nonsscrapheap

[nonsscrapheap]

TFP: Universal Observations

this chapter is a monster.

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

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

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

ANYWAY! i hope you enjoy :)

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

The Nemesis

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

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

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

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

"… Shit…" ]

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

And for what reason?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All the way from Iacon, too.

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

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

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

What can he say, he was generous like that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Suddenly, the screen flashed with text.

[ - FIVE YEARS AGO -

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Somehow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Something on your mind, Knock Out?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That it does.

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

"Woah docbot! Calm down!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Fuck."

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

Wheeljack gritted his teeth, "Watch me." ]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[ - SIX MONTHS LATER -

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

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

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

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

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

.: Possibly… why? :.

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

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

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

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

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

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

And if he's Cybertronian… well…

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

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

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

[ - TWO MONTHS LATER -

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Hehehehe!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[ "Shit, sorry."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Still not fair."

Meanwhile, a Wrecker spoke with a medic.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"… What?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

( "There are other aliens out there?"

"Miko, the Autobots are aliens."

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

"Aw thanks Miko."

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

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

"Sweet!" )

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"… Miko Nakadai."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Quintessons?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

…

..

.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Any new symptoms?"

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

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

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

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

But now, he was fully paying attention again.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And with how intense Lord Megatron was watching the screen…

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Win what? A helmache?" )

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"RUNG!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But in mecha universe, he was a psychiatrist.

Was he usually a psychiatrist?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

( "Pause." )

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

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

That, somehow, was far more worrying.

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

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

RUNG IS HERE

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

AND ALSO HE'S DEAD BECAUSE REASONS

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

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

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

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Chapter 7 of TFP: Universal Observations is now up!

we continue updating in PRIDE MONTH YEAHHH!!!

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i can't believe it's done 🥹🥹

finally finished the tfone animatic i've been working on 🥳

yt link for better quality :)))

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are you acepting sugestions and are you going Just make them react to your aus or making tem like caracteres from another franchise like call-center of duty or something?

not accepting suggestions at the moment! and also i wont have them react to other franchises and fandoms UNLESS it's a crossover, also i dont know call of duty.

again, for now, its all going to be aus that ive thought of in my way. theres already a crossover or two for certain aus with other fandoms (ish on one au, not a complete crossover but a cameo, character involvement type situation)

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Just curious you Will do Just aus That you created or you acept sugestions? and please Tell me you are not gonna do that of shiping optimus and megatron in All aus please ps:im from Brasil my inglish is not ver good

for now i'm not accepting suggestions! i've got a handful of aus from myself that i want to focus first for reactions before i move on to other suggestions and continuities!

in other aus, there WILL be other pairings, or no pairings. it will depend on the au and what i feel like. i enjoy megop, and also megop is kind of crucial for mecha au? and the overall plot for universal observations.

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keep the trans in transformers

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I'm guessing OP and Megs in the Alien Mecha universe Conjunx Enduras? Their not gonna like hearing that...

heuhehehEHUAHAUHAUHHHahHAHAHAHHAHHH

yeah

it's...

going to be great >:3

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Hi there!! Hope you're doing well!! Just wanted to say that I LOVE the direction it's going with TFP UO, it's genuinely so so cool and interesting!!! I have to contain myself from jumping up and down or scream at the top of my lungs whenever I see a new update fjxtjxkt.

If I'm able to ask, when the Observers are in full capacity and function, can Rung be able to see both the Autobots and Decepticons?? Cause I wonder if he's able to see different observers from a same universe or not.

Anyways LOVE your AU sm and expect fanart from me for it muehehe 😏😏😈

HEHUHEUHEHEH THANK YOU!!!! uo ended up being far more than i anticipated but i don't mind! i even have a surprise for you all when we get to the end of act 2 >:3

hopefully you'll like it because i have brainrotted myself and two others with it SO MUCH it has become a partial motivator as to why i'm focusing on uo so much lately. like, i NEED to finish the mecha au reactions and get to this and finish THAT to be able to get to the surprise. HOWEVER i also NEED to finish mecha au to show you guys one of the things i've been WAITING TO WRITE FOR SO LONG and have the bots and cons react to it as well >:D

also, yes! actually, unbeknownst to either side, rung had seen BOTH of them- it was staticky, and he couldn't see them completely but he KNOWS that there are two groups watching. he hasn't said anything though just in case neither of them knew each other- it's happened before and that ended... not too good.

like i said, we'll get to more lore about the Observers eventually :)

ALSO FANART?? HELLO??? I AM- I'D BE HONORED!!! THANK YOU!!! LOOKING FORWARD TO IT UEHAUHSHASDHAJSDHAS

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Do you have an ending in mind for Universal Observations? Because a lot of things in canon will be changed after their done watching. Or any lore behind the Observers?

i have a skeleton of an outline for the overall plot, as for the ending- we're not there yet and that's okay! we're just going to see where this ends up. im usually a go with the flow kind of person and only started outlining and planning stuff ahead recently but that's mostly what i do.

and yes, there is lore behind the Observers and slowly, but surely, we will see bits and pieces of... something about these universal observing devices :)

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I'm going to begin writing the react to swap fic MYSELF! Ty for inspiring me! Btw I am going to start right after putting this out.

I AM LOOKING AT YOU SMOLESTBREIN, I AM LOOKING AT YOU SO MUCH!! YES! WE NEED MORE REACTION FICS IN THE TRANSFORMERS FANDOM!

heuheheHEHEUHEUHUHAUHHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHH

ahem

no need for thanks! im glad i inspired you into writing :DDD

sounds great! looking forward to reading the reaction!!! like genuinely, im still so entrenched into this fandom and i love reaction fics- be it at canon or au and stuff, so like this is absolutely FANTASTIC

@ me when you have it up! i want to know as soon as you get it out :D

and good luck with writing! hoping your brainrot becomes just as much as kev and i's brainrots are (it is SO MUCH you DO NOT UNDERSTA—)

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TFP: Universal Obversations

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH EVERYONE! first update of pride month and it's UO! because the brainrot is extremely real and i just cannot stop my motivation in writing this story despite my want to do Twice The Primes and Dance of the Fire Bot. i won't argue with my motivations, i just write what i feel like writing and it's mostly Universal Observations.

yeah this chapter beat out last chapter, again. it is... 12.9k words long, literally less than 30 words more and i would've hit 13k. was tempted to do so, but decided- yeah let's just go. i wanna update. so here we are!

i hope you all enjoy!

