#tfp reverse au | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

palettepainter · 3 months ago

Text

Cheese test

We're back again baabbyy!

More stuff with @muletia merformer au, this time, with Megatron! Tfp Megatron's design is so fucking cool and honestly, he might just be one of my favs from the series purely from a design perspective, of COURSE I had to write something with the big grump

Warnings: Swearing but that's cuz Megatron is a jerk, very brief chase scene? Reader briefly thinks Megatron is actually going to kill them for being too silly (don't worry they live)

Again this merformers au belongs to muletia, I went with their hc of Megatron being an axolotl mermaid

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You’re learning more and more just how hard it is to diferintiate between genuine curiosity…and outright stupidity

You’re pretty sure this leaned more into the realm of undoubtful stupidity, and yet, your curiosity urged you to pursue with your plan

From your place sat on the log you hum lowly and slowly, turning squinted eyes over to the massive body breaching the water and lounging tranquilly in the shallows not too far from you. His eyes are closed, face set in a resting scowl, immense form shifting with the gradual rise and fall of his deep breaths that, to anyone none the wiser, would give the impression he was snoozing

You on the other hand, know better than to ever assume the beast of the lake is never aware of your presence in his territory

As you stand, the dirt crunches beneath the soles of your shoes, the mers external gills don’t even lift to the sound, though you know he definitely heard you.

He is completely, utterly unthreatened by your presence, you would be to if your roles were reversed…

A wicked smile curled onto your face

Speed walking to the water, glancing to the mer every few seconds, you carefully wade out from the shallows until the water breached over the top of your knees. It’s naturally cold, but not so cold to at all deter you from your current objective - your sense of logic and intrigue can’t agree on if that’s for better or worse

It’s impossible to be discreet with how every movement, no matter how subtle, pulls sloshes from the water as it rippled around your legs. For a terrified second, when you hear the sound of something massive shifting behind you, you froze like a petrified goat, worried you had been too loud.

Your mer acquaintance was not fond of being disrupted

Mouth pressed into a nervous line, you shyly peer over your shoulder to glance in his direction- and a cool rush of relief floods over your form when the source of the sound was only due to him turning his head away

Based on how steady his breathing sounded, you wager he’s not going to move anytime soon

Perfect

Suppressing the urge to giggle evilly to yourself you fluidly dunk your hand under the water, grasping at a clutch of reeds which you easily uproot from their secured spot in the moist earth below

They wilt over your knuckles, water rushing off them in ribbons which soon turned to sad, pitiful drips that return to the lake below

You had grabbed at more than you wanted, but you’re filled with such a potent mix of giddy excitement and crippling anxiety that you don’t have any attention spare to fuss over the finer details

Time to get that bastard back

Your little scheme for revenge was all the stupid mers fault anyway, how were you supposed to know he was going to react in such a way?!

You’d left town for a week to meet up with family up in the city, just a general catch up to exchange how dull or exhilarating life had been since the last time you’d gathered. Of course, once you’d returned home, you’d traced the familiar woodland path down to the secluded lake to check in with the grouch of a mer that resided there

It was the first instance you could vouch were he had clingy, if you didn’t know any better, you’d think that mister cranky had missed little old you~

Of course, you had teased, just a tiny bit, the responding growl told you Megs did not welcome such behaviour, so instead, you’d spared him of such torment (though you had stashed away the event for future teasing purposes~) and instead told to him the details of your little getaway

Naturally, as with most of your visits, you did all the talking while your mer was mostly quiet, save for the periodic huff, snarl or eyeroll, which was generally as far as his emoting ever went

You didn’t mind his silence, you’d grown quite accustomed to it, in an odd way, there was something comforting about it, soothing even

It was when you decided it was time to leave that your grudge against the mer had started..

He refused to let you move. At all.

Anchoring you in place with his giant forearm that effortlessly weighed down your legs, in spite of your fruitless efforts to shove him away. His warning growls fell on stubborn, deaf ears as you contemplated the risk of just screaming for help to see if he’d flee to the safety of the water: what you did instead was arguably more dumb

You bit him

Well, attempted was more accurate

You don’t even know why you did, it was so random

You’d barely managed to leave a faint dent in the surface of his tough skin, all you’d gained was a weird taste in your mouth - a mix between fishy and earthy tasting - and a fucking bite to your own shoulder!

Which was NOT easy to patch up you would add!

What was worse?? That stupid, smug jerk actually had the audacity to look pleased with himself at how shaken silly you were, all blood rushing from your face leaving you a pale, ghostly, trembling mess

You really thought, for a split second, that he was going to tear your whole arm off (it would have been too easy for him to do so), but instead he wanted to return the favor. Except while your bite hardly left a scratch, his left you with an impressive - for lack of better terms - hickey

Somehow, you had managed to successfully conceal it from view under turtlenecks, jumpers and various hoodies. Though you did get a bunch of weird looks from people on that one particular hot day not too long ago

You scowl thinking back on it

‘Big meanie..’

Reeds in hand, you travel back to the shore and begin to approach the massive mer, your chest puffed out as if you had earned the right to approach him

As the space between you and him grew smaller he continued to not show any acknowledgement, even if you knew he was acutely aware of just how near you were. You stop some ways from him, just out of arms distance for yourself, but you are well within his grabbing range, still, you are not deterred

Concealing the reeds behind your back, you hop up on your heels, speaking in your best, casual voice “Hey Megs!”

No reaction, as you expected

“Meeegs~” your voice drawled, in a way that was purposely aggravating, and to your own credit, it succeeded in exactly the way you wanted it to: the long, frilly gills that fell down the back and around the sides of Megatron’s head ghosted with movement, unable to block the annoying, sing-songy quality of your tone

Still, he does not move

Feeling bold, you take a few steps forward. You briefly debated prodding him with a finger, but decided that might be a bit much

“Hey big guy, I wanna show you something”

In response, the giant mer actually rumbled, a deep sound that grumbles from the back of his throat like an alligator bellow. Seeing that you now, at the very least, hold a fraction of his attention you lean in to hammer the final nail into the coffin

“Don’t worry, it’s a gift. You’ll like it! I promise”

….Unhurriedly, his head turned in his folded arms

An ancient, crimson eye peeled open to squint at you, another soft bellow rumbling from his throat

As he considered your words, you continued to smile, praying that your act was convincing and that he somehow hadn’t seen through your innocent facade The weight of his stare is crushing, the cold, calculated eyes of a predator, examining you as if you are a miniscule specimen under a microscope

Or a pathetic mouse curled before him

Positive that you’ll never be unaffected by his stare, you can’t help but shift on your feet, the awkwardness at his prolonged silence beginning to stir a broth of fresh new nerves. You avert your gaze, the muscles of your face beginning to grow sore from how you were having to force your smile from shrinking back

In that moment, he snorted through his nose, a puff of air that hits the nearby grass and had the long blades leaning back. While his face was often carved into a seemingly everlasting grimace, even you can recognise smug enjoyment when you see it

‘Arrogant fucker’

“Can you at least try and look like you’re interested?..” you deadpan at him, not trying to conceal the unimpressed edge to your tone at how difficult he was being

The single eye that studied you narrowed, pupil dilating to an irked slit, obviously not keen on you speaking to him in such a way

If to merely aggravate you further or because he was simply in one of his moods, but the only movement he made was a faint, just barely registered, annoyed flick of his tail in the water

Frowning, you mirror his expression, not naive enough to believe you stand a chance of intimidating him into doing as you asked, or ever will - if Megatron could laugh you know he’d cackle unapologetically at the notion - but you weren’t going to buckle so easily, not this time

He doesn’t back down, his rumbling morphing to a shallow growl at your boldness to meet his glare evenly, daring you to keep pushing his buttons, which he would never admit you were extremely good at

He would also never admit, even to himself, that his tolerance of you was in no way related to your heedless bursts of boldness so long as he drew breath

That you’re maddening skill to delicately tow the line between the embodiment of allurement and being a downright, brainless, half-wit moron was as delicious and enticing as it was vexing

He didn’t even know when it was his displeasure towards your very presence had begun to fade

When had it started??...Was it possibly that first occasion in which you had settled at his lake all those months ago after so many times of traversing the nearby footpaths? So unaware of just how close to danger you had placed yourself?? Just feet away from the waters edge

Was it the sheer informality in which you had gasped upon catching his eyes peeking above the water near you, and the following eccentric coeing that fell from your mouth? The way you had held out your arm above the water in some attempt to try and encourage him closer?? Were you sane??

He had been set on eating you. He SHOULD have eaten you. Why didn’t he eat you? Why did he allow you - a puny little human of all things! - to exist in his presence?..

His eye widened the next second when you leaned away, giving him a closed eye shrug, scowl wiped from your face “Well, if you don’t want to see it I guess I’ll just go home”

Megatron couldn’t help what happened next

As you pretended to take a step back and turn, with the guise of walking over to your shoulder bag sitting back by the log, you instantly smile in silent victory upon hearing Megatron’s great body moving

The pebbles of the ground shift and crunch at the movement of his mighty frame rising, the sound of the water being disrupted by the motion of a body made of pure muscle, and before you know it, one large, giant arm is slamming into the earth just inches from your side

You pause, glancing to it, and at the way in which his claws sink and drag into the sand, easily carving miniature trenches into the dirt

You fight yourself from smiling too widely in sucess

When you return your gaze to him, craning your neck upward at a painful angel so that you could meet his eyes, his ruby pupils are nothing but annoyed, symmetrical lines across his face

He frowned deeply at you, and as if to drive home the fact he is anything but entertained at whatever game you are attempting to play, he huffed indignantly down at you, his breath shooting out and ruffling the hair on your head

“Glad to see I have your attention~” you don’t even have the civility to sound remotely regretful for enraging him, and quite suddenly, Megatron seemed to process bluff, the fins along the sides of his head rising at your audacity

He snarled, lips drawing back over knife like teeth and settling in a sneer. You don’t so much as hear his growl as much as you feel it reverberating through the ground, rattling your bones as if they were frail toothpicks

Involuntarily, your pupils shrink, one single, solid reminder of the great power imbalance at play in your friendship with the mer

With your attitude corrected, you quickly fumble an apology, especially since you don’t care for the calculating look in Megatron’s eyes, as if he was debating the reward factor of tossing you into the lake like a skimming stone

“Hey, come on, I was just playing. I wasn’t actually going to leave!” boldly, Megatron’s brow cocked an inch up his forehead, his growling decreasing only just, but not enough for your comfort “Really I wasn’t!” you press, gesturing with your hand that wasn’t holding the reeds

“I just really wanted to show you my gift, it’s super important”

At the mention of your ‘gift’, Megatron’s head pulled back, his expression making way for puzzlement and, perhaps, just the tiniest bit of curiosity. At the very least, his growling ceased, that was a win

You take a small step back, judging the distance between yourself and his face as you mentally and physically hype yourself up for your final move

Megatron only tilted his head by a fraction to the left watching you, his eyes half lidded, resuming his typical look of boredom, as if in that moment he was only humouring you by offering his attention

Timidly, the voice in the back of your mind peeped up to remind you that it wasn’t too late for you to retreat, but the muffled pain originating from your shoulder isn’t so numbed that you had forgotten how Megtron had bitten you

How the extent of your injury could have been worse if he had been careless, how his bite caused far more damage than yours did to him, that he had completely over reacted and that it was his fault anyway! If he hadn’t been such a melodramatic baby and let you leave you wouldn’t be in this position in the first place!

Nah, you say to your reasoning, this stupid fish deserved what you had prepared

Bouncing on your heel again, you beam up at his indifferent face undeterred “Okay! You ready for your gift?~”

Megatron responded with a blink, the digit of his hand tapping against the dirt

A crack in your innocent act formed when you fail to restrain a snicker from passing your lips, a sound which ruffles the fins of Megatron’s head and has his frown twitching, wondering what on earth it is you have to laugh over

But before he can ponder the topic for a moment more, his eyes widen when you unexpectedly draw your arm back, and before he can blink, you catapult it forward-

SPLAT

Something wet smacked onto his face, hitting him squarely between his eyes

With a shriek that rattled within the walls of your skull, Megatron reared backwards, startling you as much as it scares you as his tail crashed wildly in the water, sending colossal waves crashing towards the boundary of where the water met the land

Madly, you leapt backwards to narrowly dodge the water that crashed higher up the earth from Megatron’s thrashing, the ginormous mer hissing loudly

The tantrum lasts both a few seconds and an eternity before he settles, aware of how he wasn’t being attacked and that he registered no immediate pain across his body, despite how his vision was obscured

His posture was tense, shoulders tucked upward near his neck, greedily inhaling air through flared nostrils and the grand, feathery like fins that circulated his head sprung outward, making him look like a petrified, poor excuse for a sunflower

….You bite your lip to muffle your snicker at witnessing Megatron, the giant, scary mer, freaking out over a handful of harmless reeds!

You can envision the loading symbol above his head as he analysed what it is that you just did, and in that very moment, as the reeds slowly slide down from his eyes and hook over the small bump that made his nose - leaving him blinking hard as his vision was resorted, fins still snapped open - do you lose it

“PFT-BWAHAHA!!-”

Desperately clutching your own stomach, you try to focus on remembering to breathe between your hysterics while also trying to not fall over onto your rump. You end up in a position with your hands perched on your knees, hunched over with your face burning from the intensity of how hard you’re wheezing

“O-Oh my god! That was! Y-YOU LOOKED SO STUPID!!” you cackled, tears threatening to pour from your eyes “You just- t-the way you LEAPED! BACK!-”

Oh how you WISHED you had been filming that!

“I didn’t even think you would react to it. B-But-” you throw your head up to Megatron, who still sat rooted in the lake, though now, his head has turned in the direction of your voice “-but the way you- you SHRIEKED! AT REEDS!!”

You didn’t think it was possible for somebody to laugh this hard

Perhaps it was your own laughter that made you miss the crucial detail of how Megatron’s body had grown eerily tense..

He doesn’t make a sound, not that you would have noticed, too busy trying to catch your breath with little success

“O-Oh ho! OH! Oh my god that was beautiful! T-That was the most HILARIOUS thing!!” Gradually, your chuckling turned into winded snickers, almost making yourself light headed from the way your body comes down from the height of your giggle fit

Oh ho NOTHING you did from this point onward in your life was ever going to top that!

