lifetimeshipper

[lifetimeshipper]

The Beauty and the Predacon

Chapter 29

~~~~~~~~~~

A few days passed, and the reconstruction of Cybertron is well underway. The Autobots drive around to different areas to assess which ones can be repaired. Arcee makes her way to the Citadel to scout the area and see if there would be a way to change it to something else.

When she gets into the proximity of the Citadel, two Predacons land in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. She quickly comes to a stop and transforms, "Whoa! I didn't know you guys were using this as your refuge now."

Darksteel and Skylynx transform, "You're the femme from before," Skylynx states. "Are you Predaking's mate?"

"I am. Is he around here?"

Before either of them could answer, Predaking lands beside her and hisses at them before looking at her. He lowers himself closer to the ground so she can climb on. Climb on, now! She was surprised by his tone but climbed on, and he flew off toward the Citadel. When he landed, she got off him, and he transformed. "Follow me," he says as he walks away.

"Predaking, what's wrong?" Arcee asks as she follows him. She's feeling a multitude of emotions from him right now. He remains silent until they get to the room that he had claimed as his sleeping quarters. Once the door closes, he makes sure it's locked so the other Predacons can't interrupt them for any reason. "Predaking?" Predaking knelt in front of her and pulled her into a hug. Arcee could tell that he missed her a lot, even if he was not saying it. "I missed you a lot too, Predaking."

"I hate the thought of other mechs being around you while you went into heat." He sniffs to get her sweet scent but gets nothing. He pulls back and looks at her in confusion, "Did you not go into heat?"

"I did, but Ratchet gave me something to suppress it so none of them would try anything."

"Good thinking, as I would have torn apart any who dared to touch you."

"But I am going to have to get back to get some more because the suppressant I'm on now is about to run out."

"Stay here. I'll take care of your needs."

"Predaking, I really -"

"Arcee, you're my mate, which makes it my duty to take care of your heat."

Arcee didn't try to argue, she knew she would lose if she did because if he's determined to do something, he will do it.

It didn't take long for the suppressant to run out. Ratchet was trying to contact her to get her to return so he could give her another dose of the suppressant, but she couldn't respond. Predaking had her pressed up against the wall as he mercilessly rammed his spike into her port. He held her legs open as wide as they could go as he went deeper and deeper until the base of his spike was beating against her port. Arcee grips his shoulders for dear life as she lets out a mixture of moans and screams. It hurts, but it feels so good.

Subconsciously, Predaking knows he shouldn't be this deep, but the sweet smell of her heat is clouding his processor and making his Predacon instincts go wild to the point where he's barely aware of what he's doing. But Arcee isn't complaining, because she's so stuffed with his spike that she feels no ache or anything else that would make her heat cycle miserable. She feels satisfied.

When they both hit their climax, they could feel it through the bond, which made it so much better. Arcee whines when Predaking pulls out; she feels so empty now. Predaking lays her on the ground, on her stomach, before transforming. His large frame hovers over Arcee as he lines up his spike to her port. She shifts her rear so he can easily sink his spike into her port. He growls and hisses as he sinks his spike in, and continues making noises as he pounds into her. He holds his head upwards towards the ceiling as he closes his optics. Your port is so tight… Ohh, you feel so good, Arcee.

Arcee can still hear her comrades trying to contact her, so she turns her comlink off before scraping her digits across the floor as she moans. Even though this position feels good, she more prefers him to be in bot form. But she'll take any position he wants to do as long as it keeps her heat under control and she doesn't have to suffer.

Predaking looks down to see her face, her helm is lying on the floor, her cheeks are blue, and her mouth is open in a silent moan as her optics roll back into her helm. He decides that he wants to see more, so he pulls out to transform and flip her over onto her back. He quickly sinks back in before Arcee can complain about him pulling out. He lifts her hips to put them at a better angle, and he starts thrusting again. She lies there motionless, her optics closed while moaning in complete bliss, as Predaking continues to abuse her port.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Still no word from Arcee?" Bumblebee asks as he walks up to Ratchet.

"No. I hope she's alright."

"She probably just ran into Predaking and they're spending some time together, but with Shockwave and Starscream still on the loose, we'd better check." Bumblebee gets Bulkhead and Smokescreen, and they go out to look for Arcee.

"Where was she last heading?" Smokescreen asked.

"I believe she headed back towards the Citadel to see if we can somehow turn it into something else," Bumblebee responded, and the three made their way toward the Citadel.

Before they can get close, they're suddenly attacked by Skylynx and Darksteel, who knock the three back before transforming and glaring at them. "What are you Autobots doing here?" Darksteel asked with a snarl.

"Predaking has claimed this area as Predacon territory, you Autobots are not allowed here," Skylynx added.

Bumblebee, Smokescreen, and Bulkhead transform. Smokescreen and Bulkhead get ready to fight, but Bumblebee takes a more peaceful approach. "Hold on there. We're looking for our comrade. A femme named Arcee, she was last known to be heading this way. Have you seen her?"

Darksteel starts laughing, "Oh yeah, we saw her. Predaking took her to the Citadel."

"Judging by the screaming and moaning we heard when we went inside, they're doing something you don't want to interrupt," Skylynx adds.

"We had to come out here because they were getting too loud."

Bumblebee vented out a sigh, "That's a relief. We thought something had happened to her. We just wanted to make sure she was alright. We will go now." Bumblebee, Smokescreen, and Bulkhead transform and drive off. Skylynx and Darksteel watch them leave before getting back to their play fighting.

~~~~~~~~~~

After going multiple rounds for hours, Arcee is out of it. Predaking carries her to one of the washrooms to clean her up. Afterward, he takes her back to his sleeping quarters and lies down on the floor with her. He feels guilty for going in so deep and being so rough with her. He holds her sleeping form as he watches her, still in amazement that a femme as beautiful as her is his mate. He thought about how, even though she and her team weren't happy about there being other Predacons, she was still supporting him when he was trying to find the other two Predacons. He really appreciates her for that.

His thoughts are interrupted by a knock on the door, he growls as he gets his armor on before opening the door. He glares at Darksteel and Skylynx as he steps out of the room so the door can close and keep the two Predacons from seeing his mate without her armor. A look of confusion crosses his face when he looks at the Energon cubes in their arms.

"Where did you get these from?"

"The Autobots were here looking for the femme earlier, we told them she was with you. They returned just now to give us some Energon for her and us," Skylynx explained.

"They called it a peace offering. We accepted it because we need Energon, and I'm sure she does too."

Predaking wants to refuse the offering, but Darksteel is right. They need Energon, and Arcee needs Energon after all the fragging they just did. He takes two cubes of Energon. "You each take one cube and store the rest. We need to make sure it lasts."

"They also wanted us to give her this." Skylynx brings out a datapad to hand to Predaking. Predaking places one of the Energon cubes between his arm and his body so he can take the datapad. Before anything else can be said, he turns to go back into his quarters.

He sets the Energon cubes and datapad down before sitting on the floor next to Arcee. He picks her up and pulls her into his lap, waking her in the process. "I have some Energon for you." He picks up one of the cubes and brings it to her mouth to help her drink it.

"Where did you get it from?"

"From what Skylynx and Darksteel told me, your team came looking for you earlier, and they told them that you were with me. It would seem that they returned to give us some Energon, to make sure you are good on Energon," he responds as he helps her drink from the cube. "They also wanted us to give you this." He picks up the datapad and hands it to her. 

Arcee reads what's on it and laughs, "It's a note from Ratchet. It says: Arcee, you better take care of yourself and drink plenty of Energon, you need to keep up your strength. If you don't look like you've been drinking plenty of Energon the next time I see you, whether Predaking is there or not, I will smack you in the head with a wrench. And he has the last sentence in capital letters with multiple exclamation marks."

Predaking watches Arcee as she continues laughing, "He better not smack you with a wrench. I will tear him apart if he does."

"Settle down, it's a harmless threat. I mean, he will smack me with a wrench, it's one of his things. But he means well. He's our doctor, and he wants to make sure we take care of ourselves, and I've especially been the one not taking care of myself, so he's harder on me."

"I will see to it that you take better care of yourself. Now, drink your Energon." Arcee giggles as Predaking helps her drink some more of the Energon. 

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

Chapter 1

[lifetimeshipper]

Angel From A Dream

Chapter 29

~~~~~~~~~~

"Clampdown, open these pods and set our Decepticon brethren free."

Strongarm watched as Clampdown headed for the pods. Panic started setting in as she tried to think of a way to stop this.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Fixit shouts as he rolls forward and Steeljaw pushes Clampdown out of the way. "Um, the pods can only be opened from the command console, or, or, or..." Clampdown smacks him on the back. "Or they explode."

Good thinking, Fixit.

Underbite steps forward and sniffs him, "He's lying." Another sniff, "I can smell it."

Steeljaw grabs the Mini-Con and throws him into the command center. "Then you'll open the pods."

Fixit laughs nervously, "Sure. I'll-I'll be happy to."

Strongarm glares at Steeljaw as she tries to figure out what his angle is. Steeljaw notices her glare and looks at the others, "Make sure the Mini-Con opens the pods. I'll be right back." He then walks over to Strongarm, grabs her arm, and walks her away from the rest of his pack.

When they get far enough away, Strongarm jerks her arm out of his grip and faces him, "Steeljaw, what are you playing at? Why are you doing this?"

"I'm freeing my Decepticon brethren, so I can create my world for Decepticons. I will rule them, and you will be right by my side."

"No, I'm not. This is the path your sire wants you on. You know your carrier doesn't want you doing this stuff."

Steeljaw growls at her and she takes a step back, "Don't bring them into this."

"What about the time we shared yesterday? You're seriously doing this after that?"

"That has nothing to do with this."

"The reason you were in the area to begin with was because you were scouting out the scrapyard! I can't believe I'm actually falling for a mech like you!" She immediately shuts her mouth after she realizes what she said.

Steeljaw smirks at her, "You're getting feelings for me, Cadet."

"No! I'm not!"

"You shouldn't lie, Cadet."

Strongarm vented out a frustrated sigh, "Fine! I'm starting to catch feelings for you! I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since we left the island!"

Steeljaw's smirk turned into a grin. "Really? For that long?"

Strongarm narrowed her optics, "Don't -"

"Steeljaw! The humans!" Fracture's voice cuts in, interrupting Strongarm.

With a growl, Steeljaw grabs Strongarm's servo and runs over to where the others are. "What happened!?"

"Underbite was supposed to be watchin' 'em, but he got distracted and they ran off," Thunderhoof explained.

"You and Clampdown go find them!" Thunderhoof and Clampdown look at each other, Thunderhoof sneering at the thought of working with the crab. "NOW!" Steeljaw shouts as he stomps his foot, and they both hurriedly transform and drive off to search for the humans.

Strongarm is happy that the two humans were able to get away. She hopes they can get out of the scrapyard and help the others get in somehow. Eventually, Denny was caught, but Russell was still free, so she remained hopeful that he was able to get to the rest of the team. That's when Steeljaw's plans started spiraling downhill, between Fixit constantly finding excuses to delay in opening the pods, and Russell working with Bumblebee and the others to help them get back into the scrapyard, the Autobots were able to get back into the scrapyard and take down Steeljaw and his pack in no time. They subdued the Decepticons that were trying to get out of their pods and, with Denny's help, closed all the pods.

Steeljaw growled in frustration as he looked around at the Autobots who were surrounding him. "I will have a world for the Decepticons. This world!"

"Not today, Steeljaw," Bumblebee says before getting knocked down by one of Fracture's Mini-Cons. The Mini-Cons jump onto Steeljaw after he transforms, and he drives off through the open path that Strongarm made for him. When Strongarm looks back at Bumblebee, she sees him giving her a stern look. "Why did you open a way for him to escape?"

"He's my mate, Lieutenant."

"He's a highly dangerous Decepticon! The most wanted Decepticon on our list!"

"I know! I'm so confused about everything! I know we need to lock him up, but part of me doesn't want to lock him up because he's my mate and I'm catching feelings for him!"

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Sideswipe shouts, "You're catching feelings for a 'Con criminal? That's not like you. Who are you and what have you done with Strongarm?"

"I know it's wrong, but I couldn't stop it. It just happened."

"How many times have you let him escape before?"

"One. I encountered him yesterday, and I let him get away."

"You're not allowed to go anywhere by yourself. From now on, you will be accompanied by one of us. You clearly cannot be trusted to make the right decision when it comes to Steeljaw."

Strongarm casts her optics downward, "Yes, sir."

~~~~~~~~~~

The Decepticons make it back to their hideout, and Steeljaw is so outraged that he can't look at the others right now. "Get. Out." He says with a vicious growl. The others scurry away as fast as possible, leaving Steeljaw alone with his thoughts. He was so close to having his Decepticon army and ruling over Earth. But now, all of that has been taken away from him, and he once again had to leave Strongarm.

As he's sitting there thinking about the mission's failure, he hears a voice suddenly start calling out his name. He looks around but sees nobody; he's still alone. Then one of the metal pieces that was sitting on the floor next to him starts rising into the air with a face appearing on it.

"Call not your allies. I speak to you, and you alone."

"Who are you?"

"I am the first Decepticon. I was responsible for the Alchemor's crash and thus your freedom. I freed you and your pack to serve me."

Steeljaw couldn't believe what he was hearing. This supposed first Decepticon is saying that he freed them so that they could serve him? "You? The pack obeys my orders."

"You are to prepare my gateway. I will advise you with instructions shortly."

"I will not take orders from you."

"You will obey. Just because I'm in a different dimension does not mean I cannot hurt you." The first Decepticon clenches his fist and squeezes the metal to prove his point.

"Play all the tricks you like, I do not scare. And I will have a legion of Decepticons, no bot will interfere with my plans to rule this planet."

"I appreciate your ambition, Steeljaw. Truly, I do. Prepare my way, and I shall give you this world, along with whatever else you may desire."

"Hmm." Steeljaw thinks it over. If this first Decepticon is telling the truth and gives him whatever he desires, then he can have this world to rule and have Strongarm by his side with no bot to interfere or try to separate them. "Deal." The first Decepticon disappears, and the metal falls to the ground. Steeljaw watches it fall as he starts to smile, "For now. Just until I get what I want."

