wheeljack complimented.

"Yes. It is," Ratchet agreed.

"Something wrong with it?" Wheeljack asked casually.

"I didn't care for the way it sounded after that last jump. I put it in shutdown," Ratchet answered.

"What if you need to use it?" Wheeljack wanted to know.

"Oh, I can't disrupt the defrag process without causing irreparable damage," Ratchet shook his head.

"So...how long will the defrag take?" Wheeljack questioned, his expression darkening.

"A few hours...if we're lucky. Maybe longer," Ratchet shrugged. Paige watched Wheeljack, frowning. Something was off about the Wrecker and his aurora only fed her suspicions.

After a while, the party ended and switched to that of Bulkhead and Wheeljack telling everyone, minus Ratchet, their stories of the war.

"So there we were. No communication. Low on Energon. Surrounded by 'Cons. So what does Wheeljack do?" Bulkhead asked teasingly, noticing the excitement on the faces of Jack, Paige, Miko and Raf, "Tell them, Jackie."

"What I do best," Wheeljack said.

"He chucks his only grenade smack in the primary heat exchanger!" Bulkhead revealed.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time!" Wheeljack defended his actions with a good-natured laugh.

"The joint went SUPERNOVA!" Bulkhead recalled, spreading his servos to prove his point.

"Awesome!" Miko gasped excitedly.

"Yeah. I'm still picking shrapnel out of my backside!" Bulkhead said as he rubbed at his backside in demonstration.

"I'm not surprised given the size of your backside," Arcee smirked and Nightwalker and Bumblebee snickered.

"There it is. Jackie's signature. One grenade. One shot," Bulkhead finished the story before noticing the expression on Wheeljack's face, "Hey. You alright?"

"What?" Wheeljack stuttered.

"You don't seem like yourself," Bulkhead observed.

"What do you mean?" Wheeljack demanded.

"I don't know. You seem...quiet," Bulkhead said. "I've been stuck in a can too long. I should go topside before things go stir crazy," Wheeljack shrugged.

"I have patrol in the morning. You can come with," Bulkhead offered.

"Let's go now," Wheeljack suggested as he immediately stood up, causing Paige's suspicions over the guy's strange behavior to rise.

"And break up the party?" Bulkhead protested, "Come on! The gang's loving you! You've gotta tell them about the Battle of Dark Mount Pass!"

"You tell them. You're better at it. How about if Miko here shows me the rest of your base?" Wheeljack offered.

"Yeah. Sure, Jacky. Go ahead," Bulkhead agreed hesitantly.

"Tour starts now," Miko declared as she and Wheeljack disappeared into the hallways, "Do you play any instruments? Can you fly? Have you thrashed more Decepticons than Bulkhead?"

"Typical Miko," Primrose couldn't help but mutter, before noticing Bulkhead's forlorn expression, "Hey. You alright, Bulk?"

"Yeah. Just out of sorts I guess, Prim," Bulkhead muttered. "Don't tell me you're jealous," Arcee teased with a slight smirk amongst the concern in her optics.

"That Miko's making a new friend?! Come on! Something...something's just not right about Wheeljack," Bulkhead said.

"Bulkhead, really?" Arcee sighed, thinking that Bulkhead was just overreacting, "He's travelled for galaxies. You haven't seen him in centuries. He could just be rocket lagged or...well, bots do change, you know?"

"Not Jacky," Bulkhead protested. Firestorm and WhiteRain looked at each other.

◊◊◊◊

Inside his prison, Wheeljack strugged against the confindments. His grunts of determination and occasional frustration were heard by the Decepticon guarding him. It annoyed the Vehicon to wit's end. Eventually, he had enough. He walked up to Wheeljack with his blaster unfolded from his arm and held it to his face.

"You're not going anywhere, Autobot," he proclaimed.

That was when Wheeljack took his only chance. He wrapped his legs around the Decepticon's neck. Immediately, the Decepticon struggled against his tight grip and started shooting laser blasts from his blaster.

"Blah blah blah," Wheeljack grumbled as he guided the Decepticon's target with his legs.

Within moments, Wheeljack managed to make the Decepticon shoot the control panel that kept the restraints that were restricting him active. With the control panel destroyed, Wheeljack was able to free himself. He fell to the ground when the sparks died and the cuffs shattered.

◊◊◊◊

"So, that's pretty much it. Energon stock pile, powerboard generator, armory; everything you need to blow the joint sky high," Miko remarked as she wrapped up her tour with Wheeljack.

"Where's this bunker located exactly?" Wheeljack wanted to know curiously.

"If I told ya, I'd have to rip out your spark chamber," Miko answered dangerously before a happy smile appeared, "Kidding! Just outside Jasper, Nevada! Though I don't expect that to mean too much to ya!"

"Can't say it does," Wheeljack lied, "So, any way out of here besides bridging?"

"Why? You're not planning to leave already, are you?" Miko asked nervously, "Come on. I'll show ya."

◊◊◊◊

"Almost there," Ratchet proclaimed as he continued working the damaged GroundBridge controls.

"Look. I know Wheeljack better than anyone," Bulkhead boasted.

"Hey," Wheeljack said as he walked into the room with Miko, "What are you guys talking about?"

"I was just telling the guys about you and me...at the Battle of Dark Mount Pass," Bulkhead answered casually.

"That's a heck of a story," Wheeljack remarked.

"Yeah. Tell it," Bulkhead requested with narrowed optics.

"Talk, talk, talk. How about after we go off-roading?" Miko suggested.

"Miko, stay out of this," Bulkhead warned. "Bulkhead, easy," WhiteRain soothed.

"I'm not sure I-," Wheeljack began to protest.

"Tell it!" Bulkhead persisted.

"Fine. If you wanna live in the past, Bulkhead," Wheeljack shrugged casually, "The Wreckers were trapped between a Decepticon patrol and a smelting pit. The 'Cons were vicious. Raining down on us with everything they had. Me and Bulkhead engaged the enemy. Left them for scrap. Then I made us a way out using their backsides as stepping stones to cross the molten metal. Isn't that how it happened?"

"Yeah. That's exactly how it happened...except for one little thing. I wasn't there," Bulkhead revealed, causing everyone to stare at the two of them in pure alarm.

"I'd already left the Wreckers to join up with Optimus. But you would know that if all you did was access Wheeljack's public service record," Bulkhead said as he poked Makeshift's chest, challenging the Decepticon.

"Bulkhead, what does that have to do with-WHOA!" Miko screamed as Makeshift picked her up suddenly.

"Miko!" Nightwalker and Bulkhead shouted as Makeshift stood near the ground bridge.

"Stay back. Or I'll squeeze her into pulp," he growled, holding Miko in a firm grip.

"Wheeljack! What are you doing?!" Miko exclaimed. "Decepticon coward," Bulkhead growled, "let the girl go and face me!"

"Don't fret," Makeshift said, "plenty of fighting to come."

"Is there a real Wheeljack!?" Jack demanded. "Oh indeed," Makeshift said with a smirk, "and I'm sure Mistress Ember is making sport of him." Primrose froze and her optics widened.