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

Omega Outpost One

[ Megatron glared down at him, before sighing deeply. Reaching down to grab Optimus' servo in his, grunting as he pulled the mech up from his precarious position and into his arms. One arm around his chassis and the other underneath Optimus' knees, holding him bridal style. "What have I said about leaving my side, my Prime?" He growled, leaning in to glare directly into Optimus' optics before smirking. "I can't leave you for even a klik, can I?"

Optimus' battlemask snapped open, revealing a small, fond smile on his faceplate. "I would apologize, but it was not my fault this time my Protector. I am entirely blameless in this endeavor."

Megatron's smirk turned into a charmed smile, "We'll see about that, but for now…" He raised his helm, letting Optimus down from his hold as they stood back-to-back. Surrounded by all sides by large, monstrous creatures with Soldier Quintessons riding atop them. "Let's deal with these mongrels, shall we?" His fusion cannon hummed to life, charging.

Optimus' battlemask snapped close as he readied his axe. "We shall." ]

"PAUSE! PAUSE PAUSE PAUSE—"

The last couple of hours have been... strange to say the least. Bulkhead hadn’t exactly gotten out of berth expecting to watch Alternate Universes today after all, his expectations were the usual; patrol a bit, pick Miko up from her host parent’s place and head back to base, hang out with Miko at base, patrol some more when it was his turn. Maybe dent a few con faceplates if given the chance.

But no, instead, a weird orb thing (now known as an Observer apparently) gets found in their storage and it was a weird path from there. That weird world where Optimus was uh, and then the Actor world, and now this?

Don’t get him wrong! Bulkhead was all for giant robots fighting- ignoring the weird feeling of watching something that looked Cybertronian (even if empurata-like), didn’t sound Cybertronian, moved somewhat like a Cybertronian but wrong that threatened to set off all his warning programs in his processor- it was great! Especially considering one of the robots was being piloted by Miko! His charge and best little buddy and human best friend!

She was even called Wrecker, how cool was that? He’d been so excited to tell Jackie all about it in his next message to him.

But then it dawned on him how fragged Earth’s situation kind of was with the Quintessons- clued in by Miko- err, Wrecker’s reaction to Ra-Senscript’s fifth port. Given to him by human Shockwave of all me- uh, humans? (Human Shockwave’s name was Waltz Stein, could you believe it?? He still couldn’t!)

And then there was that- flashback scene? That moment, that picture. At first, he could’ve sworn that mecha suit looked familiar until-

“WHEELJACK!”

Wrecker had screamed his name as she was taken through that Quintesson spacebridge and Bulkhead’s spark dropped to his tanks. On one servo, Wheeljack was human- that was pretty cool! Plus, he was a pilot! On the other hand, whatever happened to him... Bulkhead hoped that human Jackie was okay, was alive. For Wrecker’s sake, with how she screamed, she must’ve cared for him a lot...

Did that mean Bulkhead was human here too?

Seemed like all Cybertronians were human here, or so Bulkhead had thought until the Observer suddenly showed... Cybertron.

Alive.

Hanging in there with Praxus being attacked, but Praxus was being attacked; it had been standing! Cybertron was alive here! His home planet was still kicking!

Only, well; Praxus was being attacked. No doubt by cons.

Optimus wasn’t a human, that was a relief- not that Bulkhead had anything against humans or the thought of his leader being a human in another universe! It was just a weird thought y’know? Shockwave was already one thing, Wheeljack, another. But Optimus? He’d need to get used to the idea first.

So seeing Optimus as a normal Cybertronian was nice- less nice was the fact his leader was in a familiar war zone. Although it was cool to see him with his axe again, Optimus was a beast with that thing. Miko was right to be disappointed at the fact Optimus didn’t have it anymore or couldn’t get another one like it, the cons would’ve been dealt with a bit easier if Optimus still had that axe.

‘Course all good things must come to an end... something he really hoped wouldn’t happen when Other Optimus almost got knocked off into a canyon-sized fissure. Primus.

And then he appeared.

Other Megatron.

Bulkhead felt rage in his spark at the sight of the damned warlord, of course he wasn’t the only one to be angry. They all were, they shouted at the screen, as if their insults and threats would breach through universes and negatively affect the silver tin can and prevent him from even daring to think of laying a single scummy servo on Optimus.

Ratchet had certainly been going at it like as if that would happen, Primus that medic knew swears that Bulkhead didn’t know of! And he grew up in the slums and worked alongside some surly mechs when he was a construction bot! Not to mention the way he was weaving Earth insults into Cybertronian too? Bulkhead kept those in mind, feeling kinda awed by Ratchet’s storm of curses and threats. Another thing to tell Wheeljack later, heh.

Then something happened that came completely out of left field, if that was the right way to use that human phrase; Megatron did lay a scummy servo on Optimus but he... pulled him up? What?

And then he was saying stuff like ‘not leaving his side’ and ‘My Prime’? What??

And the way he was acting, the way Other Optimus was acting, bantering? ‘My Protector’ what?? Megatron had his servos on Optimus but he wasn’t- Bulkhead’s optics had to glance down to Megatron’s chestplate just to make sure that symbol was purple and y’know, a Decepticon symbol- the other world with the nice Megatron (fragging weird as pit) had the Decepticon symbol red after all but nope. Still purple.

And the symbol on Other Optimus’ shoulder was an Autobot and red, so the factions clearly existed but—

Why the frag did they seem so chummy?