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

Chapter 1

[lifetimeshipper]

Angel From A Dream

Chapter 28

~~~~~~~~~~

Two months have passed, and Strongarm is fully recovered. Sideswipe is still on the mend, but he's also close to being fully recovered. Wheeljack, Arcee, Smokescreen, and Knock Out are all relieved to see their sparklings recovering from their ordeal. They can now leave knowing that they are well. They all bid farewell with heavy sparks as team Prime takes their leave.

Everything starts getting back to normal as 'Bee's team continues hunting down Decepticons, and once Grimlock and Sideswipe are fully healed, they join them. Bumblebee couldn't be happier to have his team back together and whole once more.

But unbeknownst to them, a pair of optics is watching them from the shadows of the trees and bushes that surround the scrapyard. A Wolf-Con sits out of view of the Autobots as he watches them and the humans, surveying the area closely. He notices that his cadet is nowhere to be seen, so he wonders where she could be.

When he finishes surveying the area, he begins to leave. When he gets further into the woods, he starts hearing music, a soft melody flowing through the forest. He follows the sound to where it's coming from, and he comes to a pond surrounded by rocks. He looks around and quickly spots Strongarm sitting in the water, washing dirt off her armor. He smiles as his tail wags. It's been a while since he last saw her.

It takes him a moment to realize that the music was coming from her as she starts humming along with the melody. Then a female voice starts singing, and Strongarm is singing along with her...

Pride can stand a thousand trials; the strong will never fall

But watching stars without you, my soul cried

Steeljaw quietly walks into the pond as he listens to her sing, walking towards her with his optics locked onto her. His spark's pulse picks up in speed as he gets closer.

Heaving heart is full of pain

Oh, oh, the aching

He gets right up behind her without her hearing him.

'Cause I'm kissing you, ohh

He leans forward to whisper in her audio receptor, "This feels familiar."

Strongarm gasps as she turns around, "Steeljaw! What are you doing here?"

"Though the last time this happened, you weren't singing. But if I had known you had such a lovely voice, I would have gotten you to sing for me back then."

"Answer my question, Steeljaw!"

"I was just walking through the woods and heard this music. I got curious and investigated. Good thing I did."

"I don't believe that for a minute."

"Believe it or not, it's the truth." Steeljaw grabs her servos when she tries to move away from him and pulls her closer to him.

"You can't be in this area..."

"I have a right to see my mate." His tone was firm, leaving no room for arguing. Strongarm tried to pull her servos out of his grip so she could get out of the water, but he held onto them firmly, not wanting to let her go. He pulls her closer to him and wraps an arm around her as he looks into her optics. "I've missed you," he whispers. Strongarm could see the sincerity in his optics and could tell he meant it.

A shade of blue covers her cheeks as she tries to think of a response. As the music goes from singing back to instrumental, Steeljaw leans in and kisses her softly. "You don't have to say anything, let your actions speak for you." When he goes back to kissing her, it's more passionate, the passion increasing more and more as the kiss goes on. Strongarm grips his forearms as he holds her close to his body, both arms wrapped around her in a way to ensure she can't escape if she wanted to. But she's too lost in the kiss to even think of trying to get away from him.

Ever since Steeljaw saved her from that Squirrel-Con, she hasn't been able to stop thinking about him. She eventually came to the realization that Steeljaw had finally gotten to her. She was starting to catch feelings for him. She was in complete denial at first, because she didn't want to accept the fact that she could be falling for a 'Con criminal, but in time she came to the conclusion that no matter how much she denies it, the feelings are still there.

Steeljaw moved down to her neck, licking and kissing over the mark he had left there. "You're mine, and you always will be," he said with a hint of a growl. Strongarm could hear the possessiveness in his tone; he really means it, and he really is not gonna let her go so easily.

He runs his claws over her body as he continues kissing her neck. She moans as she closes her optics, not realizing that Steeljaw is inserting some kind of chip into her body. He hears Fracture in his audio receptor, through the comlink, asking where he is. He growls as he pulls away from her, "Unfortunately, we have to cut this short. I have to go. I'll see you later." He kisses her one last time before getting out of the water, but then he turns back around to face her again. "Almost forgot..." He brings out a vial of the ointment and tosses it to her, "I'm sure you're almost out by now."

Strongarm catches the vial and watches him leave. She can't believe she's falling for a mech like him. What was that encounter all about, anyway? She still can't shake her suspicions about why he was in the area.

~~~~~~~~~~

Steeljaw meets up with his pack, who gave him confused looks. "Why are you dripping wet?" Underbite asked with a raised optic-ridge.

"I went for a swim. Now, let's get to planning." The others have more questions, but they decide to leave it alone and focus on the plans. They proceed with their planning to break into the scrapyard and break out the other Decepticons.

The next day, they sit in the bushes outside the scrapyard as they watch the Autobots interact with the human child. Steeljaw sets his optics on the stasis pods they need to get to, and they start setting their plan into motion.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Autobots look at the Decepticon tied to a tree with his mouth covered. "'Bee, do you have another group we don't know about running around here catching Decepticons?"

Bumblebee comms Fixit to find out what Decepticon this is. After they get the information, Strongarm takes the tape off the 'Con's mouth. "Uh, I don't suppose you bots could use a sidekick."

"No. We already have Sideswipe."

"Hey!"

"Oh, then how about a different kind of sidekick?" Kickback asks before kicking Strongarm and breaking free from the ropes. He kicks Bumblebee before transforming and driving off. Bumblebee felt that something was off, so he tried comming Fixit but got nothing but static. Worried about Fixit and the humans, they make their way back to the scrapyard.

~~~~~~~~~~

Strongarm looks around at her team as they bend over in pain from the defensive field subsonics that Steeljaw had placed at the front gate. She wondered why she wasn't being affected by it. Strongarm glares at Steeljaw when he kneels down and puts two claws at Russell's face. He's seriously doing this after the moment they just shared the previous day? Her spark breaks as she starts feeling like she was played. This is why he was in the area; he was scouting out the scrapyard.

"Let us discuss my team's demands. Throw down your weapons!"

The Autobots had no choice but to throw their weapons onto the ground; Denny's and Russell's lives were in danger. Steeljaw told Thunderhoof to get them. He protested at first, but then he begrudgingly got them. After he tossed them further in, where the Autobots can't reach them, he walked over to Steeljaw and asked, "Why isn't the cadet being affected by the subsonics?"

"Because I gave her the chip. Strongarm, come here!" Strongarm clenched her dentures. How dare he talk to her like that. Steeljaw growled as he stepped forward, "Strongarm. Come. Here."

Not wanting Steeljaw to get angry and hurt the humans, she walks over to him. "I'll get you for this, Steeljaw," Bumblebee says, trying to bear through the pain.

Steeljaw laughs, "You can try, but I would advise you all to flee instead. Because soon you will be far outnumbered and torn into spare parts." Steeljaw smiles as he puts an arm around Strongarm and walks her away from her team. The Decepticons followed them; they had a feeling Steeljaw would somehow save his cadet from the subsonics.

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

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[lifetimeshipper]

The Beauty and the Predacon

Chapter 28

~~~~~~~~~~

Predaking saw the explosion on the side of the ship and could see the ship falling to the ground. His spark raced as he grew concerned for Arcee. Is she alright? Arcee! Arcee, answer me!

I'm here, Predaking. I'm fine.

Thank Primus.

Arcee looked around at the others to make sure they were okay. Once every bot was back on their feet, they made their way outside. When they make it outside, they see Unicron and his army heading straight for the well. Predaking, Darksteel, and Skylynx transform and drop down right behind them. They hear Unicron order his army to attack Primus, and they all look to see the Terrorcon Predacons fly towards the well. "We're the last line of defense," Bumblebee says as he raises a fist.

"I would recommend leaving that to those who are more suited for the task," Predaking says before looking at Arcee. Their optics meet for a brief moment, and they feel that same connection they felt before. 

Skylynx and Darksteel look at her as well. Is this the femme we were smelling? Is she Predaking's mate? They both questioned in their processors before they heard Predaking speak again.

"Skylynx, Darksteel, allow nothing to enter the well!" He says before transforming, they both transform as well. The three of them jump over the Autobots and run straight towards the swarm as they build up their fireballs.

Please be careful, Predaking. I don't want to lose you either.

You won't. I'll see you again when this is all over with. Predaking shoots out the fireball first, with Skylynx and Darksteel following his lead. They keep their fire focused on the swarm, but it doesn't seem to be doing too much to stop them. After a few moments, the swarm overpowers them, and they're pushed back into the well along with the swarm as they make their way to Primus.

The bots all go over to the edge of the well and look down. "Really? This is how it ends?" Bulkhead asks.

"We're not losing our planet. Not without taking Unicron with it," Bumblebee says as he turns to look at the mech who is standing a distance away.

Arcee continues looking down into the well. Predaking!

I'm alright. But I'm trapped, there's no way to get free.

Before Arcee could make a response, they heard a ship overhead. They look up to see Magnus' ship and all of them are overjoyed to see Optimus and Wheeljack return, "Optimus."

"I never thought I'd be so happy to see that big rig!" Knock Out exclaims.

Optimus exits the ship and flies towards Unicron, attacking him as he throws a Dark Energon spear at the ship, causing it to crash to the ground. "Jackie!" Bulkhead shouts before transforming and driving away to the crashed ship. Arcee transforms and drives after him. 

They both get to the ship and pull Wheeljack out of the wreckage. As they're helping Wheeljack walk away from the crashed ship, Optimus comes flying over and lands right in front of them. "So, how are we gonna get that thing to safety?" Wheeljack asks as he points to the casing that's holding the AllSpark.

"By the only means available to us, under these most dire of circumstances. The very survival of our species on this, or any world, depends upon it." He grabs the AllSpark's casing and flies off with it.

Unicron gets free from the magnetic hold of the polarity gauntlet and transforms into his jet mode. He flies off after Optimus, and when he has him in his range, he shoots at him. The blast hits Optimus and sends him crashing to the ground. After Unicron transforms and lands, he walks over to him and snatches the casing out of his servos. "I shall devour your AllSpark whole." He opens the casing to find it empty, "What!? A trick!" He says as the thing starts sucking Unicron out of Megatron's body and into the casing.

Megatron falls to the ground as Optimus picks up the casing that is now holding Unicron. "As a being comprised of pure energy, Unicron's antispark was vulnerable to this reliquary of the Primes."

"But if he's in there. Where's...?" Smokescreen begins questioning before he's interrupted by Starscream.

"Praise the AllSpark!" Starscream says as he flies towards Megatron, he transforms, and lands next to him. "Master, you're alive!"

"Indeed," Megatron says as he stands up.

"Your new battle armor will take things to the next level, my liege. Together we will reunite all Decepticons and once again grind Cybertron under your mighty heel."

"No!"

"What? Why?" Starscream asks in confusion as Megatron walks away from him.

He walks a few paces before stopping in front of Optimus. He looks over at him before speaking, "Because I now know the true meaning of oppression, and have thus lost my taste for inflicting it."

Starscream laughs as he walks over to him, making him turn to look at him. "You've clearly been traumatized, master. A good power down and a stroll around the smelting pit will put you back in touch with your inner warlord."

Megatron clenches his left servo, "Enough! The Decepticons are no more, and that is final!" He tells Starscream before running off and transforming, flying off to another part of the planet.

Starscream laughs awkwardly as he turns to look at the Autobots, "Yes, well, we all have plenty to think about. Don't we?" He then transforms and flies off as well.

Since the whole ordeal is over and done with, Arcee goes running over to the well to see Predaking, but stops in her tracks when she sees him fly out with the other two. He looks down at her from the sky as he flaps his wings. I told you I would see you again when this was all over with. But right now, you should stay with your team to get things sorted, and I need to get things sorted with these two Predacons. As well as find a place to live. We'll see each other again.

Neither of them wants to be separated from each other again, but they both know that now isn't a good time to be reunited. They both need to sort things out with their own kind, but they will find each other again real soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

Not at the end just yet, but I'd say we're getting close. I would say we have maybe about 10 to 15 more chapters before we reach the end, but I can't really say for certain. I know what I want to do from this point, I just don't know how many chapters it'll take to do it.

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

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[lifetimeshipper]

Angel From A Dream

Chapter 27

~~~~~~~~~~

Strongarm sits on the berth in Med Bay as Knock Out examines her, she had to use the ointment that Steeljaw gave her shortly after he left and she explained to her parents and the others what Steeljaw had told her. They grew concerned for her well-being after hearing about the affects the bite mark can have on her, and they became even angrier at Steeljaw for putting her in this situation.

When she got back to the scrapyard and got into Med Bay, she saw Sideswipe lying on a medical berth with machines still hooked up to him. He looks over at her and smiles weakly, relieved to see that she's okay and the rest of the team was able to save her. Her spark broke at the sight of him, even though they were able to save him, he still looked like he was about to join Primus at any moment.

"Everything checks out," Knock Out says once he finishes with his examination. "The biggest concern is that bite mark, you will need to make sure that you use that ointment regularly. My biggest worry is when you run out of it. You said that each Wolf-Con has an ointment specifically made for their bite mark, correct?"

"That's what Steeljaw told me."

"That means we can't just make another ointment, so we'll have to figure out what we can do when the ointment runs out."

"I think the best thing would be to capture Steeljaw and lock him up, then we can get information from him on how to make this ointment," Arcee suggested. "Or to at least have him in close range of Strongarm."

"That would be the best way to do this."

"But how will we capture him?" Strongarm questions, "He's very clever, he won't allow himself to get caught that easily."

"We'll have to think of something."

~~~~~~~~~~

Steeljaw walks with his pack back to their hideout, with Underbite lagging behind. But surprisingly, the others are going at a slow pace so he can keep up with them. He doesn't know if they're going at a slow pace for him or if they're exhausted from everything that happened. Most likely the last one.

"I'm surprised you let the femme go, I thought you would'a fought harder to keep her," Thunderhoof says to Steeljaw.

"We made a deal, I let her go and she gives me a chance to win her spark."

"Will she even keep up her side of the deal?" Fracture asked.

"She said she will. I have to trust that she will."