"You Pit-Spawned fragger!" Nightwalker snarled.

◊◊◊◊

"Are you certain we are at the coordinates we supplied to Makeshift?" Starscream asked Soundwave, which earned him a nod in response.

"Then what is taking him!?" The other Seeker snapped with impatience.

"Maybe they gave your boy such a hero's welcome, he got the warm and fuzzies and decided to switch sides." Starscream whirled around to see Wheeljack walking towards them, his optics blazing with bridled fury and his battle mask on.

"Do you not see you are vastly outnumbered?" Starscream taunted.

"I see fellas who might vastly enjoy me pound some dents into you," Wheeljack growled.

"Destroy him!" Starscream commanded and the Vehicons shot at Wheeljack who took out his katanas and charged at the Vehicons.

◊◊◊◊

"About time," Makeshift huffed as he activated the ground bridge. "You won't get away with this!" Primrose snarled.

"I already have," Makeshift remarked with a smirk.

◊◊◊◊

Wheeljack was having an easy fight with the Vehicons. And he was getting too close to Starscream. Said Seeker fired a missile at Wheeljack. The force of the explosion was enough to knock the Wrecker back but he managed to land on his pedes, slicing and dicing any Vehicon who tried to attack him. That was when Wheeljack jumped onto Starscream, putting the Seeker down for the count.

Wheeljack heard the sound of the ground bridge opening and he turned towards it. "Well, well," he murmured as a plan formed in his mind.

◊◊◊◊

Makeshift stepped back towards the ground bridge with Miko still struggling in his grip. "Let's get this party started," he said with a dangerous grin.

Wheeljack suddenly jumped into the base and kicked Makeshift hard. Miko flew across the air and Bulkhead quickly caught his charge. Makeshift hit the wall and was unconscious for a few moments.

"I'd shut that hole before the stink comes through," Wheeljack remarked. "Couldn't have said it better myself," Nightwalker said.

◊◊◊◊

Starscream coughed as he got up. Energon trailed down his jaw and he looked towards the ground bridge with wide, angry optics. "Enter the ground bridge now!" He shouted.

The Vehicons hurried towards the ground bridge only for it to close. Starscream let out a yell of anger.

◊◊◊◊

Makeshift took out his blades and he and Wheeljack circled each other. Bulkhead stepped forward, but Wheeljack stopped him. "Ugly's mine," he said.

That was when the fight began. The two went at each other. Swords clashed and sparks flew. Everyone watched, ready to intervene if needed.

Paige pulled Raf close to her in a sisterly fashion and Raf clung to her. "Which one's the real Wheeljack?" He asked.

"I lost track!" Miko exclaimed. "The one with the bright grey aurora," Paige said. Jack looked to her in confusion.

Makeshift slashed at one of Wheeljack's swords and charged at him. Wheeljack managed to claim one of the Decepticon's swords, using them both to knock him to the ground. He won.

"That's my Jacky," Bulkhead boasted proudly. Wheeljack deactivated his battle mask and looked to Ratchet, "you, hit the switch."

Ratchet nodded in response and turned to activate the ground bridge. "It's time to take out the trash," Wheeljack said and he smiled at Bulkhead, "all yours, buddy."

◊◊◊◊

The ground bridge appeared before the Decepticons once again. The Vehicons backed away for a moment.

"What are you waiting for?! GO!" Starscream shouted. The first few Vehicons quickly ran into the ground bridge.

Bulkhead held Makeshift's defeated form in his servos before he spun around and threw the Con right into the ground bridge. The first few Decepticons saw Makeshift hurling at them and they quickly turned tail and ran.

Starscream saw them and before he could even reprimand them, Makeshift slammed into him and the two fell to the ground.

Wheeljack smiled at Bulkhead, "nice lob."

◊◊◊◊

At the Decepticon warship, the Autobot ground bridge closed. Starscream got up and glared at Makeshift, "please tell me that you at least learned the location of their base."

"Indeed Commander Starscream. It is in a hidden bunker just outside of-" Makeshift's explanation was cut off by the familiar beeping sound. Starscream glanced at the bomb that was attached to Makeshift's hip.

"Whoa! Back! Back! Back!" He exclaimed as he hurried away. Makeshift stood where he was and he looked down at the bomb on his hip. "Oh no," he murmured before the bomb exploded, eliminating him and any Decepticon who stood too close.

"MAKESHIFT! YOU FOOL!" Starscream shouted in anger as he and Soundwave flew away.

In the control bridge, Ember and Echo stood in the control bridge. Ember frowned as she felt the ship rock from the explosion. "Starscream better not have ruined this ship," she muttered.

◊◊◊◊

In the Autobot base, things had returned to normal. Miko was playing her guitar while Bumblebee, Nightwalker, Jazz Jack and Raf were dancing. Paige hadn't joined them as she was leaning on the railing, watching them with a smile.

Ratchet groaned in annoyance, "it's like a recurring nightmare." WhiteRain and Prowl chuckled softly.

"Now that you're part of Team Prime, we need to pick out a vehicle mode for you," Bulkhead said, gently bumping Wheeljack's arm, "I have some ideas."

"Uh... about that, Bulk," Wheeljack said hesitantly, "now that my ship's repaired, I'm itching to know what else I might find out there."

"Wait! You're leaving? Why!?" Miko pouted. "Well... because some bots never change," Bulkhead said with a soft chuckle. Wheeljack smiled softly.

"Wheeljack, know that you will always have a haven here," Optimus said.

"Jacky never stays but he always comes back," Bulkhead said proudly and he and Wheeljack did a fist bump. "Feels like you just got here, Sparrow," Paige said with a playful smile.

Wheeljack chuckled and gently ruffled her hair, "yeah, well I'll be sure to let you know if I find any more Magic Users out in the galaxy, Kit." Paige smiled softly and she hugged his digit, "thank you, Jackie. That... that means a lot."

"Anytime Paige," Wheeljack said with a soft smile. "We'll see you off," Firestorm said with a soft smile.

◊◊◊◊

In the desert, the ground bridge closed up. Wheeljack turned to Bulkhead, "there's room for two Bulk. Even with a backside like yours. Who knows what we might find out there? Some of the old crew?"

Bulkhead furrowed his optic ridges and he glanced at Miko who looked down sadly. The wrecker looked back at his friend, "sounds like fun, Jacky. But my ties are here now. With them. With her." Upon hearing that, Miko smiled up at her guardian.

Wheeljack gave a respectful nod to his friend and he looked to Miko. "Anything happens to my favorite wrecker, I'm comin' after you," he threatened playfully.

"I'll take good care of him," Miko said reassuringly with a smile and she pulled out her phone, "now say cheese." With that, she took a picture of the two Wreckers.

Bulkhead and Primrose looked to Wheeljack. "WhiteRain," Bulkhead said, a spark of hope igniting in his optics.

