highrhulain85

[highrhulain85]

oplita odyssey parallels my beloved

[highrhulain85]

TF:P AU Sigma Dagger - Reforged: Arcee

Hi All! I have made a re-edited version of my character design of Arcee from TFP as a dragon from my revamped and rewritten AU fanfic, "Sigma Dagger - Reforged". This includes a more realistic depiction of Arcee's animal alt-mode.

I will be posting my fanfic on Ao3 and FF.net real soon, possibly tomorrow May 11, 2025.

Disclaimer:

Dragon design is mine.

Transformers (TM) belongs to Hasbro.

And just below is reference AI concept art of Sue the Mule, my oc, and Jack Darby (cause I can't draw humans or equines 😒. Just wanted to give you the visual of their appearances.)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/64652932

Here is also a link to the story on my Ao3.

[highrhulain85]

TF:P AU Sigma Dagger - Reforged Ch 1 Mule Sense

A normal journey home from an errand turned into a truly wild encounter and the start of a new type of adventure.

Mule Sense

A dawn chorus of songbirds filled the air above the brightening well-traveled road. Chilled fog gathered on the ground making the traveler tighten his cloak about him. The youth was dark haired and lean in muscle, his grayish blue eyes took in the road ahead and glanced at the surrounding sparse patches of spruce and broken pine. He and his steed rode the beaten path toward home with a wooden trailer of metal scraps covered with a tarp. The brown, white patched mule snorted her compliant on the trailers’ weight.

“Tired already, Sue?” Her driver patted her neck and affectionately rubbed it. “You’ve pulled heavier loads at greater distances than this.”

Sue just repeated her complaining snort. Her rider chuckled.

“We’re almost home anyway, and if you go on with no more complaints, I’ll have mom prepare an extra bag of carrot oats for you.”

As if she could understand his bribe, she pulled a little faster. The youth just shook his head fondly as they continued on the road in silence.  He regarded the views as they passed, thinking of what he needed to work on when they were back home. By late morning they had reached halfway home when Sue suddenly stopped with a jerk. Her head perked up and looked around sharply, long ears pivoting every which way. The dark-haired youth, who always relied on his steed’s instincts, immediately became alert, glancing around and rubbing her neck.

“What do you hear, girl?”

A blood curdling screech was his answer.

“RRAAWWRRGH!”

The frightened mule whinnied loud as she reared up and tried to bolt but the heavy cart made it impossible.

“Whoa Girl! Whoa!”

Dismounting from his saddle, the youth held the reigns to reassure the mule and thankfully succeeded. The screeching came again, this time from a distance off the road. The sound itself was like a great kerfuffle of large fighting cats, with bestial roaring, skin tearing, and clashing of rough bladed swords. He looked over his shoulder to the right from the path, toward a rocky hill incline indicating the direction of the source. He knew it lead to a locally known canyon that was beyond it.

Sue jerked her head back to the road, hoping to have her master hop back onto her saddle and ride away from the danger she knew was over that ridge.

Unfortunately, her master was a young and curious human, a very dangerous creature.

Pulling Sue to tie her reigns to a tree, the youth readied his bow and quiver of arrows from his back and walked slowly toward the incline. The mule whined her frightened chide at the teen to leave with her. However, he continued up the incline, making sure his bow didn’t clatter against the rocks and the steps of his leather boots quiet as possible.

The growling sounds became more intense as he got closer. The fight must be near its peak as the screeching war cries mingled with cries of pain.

In his defense, he was raised right by his mother, and she had but drilled it into his brain to not get involved where he could get hurt. She just never stopped him from having a curious mind about the world though, much to her chagrin. He could just imagine her chastising tone to him about what he was doing at this moment.

“Jack Darby, you idiot! What are you thinking?! Your mule is smarter than you! You’ll get killed!”

Another cry compelled his curiosity, and he continued up the slope to the ridge and peeked over.

Nothing in all his life prepared him for the sight in the canyon below.

“Dragons.” His mouth went dry when he gasped.

Three large figures circled each other, their growls echoed on the canyon walls. Two of them were identical with large dark scaly bodies, wings attached to their long front legs twitched in challenge. Both their pale triangular heads swiveled to follow the third figure as their wing claws slashed at their wary opponent. Jack took into detail the dark black and violet scales that colored their bodies and wings; he shivered at the sight of their slanted red eyes. His heart froze more at the sight of a particular-colored scale pattern on the barrel-chested creatures, a pointed crested purple face that glared out with malicious intent.

Oh great, Deceptidraqs. He had to get out of there.

However, before he retreated a fierce growl directed his attention to the third dragon.

This one was much smaller than the others as it snarled furiously at their opponents despite fighting a two to one battle. Wounds with some kind of blue fluid flowed from its back and a large gash on its front leg were ignored as it braced for another assault. The smaller dragon had a slender dark cobalt body with a long neck to a narrow serpent-like head ending with sharp baring fangs. A headdress of sleek cobalt horns and pink crests crowned along the sides of its face and one crest curved up from its forehead. The same pink accents were intwined on cobalt and black legs and dorsal plates along its hips, that flared up in aggression, to the end of a lashing tail. Silver claws, fierce bright blue electrified eyes, and gnashing teeth fought back against the two other dragons; sparks of blue fire aimed at their faces from its mouth. Wings that spread out wide from its shoulders, looked more like a combination of batwings with the flight feathers of a hawk or an eagle.

Jack’s eyes widened when he caught another scale pattern on one wing; this one had been memorized since he was a little boy.

A crested dragon face with a broad muzzle, that stared out in a bold and strong gaze.

“An Autogon!” he gasped out again in shocked awe.

His shock was interrupted when one of the Draq’s barbed tail struck the Autogon’s head, disorientating it enough to be pounced on. The Autogon struggled under their weight, still fighting back as it screeched and bit and clawed their hides. However, the strikes and teeth tearing from the Deceptidraqs forced it to let out a painful cry that wrenched at Jack’s heart.

Then piercing blue met with gray blue.

The Autogon had paused for a moment, a look of shock matching his, but another attack to the neck brought out another pained screech.

Jack’s mind told him to leave, every lesson he learned about dragons told him that he shouldn’t get involved and must let things be. Yet, his heart forced him to his spot and when another yowl of pain sounded again his fighting response kicked in and he looked around quickly.

He knew he stood no chance at fighting Draqs but maybe…

He caught sight to the other side of the canyon and to the boulder rockpile hanging atop the cliff face, right over the fighting dragons.

He hurriedly set up his bow, putting the normal arrow back and drew one of his special arrows out of the quiver. Jack looked over the rune-covered arrowhead for a moment.

Now’s a good time to test Raf’s arrows than ever.

Hooking the notch, he pulled back the string and took aim.

For a moment he aimed at the dragons, the electric eyes looked back up at him in painful shock, crying out to him as if to tell him to run. The attacking Draqs were too caught in their relish of what they thought would be an “easy victory” to notice him.

After inhaling a deep breath, Jack aimed up toward a weak spot in the boulder pile.

He softly exhaled and let loose the string.

--

She knew she should’ve been more cautious, should have been more aware of her surroundings, but her mind had been clouded.

The loss of a pack mate will do that, and in her mind, it happened too often.

Had her mind not been so clouded she would’ve noticed the Draqs sooner.

She only had time to drop her cargo into the forest below before two Wyvercons were on her. With grace and speed, she led her enemies away from the drop point and into the canyon. However, they were still bigger and faster with one firing a cheap shot at her wings, forcing her to the ground.

Now she writhed in pain as they attacked her neck and body, she was able to inflict some damage, but it didn’t deter them. She could feel through her pack bond with the others and knew they were on their way.

Yet, she had begun to believe that they would not make it in time.

She still looked up in hope for a sign of her pack, then froze.

What is a human doing here?!

Her neck was attacked again and her cries to her pack became louder with more urgency, desperately crying out for the human to run knowing he might not understand her. Thankfully the Wyvercons didn’t notice, too caught up in their torture to her.

Her pack was still too far away and now with a human in danger…

She looked back up again, shocked to see the human aim a bow and arrow in her direction then aimed up over the Wyvercons and fired.

A moment later the cliff above them exploded, making the Draqs stop their assault to look up at the falling boulders overhead.

She saw her chance and used her claws to strike at the Draqs, distracting them enough to dodge the chaos of the incoming avalanche.

Cries and frantic screeches were overpowered by the crashing impacts of rock and debris until they suddenly stopped. The valley gradually became silent with only the plinking sounds of trailing pebbles. She wheezed and coughed at the dust cloud surrounding her and turned back at the spot for any movement. As the cloud faded, all that remained was a great pile of boulders, debris, and perhaps a quarter of the cliff face. The only indications left of the Deceptidraqs were limp tails and twisted claws jetting out of the rubble.

She limped to the rubble to check for any signs of life, sniffed all around, tensing her body for any attack.

Nothing came.

That’s two less Wyvercons to deal with, and all this from one puny human arrow?

Thinking of it…

Her crested head turned to the canyon ridge, but the human was gone.

--

“Yeah, yeah I know, you were right, I should’ve listened to you,” Jack agreed with his chiding mule after quickly shouldering his bow, untied Sue from the tree and quickly led her away back down the road.

Sue had no qualms about it, after all, she was satisfied with scolding her master further, nipping the hair on the back of his head and making harsh snorts. Her master just kept speed walking in deep thought.