With one hand fanning your face and the other wiping away a single tear from the corner of your eye, you blow out a breath, exhausted from the sheer power of how hard you had been laughing

“Whew! Wow, that was so good. Pure gold!” Still regaining control of your respiratory system you inhale a few calming breaths as you turn towards the lake- and are met with a wall of flesh

In an instant, you don’t find the situation nearly as humorous, especially when your brain analyzes the deep, steady growling that shook the surface of the water with its intensity

…You turn your head up, and up, and up

Swallowed in the mers shadow, it was revealed that Megatron was the source of the powerful bellow, teeth bared in a ferocious display that has your stomach plummeting to the pits of hell, hissing lividly down at you, tail lashing behind him like a colossal, pissed off feline

The reeds where still hanging over his nose, but it’s very obvious that his eyes are honed solely on you

His hands and his claw tipped fingers are lodged into the earth, fisting the dirt in a crushing grip, so strong it looked painful

Your voice of reasoning blared in your head, calculating your error

For this occasion, you conclude that perhaps you had mistaken stupidity for curiosity

….You gulp, sweating

“Ah…ha. Um- no hard feelings?”

The volume of his growling skyrocketed

Yep. This was definitely, by far, the most STUPID thing you’d done

You bolt

Behind you, Megatron advanced like an angry guard dog on steroids, pursuing you with a mighty roar that you swear shook the very sky itself. You dare not look back, sprinting past your backpack with all the grace of a caffeinated ostrich

“I’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’MSORRY-” you pleaded, Megatron crashing behind you

If you knew your PE lessons back in school were going to lead to you trying to outrun one seriously ticked off mermaid you sure would have put more effort in

You don’t make it far, not before a vice grip clamped around your calf and yanked you back. Hard.

You collapsed with a scream, unable to tell if it’s more from fear or from the pain that now seized your muscle

You fall too quickly, and you don’t have a chance to process your balance being thrown off before gravity is already working it’s wonders and pulling you downward, where your front collided into the solid ground

You grunt, falling still for about two seconds before you feel how you’re being, at a painfully slow pace, dragged backwards

‘FUCK-’

Without thinking you begin to madly claw at the ground in an attempt to latch onto anything! A sticking out root, a rock, a particularly large tuft of grass, you don’t care! Every single cell in your body scrambling for some perch of stability in the rapidly unstable situation that was the work of your own imbecilic creation

Alas, your efforts as as affect as sticking a molten knife through butter, you continue to be dragged backwards

You can hear your own pulse thundering loudly in your ears as it feels like your heart is trying to claw itself out of your chest and flee to the safety beyond the treeline

When the sunlight vanishes, as you are bathed in the cool shade of Megatron’s shadow, you’re ninety percent sure you might just vomit from the stress

Your scrambling becomes further chaotic

“Okayokay- I’m really sorry it won’t ever happen again I’ll never pull a joke IT WAS JUST A JOKEI’MSORRY!!-”

As you come to a sudden stop, you’re only granted a swift, singular second of peace before that same hand still grasping at your leg forced you to roll over

You gawk, wide eyed and meekly up to Megatron who towered over your measly frame, an inferno reflecting in his eyes that has you feeling like a horror stricken baby rabbit staring down the throat of a salivating wolf

Though honestly, you’d much rather prepare the rapid wolf right now..

“U-Uhm…S-Sooo-” your voice trembled with every word, but you somehow manage to pull a wobbly, professional smile, even in the face of imminent disaster “I uh…t-take it you didn’t find that joke…funny?”

His snarl was so powerful that little drops of spit land on your face, forcing you to blink

His silver, webbed hand landed over your body faster than lightning, instantly knocking the wind out of you and further trapping you. It was weird, seeing your entire body disappear beneath such an unnaturally large appendage

His claws pierced into the soil as if it was nothing but flimsy paper, and you can’t help but morbidly imagine how effortlessly it would be for him to do the same, but with your own skin

He was leaning those glisening, jagged teeth closer..

Your eyes enlarged, your heartbeat increased, and you began desperately flailing beneath his hand as you felt the huffs of his breath brush against your skin. Fear creeped within you, a cold, icy chill penetrating your very being as all you could do was try to urgently lean your head away from him

“WaitwaitWAITWAITSTOPMEGATRON-”

SPLAT

Something wet landed on your face

It was cold, making you jump, and slimy, not the most pleasant feeling

At first, you shivered thinking that Megatron had licked you, but after a beat, and after no violent snarl or merciless clamp of teeth followed, do you dare to peek an eye open cautiously

Megatron loomed frozen above you, eyes unblinking. His snarling had stopped entirely, and now his mouth only hung partially open

Fearing the moment you moved your eyes off him he would change his mind and do whatever it was he was planning to do to get his revenge, you wait another several seconds before you finally deem it safe enough to go cross eyed, investigating who or what the culprit was behind your damp face

It was the reeds

You stare at them as best you can, Megatron stared too, seemingly lost on how to proceed

….You awkwardly peered away, battling the urge to cough “Um..”

Slit pupils snap to you at an alarmingly quick speed that instantly draws a flinch from your body, trying to squish yourself up and be as small as you can beneath his stare that you can’t decipher

Maybe, just maybe, if you make yourself look as pitiable as possible, you might just escape unscathed

He doesn’t move to release you, but promisingly, he also doesn’t growl when he seems to remember he has you trapped beneath his hand like a bug he’b been about to squish

He stared, and you squirmed, the atmosphere weighed with a sense of uncertainty for what would proceed

….The tension snapped like a string of thread when he snorted lightly, and when you finally summon the courage to once again peek to his face, you are baffled at the sight of one corner of his mouth curling upward in a smirk

You don’t have much time to remain being astonished however when, finally, Megtron eases himself back, not by much, but enough that you finally feel some semblance of ease and your body compels you to replenish your lungs

Heaving, you let your head fall back into the dirt

“Heh..So..you do find it funny, when it happens to someone else at least” you mumble, not a hundred percent sure if talking is the best course of action, but damn if you don’t need to do something to distract yourself as your heart rate gradually began to return to a normal pace

Tilting his head down at you in amusement, Megatron lets out a soft bellow, tail idly swishing in the water before he lets it settle and rest. Without freeing you, he raises one finger, directing it to your face

Your panic spiked, and your gut instinct has you ready to propel yourself as far away as you can, leaning your head back while you try to simultaneously lodge your feet in the dirt, while his finger gets far too close for your current liking

“H-Hey hey- Megatron buddy, w-we’re friends! Please no scratching!..”

As the very tip of his clawed finger brushed the surface of your skin you clamp your eyes shut with a whimper, holding your breath and bracing for the sting of pain

Instead, that pain never comes

Barely, you catch Megatron huffing again, no doubt highly pleased at the look of pure, unbridled terror on your face, before he easily hooked his finger on the reeds and flicked them away and off your face

When you crack open your eyes, you find Megatron peering down at you with his head braced on the knuckle of his other hand

All bark and bite have left you, it seemed he had gravitated to a more lighter mood, and you are NOT about to ruin that by saying something snarky

You already feel like you’ve lost five years of life from the stress you’d felt in the past three minutes, you don’t fancy losing anymore

You very much like being alive…and not pinned beneath the giant hand of a mermaid

“Hah…O-Okay, so, you don’t like jokes. Noted”

Megatron doesn’t grace your statement with a response, his finger tapping and pressing on the material of your shirt that is now semi soaked from the water that runs down his arm onto you

You ignore the feeling, or at least, you give it a valiant effort to

“Sooo, how about a deal: I won’t pull anymore jokes on you and uh, we let bygones be bygones?”

Again, he gave no acknowledgement, his eyes turned to the fabric of your shirt sleeve that covers your shoulder. He tugs at the collar lightly with his claw just slightly, before releasing it the moment you fear it would begin to tear, possibly intruiged by the foreign material that felt so strange compared to his scales

Either way, you take his silence and calm attitude as a yes

“Great!” you say, clapping your hands together “Well, now that that little problem is solved, how about you uh..” you timidly tap the base of his wrist twice “Let me up big guy”

There, is when Megatron’s eyes slide back to your face

One corner of his mouth is still partially curled upward, and when you see his brows draw back, and he made a small sound at your request, do you think he was actually going to let this incident roll off his back like water

…Then his mouth twisted into a full on smirk

Your hopefulness died

You grunt when more pressure was applied to the hand that kept you flush against the floor, not crushing you, but the added strength to his hold certainly has you snapping a puzzled stare between his hand and his face

The fins on his head wiggle in a wave, his entire demeanour oozing pleasured delightment at your face

Without breaking eye contact with you, the finger that had been mindlessly prodding and poking your t-shirt snagged your collar band and pulled it aside, exposing the skin of your shoulder to his view

Your confusion growing, you soon try to attempt, and fail, to shift your shoulder to manoeuvre your shirt back into place, but that only seems to feed the mermaids ego and has his already large smirk expanding

You don’t want to say it, you really don’t want to say it, but you come to accept that you’re simply out of options..

You sigh

“Can you PLEASE let me up-!!”

The remainder of your sentence is dashed, processing just how suddenly closer Megatron was, and the way his mouth began to part, a mischievous glint in his eye as the distance shrinks further..

‘Oh you motherFUCKER-’

You resume your thrashing, now with more intensity

“NO! NO NO! NO. Megatron NO! D-DONT YOU-I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU!!- DON’T YOU DAREBITEMY-”

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

Grumbling as you pour the water from your bottle onto a small towel you’d stuffed into your backpack, your irritation morphs to a strained hiss as you gently press the cloth onto your tender shoulder

You hold the towel there for five seconds, the cooling feel of the damp towel somewhat alleviating the fresh sting that lingers heavily underneath it

Pulling it away to inspect the damage, you frown at the new red ring imprinted into your skin, a ring that will no doubt leave an imposing scab as it heals

A chortle has you whirling your head to the lake, where Megatron’s squinted eyes peer over the water at you, sly and cheeky

Your frown deepened

“Asshole..”

#merformers #megatron my beloved #fr his design fucking ROCKS in tfp #like wow #the shape of his armour around his head is especially cool looking to me for some reason #writing #x reader #transformers #my writing

136 notes · View notes

nonsscrapheap · 2 months ago

Text

TFP: Universal Observations

this chapter is a monster.

i thought last chapter was big with it being around 12.9k in total but this one? this one is 15.1k. 15.1k!!! that... is a lot of fucking words.

and somehow the brainrot continues for this fic because i'm just raring to go at the next chapter.

anyway! happy pride month you guys, it was actually VERY unintentional but i managed to squeeze in some trans representation and talk in this chapter. its not the focus but i think it's very neat i managed to get it in- shout out to @kevinformers-ibw for being absolutely giddy about this lmao. realized i had the perfect opportunity to get it in when i was talking to kev about wheeljack hehehehe.

ANYWAY! i hope you enjoy :)

[ ----- TP : UO ----- ]

The Nemesis

[ Finally, Wheeljack arrived at a certain room. Throwing the door open without a care, "Wrecker!" He called out joyously and almost immediately he was grabbed from the doorway much to Ultra Magnus' immediate concern- just as he was aiming a blaster at Wheeljack's assailant, he heard a warbled; "Jaaackiiiieeee!"

He hesitated as he sees a giant Quintesson gore-stained mecha hugging Wheeljack. "You're alive! I knew it! I knew it, I knew, I knew it!"

Wheeljack laughed, patting the mecha's shoulder. "Damn straight I am! Gonna take more than that to… get me…" He trailed off, Ultra Magnus's optics blinked as he peered behind them both. Another human mecha sat awkwardly within the room on a medbay berth, another was laying, supposedly unconscious. He straightened at the sight of Optimus Prime and Megatron.

However just before he could say anything, Wheeljack's clearly horrified voice spoke once more. "… Miko, why do you sound so young?"

"… Shit…" ]

Now that was a peculiar question, wasn't it?

And for what reason?

From what Knock Out has pieced together from the limited information they had about this, admittedly fascinating universe, the pilots were functionally adults now. Wrecker and Tailbreaker at least, they seemed to be in the same age bracket that Knock Out would consider was 'young adults' by the multiple medias- uh information sources that he's seen.

Speaking of said information sources, this Observer thing was really reminding him of said sources. If only a bit more entertaining yet less unrealistic considering this was peering into alternate worlds instead of having someone act out what was being shown.

Although… That one world, the 'Actor AU' was exactly that but in reverse- in the sense that his life was a show. And wasn't that a thought? Knock Out had to wonder how his actor was in that world. He'll admit, if he'd been less interested in racing or medicine, he probably would've had a good shot at stardom… At least, if the war would have let him anyway.

He wanted to know more about that world, yet unfortunately, the Autobots were in the driver's seat of this vehicle, so to speak. They had control over the Observer; their humans more specifically. Just how in Primus' name did they let those kids gain control over something like this? Honestly, how irresponsible.

Then again, even if they did have control over the Observer- said viewing device was currently nearly scrapped. You wouldn't think it with how pristine the orb what but its inner mechanisms were all slagged to pit. The fact it was still functioning despite most of its systems being damaged was a miracle that Knock Out was curious about.

Honestly everyone was. Who created the damn thing? And why? And how?

Being able to provide itself power and repair just by observing another universe, by showing that universe to an audience- that was a ridiculous and convoluted way to gain power and repair its system and yet it was ingenious all the same.

He and Starscream had spent quite a while muttering to each other and to Soundwave (who barely put in any input at all, only there to record their findings and theories) about it when the Autobots were looking up its internal blueprints and systems earlier on. Although being honest, it was mostly Starscream who did most of the analyzing and discussion. Knock Out had almost forgotten the seeker had been a scientist before he'd been the Decepticon's Second in Command.

All the way from Iacon, too.

Starscream was also a surprisingly good teacher, when Knock Out was confused on something in the blueprint, Starscream had scoffed yet still taught Knock Out about it. Explaining in detail about it, its theoretical usage, the concept behind it… It opened Knock Out's optics to a new side of the seeker he hasn't seen before.

Knock Out can count the good teachers that he's had in his whole life on a single servo, and now he can add Starscream to the list.

It was because of that, because Knock Out wanted to repay Starscream for teaching him some admittedly confusing yet still interesting subjects during the break, that Knock Out said nothing about Starscream's interest in human biology when Knock Out went to search about it himself. Even going as far as to be able to let the seeker read it a bit more comfortably from over his shoulder.

What can he say, he was generous like that.