"I'm here to stay, sweetspark," WhiteRain said and she kissed Bulkhead on the cheek. "And if I find any wreckers, I'll be the first to let you know," Wheeljack promised. "What's special between you and WhiteRain?" Miko asked curiously.

"She and Bulkhead are boyfriend and girlfriend," Primrose, Firestorm, Nightwalker and Arcee chorused. "Aw," Paige said with a smile as Bulkhead and WhiteRain blushed and Wheeljack chuckled.

The white Wrecker shook his helm with a smile before he saluted everyone and went into the Jackhammer. The door closed and the Jackhammer flew up into the air, disappearing through the clouds.

[fang-wolfsbane]

Transformers Animated: Morning Star: Chapter 02: The Alternative

Greenblade hadn’t been a fan of the whole idea of seeking refuge on a maintenance ship but considering their lack of funds and things to trade, the old yellow and red ship containing a batch of maintenance bots were really all they had to choose from. It was different than they were used to.

Convincing the captain of the ship, a Prime at that, had been difficult enough, especially with the medic bot, an old, white, and red bot seeming to wait for rust to set in, had been the first one against it. Apparently, according to the annoying yellow bot, they weren’t the first asteroid-hikers the maintenance bots had picked up on their route. As it turned out, the maintenance bots had been the reason why the black and cold bi-pedal bot had to rely on them for transportation due to an incident that resulted in his own ship being destroyed. She pitied him. She truly did. Whether he felt the same towards her, he didn’t let on. She didn’t pry either.

Blueflame on the other servo, had been all too happy to meet the acquaintance of the five mechs, enough so that Greenblade had learned their names off by spark. The leader, Optimus Prime, who didn’t seem all that keen on explaining why exactly a Prime was leading a spacebridge maintenance team. Ratchet, the old and grouchy medic. Prowl, the forced travel companion. Bulkhead, the bulbous oaf, and finally, the irritating chatterbox, Bumblebee. She found that her personal preferences led her to stay close to Prowl, whom, as it turned out, was a ninja bot.

Greenblade had received stellarcycles of sword, stealth and other sorts of training, all for the sake of her sister, so she found having a decent sparring partner made the trip a little more worthwhile. Optimus had told them that it would take a long while to get the sisters where they needed to go, but that it would eventually be on their route, so they didn’t mind all that much. With the way Bumblebee ogled her sister, Greenblade was certain that he definitely didn’t mind the thought of the journey being delayed. The thought alone was enough to tighten her servo around the hilt of her sword, the sight of him happily chirping away at Blueflame’s audio angering her to her core.

She couldn’t blame her sister for seeking some form of companionship, considering that the only other youngling she ever really had contact with, was her. Their parents had kept Blueflame separate for stellarcycles, and now that she finally had the opportunity to gain freedom from them and their memories, she was taking full advantage of it.

A part of her envied her sister’s easy adjustment to their current wanderers status. She wished that she too could simply toss all she knew aside and just relax for once, to simply sit down and chat with one of the five mechs like they were old friends. Cycles of being trained to do the opposite had her on constant edge, so much so that the medic had begun to notice. He had offered to give her something for her jumpiness, but she had denied him in that regard. He had simply shrugged and gone off to do something else instead.

From the haunted look in his optics and the scars sticking to his frame, especially the missing half of the chevron on his forehelm, indicated that he had possibly been involved in the old war against the Decepticons. He confirmed it earlier that cycle when he caught the Prime watching some old footage of the war, scolding him for wanting to know what war felt like.

As payment for their travel, the sisters had to help clear the debris from the spacebridges the ship was forced to maintain. Greenblade was no stranger to hard work, so she took the task easier than Blueflame, who, for once forbidden from using her ability, hacked at the asteroid like a sparkling trying to figure out why a toy wasn’t lighting up. She found it amusing, to see her oh-so-greatly-revered younger sister struggling with something for once in her life, but instead of giving up and pouting in a corner like she originally thought Blueflame would do, the inexperienced femme happily took on the challenge, grinning like a content youngling whenever Bumblebee or Bulkhead tossed praises her way.

She often found Prowl focusing more on his meditation than actually helping out but considering that he was the only one forced to travel alongside the maintenance bots, she left him to it. Blueflame, with the backing of her formerly mentioned cheer squadron, often tried encouraging him to help out. Surprisingly, it actually worked at times, and made the effort much less on the rest of them.

At one point Blueflame had asked Optimus why they couldn’t just use the spacebridge to go straight where they needed to. His excuse was that the spacebridges were to remain offline because of their sole purpose being for the benefit of the Autobot Elite Guard under the guise of security reasons. Personally Greenblade didn’t believe him, thinking that the actual reason lay in it possibly causing too much traffic throughout space, but she kept her opinion to herself.

Normally the seven of them worked without much interaction, yet today it seemed that the mechs were in some kind of competitive mood. Bumblebee tried showing off for Blueflame by using his stingers in the flashy way only he seemed to have perfected. Blueflame had secretly begged for permission to use her ability, but Greenblade had shut her down fast with the fact that they needed to keep what she could do a secret.

At times she had the inkling feeling that her sister might have shown what she was capable of to the show-off mech but considering how difficult it seemed for him to keep his motor shut, he had no idea. Good. She didn’t feel up to explaining the real possible reason why the two of hem had snuck away on a maintenance ship instead of waiting on a transporter instead. Primus knew there were enough of those going around ever since the war against the Decepticons ended all those deca-cycles ago.

Greenblade had been relying on an old axe Optimus had found lying around in storage. There was no way she was going to damage her sword with stubborn boulders clinging onto the only emergency transportation system the Autobots had. She was just about to swing the tool down, ignoring the rest of the mix-and-match team when Optimus broke open one of said boulders, causing a blast of light to nearly blind all of them upon its moment of freedom.

One of them questioned what it was, but from the horrified look on the medic’s faceplate, it was clear he knew just exactly what the large orange container was.

“Ratchet?” Optimus’ voice broke through her thoughts, snapping her out of the trance the container seemed to set her under. “What is it?”

“The Allspark…” Ratchet breathed, almost as if he himself couldn’t believe what was right in front of his very optics. Bumblebee and Bulkhead were the first to exchange questionable glances between each other.

“The Allspark? But that’s only a myth, isn’t it?” Blueflame asked, nearly causing Greenblade to flinch at her sister’s ignorance. It seemed her mother hadn’t taught her everything Greenblade had been forced to learn at the academy. A glance between all of them, save for Ratchet, left the mechs assuming that the Allspark being something from a legendary tale was simply the version she had been told. Greenblade wasn’t going to explain anything to them. They could figure that part out on their own.

“Get it on board. Get it on board right now!” Ratchet ordered, his pinchers sliding out from their protective casing in his wrist plating. The rest of them barely had a chance to react as Bumblebee and Bulkhead helped the medic to get the container inside, the rest of them following in shortly after.

The ship blasted away from the asteroid whilst Optimus contacted the head honcho himself, Ultra Magness, leader of the Autobots, and commander of the Primes. She would have felt intimidated, if it weren’t for the fact that a different bot answered the communication hail instead. Some bot named Sentinel Prime. From the sound of it, he and Optimus didn’t seem to be on the best terms.