It takes them a while but eventually they make it back to their hideout and Underbite goes to look for some metal he can eat to regain his strength. Steeljaw stands outside as pain shoots through his frame, he hates being away from his mate like this, and he doesn't know when he will see her again. He didn't think he would be feeling this much pain just being separated from her.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Autobots worked on cleaning out the place where Brendon and his team were holding their equipment, and after a few days, they got everything out. They kept an optic on Strongarm and made sure she kept up with using the ointment while watching out for any changes. Sideswipe started making a recovery, and everyone was relieved that they didn't have to worry about him joining the AllSpark anytime soon. Though sometimes Strongarm wishes that he was unconscious again when he starts getting on her nerves.

In time, Strongarm is well enough to go on a mission. She goes with Bumblebee, Grimlock, and Wheeljack to hunt down four Decepticons whose signals popped up on their monitors. Wheeljack mainly went to keep an optic on Strongarm. They came across four Squirrel-Cons, each one having sharp claws and missiles attached to their tails. They have a brown and white color scheme and small ears on their helms, looking just like squirrels.

"Autobots!" One of them shouts to alert the other three before aiming his tail and firing missiles at the 'Bots. The Autobots disperse to avoid the missiles, and the Squirrel-Cons take the opportunity to attack and separate them from each other. Strongarm is too busy defending herself to notice that she's been fully separated from the other three. She blocks the mech's claws that are trying to slice her open, but she's not able to block his tail in time before it hits her and she ends up on the ground.

The Squirrel-Con continues swinging and slashes her arm, cutting the metal deep enough for wires to be exposed. Strongarm screams in pain as she tries to get the mech off her. She begins to realize that she's not back to full strength yet, and she regrets being so quick to go out on a mission, not listening to Ratchet or Knock Out, who were trying to tell her that she needed a bit more rest. Now she's lying on the ground with her weapon out of arm's reach and a Decepticon on top of her, attempting to kill her. The 'Con raises his claws for a lethal strike when he's suddenly tackled off of her and to the ground.

Strongarm is in shock, her processor trying to understand what was happening. She looks over and sees Steeljaw fighting the Squirrel-Con, the 'Con trying the get the upper hand, but Steeljaw is tearing him apart. "No mech is to ever touch or harm my mate!" Steeljaw snarls. He slashes the mech's arm, making a bigger and deeper wound than the one on Strongarm's arm. Steeljaw is so ticked off he's getting ready to kill this mech.

"Steeljaw, stop!" Strongarm shouts when she finally comes to her senses. "Don't kill him. We're gonna lock him up."

Steeljaw turns and growls at her, but he listens and knocks the mech unconscious instead of killing him. "What were you thinking coming out here and facing a Decepticon like that?" He asks as he helps her get up off the ground. "You're obviously not at full strength! You could have been killed! Why did they let you go out on a mission?"

"Um… Well…" Strongarm steps away from Steeljaw, feeling nervous, "I was actually told by both of our medics that I shouldn't go, but I-"

"Didn't listen!" Steeljaw growls again. "You're too stubborn for your own good!"

Strongarm is baffled, she starts stumbling over her words, trying to find the right response. He's not wrong, she can be pretty stubborn. But coming from him? A 'Con? 

She sees Steeljaw move closer to her, and she moves back. "What are you even doing here? How did you know I was in trouble?"

He stops moving so he doesn't make her feel uncomfortable, "I was out scouting for other Decepticons when I suddenly caught a whiff of your scent. I followed it because I wanted to see you again, then I found myself overcome with panic and I knew you were in trouble. I quickly followed your scent to where you were and found you on the ground with that 'Con on top of you." He pointed at the Squirrel-Con still unconscious on the ground.

"Thank you for helping me." She wants to ask him to return to the scrapyard with her, but she doesn't want him to feel like it's a trap. She's feeling so nervous around him now, the same nervousness she felt whenever she was around her ex. But she refuses to believe she's falling for this 'Con.

"You 'Con scum!"

Strongarm hears her father shouting before seeing him run towards Steeljaw with his katanas already out. She then sees Bumblebee and Grimlock walking over with the unconscious bodies of the other three Squirrel-Cons. She's relieved they're all okay.

Wheeljack attacks Steeljaw with his katanas, trying to knock the mech out. But Steeljaw blocks each swing with his claws as he tries to get the upper hand over the veteran Autobot. "You're coming with us, Decepticon! I'll knock you out and drag you back to the scrapyard if you don't want to come willingly!"

"Am I supposed to just willingly go back to the scrapyard with you and be placed in a pod?"

"That's not it at all, Steeljaw," Strongarm speaks up, "They're worried about what will happen when the ointment you gave me runs out."

"That's not the only vile I have." He smirks mischievously, "But you will have to come see me to get another one." He quickly transforms and drives off. He usually doesn't run from a fight, but he's trying not to hurt those that Strongarm cares about.

Wheeljack is ready to go after him, but Bumblebee stops him, "Wheeljack, don't. We need to get these four 'Cons back and put them in pods. Plus, Strongarm was injured and needs medical attention."

Wheeljack reluctantly agreed as he put away his katanas and went to pick up the Squirrel-Con that Steeljaw had knocked out. He walked next to Strongarm as they headed back to the scrapyard.

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

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[lifetimeshipper]

The Beauty and the Predacon

Chapter 27

~~~~~~~~~~

Darksteel slams into Predaking, wrapping his arms around his waist, but Predaking slams his fists onto his back before hitting him hard enough to send him flying back. Darksteel slid across the ground a bit before stopping and looking up. Skylynx is in Predacon form, flying towards Predaking from behind. Darksteel laughs.

Skylynx grabs Predaking from behind and flies off with him, slamming him into the ground and sliding him across it, until he slams him into the side of a metallic cliff. He lands on top of the cliff and holds Predaking by the shoulders to keep him in place. Predaking looks up and sees Darksteel in Predacon form, charging at him. He grabs Skylynx and throws him at Darksteel, knocking them both back and landing on the ground.

I won't let these Predacons lay a talon on my mate! They will understand that she's mine and only mine! Predaking runs towards them, transforming into his Predacon form on the way. He launches at them, and they try to fight him off, but he easily takes them down. He pins both of them to the ground and builds up a fireball. They both transform as they look up at him, slightly trembling. "All hail, Predaking," Skylynx says as Predaking looks at Darksteel before looking at him. "You can have the femme."

Predaking hears footsteps and looks up to see Shockwave standing there, "An impressive display from my creations. But would it not be more logical to employ your might elsewhere at this time? Especially you, Predaking. If you don't help your mate, you might lose her."

Predaking's spark froze for a second. Arcee's in danger!? He wastes no time in flying off towards Arcee's location. Skylynx and Darksteel look at each other as questions filled their processors, they then transform and fly after Predaking. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Bumblebee and Bulkhead looked at Arcee with concern while Knock Out was confused, "Are you alright, Arcee?" Bumblebee asked.

"Yeah," Arcee responded as the pain subsided, "Predaking was just in another fight, but it's over now."

"I wonder with who," Bulkhead wonders out loud.

"I believe the other Predacons, while he was fighting, I kept getting this feeling from him like he needed to prove that he was king and more superior than them. He was also feeling very protective of me for some reason."

"You're his mate, I'm pretty sure he'll be protective of you over anything," Bumblebee states.

"Well, anyway, we should get Starscream into a brig before he tries to make a break for it," Arcee says as she walks over to Starscream, who is still lying on the ground unconscious.

"Are you sure you're good to do this?" Knock Out asks her.

"I'm sure, Knock Out. Pick him up and let's go, we'll free Smokescreen on the way."

"Okay," Knock Out says as he picks up Starscream. As they walk through the corridors of the ship, it's silent until Knock Out speaks up. "So, you actually sparkmated with the Predacon?"

"I did. I sparkmated with him and he marked me."

"So that's why you were in pain back there, you could feel everything he was feeling while fighting."

"Unfortunately. That's the only thing I hate about the sparkbonding."

Knock Out didn't know what to say. They still have to get used to each other's company, and he can tell that Arcee still doesn't trust him enough, so he decides not to ask too many personal questions. He leads Arcee to the area where he left Smokescreen trapped in the wall, and they release him. Then they go to the brig to lock up Starscream. While they were heading back, Arcee asked Knock Out the question that's been plaguing her.

"Why'd you do it, Knock Out? Why'd you turn against Starscream?"

"Even if I had helped him cease this ship, he probably would have just fired me out of the first airlock." He looks off to the side, pausing for a moment before continuing, "Oh, and he's rude."

Arcee, where are you?

I'm on the Nemesis with my team, we're heading to the Well of AllSparks to stop Unicron and his army from destroying Primus.

No! That's too dangerous!

We can't just stand around and watch Unicron destroy our planet after we fought so hard to revive it!

I'm on my way with the other two Predacons to assist in the fight. You stay out of it, I don't want to lose you.

Arcee walks onto the bridge with Smokescreen and Knock Out as the conversation ends. "Are we there yet?" Smokescreen asked.

"Right on schedule," Bulkhead responds as he looks at the screen.

"And so is Unicron," Bumblebee adds. They fly towards Unicron's undead army and start shooting at them as they fly over. They then circle around to come back and shoot at them again. 

The Terrorcons head up to the sky to fly towards them and attack. The Autobots shoot them down one by one, but there are too many of them. They began to swarm around the ship, and one landed on one of the windows, scaring Knock Out, who screams and jumps back while Bumblebee and Smokescreen come over to stand in front of him with their guns ready.

A fireball suddenly comes out of nowhere and hits the Terrorcon, knocking it off the ship. They all look out the window to see more of them being taken down, and Arcee sees Predaking and the other two Predacons shooting fireballs at them. "Predaking," she says as she smiles.

"Predacon allies. You called it, 'Bee. And to think that Optimus almost passed down the matrix to me."

"Whoa, what?" Bumblebee asks, looking at him in disbelief.

"Yeah, I said it. But right place, right time, does not mean right bot, I know that now."

"Well, I'm pretty sure I'm not the reason they're here helping us right now," Bumblebee says as he looks over at Arcee. "No doubt Predaking came to save Arcee, and we're just being included."

Smokescreen looks over at Arcee as well, "Yeah. You can really see how much he cares about her and what he's willing to do to keep her safe."

They could hear the Terrorcon Predacons attacking the side of the ship until one side explodes and the whole ship starts going down. "Brace for impact!" Bulkhead shouts and they all grab onto something to brace themselves.

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

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[lifetimeshipper]

The Beauty and the Predacon

Chapter 26

~~~~~~~~~~

As the Autobots look at the screen, they see Megatron's life signal suddenly pop up, "Megatron's life signal."

"So, somewhere in that new body armor, he's still alive?" Arcee asked in disbelief.

Ratchet turns to look at her, "He's perished and returned before. A phenomenon no doubt aided by the blood of Unicron which has coursed through his veins."

"The coordinates indicated he has left Darkmount," Bumblebee points out.

Ratchet turns back to the screen, "Triangulating his exact position."

They all watched as Ratchet brought up Megatron's current position, "We were there, earlier today," Bumblebee says.

"Predaking's refuge?"

"Unicron's retracing our steps?"

"Whoa, hold on," Smokescreen says as he steps forward, "What in Alpha Trion's beard is that?" He asks as they watch a big energy mass form on the screen.

"Seeing as we're dealing with Unicron, the big energy mass can be only one thing, Dark Energon," Ratchet explains, "But for what purpose?"

"We all saw it, the valley was filled with Predacon bones."

"Unicron's raising an undead army." Predaking's not gonna like that. He just cannot catch a break.

Not gonna like what?

Predaking, are you okay?

Of course I am. But I am sorry that you had to feel that pain. Now answer my question.

Unicron is at your refuge and seems to be raising an undead army with the Predacon bones that are there.

I'm gonna kill him! Predaking said as he growled to himself. Arcee could feel his anger and hatred for Unicron through the bond.

"...towards the well of All-Sparks." Arcee hears Ratchet saying as she tunes back into the conversation, "The most direct route to Cybertron's core, and Primus. Unicron clearly seeks to access our planet's core from the same point of entry that we used to restore it."

"No doubt with every intention of undoing our efforts."

"So, what do we do?" Bulkhead asks.

"We put ourselves between Unicron's army and the well," Bumblebee replied, and everyone looked at him with uncertainty. "Our strongest assets are this warship and whatever relics might be stored in its vault."

"Last time I looked, just the polarity gauntlet and the immobilizer," Smokescreen states.

"Hopefully, the genuine article this time," Arcee says, looking at Smokescreen.

"I'll round up the secret weapons," Smokescreen says before walking off.

"Bulkhead, think you can pilot this ship?" Bumblebee asks.

"'Con engineering. User-friendly, right?"

Bumblebee turns to look at Ratchet, "Ratchet, you've given your all to save this world once already."