Moments ago, he fired his arrow and watched long enough to see the boulders fall on the Deceptidraqs and witness the Autogon dodging them in time. Satisfied, Jack made a silent and quick retreat, the adrenaline in his blood had him scramble to get as far away as possible. His hands were still shaking while he held the reigns once the reality of his action crept slowly back into his mind.

When he was sure they were far enough away, he stopped and curled to a crouch.

Grey blue eyes stared at nothing on the ground, letting his hands drop the reigns to cover his face.

He shuttered in and out staticky breaths, listening to calls of birds and leaves rustling with the wind in the forest to try to calm his mind, yet…

What did I just do?

He couldn’t get that question out of his thoughts. Not only did he see dragons, he killed two to save one. He has hunted large game before with no problem, hunted for food and materials, and gave respect for the animals he killed. But the creatures earlier, were not just animals, they were dragons, sentient beings who had thought, emotion, and could reason. Beings from ancient myths and stories passed down through human history. Sure, they were still Deceptidraqs, the ruthless raiders of other villages, powerful dragons who would attack humans and livestock for fun or appease their pride.

Being Deceptidraqs should have given him enough reason to have taken their lives to save an Autogon, a dragon of legend who fought with humanity against the Draqs in the Exodus War. Who taught their knowledge and compassion to kingdoms far and wide and helped form the code of the Guardian Knights.

He should feel proud of himself…

So, why does he feel this horrible regret?

He heard about how knights are trained to learn to suppress the hard feeling of taking another life for the preservation of others in their protection or their own.

He was just a bystander that decided to aim his shot.

He wasn’t a knight, he was only a… and he just…

Jack shuddered again.

A soft nose nuzzled the side of his face that brought him out of his distressed thoughts. He look up and smiled gratefully at his loyal hoofed friend, who stayed by his side despite the loose reigns. He patted her nose as she lipped gently around his fingers.

“Thanks Sue.”

Sue nickered reassuringly as Jack got back up after some deep calming breaths. He made to get back on her saddle when the morning sun suddenly flashed a bright beam at the corner of his eye. He looked curiously over to a thick bush, where just under its leafy shade was something that shouldn’t be there.

Leading Sue over, he reached down and pulled out a wrapped bundle of burlap with a leather band tied around it. It looked worn from being handled for a long time and was singed in some places. He felt something hard and long in the bundle and unwrapped it.

He stared in awe at the contents that revealed itself.

It was a dagger in a scabbard sheath, the handle was simple enough, crisscrossed leather grip, and cross guards that looked pristine from the reflecting sunlight off the steel. The pommel had a blue-yellow bicolored sapphire set in stone embedded through it. The scabbard had mother of pearl inlay in some sort of vine pattern, he had never seen such detail before.

Before he could take out the blade, dark shadows appeared over the dagger. Jack looked up to see two flying forms going back the way he came. He rewrapped the dagger, put it in his saddle bag, and then mounted back onto Sue who, without any fuss about the cart, gladly hurried off toward home.

Finally.

--

She smelled the ridge of the canyon where she saw the human.

Definitely male from the nearby village, doesn’t smell like one of the Guardian Knights. She thought as she limped around the area, her right front leg hurting and her neck was throbbing. If he wasn’t a knight then why would he put himself at risk to help me, a dragon? I had thought… How odd.

A trilling cry echoed in her ears, and she turned to the new arrivals, knowing she had little to worry about. She smiled, relieved upon seeing them.

“About time boys.”

The first dragon that landed was slightly larger than her, his yellow scaled chest bared the same mark of the Autogons. His head was domed with a short broad crest from the forehead, two small horns curved up on the sides, and small spike ridges flowing down the back of a thick black neck. At his throat, thick scars can be seen where the area of the vocal cords could have been. The face was gray, aside from the yellow and black accents on his muzzle, jaw, and sides of the head. His wings were more bat-like, that magically shrank to smaller wings over his shoulders and long back legs for sprinting.

The second dragon landed next with a loud thud and the ground beneath them slightly vibrated. He was double their size with a great wingspan, which also shrank to small, curled wings above his large shoulders. His olive-green body was a more heavyweight form, with a massive club at the end of his tail. His broad head was also domed with bony thick plate crests along the top and down his short, broad armored neck. Thick scutes covered his chest, shoulders, and back and small thick spikes protruded out along his hips. The face was gray with green accents along his muzzle and into an impressive chin.

Both took in the chaos in the valley then back to their packmate.

“Arcee!” greeted the green Autogon. “Whoa! What party happened there?”

The blue female laid on the ground to lick her leg wound as she replied, “Wyvercons. They ambushed me, had me outnumbered.”

“Arrwoo?” trilled the worried yellow dragon.

“I’m fine, I… I had some outside assistance,” she hesitated and looked to the rubble below. “Some human saw the fight and caused that landslide with some kind of magic infused arrow.”

Two pairs of blue eyes widened at her, looked at the rubble pile then back. The green dragon shook his head to clear the shock and frowned with serious worry.

“Wait, a human saw you?! Oh, Ratchet’s gonna bring the inferno down on you.”

“Before or after I tell him I also lost the artifact.”

“Grrrr--?!”

“No, the Draqs don’t have it. I dropped it into the forest before I was knocked from the sky. I put a tracking stone on it to retrieve it later, but sometime after the avalanche I sensed it had been moved from its hiding spot. At one point, the stone must have fallen off cause I can no longer sense it.”

“So where is it now?” the green dragon helped her when she struggled to get back up.

For a moment Arcee didn’t answer her pack mates, then jerked her head up to a knocking sound on a far tree branch and saw a lone raven. Its red eyes looked at the scene below its perch, then squawked in panic before flying off when a fireball was fired at it.

The yellow dragon looked on as his target flew into the sky with a fierce scowl while the green giant growled with him.

Arcee looked from the retreating bird then to her pack mates. “Good work, Bee. No need for eavesdroppers. As for where the artifact is now, Bulkhead,” she looked to the tree line beyond the canyon and the far-off thin pillars of smoke of a town.

“I think I may have an idea on where it could’ve gone.”

--

“Jackson Darby, you idiot! What were you thinking, going up close to a dragon fight?!” the dark haired, fair skinned woman prepared their dinner in the oven. She stoked the fire with hard jabs of the iron pick, masking her censure to her son. “You could’ve gotten killed! Your mule has more common sense than you!”

Do I know my mother, regarded Jack as he prepared plates on the wooden table, glad he waited until now to tell her of his trip. “I’m sorry, mom. I don’t know what I was thinking, I just…” he sighed as he faced her scolding gaze. “I couldn’t just do nothing.”

“How about running away and being safe for one?” she said as she used her apron to remove the steaming cook pot from the fire. “If those Deceptidraqs had seen you--”

“They weren’t all Draqs mom…,” he hesitated before answering. “Two Draqs were attacking an Autogon.”

Shocked gray-blue eyes looked at him, then she slowly places the pot on the table before facing her son with a disbelieved frown. “…An-an Autogon? Are you sure?”

“I saw the mark Mom,” he said with a firm voice, then walked to the stone oven and pointed to a battered shield, set atop the mantle, that bore the same red face and patted it as he turned to her. “This very mark on the dragon’s wing. It was unmistakable.”

His mother walked to face the shield up close and breathed deeply. “I thought they became extinct after the Exodus War.” She looked at him in hope. “If you saw one then there is hope. Oh, Jack if they have returned…”

“Don’t know about that. It may have been the last of its kind.”

“It takes one to reassure me,” she then shook her head, released a breath and looked back at her son with a frown. “Still, young man you are on punishment duties,” she then smirked. “But I think you’ve earned some cake for your courage.”

“Yes ma’am, oh um let me double check on the stock first,” Jack got a lighted candlestick lantern and left through the door into the adjacent forge area. He checked that the fire was down, tools locked away, and competed orders safely secured. Pulling back the shop’s entrance flap, he headed to the outside stable after picking up a feed bag. Sue greeted him with a snort as the sounds of lingering town passerby’s, knight patrols, and crickets chirping announce the evening chorus.

“Hey girl,” Jack greeted back then poured the bags contents in her feed trough. “Here’s your triple extra treat.” Sue nickered at him and began feeding.

Jack walked back to the shop and went to the storage shed and looked at his supply of steel, copper, and iron rods and sheets. He paused to cautiously look around, then reached under the copper to bring out the burlap bundle. After placing the lantern on a shelf, he unwrapped it to look at the dagger fully.

The length was long, from his fingertips to his elbow, and despite being within its scabbard, the weapon was very light. He griped the leather handle and drew the blade out; he had to gasp at the pristine sheen from the candlelight. It was a standard broad blade made of a metal that his expert eyes could not distinguish. Jack had never seen such a mixture of some strange electric blue metal woven in with the steel. Engraved on the base of the blade bore symbols of a language he had no knowledge of, he may have to consult with Raf for translation. Turning it over, he carefully felt the blade’s edge.

“Such craftsmanship. Not a mark, dent, or jagged edge. Perfectly smooth. Whoever had you last really took care of you. Such a loss, but now what to do with you?”

“Jack!” cried his mother from the shop entrance. “Come in before dinner gets cold!”

“Coming Mom,” Jack called but then hissed. When he turned to answer her, the blade was resting on his finger, and it sliced a deep cut into the index finger pad. He moved the blade away and scowled at the bleeding finger. “Great.”

He put the dagger down to wipe off his hand and wrap it up, the blade still had blood on it. Unseen by the youth, the red matter was absorbed into the metal. When Jack brought the dagger back up to wipe it he paused at the clean surface. He turned it over in surprise, then huffed in acceptance.