Without thinking, Greenblade forced Blueflame behind her, hiding her out of sight from the second Prime. From the sound of it, the second Prime didn’t seem to be aware of who was allowed to be on the ship and who wasn’t.

Blueflame had tried protesting against all the shoving, but Greenblade had gotten her into the same room as the Allspark. Blueflame hadn’t been happy about it, but a silent glare from her older sister had her shutting up and dealing with it.

The crew was ordered to take the Allspark somewhere, and the first thing Greenblade did was pull out her sword and hold it to the Prime’s throat plating. The mechs around them stood in shock, only Ratchet and Prowl ready to try and fight against her if it came down to deciding whether the Prime’s life fuel would be spilled or not.

“Greenblade, what is this-” Optimus began, his servos raised beside him in surrender. She cut him off by ensuring the side of her blade pressed right against the silver of his neck.

“Listen Prime, you have your orders, and I respect that, truly I do, but me and my sister have someplace we need to be. It’s only because you and your crew have agreed to take us there that we didn’t cause any problems for you, but if you choose to deviate from the original course, I’m afraid you will have a mutiny on your servos.”

“Uh, wouldn’t she need to be, you know, part of the crew to do that?” Bumblebee questioned, making her wish she could cast a glare in his direction. The first rule of fighting kept her from doing so. Never take your eyes off your opponent. Besides the Prime, the ninja bot was probably the only one that stood a chance of fighting her. She preferred not going ped-to-ped with any of them at the moment, not while it could potentially put her ward at risk.

Optimus ignored the younger bot, casting his blue optics towards her. He was handsome, there was no denying that, but she was a femme with a mission, and if it meant snuffing out the spark of some bot getting in her way, then so be it.

“Greenblade, now really isn’t the time to-”

“I’m not fooling around Prime. After you drop the two of us off, you and your little crew can go along your merry way, but I am not letting anyone, Autobot, Prime or even fragging Ultra Magness himself get in my way.”

For a nano click it seemed like the Prime was about to consider her request – or demand at this point – when, out of nowhere, the ship tilted to the side, sending them all sprawling into the closest object to try and regain their balance. Her first and only thought was concern for her sister’s safety before the ship’s computer, Teletraan One, pulled up footage of their attacker, the reigning Dark Ruler of the Decepticons, Megatron himself.

[soundwavereporting]

soundwave week day 5: “Reconnection”

There’s a ghost living in the Acid Wastes. Cosmos and Prowl go to investigate.

Some prowlcoswave angst for the soul! Watch for grief/mourning, temporary character death. An au of the prowlcoswave au. ao3 link in source!

His day goes like this:

wake up (alone)

grab energon

find Prowl, persuade him to drink energon

slog through a shift mindlessly mapping New Cybertron

repeat steps 2-3, except this time it’s Prowl persuading him to eat

consider going through their Soundwave’s stuff—the things the cassettes won’t touch. Decide to put it off for another day.

fall asleep (not alone)

repeat

It’s not a bad routine. Prowl’s…he’s not happy, but he’s not the pile of misery he had been for those long, long months when Cosmos was stuck in the medcenter, and he’s nothing like the inconsolable mess they both were after the funeral.

Soundwave’s absence cut through them, leaving the edges so torn and ragged, it would be impossible to repair them. And his absence wasn’t supposed to be repaired—according to the little Camien therapist Rodimus had hired to meet with anyone who’d lost someone during Unicron’s attack (and, hadn’t everyone? Privately, Cosmos felt awful for the mech.) the grief was meant to be felt. Meant to be experienced. According to her, in time, it would fade to an ache.

Now, it was burning, crackling thing. He finds himself halfway through his shift, suspended in orbit, wondering what Soundwave would think of the new canyons formed at the edge of Uraya before realizing it doesn’t matter. Soundwave’s gone. Dead. So dead there hadn’t even been a body left to smelt. Jetfire had found some piece of his armor that everyone suspected was a part of his insignia. That had gone in the smelter, because their ritus hadn’t been completed.

It helps, knowing Prowl’s dealing with it about as well as Cosmos. He’s rounded up what remains of the cassettes to scout the landscape while Cosmos maps from above, and he spends the rest of his time breaking up fights in the Autobot-Decepticon district of New Iacon.

So it’s a little surprising when Cosmos comes home one day to find Prowl waiting for him.

“You up for a mission?” Prowl asks, and Cosmos just nods dumbly.

He takes a minute to down a cube of energon, and then they head out.

Prowl sends him the notes as they make the journey from Iacon to Stanix. Settlers in Fort Syck and Yuss have been reporting a ghost of all things, lingering at the edges of the Acid Wastes. It’s corporeal until it’s not, and it sings so loud it makes a mech’s processor hurt to stand too close. Of course, no one’s ever captured a clear recording—of either the ‘ghost’ or its singing.

Other than that, they don’t talk.

Which is fine—there isn’t anything to talk about. Except there is—he knows Prowl will listen; not as well as Soundwave used to, but he won’t flat out ignore him.

He doesn’t really want to talk, though.

So they don’t.

They arrive in Yuss late enough to warrant renting out a hotel room for a night. It’s not accommodating enough to have adjustable recharge slabs, so Prowl takes the bed, and Cosmos sleeps on the floor.

In the middle of the night, Cosmos wakes to find Prowl sleeping on top of him. He watches Prowl for a moment, watching the way his jaw clenches in response to some dream., before settling back into recharge.

In the morning, they’re back on the road (Prowl is, anyway. Cosmos is flying.), heading for the border of Yuss and the Wastes.

Prowl stops a group of mechs to ask about the ghost (have they seen him? No. Have they heard of him? Absolutely.), so Cosmos arrives first.

These Acid Wastes are different from the ones on Cybertron—their Cybertron, now as dead as Soundwave—with cliffs and mechaflora aplenty. There’s more than enough places for a ‘ghost’—hoax or otherwise—to hide.

“Um, Prowl,” Cosmos says, when Prowl finally arrives. “Why’re we here? Investigating urban legends isn’t exactly a part of your job description.”

“Honestly?”

Cosmos nods.

“I…don’t know.” Prowl looks away. “I wanted a break. From—” He makes a vague motion with one hand, gesturing in the direction of Iacon. “That.”

“You can just say ‘vacation’.” It’s the closest thing to a joke Cosmos has said in months.

Prowl’s lips twitch.

“Vacation. Working vacation.”

“Sure, Prowl.” Cosmos pats the other Autobot’s shoulder. “Sure.”

It quickly becomes clear that neither of them really know how to go about ‘investigating’ something like this—Cosmos picks up abbarent movement in his peripheral vision once or twice, which he makes note of. But other than that, the Acid Wastes are just…the Acid Wastes.