Anyway, after the break, they probably came to the same conclusion as the Autobots; keep watching whatever the Observer shows and the Observer will be fully repaired in time. Exactly how much time was still unknown, much to the frustration of the seeker who couldn't figure out everything from the blueprints for one reason or another. And of course, to the annoyance of their Lord and Leader.

Be it because it was somehow too complicated for Starscream, or the section of the blueprint was too corrupted, or the system was too damaged, or the Autobots were looking in the wrong direction.

It ticked the seeker off but he couldn't exactly do anything about it right now.

And now here they were, watching a new universe from the strange key words of Alien Mecha. Again, just whatever the frag is going on in the Autobots base to consider words like that?

At first, seeing the human children with MECH- the same humans that dared to lay their filthy organic limbs on his conjunx and took away one of his conjunx's optics- it ticked Knock Out off.

… Perhaps that was another reason why he was starting to be a little nicer to Starscream lately, he had helped his conjunx when Lord Megatron scoffed in the face of his conjunx's capture. (Something that Knock Out had some private words to say, not that he'd ever say them to his leader's face… unless something drastic happened to his conjunx.)

Anyway, seeing MECH soured Knock Out's interested mood. Though it didn't stay that way as, pretty quickly, things started to pick up.

First; Shockwave was human in this universe. Something that boggled everyone within the room, because what.

Second; the humans had actually created cybertronian-like suits that eerily resembled empurata'd bots. Granted they were different up close, but from afar, Knock Out would have easily mistaken them as a cybertronian who underwent that unfortunate punishment that the Senate had enforced before the war.

Third; the reveal of the existence of the Quintessons. Knock Out had no idea those things had even existed in their universe, but according to their leader, they had. Just a very, very long time ago. Their influence was brief and small enough that no historian decided to teach it, not that Knock Out would have been interested… before now at least.

Now, seeing the Quintessons in action- their bio-drone soldiers and beasts, the fact they were a threat enough to both Earth and Cybertron… He sent a small request to Soundwave throughout the viewing for whatever information the mech would find in the Iacon Archives.

And finally, the most shocking thing that has happened yet; Autobots and Decepticons working together. More specifically, Optimus Prime and Megatron working together at the same time with their leader protecting the Prime from most of the danger. Willing to put himself between Optimus and an incoming 'Levi', as the humans had called those creatures, and bear the brunt of dangerous blows.

It's not something Knock Out could have predicted to see in a million cycles. Yet there it played, right before everyone's optics. Including their own leader who was… strangely silent from the baffling display. The racer had admittedly thought their warlord of a master would have seethed at the sight of himself protecting his nemesis and yet- he just stared.

Faceplate indecipherable yet observing to the entire thing. It was equally baffling as to what they were viewing, yet Knock Out wasn't complaining nor would he point it out, this was preferable than to see Megatron war and rage within the room, right?

Then again… seeing him silent and contemplative was somewhat concerning.

Who knows what was going on in that processor of his.

Anyway, back to the present; why was the Autobot-turned-human so concerned at the fact Wrecker sounded so young?

Suddenly, the screen flashed with text.

[ - FIVE YEARS AGO -

Two men stood in front of a familiar red, green and white mecha's open cockpit, one with greying hair and wearing a grey pilot suit with the numbers '904' on his back and front, while the other had bright red hair and a duller red mechanic's jumpsuit. "So, what's the hot goss 'round the staff?" Wheeljack asked the other man as he and the other man checked out the cockpit. "Anything exciting?"

"Somewhat," The red haired man sighed, sounding all too familiar to the audience. The screen changed to show him up close, alongside his ID that was pinned to his chest called— ]

"Knock Out! That's you!" Starscream gawked, intake opening in disbelief as they saw the human Decepticon working with the human Autobot!

Knock Out's own optics had gone wide at the sight of himself as a human. "Oh frag, it is me." His gaze immediately went to his ID to look at his human self's name. "Vincent Lorenzo?" He read aloud, optics cycling repeatedly as he took in his other self's… humanness.

"You're working with an Autobot." Arachnid deadpanned with a smirk, seemed largely amused by the fact their medic was human now.

Breakdown tilted his helm, "Technically, guy's not an Autobot. They're humans, co-workers by the looks of it… And I was right, you look great as a human Knock Out." He said, giving his conjunx a genuine smile.

Knock Out blushed lightly but was quick to preen, "I do, don't I? Hm, yes, yes. Not bad, me." Although his optics were more towards his own species, he's seen enough humans and seen enough of their media to know that his human self? One hundred percent a hottie. As he should be.

Though it was a curious thing, for the Observer to go into the past in what seemed to be a flashback. Perhaps it was answering the questions they all had in mind, or maybe the Autobots did something to do that… Although it turned out that no, the Autobots did nothing of the sort, it was just the Observer being itself.

Somehow.

( "Woah is that Doc Knock? He looks… handsome." A teenage girl said, not-so-subtly looking at the new human with interest. "Nice."

Several voices called out her name indignantly with varying levels, "Miko!"

"What?! I have eyes! I'm not blind! More importantly- that's human Wheeljack! He looks great too! I wonder what's his human name?" )

[ "Sounds like some new upstart big shots are collaborating with us, they're not with the government like us GMDs but they're funded by US government investors and other global hotshots." Vincent said as they both unscrewed panels from within the pilot's cockpit. "Already got their own line of pilots and mecha on the standby for next attack."

Wheeljack hummed, "Really now? What's their deal?"

The mechanic grunts, tugging on some thick wiring, "Some sort of experimental weaponry and tech type stuff, get this; one of their mecha engineers? Is dear old Shockwave." He said conspiratorially, making the pilot jump and knock his head against the console from where he was crouched by.

"GAH!" Wheeljack groaned, rubbing his head but peered over the console to look at his friend with wide eyes. "You're kidding. Knock Out, you're pullin' my tail. I thought ol' Waltz quit the mecha scene after…" He trailed off and they both shared a grimace. ]

"Looks like you and Wheeljack are pretty close." Breakdown muttered, optic narrowed at the casual way the two humans were talking on screen.

Knock Out chuckled, leaning towards his hunk of a conjunx. "Aw, jealous?" He cooed, smiling at the way Breakdown grumbled and denied it. "There, there sweetspark. Doesn't look like we're that close, merely friends. Friendly acquaintances or co-workers at the very least." Despite the difference of species, Knock Out was fairly sure his other self was not romantically involved with the human Autobot.

"So Wheeljack is not part of MECH?" Starscream muttered aloud, gaining their attention. "Their mecha had some subtle differences in make. Sounds like you and Wheeljack are part of another organization, one associated with the human government unlike MECH, who merely has its backing in funds perhaps… Curious."

Arachnid hummed, leaning in with interest and sneering at the way Wheeljack trailed off. "And just what was so bad that Shockwave was said to have left the 'mecha scene' permanently?" The fact that Shockwave, no matter the species, had left for whatever reason and was thought to have left permanently was curious. Especially with the current knowledge that he was a mechanical engineer and scientist for MECH when previously, he worked with… the 'GMD'?

( "Heh, I can't wait to tell Wheeljack that his human other is friends with Knock Out. I wonder if Breakdown's human too." A Wrecker wondered, amused by the apparent friendship being shown.

Both bots and humans frowned at the trail off, "After what? Don't leave us hanging Jackie!" A teenage girl whined, pouting over the lack of information.

"It might have to do something about that thing we saw earlier- I don't really remember much of it since it happened so fast but maybe he got traumatized after a fight or something." The eldest of the humans offered, though it was met with doubt and disagreement.

His femme partner and guardian shook her helm, "No. Even as a human, he wouldn't leave something like giant robot suits and invading aliens alone. Must've been something big for him to leave temporarily… and that's already a wild thought to have considering the actual mech is an emotionless psycho scientist."

.: Anybody else feel like it's weird Wheeljack called Shockwave Waltz? :.

There was a unanimous noise of agreements from the scout's teammates, even his Prime murmured something indistinctive. )

[ Knock Out shook his head, "Not kidding at all Wheeljack… They call themselves MECH- all capital letters. Guess they're really branding themselves for mecha pilots and suits, huh?" He joked though he seemed perturbed as he considered something. Naturally, Wheeljack noticed.

"Something on your mind, Knock Out?"

The red head hesitated before nodding, "Yeah, MECH's secretive. Like, more so than our own government and shit. Nobody's met the new pilots so far, they're all stationed in MECH facilities. Their suits are being scanned and blueprints of tech are being sent, but we're not getting anything about their pilots. No in-depth medical files, just basic shit that doesn't tell me anything else other than they're healthy and ready to pilot, certainly no personal information. It's all 'need-to-know' basis and apparently, GMD mechanics and medics aren't on the lists." He said, disgruntled and scowling.

Wheeljack frowned, "That's… weird. Other countries' govs send in at least a basic but descriptive medical file in case their pilots end up hurt in our turf but MECH hasn't sent anything like that?"

"No." Knock Out confirmed, shaking his head. "Rumors have it they're doing human experiments." Wheeljack grimaced, and brushed against his single port on the nape of his neck. Knock Out noticed and sighed, "More human experiments, like, adding more ports to a pilot for better control and synchronization."

"They tried that." Wheeljack replied tensely, slowly growing louder, "They tried that and the last pilots who had more than one port ended up getting paralyzed slowly over the course of a few months! Their nerves deteriorated on a slow bases every time they clocked into a mecha suit— the one who managed to quit the earliest can't move her fucking legs!" ]

"Oho, now isn't that interesting?" Knock Out murmured, listening to his human other and the Autobot discuss MECH from an outside and past perspective. "So, before MECH, pilots only had one port to link themselves into the mecha. Presumably leading a clunkier control over it?" That was what he was getting from this at least.

"Linking biological matter to a mechanical output requires a… fine-tuned balance and technique. I suppose Shockwave, or pardon me, Waltz's involvement led to a breakthrough to multiple ports being used without any side-effects." Starscream said, smirking when he said Shockwave's human name. The seeker was having the time of his life with the fact that Shockwave was human in this world, Knock Out wondered if there was more to that story of Shockwave's demise as he and the others suspected.

"Tailbreaker and Wrecker have two ports," They were surprised when Lord Megatron decided to speak, peering at the screen with renewed interest. "Whilst Senscript has five, it certainly shines a new light to their current situation, and why Tailbreaker was so concerned about Senscript's new port earlier on…"

That it does.

( A medic rears back, his previous indignant emotions about the subject come slamming back at the new information being presented. "Rafael has five ports. FIVE!" He near-roared, standing to his pedes and nearly throwing his datapad but was thankfully held back by his leader and old friend. "Jack and Miko have two!"

"Woah docbot! Calm down!"

"Calm down?! Your other selves are in danger of a biological neural shut down! The human nervous system is delicate! Multiple studies indicate that damaged human nervous systems can lead to a lifetime of problems! And did you not hear about that poor pilot who couldn't move her legs?!"

"Have you been reading up on human biology all this time? No wait, nevermind that! By the sound of things, we've had those ports for a while now, long enough that it isn't exactly a problem!" The male teenager exclaimed, trying to soothe the agitated and worried medic. "Is it worrying that Raf, uh, Senscript has five ports? Yes! Absolutely! However getting angry at the screen and trying to throw things at it won't solve anything!"

His Prime continued after the young human, "It is unfortunate but it is the truth, Ratchet. We cannot do anything about it, we can only hope that whatever side-effects that Senscript, Wrecker and Tailbreaker will endure in this other world, it can be dealt with appropriately. And that it is either small or reversible. Calm yourself." Reluctantly, the medic sat back down, clutching his datapad with a terrible scowl.

A girl leaned in to whisper to a boy, "Aww, I think Ratchet cares about us."

A boy smiled and whispered back, "Yeah, I think he does." )

[ "Easy there Dolton." Knock Out soothed, "I know what you're feeling but that's just what I've been hearing around. Rumor has it their pilots are on a two-port system. Have been for a year now, and if they're as efficient and skillful as they claim to be…"

"Then the government, hell, GMD, is gonna be interested." Wheeljack finished with a scowl. He sighed, leaning over his console, gripping it tightly. "Think I can get out of being part of the program again this time?"

Knock Out looked thoughtful before shrugging, "You managed to get out of the last multi-port testing because of a technicality and a loophole you found. You were still in the middle of transitioning and hormone treatment, which would have messed with their test results, but you're finished with that now. They'll be mindful of that so there's a chance you won't be left out this time."

"Fuck."

Knock Out gave him an apologetic look, "If MECH guarantees that their two-port technology is successful- you are one of the top rising pilots of the GMD Wheeljack. They'll either consider you first, or next. I don't know if you can get out of this one."

Wheeljack gritted his teeth, "Watch me." ]

"Transitioning?" Starscream questioned, raising an optic ridge at the term. "And what changes did the human need to go under? What treatment? Is becoming a pilot that complicated other than surgically implanting a port or more into their body?"

Knock Out didn't reply, busy typing into the human internet 'hormone treatment' and 'transitioning'. His optics flickered as the results he was given were unexpected. "Ahhh." He said aloud, perhaps a bit too loudly as he skimmed through each website and little details from the media he's consumed about humans began to click together.

"Care to share what it is you've found, Knock Out?" The medic jumped at the dry, unimpressed tone Lord Megatron had in his voice print as the racer found himself being stared at by the entire room.

Clearing his voice cables, he moved the websites he found to a free screen on the Nemesis. "I believe what my other self is referring to when he says transitioning and hormone treatment is this Lord Megatron." He gestured to the striped light blue, pink and white symbol on the screen. "It seems that some humans are not content with their current frames- er, gender? And try to 'transition' from one to another. From what I can see and theorize, the Autobot human Wheeljack, Dolton? Is currently male-presenting, mech-presenting in our terms? Which wasn't always the case, in the past, he may have been a she. A female, femme."

It's not unheard of of femmes wanting to be mechs, or vice-versa. Just rare, you hear alt-mode transitionings more often considering how forbidden they used to be when the Senate ruled Cybertron and enforced punishments on those who were caught doing so or planning such things without their permission.

Actually, by the looks of things, the human government and society saw things the same with. Enforcing the importance of birth genders rather than functionality. It frankly, didn't make sense to Knock Out and he knows it doesn't make sense to the other cons either. Even the Autobots really.

"Hm, to think that humans would care of such trivial things like whether or not their people are one gender or another, or neither." Lord Megatron muttered with disdain, "Pitiful primitives… Let them choose which they want to be, it doesn't matter in the end."