“Well, at least I got the messy part of the deal.”

He put the scabbard back on, wrapped it in the burlap, hid it under the copper pile again, grabbed the lantern with his uninjured hand, and rushed back into the house. He was not surprised his mother started scolding him about his new wound and started expertly bandaging it.

A faint glow illuminated from the hiding place in the dark shed.

--

Sharp cries of the raven echoed above a moonlighted lush happy valley that gradually became a desolate land of rock and dead trees as it flew closer to the mountain in the distance. This was no ordinary mountain however, in the dark of the night its silhouette formed under a blank moon as it floated high above the mountain range. The glowing core of its powered flight could be seen for miles, floating rocks encircled around it like waiting cannons.

There wasn’t a human, animal, or plant that’s never heard of Nemesis Darkmount, the flying fortress of the Deceptidraqs.

The raven ignored the other Wyvercons as they flew to the base of the mountain, each carrying livestock that cried out in distress, and other materials. Occasionally, few carried a pleading human that was unfortunate enough to be caught too close to their mountain, or a punishing tribute of a village. Taken to be made a slave in one of their many mines.

The Draqs would take their prizes to the honeycombed entrances at the mountain, but the raven had another destination.

It cawed as it flew high toward the top, and flew through the open entrance, past the crisscrossing maze of stalactites and stalagmites and cawed again to announce its presence into a large cavern. A giant violet glowing crystal at the cave floor center illuminated the cavern, which made shadows move in between rock formations and walls.

A sinewy appendage appeared from one of the darkened walls to the black bird. The raven landed on it, then clicked and squawked to the silent shadowed form of its master.

“…”

A red eyed slender shape appeared from behind the crystal and swaggered toward them, its long forehead feathered plumage swayed with its prideful stride.

“Well Soundwave, what does your scout have to report on the artifact and the patrol I sent to fetch it?” its velvety graveled voice questioned, lifting to look at a paw and having his long claw pick at another with fake disinterest.

“…”

“WHAT?!” came the high-pitched outraged command, his feathered body and plumage spread in outrage. The grey paw clutched at his chest. “What do you mean ‘terminated’?! They were part of my elite! It was just one Autogon!”

“…”

“What is this nonsense about a human arrow?! What of the artifact?! Lost?!”

“…”

“Oh, oh good. Whew,” the grey paw wiped across his brow in relief, then the figure made a lowly sneer as he turned back to the crystal. “So, a sniveling human not only aided our enemy but may also have our prize? Well… Our lord did order us to retrieve it, and the boys have been itching to have some kind of fun lately.”

Smug eyes viewed the numerous pairs of red eyes circling the cavern and up the higher ridges of the stalagmite maze. Excited growls and snarls echoed from the walls and up toward the open volcano exit.

“…”

“Bah! That hardly matters, Soundwave. He wouldn’t even have to worry while he’s away and I, Commander Starscream, am in charge,” replied the graveled boastful voice. “We must retrieve the artifact before the Autogons do.”

Then sharp white teeth grinned wide under his beaked snout, and a sinister gleam shone in his red eyes.

“Besides, we need to remind the humans of what true terror is.”

His maniacal cackle echoed as he spread his large, feathered wings and took off toward the exit with a flight of his dragons following behind.

-

-

Reference art of main characters in another post.

A/N: For character term clarity: Deceptidraqs = Decepticons

Autogons = Autobots

Wyvercons = Vehicons

Someone once asked me why I used "Autogons" instead of "Autodrakes", it's mostly that I didn't want to abbreviate the names to sound the same. It would be a little confusing if I used "Draq" and "Drake" in the same prose and you have to remember which one is which.

[highrhulain85]

TF:P Sigma Dagger - Reforged AU Prologue

This is a rewrite and revamped version of "Sigma Dagger" that I had written over 10+ years ago ... yikes it really needed this. You'll see more context, world building, a more thought-out storyline with new scenes and better character descriptions. Also expect reference art, some of my own art (they're a bit mid), references inspired from great artists, and a few AI concept art (I CAN'T DRAW HUMANS OK!!!) I'll put in some inserted pics and links at the end of some chapters.

Hope my writing had improved this, enjoy!!

Prologue

--

Off the side of a busy town square, children and adults of many backgrounds gathered around a small performance wagon with a stage and large red curtain. Once the last child sat in the front row music began to play and the red curtain pulled to reveal a plain canvas. Dark shadowed shapes of a landscape with hills, trees, and a castle in the distance appeared on it, along with moving shapes of humans and dragons.

A soft but strong voice began their performance with light ambient music, using their shadow puppets to show their audience a visual of their tale.

“In the beginning, dragons and humans lived close together in a tense peace. Each species kept to themselves, limiting contact with each other, besides political encounters between the human leaders and the leader of the dragons, the Alpha Prime.”

The children exclaimed their awe at the shadow puppet of a large regal dragon with huge wings and a glowing crystal on its chest. The Prime’s shadow vanished letting the groups of human and dragon shadows appear and comically snubbed their noses at each other, making the children giggle and few adults chuckle.

“Most dragons thought of humans as a weak and inferior species, ignoring them while some often raided farms and towns for food and fun. The humans’ thought dragons were cold-hearted monsters and feared their untamed power of strength, magic, and shape shifting abilities. Some attacking clan territories for the false prospect of treasure or glory and honor.”

Scenes of shadow villages being raided by dragons then changed to humans attacking dragons while stealing treasures and eggs. All the attackers fled at the arriving shadows of knights in grand armor and the great shadow of the Alpha Prime.

“This led to the formation of the Guardian Knights to protect cities, settlements, and clan territories, acting as peacekeepers and mediators between the two species. With the authority of the Alpha Prime and the assurance of the Knights, both sides thrived for centuries, somewhat begrudged, without a war coming between them.”

Children started to huddle close when the music suddenly turned ominous, sounds of thunder and roaring echoed over their heads. Younger ones ran to cling to their parents legs but still watched the show. A new, larger, shadow of a writhing shape appeared above the puppets of frightened dragon and human with sinister dark violet eyes glaring down at them.

“Then, as quickly as a lightning strike, a force of horrific power fell upon the world. An evil deity let loose hordes of ravenous monsters to attack everything in sight. The dragons, with all their power, had found themselves overwhelmed and suffered many losses, especially when the monsters attacked their territories for their young. The humans, while weak compared to a dragon’s armor, had fought back with impressive ferocity that kept the monsters at bay, but not without a greater loss of lives. Even fighting a common enemy, both human and dragon never fought beside each other.

Until one day, the Alpha Prime at that time and a human knight had found themselves facing the evil entity on their own; there was never an explanation on how they both got there.”

Some brave young souls returned to their seats to watch the new scene of the Alpha Prime standing with a knight’s shadow puppet. All were captivated by the scene as the two figures clashed with the mass.

“The battle had been great, the Prime took advantage of his greater power and flight to attack the entity while the knight distracted it and skillfully dodged it’s attacks to find weak spots. The Prime was surprised by the courage of this human, who gave them warning of a coming strike and they in turn were warned of sneak attacks by the deity’s monsters. The battle’s turning point came when the evil force knocked the human away hard. The Prime reacted without hesitation and caught the knight on their back in mid-air.

It was then they both felt a new power surging through them.”

The Prime’s and knight’s shadow puppets illuminated with energy and magic, mana lines from the Prime’s heartspark formed along both their forms. The knight’s prop sword glowed with the same magic. The puppets then moved to resume their attack on the writhing shadow mass, with the children cheering them on.

“In one final charge, together, they attacked the enemy’s most vulnerable spot, destroying its heartspark, and purged it into the dark void of another dimension.

Victory, at long last, and both sides attacked the fleeing monsters into the depths of the underground and sealed them away. Sadly, upon reaching the final battleground, all found the grieving Alpha Prime curled around the dying body of the knight. Their armor had fallen away revealing themselves to be not but a young man just out of his adolescent years. The enemy’s blow had hit its mark on his fragile frame, but he still smiled at the mighty dragon leader. The Prime placed the broken bloodied sword back into the boy’s hands. The only written recording of their conversation between them was the human softly asking, “Great Prime, are you well? Are our people safe now?” The reply was, “Yes, they are safe, and you have fought valiantly young knight.” The boy only smiled, and they spoke once more (unfortunately the record of this was listed as incoherent) then closed his eyes to sleep.

He never awoke again.

Only rumors remain that the Prime had wept throughout those final breaths, the truth of it is uncertain. Yet, none could not deny the power and aura felt that day as the Prime’s grievous roar echoed far and wide.

Though both sides had lost a tragic many, this one death humbled them all and every being bowed in sorrowful respect. Peace between the two sentient races prospered after the Great War, and trade began with little need to fear for each other. Still, only rumors say that it would not last.”

The curtain falls to close the show as the audience clapped and cheered while the performer put away their puppets and collected donations.

In the far distance from the village square on a high hill, a figure regarded the performance with sad dark blue eyes.

He looked above to the clouds slowly moving overhead as his own heartspark glowed from his chest under his thick mane.

“I had once wished that it would have remained only rumors.”

[highrhulain85]

So sweet. Makes me think of the Optimus Prime live-action puppet from season 5 of G1 TF. ❤️ ^3^

to know peace.

[highrhulain85]

They do say medics make the worst patients. XD

Someone PLEASE politely knock Ratchet out so he can get some actual sleep and maybe even some relief from his chronic pain 💔

And while we're at it get Optimus a stress ball-

(Original meme below! :D )

[highrhulain85]

Your art style is gorgeous!