It’s quiet, though, and Cosmos finds himself wondering if that’s what both of them need. He devotes the second half of the day—which mostly consists of him sitting in the shade, watching Prowl take poring over datapads and articles—planning an actual vacation. Definitely not to Earth. But he’s heard good things about some non-Galactic Council worlds that he thinks Prowl would probably enjoy.

The sun is setting when he hears it.

And the worst thing is—he recognizes it. And it’s clear Prowl does, too, because he freezes, sensory panels hiking straight up as he tries to determine the source of the sound.

The music.

They recognize it because they were the ones who found it. They—and Jazz, who kept a copy for himself, but he’s living in Kaon, so far away it’s not even worth wondering whether or not they’re somehow hearing his music—found it, and gave it to Soundwave as—

Not for the first time that day, Cosmos catches a flicker in the corner of his optic.

This time, he whips around fast enough and sees him. Him.

It’s not Soundwave—not completely. This mech is translucent, shimmering like an optical illusion, as though he’ll fade away when the light hits him. But Cosmos would recognize him anywhere: the outline of his shoulders, the way his head tilts when he’s looking at them.

“It’s you.” Prowl’s voice is quiet. Reverent. “You survived.”

Cosmos can’t help himself. Prowl’s frozen in place, so Cosmos takes a step forward, hand outstretched.

His hand passes through Soundwave. Cosmos draws back, but what else did he expect? If Soundwave were fully corporeal, he would’ve said something. Found them.

Soundwave looks disappointed, so Cosmos reaches forward again.

This time, he feels something—were he not built to receive the weakest of signals in deep space, he would not have felt it. It’s the faintest crackle against his his plating. The ghost of a touch.

It’s enough.

“How?”

His voice cracks halfway through the word. Soundwave shrugs and extends a hand and brushes it against the side of Cosmos’ helm.

In unison, they turn to Prowl. Who’s on the phone.

Cosmos nearly laughs, though it likely would’ve come out as a sob instead. Prowl is yelling—at Perceptor most likely, or maybe Brainstorm—demanding they drop whatever they’re doing and get down to the Acid Wastes, but he freezes when Soundwave approaches.

As he had with Cosmos, Soundwave stretches out his hand and tries to touch the side of Prowl’s helm. Cosmos doesn’t think Prowl’s sensors aren’t sensitive enough to pick up the touch, but he sinks into the touch nonetheless.

Something clicks back into place.

The torn, ragged edges of Soundwave’s absence are sliced away and something new slots into place. It’s not what it used to be—Cosmos isn’t sure if things could ever go back to the way things were all those years ago, when the station still orbited Jupiter.

Cosmos takes in Prowl, who’s staring at Soundwave, and Soundwave, who’s staring at both of them and decides that maybe not what it used to be isn’t the worst thing in the world.

[thanksjro]

Eugenesis Part Two, Scene One: Do You Have A Moment to Talk About Our Lord & Savior, Primus?

Okay, I think I’ve more or less recovered from Part One.

Part Two is titled a posteriori, or “in the aftermath”, which, yeah. We start with a sermon, on the original religion, original god, Primus, and how the war between the Autobots and Decepticons essentially created a secular planet by destroying the holy land. Good job, you godless heathens.

Probably not for long, though.

One of the last safe havens of the faith, the First Church of the Primal Trinity, is described in great detail, primarily the depiction of the Epochs of Cybertron that’s inlaid into the floor.

You know, we were honestly overdue for some more  pregnancy imagery. I’d nearly forgotten about the sole thing this novel is known for. Thanks for that.

We’re currently in the Fifth Epoch, where Primus is meant to pull a Jesus Christ and walk among his children. It hasn’t happened yet, but the church is frigging ready for it.

Someone accidentally breaks the floor and they find a gold finger underneath. Assumedly there’s the rest of a body still down there.

Meanwhile, back at the plot, Mirage and Ratchet are heading back to Cybertron, with Hound, Bluestreak, and Trailbreaker in tow. Considering Trailbreaker had to be physically carried back to Autobot City after the little Decepticon fortress fiasco, his turnaround time is impressive. Mirage and Ultra Magnus have a little passive-aggressive back-and-forth, and then they’re off. Ultra Magnus wishes them a safe journey. Ultra Magnus needs to stop jinxing things.

Blaster lets Magnus know that Prowl’s on hold on Line One.

Magnus takes the video call, ready to let him have it, but Prowl is beyond giving a fuck, because that bomb from the end of Part One killed Thunderclash and turned Rodimus Prime and Red Alert into the mechanical equivalent of ground beef.

Well, I say killed, but they haven’t found a body. “Vaporized” my ass, I’ll bet they find him drinking mimosas with Cyclonus and that little guy on the mountain by Part Three.

Back on Cybertron, Soundwave’s starting to feel his age. How old is he? Old as balls, apparently. Old enough to start worrying about cyberdementia creeping up on him. He enters Galvatron’s throne room to find his leader missing, which is really weird, considering Soundwave was called to show up.

Excuse me, Rung, what the fuck are you doing here? And here I thought he was a comic-original character.

Hmm. We’re in the Fifth Epoch, where Primus is meant to walk amongst his creations… no, no way. Roberts wouldn’t. Not here. Surely that was an idea that didn’t strike him until he got involved with IDW, right?

… I’m keeping an eye on you, Rung.

MOTHERFUCKING-

Everyone’s getting real sick of your shit, Galvatron. Stop it. Stop traversing the time-stream like you own it, because you don’t. This is like the fifth time you’ve pulled this.

Soundwave wonders where his boss went, and as he thinks about all the time-tourism hot spots, we get mention of the time beyond recorded history, the Eugenesis Era, named after the most controversial program-code in Cybertronian existence.

The robots are going to be pregnant in the past, aren’t they? Like, real-pregnant, not the giant wad of gum thing. I’m calling it now.

Anyway, because Soundwave has telepathy, he notices Micromaster of the Mountain, and has some goons go after him. Misfire is there. Why you would send Misfire to do anything within this continuity is beyond me. Soundwave is taking control of the Decepticons, and I couldn’t be prouder of him. You deserve it, dude, you work so hard.

Back at the stadium, Nightbeat’s doing what he does best, or at least trying to. It’s a little difficult when there’s fifty other folks trying to do the exact same thing. 

Rodimus looks fucking awful. He’s missing most of his face and everything from the waist down. Ratchet may want to hurry up a bit.

Prowl gives Nightbeat a ring and asks him to come over. 

The insinuation that Rodimus’ corpse would still be fuckable despite how jacked up he got... you know, I think he’d appreciate it. He’d want to be a sexy corpse. That’s just the kind of guy he is.

If this novel were a sitcom, this would be the part where everyone loses their minds over the guest star. He finally gets to do something! 

Nightbeat asks Chromedome about the security camera footage, because he’s trying to figure out just what the hell happened to Thunderclash. He doesn’t buy that he got vaporized either. Nightbeat is pretty genre-savvy, it would seem. As he’s digging through the scrap and rubble left behind from the explosion, something shiny catches his eye, but we won’t find out what it is until later, because that’s where the scene ends.