No, chummy wasn't the right word. Not with the way Other Megatron had been smirking at Other Optimus. It was almost like they were- were they?? No. No. Right? But. Uh. Wait—

Just as Other Optimus and Megatron were about to duke it out with the Quintessons (the Quintessons were attacking Praxus?!) Ratchet had called frantically for an immediate pause.

He doesn't know which one of the kids paused the screen, too busy gawking at said screen as it paused in a kinda cinematic way- with both other versions of his leader and the Decepticon leader back to back, surrounded by the largest and ugliest Quintessons they've seen yet being ridden by those Solider unit Quintessons earlier on with the Other kids.

For a moment, there's a tense silence- mostly upheld by the disbelief as no one could tear their optics away from the screen right now. The question still stood in Bulkhead's processor.

"Was Megatron flirting with Optimus?" The question slips out of his intake before he could stop it, or the next one. "And was Optimus flirting back?"

He couldn't even imagine Optimus flirting in the first place, the Prime was too stoic and focused on the war to do so. And yet he couldn't help but think that was the case when Other Optimus was speaking to- Other Megatron of all mechs!

"No! Impossible!" Ratchet retorted fiercely, the medic searing his optics at Bulkhead in a glare and usually it would make Bulkhead flinch back, sheepish but the Wrecker was too focused on the screen with bewilderment to even do that. "They were not flirting!"

"Uh, I dunno Ratch, he seems kinda close to King Con there." Miko pointed out, looking extremely fascinated by the screen, human eyes wide with a considering look on her face. Considering? Considering? Just what was she considering about? Bulkhead didn't know, and maybe he didn't want to know. "They're fighting together. Literally back to back on screen right there."

Ratchet spluttered, glancing back to the screen and scowling. "It's because they're working against a common foe! Clearly the Quintessons are of a greater threat than we realize there if Optimus is working with Megatron. Otherwise, the two would be at each other's energon tubing!" He reasoned, and- yeah that made sense.

Because if there's going to be a threat against Cybertron bigger than even each other, then the only logical thing to do was to team up against it. Still pretty jarring to see Optimus and Megatron together like that though, the Actor world had been the same but this was different. These weren't actors, they weren't mechs pretending to be leaders in a world of fiction, these were actual alternate counterparts to the leaders of the Autobots and Decepticons.

"Okay. Okay." Jack said, glancing back and forth between screen Optimus and- well, their Optimus. Optimus himself was looking at the screen with an incomprehensible look, even more than usual than his usual stoic look. Bulkhead can't even imagine how Optimus was feeling right now. "So… Quintessons made Optimus and Megatron team up since the enemy of my enemy is an ally, and Cybertron is alive."

The phrase Cybertron is alive hit Bulkhead harder than he'd expect it to. Because, it was wasn't it? In that world where the Quintessons attacked, Cybertron was alive, the cons actually called for a ceasefire and decided to work together with them to keep those things from taking over their planet.

.: Um… it still doesn't explain why Megatron called Optimus 'My Prime' or Optimus calling Megatron 'My Protector'? :. Bumblebee hesitantly said, and no one could reply or even try to explain that because… well, it's absurd. Megatron would never call Optimus 'My Prime', and Optimus calling Megatron his protector? Not a chance in the world…

In their world.

But in this 'Mecha' world?

"I'm starting to see why that mech warned us about whatever the frag we'd see with the Observer." Arcee muttered aloud, tense in her seat as she eyed the floating screen warily. A complicated expression on her faceplate.

That mech?

"You mean Rung?" Jack asked, finally reminding Bulkhead of who Arcee was talking about, giving Arcee a confused look. Rung, right, the orange mech with the other Observer. That gave them all the warnings and slag. Shouldn't have been hard to remember, considering that weird moment with his optics and all that, yet his name had slipped Bulkhead's processor there for a moment. "Guess so, best to keep in mind what he said. Whatever we see isn't exactly something we can apply here- not really? Just… try not to let it get to you guys. Seems like Megatron is an ally in that world, and is uh- close to Optimus."

It's an absurd thing to think of, after millennia of war, eons of conflict, years of battle… But Jack was right, and the proof was right there in front of them. The Autobots and Decepticons existed in another world, and that clearly meant the war was going on, but with the Quintessons around and Cybertron in danger from them…

"Jack is right." Optimus said, finally speaking and gaining the attention of everyone. "I cannot speak for the decisions of my other selves in these alternate universes that we see, especially the first world we saw-" Ah right, that world, Bulkhead shivered, "-as the differences between our worlds becomes clear. Although similar, like Jack said, we must keep in mind what Rung has warned us about, to not let the contents of each world deeply affect us in a manner that would prevent us from doing our duty of protecting Earth from Megatron and his Decepticons."

Unknown to almost all, with the exception of perhaps Ratchet, behind his stoic facade, underneath the emotional suppression that helped keep him calm, Optimus was rather happy at the sight of him and Megatron fighting side by side in what seemed to be an actual, amicable (?) relationship. The part of him that regretted trying to kill Megatron from the spacebridge explosion, the same part that still cherished the moments of Orion Pax and Megatronus, was overjoyed in fact.

( An ex-gladiator stood in stunned silence, optics trained on the screen. He's been like that for a few kliks now, frozen, quiet. It was unnerving, perhaps if one was opportunistic enough, they could have attempted to attack him right this moment yet no one in the room could do so as they too, were stunned into silence.

The silence was only broken by a single seeker's shriek, "What the frag?!" )

Raf, who was back in Bumblebee's servos rather than Ratchet after the medic had returned the boy to the scout's custody just so he could freely swear at the screen, spoke up. "I'm actually curious as to what's happening in that world- Optimus said that the Quintessons were wiped out here a long, long time ago. But there, they're not. Did they end up finding Cybertron late here? Did they still attack Cybertron during the era of the Thirteen Primes but retreated just in time to avoid going extinct and were just, biding their time? Also, since Shockwave and Wheeljack and um, whoever else is human- how did that effect the war between you Autobots and the Decepticons? Did it lead to Optimus and Megatron becoming, uh, allies, or was it really the Quintessons that forced them to band together?"