They drop off Ratchet and Ultra Magnus somewhere safe before flying off to meet Unicron's army of the undead.

~~~~~~~~~~

As they're flying towards their destination, Bumblebee checks the weapons of the ship. "Primary fusion cannons, null rays, ion blasters, everything we need to stand a fighting chance against Unicron's army."

"'Bee, in case I never get another chance to say this, you've really proved your metal."

"I'd like to think my actions always spoke louder than my words, Arcee. But it didn't hurt to watch and learn from the best."

"Would be nice if Optimus showed up right about now."

"I was referring to a powerful little two-wheeler I know." Arcee smiled at him and he continued, "You're like a sister to me and I'm glad we were able to work together."

"I am too. All of you are like a family -"

"Autobots, surrender this warship," Starscream says as he enters with all the Decepticons he had freed. The Decepticons point their guns at them, and Arcee and Bulkhead do the same. Bumblebee starts to move towards Starscream, but he brings out the immobilizer and points it at Bumblebee, causing him the stop. "Funny how the immobilizer can freeze bots in their tracks before it's activated."

"And in case you are wondering, Smokescreen is in no position to come to your rescue right now," Knock Out adds in.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Skylynx, look. One of us," Darksteel says as he points at Predaking, who is flying towards them.

"Indeed, Darksteel. Most likely our predecessor," Skylynx says as a growl escapes, he doesn't like that there's another Predacon around because that means competition for this femme that's going into heat. The smell still has them all riled up. They both watched as Predaking lands and transforms before looking around at the area.

"The burial ground, desecrated. Strip-mined of all that remained of our ancestors."

Darksteel laughed, "You should have been here to see them all rise and shine."

Predaking turns to look at him, "They live?"

"If you call being undead living," Skylynx replies. He and Darksteel are trying their best to keep from growling, but it's difficult as it's becoming harder and harder to keep their Predacon instincts under control.

"Dark magic, perpetuated by the demon who lives in Megatron's skin."

"Just be glad you're alive so the demon can't pull your strings!" Skylynx says with a growl.

Predaking notices that there is something off about them, they're acting like Predacons who just noticed a femme in heat for the first... Wait... He sniffs the air and smells that sweet scent that Arcee had left behind, so that's it. He tries to ignore it, "Do you not comprehend the scope of this tragedy? We three are living proof that our mighty race might once again have flourished. Their remains must be reclaimed, if for no other reason than to be laid properly back to rest," Predaking says as he walks past them.

They both growl at him as their Predacon instincts completely take over, "And who made you boss?" Darksteel asked with a snarl. They need to find this femme, now.

Predaking snarls in return, "I am not your boss..." He swirls around and glares at them, "I am your king!" He unleashes his claws ready to fight. Not only are they opposing his role as their king, but they're about to go after his mate. No mech, whether they be Autobot, Decepticon, or Predacon, will get anywhere near his mate.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Nah, 'Scream won't use it," Bulkhead says as the Decepticons move closer to them, "He needs us if he's gonna stand any chance of surviving Unicron."

"You misunderstand," Starscream says as he swings the immobilizer around to point it at each bot. "I do not intend to use this ship for battle, but for quickly getting as far as possible from this doomed planet."

"Earth would be nice, now that Unicron no longer seems to be calling it home," Knock Out suggests.

"Shut up you!" Starscream shouts at him before turning to the Autobots once more, "Now, move away from the controls, Bulkhead, or get stiff."

Bulkhead puts up his servos as Bumblebee starts talking, "There's just one thing you've overlooked, 'Scream. That device you're holding, not the immobilizer."

"What? What do you mean?" Starscream asks in confusion. Bumblebee charges him to take the device away from him while Arcee starts shooting at the Vehicons, taking them down. Knock Out ducked to get out of the line of fire while the Vehicons were shot down one after the other.

"I will silence you forever," Starscream tells Bumblebee before gasping as a servo phased through his chest to grab the immobilizer. Once the servo and the immobilizer phase back through his chest, he turns around to see Knock Out holding it before he hits Starscream with it, breaking it. Starscream falls to the ground unconscious, and Knock Out looks up at the Autobots, "Now will you believe I'm joining the winning team?"

"Knock Out, we needed that," Bumblebee tells him.

"Wait, it really was the immobilizer?"

Arcee gasps as she feels pain shoot through her body again. Dammit, Predaking. You're in a fight again? 

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

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[lifetimeshipper]

The Beauty and the Predacon

Chapter 25

~~~~~~~~~~

"What do you mean it could be a problem?" Bumblebee asked in confusion.

"Think about how we are when we're in heat, we can get aggressive," Ratchet responds. "Being a Predacon, Predaking will be worse in heat, he will constantly want to frag and most likely will kill any bot that gets in his way. We will have to stay clear of him during that time, and Arcee, you will have to be careful that he won't unintentionally hurt you."

"That would be worrisome. But won't it be great to use against Unicron?" Bulkhead questions.

"If he would go into full heat right now..."

"Can we stop talking about it and discuss the situation at hand?" Arcee was getting tired of hearing them talk about Predaking and his heat; that's not the big issue right now. "I mean, how exactly is this happening? We put out a call to all refugees, inviting them back to Cybertron, and Unicron's the first in line?"

"Not to mention those Predacons. What have we come home to?" Bulkhead added in.

"What are we supposed to call him, huh? Megacron? Unitron?" Smokescreen asks.

Arcee looks at him with a raised optic ridge, "Really? That's your biggest issue right now?"

Smokescreen looks down, "Right, right." He looks back up at Arcee, "So, what's the game plan?"

Bumblebee turns to walk over to the monitor, and they watch him as he starts messing with it. After a moment, Ratchet starts speaking, "While Unicron may inhabit a mortal form, he is still a god and thus, cannot be defeated by customary means."

"Optimus? Wheeljack? This is Bumblebee. We have an urgent situation," Bumblebee tries to call out to Optimus, but doesn't get a response. "Optimus, can you hear me? Come in, please... Wheeljack, do you read?... Nothing."

"You have your voice back, now's not the time to go radio silent," Arcee says as she walks up to the monitor. "Optimus, in the event that you can hear us, Unicron has found his way back to Cybertron. Repeat, the chaos bringer is here on our soil, in possession of Megatron's body."

"So, what now?" Bulkhead asks, "I mean, besides hoping that Optimus got the message."

"We figure out why Unicron's here," Arcee responded.

"And what he wants," Bumblebee added.

"...To destroy the spark of his archenemy, Primus," Ratchet says with a sad tone.

"But that's the core of our planet," Smokescreen says with worry.

"It isn't fair. How many times do we have to save a world, have to fight for the survival of our home?"

"Regrettably, the struggle between creation and destruction is an eternal one. And the battle lines which separate the two run through the very spark of Cybertron. Good and evil, order and chaos. One victorious, one vanquished. Each forming the core of their own separate worlds, Cybertron and Earth. And now, the darkness has followed us all the way home."

~~~~~~~~~~

As the Autobots walked through the corridors heading to the bridge, Arcee started to feel pain all through her body. She lagged behind as she started to worry about Predaking, she stops walking and leans against the wall as the pain worsens.

Smokescreen noticed that she had stopped walking since she was walking next to him, he turned to look at her, and worry filled his face. "Arcee, are you alright?" His question drew the others' attention, and they all looked at her.

Ratchet rushed over to her, "What's wrong?"

"P-pain... all over my..." She trails off as she grabs her helm, "Predaking's getting a beat down!"

"Scrap, there's nothing I can do. You're just gonna have to endure it," Ratchet says as he places a servo on her back.

Bumblebee kneels in front of her and puts a servo on her shoulder, "But we're gonna stay right here with you."

Arcee looks up at them with warmth filling her spark. These guys have been with her and helped her through so much. They're her family, and she loves them so very much. She keeps feeling the blows coming one after another until the final blow hits, which almost knocks her down. If it weren't for Ratchet and Bumblebee being there to hold her up, she would have fallen right to the floor. She keeps a servo on her helm as the pain starts subsiding, "It's over now, it seems Predaking was knocked out."

"It must be Unicron, he's the only one I can think of that would be capable of giving Predaking a beat down," Bulkhead says as Ratchet and Bumblebee help Arcee stand up.

"It was Unicron. Looking into Predaking's thoughts, he was really pissed to see Megatron not knowing that it was Unicron in Megatron's body. Unless he did know and didn't want to believe it, I'm not sure."

"Can you talk to him?" Bumblebee asked.

"No, he's a bit out of it right now."

"Let's continue to the bridge, but you guys stay close to her and let me know if something goes wrong," Ratchet says before walking off. The rest followed him while staying close to Arcee.

~~~~~~~~~~

Skylynx and Darksteel arrive at the Predacon boneyard with Shockwave and Starscream and begin pulling out the bones for Shockwave. But it didn't take long for them to get distracted by a sweet smell. "You smell that, Skylynx?" Darksteel asks as he begins to follow the smell.

"I do, Darksteel."

They both follow the smell to an area where they find some fluids lying on the ground, and they sniff it. "A femme," Skylynx says with a growl.

"What are you two doing? Get back to work!" Starscream yells at them.

Darksteel and Skylynx growl at him, making him flinch, "We smell a femme! Where is she?"

"A femme? There's only one femme on this planet, and she's an Autobot, our enemy! Now stop messing around and get back to work!"

Darksteel and Skylynx look at each other, they don't care if she is an Autobot, they need to find her. Her scent smells so good they're not gonna pass her up just because she's an Autobot. They will get back to work right now but the first chance they get they will hunt down this femme, she's going into heat and the smell is making their Predacon instincts go nuts. 

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

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[lifetimeshipper]

No End In Sight

Chapter 33

~~~~~~~~~~

Arcee watches as Megatron falls to his knee while holding his helm. She's amazed that Unicron can bring down the warlord so easily. But she suspects that Unicron might be using Megatron to lure them into a trap.

"Unicron grows ever stronger," Megatron says before looking over at Optimus. He stands up and begins walking again, passing Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee as they watch him pass them.

"How do we know Unicron isn't using Megatron to lead us all into a trap?" Arcee asks Optimus as he walks past her.

"We do not," Optimus replies. Arcee transforms her servos into her blasters to be ready for an attack.

After some time of walking, they stop to look around at the area they came upon, a pulse echoing throughout the chamber. "Unicron's spark is near."

Arcee walks forward only to stop and turn towards Megatron, "After you," she says in a snarky tone as she puts out a servo to gesture her words.

Megatron looked at her as a small smirk crossed his mouth. "You're so flattering, my dear. I'll be sure to tell Soundwave," he says as he walks past her.

Arcee stiffens as her pulse quickens. She quickly glances over to Optimus before looking back at Megatron. Optimus was looking at her with a questioning gaze. She can't look at him right now; she doesn't want to tell him. She begins following Megatron as she hopes that Optimus won't question Megatron's comment or her reaction.

Optimus watched Arcee; he could tell she was unsettled by Megatron's remark. He watches her servos clench into fists as she follows Megatron, clearly avoiding his gaze. Did Soundwave do something to her? Or is she hiding something from them? He'll be sure to question her about it later when they're done with this mission. Right now, they need to stay focused on taking down Unicron.

Megatron can't help but chuckle as he glances back at Arcee and Optimus. So, she didn't tell them about what happened between her and Soundwave. I thought they shared everything and kept no secrets. I wonder, should I tell them her little secret?

Arcee and Optimus look back at Bulkhead when they hear him stumble and groan. They see him holding his helm as he tries to keep his balance, "Bulkhead!" Arcee shouts as she runs over to him, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, 'Cee. Just a little woozy."

"The Dark Energon. It's starting to affect you," Arcee says as she grabs his arm to help him along. "Steady as you go, Bulk."

Optimus was getting ready to go help them when Megatron turned around and spoke, "He's preparing to expel us."

They hear screeching, and they look to see a group of some kind of Cybertronian creatures flying towards them. Bulkhead and Arcee transform their servos into their blasters. "What are those things?" Bulkhead asks as they get into fighting positions.

"As we are within Unicron's body, it stands to reason that they are some sort of antibody," Optimus replies as he transforms his servo into his blaster. The antibodies start heading for them to attack, and they all start shooting. When one heads straight towards Optimus, he switches from his blaster to his blade to slice the thing in half, then switches back to his blaster to keep shooting.

One head for Arcee, and she flips over it as she shoots at it, she gets hit in the back by a shockwave from the thing exploding, and falls down to the other walkway down below, punching one of the antibodies on the way down. She lands on her feet and looks up, she sees Bulkhead punch away two of them with his wrecking ball before he starts getting woozy again.

He falls over the edge of the walkway but manages to grab the side of it to keep from falling all the way down. He tries to hang onto it as long as he can, but he's getting too weak. Optimus cuts down one of the antibodies as he stands back to back with Megatron, fighting these things. He glances over and sees Bulkhead hanging onto the side, and he rushes over to help him. He grabs his servo just in time as it slips off the edge.

Arcee kills a couple more of the antibodies that tried to attack her. When she finishes, she looks up to see Bulkhead safely back on the walkway. "Arcee!" She hears Optimus yell as a sign that it's time to get going. She runs along the walkway she's on and jumps onto one of the antibodies. She makes the thing fly her up to meet with her team and Megatron. Once she's up there, she kills the antibody and jumps off, landing on her feet in front of the mechs before turning and running into the tunnel. The three mechs follow her, with the antibodies coming after them, still shooting at them.

They continue shooting at the antibodies as they reach a door. Megatron grabs his helm as he falls to his knees. Unicron is in his processor, trying to get him to kill Optimus. He looks up at Optimus, who turns to look at him. "Megatron!"

Megatron grabs at his helm again with a scream before he pushes Optimus out of the way and starts shooting at the attacking antibodies. "Unicron's spark lies just beyond," Megatron says as he points at the closed door that's keeping them from Unicron. He turns to run to it with Optimus behind him.

"How do we get inside?"

"By fooling Unicron's defenses into believing we are not a threat." Megatron looks down at the glowing Decepticon symbol on his chest. Optimus looks at the purple glowing Decepticon symbol, and he begins to understand what Megatron means. Megatron turns around and positions his chest at a hole by the door, and the door opens.

Megatron proceeds to walk through the opening without a word. Optimus looks at him for a second before turning to his team. "Autobots, I will need you to keep our attackers at bay for as long as you can," he says before firing another shot. He then turns to follow Megatron.

Bulkhead and Arcee keep shooting, "We gotta hold fast!" Bulkhead tells Arcee, "For Optimus!"

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

When Optimus makes it to the chamber where Unicron is, he sees Megatron gazing up at the big ball of purple light. Optimus stands next to him as he looks up at the thing as well, until Megatron turns to speak to him. "Optimus, swiftly," he says with a gesture of his helm.

Optimus walks forward, having to push himself through the force of power that's emanating from the orb. Waves of power come out and hit them at full force, and Megatron's processor is once again bombarded by the voice of Unicron, "Megatron..." Megatron cries out in pain as Unicron continues, "Destroy the Prime! I command you!"

Fighting for control over his body, his blade shoots out as he walks towards Optimus, who is still on his knees, fighting against the power that's still emanating from the orb. Megatron raises his arm, but he manages to take control over his body again, and he slams his arm into his servo to stop himself from slicing Optimus. "Megatron is commanded by no one!"

Optimus hears Megatron yelling in pain before suddenly dropping to the floor. Determined to keep Unicron from destroying the planet, Optimus pushes himself up so he can complete his task. "Matrix of leadership, I call upon you," he says as he pushes himself up to his feet.

Megatron rises again, completely under the control of Unicron, and Unicron speaks through him. "You cannot defeat me, disciple of Primus. I have transcended physical being! By my will alone, all upon this world shall fall into chaos!"

"Not while I still function, Unicron." Optimus turns to face the orb as he fully stands up and crosses his arms over his chest, making an X. "The power of the matrix will light our darkest hour!" He says as the matrix powers up inside him. He removes his arms as his chest plating opens up and the matrix shoots out a beam into the big glowing orb as Unicron shouts out a no from behind him.

Megatron is pushed back and knocked out, with Unicron leaving his body and processor. Optimus slides back a bit due to the force of the power, but he manages to hold his ground. When the matrix is done shooting out the beam, Optimus falls to the floor. Unicron screams out before exploding and vanishing, leaving little purple particles behind.

Megatron is the first to get up. He shakes his helm before looking over at Optimus, who groans as he starts pushing himself up off the floor. "Teamwork, hmph," Megatron says before his blade comes out. He walks over to Optimus to end him while he's still disoriented.

Optimus looks up at him with blurry vision, but when his vision clears and he can see clearly again, he looks around in confusion, "Where are we, Megatronus?"

Megatron halted as a look of surprise crossed his face for a quick second, Optimus was somehow reverted back to Orion Pax. He smirks slightly as he pulls in his blade before helping him up. "Don't you remember, old friend?"

Optimus just looks at him as he pulls back his battle mask. They hear some noises and they look towards the door to see Bulkhead busting through, "Optimus, are you okay?" He asks as he makes his way into the chamber with Arcee right behind him.

"Why did he call me that?" Optimus asks in confusion.

Bulkhead and Arcee run towards them before they come to a halt and get into fighting positions. "What did you do to him?" Arcee asked with a glare.

"Who are they?" Optimus asked before a Ground Bridge opened up behind him.

Optimus and Megatron look over at the Ground Bridge before Megatron replies, "Our mortal enemies." He places a servo on Optimus' shoulder, "Go on through, I'll cover you!" He says as he aims his blaster at them and begins shooting, aiming more at Bulkhead. Optimus turns to run through the portal while Megatron runs over to Arcee while shooting at Bulkhead. "Arcee, let's go!" He says as he reaches out to grab her, but Arcee jumps out of his reach as she transforms her servos into her blasters.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Arcee points her blasters at him and starts shooting.

Optimus looks back to see Megatron trying to capture the femme, "Megatronus, why are you trying to take the enemy with us?"

Megatron growls in frustration. There's no way he can capture her and make her go back to the Nemesis with them without raising suspicion in Orion. He'll have to leave her for now and devise a plan to get her back later. "Never mind that, just go!" He says as he starts heading towards the portal while sending out a few more shots. Optimus decides not to question him any further and runs through the Ground Bridge. Megatron shoots a couple more blasts before turning to follow him.

As Megatron walks with Optimus through the corridors of the Nemesis, he feels outraged that he couldn't get Arcee back to the Nemesis with him. Everything was going according to plan; all he needed to do was get Arcee back to the ship. But it's just a minor setback; he will get Arcee back so he can complete his plan.