That is… surprisingly supportive, then again it makes sense. The Decepticon cause had advocated the rights and freedom of their bodies, of their frames and lives from the iron-clad grip of the Senate. This was no different…

Knock Out swallowed the question of when did advocating the rights of their frames and freedom turn into bloodshed and planetary destruction. It was something he hadn't thought of in a long, long time and preferred not to.

The Observer seemed to have the effect of bringing up old details and memories that everyone seemed to prefer to leave behind…

( In Omega Outpost One, a similar search was made.

"Wheeljack was a girl?" A teenage girl gawked for a moment, "She totally looks like a guy now! Woah!"

"That's the point Miko, also- pronouns. Wheeljack's a guy, don't call him 'she'." Her older friend admonished lightly, relaxing and nodding when the girl gave a genuine apology and a grin.

"Whoops! Sorry… still, that's so cool."

"You do not seem surprised, Jack." The Autobot leader noted while his team gathered around the medic's datapad to look at the information about 'Transitioning' and 'Trans people'. It got to the point where the medic gave up and put the information on the base's console for easier viewing from the team, their youngest human companion helped set it up.

The boy shrugged, "I spent a lot of time in the hospital with my mom, she's a nurse, and we meet a lot of interesting people. I've met guys who were girls, girls who were guys, people who didn't want to be either."

Immediately the medic's optics honed in on the boy. "So you have personal experience in witnessing these 'transitioning' and 'hormone treatments'? I have a few questions in mind—"

"Woah there Ratchet! I may know a little bit more than the normal person, but if you want like, personal or graphic details about it, just look it up on verified medical websites and articles or y'know… ask my mom?"

A chuckle escapes the Prime as his old friend grumbles but actually makes a note to question the boy's mother whenever she comes by or is available during a call. He can't help but feel proud of the boy, and of the humans, for their actions and mindsets. Though he is saddened to see that the government and other humans had yet to approve of these transitions in some places, this is significantly better compared to the Senate's own doings at least. Even if it does not make sense to forbid one from changing their gender. )

[ - SIX MONTHS LATER -

"God fucking dammit." Wheeljack muttered, now clocked into his mecha with two visible ports on his neck.

.: While it's unfortunate that you weren't able to dodge this port installation, at the very least it's been confirmed that the two-port system that MECH had created is compatible and completely safe. Their pilots have been using it for about a year now and no nerve damage has been reported. Nor permanent side-effects to clocking out aside from the usual dysphoria and such, if a bit heightened thanks to a better synchronization. Although it's hard to believe it myself considering majority of the information about said pilots are still being withheld and hidden. :. Came Knock Out's voice to Wheeljack, tone dry and begrudging.

Wheeljack sighed in defeat, "Considering Shockwave's on the team of engineers and mechanics, I'm not exactly surprised." He groused, reluctantly impressed as he tested out the movement of his mecha. He was in a large empty room, with Knock Out perched on a high-rise platform, taking notes with a headset on his head and a tablet in his hands. "Definitely feeling the difference between the single and double, I can control my mecha's limbs better. Connection's stable. No immediate signs of mental fatigue."

Knock Out hummed in thought, .: Good. Good. Your vitals are stable, the synchronization is higher than before. I'll admit, I'm impressed. Still would have liked talking with one of the actual pilots who had the damn ports longer than you… :.

"Hmm," Wheeljack was thoughtful before he smirked. "Hey Knock Out, think you can shuffle me into active duty soon?"

.: Possibly… why? :.

"Got told that I'll be paired with a rookie pilot of MECH to show them the ropes in battle- one of their elite trained pilots whose finally being released to the wild. Even got a pre-earned designation I hear, 'Wrecker'."

.: Well isn't that a charming designation… :. Was Knock Out sarcastic reply before he smirked as well, .: I'll see to it you're perfectly healthy for duty. :. ]

"Awfully close with the human Wheeljack." Starscream said lowly towards Knock Out who rolled his optics, "Looks like you're his usual medic and mechanic, it's unexpected, to see you two work together. Especially as another species."

Well, at least he said it in a tone that wasn't snide but was genuinely curious. "I know right? The Observer continues to baffle us in ways we never thought of, to think, I'd be getting along with a Wrecker like him… Other species notwithstanding. Although I am very content with my own wrecker. Right here." He purred, leaning over to pat Breakdown's arm when he saw Breakdown trying to not look too interested in the conversation.

His conjunx flushed but flashed him a wide, satisfied grin at the reassurance. His plates fluffing and puffing in pride, "Damn right."

Knock Out chuckled quietly, finding his conjunx's reaction to be very adorable. He certainly hoped his human self was together with Breakdown, he was rather curious as to what his partner would look like as a human now that he's seen himself.

And if he's Cybertronian… well…

He keeps those thoughts to himself, unwilling to entertain them just yet.

( "Looks like Wheeljack couldn't dodge the new port this time." A femme scout warrior said while her team's medic grumbled and grouched at the screen. "But hey, by the looks of things, it's going better than what Wheeljack said about the last two-port experiments?" She tried, soothing the wrecker who'd gotten visibly worried for the alternate version of his friend.

He sighed, then commented, "Wheeljack and Knock Out… definitely not the two I'd expect to being friends anywhere, but guess it works there. Still weird though." )

[ - TWO MONTHS LATER -

Klaxons blared loud and clear as Wheeljack hastily got into his cockpit, strapping himself down. "Pilot 904, callsign: Wheeljack. Clocking in." He reported after strapping down his helmet. Grunting as he felt two wires plug themselves into his ports. He scowled at the feeling but ignored it, "Synchronization complete."

.: Copy that Wheeljack, standby for transport. Immediate deployment required, Class 8 XTRs have been spotted. I repeat, Class 8 XTRs have been spotted within mountain ranges, heading towards the city. You will be backed up with MECH pilot 00, callsign: Wrecker who will meet you there. :. A voice, not Knock Out, but another operator instead, told him through the comms.

"Roger that. Magnetic locks engaging for transport." Thick cables attached themselves to Wheeljack's mecha, connected two large helicopters above him, the cables groaning underneath the strain but holding as Wheeljack's mecha was lifted up from the hanger and taken towards the area where the XTRs.

Wheeljack was flipping switches and pressing buttons when he finally noticed another mecha being flown beside him, using four helicopters- it was definitely a big guy. Wheeljack whistled, "Damn, I knew Wrecker was tank-class, but that's one hell of a mecha." He pressed against his console, establishing a new communication line with his new pilot.

"This is pilot 904 of the Global Mecha Defense, US Branch, callsign; Wheeljack. So, you're the newbie I'm suppose to show the ropes?" He asked into his mic, smirking to himself.

His smirk widened when he got a reply soon, from a woman's voice, .: This is MECH pilot 00, callsign; Wrecker. Hey, I may be green on the field but that doesn't mean you should underestimate me old timer. :. ]

"… That is not Wrecker." Knock Out said, the difference in voices was jarring. This voice was much more mature and smoother than Wrecker, and yet, something about it nagged to him.

Starscream narrowed his optics, "… No, it is her." He replied, gaining attention, "Listen to her voice- it's being modulated, changed, artificially. Humans might not be able to tell the difference considering it's well made, but to our audials, the frequency isn't as smooth than a natural voice print, organic or cybertronian."

Knock Out frowned, adjusting his audials and- yeah, there it was. "MECH disguised the voices of the pilots… to hide the fact, their pilots were children." He says as the screen showed Wrecker. Smaller than before. Plugged into her mecha with a voice modulating system overlaid on her comm link system.

That… did not sit well with the Decepticon medic. He hadn't known the actual ages of the humans at the start of the viewing, just noted they were young adults. But seeing Wrecker in the current flashback, she was practically the same age as the annoying brats that hung out with the Autobots.

Annoying little things that poked their business where they shouldn't, and irresponsible Autobots that either let them or couldn't contain them as they should. But at least the Autobots didn't actively encourage children into fighting wars. Especially against other, giant aliens like the fragging Quintessons!

There's an unsettling symphony of low engine growls in the room, and he glanced around to see Lord Megatron looking at the screen with disgust, Breakdown scowling with his servos clenched, Starscream looking away with gritted dentae and Soundwave… indecipherable as always yet his engine seemed to growl the loudest.

( Three humans were surprised by the sound of multiple engines revving up in, anger? "They're children." Ratchet wasn't shouting this time, yet his tone was cold and hard and angry that it made all three kids shiver. "They're child soldiers. Wrecker has to be the same age as Miko right now during this flashback sequence and MECH… MECH hid that fact using VOICE MODULATORS!" Finally, the medic shouts, barely held back by the Prime whose grip was much tighter than normal.

"Next time I see 'em, they can be formally acquainted with my wrecking ball." The green mech snarled, transforming his servo into said wrecking ball hammer and slamming it into the palm of his other servo.

Hesitantly, a teen spoke up. "Uh, I'm not saying no to you kicking MECH's asses but like- what's with the reaction? Raf's like, the same age as us! Senscript I mean, and you weren't all growly and angry about that. Also, we're like- not children, kinda. Jack and I are teens! Raf's currently a tween, but like, yeah."

"Oh we were still angry, but we had it kept in." The slim scout said through gritted dentae, her fellow, bigger scout whirred his angry agreement. Despite his aggressive attitude, he was tenderly holding his charge in his servos, finally letting the boy return to the couch. "Doesn't matter if you're a teen, or tween Miko. You're still young, YOU shouldn't be fighting Quintessons. You should be in school! With other children your age! Safe and sound."

"I had hoped, as horrible as it was, that Rafael was the exception. That his status as a child, pardon, a teenage pilot, was not the norm." The Autobot Leader said gravely, his expression pinched and grim. "It seems that I was, unfortunately, wrong."

The three children, because that's what they were, no matter how much they may protest, shared a worried glance with one another as the viewing continued. )

[ .: Pilots Wheeljack and Wrecker, you are now in range. You will now be deployed, in three, two, one— ;. The cables loosened and let go, leaving the two mechas into a short free fall to the ground right in front an incoming Class 8 Levi that Wrecker immediately wrestled with.

.: Wrecker to base! Engaging XTRs now! :.

"Alright rookie, let's see what you got!" Wheeljack hollered, grinning in his cockpit as his mecha dove into the fray.

The screen fizzled, turning black for a moment before returning to the scene of Wrecker and Wheeljack surrounded by dead XTRs, both mechas were damaged yet Wrecker's was surprisingly intact compared to Wheeljack's missing arm. "Alright, I'll admit, not bad rookie." Wheeljack laughed, breathless and panting, sweat beading down his face as he maneuvered his mecha to look at Wrecker's. "MECH's got you trained up pretty good."

.: Tch, they wish. I'm just that good. :. Was Wrecker's reply, though she was just as breathless and sweaty. But she had a wide grin on her face. .: You're not so bad yourself Wheeljack, loved the makeshift bomb you made- honestly wish I had your kit, but well, there's a reason I got Wrecker as my callsign. I like wreckin' shit up with my bare hands. :.

"Hah!" Wheeljack laughed, sensing a camaraderie with the new pilot from the other organization. "Your bare, sonic-equipped hands! Man, I think we're gonna get along just fine Wrecker." He offered his surviving arm to Wrecker. "Dolton Jackson."

Wrecker hesitated, the screen showing her young face, biting her lip before she grunted and grinned. Accepting Wheeljack's hand with her own. "Miko Nakadai." ]

"Well, that answers the question as to why the Autobot was so concerned to hear her sound so young." Knock Out muttered, shaking his helm.

Breakdown nodded in agreement before pausing, snorting to himself. "Dolton Jackson?" He questioned aloud, sharing an amused look with his conjunx. Just what kind of name was that? "Knew his name was Dolton when your other self said it, but really? Wheeljack? Dolton Jackson?"

The medic shrugged, what else could he say about the name? Maybe the universe just liked playing games with little details like that. Still, looking at the damage of their mechas… if he hadn't known they were artificially made suits that had no pain receptors and weren't empurata'd mechs… he'd be concerned with the fact Wheeljack was missing his arm and not showing any signs of distress.

( "Dolton Jackson. I gotta call Jackie that next time I comm him."

"Dude, that's going to confuse him so much… Yeah, do it! Hehehehe!"

"Hehehehe!"

Ignoring the snickering wrecking guardian and charge duo, a teenage boy sighed, "From the looks of it, or at least I'm just guessing here; when our other selves were with pilots or people outside of MECH, we used voice modulators to hide our ages."

"And MECH didn't let any of the GMD, or anyone else outside the organization, personally meet with us, plus they didn't send any really detailed files- they probably fabricated our ages on the files anyway." His young friend theorized with him, the mood of the team darkened a bit at the reminder that they were young pilots in another world. Fighting a war that should be fought by adults, not children. )

[ The screen abruptly returned to the present, with Wheeljack looking devastated as he stood outside of his mecha on a giant table with Wrecker standing in front of him. Behind her, Tailbreaker was treating Senscript, with Ultra Magnus carefully handing over a small human-sized medical kit to the young man.

Optimus and Megatron were not within the room, it was just the humans and Ultra Magnus.

"Oh Miko." Wrecker tensed, giving him a defiant look at his tone of voice.

"Don't." She replied sharply, eyes narrowing at him as she tightly crossed her arms. "Don't use that tone of voice with me, don't use your 'it's gonna be okay kid' voice with me Jackie. I don't need it."

Wheeljack hesitated before taking in a deep breath. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry 'bout that Wrecker." He gave a small smirk, but his eyes were still concerned. It was enough for Wrecker though, as she relaxed her shoulders. "Just… didn't expect seeing you here 's all."

Wrecker grinned at him, "I could say the same thing to you! I- fuck's sake Wheeljack, your mecha got speared through and then dragged into a weird, light thingy that I thought was like a hallucination from my concussion!"

Before Wheeljack could reply, Tailbreaker interrupted, "Sorry to interrupt your reunion- but I need some help with Senscript here!" Both pilots cursed and were quick to regroup to Senscript's side as Tailbreaker tucked an emergency blanket underneath the young boy's head after taking off his helmet.

"He's…" Wheeljack's expression twisted slightly at the sight of Senscript- his bloody face was being wiped by Tailbreaker with an antiseptic wipe. 'He's so young.' Wheeljack thought before shaking his head, "What happened?"

"Some kind of experimental tech from Shockwave and MECH." Wrecker answered, helping Tailbreaker clean up Senscript's face. "Cortis, something, something. Was supposed to look into information from the XTRs."