The kids were certainly something, Bulkhead hadn't expected to become so attached to them when they first showed up. No one in the team probably expected it either, but the moment they saw Other Raf, Senscript, bleeding from the nose from overextending himself in testing that damned cortical psychic patch link, they had worried.

Bumblebee and Ratchet especially, Raf had given up trying to reassure them verbally and let the scout scoop him into his hold once more. Offering the yellow mech all the physical comfort he could give in his small size, it had made Bulkhead's spark clench in his spark chamber.

And oh, when Senscript got hurt by the Quintessons? Bumblebee had nearly lost it, reminding Bulkhead of that unfortunate clip of future Bee buzzing angrily at Megatron in the Actor universe. The one where they predicted Raf's near-death… It really cemented just how much the humans meant to them. ( And how fragile they could be. )

And now here they were, listening to his questions and considering it for themselves. It certainly helped calm them down a bit as they considered them.

Was it weird that Optimus and Megatron were… allies in another world? Certainly, but that was just it. Another world. Another universe. It was weird, and unlikely, but it happened there.

Didn't mean it had to happen here. Or could.

The likelihood of Megatron deciding to work with Optimus was low, and him considering peace was even lower. Not without a common enemy, which they didn't have here.

"Good questions, Raf. Questions that will hopefully be answered as we continue watching. I, too, am curious as to what happened in this world. And the ramifications and side effects to some of our people no longer being involved in the war." Optimus said with a small smile.

Bulkhead tried to imagine not having Jackie around during the war, imagined not having Shockwave around for the war. "I can't imagine not having Wheeljack be part of the Wreckers, but at least he was with you Miko." He said, grinning at his charge who whooped and grinned back. They didn't say anything about Wheeljack's disappearance, trusting and hoping that the mech… man? Was okay and alive.

.: Well… I am kinda wondering who else is human and who stayed Cybertronian. :. Bumblebee whirred, glancing between them all.

"Yeah! That too! I wanna know who's human now- I kinda hope you're human Bee, I wanna know what you look like as one." Raf beamed, something Bee mirrored as they all began to wonder what they would look like as human.

"We didn't really see what Shockwave or Wheeljack looked like as human, Shockwave had that weird mask over his face and Wheeljack uh- he was in his mecha." Miko said as she lounged back against the couch. "Wonder if Bulk's human here too."

Jack, in contrast, sat on the edge, leaning forward to look at Arcee. "Yeah, I mean- you got that hologram of yours Arcee but I don't think it has a face? I'm wondering what you'd look like as human."

"Yeah, doesn't have a face, can't move that well either. I just use that hologram to make sure no one knows I can drive by myself." Arcee replied dryly but was smiling as she too, wondered.

Ratchet was grumbling, still glaring slightly at the screen before sighing. "I suppose we should continue viewing if we really want to know… Primus, the thought of Megatron working with you Optimus is…" He didn't finish, shaking his helm instead. "Let's just get this over with, children?"

"On it Ratch! Observer, continue!" Miko exclaimed grandly, excited to see what came next.

[ Megatron and Optimus fought well together, extremely well. They covered each other's weakspots and wordlessly assisted the other with no sign other than a simple glance. Together, even the monstrous Quintesson beasts were having trouble in trying to take them both down.

Optimus mostly using his axe and limbs, occasionally shifting a servo into a blaster but mostly swinging his axe, while Megatron used his signature cannon and blade. ]

"Woah… King Con and Optimus fight absurdly well together." Miko breathed, awed by the flawless, almost elegant teamwork between the leaders of the Autobots and the Decepticons. Bulkhead had to admit, it was quite the sight.

Ratchet huffed, eyeing the battle as it continued on. "I'm not surprised, though its been eons since they fought together side by side—"

"Optimus and Megatron fought together before?" Raf interrupted, wincing before sending an apologetic look at Ratchet who waved it off.

"Yes, though it was before Autobots and Decepticons existed. In the golden age of Cybertron."

Jack glanced over to Optimus, "You mentioned it before, when we first met. You called Megatron your brother, or well, you once considered him a brother? You were close…"

"Indeed." Optimus answered softly, a look of nostalgia on his faceplate, in his optics as he watched them both fight so well together against the attacking Quintesson soldiers and their beastly mounts. "Megatron, Megatronus then, was actually the one who inspired and taught me how to fight…"

Miko snorted, "Wonder if he regrets teaching you now, since you can take him head on!"

Did he? Bulkhead had known that there was history between Optimus and Megatron but he hadn't exactly known how far it went…

Optimus didn't answer, optics watching the screen intently.

( A warlord finally sits down, ignoring the clamor of his subordinates as he watched the fight. His optics taking in the sight of his nemesis and his other fighting together side-by-side once more. It brought up memories that he thought he long buried, brought up emotions that he thought completely discarded, brought up thoughts he had pushed aside for millennia.

Usually it would send him into a rage, make him scowl, glower and sneer. But right now… watching the effortless team work… Seeing Other Optimus completely trust his alternate self in battle, that fond smile from before…

He stayed silent.

Watching. )

[ .: This is Lord Megatron to Prowl, lock onto my coordinates- I have found our missing Prime. We are currently dealing with a squadron of Quintesson drones and soldiers, Optimus Prime has sustained injuries, his helm is dented which is why no one's comms were able to reach him. :. Megatron grunted as he took a small dull moment during the battle to contact reinforcements, flicking away Quintesson gore off his blade.

Optimus was doing the same, taking in a brief vent as the Quintessons backed away warily, giving them a moment of reprieve.