~~~~~~~~~~

I'm gonna end this book here, I have so many ideas for this story crossing over all three seasons that this book would probably end up being close to 100 chapters by the end. That would make this book too long. So I decided to cut it up into three books, each one following a season. This one followed the first season, the next book will follow season 2, and the third book will follow season 3 and the movie.

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

Chapter 1

[lifetimeshipper]

No End In Sight

Chapter 32

~~~~~~~~~~

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

"Arcee!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 :: Megatron, we are sending transport. ::

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[lifetimeshipper]

No End In Sight

Chapter 31

~~~~~~~~~~

Arcee walks beside Soundwave as they head to the bridge, all the while pondering what Megatron could want her for. There has been so much activity on the ship as of late, and there was one point where she started feeling off. She got that same woozy feeling she had gotten after she watched Cliffjumper fall to his death, when Ratchet found some Dark Energon on her servo. She soon found out it was because they were hovering over a volcano that had Dark Energon coming out of it, and the Decepticons were mining it.

At one point, she overheard a passing conversation about Optimus being on the Nemesis not too long ago, which must have been the cause of the shooting she was hearing. Where is he now? What did they do with him? She hopes he's alright.

When they get to the bridge, she doesn't see Megatron anywhere, just Airachnid, Knock Out, and some drones working at the consoles. She sneers at Airachnid, who just smirks at her. She knows Arcee wants to attack her, but wouldn't dare do anything to anger Megatron. For some reason, it pleases her and gives her some twisted joy to see Arcee being forced to serve Megatron and follow his rules just as much as anyone else on the ship does.

Arcee ignores her as she looks at Soundwave, "What's this all about? Where's Megatron?"

Soundwave decides not to say anything and just points at a monitor. Arcee looks at the monitor and sees Megatron's signal at a location far from the Nemesis, and with him are three Autobot signals. Wait... Three? So they're alive? She knew Megatron had to be lying about them being offline. But why is he with them? What is he planning?

Soundwave starts playing a recording from his conversation with Megatron not long ago. "Soundwave, take Arcee to the bridge, and when I tell you to, send her to me."

Arcee looks at Soundwave for a second before she rolls her optics, "Way to clarify." It still doesn't explain why Megatron's with her team.

"We're not sure what Lord Megatron has planned. He didn't bother to tell us," Knock Out explains.

"Not even his right-hand mech? I thought he told Soundwave everything," Arcee states a bit sarcastically.

Soundwave's already missing those times they had together when she was cuddling up to him and seemed to be coming around. He believes she still is, but at the moment, she's getting protective over her team, who is currently talking to their number one enemy. She's really concerned for their safety, and he understands that. When he gets the call from Megatron to open the Ground Bridge and send Arcee to him, he gets a small twinge of dread in his spark. What if he doesn't see her again after this? His spark would be shattered if he were to never see her again, but he trusts Megatron, and he knows that Megatron won't just give her up like that.

Soundwave opens the Ground Bridge for Arcee, and she's filled with anticipation. She really wants to see her team again. She runs through the Ground Bridge and comes out on the other side to see Optimus, Ratchet, and Bulkhead looking at her with wide optics.

The three can't shake their shock, Arcee is actually standing before them, and she doesn't seem to be under his control this time. "Arcee!" They shout in sync as happiness fills their sparks.

"Guys!" Arcee shouts back as she tries to run over to them, but after taking two steps, she's stopped by Megatron, who puts his arm out in front of her.

"Ratchet, Bulkhead, you're both still alive. Megatron told me you two were dead," Arcee says as she tries to ignore Megatron's looming presence beside her. She's happy to see them alive and well.

Megatron scowled, "I thought they were." He really, really didn't want to reveal to her that they were still alive but he knew she would be the best thing to use to bribe them into a truce, he had no choice.

"Lies to toy with your processor," Ratchet tells her.

"What about Bumblebee? Why isn't he here? Is he...?"

"He's fine too. He's in bad shape, but he's alive. I've been working with him on his recovery process, but he's not fit to go into battle just yet, so he stayed back at base."

:: I'm here, Arcee, I'm still kicking. ::

Arcee heard Bumblebee over the 'Bots' comm, followed by Jack's voice.

:: Arcee, are you ok!? Did they hurt you!? ::

Arcee felt relieved to know that her whole team is alive and was happy to hear her partner again. "I'm fine, Jack. They haven't hurt me." Well, they haven't hurt her lately.

"I'll throw her into the deal. Agree to the temporary truce and I'll let you and the femme reunite and have some time together."

"No, I want you to release her." Optimus's voice rang out.

"Agree to the truce and I'll think about it," Megatron responded. There was a moment of silence as Optimus ran the options through his processor before Megatron spoke again. "Do you think you've witnessed the full power of Unicron? Those foot soldiers were nothing more than a taste. Unicron has yet to fully awaken. With each passing moment, the bringer of chaos evolves, mutating Earth from the inside out. What we have witnessed until now is but a prelude of utter devastation his rising will wreak upon your world."

"Wait. Unicron is here, on Earth?" Arcee asked in confusion, she doesn't know about the things that have been occurring.

"Yes, and he's threatening to destroy the planet unless we can stop him," Optimus replied.

"Like how his quest for power destroyed Cybertron?" Arcee asked as she nodded her helm to the mech beside her before sending him a glare.

"Make no mistake, this time there will be a planet left for me to rule!" Megatron says with slight annoyance at the reminder of the devastation their homeworld sustained before he could rule it.

"Even if we agree, Unicron's all the way down at the center of the Earth. How are we supposed to get there, drive?" Bulkhead questioned.

"There is only one way..." Optimus begins but is interrupted by Ratchet.

"Absolutely not! Ground Bridging into space or on a moving train is difficult enough! But plotting a blind jump inside of a sentient being? Besides, direct exposure to that much Dark Energon will debilitate you! You haven't built up an immunity like Megatron has!"

Megatron can't help but smile at Ratchet's rant, "Yet another strong argument... for soliciting... my guidance."

"You can provide Unicron's exact coordinates?" Optimus asks.

"If you transport us to this planet's core, I can lead you directly into Unicron's spark. The very heart of his darkness."

"Even if we survive the jump. How are we supposed to stop Unicron?" Arcee asks.

Optimus is silent for a moment as he looks at Megatron before looking at Arcee again, "With the matrix of leadership."

:: What is that? :: Fowler questions over the comms.

"A vessel of pure energy, the collective wisdom of the Primes," Ratchet replies.

:: Do we have time for a scavenger hunt? :: Jack asks. :: I mean, where are we supposed to find this matrix? ::

"Optimus does not need to find it. He carries it within him."

"It was the combined power of the Primes that defeated Unicron so long ago," Megatron starts speaking as he walks towards Optimus. "The very reason he now seeks to destroy you."

"It would follow that unleashing the power of the matrix directly into Unicron's spark would return him to stasis."

:: Hold on. :: Miko comes in over the comms. :: If everything goes right, Unicron's gonna stay down there? ::

Jack chimes in afterward. :: Yeah, can't we siphon him out somehow? ::

Raf was the one to respond. :: He's not in the Earth's core, Jack. He is the Earth's core. ::

"Rafael is correct," Ratchet comms back. "Tampering with your core could affect the magnetic poles. Trigger the very cataclysmic events we are attempting to remedy. Tragically, Unicron is your planet's very seed. Always has been, and always must be. ::

Rocks start moving past all of them as another Unicron manifestation begins to form. "Bumblebee, send a Ground Bridge," Optimus says as he watches the manifestation rebuild itself.

"Wait, what about Arcee?" Bulkhead asks as a Ground Bridge opens up behind him and Ratchet.

Optimus looks at Megatron as he waits for the warlord to make a response. Arcee is the one to speak, "Just go, we can't keep the Ground Bridge open to our base in front of him. How do we know we can even trust him?"

"She has a point. He's seriously gonna risk his own spark to save us?" Bulkhead says in agreement as he hopes and prays that Megatron will allow Arcee to return to base with them.

Megatron laughs, "Hardly my nature." He looks over at the Unicron manifestation, which has just finished forming, before looking back at Optimus. "As proof of my sincerity for this truce, I will allow her to return to base with you so you can have your reunion. Consider my offer. I shall keep it busy," he says as he turns away from them. His mouth curls into a small smirk before he jumps up and transforms. He begins shooting at the thing while Ratchet grabs Arcee's arm and drags her to the Ground Bridge before Megatron changes his mind.

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

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[lifetimeshipper]