THEYRE ALIVE AND HAPPY!

｡°(°.◜ᯅ◝°)°｡

I say as I’m dragged back into the padded cell

[highrhulain85]

This is too cute!! I think Soundwave would love the whole Marsupialia infraclass!

@chaetocercus has been enlightened me about marsupials and Soundwave w/ his little family and I can’t help but love it a lot 🦘 it’s very cute but also very cool considering how funky marsupials are! Also consider exhibit A: red kangaroo does (females) are also called blue-flyers because of their coloring! Blue mamas that are very jacked 😌 it’s only the best for them (also, apparently drawing kangaroos is fun, they have a fun shape to them)

[highrhulain85]

The Key

This was one of my first 'What if?' AU ideas I had since back in 2013! I finally had the motivation to revamp, re-edit, and add additional scenes to make it more fun. This AU was about if the TFP Jasper kids had different life backgrounds, and still met the Autobots and helped them fight against the Decepticons and MECH. This story: 'What If' Jack had worked for MECH?

Words: 4162

Characters: Jack Darby, Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Silas Bishop

The Key

Legend:

"Roll Out!"- Talk

What did you say? - Thought

"*Can you read me now?*"- Comm-link and radio

"Remember, Darby!" called Vince from below. "I want this place spotless when I get back in the morning!"

"Yes, sir."

The dark-haired teen just watched the red head twit march out the hanger door, scoffed moments after the door closed and resumed mopping the upper platform. He dragged the mop with hard strokes as he muttered to himself.

"'I'm head of Junior Division, so you gotta do what I say. It's 'have to do as I say', sir. 'Like I care what you think, Darby, just do your work! Clean up this place for tomorrow, it's all you're good for. Pfft! Like I want your job."

Jack walks back to his mop bucket to ring out the wet yarn, gagging at the dirty result. He paused and looked over the side rail down at the motionless figure of metal laid out below him. The giant robot humanoid was shut off for the night, placed back on its charging berth, and cleaned (That was part the Junior Divisions work, with Jack being forced to do all the cleaning) for tomorrows next combat session. Ever since he had seen it in action the first week it was brought in, he was in complete awe of it. His boss, Director Silas, had brought it from some sort of skirmish against an unknown faction. He said it was a new trophy that M.E.C.H would use for their goals or whatever BS he spouted.

Immediately after bringing it to base, they began their combat tests for their remote-control systems. Jack wasn't allowed on site, but he had a perfect view from his workstation, captivated at how such a great lumbering machine could move with such precision, power, and fluid movement that made him wish Silas had never found the thing. Heck, he even witnessed the discovery that it can transform its hands into swords that could cut through titanium and even some sort of energy cannons that can blast through the most armored shields!

Despite the full control the scientists 'say' they had on it, Jack never understood why only Silas was needed to pilot it remotely or why they had to strap it down with heavy duty strappings.

Putting the mop handle against the railing, he folded his arms to lean on the rail and looked at the shielded face of the robot. Its knight-like helmeted head gleamed under the lights, he admired the blue and silver shine that seemed interwoven with the red armored torso and the lithe strong legs and blue peds gave it a majestic presence. A true masterpiece of robotic engineering, too bad it would be used for a horrific purpose under Silas.

On one bright side, whenever Jack got the night shift in the hanger, he'd would find himself talking to it. He didn't quite understand why he did so, but he had heard once anyone working in a silent environment sometimes liked having to talk to someone, especially when who or what you're talking to doesn't mind your venting.

"Well, big guy, you were quite a mess earlier. I had to get the special cleaner to get all that dirt out of you, like it'll matter; one left over speck and I'm up to my hair in 'punishment detail' and have to clean you all over again. 'Why flip burgers for a living when you could get high pay from M.E.C.H', flipping burgers don't require all that expectation, and I could deal with pushy customers to Vince's cawing," the boy laid his head on his arms.

"But you, some kind of alien tech for us greedy humans to use for God knows what. Did you know they're building a copy of you in another hanger? I thought one of you was enough, but not when it comes with Director Bishop. I just think... maybe you weren't made for combat, you could probably be something like an automated gardener or librarian on whatever planet you came from. Your swords could be your trowels or the... cannons are actually... uh... bug repellents? Must be some big bad bugs for something like that if you even have plants on your planet. Anyway, we could use a giant gardener..."

The boy stopped for a few moments then hung his forehead on the folded arms and sighed harshly.

"I am a loser… I'm talking to an inanimate alien robot about gardening. Sigh, I think I'm going to quit and get therapy," he put a hand through his hair and looked back at his silent audience. "…but it won't help mom, she's got enough problems, 'just have to keep pushing forward' she always says. And if I work hard enough, maybe I'll find my perfect place out there. Not a deal for you, buddy, you've got your fate already laid out. Wish I could do something, hate to see something great like you get tarnished."

Jack straightened up and grabbed the mop. "Well, back to work."

He picks up the mop bucket and carries it down the ramp to the main floor and begins mopping again. He made a sweep around the berth when he spotted something shining on the floor in the dim hanger lights.

Putting the handle against the berth, he squatted down the take a closer look.

At first, he thought it was a jumbled mess of leftover wire. Yet, as he looked at it the more, it seemed to be a solid form of a masterfully crafted metal key with gleaming blue accents.

"Huh," he picked it up, stood up, and turned it over in his hand. Silver and blue seemed to twinkle in the lights that gave it a more… alien look. Jack looked up at the figure. “Guess that last field test finally knocked something off.”

He hesitates, he should really call in and inform the scientists about the piece, but they'll probably blame him for the damage instead and cut his pay. Anyway, the base was so fortified they never bothered to put cameras in the hanger so, what the heck. He took off his shoes, so not to leave shoe prints, jumped onto the berth, tenderly grabbed the red armor of the closest arm and began climbing up. He made sure his hands gripped where he wouldn't cut himself, and reached the chest area and sat up on his knees and looked around for some…

There.

An opening in between the windshield-like chest plates revealed a spot that had the same outline as the key-like object. Casting one last look at the strange key, Jack places it within the area, with some kind of locks surrounding the opening, and clicked the key in accordingly. He paused to see if something would happen, but after a few moments there was nothing. The black-haired teen straightened back up, placed his hands on his hips and nodded in accomplishment.

"Now you're back with all your pieces."

Feeling a little satisfied with himself Jack climbed back down, never noticing the key in its slot glow blue along with the opened two optics from the robot's head that followed the boy's decent from its body and berth.

Putting his shoes back on Jack continued his mopping, kicking the mop bucket to the next area; its squeaking wheels echoed in the hanger, making the teen cringe at the noise. After ringing out the dirty water from the mop head, he paused at a sudden metal groan echoing in the building. He shrugged after a second, having been used to the groans of the metal hanger that would echo in the night from the heat of Nevada sun of the day, and continued his task…

Thump…

He stopped, feeling the sudden vibration from the floor. He blinked. Was there a night combat training scheduled tonight, and Vince didn't tell me? He is 'head of the Junior Division' after all. He shook his head and went back to his mopping.

Thump… Whirl… Clang…

Jack stopped and straightened his back. That…didn't sound like a tank bomb aftershock.

Thump-klink… Thump-klink…

No tank bomb would go off in a pattern that sounded like foot-

Jack slowly looked into his mop bucket to see the ripples of the water with each vibration, and he shook as the sound crescendos.

Thump-clang, Thump-clang... THUMP-BOOM!

His grip on the mop handle tightened when the sound stopped, the hairs on the back of his neck bristled when he noticed the new shadow on the floor and the looming presence over him.

Don't turn, just run, don't turn, just run, don't turn, JUST…

Sadly, for Jack, his body didn't listen as he slowly turned around and all the air stopped in his throat as he saw the blue pillar-like legs before him; behind them, an empty berth with loose 'cut' strappings. He tilted his head up, and up, and up until his wide blue-gray eyes connect with the bright blue optics looking down at him.

The two stared at each other for a moment that felt like an eternity, until Jack finally took a soft, shaky breath when the giant blue helmeted head tilted slightly.

White knuckled with his grip on the mop handle, Jack slowly moved backwards toward the hanger doors, more towards the direction of the alarm button right next to the door controls. The blue optics narrowed (in amusement, maybe?) at this action and moved a large hand toward him. Jack finally turned around and scrabbled into a sprint, the mop clattered noisily on the floor when he dropped it and reached for the button.

He cried out in dismay when he got sudden vertigo from being scooped up and held in a sturdy, and surprising gentle, grip of the metal hand around his body. He tried to force the fingers to release him and struggled as he tried to call out to the outside.

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP! The robot is-!"

"I'm afraid whatever help available is being withheld and distracted at the moment."

The human stopped at the sound of the low baritone voice of a deity. He turned his head to the robot head and his jaw dropped when the mask shield suddenly retracted to reveal its true face. A silver face that bore a small gentle smile at the boy's reactions.

"But you need not fear me Jackson Darby, for I have no intention to harm you, or anyone of this base," then it frowned with brow plates, Jack noticed, over the optics that glanced at a certain direction. "Though there are some I'm reconsidering."

Jack's mind just locked up at this dream, or was it really a dream? The alien robot, no, this intelligent being, did not just…

"… You can talk, and you know my name…" the teen spoke softly with a staccato at the end.

The blue optics looked back at him, making him flinch, and then the metal being spoke in a serious tone.