"Miko." Tailbreaker hissed, "You're-"

"Breaking protocol? Sharing classified information? Look around us Jack, we're not on Earth! MECH's nowhere near us! It's just Jackie and we can trust him… and whoever this guy is since Jackie let him stay." Wrecker said, gesturing to Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus. ]

"Heh, Wrecker's not taking MECH's shit now that they're not around." Breakdown chuckled approvingly, enjoying the way Wrecker had immediately thrown out information from MECH that would've wanted to keep on the down low. "Good on her."

"And honestly a good idea, how else are they suppose to treat Senscript without identifying the cause and its effects?" Knock Out huffed, although he wasn't as moral as other medics- and he did prefer breaking bots at times rather than fixing them, he did have the mindset of a logical medic… Sometimes.

Not telling your doctor over what happened and how you got hurt was a very stupid way to get help for treatment. Unless they wanted the wrong treatment or medicine or even procedure to happen, which would exacerbate or worsen their condition- it was best to tell your doctor what happened.

Then again, neither Wheeljack or Ultra Magnus were medics, or medically inclined. Maybe Wheeljack, but still. Why were there no medics within the room?

( The Autobot's CMO huffed, "They need to call a medic to help Senscript. Even if they're cybertronian, a scan is prudent into figuring out how to help him."

"Maybe Optimus and Megatron went to get one?" The youngest among them proposed but was shot down with a stern, disagreeing shake of a helm.

"They could have commed for a medic to come if they wanted to retrieve one… " He really hoped that his counterpart, if he was there as a cybertronian, knew that the humans were- well, humans. A small, organic species rather than assuming they were otherwise… )

[ "I am Ultra Magnus, Commander of an Elite Autobot group; the Wreckers." The large mech introduced with stilted English.

Wrecker's eyes brightened, "No shot! He's commander of the Wreckers? You're commander of the Wreckers? Dude! My callsign is Wrecker! I was meant to meet you! And your whole crew!" She exclaimed excitedly before wincing at the light groan Senscript made from the loud noise. "Shit, sorry Raf."

Wheeljack chuckled and Ultra Magnus even had a small smile on his faceplate. "Believe me, I was just as surprised when I found out 'bout his group Miko. Told him aall about you, said you'd be a perfect fit, name included." Wrecker beamed at him.

"Yes, Wheeljack has told me a lot about you, Wrecker. From what I've heard, you would do well in my squadron… however first and foremost, we should perhaps focus on your compatriot here." Ultra Magnus said, looking at the youngest human in concern. "What can we do to help him?"

Tailbreaker sighed, "Other than make sure his brain isn't scrambled? No idea, the tech he used was a prototype. Cortical Psychic Patch Link, it was supposed to let Senscript direct access the XTRs processors directly and gather information and it worked. Only… It wasn't a one-way link, not completely at least. The commander we pinned down used the link to hurt Senscript, and then activated something that took us from Earth to- well, here."

Wheeljack frowned, not liking the sound of it. "How direct we talking?"

"Direct as in he got a fifth port just to use the damn thing." Wrecker replied with frustration, gently lifting Senscript's head to show the five ports lined along the boy's neck.

Wheeljack immediately paled, horror in his eyes. "FIVE?!" He shouts and winces when Senscript flinches, groaning and both Wrecker and Tailbreaker sent him a look. ]

"With the knowledge that more than on port had once led to paralysis, it is rather impressive that the boy is still moving with five ports installed." Arachnid chuckled, having enjoyed the look of horror on the human Wheeljack's face.

Starscream hummed, a reluctant look of begrudging respect on his faceplate. "Indeed… Though it is not without its consequences and side effects." He notes, looking over to Knock Out. "Recall that during the start of the viewing, Senscript was unnaturally sensitive to light and sound. I had chalked that up as to his connection to his mecha's sensory units and crown, and perhaps that still remains as a reason but the ports are possibly another factor."

"Considering they're connecting to the human's nervous systems, it's probably a miracle that the kid's still functioning as he is… then again we're looking at this with incomplete information. We don't know the procedures and treatments they use to install such things in their organic little bodies." Knock Out nodded back, admittedly far more curious about human biology now than ever. He usually found them gross, and he still did, yet morbid fascination had him looking into websites and articles now to theorize about the stature and conditions of the pilots in that world.

He hasn't been this interested in a scientific and medical subject in quite a long while. It was a bit exciting actually, especially after conferring with Starscream. ( Strange, yet undeniable as the situation calls for it. )

( A medic grumbled angrily underneath his vent, glaring at the screen but not specifically at any of the humans shown. More at the ones responsible for the ports on the alternate boy's neck, he muttered lowly in cybertronian. His old friend squeezed the plate of his shoulder in reassurance and grounding.

A scout whirred lowly, but refrained from picking up the young boy again so soon. )

[ "Shit, sorry."

Ignoring Wheeljack's apology, Tailbreaker rifled through a small bag he managed to get from Senscript's mecha. From it, he took out a pair of thick headphones and a soft blindfold.

Ultra Magnus noticed and leaned in, asking as softly as he could. "What are you doing?"

"By the looks of it, Senscript's a support-type mecha." Wheeljack spoke up, gesturing to the suit still laying on the berth nearby. "Rescue-class by the looks of it, they're usually the ones who look through the debris for trapped and injured civilians. Or get to downed pilots in their mecha, sometimes they even provide on the fly repairs. Rescue-class mecha pilots typically have sensitive senses, disconnecting from their scanners, their sensors- their clock outs and down time are usually worse than us normal pilots."

He looked at both Wrecker and Tailbreaker, "Speakin' off, how's the clock out?"

"Manageable." Tailbreaker answered with a frown, slipping the headphones onto Senscript's head after the blindfold.

Wrecker scowled at him, "'Manageable' my ass— Tailbreaker's lucky, he's always fine after a clock out. He doesn't get our shit unless he's been clocked in a mecha for three days straight or something." It shifted to Wrecker's hands which were beginning to shake, "Meanwhile I'm feeling it right now. Fuck." She sat down, yanking off her helmet to tuck underneath her knees while she curled up with her hands over her nape.

Wheeljack winced, the screen switching to his own vision- which hazed over slightly until Wheeljack closed his eyes tightly enough to see stars, opening them to find himself sitting as well with Ultra Magnus' servo keeping him upright. "Ah, thanks Mags." ]

"Of course there would be side effects to linking an organic system to a metallic, technological shell." Starscream snorted, though he was watching said side effects with an interested and critical optic.

Knock Out hummed, "Yeah, it looks like Senscript's not the only one with side effects… Clock out, huh? Symptoms so far includes muscle spasm, hazing vision, hypersensitivity…" He listed off what he could see on the spot from the screen. It was hard to diagnose the symptoms and effects mostly because Knock Out was a medic for cybertronians, his knowledge of human biology and health was non-existent to rudimentary and though he was currently supplementing it with the websites and articles he was finding, he was not a human doctor. "Both Wrecker and Wheeljack are experiencing the clock out but…"

"Tailbreaker isn't." The medic jolted in his seat as Lord Megatron spoke, the ex-gladiator (and ex-miner?) looking very interested as Tailbreaker moved between all three pilots. Looking only fatigued as the last pilot standing. "Unlike the other humans, he is not experiencing the effects of 'clock out'. How very interesting." He grinned, a sharp digit tapping the side of his helm.

( "What?! Jack doesn't get whatever's getting Wheeljack and I? That's so unfair!"

A boy winced as his friend punched his shoulder, "Ow! Hey! Don't punch me just 'cause other me can't uh, doesn't? Have 'clock out' side effects! I don't even know what that is! And! It may not even apply to me, specifically Miko!"

"Still not fair."

Meanwhile, a Wrecker spoke with a medic.

"What's happening with Miko and Jackie? Got any ideas Ratchet?"

"I'm not a human doctor Bulkhead, I can only assume that linking neurologically with a gigantic metal suit is messing with their nerves and senses. I find it curious that Tailbreaker is not experiencing the effects like Wrecker and Wheeljack though… I would have said he built up an immunity or resistance however Wheeljack has been a pilot for longer and Wrecker, I would argue, has been at it for the same amount of length…" )

[ "Damn Jack, I thought Miko was kiddin' 'bout you not havin' clock outs." Wheeljack rasped towards the young man who provided a canteen of water alongside some pills from the first ait kit, he immediately swallowed the pills and drank some water, thanking Tailbreaker with a nod. The pilot was using Ultra Magnus' servo as back support as the mech worriedly kept close.

"'S not fair." Wrecker growled out, face buried against her knees as she massaged her lower neck, careful around the ports. She took a moment to uncurl so she could accept her own canteen of water and pills before curling back up with a frustrated groan.

Tailbreaker gave him a lopsided grin, "I still get them but like she said, not unless I'm clocked in for a very, very long time. Dunno why, it's… an advantage I guess? Not even MECH knows why I can last that long without feeling the same things as the rest of the pilots."

At the mention of MECH, Wheeljack's face darkened before he shook his head. "Any sign of Doc Sunshine?" He asked Ultra Magnus instead.

Ultra Magnus gave him a disapproving look, "You know he does not like calling you that, Wheeljack."

"Aw, but he's so bright and cheery. Like sunshine."

The mech sighed, before nodding, "He is on his way, he's just finished handing off important patients to appropriate medics. Optimus and Megatron are on their way back as well."

"Finally gettin' a medic here?" Wrecker questioned shakily, a cut to her view showed how hazy her vision was, she closed her eyes again and resumed tucking her head against her knees. "'Bout time."

"Would a… would your people, even know how to treat us?" Tailbreaker asked Ultra Magnus, suddenly nervous. Wheeljack seemed fine for a man who went missing for more than three years but…

Ultra Magnus nodded at him with a look of understanding, "I understand your apprehension, while Ratchet is not an expert on biological medicines and treatment, he has learned quite a lot thanks to Wheeljack. At the very least, he will be able to do a medical scan on Senscript's proce- no, I believe it was called a brain. Yes, he will be able to scan Senscript's brain and compare it to Wheeljack's for health." ]

"And here I thought the other bots didn't know about humans." Knock Out hummed, a bit surprised to hear that Ratchet was coming to treat the humans- with Optimus and Megatron out of the room. He had assumed that the two leaders did not know the truth of their seemingly cybernetic guests.

Also, it looked like the old grumpy medic was a cybertronian while Knock Out himself was human. Hmph, well, at least he looked just as good as a human. Even in that human uniform he'd been in, he made it work. Made it look stylish. If there was one thing he was a bit envious of humans was the fact they could freely wear fabrics and clothes with ease and enjoyment. The humans not only had a sense of style for vehicles, but for fashion as well.

Such things like fabric and clothes were usually for the high-end snobs of Iacon, the richest of the rich cybertronians got to enjoy fabric clothing- not all the time considering fabrics usually snagged on joints and seams and such, not to mention if you transformed, you would rip apart whatever you were wearing in no time. It was superfluous and excessive to wear fabric clothes over their metal platings.

( Another medic's apprehension and suspicion was eased greatly at the mention of himself, "Oh good. I do know that they're organic life forms and seem to have enough knowledge to help them. And here I thought I'd be forced to watch myself be clueless." He muttered the last part to himself with a huff.

"It is indeed, a good thing that you know of the human's true natures and forms." His old friend confirmed, just as reassured at the knowledge that the alternate version of his friend and teammate could help the other versions of the humans they knew and protected.

.: If anyone can help you guys, it'll be Ratchet. :. A scout whirred to a young boy, .: Also, that means he's cybertronian! I haven't seen myself yet, does that mean I'm human too? :.

The boy laughs, "I hope so! So far, we've seen two cons as humans, having you as human would even the odds Bee. Since Miko knows Wheeljack, do you think I know you?"

.: I can't imagine a world where we both exist and DON'T know each other Raf! But yeah, I hope so too! :. )

[ "That's… good. Really good." Tailbreaker sighed in relief, returning to Senscript's side. "Was a little worried that they'd mistake us as- well, another alien robot species? If it weren't for the fact there were way too many of you guys around, far too many for any of our governments to afford to have around as well as, y'know, the architecture and stuff- I would've mistaken you guys as other pilots… with expensive faces."

Ultra Magnus cleared his throat cables, a look of amusement and exasperation on his faceplate as he nodded in agreement. "Agreed, that… that misunderstanding would be rather… troublesome."

Wheeljack cackled against his servo, though it was cut short with a wince. Didn't stop him from smiling widely though, "I mean- it's, it's still kinda happening that way?"

"… What?"

Wrecker pried open an eye to look at Wheeljack, "I'm with him, what?"

"Technically, only Optimus, Megatron, Ratchet, a select choice of others and myself know that you humans are organics piloting mechanical suits. Which has been a fairly recent development. The rest of our troops are… under the impression that you are distantly related to us in some way." Ultra Magnus admitted, "And it was decided to let that misconception continue on the account of current opinions on organics and techno-organics among the troops."

"The Quintessons didn't leave a great impression on cybertronians 'bout us, doesn't help that some organic alien species are helping them on the sly." Wheeljack told both pilots who looked utterly shocked at the several revelations of; they were on a planet that didn't exactly see them in a good light, that there were other organic species out there but they were helping the Quintessons, and that, by the looks of things, they'd need to hide the fact they were organics from majority of the cybertronians they were about to meet. ]

Starscream snorted, "Of course." He seemed very amused at the fact the humans were being seen as 'distant relatives' to cybertronians. While he was disappointed that Megatron knew the truth, the fact the rest of the Decepticons and Autobots had no idea was rather entertaining.

Knock Out frowned, tilting his helm, "Which organic species could possibly be helping the Quintessons? They're horrid looking! I genuinely prefer the humans than to them." At least the humans had style in some places of their species' culture… Perhaps he was a bit more biased towards them thanks to seeing himself as a human.

"I don't know Knock Out, perhaps one of the many, many species that find our war an annoyance? Or perhaps the organics that became extinct as a side-effect from our war on their planets?" Arachnid smiled cruelly, chuckling to herself. She wasn't surprised that there were other organics backing the Quintessons up, "The other species find our war so much of a hassle, they tend to stay away from our sector of the universe."

Although with the end of Cybertron, with the Exodus spreading their kind across the stars… It was a wonder how no other species have yet to think of targeting them as a whole once more.

( "There are other aliens out there?"

"Miko, the Autobots are aliens."