No End In Sight

Chapter 30

~~~~~~~~~~

Time passed as Bumblebee got closer and closer to a full recovery. After Ratchet had gone to the Energon mine to confront Megatron and got a hole punched into his chest by the warlord, he finally started to realize how much of an aft he was being. While he lay on the medical berth next to Bumblebee, he decided that he would no longer use himself as a test subject; he would keep testing the Synthetic Energon on machines.

Once he recovered and was well enough to get back to work, he focused most of his attention on helping Bumblebee recover. Each day, he showed signs of improvement, which pleased the 'Bots and their human companions, Raf most of all. But now they're all worried about Optimus' safety as he tries to fight off Unicron alone.

So much has happened in a short span of time. From Optimus getting into a fight with Megatron, to Dark Energon suddenly erupting from the Earth, to natural disasters happening all over the place. They recall a prophecy that has been passed down for centuries and they soon come to the conclusion that it's centered around Unicron the chaos bringer, who they find out is Earth itself. Everything leads to this point where Optimus finds himself surrounded by Unicron.

"Optimus, have you uncovered any further signs of Unicron's emergence?" Ratchet asks over the comm.

:: Unicron is power incarnate. :: They hear Unicron's voice come over the comm. :: And you, the last of the Primes, shall perish. ::

"I take that as a yes," Ratchet mumbles out before he turns around with Bulkhead. "We are on our way!"

:: Negative, Unicron cannot be defeated by sheer force. He wants me, Ratchet. :: There's a brief pause. :: This fight must be mine alone. ::

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

With his blasters drawn, Optimus pulls his mask over his face as he prepares to fight. All the Unicrons attack him and he fights them off, taking them down one by one. He shoots and slashes as he runs and jumps from one cliff to another. He was able to stay ahead for a bit until a few of the Unicrons ganged up on him and held him in place. Optimus has no way of breaking free, and he watches with wide optics as one of them jumps down from a ledge and gets ready to kill him.

Before he can strike the killing blow, he's taken down by blaster shots. Optimus looks to see Bulkhead and Ratchet coming through the Ground Bridge. Bumblebee is still not fit for battle, so Ratchet had to go in his place. Bulkhead continues shooting while Ratchet drives off the cliff, only to transform, transforming his servos into his surgical blades, and land on one of the Unicrons, cutting him down. Optimus begins firing again and gets back up to continue fighting.

"Ratchet, I thought I said to stay back. This is my fight. Now return to base," Optimus says after he stabs one of the Unicrons. They managed to get the upper hand for the time being.

"Reinforcements will not prevent your destruction, disciple of Primus."

"You're Unicron's target, Optimus. I recommend you return to base," Ratchet says as he slashes at one of them.

"These manifestations of Unicron can locate me anywhere on Earth," Optimus replies as he continues shooting. "Even our base's shielding will only cloak my position for so long. I will not put others at risk."

"Then fall back and let us take the lead. Just this once," Bulkhead tries to reason.

"Please, listen to reason. If you don't survive, Optimus, I fear neither will this planet," Ratchet adds in.

"Very well," Optimus finally agrees. Ratchet takes point in leading the way, followed by Bulkhead and Optimus.

They ran and jumped across the ledges as they took down the Unicron manifestations as they appeared. They kept going until they reached a flat surface where they transformed and drove away. One of the manifestations formed in front of Optimus, and he drove right through it, breaking it apart. 

They keep driving until a giant Unicron manifests in front of them, stopping them in their tracks. They come to a halt and transform to look up at the massive thing, "Is this Unicron?" Ratchet asks as small regrets begin to creep in; he's starting to wish he had stayed at the base. But he couldn't leave Optimus and Bulkhead to fight these things alone, and Bumblebee wasn't fit to help out.

"No, not Unicron himself. But another of his manifestations."

"If we can't beat Unicron, and we can't outrun him. What exactly are we supposed to do?" Bulkhead asks.

"All we can do, neutralize his vessels as they appear. Until we find a way to destroy him, without destroying the very Earth upon which we walk." Optimus walks forward as he transforms his servos into his guns.

Optimus runs towards the huge manifestation shooting, while Bulkhead transforms to drive around him. Once he's behind the thing, he transforms again to start shooting. Ratchet watches as he determines how he can help; his little surgical tools would do nothing on this giant. Unicron swipes at the ground, bringing up dirt and dust, while Bulkhead tries to run away, but Unicron hits him and sends him flying.

Optimus runs at him shooting. "Fool!" Unicron shouts as he hits the ground. He sends boulders flying toward Optimus, which knocks him down and covers him. Upon seeing this, Ratchet runs over to help him while Unicron walks towards Optimus. Bulkhead also runs towards them while shooting at Unicron. Ratchet's not sure what he can do against this giant manifestation, but he has to do something to help Optimus.

"I am of this world's past and its future..." Unicron begins saying as he lifts a foot over Optimus, who had just finished removing some boulders off him, "...and as of this moment..."

"Optimus, no!" Ratchet shouts as he transforms.

"All Primes are simply past." Unicron brings down his foot, getting ready to squash Optimus, but just before he can, he gets shot in the face. Ratchet comes to a halt and transforms as he watches the giant fall to the ground.

Ratchet and Bulkhead look at each other as they wonder who shot Unicron. :: What's going on, guys? What's happening? :: Bumblebee asks over the comm.

"Someone just shot down Unicron as he was getting ready to kill Optimus," Bulkhead responded.

"That would be me!" The voice echoed from above. Bulkhead and Ratchet look up to see Megatron standing on one of the rocks of Unicron's crumpled body.

Megatron jumps down and looks at the 'Bots, "Megatron!" Bulkhead shouts in surprise.

:: King 'Con's there too? :: Miko is heard asking over the comm.

"Yes, and surprisingly, he saved Optimus' tailpipe," Ratchet says in response.

Megatron walks over to Optimus, who is pushing his way out from the boulder, and he aims his cannon at him. Bulkhead transforms his servo into his blaster and points it at him while Ratchet gets ready to attack him. But to their surprise, Megatron turns his arm over to put out his servo for Optimus to take. Optimus studies him for a second before taking his servo and standing up. Bulkhead pulls his blaster back, but he stays on alert, and so does Ratchet.

"It is rather ironic considering our last encounter," Megatron says as he walks away from Optimus. He stops walking and turns to look at Optimus again, "If memory serves, you were desperately attempting to extinguish my spark."

Optimus walks towards him, "That option remains very much in play," he says as he comes to a stop in front of Megatron and looks up at him.

"I would expect nothing less. However..." Megatron walks around Optimus and takes a few steps away. "I have a proposal." He stops walking and turns to look at him again, "Join me in defeating our shared enemy, Unicron the chaos bringer."

Optimus glares at him, he's insane if he thinks they're gonna team up. "Ha! Absurd!" Ratchet shouts out all of a sudden, "Unicron is evil incarnate. If Megatron was to take any side, why would it be ours?"

"Because Megatron's pride would never allow anyone other than himself to rule this planet," Optimus says as he takes a few steps towards Megatron.

"You know me all too well, Optimus."

"You lead an army of 'Cons," Bulkhead starts talking, "Why come to us?"

"Because this particular endeavor requires something beyond the realm of my command. The power of a Prime," Megatron says as he motions to Optimus.

"Uh-huh, then I guess we don't need you."

"On the contrary, Optimus may be the only one who can defeat Unicron, but I remain the only one who can guide you to him. Unicron's lifeblood runs through me, only I can hear his thoughts, anticipate his movements." Megatron walks towards Optimus, "Optimus, our past alliances, Autobots, Decepticons, no longer matter. Not while Unicron lives."

Ratchet runs over to stand beside them, feeling outraged by what Megatron just said. "The past always matters!" He shouts.

Optimus places a servo on his shoulder to calm him before looking back at Megatron. "A truce between Autobots and Decepticons. How long do you expect us to believe that will last?"

"Only as long as is mutually beneficial."

"And, when our shared mission is complete?"

"I will conquer this Earth, my way."

"Lining with the lesser of two evils is still siding with evil," Ratchet says as he glares at the warlord.

"How about we throw in something else that might help you change your mind?" Megatron says before getting on his comm. The three look at him in confusion as they wonder what he has planned.

"Soundwave, open a Ground Bridge at my coordinates..."

Optimus, Ratchet, and Bulkhead tense up as they get ready for a fight. They suspect that Megatron is calling in an army to persuade them forcefully.

"...and send Arcee to me." Megatron finishes with a hint of a smirk at seeing their reaction.

Their optics widen. Is Arcee really coming, or is this another trick? 

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

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[lifetimeshipper]

The Beauty and the Predacon

Chapter 24

~~~~~~~~~~

It took some time for Arcee to get enough strength back into her legs so she could stand up. Predaking watched her as she would try to stand and stumble to the ground, "Maybe you should wait a bit longer."

"I promise, I'm fine," she says as she tries to get up again, this time she's actually able to stay standing, though her legs are a bit wobbly. She could feel Predaking's concern and guilt through the bond so she sends him a wave of reassurance as she stretches out her legs.

Predaking growls softly, "I hate that we're parting so soon."

Arcee stops stretching and looks at him, "I hate it too, Predaking. But I need to help my team, and you should see about finding the two Predacons. We'll meet up soon, I promise."

Predaking pulls her in for one last hug before letting her go, and Arcee transforms and drives off. Predaking stands up as he watches her drive off with a heavy spark, but after a moment, he transforms and flies off to look for the other two Predacons.

~~~~~~~~~~

When Arcee catches up to the other three they were heading towards Megatron's Citadel, "Why are we heading to Megatron's Citadel?"

"Arcee, nice of you to join us. We're looking for Shockwave's cloning lab," Bumblebee responded.

"What makes you think we'll find it here?"

"Yeah, wasn't Darkmount Megatron's military HQ?" Smokescreen asked.

"If the intel I received from Knock Out is accurate..." Bumblebee begins saying before he transforms, "We'll find Shockwave's entire lab network in the Citadel's databank."

When they reached the top of the Citadel, Bumblebee and Arcee started searching the databanks while Bulkhead watched, and Smokescreen sat on Megatron's old throne chair. "Lord Smokescreen, emperor of destruction," he says in a deep voice before smiling and doing a silly dance in the chair, but he stops when he sees Bulkhead looking at him.

"How can you sit there?" Bulkhead asked him, "That's some bad mojo."

Meanwhile, Arcee and Bumblebee find the information they were looking for. "What do you know? Knock Out actually shot straight for once," Bumblebee says as he looks at the screen.

"What did you have to do, buff his finish?" Arcee asked jokingly.

"Close. Let's download the data and get out of here."

Before they could start doing anything, Bulkhead spoke up, "Hey, something's heading our way."

Bumblebee and Arcee turn to look at what he's pointing at, "Predaking?" Bumblebee asked.

"No, he went to look for the other two Predacons," Arcee responded.

"Starscream?" Bulkhead questioned.

Bumblebee adjusted his optics to get a better look before looking shocked, they see the form of Megatron flying in and landing in front of them. They couldn't believe that he was alive and standing before them, "Minions of the Prime. Prepare to be obliterated."

"Megatron?" Bumblebee asks as he steps back and balls up his servos.

Smokescreen runs over to him, "You skewered Buckethead with a giant saber and managed to miss his spark?"

"How are you still alive?" Arcee asks as she moves back.

Bulkhead walks over to stand next to her, "And where'd you score the upgrade?"

"Megatron cannot answer you at this moment. Though I can inform you, with utmost authority, that he owes his new lease on life to me, Unicron. And I will not be so easy to be delivered into oblivion," Unicron tells them before some purple lights appear in his servos and cover them to form two big cannons, which he shoots at the Autobots.

The 'Bots all run from the blasts before turning to start shooting back at him. Unicron fires more shots at them, and Arcee and Bulkhead duck behind the throne chair to shield themselves while Bumblebee jumps onto Unicron's shoulders and starts firing at him while jumping over his helm. Getting agitated, Unicron fires two big blasts at Bumblebee and Smokescreen, and they duck behind the chair with Bulkhead and Arcee.

"We need to retreat!" Arcee says after Unicron fires more shots at them.

"The only way out is down."

"We can't call for a Ground Bridge until we put some space between Unicron and us."

"Behold my infinite might!" Unicron says as he creates a spear in his servo. He throws it at the chair, hitting the chair hard enough to put a hole in it.

Bumblebee looks at it as they hear a ticking sound coming from the spear, and they know it's about to blow. "Let's roll," Bumblebee says, and they jump over and around the chair before transforming and driving past Unicron, who turns to watch them drive off. They drive off the edge, and Bumblebee transforms just as the spear bomb explodes. He shoots at the top of another area of the Citadel to create a hole, and they fall through it. Unicron shouts in frustration before transforming and flying off.

The 'Bots drive through a corridor until they come to a door and the door opens to let them through. They immediately screech to a stop and transform to look down at an active smelting pit, "A smelting pit?"

"Cybertron's been dormant for thousands of years, but that's still burning?" Arcee shakes her helm in disbelief as she looks down at the smelting pit below.

"Ratchet? We need a Ground Bridge," Bumblebee says over the comm before an explosion goes off, sending them flying. Bulkhead lands on the ground near the edge and reaches out to grab Arcee as she falls towards the pit. After she grabs his servo, she reaches out to grab Smokescreen's servo, and they dangle there above the smelting pit, trying to hang onto each other. Bumblebee runs over to the edge, wondering what he can do to help, when Unicron flies over towards them and lands.

~~~~~~~~~~

Predaking is flying over Cybertron, looking for any signs of the other two Predacons, when he suddenly feels fear and worry in his spark. Is something wrong with Arcee?

Predaking!

Arcee, what's wrong?

We were attacked, we're currently dangling over a smelting pit, about to fall in!

Predaking looks at her memories and sees exactly where she is, he starts flying in that direction as fast as he can go. Hang on, I'm coming!

Hurry! Not sure how much longer we can hang on!

Predaking starts feeling as panicked as he was when Arcee fell off the warship that one time, his spark racing as he flies at top speed. He can't lose her.

~~~~~~~~~~

Arcee could hear Bumblebee and Unicron fighting as she dangled from Bulkhead's servo. Her arms started to ache from holding Smokescreen's heavy weight. She hears a crack and she looks up in horror to watch the ground underneath Bulkhead start cracking before crumbling from under him, sending all of them down to the smelting pit.

Predaking, we're falling! I... She suddenly trails off as she sees the Ground Bridge open up underneath them.

No! Arcee!

Arcee, Smokescreen, and Bulkhead fall through the Ground Bridge and land next to Ratchet. I'm okay! Ratchet got the Ground Bridge open and saved us at the last moment.

I'm glad. I was so worried. Are you sure you're fine?

Yes, I'm sure. A little banged up from the hard fall, but I'm still alive.

I still want to come to your location to make sure.

Predaking, I swear I'm okay. Please keep looking for the other Predacons.

Alright. Just let me know if you need any help. Predaking tells her before turning around and flying off to continue his search.

I will. Arcee says with a small smile as she watches Bumblebee fall in through the Ground Bridge.

"What are you smiling for?" Smokescreen asked her in confusion.

"Was just talking to Predaking. I told him what happened and he was flying over to help before Ratchet opened up the Ground Bridge. He still wanted to come check on me, but I told him that I'm okay and he should keep looking for the other Predacons."

"He must have been really worried," Bumblebee says as he gets off the ground.

"He was, and still is, from what I can feel."

"How's your neck feeling?" Ratchet asked, making her look at him in confusion, "The mark on your neck."

Arcee places a servo on her neck over the bite mark, "Oh, that. It still hurts a bit, but it'll get better."

Ratchet removes her servo to take a better look at the mark, "Looks like he got a bit too rough."

"He did. Not sure if he missed me that much or if he's going into heat."

"If he is going into heat, that could be a problem," Ratchet says with concern on his face.

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

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[lifetimeshipper]

The Beauty and the Predacon

Chapter 23

~~~~~~~~~~

A bit of time has passed since the Autobots returned to their home planet. Arcee remains with her team to help rebuild and look for Shockwave and Starscream, but she can't stop thinking about Predaking; she really misses him. Her spark aches as she yearns to be with him again, but she needs to help her team.

After Optimus leaves with Wheeljack to go search for the AllSpark, the rest of the Autobots proceed with the search for the two 'Cons, and Bulkhead sees to the reconstruction. When Smokescreen returns from a patrol with a severely injured Ultra Magnus and tells them that they were attacked by two Predacons, Arcee's spark sinks. Does Predaking know about these Predacons?

Ratchet comes to Cybertron to tend to Magnus' injuries. After scanning him, he looks at the results on the computer, "He is suffering from a multitude of internal injuries. Most quite severe."

Arcee looks over at Bumblebee and Bulkhead as she asks the persistent question, "So, anyone care to explain what two more Predacons are doing on Cybertron?"

The two mechs look at her, and Bulkhead responds with a confused tone, "I thought Optimus said that new life was impossible without the AllSpark."

"I'm no authority, but something tells me that cloning old bones doesn't constitute new life," Bumblebee tells them with a serious look.

"Shockwave's been playing in his lab since the war," Bulkhead states, "Why stop now?"

"Doesn't matter where those beasts came from." The three look back at Smokescreen, who is leaning against the wall, "We got to take them down."

Arcee listens to them silently as her spark tears between her team and Predaking. She gets where they're coming from, more Predacons means more danger and trouble for them. But it would make Predaking very happy to have more Predacons around, and maybe even have the Predacon army he had been wanting. But it would be too dangerous for them; she might be safe since she's Predaking's sparkmate, but she can't be too certain. She also keeps getting that small thought in the back of her processor that maybe Predaking will decide to make a Predacon femme his mate instead and throw her away.

"Arcee!" Arcee looks at the mechs to see them looking at her with worried expressions, "Are you alright?" Bumblebee asks her.