"I know more than you believe Jackson, and though I would enjoy to finally have a decent conversation, we haven't much time and I have a more pressing question to ask you."

"Me?" the boy pointed to himself in shock.

"Where is the facility that holds the copy of my frame?"

"Uh… Oh yeah, that thing," Jack stammered as he pointed to the doors. "Just out this hanger and to the one down on the left."

Jack suddenly had to hold onto the metal thumb as the giant moved with surprising grace. The being then moved his free hand toward the door controls and Jack was amazed to see a shock coming from a finger and the controls activated the doors to fully open. They walked out onto the main tarmac, where he noticed that the whole base was quiet, except for some commotion at a far distance; not even a perimeter guard was seen from his elevated height. Wasn't this supposed to be the most fortified base in the country? If Jack was uneasy before, his was internally panicked now. He looked back up nervously at the blank face of his captor as they moved left to its next destination.

"Uh, will you let me go now?" the boy tried to plead. "I promise not to tell anyone what happened, I'll probably get fired anyway at the end of all this."

"The moment I release you will be when my mission is done," came the cryptic replay that had Jack groan silently. Moving down the tarmac they reached another hanger; Jack knew there should be guards here but again no one was around. What is going on around here?! "Is this the hanger?"

"Yeah, but the place is locked tighter and full of more alarms than the other hanger. I doubt you'll even-" he stopped when the being opened the hanger door with ease. "…open the door… how?"

They walked into the hanger as the lights flickered on, seeing consoles of computers circled around another berth with a near perfect copy of the being with a control seat connected next to it; for Silas to control no doubt. Before, where Jack admired the amazing engineering of the robot alien, he didn't have that same reaction of the copy. It looked to be made of metal from a junkyard that the scientists put together, the head had optics as well but unlike the bright optics of his captor, the copy's optics didn't look or feel alive. It seemed more...dead, cold... and heartless. Jack was glad he was never assigned to clean this hanger; the copy made him more unsettled, knowing full well he was in the warm metal hand of the original.

Speaking of which….

"Whoa, uh, great likeness, but totally not perfect of course," Jack nervously commented, when the being hummed in disapproval at the sight, smoke puffed out the smokestacks on its back. The teen looked back at the copy, not seeing the secret smirk on the silver face. He then cried out when suddenly moved to the being's red pauldron shoulder, was let go and forced to hold on to the armor as the now free hand opened a compartment in its other forearm and took out what looked like a black propane tube tank and placed it on the torso of the copy. Jack kept his silence, letting the being place more of the tank-like bombs around the hanger. Once done he found himself in the hand again and was carried out of the hanger, the being pulled the door closed and walked down the darkened tarmac to the main gate.

Feeling that the giant's mission was done he turned to the silent face, flinching when it's face shield reappeared as it frowned intently.

"Uh, now that that's taken care of, will you let me go now? ... Please, sir-!"

Jack suddenly became blinded as a pillar of light hits the being's body, he turned to the source and strained his eyes to see clearly. When his eyes adjusted, he paled, and his stomach dropped. So that's where all the guards went.

"…Crud."

Blocking the gate was an array of armored cars, vehicles with machine guns and missile launchers, and small tanks pointed directly at them. Search lights directed toward them lit up the night and infantry soldiers baring the M.E.C.H logo on their uniforms aimed their guns. Jack tried to make himself into a smaller target at the sight, wanting to fully disappear when he saw that his head boss, Director Silas Bishop, stand tall on top of one of the cars. The chiseled, barrel-chested gray-haired man stood like a statue in his cameos, a bullhorn in his hand was brought up to address the stoic and unsurprised metal being.

"NBE X, desist and return to hanger M7 immediately!" the graveled command called out, then his tone turned into a smug sneer. "Wonderful distraction you had for us, but we saw right through it before you've made your escape. You are surrounded and outgunned, so let's save ourselves from having to damage you and obey my commands!" The man then noticed that the robot was holding something, and had Vince, who was the car's driver, pointed the light at it. This illuminated the nervous face a black-haired teen from his youth corps. He was surprised at this for a second, and Vince made a squawk of recognition. Silas' face formed into an enraged snarl that amplified with the bullhorn. "Darby! Get down from there now!

Jack's heart pounded at the how the situation escalated. He tried to desperately call out to explain, but the metal hand gripped tighter around him as the being responded, making the soldiers, except Silas, flinch. Did he know the robot alien was alive before this moment?

"He will do no such thing. While this has been an interesting venture for me to be in your care, Director Silas Bishop, I am needed elsewhere." He paused to address the now distraught teen.

"I'm sorry for this Jackson, but I may have to kidnap you now."

Jack's brain stopped. "Huh?"

The hanger exploded into a great fireball.

The shockwave disrupted the M.E.C.H defense enough for the being to jump, and, shocking everyone present, especially Jack, transformed its whole body. Pieces of the metal frame twisted and turned while maneuvering the screaming boy into a cushioned seat within a formed cab, a seatbelt came around him and held him in place. The soldiers were in awe that the robot was now a red and blue Peterbilt truck cab that had gone over their heads, landed behind them, and headed toward the gate. Its engine roared as it slammed through the fortified doors, like they were made of bamboo blocks, and sped down the open road.

"WHAT ARE YOU ALL GAWKING AT?! FIRE AT WILL AND GET AFTER IT!"

On Silas’ furious order, the soldiers were snapped out of their shock and started firing at the escaping truck; the vehicles drove wide out of each other's firing range and proceeded on the chase.

Jack desperately tries to unbuckle himself, pausing when he hears the gunshots. He leans to look out the driver side mirror and sees the pursuing vehicles. He flies back when a bullet whizzed a bit too close to the window.

"Oh great! I'm being kidnapped by a giant robot alien, getting fired at in both sense of the term by my boss, and my mom is going to freak that my boss is firing at me while I'm being kidnapped by a giant robot alien!"

"There is no real need to panic Jackson," the teen jumped at the sudden voice of his captor through the dash speakers. The dashboard seemed to have more advanced tech than any normal semi-trucks, the windshield displaying a see-though map layout of the base's surrounding area and their location on the road speeding away from the base. The wide steering wheel moved by itself as it veered and dodged the barrage of shots and missiles at them. Jack saw an unusual symbol in the center of the wheel, a bold red face that stared back at him. He didn't know how long he stared at it when he was jolted in his seat as the road got bumpier when the semi swerved offroad to avoid being pincered by their pursuers.

"Ratchet, do you read me?" his captor's voice called out, at first Jack wanted to ask why he needed a ratchet tool when the being continued. "This is Optimus, objective achieved, what of your goal?"

The teen flinched when a new voice replied in the speakers.

"*M.E.C.H may have the most advanced defense networks on this planet, but it wasn't anything our scout and little genius couldn't handle.*" A cheery beep and whistle was heard. "*Yes, yes, you both did a superb job. All files have been deleted from their database; it was as if Silas never found you.*"

"Well done," the truck rapidly turned a slight skid to avoid a missile shot.

It responded by purposely running over a large rock that catapulted from its back wheels into the grill of the armored vehicle that fired the missile. Causing damage to the engine that blew out smoke and small blasts of fire, which prompted the M.E.C.H driver to hit the brakes too late as the smoke blocked their approach into a small gulch. The vehicle drove right into it, making it stop so suddenly the inertia pivoted the trunk end over and land on its canopy, causing a small explosion when the overheated missile launcher fell into a puddle of leaking fuel from the ruptured fuel tank from the crash; the soldiers barely escaped.

The red and blue semi just continued down whatever its direction was going, while Jack looked back out the window in awe after witnessing one pursuer's downfall. He jetted back in when more bullets fired back as the other vehicles gunned past their comrade's wreckage to continue the chase.

"Have the others returned safely? Is the ground bridge ready at the rendezvous?"

"*Their distraction worked perfectly and returned with no real damage, less work for me thank Primus. Coordinates set and prepped, but you'll have to accelerate, they are closing in fast, did you run into any trouble or picked up any extra cargo?*"

"Well done old friend, and... yes in a way?"

"Wait, what's going on?! Who's that?!" Jack couldn't keep quiet anymore, he just wanted this dream to end. He wanted out! "Your mission was over when you blew up the hanger, right?! I thought you were going to let me go!"

"*… Who was that? ... Optimus… Please tell me you didn't-*"

"Approaching rendezvous point," announced Optimus, Jack's eyes widened at the sight of an approaching deep canyon rim. "Activate the bridge."

"*Optimus Prime! We've had this discussion! You can't just-*"

"Ratchet…" More shots from their pursuers echoed in the dawning sky as they were closing in, the truck's belt tightened around Jack who screamed in panic and tried to hit the brakes by habit, but the cliff edge only got closer.

Silas' vehicle closed in behind them, the man furiously ordering two of his tank escorts to fire artillery.

"*STOP CUTTING ME OFF YOU SLAGGER! We already have to deal with-!*"

Artillery rounds landed next to the truck, just missing it by inches. The impacts had dirt shoot up to coat the doors and shrapnel scraping against the truck's frame, making Jack curl further into a ball as much as the seatbelt would let him.

"WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

"NOW, RACTHET!"

Silas looked on, enraged, as a swirling light of a green-blue portal appeared out of nowhere at the canyons rim, the truck drove into it, then the portal instantly disappeared without a trace. The cars and tanks stop near the cliff edge, Vince winced when Silas slammed their car door as he got out and frowned at the empty space of the canyon. He rounded on the surrounding soldiers, their fear of his anger had them backing up. "USELESS, all of you! You let them get away!" he roared as he whipped his wrist out to yell into his comm watch. "Please tell me there's something we can salvage!"