"Yeah but like, other aliens! Not giant transforming cybernetic guys! No offense you guys, you are super duper cool and Bulkhead will always be my favorite alien but I'm not gonna lie. I'm curious about other aliens out there."

"Aw thanks Miko."

"Huh, I guess we were so caught up with the bots, we didn't really think to ask about other species out there in space. Think you can tell me about them, Bee?"

.: Of course! I haven't met as much as the others, but I do know a few cool ones you'd like to know. :.

"Sweet!" )

[ "So for the moment, it would behoove you three to stay within your mechas while you're here on Cybertron. Please avoid from getting out of your suits outside your personal areas or around unauthorized personnel."

Wrecker seemed a little better as she got to her feet, she wobbled slightly but stood her ground. "Wait, so like- you said this was recent, and I'm already imagining tons of shit about like, Jackie getting into shenanigans here with you guys but-"

Before she could ask further, the door to the room hissed open and in came a red, orange and white cybertronian with blue optics that immediately honed in on the humans. "Primus, there are more of you." He muttered but his pace was brisk in getting to the table.

"Well hello to you too, Sunshine." Wheeljack greeted with a grin, patting Ultra Magnus' servo as the mech helped him to his feet.

"Do not call me that." Ratchet snapped, with less animosity and more annoyed exasperation. As if it was simply an irritating routine that they were doing rather than something out of genuine malice.

Wheeljack smiled sunnily at him as he stumbled over to Wrecker, "Whatever ya say… Doc."

Ratchet groaned, but shook his helm, giving a terse nod to both Wrecker and Tailbreaker. "Greetings, I've been informed of your 'callsigns' but you humans do have other names? I am Ratchet, the Autobot Chief Medical Officer, I'll be your physician for the foreseeing future."

Wrecker and Tailbreaker shared a look though Wheeljack gently nudged Wrecker, "I trust Doc here with my life, he's not a human doctor but he's got enough know how and smarts to keep us in shape here. Just look at me, I'm fit as a fiddle, outside of clock out anyway."

"… Miko Nakadai."

A sigh came from her fellow pilot, "Jack Darby, it's nice to meet you Ratchet."

"And the one that's down is Rafael Esquivel." Miko introduced, gesturing to the young boy. "You should check him out first, he went through a mental attack with an XTR commander." ]

"And here comes the Autobot medic." Knock Out muttered, as nice as it was to see himself as human for a brief moment there. It just reminded him that he probably wasn't going to be involved all too much at the moment, pit, he doesn't even know where he is in the current timeline of events. He was around when Wheeljack was on Earth but where was he now?

Where was he when Wheeljack disappeared? Was his human counterpart wondering where he was right now like Wrecker had been? Did he think he was dead? Did he move on?

All uncomfortable questions he didn't want to consider but couldn't help but think of in the moment. He couldn't help but substitute the situation, switch things around- what if Breakdown had disappeared so abruptly? Knock Out still stood by the fact that the human Autobot was not his human self's paramour, but they were still close, still friends. He'd be… distraught to say the least.

He can only hope his human self had a human Breakdown to help deal with the fact his friend was missing. (So many bots gone over the years, Breakdown was there to help through most of that. He can't bear to think of his conjunx… disappearing either. He doesn't know what he'd do then.)

( A medic huffed, but was pleased to hear that the human version of the irresponsible Wrecker trusted him with his life despite being another species… it was a nice thing to hear, honestly. Even though the human-turned-Autobot still kept up with those ridiculous nicknames. He was no Sunshine, nor did he want to be referred to as Doc. )

[ "XTR… ah yes, what you humans call the Quintessons." Ratchet said as he shifted his focus on Senscript, bringing his arm up and shifting open his scanner. "I will be scanning him, don't be alarmed." He warned the two humans as a green light roamed over the young unconscious boy.

"Quintessons?"

Wheeljack grunted at Tailbreaker's question, "That's what they're actually called, the XTRs. They've been attacking Cybertron way longer then they've been attacking Earth. Ever wondered why they went after the giant statues on Earth? It's 'cuz of these guys."

A brief flash of Quintessons attacking multiple giant statues all over the world, Lady Liberty being the most recognizable one.

"That… explains it I guess? And here people thought the XT- er, the Quintessons? Were just… hardcore atheists or just, aliens that hated art or something." Wrecker snorted, before her attention was taken by Ratchet who made a highly disgruntled noise.

"You said that Rafael underwent a mental attack with a Quintesson Commander? Elaborate."

Tailbreaker shared a hesitant look with Wrecker who merely shrugged and gestured to the medic, trusting Wheeljack's words. The young man sighed before explaining the Cortical Psychic Patch Link and what happened.

Ratchet, Wheeljack and even Ultra Magnus seemed to steadily grow outraged or perturbed as the explanation continued. The medic seemed to physically hold himself back from saying something crass as his expression twisted through various shades of anger. ]

"The Quintessons mistook the giant statues on Earth as cybertronians?" Arachnid snorted derisively, even she could tell those giant things were nothing more than unmoving pieces of metal or stone.

Breakdown couldn't help but snort with her, "Guess so, either that, or they weren't taking any chances. Wouldn't be the first time something artistic or innocent-looking ended up being deadly." He said, remembering little moments during the war when something that didn't look dangerous ended up fragging slag over.

"Finally, the humans can refer to the Quintessons properly." Starscream groaned, annoyed and relieved all at once. "XTRs… No doubt short of Extraterrestrials, hmph. Creative." He said the last word sarcastically with a roll of his optics.

"But efficient." Knock Out shrugged, if it worked, it worked. Why lost processing power over naming the enemy when you should be focusing on defeating it? Granted, he also probably would have lobbied for something more creative and robust but whatever.

He was definitely enjoying the sight of the Autobot medic trying hard not to snap as at Tailbreaker's explanation, he hoped the Autobot snapped right at the humans. If only to see the smug old slag get reprimanded for snapping at someone who wasn't at fault for the situation- the humans were only following orders from an, admittedly unsavory source after all.

To his disappointment though, that world's medic seemed to take a moment to center and calm himself before focusing on the task at hand.

( "Pfft, the Quintessons attacked Lady Liberty? Don't let Agent Fowler know, he'll blow a gasket!"

…

"Uh, did you guys even let Agent Fowler know about the Observer yet or…"

Despite the fact the Autobot medic had said it in his native language of Neo Cybex, the humans all knew that he had swore as the Prime's expression turned pinched. )

[ "A mental link with the Quintessons." Ratchet hissed through gritted derma, pressing a servo against his faceplate before shaking his helm. "Well from my initial scan with Rafael, he does not have any fatal or immediate injuries- a popped blood vessel from within his nasal passage, possibly from the stress of that mental link but I'd need a deeper scan of him to truly check his brain. His vitals seem stable at least."

Both Tailbreaker and Wrecker sighed in relief, glad to know that their youngest friend was alright. For now.

Despite both pilot's protests, Ratchet was adamant in scanning all the humans. If only to get a basic profile for their health for future uses. He was curious about Tailbreaker's apparent immunity to clock out symptoms compared to Wheeljack and Wrecker but filed that curiosity for later.

The three MECH pilots were actually in a better state of health than Wheeljack considering they'd only piloted their mechas for a handful of hours, compared to the amount of time Wheeljack had been in his- about half a day.

"Any new symptoms?"

"Nah Doc, just the usual. My body feels too small and big for its own good, my vision's hazy but it's clearing up, didn't even lose a limb in my mecha so I've got feeling from all my arms and legs. No numbness in them, head's got a headache but Tailbreaker there got some pills from their first aid kit and gave 'em to me." Wheeljack reported, letting Ratchet scan and prod him easily.

"I made sure that Wheeljack could take breaks when he could, and have a routine upkeep on his nutrients and hydration." Ultra Magnus told Ratchet.

"Aw, thanks Maggie." Both mechs ignored him as the door to their room opened once more, and in came Optimus and Megatron. Optimus looked better, he no longer had a dent at his helm, and his scratches were welded together. The cracks on Megatron's plating seemed smaller, and he too, had his injuries welded and patched. ]

At the sight of Optimus and Megatron returning together, their Leader sat straighter in his chair, optics honed in sharply at his counterpart who stood so close to the other Prime. He'd been distantly interested in the viewing, only truly showing interested at the fact Tailbreaker was unaffected by clock out compared to his fellow pilots.

But now, he was fully paying attention again.

( There were sighs of relief at the fact the fact the alternate version of the young boy they all cared about was alright- his vitals stable at the very least. They hoped that were no complications that would endanger him.

Tensions rose slightly at the return of the alternate versions of their Prime and their enemy tyrant, who wasn't an enemy in this world. But a protector, something they were still dubious and disbelieving about. )

[ Both cybertronians stopped as soon as the door closed behind them, looking at the three new humans with surprised optics. "Primus, they look as young as they sound." Megatron said in English, optics narrowed at them.

"Hey, I thought you didn't know English?" Wrecker exclaimed, peering up at Megatron with wide eyes. Optimus smiled at her before looking over to Megatron who looked far too amused.

Megatron snorted, "Optimus was kind enough to compose a language packet the moment he realized you were humans. Speaking of language packets… Wheeljack, ensure these humans get the cybertronian language packet you've comprised since your stay here."

"Roger that." Wheeljack saluted, "I'll send it to them as soon as I'm back in my mecha. Your comm ID's still the same right, Miko?"

"Should be- same with Jack, I'll send you Raf's comm ID too."

"I take it that you're all in good health? Ratchet?" Optimus questioned, glancing between the humans and his medic, though he seemed very concerned at the fact Senscript was still unconscious and that he'd been blindfolded.

"Rudimentary scans reveal they're all stable- however Rafael, that is, Senscript, is suffering the side-effects of experimental tech alongside a mental attack with one of the Quintesson commanders. I'll need a deeper scan of his he- his cranium for better judgment over his health. He should be transferred to Wheeljack's personal habsuite as soon as possible." ]

Seeing the two leaders fight side by side was one thing, but seeing them stand in a room together- no violence, no hatred, no signs of aggression whatsoever… it really nailed down the fact that neither of them were enemies at the moment. That whatever was happening, the war against the Quintessons, it was enough that the two were putting aside however much years and eons of animosity against each other, bonding even, in favor of dealing with an enemy that required both their attention.

Knock Out never thought he would ever see something like this, the only time he ever thought to see Optimus Prime and Lord Megatron in a room together without any violence was when one of them was fatally wounded and was dying on a berth or something.

But this world was making him reconsider a few things… He always noticed the strange tension between Optimus and Megatron, who wouldn't? They were like a sun and a planet, orbiting around each other- however it was always with animosity and violence and Knock Out didn't dare to entertain thinking otherwise most of the time.

It was undeniable here though, with how close the two leaders were standing on screen.

And with how intense Lord Megatron was watching the screen…

Soundwave's helm tilted towards Knock Out as he realized he was staring at the ex-gladiator more than he should and hastily rectified that, moving his optics back towards the screen instead of the thoughtful warlord.

He'd missed a few things, nothing important though.

( "Wheeljack's taking orders from Megatron… Dunno how I feel about that."

"Megatron's standing with Optimus. That, I have no idea how to feel about."

"I'm standing in the same room as them both, with four humans and Ultra Magnus. I'm beyond feeling knowing how to feel at this point." Both the femme and mech stared at the disgruntled medic for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"You win Ratch." The wrecker offered making him scoff.

"Win what? A helmache?" )

[ "Pardon my interruption but before that, a question has been on my processor since your explanation." Ultra Magnus said, giving an apologetic nod towards Optimus and Megatron for speaking up so abruptly but he had a thoughtful look on his faceplate. "You said that the Quintessons were looking for something on your planet, and that they found it. You found it, do you know what they wanted?"

Wrecker perked, "Oh yeah, they wanted this thing called—"

Abruptly, the scene changed to Optimus, Megatron, Ultra Magnus, Prowl, Starscream and Soundwave within a different room. They gathered around a table, with a silver disk-like contraption that they all knew.

"The Apex Armor." Optimus said in a grave, yet somewhat confused voice.

Starscream leaned in, lifting the disk to take a closer look. "And you say that it was on the human's planet? Hidden in its rock?" He questioned with a scowl, glancing over to the two leaders while Prowl typed into a datapad. ]

"So Starscream and Soundwave retain their cybertronian selves." Lord Megatron said, disappointed and satisfied respectively for each mech mentioned.

Starscream sniffed, holding back a sneer at Megatron's disappointment in him being cybertronian in that world. "Considering Thundercracker and Skywarp are present, he should be glad that I am there to keep them in line." He muttered, though there was something pained in his voiceprint as he shook his helm.

Knock Out doesn't know if Megatron heard it, Soundwave certainly did but did nothing. "At least one of us gets to retain their polish." Knock Out jested towards Starscream, glancing at the seeker on screen- "My, you're sporting color, Starscream. It's rather pleasant." He says in a surprisingly genuine way.

The other Starscream had more color than their grey-silver seeker, plates with red, light blue and light purple was stylishly painted on the other seeker's frame. Which also seemed a bit bulkier, Knock Out hadn't met Starscream personally before Cybertron's… end. But he thinks he had a different frame, was this it? He would perhaps check on his own later on.

"That was my old frame." Starscream murmured, optics almost hungrily looking over the old frame he sported. He hasn't seen it since Thundercracker and Skywarp… He shook his helm, "The colors were something I grew out of, unfortunately." Why wear paint of his trine when he was alone now? And sporting grey was an ominous choice, unfortunately inspired by Megatron himself.

Soundwave made a slight noise, a pinging sound that gained attention. "Ah, you've figured out the area where the Quintessons found the Apex Armor?" Megatron questioned, extremely pleased with Soundwave's work. "Plan out an excavation group to the area in the near future, it must be discrete. We shouldn't let the Autobots know that we can watch the very same thing they're watching right now."

"I volunteer to lead the excavation effort Lord Megatron, I can drill into the cliffs with ease and find it should it be there." Arachnid smoothly spoke up, eager to get her servos on the powerful defensive armor.

Starscream scowled, "Should it be there." He repeated, "There's not guarantee that the armor would be in the same area in this world. Perhaps it's not even on Earth."

"He uh, does have a point there." Breakdown surprisingly agreed because honestly, that was the truth.

Unfortunately… "If there's a chance that it is there, then it is a chance we must take." Megatron replied with a growl, "The Autobots will check themselves at some point, and I will not let them have the Apex Armor. When you search, see that you thoroughly search the area Arachnid- take a few other vehicons and drills with you."