"I'm fine."

"Do you think we should call Optimus?" Bulkhead asks her.

"Really? And interrupt his quest to save the future of our race on Cybertron?"

"I have an idea, follow me," Bumblebee tells them. They look at him questioningly, but they proceed to follow him.

They reach an area of the planet where the metal is scattered and raised into small hills and cliffs. "Watch your step," Bumblebee tells them before pulling out a metal rod from a scrapheap. The other three watch him walk forward as they wonder what he's up to.

"Who made him leader?" Smokescreen asked.

"'Bee did snuff Megatron," Bulkhead stated.

"I'm not leading," Bumblebee says as he looks down at the ground. He squats down to scrape up some Energon onto his digit and examines it. "I'm scouting," he says before walking on.

"Fair enough. But you do realize we're nowhere near where we found those Predacons, right?" Smokescreen questions as they follow him.

"We're not looking for those Predacons. I followed this Energon trail, which means he was wounded," Bumblebee says as he turns to look at them. Arcee's spark races as she senses Predaking close by. "And I know we aren't the ones who wounded him," Bumblebee continued.

"Whoa, you mean we've been tracking..." Bulkhead trails off as Predaking lands on top of some raised metal in front of them, "Predaking?" Bulkhead finishes.

Predaking screeches, and Bulkhead and Smokescreen transform their servos into their blasters, they point their blasters at him as they fire up. Arcee just looks on as Predaking builds up a fireball from his chest. She runs forward, "Wait, Predaking...!"

Bumblebee raises a servo, "Hold fire!" He says before he steps forward, "Recognize this, Predaking?" He raises the metal rod in his servo and Predaking roars as he looks at him. He had already died down his fireball after noticing Arcee. "You served aboard Megatron's warship, surely you're familiar with this little treasure from his vault. The immobilizer, it causes instant stasis lock though the victim remains fully conscious, a living death."

Arcee looks at him with wide optics, "What are you doing, Bumblebee?" She asks him in almost a whisper.

Bumblebee gets down on one knee and lays the metal rod down on the ground as he bows, "But we didn't come here to fight, your highness."

Predaking transforms and glares at him, "Then why have you violated my refuge, Autobot?"

Bulkhead and Smokescreen transform their blasters back to their servos as Bumblebee rises, "We need answers. Do you know of any other Predacons currently on Cybertron?"

"Indeed, legions of them. Behold, my subjects!" Predaking says as he motions to an area full of Predacon bones. "The countless multitude, rendered extinct ages ago by the great cataclysm. Unearthed by the shifting of plates during our planet's restoration."

"Yeah, well, me and Ultra Magnus just got scrapped by two living Predacons," Smokescreen spoke up. "Know anything about them, your highness?" He finishes off saying your highness in a mocking tone.

"Two? Where?"

"We came to ask your help in finding them," Bumblebee says as he takes a step forward.

"For revenge?"

"No. Optimus Prime would deem it a tragedy to stain Cybertron's fresh soil with any newly spilled Energon. So help us prove what Megatron was never willing to, that more than one race can peacefully coexist on our planet. You proved that you can by sparkmating with Arcee and saving her life."

"You assume that because I turned against Megatron, I can forgive the Autobots their role in the destruction of my brethren on Earth? Just because I love Arcee and mated with her doesn't mean I can just forgive the rest of you for what you have done! Leave me be and dare not trespass here again."

Bumblebee looks down at the metal rod before turning to walk away, while throwing the rod over his shoulder. Arcee looks up at Predaking with a heavy spark before turning to follow the other three. Predaking looks at her as she turns to walk away, his primal instincts going crazy, he needs to hold her and feel her in his arms again, "Arcee, you stay!" He shouted with a hint of a growl. He didn't mean for it to come out as a demand or to sound predatory, but he couldn't go without holding her and touching her any longer.

Arcee glances back at him before looking at her team, "You guys go on, I'll catch up later."

Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen are hesitant about letting her stay with him alone, but they doubt he would harm her, plus they have a feeling that they would probably lose their sparks if they prevented her from being with him. "Just be careful," Bumblebee tells her before they leave.

Arcee looks back at Predaking, who gets down on his knee and puts out a servo to help her up. Once she's up there with him, he immediately pulls her into a hug, and she smiles as she hugs him back. "I missed you so much," he tells her.

"I missed you too," she says as he sits down and pulls her into his lap. She pulls back to look at him, "How are you? I felt you were shot in your chest." She looks at his chest, but she doesn't see anything.

"Megatron shot a hole in my chest, sending me flying out of the ship."

"It seems to be healed already."

"A Predacon's body is really good at healing wounds. It's part of why we're so hard to kill."

Arcee lays her helm on his chest as she hugs him again, "I was so scared I had lost you for a second, until I realized the connection was still there."

Predaking gently rubbed her back with his claws, "I didn't mean to scare you, and I'm sorry you had to feel that pain." He pauses as he looks down at her, "I will never replace you, Arcee." Arcee looks up at him. She's a bit surprised, but she should have known he could see her thoughts. Predaking looks into her optics as he continues, "My spark belongs to you and you only, even if more Predacons are created, I will never choose another over you. You will always be my mate, and no Predacon will dare to harm their queen."

Arcee smiles at him, "I love you, Predaking."

"I love you too, Arcee. If you don't mind, I would like to renew the bond."

"That probably would be best after everything that's happened."

They both took off their chest armor and opened up their spark chambers, their sparks automatically started pulling towards each other, yearning to be merged again. Predaking pulls Arcee closer for another hug so their sparks can merge once again, and Arcee gasps as she closes her optics. She feels his sharp dentures pierce the metal on her neck as he bites her to refresh the mark. If there really are other Predacons, he wants to be sure they know that she belongs to him.

Arcee lets out a moan as she grips his shoulder. Predaking growls as he starts undoing her interface panel. He wants all of her, he wants to mate with her and make her his in every way possible. He quickly removes her panel and removes his own to release his spike, which is already hardening. He wastes no time in sinking his spike into her port. He bites down harder on her neck as he begins thrusting slowly. He can taste her Energon as it begins leaking from her neck.

Arcee gasps and moans as she moves her hips to meet his thrusts, her neck begins to ache with how hard he's biting her, but she can tell that he's in a state where it would be impossible to get him to stop. Is he going into heat, or did he just miss being with her that much? She can't tell for certain, but it does feel good, despite the ache in her neck.

Faster... Please go faster... Predaking quickens his pace. When he starts feeling the ache in his own neck, he realizes that he's biting too hard, so he releases her neck and licks it to get rid of the Energon and try to make it better. He moans into her neck as Arcee starts moving her hips faster, between the spark merging and the interfacing, he's just overfilled with pleasure. 

"Oh, P-Predaking! Ah!" Arcee moans out as she places a servo on his helm and looks up at the sky. She's so full of bliss and pleasure that she feels like she's about to malfunction and glitch out. Predaking leans back as he thrusts even harder, but still being careful not to go too far in where he'll hurt her.

"Arcee... My queen." Predaking moans as he pulls back to look into her optics. "I love you so much," he says as he sends her waves of love through the bond.

Arcee smiles lazily at him. She's happy to know that he will never throw her to the side and he will stay with her no matter what. He had proved that before already so she doesn't know why she even had that nasty thought, but she's happy that he confirmed it again that she will never lose him. "I love you too."

Predaking kisses her passionately, he will never trade her in for anything; his spark will always belong to her. Arcee breaks from the kiss and throws her helm back as her overload hits her at full force, Predaking was right behind her with his own overload. Their juices mixing together as it splatters onto the ground.

They manage to get enough strength to pull their sparks away from each other and close their spark chambers. But afterward, they lay there exhausted. "I'm gonna have to get back to my team," Arcee says after cooling herself down.

"Stay just a bit longer."

Arcee giggles, "I'll stay until I'm sure I can walk." 

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

Chapter 1 

Next Chapter

[lifetimeshipper]

No End In Sight

Chapter 29

~~~~~~~~~~

"Rafael! Rafael, come in!" Ratchet shouts into the comm as he starts getting agitated. What could that boy be doing that could cause him to stray away from the controls?

:: Ratchet! I'm here! :: Raf finally responds.

"Finally. We need a Ground Bridge."

:: Coming right up. :: Raf responds before he opens a Ground Bridge for them.

The three mechs walk into base, and Ratchet walks over to Raf. "What took you so long? You better not have been messing with my stuff again."

"No, I haven't. I was talking to 'Bee, he's awake now!"

"What? Seriously?" Ratchet, Optimus, and Bulkhead look over at Bumblebee, who is still lying down on the berth, and the yellow mech lifts his helm to look at them.

"Hey, guys. Did I miss anything?"

Ratchet runs over to him, "Bumblebee! How are you feeling?" He asks as he checks him over. Optimus and Bulkhead walk over to him.

"I feel like I was shot in the chest with a missile. I'm just happy I'm still functioning and not with the AllSpark."

"And we're happy to see you awake again, Bumblebee. We were all worried about you," Optimus says with a smile.

"Yeah, we really thought we were gonna lose you at first. But Ratchet worked hard to make sure you stayed with us," Bulkhead adds.

"Rafael has been here at the base every day to be by your side, waiting for you to wake up," Ratchet adds in.

Bumblebee looks around, "Were you able to get Arcee?"

Ratchet and Bulkhead look away from him with a heavy spark while Raf looks down with sad eyes. Optimus closes his optics, "No. We still haven't been successful in getting her back."

Bumblebee lays his helm back as he closes his optics. After everything they've been through, they still haven't had any luck in getting her back. But he won't lose hope that they will get her back one day, and everything will go back to normal.

"Ratchet, maybe you should give Bumblebee some of that stuff that you took. It would really help with his recovery," Bulkhead says half-jokingly. "What did you take anyway? You were a fighting machine out there."

Ratchet laughs as he walks over to the table where he's keeping the other cylinders of Synthetic Energon. "Just a little something I like to call synthen," he says as he picks one up and tosses it to Bulkhead, who was following him with Optimus.

"From the data Bulkhead transcribed?" Optimus asks as Bulkhead examines the Synthetic Energon, "But, I thought the formula was..."

"Incomplete?" Ratchet butts in completing his sentence, "Heh, not anymore."

"So, Ratchet makes a better tough guy than I do a smart guy?" Bulkhead asks as he hands the cylinder of Synthetic Energon over to Optimus.

"Ratchet, I question the wisdom of using yourself as a test subject," Optimus says as he examines the cylinder.

"Well, it certainly helped Ratchet take down those Vehicons by himself. I think we should all try that stuff, or maybe give Ratchet more of it so we can take a vacation."

"I agree that the initial results seem... promising," Optimus says as he walks over to Ratchet. "But I recommend that further testing be confined to machines, not Autobots."

"Optimus, we could really use it right now. With Arcee still being held by the Decepticons and Bumblebee still too injured to fight..." Ratchet tries to argue.

"I understand, old friend, but I will not allow us to be using something that still needs to be studied and tested. We are still uncertain of its capabilities and what effects we could experience by having that stuff inside our bodies. I will not risk falling short another member of our team because there was a bad effect on the body."

Ratchet looks down and stays silent. He knows Optimus is right, but he still can't get rid of the feeling that he could use this stuff to help them get the upper hand over the Decepticons. After everything the Decepticons have been putting them through, they deserve a good thrashing.

~~~~~~~~~~

It didn't take long for Optimus to notice that Ratchet was beginning to neglect his medical duties. Ratchet should be looking after Bumblebee and helping him start his recovery, but instead, he's in the training room showing Bulkhead how he took down all the Vehicons. When a loud crash was heard in the halls, Optimus went to check it out to find Bulkhead lying upside down against the wall, and there was a huge hole in the other wall that looked into the training area. Optimus could see that Ratchet was growing arrogant, but he tried to shrug it off, told himself that it should pass once the Synthetic Energon was out of his system.

Ratchet shoots some more of the synthen into his systems to help him stay on top of his game. He's determined to take down the Decepticons and help end the war for good. But he can't see that the stuff is corrupting him and taking over.

Optimus and Bulkhead are talking to Bumblebee, telling him about everything that has happened since he went unconscious, when the monitors start beeping. Optimus and Bulkhead turn to look at it. "Looks like the 'Cons found some Energon, again," Bulkhead says with slight annoyance.

"Bulkhead, let's roll out."

"Hey, hey, shouldn't we wait for our secret weapon?"

"This mission is unlikely to require some medical expertise."

"But you never know if it may require additional firepower." Optimus turns around to see Ratchet leaning against a wall. Ratchet pushes himself off the wall and walks over to him, "It's just you and Bulkhead right now. You need my help on the battlefield, I won't allow you two to go out there and risk getting hurt."

"Bumblebee needs a doctor right now, he needs you. You need to help him start his recovery process," Optimus tells him.

"I'll start on that when we return from this mission," Ratchet says as he walks over to the Ground Bridge. He turns to look back at them, "Time to put some hurt on those Decepticons."

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

Arcee looks over at Laserbeak, Soundwave had left the room after being summoned by Megatron and it's now just her and Laserbeak who is still laying on the table. She can't stop thinking about Laserbeak's wing and wants to look at it, Soundwave told her it's fine but she still wants to look at it and see how much it has healed. Would Laserbeak even allow her to get near him?

She notices that Laserbeak is still in recharge, so maybe she can check him over and hopefully not wake him. She's gonna have to be quick so Soundwave doesn't catch her, there's no telling how he would react if he caught her messing with Laserbeak. She quietly gets off the berth and moves over to the table.

She looks at Laserbeak's wing and runs a digit over it, it seems to be healing very well. Laserbeak suddenly flies towards her, which startles her. She's about to move back when Laserbeak lands on the table again and presses himself against her body. That was unexpected.

"He likes you."

Arcee turned around quickly to see Soundwave standing there. When did he enter the room? Her optics widen as she starts moving away from Laserbeak. Soundwave smirked behind his visor, it's not every day he sees this strong femme looking startled. He sends one of his appendages over to her and it wraps around her waist to stop her from moving away.

He walks over to her and turns her around so she's facing Laserbeak again, the small mech never moved from his position. Soundwave stood behind her and removed his appendage from her waist, pulling it back to its slot at his side.

"He's very grateful to you for helping him out in the cave." He places his servo over hers and runs her servo over Laserbeak, "As am I."