"*Sorry sir," came the nervous reply from the blast site of the destroyed hanger. "*The robot used some kind acid compound in the explosives, everything inside and perimeter of the warehouse was obliterated.*"

"Grr… at least melt down any metal you can find, we'll just rebuild."

"*Um… about that sir. All files and schematics of the alien robot and prototype were hacked and deleted from the database… it's been wiped clean, and all hard copies were burned.*"

Vince and the M.E.C.H soldiers moved further back at the reddened rage blooming on their boss's face.

Morning birds had to stop singing their dawn chorus in the canyon trees flew away at the roaring shout.

"WHAT?!"

.

F@<K U Silas! :P{ And there you have it. I'm sad to say this story is a standalone, I didn't make the rest since back then I didn't have time or motivation as I was attending college (I've already graduated btw! X3) and I have other story projects in the works right now. I already uploaded this story on my Ao3 and DeviantArt and will update it with the version I've posted here. Hope you liked it and let me know what you think. See ya later!

[highrhulain85]

Is that a platypus UM is looking at? Too cute!

let’s go to the beach!

[highrhulain85]

Posting a bit early, but a quick piece in honor of the Marine Corps' 249th Birthday.

Never forget the heroes behind the heroes!🦅🌎⚓

[highrhulain85]

@blade-liger-4ever @chaoticcreatorgardendean

[highrhulain85]

… So, I just had a random idea when I was listening to music of my childhood and well…

Transformers ONE AU Songfic of “In the Dark of the Night” from Anastasia 1997.

Yeah so it’s Sentinel Prime doing Rasputin’s villain song and I just couldn’t stop thinking about it, but I am busy working on other projects and editing a song for a fanfiction isn’t my strong suit.

So, I am putting this prompt out to any who are interested in creating the songfic and/or AU in general, just make sure to credit and/or tag me for it please and thank you. Also, I did edit one verse to show how what I think it would be like, just click “keep reading”.

Hope you liked the idea, enjoy.

Verse from 1997 Anastasia of “In the Dark of the Night” (Edited for Transformers ONE AU Story)

I was once the most trusted bot of Cybertron

When I betrayed the Primes I made a mistake

My curse made each of them pay

But one little Prime got away

Little Orion, beware

Sentinel’s awake

(OMG I couldn’t stop giggling at this while listening to the song, could Jon Hamm even sing?)

[highrhulain85]

OP you sneak!

I think the codeword is “mango”??? Anyway begging for more OpLita if you please

🥺

👉👈

i made a part two of this, because i thought it would be cute if he gave her a little kiss as a thank you 🥹 I hope you like it ^^

[highrhulain85]

my girl is mad at me i hope i die

[highrhulain85]

This is exactly what I similarly envisioned in my fic!!!

Ofc I thought of Elita and Oppy as soon as I listened to this song (and Megop ofc, but I think it hurts more with these two) another wip for the pile!

[highrhulain85]

Autobot Protocol-Codeword: Peaches

Another day, another battle between the Decepticons and Autobots. Today's battle involves the kidnapping and rescue of the scientists of a new energy production device, including Chip Chase and a heavily pregnant Carly Witwicky. Before the battle could drag out an unexpected event was occurring and the resulting chaos following it would not make this a very typical day.

T/W: Non-Graphic depiction of imminent childbirth, swearing

'“Looks like Daniel couldn’t wait anymore.”

Red optics widened in horror and his face plate got more pale as realization hit the blue jet.

“OH PIT! Oh no, please tell me you are not having what I think you are having right now!”'

I DON'T OWN ANY OF THE MENTIONED FRANCHISES. TRANSFORMERS BELONG TO HASBRO AND ICE AGE 3 MOVIE BELONGS (BELONGED) TO BLUE SKY STUDIOS.

This was am AU head canon event idea of mine I've had for close to a year and I finally got the motivation to write it. Hope you enjoy it.

The sun rose high over the active battlefield as another fight between the Autobots and Decepticons was in full swing. Today's current evil plot was a means to obtain a new invention of Carly's that would revolutionize Earth's power struggles of safe recyclable energy and improve trade with Cybertron with its added effect in producing energon. Sadly, Megatron found out and launched a raid to get the device and the staff that were developing it… 

Meaning, Carly, Chip and a few of their partner scientists are currently being held hostage on Astrotrain in a cage. Guarded by Thundercracker, Frenzy, and an annoyed Starscream, who was being punished by his “merciful leader” due to some unknown reason. While the other scientists nervously huddled together, their head scientist of operations and top IT specialist both stayed calm, focusing on their friends as they watched the battle below. In Carly's case she watched her husband, who was currently furiously trying to get to them while fighting against Rumble in his prototype power battle suit she and Wheeljack developed.

Chip, even in his wheelchair, was able to maneuver close to Carly mostly to his own worry at her current condition. Lately, the blond woman looked more weary and in pain, especially since the last couple weeks. Carly herself just watched Spike take down Rumble into a gulch in a tackle, while tentatively rubbing her swollen belly and ignoring the hard kick inside it and Frenzy’s curious stare at it.

Spike was able to get back up from the gulch and run toward Carly’s position. However, Rumble hopped back to his peds and activated his piledrivers, knocking Spike and a few Autobots off their feet in the resulting tremor. Surprisingly, Spike was able to get back up fast enough to hold back at Rumble’s incoming tackle and the two returned to their tumble fight.

I’ll talk to Wheeljack later about getting the suit's stabilizers upgraded for earthquakes, thought Carly. She turned her head toward the bored looking Starscream, as he watched Optimus land a hard punch to Megatron who responded back with a kick to his torso.

“You know,” Carly started, not flinching when the Decepitcon glanced at her. “You guys could have waited a couple months for a viable prototype of the device for a grab and go, we’re still in its development stage.”

“THANK YOU!” exclaimed Starscream, his arms jetting out and looking at her with exasperation. “Oh my Primus! That’s what I said when we first learned about it! But of course, our ‘most wise leader’ got too carried away and took off with this raid without his processor to catch up! Still, we could have just run off with you instead, but oh no, ‘let the fleshlings watch their precious Autobots get scrapped’. A colossal waste of time from complete idiocy!”

Carly smiled tightly, a new pain in her gut started to throb. “That sounds like him.”

Starscream stood back up, placed a servo on his hip and smirked agreeingly back at her. “Carly, my dear, that is about the most flattering comment about him.”

“Wasn’t supposed to be one,” she snarked back. She then slapped the small metal finger that had started repeatedly poking her belly through the energy cage bars and turned to scowl at the Minicon attached to it. “Will you cut that out!”

Frenzy smirked nastily at her and sat crossed-legged close to her. “Just find it weird that you got so fat so quickly.”

Chip and the other humans looked at the Minicon, shocked and in fear. But not in fear of him but for him as an outraged look crossed Carly’s face that she rightfully gave him.

“Excuse me?! I am not fat!”

“Yeah you are, I remember last I saw you less than ten months ago. You were much skinnier then, must have packed on the pounds for you to get that fat. Haha!”

He slapped his knee joint, like he had made the best joke. Meanwhile, the quiet Thundercracker just looked down at them, trying to make sense of some details about the blond woman. Something was going on with her, but his processor couldn’t form an exact reason for it, despite all the information and human entertainment he secretly watched filed away. But he forfeited it to try to separate the Minicon from their hostages.

“Knock it off, Frenzy. We just have to watch them until the battle’s over.”

“Aww, you’re no fun T.C.”

“Ahhh!”

“Carly?!”

The Decepticons looked back at the cage to see Carly hunched over as Chip and the other scientists gathered around her. Carly was groaning in pain and panting hard as she looked back down her lower body, shock and worry crossed her face as she took in what lay under her.

“EWWWW!” Frenzy scrambled away from the cage with open disgust, Starscream looked just as disgusted. “I knew you humans leaked a lot but not that much all at once! Gross!”

Ignoring the Minicon, Carly looked at Chip with a small, panicked look that equaled his.

“Looks like Daniel couldn’t wait anymore.”

“NOW?! You’ve got to be joking!”

“Wish I was.”

This time, Thundercracker took in all he saw at that moment and sorted out all the clues he observed up to this point and compared them with all the medical dramas he had watched.

Gained weight in under 10 months… protecting her belly when the attack first happened… the protective nature of the other humans and Spike’s behavior in battle… moments of pain flashing across her face while as a hostage… and now a spontaneous leak of large amounts of water and other proteins coming from under her……

Tick, tick, tick, tick… DING!

Red optics widened in horror and his face plate got more pale as realization hit the blue jet.

The giant robot scrambled to get in front of the cage and crouched down to look at the humans, startling Starscream and shoving a surprised and indignant Frenzy away from the cage.

“OH PIT! Oh no, please tell me you are not having what I think you are having right now!”

Frightened, but still protective of the expecting mother, the other humans stood in front of the panting Carly at the Decepticon’s sudden movements. Carly was able to look up while holding the hand of one female scientist, who tried to comfort her from the pain. She looked into Thundrcracker’s panicked red optics she once was afraid of when she first met the Decepitcons. Yet now she couldn’t help but chuckle under panting breaths at his statement. She looked back up at him with a pained smile.

“If you think I’m having, pant, pant, what you think I’m having, then yes, pant, pant, I am and he’s not very patient. Ahh!”