"As you command, Lord Megatron." Arachnid replied with a pleased smile, it turned sly when she glanced over at Starscream who bristled at her look. Remarkably, the seeker kept silent, servos clenched together.

( .: I miss Prowl, I really do. But it's really weird to see him, Ultra Magnus and Optimus with Megatron, Starscream and Soundwave in a… peaceful setting? :. A scout beeped, awkwardly scratching the cheek of his faceplate.

"Definitely." His teammate and friend agreed, the large mech squinting at the screen. "Really hammers in the fact that the Autobots and Decepticons gotta stick together in that world I guess."

"As a tactician, Prowl's got something called a TacNet in his processor. Lets him run insane numbers on probabilities and calculations. He must've ran the numbers on the likelihood of survival rates if we were still divided." A femme scout explained to the humans when she noticed their slightly confused expressions. "And as an Autobot, and one of Optimus' inner circle back then, he's not the biggest fan of cons, so if he's playing ball with them… It cements the fact that Autobots and Decepticons are working together in- relative? Harmony?"

"Wait, that's Starscream?" A young boy asked, glancing over to the seeker on screen. "He looks- different."

"Yeah, he's got more color! And doesn't look like a toothpick or something."

A wrecker tried hard to smother his cackle while a medic snorted, "That is Starscream's previous frame. With Cybertron still intact and… a few other things in play, he must have kept his old frame rather than change into a new one." He says, thinking of the two other familiar seekers he had seen earlier on. )

[ "We haven't seen the Apex Armor since before the Quintessons attacked Cybertron." Prowl said with a frown, "It, along with several other relics and artifacts were stolen from the Iacon Vaults cycles before Iacon's fall."

A brief flash of a burning cybertronian city was shown before it returned to the grimacing Wrecker Commander.

"We had been so busy with the Quintessons afterwards that we couldn't focus on their theft or finding out who stole them in the first place." Ultra Magnus admitted with a shameful sigh and a shake of his helm. "It just wasn't a priority then."

"Well, luckily for you, Soundwave and I had looked into the theft a while ago shortly after the peace treaty." Starscream sniffed, gesturing to the mech who silently provided information and footage on both the screen of his visor as well as the screen on the table they were surrounding. "Considering that some of the items that was stored within the Vaults had been Decepticon weaponry, we thought it prudent to find out what happened, and either find the thief who stole them or at least locate where they would be stashed… Unfortunately the latter part wasn't achieved, but the former…"

Megatron rolled his optics, "Cease the dramatics Starscream, and just show us what you and Soundwave found." He ordered, digit tapping the table rim impatiently.

Starscream scowled but acquiesced all the same, "Show them the footage." ]

"Iacon fell? It fell before Praxus?" Breakdown repeated Ultra Magnus' words with disbelief, intake open when they were shown a brief glimpse of the city's downfall. Iacon had fallen as well, but it had been one of the last cities to fall before Cybertron went dark. To see it fall before Praxus… Primus.

Megatron was similarly stunned before his optics narrowed, "Before it fell, someone stole from its vaults. As if they'd foreseen the fall… or orchestrated it." Wasn't that a thought? Had someone worked with the Quintessons in ensuring Iacon's demise? Or did they predict it and decide to save the relics or something?

Knock Out hoped there wasn't any traitorous cybertronian who worked with the Quintessons but who knows, there were unscrupulous fraggers out there, even by Decepticon standards.

( There was a stunned silence at the revelation of Iacon's fall, a soft, pained 'No.' escaped the medic as soon as the image came up. Nobody present expected Iacon to fall so early during the war against the Quintessons, it had been one of the last to fall against the Decepticons after all.

A Prime closed his optics in grief, servos trembling slightly before sighing sadly. He hoped, at the very least, that the bots of Iacon, especially an old friend and mentor, had survived the demise… And he wondered just what happened to the stolen relics from Iacon's Vaults… )

[ The screen focused on an old security footage. It was slightly corrupted by either age or tampering, it was hard to tell.

The angle and video wasn't the best but it showed a slim bot strolling through the suspiciously empty halls of the vaults. One by one, they entered each vault, exiting with an artifact where they put into a storage cart. The footage skipped a few times, changing angles, showing that the slim bot had an orange color to them.

Finally, the footage ended with the bot grabbing a familiar silver-looking disk out of a vault. They were nearer to the camera this time, which gave a fuzzy but clearer look at their faceplate, which was poorly hidden by a pair of glasses. ]

Intakes dropped in surprise at the sight of the thief who was casually plundering the Iacon Vaults. "IT'S THAT MECH!" Starscream shrilled, pointing at the screen in disbelief. "From the other world! That- Frag, his name was- was… What was his name again?"

Knock Out pressed a digit against his helm, "It's on the tip of my glossa, his name was…"

Soundwave played a clip, "My name is Rung-"

"RUNG!"

Breakdown whistled lowly, "I'll admit, I was not expecting that. Mech's got steel bearings to just… steal from the Iacon Vaults? What is happening?"

"What is happening indeed." Megatron growled, trying to figure out how this thin cybertronian bot, who didn't seem to have any weapon systems integrated into his frame, managed to steal from the vaults with ease. "He entered the vault halls unimpeded by the looks of it, with no guards, no observers- just the cameras. He easily opened the vaults, he knew their codes, their security measures… He must have been an archivist who worked at the Hall of Records."

"Can an archivist access the vaults below Iacon?" Arachnid asked, a bit impressed and very curious.

Megatron hesitated before huffing, "Not exactly. Only archivists trusted by the Hall's head archivist can possibly access the vaults and there was only one mech that I knew of that was trusted with that… and that mech was not him." Did Optimus know Rung? Was Rung an archivist on Cybertron? He hadn't paid much attention to the other archivists within the Hall of Records, only the one, so in truth, he wouldn't know if there was another archivist trusted by Alpha Trion to access the vaults…

( "HIM!?" .: What? Why is he? What? :. "What the frag??"

"What the scrap! Why is Rung of all people, stealing from you guys?!" A girl questioned incredulously, eyes wide in disbelief at the sight of the orange mech on screen.

An older boy rubbed his eyes, "Woah, did not see that coming at all."

The Autobot's medic turned to his Prime and old friend, "Optimus?" An unspoken question was asked, something that no one on the team other than the Prime knew about.

The Prime shook his helm, "I have no recollection of Rung being part of the archivist staff. In this world at least, it may very well be possible he was one within that world instead and was trusted by Alpha Trion with access to the vaults… We must watch further to find out more." )

[ The scene cut back to Soundwave focusing on the faceplate of within the footage, matching it to an identity file pulled from a databank.

Multiple optics blinked in surprise and disbelief as Prowl read aloud. "Designation; Rung, occupation- psychiatrist? You mean to tell me that a psychiatrist stole ancient relics and dangerous artifacts and weapons from the vaults of Iacon before it fell? That's our thief?"

"How sure are you that this Rung is the thief in question?" Optimus questioned quietly, a frown on his faceplate as he looked at Rung's picture on the identification file.

"Mostly." Starscream replied firmly, "We've done more investigation- Nobody has seen Rung since before the fall of Iacon. It is said that his presence has always been… weak, to say the least. Barely anyone remembers him, even majority of his ex-patients needed to be reminded about him to truly remember his existence."

Soundwave pulled up more files, clues and information that he and Starscream had put together about Rung. "We found his old habsuite- most of his paraphernalia and items were packed away and missing, he even filed an abrupt retirement request from his job as a psychiatrist and left the rest of his items and some parting words to his amica."

Both Megatron and Optimus leaned in with surprised interest as another identification file appeared. "Pharma?" Megatron said aloud, sharing a wide-optic look with Optimus who returned it in full.

Starscream grimaced as he continued, "It was laborious to pull information from that mech, but we managed to find out that before Rung's disappearance… he apologized severely to Pharma before he was gone. Pharma has tried to find him however he could not, however sometime much later, many cycles after the Autobot-Decepticon ceasefire, Pharma's amica bond with Rung… was broken with Rung's death."

Nearly all the bots within the room made a grim expression, letting a silence hang for a little while at the revelation of a broken amica bond at the hands of death. ]

"He was a psychiatrist? Not an archivist?" Knock Out balks, having a hard time wrapping his processor around the fact that a psychiatrist stole something like The Apex Armor and several other artifacts and relics from somewhere like Iacon's Hall of Records Vaults! It didn't make sense! Not one bit!

Even Megatron was flabbergasted by the turn of events! He's been fairly confident that Rung was at least an archivist working within the Hall of Record for Alpha Trion but that wasn't the case!

Every con within the room, even Soundwave, was showing their disbelief and confusion over the case. It just… really didn't make any sense! Why steal the artifacts? Who the frag was Rung to be able to do so in the first place? What happened?

Knock Out made a shrilled, incomprehensible noise at the designation. "Pharma? Pharma. Head Surgeon Pharma? The same mech that did a four-way fuel-pump transplant with himself as the donor?! He was Rung's amica?!" Was that true in this world? Where the frag was Rung here?

Actually, there was a chance that Rung had died in this world. Considering he was dead there. Knock Out winced as he heard Rung's status as deceased there via amica bond breaking.

It was mind-boggling to say the least, they were amicas to the point of establishing a bond. It was wild to think that that snobbish medi-jet had an amica like Rung- didn't seem like they'd get along that well from first glance. Then again, all Knock Out knew about Rung was from his actor world counterpart who was a screenwriter of all things.

But in mecha universe, he was a psychiatrist.

Was he usually a psychiatrist?

He began to type down questions in his datapad, not before reminding himself that the orange bot with glasses was called Rung because for some reason Knock Out kept forgetting it.

( "He's a psychiatrist and he STOLE from Iacon's vaults?!" A femme scout gawked, trying to make sense of what was happening before her. Of what she was hearing.

"Steel bearings, what the frag mech." A wrecker breathed, almost wanting to laugh at how ridiculous this kind of was.

.: … How come people keep forgetting his name? Or who he is? :. A scout mumbled softly in confusion, only the humans caught it as the other bots were too busy with with the viewing to hear it properly.

A medic, in particular, reeled back at the unexpected designation. "He's amicas with Pharma?" He actually gaped, intake dropping at the reveal. Trying to imagine his old… complicated friend with the psychiatrist. Did he exist? Was he the medi-jet's amica here? If he was, why didn't he kn-

No, he know exactly why he wouldn't know. The medic grimaced, it only deepened as the mood turned somber at the revelation of the orange bot's death.

It was always something extremely sad, to hear about someone's death via the bond breaking. )

[ "So, we know stole the items from the Iacon Vaults but we still don't know why they were stolen, exactly how, nor where they were taken to." Ultra Magnus murmured, expression pinched at how the case ended up being.

Prowl though, shook his helm. "No, the Apex Armor was found on the human's home planet. There is more than a fifty-percent chance that we will find some of the artifacts there as well. We must talk with the humans about this."

Soundwave showed multiple galaxy maps on the screen, but pasted question marks as to where 'Earth' was located.

Starscream snorted, "We don't even know where their planet is- Wheeljack had no idea where his planet was, what makes you think these new humans have an inkling to where either?"

While their subordinates talked among themselves, two leaders were leaning closer together. Megatron leaned close when he saw Optimus still staring at Rung with a deeply thoughtful look, faceplate scrunched as if he was trying to remember something. "What is it, Optimus?" He asked quietly, as if to not interrupt the discussion happening at the other side of the table.

Optimus' optics didn't stray from Rung's picture. "… I believe I saw him once, before Iacon's fall… He was waiting outside of Alpha Trion's office."

A brief flashback of Optimus leaving Alpha Trion's office, nearly bumping into a slender orange mech who apologized. Optimus waved it off, apologizing himself before leaving. He looked back only once and saw that the mech entered Alpha Trion's office, he caught a glimpse of Alpha Trion standing up almost abruptly before the door closed.

"The guards are missing in the footage." He said aloud, gaining everyone's attention once more. "He knew all the passcodes and security measures of the vaults. He took everything with no problem, and left without being seen… I must speak with Alpha Trion, he let Rung steal everything from the Iacon Vaults. He was an accomplice to this crime." ]

"The old mech's still alive?" Megatron scoffed, scowling at the screen as Other Optimus dismissed the meeting, leaving just him and his counterpart alone. "I would have thought he would've perished alongside Iacon, he did in this world."

"Sounds like he's alive, big red and blue over there wants to talk to him after all." Knock Out couldn't help but point out, and was lucky to only get a disgruntled but considering hum from the warlord instead of a scathing look. That was the real win.

( A Prime perked, "Alpha Trion is alive there?" He had always suspected that Alpha Trion had died alongside Iacon, there'd been no contact from the old mech for a long, long time before before on Cybertron. He had hoped otherwise but he was happy to know that in another world, his friend and mentor was alive…

Although the mech seemed to have made himself an accomplice to a huge theft that was impossible to ignore. He had to wonder just what was going on in that universe to allow the theft of so many artifacts and relics, not to mention he didn't tell his counterpart of it at all… )

[ "So, your old mentor was either an accomplice or perhaps even facilitated the theft of various artifacts and relics ranging from the Apex Armor to even the Forge of Solus Prime…" Megatron started some time after the others left, Optimus was leaning against the table with his servos, a look of fatigue slowly appearing on his faceplate. "Perhaps there's more to that old mech than I originally thought."

"He is… inscrutable, at times." Optimus admitted tiredly, "I had always worried there were things he was not telling me, important details that he avoided revealing to me… But this?" He took in a deep vent, his expression going stoic before he was abruptly surprised by the feeling of Megatron's servo on his cheek.

"Stop." Megatron said softly, yet firmly, red optics staring into his. "You are upset, Optimus. Let yourself feel upset."

Optimus narrowed his optics, "There is little time for me to feel upset, Alpha Trion's current state is fragile as it is. We must go to him and ask while we still can." He argued but Megatron stepped closer, pulling Optimus close to press their helms together. One servo still on his cheek, the other wrapping around the Prime's waist intimately.

"Fine. We'll go, but don't think I haven't noticed your reliance on the Matrix's suppressors lately. Again. Even Ratchet has noticed. We'll talk about this later, Optimus." Optimus' expression twisted before giving a sigh of defeat in the face of Megatron's stern look.

"… Very well." Megatron searched through Optimus' optics before nodding in satisfaction, leaning in for a brief kiss. "You've turned into a worrier." Optimus muttered afterwards, a soft look on his faceplate.