Prowl's voice came in immediately, .: Coordinates locked on and confirmed Lord High Protector, reinforcements incoming in 8 kliks and counting. Evacuation of Praxus at 79% percent with minimal casualties but several major injuries from all factions. Fatalities will be counted after the evacuation, but estimations lie in the hundreds amongst the civilians Lord High Protector and are likely to grow. :. Megatron didn't look happy at that, yet quietly confirmed it all the same. ]

"Prowl? Aw man! I haven't heard Prowl's voice print in so long!" Bulkhead laughed, a bit delighted in hearing the mech's voice from the screen. Though his joy was dampened slightly by Prowl's words, torn from the information they were getting.

They were at the point of the war where civilians were still a thing, non-combatants that were living in cities. And Praxus was falling right before their optics, again.

"Who's Prowl?"

Arcee answered Miko, "The Autobot's best tactician, used to be Optimus' right hand mech when it came to tactics and plans but we lost contact with him shortly after the Exodus from Cybertron." She grimaced with a sigh.

.: He and a few other Autobots were supposed to come with Bulkhead, Ratchet, Optimus and I to Earth but there was too little time and they had to get on another ship instead. :. Bumblebee whirred sadly, causing Bulkhead and Arcee to nod as Raf relayed what Bee said to Miko and Jack.

"We could've had more bots here? Dang! Would've really evened the odds with the cons." Miko grumbled, making Bulkhead to nod again. So far, they'd been doing fairly well against Megatron and the Decepticons, they were vastly outnumbered, sure most of the cons were vehicons but underestimating those guys would be a rookie mistake.

Just look at Cliffjumper.

Not that he'll ever say it aloud, or within Arcee's audial vicinity, he liked living. Thanks.

Ratchet squinted at the screen, "'Lord High Protector?'" He repeated incredulously with a hint of curiosity.

"That supposed to mean anything?" Jack asked the medic who shared looks with Optimus. "Sounds like it should."

"No, it does not." Optimus denied, shaking his helm with a muted but curious look on his faceplate. "It is not a title that Ratchet nor even I, know of." Which is something considering Optimus usually knew esoteric and obscure information- probably because of the Matrix considering it was said to the repository of knowledge from Primes of Old.

( "Soundwave, search for the term, 'Lord High Protector.'"

A visored mech sat in silence (the room finally back in order after a warlord snapped at them to stop making so much noise) but on the screens of a warship, multiple databases, articles, information banks were flipped through in rapidly quick succession before a big red X appeared both on the screens and the mech's visor.

"Hm…" )

[ "Megatron!" Optimus suddenly called out, tense as the Quintessons let out a startling noise. Loud, abrupt, yet commanding. Megatron tensed as well, bracing himself for whatever was about to happen. Only for him and Optimus to reel back in shock as the Quintessons suddenly retreated, roaring overhead, and heading towards another direction.

.: Prowl! The Quintessons are— :. Megatron was suddenly interrupted, he was disgruntled by it but grew serious as Prowl exclaimed.

.: They're not retreating! I'm getting reports from all over Praxus, they're converging to a single spot in the city! An unknown Quintesson spacebridge just opened! :.

"Optimus!" Megatron barked, alarmed by the sudden change of events. ]

"That doesn't seem good." Raf gulped, seeing the remaining Quintessons, the horrible gigantic beasts and the soldier units, suddenly- not retreat as Prowl said, but head elsewhere in the city.

"Quintesson spacebridge?" Jack repeated with a click of realization, he shared a look with the rest of his friends and the bots. "You don't think…"

"Oh, I do think." Ratchet replied with a grimace.

[ The screen changed to a familiar mechanical hand slamming into the ground, an earthquake following afterwards as the ground vibrated hard underneath its palm. "WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE?!" Wrecker screamed, panicked and enraged at the sight of incoming XTRs.

Besides her, Tailbreaker was carving into a gigantic beast with his blades, mechanical hands tugging at incoming tentacles to tear them apart. .: No idea! But we need to protect Senscript until he can wake up and tell us where we are! :.

They were both stationed in front of Senscript's unmoving mecha that was slumped in a little alcove to some gigantic building neither of them recognized. The 'Apex Armor' disk was tucked into Senscript's smaller hands, both his cortical cord and sensory crown were thankfully retracted back into his helm though he wasn't moving at all. A look into the mecha revealed Senscript still unconscious in his cockpit chair, blood still dripping off his chin. ]

.: Raf! :. Bumblebee whirred with concern, whining against the boy's small hands that pressed against his faceplate in reassurance. .: He's still unconscious, still has blood coming out of his nose. :.

"Aw c'mon Bee, calm down. I-I'm sure I'm fine." Raf tried to tell him, smiling at his best friend and guardian only to droop when Ratchet began muttering a bit too loudly.

"Who knows what damage there could be to the human brain from such a direct connection to the processor of something like a Quintesson. The blood flow has at least lessened, but the fact it's still bleeding from his nasal area is not good. Not to mention the technology necessary to facilitate such a thing—"

Raf sent him a weak glare, "Ratchet!" He exclaimed as the yellow scout let out a high-pitched noise of worry. The medic let out a disgruntled apologetic noise, a hint of worry and guilt on his expression as he glanced between them both and the unconscious Senscript on screen. He focuses back to his datapad, typing into it.

Optimus Prime glanced over and his derma tilted upwards slightly as he sees glimpses of human biology being brought up on the datapad.

( A medic who loved racing discretely pulled up certain information on his datapad, squinting down at it and looking at the screen with a thoughtful hum. A seeker notices and leans over, only to see a website about human biology on the datapad, the seeker pulls a face but keeps quiet, optics reading line by line and glancing at the screen as well.

The medic notices and adjusts slightly so the seeker could read a bit more comfortably. This gesture went unnoticed by most of the cons in the room, unnoticed except by the seeker himself and the medic's conjunx. )

"Dudes, we're on Cybertron!" Miko exclaimed excitedly, batting at Jack's shoulder.

Jack grunted but looked up in wonder, "We really are." His wonder takes a hit when he sees the sad look on Arcee's face. "Arcee?"