Thundercracker immediately stood right back up with his servos on his helm to the astonishment of his Trine leader and Minicon. “Oh slag! Tell me you have a protocol for this scenario!”

“We do actually, pant, pant, I have a codeword for it, but I need to tell, pant, pant, Spike and Ratchet.”

“Frenzy!” the blue jet turned sharply to the startled Minicon. “Can you drop the comm scrambler and contact the Autobot medic?”

“T.C you crazy! Soundwave gave the order not to do that, and anyway I ain’t doing slag for you or the squishies!”

“Thundercracker, have you lost your processor?!” Starscream finally spoke, tapping his temple. “If Megatron finds out you want to help the humans it’ll be my aft on the line!”

Thunderscracker stood still for a moment then turned back to Frenzy again with a determined look.

“Give me your megaphone.”

“Wh-my megaphone? I said already I ain’t doing sl--eep!” Any protest stopped when a large dark servo grabbed the Minicon and brought him up to face the blue jet’s red optics glaring at him.

“Remember that nature program you got curious about once and got traumatized by it?” Thundercracker pointed down at the cage where Carly let out another painful moan. “Well, that same thing is happening and it's live and in person. Want a refresher?”

Frenzy’s red visor dimmed instantly, went into his subspace, and handed over the megaphone without hesitation.

“Thank you,” said Thundercracker as he grabbed the megaphone and dropped it to Chip, who caught it, while also dropping Frenzy without setting him down. Frenzy’s hard landing and swearing afterwards would have caused some laughs if anyone was paying attention. 

“Here, Carly,” Chip said as he handed the megaphone to Carly after turning it on.

“Thanks,” Carly was panting more as she tried to stabilize her hands while holding the megaphone. Before saying anything she suddenly had a blank look on her face. “Oh, no.”

“What ‘oh, no’?” Chip gave her a look.

Carly had the effort to look at him, embarrassed. “I forgot the codeword.”

“ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!”

“Well, my brain is a little preoccupied at the moment! Ahh!” She curled at a contraction.

“Right, sorry, sorry.”

“Don’t you know the codeword?!” cried out Thundercracker.

“I wasn’t exactly a part of the planning process!” The glasses-wearing man, nearly falling out of his wheelchair, barked back.

“Try any related words and maybe it’ll come to you,” suggested the female scientist attending Carly.

“Right,” groaned Carly as she brought up the megaphone to her mouth and shouted.

“SPIKE! PINEAPPLES!... ineapples… apples… ples…”

The amplified word echoed across the battlefield, shocking all the combatants to a brief standstill and they looked up at its source with great confusion.

Rumble looked back down at the equally confused battle-suited human under his ped, who was on his back and held said ped ready to twist it off.

“Pineapples?” part of the Minicon’s visor rose up.

“She gets cravings?” Spike replied back with a shrug then twisted the foot-ped hard, causing the purple Minicon to fall on his aft. Spike was able to get up only for Rumble to grab his armored boot making him fall and they grappled with each other again.

“Pomegranates? Grapefruits! Nectarines?!”

“What sort of nonsense is that fleshling doing, Prime?! Not exactly a good distraction, such poor weak-minded things,” snarled Megatron as he resumed his attack on the Autobot leader with a blast from his laser gun. The Prime neatly dodged the beam then using a snag log he grabbed from the ground, swung it at the tyrant with great accuracy, knocking the con to his back.

“Why don’t you lay off her, buckethead,” snapped Jazz nearby, as he did a sweeping low kick to Soundwave’s feet then leapt onto the radio con’s back to punch him. “She’s been having to go through a lot lately, including your dumb raid. She’s probably hungry and  ordering a fruit cocktail, non-alcoholic of course.”

Optimus took a moment to look worriedly at Astrotrain’s open cargo where the hostages were being held, trying to understand what was happening and sadly not even the matrix of leadership could answer for him.

“Carly…”

Meanwhile, frustrated at herself, Carly tapped her forehead with her fist, ignoring Chip’s concern and the female scientist’s admonishment at the action.

“Oh, come on, think!” she then gasps at recognition. “Ah!” Then takes the megaphone back and lets out her strongest shout.

“PEACHES! … eaches… aches… ches…”

Spike’s brown-haired head in his helmet tilted for a moment at the loud echo as he held fast against Rumble’s hold on his hands. 

“Peaches?...”

At Rumble’s POV he got to witness something he wasn’t expecting to see. He never thought a human could morph their faces with so many expressions from confusion to recognition, to excitement, to absolute shock and horror. He also didn’t know human faces could change color so much in one go, like those color changing lizards he looked up once.

Spike suddenly let go of their battle hold, causing Rumble to fall flat on his faceplate to the ground, and grabbed his suit’s helmet in panic.

“PEACHES! THE BABY!” the expectant father then turned around in all directions at once then back up to the direction of his wife. “WH-WH-WHAT NOW?!”

Every Autobot, and a few Con’s that actually did research on humans, paled in realization at this announcement, immediately forgetting their fights.

“Oh,” groaned Ironhide as looked to his pale Prime while holding Ramjet in a headlock before knocking the Con out with a hard punch. “That ain’t good.”

Back with Spike, he was babbling in excitement and anxiety looking at any Autobots who were close enough to share the news. Leaving a bewildered Rumble on the ground to watch the brunette lose it and recoiled when the human male grabbed his shoulders and shook him for a second.

“You guys hear that?! Cuz I didn’t, well we were expecting it! But now, it's happening now- - I mean I imagined it in my head, but still–!”

Meanwhile, not too far away, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe paused their jet judo session with Skywarp, who was currently slammed to the ground with Sideswipe’s foot-ped on his helm. The red twin scoffed, while his gold twin just calmly stared out at Spike’s direction.

“Seriously!? We’ve been waiting nine months for Danny to pop out and she picks now for him to come out?!” He pressed his ped harder onto the purple jet’s helm, who groaned with anger, and cupped his servos by his mouth plates to shout back.

“Hey, Carly! We’re kind of busy in the middle of saving you! CAN YOU TRY TO HOLD IT IN?!”

The red Lamborghini flinched back in surprise as every human, Autobot, and the few in-the-know Con’s on the field glared at his direction in angered annoyance. Even Sunstreaker groaned and facepalmed at his brother’s idiocy. 

All the Autobots and humans back at the ARK, monitoring the battle, had zero empathy for Sideswipe as they shook their helms and heads in exasperation.

“Hmph,” scoffed Gears with a rare smirk as he looked at the monitor watching the red twin. “Not even I’m dumb enough to complain about that.”

We turn our attention back to a scowling Carly; her eyebrow twitched with irritation and brought the megaphone back up.

“CAN SOMEBODY SLAP HIM FOR ME?!”

Close by mechs, even the downed Skywarp raised their servos at the ready at the confused Sideswipe, but his own brother beat them to it. Sneaking in behind him, Sunstreaker slapped the back of his red-coated brother’s helm hard enough to send him to the ground like they did with Skywarp. The mentioned purple jet turned his helm from the dirt enough to laugh mockingly at him. Sunstreaker looked down with an accomplished smirk as he dusted his servos.

“Done and done.”

“GET OUT OF THE FRAGGING WAY!”

All eyes and optics looked toward the voice of an enraged Ratchet as he sprinted across the battlefield toward Optimus, never looking away from the area where his human charges were held. Every Bot and Con quickly moved away to make a wide pathway for the white and red medic CMO. 

“Prime! I need to get up there! Give me a boost!”

Optimus punted a protesting Megatron away and down the hill they were fighting on and got into a ready stance. With bent legs and his arms stretched out with both servos cupped to each other facing his CMO. He made doubly sure he was aiming in the right direction.

“Alley Oop!”

Ratchet leapt up and landed a ped on the Prime’s cupped servos and, with all the strength of the Primes, was tossed up toward Astrotrain’s cargo hold in a clean arch. Upon landing, he ignored the surrounding Decepticons and made his way toward the cage, his optics never leaving the painful panting Carly.

“How far along are your contractions?”

“They’re not that close, I’m just feeling lots of pain in bursts,” Carly was able to get out.

“Well, we still need to get you to the nearest hospital, I have the proper equipment and materials set up just for this ‘til we get there.”

“Let me come along,” requested the female scientist, while helping Carly stand up. “I’m a volunteer EMT, I can help with her along the way.”

“Perfect,” Ratchet then shot a glare at Frenzy, who flinched back. “You! Call off your comm scrambler, I need to contact Skyfire for emergency transport!”

“No way! I ain’t helping the squishes no more! Gulp!” the protesting Minicon shrank down at the furious glare from Ratchet.

“LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT!”

“I’ll take you!”

Everyone on board turned in shock to Thundercracker, who himself was surprised at his offer. Still, he steeled himself to amend the offer realistically.

“I mean, not all the way but I can at least take you out of range of the scrambler to call Skyfire and I won’t go supersonic.”

“Now just wait a minute!” Starscream shrieked out, his shock faded, with his null ray pointing at the medic and glaring at his blue trine mate. “You have lost your marbles, Thundercracker! We are in the middle of a - -”

“Ahh!” a pained cry from Carly stopped his rant enough for Thundercracker to move between the medic and the null ray.

“Ahem! Excuse me!” Astrotrain finally lets out a shout after remaining silent for all this time. “I don’t want any disgusting fluids or anything else from the organics on me! Get them off me before I hurl up my fuel tank and knock you all off!”

“I’ll take full responsibility for this, Starscream, please let me do this.”