Man, just a lot going on here in this chunk of the book. I really was not expecting Rung of all people to show up. We’ve gotten two name drops for the novel in the last five pages. I have a feeling we’re going to be getting to the gooey, gooey center of all this very soon. I can’t wait, and also I’m terrified.

[black-strike-otp]

LT : Chapter 5

♪♫ Holding onto what we find. We don’t want to lose this fight. You, me, and gravity.  Brave enough to give it all, knowing that the faint will fall. You, me, and gravity~  ♪♫

Was home here, or was it out there? Here felt foreign. The planet recovering and not full of life; a thousand memories of war, a childhood hardly lived. Here tasted like defeat and sadness mixed with endings and beginnings never fully over or fully starting. Here was an unfulfilled dream and false hopes.

But there was no better. There had beauty and adventure, but it was hollow. There had no connections and no secure place to ever rest your head long. There was just as much muddled with loss as it was with triumphs. There had whispered promises and torn them down; ripping them from outstretched fingers the moment you thought you had grasp.

Cybertron was not home. But space neither felt like home.

Staying or going, Novastrike felt no yearning for either conclusion. At the end of the cycle, the only benefactor of each was one held a somewhat reliable source of energon and the other the possibility of a long overdue retribution. These only positives the top of a pamphlet of further ‘good’ qualities as they were filled with bad.

The answer to leave though wasn’t a question. After all, she could never forget and never forgive. The dreams that haunted her at night; the recollections that would be with her forever now in her processor. So much loss. So much more that could come. Yet it was something she felt had to be done.

Guard had always been the biggest supporter of everyone. He was determined to see the qualities in someone that spoke to a goodness in them. Their strengths could be assets; their weaknesses something he would acknowledge and see them through. It didn’t matter what faction you came from; your history, your background, everyone deserved a justified evaluation and a chance. Everyone deserved the right to live and to change and grow; everyone deserved a helping hand and a smile, a shoulder to lean on, someone to listen.

Should it be so baffling that someone so thoughtful was once a Decepticon? There were tales of glory and sacrifice from them; though most believed to be untrue. To think that Megatron had once vowed for peace essentially considered a myth by all standards now...

She twirled a small artifact between her digits as she mused; feeling the channels and cuts scored into metal. With just a glance, the light of her optics caught on the polished silver sphere. A simple yet elegant design had been painstakingly carved into the surface, with a small set of initials on the other side. Dangling from it, a thin flexible strand of silver to attach to her wrist and slip beneath the armor on her arm for safekeeping.

A smile played across her mouth as her thoughts cleared. With a flick of her digit, she popped open the lock on the penny-sized objects hinge.

Inside, a pulsing light show of silver and blue tones danced across the gemstone inside. A single chip hidden beneath it let out a most unusual sound; an enchanting chime of soft music mixed with a darker, richer undertone. It wasn’t something especially special to anyone but her and one other individual, but the tune soothed her when little else did.

There was a long road ahead. A journey that like the voyage that originally took Cybertronians off their home world and into the unknown left them with hope but no tell of success or victory. Things could go a number of ways. For all she knew, they may never return to this place again.

It would all be worth it in the end. She had to assure herself of this.

Closing the locket with a soft ‘click’, Nova slipped it beneath her wrist and up into her armor with a heavy vent. Her helm fell low as she jiggled her dangling legs over the edge of the chasm before her; watching the world and its people pass her by.

Her audios flicked back and she turned her helm sluggishly to look over at the scorpion approaching her. He blinked his many optics at her out of sync as he approached.

“All okay?”

“Yes- fine, just a bit lost in thought I suppose. Why? Something wrong, Scorp?”

Clicking in response, the bug shook its helm from side to side. Its thin prong legs tapped swiftly upon the metal ground underfoot as he approached the remainder of distance to her side.

Upturning her lips into a smile, Novastrike reached out to brush her digits against the dark gold and silver minicon’s side. There were fissures that lined his armor senselessly; without pattern from wounds battle and nicks and dents that were either old or needed repair from careless digging tactics. He otherwise appeared in notably good shape, thanks to Blackout’s devotion to taking care of his small mechanoid friend.

“Checking on you,” he chirped in response.

“Awwww, what, are you worried about me?” Nova cooed, scratching in the space between his the armor surrounding his helm and his body.

A delighted mechanical whirl escaped the bug as he gave a slight shiver in response.

“Second partner,” he confirmed. “Seem distant. Making sure.”

Offering a reassuring smile, the small white-armored femme turned her gaze off to the side.

“She does appear very far away from here,” agreed a rumbling voice; catching Nova off guard as she whipped her helm around.

With arms crossed, the obsidian giant had crept up on her without her realization. Strange how someone so unbelievably large could do such a thing. The sheer force of his weight and presence shouldn’t allow it.

“I hope she doesn’t stray too far,” he went on a bit quieter as he stepped closer. “Though, where she may roam among stars, I would follow.”

Novastrike gave a snort in response. She could feel the burn in her audios as she smirked up at the moron; his softened crimson optics and the slight smile he usually reserved only for her a few others that she could count on one servo.

“We’re going to the same stars together,” she emphasized, trying to play serious.

“You appear to be walking among them already.”

“I’m just… having some alone time with my thoughts.”

“Do you wish for us to go?”

“N-No you’re both quite alright, Blackout,” Nova hurried in response, raising both hands up to him in surrender before dropping them to her lap.

“Hmm,” he grumbled deep in his chassis. “If you’re sure of that. Notwithstanding; you do appear to have walked in starlight and bathed in the presence of the universe’s light.”

“Bet you tell that to all the femmes,” she hissed, squirming in place.

An amused smile in black, Blackout echoed a deep chuckle to himself. He slowly moved to a kneeling position; offering out a servo to each small Cybertronian.

Scorponok was quick to scale up his master’s arm and perch himself awkwardly over his shoulder. With his frame being built more horizontal, he simply lounged himself over the mech with a self satisfied trill. He wasn’t normally up so tall to take in all the views.

Giving a small shake of her helm and a roll of her optics, Nova huffed and carefully climbed up to kneel on her sparkmate’s servo just before he moved to stand at full. She tried not to look too closely at his damned handsome faceplate or the ridiculous warmth and love emitting from his gaze. Stupid mech had a way with making her spark pitter patter and do flips like it was on a carnival ride. A reaction she couldn’t control.

The giant mech gingerly offered her a place upon his shoulder, which she accepted gracefully. Slipping from servo to shoulder, Novastrike dangled her legs off the edge and leaned back as he dropped his arms to his sides.

“I most definitely don’t say that to all the femmes,” he finally replied with a mischievous grin.

“The only reason you’re saying that is because my armor is white,” she laughed quietly.

“Your armor could be as dark as mine and the statement would still be true,” he disagreed matter-of-factly. “You are a good individual. A very compassionate femme who likes to spread her kind spark with anyone she can.”

“Mmmm,” Nova hummed thoughtfully. “You’re sweet, handsome devil.”