"Wish this wasn't your first look at Cybertron, or Praxus." Arcee said, gesturing back to the screen with a grimace as Tailbreaker was slammed into a stray building but was holding on to the Quintesson beast stubbornly. "This isn't how I wanted to show you our home."

The kids share a look as their respective cybertronian guardian similarly shared a sad sigh. Even Optimus and Ratchet gave the kids a regretful and sad look.

"Well, hey! I'm sure you guys will show us tons of cool places on Cybertron! I mean, we're there now! Other us- and it's still alive, so like, there's got to be good places still standing to show!" Miko determinedly, wanting to cheer the bots up.

On one hand, their Cybertron was dead, which was definitely a bummer. And seeing it alive was- hard, but at the same time, it filled Bulkhead with a renewed sense of vigor somehow. And hey, Miko was right! Other Miko, Wrecker, would get the chance to experience Cybertron's wonders herself- and through the screen, they could show her and the kids too! So it wasn't all that bad!

"Yeah, seeing Cyber—" Jack was about to support Miko's words before he flinched as more Quintessons arrived on screen, roaring in intimidation at the two mecha pilots. There was a lot of Quintessons, the big hulking beast mounts and the smaller yet still hulking soldier units riding atop them. "Oh no."

[ "Fucking hell, that's a lot of Class 7 Soldiers and Levis." Tailbreaker gritted out, standing on the corpse of one such 'Levi' after dealing with its rider. In his cockpit, he rapidly flipped several switches and turned a few dials, steam and hot air escaping his mecha's joints as he optimized his systems. "Wrecker! Siege optimization! We're here with no back-up, no signal to base- do not let your levels drop too fast, too soon!"

.: You don't have to tell me twice! :. Came Wrecker's urgent yet annoyed reply, the screen switching to show she was doing the same before switching back to Tailbreaker.

"Priority one; keep Senscript and that Apex thing safe at all cost! They want that thing then it's in our best interest to make sure they don't get it! Cut down the numbers till we can get him out of this clusterfuck!" Tailbreaker barked just as the XTRs descended upon them. ]

Bulkhead's never seen Jack so authoritative before, as the oldest of the human kids, he did try to reign them in or keep them safe and stuff but this? This was older Jack doing his best to keep his teammates alive in a dangerous combat situation.

Still trying to keep them safe but in a situation that Bulkhead would have never imagined to happen, nor did he ever want to ever again. Because as cool as it is seeing them pilot those admittedly unsettling mechas, seeing them in such danger was terrifying.

"You don't know why the Quintessons want the Apex Armor, don't even know what it is or what it does but just knowing they want it, you- ahem, Tailbreaker makes the decision to keep it away from them. Astute observation and a good choice, not only that, you're optimizing your gear to last for as long as possible.." Ratchet notes aloud, glancing over to Jack who grinned at him.

The teenage boy shrugged, "Well, the longer we last, the better right? And I mean, it seems obvious? They tried to get it in secret, did their best to get it and when they couldn't but had it in reach- they triggered a spacebridge that sent other us from one place to another? It's important, real important, so yeah. Keep away."

The rest of the team gave Jack a proud look, Arcee in particular having a slightly smug expression on her faceplate.

.: And you're protecting Senscript too, planning to make an escape when given the opportunity. :. Bumblebee beeped, had his mouthguard been down, Bulkhead would definitely see a smile there. Raf relayed what he said to Jack whose grin grew a bit.

"Not only because he was like- his protection was a priority of the original mission but he's a teammate. A friend. 'Course I'd protect him." Raf beamed at his words.

( "Who knew Jack could be such a leader?" An arachnoid femme commented sardonically with a small smirk, amused by how authoritative the little human was on screen. It didn't matter that he was older on screen, or that this Jack was in another world, to her, he was still a target she oh, so dearly wanted to hunt. Not only to hurt Arcee, but to pay him back for what he'd done to her ship and herself.

Shame she could only hunt her world's Jack, Tailbreaker would have made another fine trophy in her personal opinion. She hopes her counterpart meets him, regardless of species. Though of course, she does hope she stayed Cybertronian. )

[ .: Wrecker, fall back! They're heading towards Senscript! :. Immediately Wrecker's mecha pulled itself away from the Levi she was wrestling, forcefully dragging the creature with her as her sonic weapons turned the Levi's cranial organs and technology into mush, the liquid dripping out of its orifices as Wrecker used its body to slam into the incoming XTRs that tried to make their way to her fallen teammate.

"You're not getting him assholes!" Wrecker growled, briefly cranking her damage output to 70% and releasing a high-pitch sonic wave from her subwoofers, it made the XTRs reel back in pain. "Tailbreaker!" A glance to her fuel levels revealed it took quite a bit of power to do so.

Lithely, Tailbreaker's mecha came in for quick kills while the XTRs were still reeling, aiming for weak spots that either killed them or brought them down to be killed soon enough. ]

"There's too many of them." Arcee said tensely, worry starting to seep into her spark as more and more Quintessons gathered around the three mecha pilots with only two performing combat, protecting their downed third.

Bulkhead's servos clenched and unclenched, feeling the need to having something in his servos as he watched Wrecker and Tailbreaker do their damned best in defending Senscript and the Apex Armor. Their original plan of carving a way out was quickly falling fast as there were too many Quintessons to properly chart an escape.

A sense of concern and worry began to settle over the base, even Miko was looking a bit worried for herself on the screen but was ultimately still cheering their counterparts on. "C'mon you guys! You got this! Go other me! LIVE UP TO YOUR NAME! WRECK AND RUIN!" She hollered, as if the force of her shouts alone would help across universes.

Not even Ratchet was going to scold her shouting, now when he was analyzing the situation at hand.

( "They'll be overwhelmed at this point." An ex-wrecker muttered, trying to hide his slight disappointment. It was only because he didn't want those Quintesson-things to win on Cybertron, or so he would insist if asked about it.