Megatron smirked, "With a Prime like you? Who wouldn't?" ]

( "Pause." )

For the second time in a row, silence hung within the warship's room.

Broken only by the warlord himself. Not with anger. Not with rage. But by him standing abruptly and leaving the room.

That, somehow, was far more worrying.

[ ----- TFP: UO ----- ]

man, coloring this chapter was awful. i should really stop but the colors are so cool on tumblr. ANYWAY SURPRISE

RUNG IS HERE

AND HE'S PHARMA'S AMICA BECAUSE WHY NOT (smiling at you kev and tar)

AND ALSO HE'S DEAD BECAUSE REASONS

rung and alpha trion are such old mechs who are keeping secrets. meanwhile the entirety of uo cast is about to lost their fucking mind because of the megop kiss. yes this is the second time i ended it like this, but i feel like its justified and also this chapter was already beefy enough as it is...

and i also needed it to start the next chapter with the next character pov huehehehehehh

anyways i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter because the brainrot is still going strong.

[ PREV ]

[ NEXT ]

[ START ]

#transformers #maccadam #transformers prime #fanfic update #tfp #tfp uo #megop #universal observations #reaction fic #ultrajack #a few other ships and relationships that will go unnamed for now #hehehehehe

95 notes · View notes

planetformer-central · 1 year ago

Note

Could you do a role reversal of baby primes au? (All tfp mechs as the babies and primes as parents)

I didn't have the time to do ALL the Primes, but I will get to it. For now, here are three of them with their wards. I have lore I am working on for this, but yeah Prima is the one in charge of little Optimus, Quintus deals with Shockwave, and Amalgamous gets Makeshift.

In case you want to see the list I have for everyone and their wards, here you go.

Prima: Optimus Prime

Vector Prime: Soundwave

Alpha Trion: Smokescreen

Solus Prime: Arcee

Micronus Prime: Ultra Magnus

Alchemist Prime: Ratchet

Nexus Prime: Dreadwing & Skyquake

Onyx Prime: Predaking

Amalgamous Prime: Makeshift

Quintus Prime: Shockwave

Liege Maximo: Starscream

Sentinel Prime: Knockout

Nova Prime: Bumblebee

Zeta Prime: Bulkhead & Wheeljack

Guardian Prime: Breakdown

#transformers #maccadam #transformers prime #digital art #alternate universe #sketch #reverse baby primes au #prima #quintus prime #amalgamous prime #optimus prime #shockwave #makeshift

366 notes · View notes

dragqueenstarscream · 5 months ago

Text

tfp au idea:

you know how when megatron doses up on dark energon, he starts being able to read unicron's thoughts and eventually communicate with him?

au where cliffjumper was only injured when starscream stabbed him and managed to have his dark energon zombification reversed, but now, he's getting the same treatment from unicron that megatron got.

now, this could go one of two ways. it could either be really angsty, with team prime unable to do anything but watch, helpless as their friend and partner slowly loses his mind due to unicron's mental onslaught; or, it could be fucking hilarious, with unicron repeatedly trying to corrupt cliffjumper to do his bidding and getting increasingly frustrated when it doesn't work because cliffjumper is just like that™.

#personally i could go either way #transformers #cliffjumper #unicron #transformers prime #tfp cliffjumper #tfp unicron #transformers au #maccadam #dqss

72 notes · View notes

ooftheartist · 6 months ago

Note

Tis a question for your dead bot au; would the autobots like, chase after bee after he runs away from them upon realizing that he's alive?

Autobots: BEE?! You're ALIVE-

Bee: (already 10 miles away) who?!

Also what would happen if the relic was taken out of bee? Would he die again? Cuz I was thinking like, if Ghost was still there, they might wanna make a grab since it's not everyday there's something that can uno reverse death

Tbh I didn't even think about what would happen to the relic after it was used to revive Bee, but this question inspired me and I thought of something!

Oh but to answer your first question, yes! The Autobots, if/when they find out he's alive chase after him. But Bee being the scout he is, trained to be the best spy within Autobot ranks, is not easy to track or locate when he doesn't want to be found.

I've seen some people interpret Bee's feelings against the Autobots as anger, him blaming them for what happened to him, but it's more complex than that. He doesn't hate them, he couldn't hate them. They were like family to him. He's hurt, he feels betrayed. Not knowing how to deal with these emotions, and not wanting to confront them, he hides himself from the world and runs the second the Autobots find him.

As for the relic, It became drained of its power after being used to bring Bee back. But the Decepticons don't know that, nor do the Autobots. The very object Bee was killed over was used to bring him back to life.

Spoilers for the fic, The battle Bee was killed in was over the Relic. It had fallen to earth, and the Cons and Autobots detected its presence. (Inspired by the Relics of Iacon in TFP being sent to earth during the war on Cybertron.) After Bee was killed the Autobots couldn't care less about what the Relic could have been, in that moment everything else fell from their minds. The Decepticons got away with the Relic and Bumblebee's life. Breakdown "Borrowed" The relic from the Decepticons in hopes of it being capable of helping Bee. To his luck, it was. After reviving Bee Breakdown returned it to the vault now drained of all power. For all they knew, it was empty when they fought for it.

This AU is set not long after the defeat of GHOST and Mandroid, just to make things more angsty. Everyone, especially the Malto kids, had barely any time to recover mentally before losing Bee.

#transformers #transformers earthspark #bumblebee #earthspark #earthspark bumblebee #transformers bumblebee #tfes breakbee #DBW au #dead bot walking #dead bot walking AU #Tfes au #tfes breakdown #tfes fanfic #I AM WRITING THIS FIC I SWEAR #I WANNA RELEASE TWO CHAPTERS AT ONCE THATS WHY ITS TAKING SO LONG

67 notes · View notes

ultimatecharbeefan · 2 months ago

Text

ReverseTFP au(aka species swap) rambles:

Miko’s original designation was M1-30 but changed it after she landed on earth and Bulkhead and Bumblebee introduced her to Hatsume Miku. She changed her name to Miko in honor of her(also works with my headcannon that og!Miko likes hatsume Miku)

Jack is the tallest of the bots but has a more lean and lanky build. Meanwhile Miko is shorter but is bigger in size. And Raf is just short and spout

The kids constantly give team prime gray hairs

Jack tries to act more like Optimus after meeting him cause he thinks he’s a good leader and cool and a great father figure

Miko and Jack knew each other before they got on the ship to Earth. They didn’t know Raf due to him not originally being scouts like them

77 notes · View notes

keferon · 3 months ago

Note

About Orion dropping down in his mech when other pilots are outnumbered. I imagine it's the last thing they'd want to do cause nobody really wants to mess with the big boss, I imagine he's pretty easily ticked off in the reverse mecha au.

"Call big blue"

"Are you crazy?!"

Also think it's funny that if the quintessons didn't understand any English, but have picked up the phrase "Big blue/boss" They just start running

OHHH YES YES I LIKE IT

Quintessons are fucking terrified of that "boss". And Orion's mech is one of the older ones. Ultimately - it IS the oldest mech in the Program. Just like Orion is the first pilot. So he is not just more skilled he is SO MUCH BIGGER than all the new mechs :D

People be like "call the boss" and then a giant fucking shadow covers the sky lmao

#reverse mecha au #Also Orion here is NOT a pacifist hahah #remember tfp Prime? yeah he's like. the opposite #the giant is not fucking gentle

463 notes · View notes

holopossums · 8 months ago

Note

I dmand EVERY picture of CJ you had drew!! Pretty please

Considering I'm super disorganized about my art and don't post everything I draw (sometimes it stays just in my server or among friends, or I just don't show anyone because it's unfinished/I'm unsatisfied), I'll have to find a lot of stuff that I've forgotten about.

Actually, I can just show some stuff that I *haven't* posted! (Everything else I ever have should be here.) Some of this stuff is Krow before I added the white hair because I didn't have that idea until around April.

^ Appropriately titled "Krow Smug Bitch". Everyone has fun with the cowboy AUs so why can't I?

^ He got nervous about seeing Usagi/Yukito I suppose

^ This one is interesting. Originally it was supposed to be just Krow as a magical boy, but then it turned into a bit of a mythology AU. He's the son of Yatagarasu the Three-Legged Crow from Shinto myth. Wasn't quite sure about everything... this was probably the result of watching too much Kamichama Karin as a kid lol

^ For fans of Transformers - TFP Optimus Prime with good ol' canon CJ! I feel like they would get along. Something about that red-and-blue leader drew him in I guess.

^ This was actually my first pass at an older version design of Krow. This was a complete piece too, but I was unsatisfied within a week or two. You can still see that I kept some things, notably the piercings, beard, and the idea of tattoos, as well as the Leo-inspired shoulder pads. The tattoo designs changed and so did the armor color, but it was an interesting first try at the older design.

^ A second attempt and older Krow, I was getting closer. (Still love the fashion on this though.)

^ The point I realized that I can't draw this man thin and have to start drawing him beefier and more filled out more consistently because it would be a crime against god or something. Was still finalizing his tattoos at this point and playing around with the idea of white hair. Considered the idea of the Hamato crest tattoo near his heart before nixing it because it's too cheesy and the Hamato tattoo is something a lot of people do for older/future character designs.

^ Ninpo weapon design for Older Krow! Yes he has a cyan scythe (really more of a kusarigama since it has a chain and weight at the end). Yes it's cool as fuck. No you can't touch it.

He's basically a reaper and it plays into his whole aesthetic as a crow, which symbolizes an omen of death. Crows are also often seen with scythe and scarecrow imagery because they're related to harvests.

I don't know why I never posted this, it *looks* finished... I think there was something off about the anatomy and I intended to fix it and then forgot and ugh. But anyway! There you go.

^ A height chart for younger Krow and Yukito that I never quite finished. But it's interesting to see them to the actual scale that I imagine them to be - Krow is 5'6", and Yukito's height is reversed since he's 6'5". Since both are around 19 when they meet, they're at their full adult heights here. Long live your short king!

^ Older Krow with lightning gloves. Which doesn't make sense actually because his gloves are electrical insulators to keep himself from getting zapped from one of his attacks. But who cares about that! It's cool!

^ Scythe sketch. Just trying to get a feel for the vibe of how he wields one. His cape/cloak plus the scythe probably gives opportunity for some really cool directional flow to occur.

^ Something I doodled just the other day. Old Krow but more cartoony and goofy. Love this silly guy!

I'm sure there's many more that I've missed, probably lots of half-finished sketches and doodles, but this is a lot of what I've found.

#this is a lot more than i thought it was!#snipersiniora #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt casey jr #rise casey jr #casey jones jr #casey jr #krow jones #holopossums #holopossum answers #long post forgib #super secret 2024 cj/krow art stash

68 notes · View notes

kissingraine · 2 months ago

Text

🎼 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝕾𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝕴𝐧𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Where desire has teeth, and monsters risk the change of rhythm to taste flesh.

✎ This blog is dedicated to stories where the monstrous becomes intimate—and where the inhuman learn to love, ruin, and crave. Every fic here is named after a song that sparked the scene: a lyric that cut too deep, a beat that felt like a heartbeat, or a chorus that begged to be written in moans.

🛠️ You’ll find:

— Transformers (Decepticons only): cruel, cunning, or quietly aching

— Mech x Mech dynamics: dominance, loyalty, tension (only occasionally when i feel messy��)

— Human x Decepticon (reader-insert): fragile flesh, overwhelming scale, obsession

— X f!Reader only — no OCs, just you and the monster:)) so detailed fembits

— Occasional dives into the Predator/Alien franchise: primal, reverent, terrifying

— All stories shaped by music—raw, romantic, or feral

— Minimal/non-specific world building so the plot fits

🔥 Expect:

— Power plays, praise kink, feral longing, slow reverse corruption from organic emotions

— NSFW content with emotional depth

— Monsters who worship, break, or hold you too tightly

— Poly chaos, intense fixations, and intimacy that borders on worship

— Spice wrapped in song lyrics and post-coital soul ache

— Eventual fluff because these guys have suffered for so long (they just gotta suffer a lil bit longer guys😭)

— Mostly morally grey readers! That or they don't give two scraps about a thirty foot tall robot that can crush ‘em

🎶 Got a song that screams “make this unholy and beautiful”? Characters from continuities that need composing? My ask box is open 💌 (ps. i am extremely lazy so asks are actually encouraged to motivate me🥲)

📌 Check the masterlist.

Every fic is a track.

Plug in. Get haunted. Prepare to get fragged.

📌 Main storylines:

𝐓𝐅 𝐎𝐧𝐞

✎ Sun Bleached Flies — Seeker Trine

𝐓𝐅 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞

✎ Midnight City — Soundwave

✎ Fortnight — Knock Out, Breakdown

𝐁𝐚𝐲𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞

✎ Teeth — Starscream

✎ In for the Kill — SG Jazz

𝐈𝐃𝐖/𝐆𝟏

✎ Stray — Seacons

𝐓𝐅𝐀

✎ I Know The End — Blackarachnia

✎ Digital Love — Soundwave

📌 Oneshots/Mini-series:

✎ Lust for Life — Insecticons (G1 Transformers)

✎ First Love/Late Spring — Oni (Predator: Killer of Killers)

✎ Rescue Bots [yandere]

⤷ Playing With Fire (Heatwave)

📌 Drabbles/Excerpts:

✎ Shockwave (TFP)

✎ Bury A Friend — Grendel King (Predator: Killer of Killers)

✎ Sentinel x Megatron (TF One)

⤷ Do I Wanna Know? (follow-up)

✎ Forwards beckon rebound — Megatron x Optimus Prime; an AU where he doesn't stay intact (TF One)

➴ This will eventually get updated! Feedback, likes, and reblogs = fuel🔋thanks and happy reading!💋 Ps. check comments if ya wanna be moots:))

#pinned post #intro post #transformers #transformers x reader #masterlist

21 notes · View notes

inevitably-johnlocked · 2 months ago

Note

Hii do you have any fics with possessive sherlock?

Hi Nonny!!

I do!! And though it's not many bookmarks, I'm going to use your ask for an update to past lists. I've also gone through my MFL list with entries tagged "Possessive Sherlock" to pad out this list a bit as well :) ! I hope you enjoy, and if any of y'all have more to add, please let me know and I'll them to a fifth list!!

POSSESSIVE / OBSESSIVE SHERLOCK Pt. 4