She leaned in to press a light kiss to his cheek. Blackout smiled a fraction more; his chassis rumbling with a noise of appreciation.

Something felt… off.

“You didn’t just come here to smother me with sweet words, did you?”

“I… didn’t know you were up here,” Blackout admitted slowly. “I came here hoping for a little quiet time, too.”

“Well, if you need the space…”

“No,” he breathed in quick response. “Stay. Please. I…”

A ray of emotions moved over his faceplate. Conflicted, hopeful, nervous… Novastrike’s audios drooped a little as her tail swished, reaching out to caress the side of his face.

“Hey…”

Leaving was worrying him. She could feel it. Even with their sparkbond closed off for the time being, it was something that had been building within him. She’d seen it, sensed it, watched it morph and evolve. There was a lot on his shoulders.

And leaving his best friend behind again; not knowing when they’d return, what they’d return to, if communications would be able to continue between them while they were in the bowels of space…

Whatever it was Blackout had meant to say, he didn’t finish. He looked over to Scorponok, reaching up to scratch along the side of his helm for a moment.

His other arm reached up a handful of nanokliks later; digit extending to stroke the side of her faceplate. Nova let out a small little ‘huff’, scowling at him a little.

It didn’t seem to prompt a response, but he leaned her a bit closer and kissed the top of her helm.

Venting out sharply, the small femme exhaled as she murmured, “I’m here for you, you know. If you want to talk about it.”

“I know, Novastrike.”

“We’re a team here: don’t forget that.”

Blackout grinned then; a flash of confidence lighting up his optics. “How could I forget?”

Snickering quietly, she placed her palm to his shoulder for support as she leaned back. Her voice soft and gentle as she spoke: “If you don’t want to do this, love, we don’t have to. Guard wouldn’t think any less of you for wanting to stay here, wanting to spend time with Barricade and Venus.”

A frustrated noise escaped Blackout. He raised a servo to place it against his faceplate. Scorponok on his other shoulder chattered with reassurance.

“I know,” he stressed. “But the bots left on the Rising Star, they didn’t have a choice in what happened and what situation they’re in now. They were as much allies and support as Guard had been. I owe them so much for accepting me, for helping repair me, for their kindnesses. Guard wouldn’t let them down, and I won’t either.”

“And Neutroboost,” he snarled the mech’s name like a curse, “Needs to pay for what he’s done.”

“You know, for a mech who likes to say how dark and vile you are, you’re very noble, sweetspark.”

“You say that after I threaten the life of a mech?”

“Well, yes,” Nova stated, perplexed. “Any justice system would say he needs to be punished for his crimes.”

Blackout snorted. “You realize my punishment will be very different from a just punishment, according to many of Cybertronians old laws?”

“Duh. Trust me: I too want to make him bleed.”

“Heh,” Blackout chuckled shortly. “You spend too much time with me.”

A quiet metallic laughter escaped Scorponok. Blackout tossed him a dirty look, but Novastrike felt a fire burning in her chassis. She scoffed loudly and gave her mate’s face a little shove, causing him to look back at her with some surprise.

“Shut,” she threatened in a scathing tone. “You can’t blame yourself for my thoughts or actions. I… offlined a mech when I thought he was going to kill you. I’ve fought my own battles. I’d have offlined a mech for Guard, too. He took me into the Neutrals group and even when Crookedwing and Neutroboost weren’t certain of me; saw me as an expense but at least one who didn’t consume a lot of their resources, Guard saw potential and said that I should train. That there were things he saw in me and knew I could do with my own skills and size that no one else could.”

“In his name and honor, I want to get revenge on his behalf, too,” she seethed. “He didn’t deserve what his own so-called ‘friend’ did to him. They were together in this war before any of us were, and that was how Neutro repaid him? No, I want to see this through, and if that means that my servos get dirty in the process, it’s a risk worth taking. There’s no governing system for Cybertronian. Even if there was; frag them.”

She huffed dramatically at her last point. In a sulking fashion, she threw her arms up, and then crossed them tightly to her chassis as she pouted.

Blackout stayed silent for some time. Slowly, he turned his optics away from her to stare at the horizon. After quite some time of silence, allowing her to cool off, he finally spoke.

“I’m sorry if I seemed insensitive of your feelings.”

“No you didn’t, not really I just… I want to make it clear: I’m doing this just as much for Guard as I am myself. And I understand that this might not be easy, and it certainly won’t be pleasant, squeaky clean work.”

“You know,” Blackout said quietly, “If things get too much for you… I’m willing to stand up and do the hard stuff.”

“Oh please,” she teased, letting out a shaky sigh as her shoulders relaxed, “I’ll be the one finishing off Neutroboost most likely, anyway.”

“Is that so?”

“You bet your firm aft.”

Dark laughter escaped Blackout. He pressed a servo to his chassis a moment, shaking his helm. With a sharp contrasting bright light emitting from his scarlet optics, he tilted his helm slightly towards hers. Novastrike mimicked the gesture as she stood up, placing her forehead against his.

“I love you, and your spunky fireball of sass,” he chuckled.

“And I love you, and your firm aft.”

He raised an optic ridge.

“What? It’s a nice aft.”

“I knew you only liked me for my frame.”

“Oh, shut up,” she hissed, laughing as she shoved at his faceplate while they both laughed.

A quiet, underlying set of notes sung forth from her spark as she snorted on her laughter. Though she couldn’t make it out through their cackling, its matching counterpart echoed in a resonating deep hum in Blackout’s chassis.

It occurred to her that home was neither here nor there. Home was with Blackout; with Blackout, with their friends and their family.

They were the home she’d been missing all those years ago. And she’d do anything to fight to keep it whole and safe.

[81scorp]

Constructive criticism: Transformers 2

(Originally posted as an editorial on Deviantart Apr 24, 2015. It has not been changed from how I originally wrote it.)

Before I go into Transformers 2 I want to talk about the X-Men and Spider-man movie that came out in the early 2000`s.

Spider-man and X-Men are in my opinion a good start. Not just to the whole "let`s try to make a serious comicbook superhero movie and not turn it into a big, campy, live-action saturday morning cartoon joke" genre, but to their own, respective movie franchises as well.

"What about The Crow and Blade?"

Yes, those were good, serious comicbook movies but they didnt start a big, new wave of good comicbook superhero movies, they were more of a prologue.As I was saying: X-men and Spider-man were a good start for their movie franchises. They weren`t perfect. The filmmakers were a little new to the universe and how to translate it into something more cinematic, but it worked well enough. In the sequels things worked a little better. The directors, writers and actors had gotten more familiar with the characters, the world they lived in and things seemed to work smoother. Not just in how close it was to the material they were adapting but in general. Then they screwed it up in the third movie.This is kinda how I feel about the first Transformers movie. The first one was a good start. It made sense how we in the beginning spent more time with the humans and didn`t get to the Autobots until a little later, and I liked most of the humor.

Though I think it would have been better without the scene where Bumblebee urinates on Agent Simmons. Just saying.