"Normally I would agree with you however you've forgotten some crucial details; they're on Cybertron." A seeker replied lowly, as out of nowhere, a familiar beam shot through multiple Quintessons at once. "And the Quintessons were not exactly subtle in their rendezvous." )

[ A bright violet beam shot through multiple XTRs, briefly gaining everyone's attention as from over the incline, a familiar canon whined down- the barrel smoking and gleaming hotly from going halfway towards full power. The owner of the canon, a mecha of silver with flashes of purple, snarled something unintelligible, to the humans at least.

.: Reinforcements? No fair, who let that mecha get a giant fuck off laser cannon?! :. Wrecker complained but was grinning in clear relief as she panted in her cockpit, sweat going down her face.

Tailbreaker took in a deep breath, "Seems like it- don't recognize the mecha design. Not government for certain though, too personal with all those spikes and sharp edges." He replied, though he was just as relieved. "Whoever they are though, as long as they're aiming that cannon at the XTRs, I'm not complaining." ]

"Oh! Ohh! What'd King Con say in Cybertronian?!" Miko exclaimed before pausing, "Never thought I'd be happy to see Megatron but there he is! Saving our afts!"

Raf rubbed his neck as he sat on Bumblebee's shoulder, "He pretty much just said 'Get off my planet' Miko, and uh, yeah. Same… Do you think he'll hurt other us?"

"Normally I would say yes, however considering several factors in this situation…" Ratchet trailed off, giving the screen an inscrutable expression. "No, there's a chance however with how you are clearly fighting against the Quintessons, an established enemy- he'll be cautious but he won't outright injure or attack you unless provoked. Especially considering… his alliance with Optimus."

.: Not to mention he… probably doesn't know you guys are human. :. Bumblebee realized as Megatron dove into the fight with determined anger. .: If I didn't know you were humans piloting big suits, I'd say you're one of us only- you all look like empurata'd bots. :.

"What's empurata?"

All the Autobots froze at Raf's innocuous question, an uncomfortable look on their expressions.

"That… is a question we will answer later, Raf. Perhaps, they might even provide the answer to it." Optimus said gravely, and the children exchanged confused looks but nodded all the same.

( "I take it back, these Quintessons are hardy creatures." A deadly femme muttered, seeing several survivors from the warlord's fusion cannon. It wasn't at full power but even that was usually enough to kill many mechs at the same time without any survivors.

Said warlord growled lowly at the sight but reluctantly nodded, feeling the phantom sensation of a burning ache on his arm- he usually refrained from going that strong for good reason. And the very rare times he went full power… He can't help but wonder just how many times his counterpart had gone to full power against the Quintessons. Certainly more often than he did with his arch enemy. )

[ "There's another pilot!" Wrecker exclaimed as a mecha of red, blue and silver appeared with a gigantic axe. "Okay, who's giving all these pilots cool shit?! I wanna talk with them!" She cackled, approving the sight of the axe being swung around with surprising finesse. "God, I haven't seen someone lug around a mecha-sized melee weapon since Wheeljack!"

.: Focus Wrecker! Gawk and talk later, protect Senscript and the Apex Armor! :. Tailbreaker snapped at her before he was grabbed solidly by a Levi's tentacles. .: Shit! :.

"Shit, TAILBREAKER!" Wrecker was torn, she was still acting as Senscript's major defense against the Quintessons and she was a bit too far away from her teammate and leader to do anything about it. ]

"Jack!" "Slag."

The joy of seeing Optimus again, seeing him join the battle and assist the kids was quickly overtaken with worry as Tailbreaker's mecha was grabbed by the tentacles- those things were wrapped around dangerously tight around the mecha's torso- right where Tailbreaker's actual body was.

Bulkhead had seen, by chance, of an organic lifeform being crushed in a metal compactor before during the war. It had been a wild animal from the planet he'd been stationed on that got stuck in machine, and it had left him nauseated the entire time he'd been on the planet afterwards.

He doesn't think he could bear the thought of watching a human, especially one of the kids going- squish. It was one of the many reasons why he'd been a little hesitant on going around on Earth. That accident with the powerlines was another, more light hearted reason that he actually wished was happening right now.

He'd take electricity forcing him to dance over the possible death of the kids any day.

( "Ugh, squished human. Disgusting." A medic shuddered, having seen many horror films as well as the rare actual footage- he'd been curious after all. Certainly strayed him away from seeing human media again… for a while anyway.

"Sounds disgusting, but it looks like it's not happening this time." The ship's second in command commented with a sniff, snorting at the sight of the warlord on screen coming to the human's rescue. Using his sword to cut the massive tentacle that captured the mecha. "He must not know he's saving an organic. These mecha look far too much like cybertronians- empurata'd ones, but still. It's uncanny and disturbing." Though the thought of his 'master' unknowingly saving humans was quite amusing, of course, he kept it to himself. Eyeing the interested warlord who had gone silent. )

[ Tailbreaker hadn't been prepared for the save from the stranger pilot but looked up as he was hauled on to his feet. "Thanks-" His gratitude was cut short as he finally saw the 'mecha' up close. "You have a face." He blurts out in confusion, watching that scarred metal face contort and change like an actual face. With red eyes, lips, sharp teeth?

.: He has a what? :. Wrecker commed in as the silver, spiky mecha gave him a scrutinizing look on his face.

'Who makes a mecha with an expressive face? Not even a digital one, but a fully articulated one!?' Tailbreaker thought somewhat hysterically before shaking his head in his cockpit and focusing in. "Nevermind, look out!" He bodily tackled the mecha down as a barrage of tentacles tried to spear through both of them. Ignoring the surprised look the mecha gave him. ]

"He has a face!" Miko laughed, leaning against the couch from the hilarious moment. Bulkhead chuckled with her, it was kinda funny.

Jack rolled his eyes, "From what I can tell, all the mechas we made don't have faces- just like, screens, visors or something. Seeing a 'mecha' with a face would definitely be surprising… Guess we've got no idea that we're on another planet just yet." He reasoned, smiling at the agreeing nods he got from Optimus and Arcee.