Arcee's body starts heating up and she fights to keep her fans from kicking in, her processor instantly goes back to a few nights ago when they were in the brig and he was running his servos over her body, feeling out all of her curves. She tries to remove those thoughts and focus on stroking Laserbeak. "It was no problem. I couldn't just leave you two untreated."

"What made you save my life? You could have just left me to die under the rocks. Why didn't you?"

Arcee had to think for a moment, she honestly doesn't know why she did it. She just felt like she needed to do it. "I guess it was my way of paying you back for helping me out."

Soundwave stayed silent as he enjoyed the closeness with her. He came to the room to pick up Laserbeak, he didn't expect to see Arcee standing at the table stroking his wing. He certainly didn't expect to see Laserbeak nuzzle up to her like a sparkling nuzzling up to its carrier. But he's happy that Laserbeak is taking to her so well, especially since she will be his sparkmate soon.

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

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[lifetimeshipper]

No End In Sight

Chapter 28

~~~~~~~~~~

"Ratchet!" Ratchet opens his optics to see Raf on top of him and right in his face. "Wake up!"

Raf starts climbing down off him as he starts to sit up, "Ahh, how can such small beings be so loud?"

"Are you hurt?" Raf asks as he steps back, "You fell."

Ratchet stands up, "I'm fine. I'm..." He clenches his fists and rotates his shoulder, "...more than fine." He looks at his arm to check his health readings, "Ha, energy efficiency is up thirty percent? Motor functions optimal?" He laughs before he looks down at Raf, "Any word from the others?"

Raf just shakes his head. Ratchet takes another look at his arm to check their vitals, "They're both still doing good, thankfully."

:: Ratchet, we need a Ground Bridge. :: Optimus calls in over the comm.

"Did you get the Energon?"

:: No, the Decepticons were once again ahead of us. ::

Ratchet closes his optics as irritation begins to set in. The Decepticons have constantly been a step ahead of them. He won't allow the Decepticons to take more Energon away from them. He opens up a Ground Bridge and looks at Raf, "Man the Ground Bridge." He transforms and drives through; he comes out right over the spot where Optimus and Bulkhead are, and he transforms. He lands on the rock pile and nimbly climbs over it to get to the other side.

Optimus and Bulkhead watch on in amazement. Optimus had never seen his old friend this nimble or fast before. He wonders how he got this boost, but he'll have to question him about it later. :: Ratchet, what are you doing? Fall back, you're outnumbered. ::

Ratchet drives as fast as he can after Knock Out and Breakdown, as the drones fly overhead. "We're always outnumbered, Optimus. We can't keep losing Energon to the Decepticons."

The drones shoot missiles at him, and he swerves, making them miss him before he transforms and slides across the ground. He comes to a halt and looks up in time to see the drones transform and land in a circle surrounding him. Ratchet transforms his servos into his surgical blades and charges at one of them.

Knock Out and Breakdown stop and turn around to watch the show, they expected to see the drones killing off the Autobot, but when they turned around, they found the Autobot skillfully taking down the drones one at a time.

Ratchet jumps up in the air to do a scissors kick onto one of the drones' helm, taking him down before he does a roll towards another drone and stabs him with his blade. Ratchet is surprising himself with how well he's doing, the Synthetic Energon is really working wonders for him.

"Looks like the Autobots brought in a ringer," Knock Out says as he and Breakdown watch from the side.

"Well, then I'll ring his bell," Breakdown says as he revs up his engine to jump into the fight. Blast shots hit the ground right in front of them, and they look to see Optimus and Bulkhead shooting at them and the drones as they jump down off the rock pile.

"It'll have to wait!" Knock Out and Breakdown turn around and drive off.

Ratchet takes down the last few drones and sets a foot on top of one to show his victory. One drone was still standing. He walked up behind Ratchet to attack him, but Ratchet raised a fist and hit him, knocking him out. "Hooah!"

"Let's head back to base so we can discuss what just happened," Optimus states.

"Sure thing," Ratchet says before he gets on his comm, "Raf, we need a Ground Bridge."

There was no response, no Ground Bridge, nothing.

"Raf?"

~~~~~~~~~~

Arcee sat in the brig as she thought about the frag she had with Soundwave. Her Autobot side is still scolding her for fragging a Decepticon, but her femme side feels pleased. She should be ashamed of herself for enjoying it so much, but it felt too good, and it was nice to feel that feeling again. In all honesty, if Soundwave wanted to do it again, she wouldn't hesitate.

She looks up at the door when she hears it open, and she sees Soundwave standing there. A light tint of blue appears on her face. Why does he always appear right when she's thinking about him? She looks at him as she wonders why he's just standing there and not coming into the brig. Does he not want to get close to her now? Maybe he was only giving her all that attention because he only wanted a good frag, and now he wants nothing to do with her. Why does that thought hurt?

"Lord Megatron says you can come out of the brig now," Soundwave finally says. He had to take a moment to recollect himself because as soon as he saw her, the images of her without her armor flashed through his processor.

Arcee stands up, "Really?" What is he up to?

"Yes. But you must stay with me in my room, I'm in charge of you."

Arcee's not sure how she should feel about this. She's happy that she can finally get out of this brig, but having to stay with Soundwave means no chance of escaping. Does she even want to escape from him?

What is she thinking? Of course, she needs to get back to her team; that's her top priority. But for now, she just has to take the situation as it is and try to come up with an escape plan later. She walks over to Soundwave, he turns to lead her out into the corridors of the ship. She feels so relieved to be out of the brig, she can finally look at something else besides blank walls and dark corners. She knows that she's gonna be locked up in Soundwave's room now, her new prison, but it'll be better than the brig.

Arcee looks around at the familiar room as soon as she walks in, still looks the same as it had before. She walks over to Soundwave's berth and sits down. She watches Soundwave as he walks over to the cabinet where he keeps his Energon stock. "I believe it's been a little while since you last had some Energon." He pushes the button to open the cabinet, grabs two Energon cubes, then closes it. He walks over to her and hands her a cube before he sits down on the berth next to her. He takes off his visor and sets it down before he starts drinking his Energon.

"Thank you," Arcee says as she raises her cube in a toast gesture before she starts drinking. After taking two gulps of it, she stops drinking and looks at him. "I believe, according to the human rules, we're supposed to have sex after the date, not before," she teases.

Soundwave was taken by surprise by her tease, and he choked on his Energon. He had to stop drinking. He composed himself before he looked over at her, "Would this be considered a date?"

"Well, we are alone in this room and we're drinking Energon together, so yeah, I would consider it a date," Arcee replied before she drank some more of her Energon.

"We're not completely alone," Soundwave says as he looks down at Laserbeak on his chest.

Arcee looks down at Laserbeak as well, feeling a bit bad that she had forgotten about him. "Is he still awake while he's resting on your chest, or does he recharge?"

"Most of the time he stays awake, but sometimes when there isn't anything for him to do, he'll recharge for a bit."

"How's his wing?"

"It's been healing up very nicely, thanks to you." He places the cube down on the berth before getting up and walking over to the table where Laserbeak usually recharges, and places Laserbeak on the table. He lets him recharge as he walks back over to the berth, "I don't believe I ever thanked you for helping him, and helping me."

Arcee sets her cube down and gets up, "It was no problem," she says as she runs her servo over his shoulder. "Is your shoulder better?"

"Yes."

Arcee looks over his face before looking into his optics, "Why do you hide such a beautiful face and optics behind a visor?"

Soundwave's spark skipped a pulse. He never thought he would ever get such a compliment from her. "It was part of my vow of silence, and I needed a way to be able to access any electronics to help Lord Megatron in the war," he says as he moves in closer to her. His optics keep drifting down to her lips as the urge to kiss her grows.

Arcee turns away and picks up her Energon cube. "We should finish our Energon and get some rest," she says before drinking some of the Energon. Soundwave nods as he picks up his cube and begins drinking it. They finish with their Energon, and Soundwave places the cubes on the floor in a corner where he usually puts his empty cubes.

Arcee lies down on the berth, Soundwave looks at her for a moment before he picks up his visor and puts it on. He has a small debate with himself on whether he should lie on the berth with her or not, but he quickly decides that he will. After all, it's his room and his berth, so he has the right to lie wherever he pleases. He lies down on the berth with a little bit of space between him and Arcee, and he closes his optics to fall into recharge.

Arcee looks over at him, but she doesn't object to him laying next to her. She rolls over onto her side as she gets closer to him, she lays a servo on his chest as she lays her helm on his shoulder. Soundwave stiffens for a second as he opens his optics, he looks down at her to make sure she's actually laying on him and he's not dreaming.

Arcee can't explain why, but she feels so safe with him. Even though she's on the Decepticons' warship surrounded by her enemies, she feels like nothing could happen to her when she's with him.

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

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[lifetimeshipper]

No End In Sight

Chapter 27

~~~~~~~~~~

"No progress yet?" Ratchet asks as he walks over to Raf.

"No. I've tried everything I can think of, talking to him, playing sounds of race cars, but nothing seems to be working to help him wake up."

"It might not work for some. But keep trying, it may still work," Ratchet tells him with enthusiasm. He still doesn't believe it would work with Bumblebee with how far gone he is, but if it makes the kid happy and more hopeful, then let him keep trying.

Ratchet walks over to his workbench and Raf follows deciding to take a small break from playing stuff that he hopes will help Bumblebee wake up. He walks over to the medic as he looks into a microscope to examine the Synthetic Energon. "Is that the Synthetic Energon?" Raf asks with curiosity.

Ratchet looks up from the microscope to look at the boy, "Well, yes. In fact, I'm preparing to test a sample," he responds as he picks up a canister with the Synthetic Energon and places it into some kind of injector. "I see you brought protective goggles."

Raf's face lit up with pure happiness, "I can watch?"

Normally, Ratchet wouldn't allow anyone to watch him do his experiments or even get on his workbench, but if it'll get Raf's mind off of Bumblebee and cheer him up for a quick moment, he'll allow it. Ratchet chuckles as Raf jumps down from the platform he was standing on, onto the workbench. Ratchet inserts the injector into a machine to insert the Synthetic Energon into it.

"We just add some to this test engine..." Ratchet says before he trails off and the two watch the engine to see if it'll start powering up. The engine releases some steam and starts revving up.

Raf runs towards it all excitedly, "It works! We should tell the team!"

"Ep, ep, this iteration requires further trial before we can even think about using it for fuel, ammunition, or first aid. Which is rather unfortunate since our Energon reserves are at an all-time low... Our severely outnumbered warriors have been burning through our stockpile as of late, especially with Bumblebee in the state he's in now and needing so much Energon put into him just to keep his spark pulsing..."

Ratchet pauses as he and Raf look over to the scout who's lying on the medical berth, still unconscious. "As the Decepticon army continues to run us ragged and grind us down. Since they took Arcee, they've been getting the upper hand over us, almost completely destroying us. We're all still trying to recover from our fight with her when she badly injured us, and Megatron's been exploiting it... Natural Energon is in such short supply on your planet, and Megatron seems to have his oily claws buried deep in all the Earth's deposits. But, if we can successfully produce a synthetic form, we can manufacture all the energy we'll ever need."

Raf feels a lot of sympathy for the 'Bots; they've been through so much recently. With Arcee getting captured by the Decepticons, them having to fight her and almost getting killed by her, Megatron using her as bait to get them into a trap where Bumblebee ended up getting severely injured, as well as everything else. They've been through so much pain and suffering lately, both physically and emotionally, and Raf can't help but feel sorry for them. He wishes he could help them in some way, but there's nothing he can do except support them as much as possible.

Their attention was pulled toward the monitors when the red lights started flashing and it started beeping. Optimus and Bulkhead walk towards it to see what's displaying on the screen. "More Energon on the move, again," Bulkhead states with a hint of annoyance in his tone. Every time a signal for Energon pops up it always turns out that the Decepticons were one step ahead of them and they escape with the Energon. 

The red lights shut off, and the monitor stops beeping as it tracks the Energon. "Their recent events suggest a familiar pattern," Optimus says as he turns around, "The Decepticons are desperately scouting for new deposits to mine. Autobots...!"

"Optimus..." Ratchet interrupts as he gets in front of him, "First of all, it's only you and Bulkhead."

Optimus turns to look at the big green mech before looking back at Ratchet, "Right, out of habit."

"We'll have the whole team back together, and you can use that phrase again in no time. The second thing I wanted to say is that if either of you comes back wounded this time, well... Our Energon reserves are nearly depleted," Ratchet finishes with a heavy spark.

"Understood. Activate the Ground Bridge." Ratchet instantly opens the Ground Bridge. Optimus looks back at Bulkhead, "Bulkhead, let's roll out!" The two transform and drive through the Ground Bridge.

Ratchet watches them leave and vents out a sigh, "Sometimes I wish I could do more." In that instant an idea pops into his processor, if the Synthetic Energon needs to be tested on a bot there's none better than him. Better to put himself as a test subject than get one of the others to do it.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Still no word from Knock Out and Breakdown?" Megatron asked Soundwave in irritation. Soundwave just shook his helm. "Why is it taking them so long to find a fresh Energon deposit?"

Soundwave continued with his work, typing away as he tried his best to keep from thinking about what he did with Arcee in the brig. The sight of her sexy body without armor and the sound of her moaning his name with her sweet voice constantly plays over and over in his processor. No matter how hard he tries to forget it and focus on other stuff, he always finds himself thinking about it.

"Soundwave." The silent mech stops typing and turns to look at Megatron with a questionable look, although Megatron can't see it behind his visor, he still knows it's there. "We never discussed the lack of obedience you showed the other day. I will let it go this time because you were calming down Arcee, and I'm sure you were in dire need to relieve yourself, but don't ever do it again," he says in a threatening tone. He never thought he would have to use it with Soundwave, but it seems the mech needed a small reminder of where his place is.

Soundwave nodded to show his understanding. He didn't mean to disobey his master, but he was caught up in the moment, and Arcee was willingly giving herself up. No way in Pit was he gonna pass up the opportunity to frag Arcee when she was giving her consent.

"Go take her out of the brig, she'll be staying with you in your room. I put her completely in your charge."

Soundwave nods before walking off to go to the brig. He's surprised that Megatron is letting her come out, but he's happy that he's gonna be able to spend a bit more time with her besides just having brief visits with her in the brig.

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

Chapter 1

Next Chapter