And in hindsight they could have dialed down the male gazing too. But unlike Spider-man and X-men, Transformers decided not to take what it had learned from it`s first experience and see if it could do better. No, instead Michael Bay and friends said: "Why wait for the third movie? Let`s screw it up now!" And so they did, and people still paid money to see it, myself included. Yes, I am ashamed. And yes, I know, the script was written during the writer`s strike and it`s possible that Michael Bay was involved in writing it but, come on! Even if you haven`t read books on script writing you can still see that the dumb decisions that they made were really dumb decisions!

Though in defense of Michael Bay, from what I`ve heard, he wanted to do a personal pet project after Tranformers, but was contractually obligated to do a sequel if it did well enough at the box office. Maybe he knew it was bad and screwed it up on purpose so he wouldn`t have to do more Transformers? That`s just wild speculations from me though. Let us, in my very subjective editorial, see where it went wrong and how it could have been fixed.

SPOILERS in disguise The Male gazing

They could have dialed it down or removed it completely.

Bumblebee

I get why he was mute and talked through soundclips in the first movie, because his voice thingy was damaged  and also so he could be a sympathetic character for the audience. But why didn`t he talk in this movie? His voice came back in the end of the first one. Heaven forbid he actually has any character developement. He could have talked, he just doesn`t have to talk that much. And he could still use soundclips sometimes when he feels it suits the situation. Like: when they`re about to enter a dangerous place he could use the "I´ve got a bad feeling about this" line from Starwars. And then there`s the scene where he cries like a sprinkler when Sam tells him he can`t follow him to college. Yes, I get it, they wanted to have some comedy, but they could have done that better. They could have done it like this: When Sam says to Bumblebee that he can`t come, his reaction could be "Oh... OK, I... I understand." But by the tone of his voice and body language we can tell that this saddens him. And when Sam goes away Bumblebee could play "All by myself" on his radio.

Giving Bumblebee such exaggerated, emotional reactions just makes me feel that Bay only thinks of the Transformers as silly, one dimensional, cartoon characters. Disney characters (in good Disney movies at least), The Transformers in the cartoon and the ponies in My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic have a little bit more depth than Bay`s Transformers.

Covering up the events that happened in the first movie

I can believe that such a thing could happen in the Men In Black universe where they can erase memories and stuff, but in this movie? Instead: the army`s official story to the public could be: "Yes, this battle did happen but now all the giant robots (both the good and the evil ones) have disappeared. We don`t know where yet, but we`re working on it."

Mikaela detailing the motorcycle

Yes, Megan Fox is a physically attractive woman, but that is pretty much it, and this scene is, besides pandering to horny teenage boys, also a big research failure from the filmmakers. That`s not how you detail a motorcycle, it is usually done with more protective clothing. So either:

A: have her detail a motorcycle the correct way, or

B: have her change the oil or look at the engine of a car.

Skids and Mudflap

Sigh... these guys. One stupid, racist caricature wasn`t enough, there had to be TWO. They already had Bumblebee with them on their journey so they only needed one of these guys, it would be less work for the animators and should also make it cheaper. Instead of being a stupid idiot he (since there is only one of them now in this hypothetical example) could be a competent warrior and the comedy could come from that he has gotten a few expressions and a few facts about earth wrong. For instance: when they get to the pyramids he could say: "So this is where Lenin is buried" (Lenin was mummified after his death after all). And here`s a funny exchange of words they could have in one scene:

Skids/Mudflap: Let`s kick some Donkey!

Sam or Mikaela: I think you mean "Ass".

Skids/Mudflap: Meh, Tomayto, Potahto. And instead of being illiterate: he couldn`t read the text because it was ancient cybertronian.

Arcee

There are female autobots in this movie. Not many though and they don`t have much screen time (About 39 seconds, less than a minute, out of the movie`s 2½ hours runningtime. And that includes scenes where they are in their motorbike forms doing nothing.) and one dies near the end. (If I`m not mistaken there were more than one in the beginning of the movie, but I don`t remember seeing the other female autobots in the rest of the movie and I don`t remember if

anything was mentioned about what happened to them.) Arcee appeared in eight episodes in the cartoon  BTW.Arcee should have had more screentime, and she didn`t have to die in the end. Personally I wouldn`t mind if it was she that joined Sam, Mikaela, Bumblebee and Leo on their journey to the pyramids instead of Skids/Mudflap.

Inconsistent laws of physics

A while ago I watched a video where some guy listed things he hated about this movie. One of them was a scene where a helicopter carries Optimus Prime`s lifeless body and drops it on the ground like a giant pile of scrapmetal. He felt that this was Bay being completely disrespectful to the character. Personally I thought Bay just wanted to bring in in a little realism. Prime was heavy and those wires couldn`t keep him up forever. However, earlier in the movie Sam is being thrown around by Decepticons and falls from heights that would have killed an ordinary human. If you`re gonna have realistic (or at least believable) laws of physics in your movie, keep them consistent.

The Big giant fight near the end between the humans and the Decepticons

It went on a bit too long. It could have been shorter and some of that time could have been given to Prime`s battle with the fallen, which was a little too short.

The immature humor

There are a bunch of things that I`d like to collect in one common category.

Sam`s mom running around high on campus: While I`m OK with the scene where she mentions that someone offered her brownies, the scene that comes after where she attacks/tries to get a piggyback ride from someone on the school`s lawn just felt like an unnecessary stretch of that gag. Lose it.

The dogs humping each other: Was not necessary in a 2½ hours long film that cost 200 million $ to make. Lose it.

Wheelie humping Mikaela`s leg: Instead he could have rubbed his head against her leg like a cat, and her reaction could have been flattered, yet weirded out. Or: she could be just weirded out. Or: just lose this joke completely.

Leo running out from the bathroom with his pants down: Instead he could run out (with his pants on) and shout:"I need your help! My friend just fainted in the bathroom!" (Yes, I know, the museum was closed so he`d very likely still get arrested, but still.)

Jetfire: I`m OK with him being old, but does he have to be a caricature? And I`d lose the parachute fart joke.

Devastator`s "balls": Lose it!

Robot heaven

The Autobots are not biological beings but they are sentient so I could buy this, but it was introduced very late in the movie. Instead: Sam doesn`t have a near death experience and the matrix doesn`t have to crumble to dust in his hands earlier in the movie. (Thus shortening the long running time by at least a few minutes.)

-Transformers Dark of the Moon-

My brother rented it on DVD and I gave it a watch. Slightly better than Revenge of the fallen but still not that good. Giant robots was not enough to distract me from the movie`s Bay-isms. Can`t really come up with ideas of how I would have changed it except two things:

Bumblebee`s voice

Like I said, his voice was fixed so why keep the soundclip thing? In the scene where he says Goodbye to Sam he could have done it in his original voice since it was an important moment for at least one of them.

Sam clearly acting suspicious when the watch-decepticon takes over his body

Like when he summersaults over a table for comedic effect. Was that really necessary? He could have acted normally and, at most, only have a few facial tics.

And that`s my list.