For a few moments no one spoke, only Carly pants echoed in the cargo hold during the standoff. 

.

.

.

Finally, with a hard ex-vent Starscream powered down and lowered his null-ray and crossed his arms to sneer at Thundercracker.

“Fine. But only the two females can go with the medic.” He jabbed a metal digit to Thundercrackers cockpit chest. “Since you stated that you’ll take responsibility, you can do as you like. Just don’t expect my forgiveness anytime soon, much less from Megatron.”

“Understood.”

Starscream huffed and snubbed his nasal away from the transformations of both Thundercracker and Ratchet. The medic opened up his doors to reveal a gurney for Carly to climb on with help from the female scientist after a grumbling Frenzy opened the cage to let them out. Once both were strapped in and his door locked, Ratchet moved in place for Thundercracker to hover down and use his cargo straps to securely carry the ambulance up into the sky.

Meanwhile, fed up with Spike’s excited chatter, Rumble flipped up into a battle-ready stance. “Ok, enough already! Let’s get back to me ground-pounding ya!”

At this Spike paused to blankly look back at the Minicon for a moment. He then noticed Thundercracker flying up with Ratchet underneath him and understood what was happening.  Spike then smiled big and ran up to the surprised Rumble and gave him a huge hug, locking his armored gloves around him. 

“Isn't it exciting Rumble! I’m going to be a dad, or a ‘Sire’ in Cybertronian terms!”

Rumble stopped his struggles to regard the male human with an addled smile. “Congratulations?” His smile then turned feral. “Now hold still so I can squash your skull!”

Spike just gave him another happy smile back. “How about a raincheck on that?”

“Huh?!”

Click, whoosh!

Rumble jerked when the battle suit suddenly opened in the back and Spike crawled out and stood on its shoulders over them. Rumble’s jaw dropped as Spike, in his light underlayer bodysuit, put his hands on his hips and waited.

“SPIKE!”

Both beings looked up at the voice of Tracks as he flew towards them in his flying Chevy Corvette Stingray alt-mode, his passenger door open with the seat hanging out.

“HOP ON!”

Spike turned back to an enraged Rumble, who struggled with the battle suit upon realizing it had locked him in its embrace. The brunette gave a smirk and a small salute at the struggling Minicon.

“Later Rumble!”

He then timed his hop off the suit’s shoulders and sat in the passing chair, its seat belts held him in. Tracks brought in the chair and locked his doors in place as he turned up and away from the area and flew up to follow Thundercracker and Ratchet.

“HEY!” shouted Rumble as he tried to raise his arms out of the battle suit’s hold. “GET BACK HERE YA TURD, I AIN’T FINISHED WITH- -”

He stopped his shout at the sound of beeping in front of him, he looked toward the infernal suit and deadpanned. 

There on the plexiglass helmet face was a light screen display of a countdown.

3… 2… 1… then an emoji of the eccentric engineer, Wheeljack, smiling with his mask and flashing headlights and his servo in a peace sign popped up. Along with a moving text saying, “Boom!”

“Sigh, I hate that guy.”

The resulting explosion gave Optimus enough motivation to leave, after watching the blue jet fly off with his medic and Tracks following in his wake. Having relieved Megatron of his cannon, more like ripping it off his arm, he broke it in half and used the pieces to slam them at Megatron to knock him down again.

“AUTOBOTS! RESCUE COMPLETED! FALL BACK!”

Immediately, the Autobots started their retreat, some laying smokescreens, and transforming away from the battlefield. Sunstreaker was able to pick up his brother enough for them to also make a hasty retreat, all the while Sideswipe angrily grumbling at his gold-coated twin.

Back up on Astrotrain, Frenzy watched their retreat with confusion and his own addled smile.

“Wait, they're leaving?! But we've still got hostages! HEY! WHERE’D THEY GO?!”

Frenzy and Starscream looked to the cage, an empty cage, and then looked around frantically for the humans.

“What hostages?” a cultured voice fluttered at them from the cargo holds entrance.

The two Decepticons sharply turned to the voice. 

There was a smiling Mirage, holding a human friendly carrying container with all their human hostages safely secured in their seats, even Chip’s wheelchair.

As the humans said their own mocking goodbyes to the shocked Con’s, Mirage gave a little wave with one last light smirk.

“Bye-bye.”

He then jumped back into the air and he and all the humans vanished under his invisible cloak. A small green UFO quickly flew by and took off from the area.

After a few brief tense moments, Starscream gave another hard ex-vent then proceeded to walk to one side of the cargo hold and sat crossed legged on the metal floor with folded arms.

“As I said, ‘a colossal waste of time from complete idiocy’.”

--

Down on the ground, an angry and confused Megatron took in at the sight of the battle’s aftermath. His gun broken at his peds, his soldiers scattered about in various forms of damage, and empty of all Autobot presence, and no way to complete the main objective of his raid.

“What the slag just happened?”

Soundwave just ex-vented painfully where he laid.

An absolute failure… again.

--

The next day a global broadcast announced the birth of Daniel Orion Witwicky to the first human friends of the Autobots. The following week held a press conference with the new father, along with the Autobot CMO and human doctor to reassure the world of the mother and her baby's complete health. Another live broadcast later showed the Prime giving his blessing to their new human friend as an honorary Autobot, just like his parents. The whole of Earth rang with joy and celebration at this and the news of Carly’s new energy device now in the works, with extra security courtesy of Red Alert.

--

One month later…

Thundercracker walked back to his dorm room from the brig as he rotated his shoulder to dull the throb of pain from the beatdown he had gotten from Megatron one month prior. It wasn’t a pretty sight, and even with his trine mates watching still didn’t sit well with him. Starscream had told him, earning their forgiveness was going to take a very long time. When he was finally released from the brig, he ignored all the sneering looks and quiet jeers from his fellow Decepticons and avoided crossing his leader with great caution.

Yet, thinking back to the reason for his insubordination, he had little regrets.

Especially seeing Carly’s grateful look at him when Skyfire closed his doors and flew off to the hospital.

When Thundercracker reached his room doors, he ex-vented expecting his room in shambles from the others as their own form of punishment to him. Surprisingly, upon entering it still looked pristine with little dust layers. After a time of dusting, he noticed a package on his berth. Going up to it he saw a notepad in Vosian on its screen.

‘A certain spybot handed this to me before I could blast him. Don’t think I’m doing you any favors.’

SS

Flickering his red optics, he then opened the package and gasped at its contents. A wrapped portrait of two human adults softly smiling while holding their brown haired blank looking month old baby.

Spike, Carly, and Daniel were written on the picture frame.

Thundercracker looked at it with confusion then saw in the package box was a rock, cut open to reveal glittering crystals within it, the crystals looked to have the same shade as his own body color, and an envelope.

Picking up the envelope, he opened it carefully and read the contents of the human’s English.

‘To Thundercracker,

I never imagined writing this to a Decepticon, but we all feel we must say this to you. “Thank you”, for what you did that day. Thank you for helping Carly get the help she needed and protecting her to your best abilities despite your station. We haven’t told the press of your involvement and Prime has ordered no one mentions it to anyone either.

I know our current circumstances are not the best, it’s worse and more complicated to a degree. I don’t know what will happen in the future or how you’ll view us then. You have your own ideal’s that I know you won’t change regarding your war and your cause; I don’t expect you to. We humans don’t have the long lifespans Cybertronians have and maybe you’ll outlive Daniel and feel that what you did for us wasn’t worth it to you. But please know this, for as long as we live and for what Daniel will feel when we eventually tell him, we will be eternally grateful to you.

Don’t think too hard on these words, and maybe you’ll disregard them all together, but we still want to express our gratitude to you anyway. You can do with the picture how you wish it, keep it or destroy it but our feelings with it won’t change. As I mentioned, we don’t live long and even the picture might disintegrate with time, but the geode in the box is our gift to you. It will last much longer than the picture, and if anyone asks, just say you got as a souvenir from “conquering” Earth.

 Again, Thundercracker, I don’t know what the future holds for all of us, but from this small insignificant human being, thank you for saving my wife and child. May God and Primus bless you.

Sincerely,

Michael Samual ‘Spike’ Witwicky of Earth

‘Til all are one.’

For a long time, there was no movement and no sound other than the occasional groans of the ship's hull echoed in the room.

Static intakes finally sounded and the servos holding the picture and letter shook. Putting down the letter, Thundercracker crushed the picture and then walked to his personal incinerator and threw it in. He’d rather not have any hard evidence for anyone to blackmail him about it; he took a memory file of it anyway. He then walked back to the package and took out the geode to examine it.

The human must have gone to great lengths to find the right crystal color.

After throwing away the package box in the incinerator, and hiding the letter securely, Thundercracker climbed up to his berth to lay on it with a conflicted expression. He brought his arm across his face, occasionally his intake staccatoed in the room space.

He won’t change his ideals, he agreed.

He believed in a better Cybertron.

He believed in the Decepticon cause for order and unity.

… but his fellow Con’s, Megatron… he felt that they had lost their way.

Thundercracker moved his arm away and turned his helm to the geode displayed on his work desk, its crystals catching the faint light of his optics and glittered slightly.

The faces of the small human family momentarily flashed in his processor, and he smiled softly.

Well, small miracles are better motivators than others.

What the future holds ahead, held little stance to the blue jet. He’ll just go along with what he believes is best for himself and his ideals.

With one last intake, Thundercracker fell into recharge, and waited for a new day for his recovery and new orders.