"You guys are a bit too busy with the Quintessons to notice the strange architecture." Raf chimed in before blinking. "You saved Megatron!"

"In any other situation I'd be angry but considering its not you, and Tailbreaker has no idea who Megatron even is, I'll let this slide." Arcee half-joked, somewhat disgruntled over the fact her human charge and partner had saved the tyrant that she and her team had been fighting for so long.

Jack winced, rubbing the back of his neck somewhat guiltily as he nodded. "Yeah…" He'd yet to tell anyone what happened at the cave in, about how he had the chance to take Megatron's life, to end the war for them… and he didn't take it. He'd put it in the back of his mind the entire time, but seeing his other self save Megatron…

( A warlord snorted, a smile, small yet terrible, perched on his derma as he sees his counterpart being saved by the same human that had the chance to end him yet didn't. He wonders if the Autobots knew of that moment, if the human had told them he had the chance to end things permanently and didn't.

Or did he keep it to himself out of shame? Either way, it truly seemed like that little human was far more interesting than he first thought he was. )

Maybe he should finally talk with Optimus about it.

[ Tailbreaker was quick to get back on his feet, this time hauling the silver mecha in turn and giving the strange mecha a slight nod before throwing himself back into the fray with a determined cry.

It didn't take long for the mecha to join him, countless of XTRs fell from blades, axe, fists and both cannon and sonic blast.

There had been a few close calls with Senscript's safety, a Soldier managing to slip through, a Levi's tentacle shooting out towards him, several attempts from above. Yet they managed to protect the youngest pilot successfully.

Not without damage however, it was a rare moment that a mecha would ever come back unscathed. Wrecker's left subwoofer on her shoulder had been crushed inwards, making her arm barely usable. Her plating had cracks and scratches, and she lost a few panels of heavy armor. XTR gore covered a vast majority of her mecha, especially her arms.

Tailbreaker's visor had cracked after being hit in the head, his right leg was sparking as a few cables had been cut forcing his mecha to limp awkwardly and keep his balance. His blades were caked in XTR blood, although he wasn't missing any panels, multiple armor platings were cracked and scratched- less so than Wreckers at least.

The silver mecha's cannon was steaming, wisps of smoke was wafting off of it as the heated metal glowed. They were favoring their right side, pressing a hand over a gash across their chestplating.

The blue and red mecha was leaning on his axe, but surprisingly looked the least damaged aside from Senscript. Most of the time, the silver mecha had stuck to the their side, protecting them to the best of their abilities. ]

It was tense, watching both the humans and the two leaders of the Autobots and Decepticons fight against the Quintessons- there were far too many close calls. Wrecker and Tailbreaker didn't seem used to fighting side by side for long periods of time, nor protecting a third party. Sometimes they were too hyper focused on Senscript to notice an enemy coming in when they should have.

Meanwhile Optimus and Megatron continued to fight like a well-oiled machine, with Megatron tanking a lot of hits for Optimus. Which was insane to think of considering normal circumstances, but in that world, in this 'Alien Mecha' universe, it really seemed like the leader of the Decepticons was dedicated in protecting the Prime.

Whatever this title of 'Lord High Protector' seemed accurate so far. Which made them all the more curious as to what it was exactly.

"Oh thank frag." Bulkhead sighed when he saw reinforcements finally coming in to help, he'd been starting to worry at how long they'd been fighting- the screen showed it in bits and pieces, seeming to accelerate through certain moments but even quick combat could be exhausting in such heavy circumstances.

The mecha suits didn't look too good, he'd been worried that Mik-Wrecker's mecha's arm would fall off after that bad hit to the shoulder-subwoofer. But thankfully, and honestly to be expected, Wrecker's mecha was made of literally tough stuff.

Ratchet made a disgruntled noise, optics looking over the injuries of not only Other Optimus but Megatron as well- something he didn't think he'd be doing but after watching the mech fight alongside and protect the Prime there… He still didn't exactly trust the Decepticon tyrant of that world but it wasn't like he could do anything else. Besides, he was still a medic. He had to assess what injuries were in front of him…

He couldn't help but do the same to the mecha suits as well, they were cybertronian-like enough that some techniques would work the same- welding, cable cauterization and mending, plating replacement, glass mending or full on visor replacement… it was the humans inside that he was really worried about though.

( "Quintessons are definitely a persistent enemy, they seem to have the numbers to willingly sacrifice their own troops without care- none of them ever seemed to consider the option of retreat." A seeker muttered with disgust and slight fascination, "Then again, these 'Soldiers' and 'Levis' seem little else but bio-created drone shock troops and muscle, smart enough to wield weapons, ride mounts and attack but not enough to consider other strategic or tactical moves."

"No responses of fear, not really. They kept attacking Lord Megatron without any regard to their own safety and lives." A medic commented, "Even our vehicons have basic intelligence at first with the chance of growing more into their processors if given time and experience but I doubt that the Quintessons would let anything else other than their 'commanders' to have a shred of competent intellectual thinking or sapience."

"Pretty sturdy." An ex-wrecker added, "A few of them survived a point blank blast from Lord Megatron's fusion cannon, it wasn't at full power but still." Both mechs nodded in agreement, glancing over to their still silent leader who watched with an unsettlingly neutral expression on his faceplate.

"Reinforcements." An arachnoid femme noted with a hum of interest, snorting at the sight of both red and purple symbols arriving together on screen. "It truly seems like Autobots and Decepticons have decided to band together in face of this Quintesson threat… Impressive with the numbers indeed, but for both sides to ally together? For Lord Megatron to side and protect Optimus Prime? My… The Quintessons may truly be a bigger threat than I originally thought."

The warlord twitched at her words, his neutral expression twisting to a scowl though he kept silent. Still watching the screen with narrowed optics as both Autobots and Decepticons descended to deal with the remaining Quintessons. )

[ .: … These aren't pilots. :. Tailbreaker suddenly said in a private comm between him and Wrecker, and Senscript, had he been awake but the poor guy was still unconscious for now.

"What?" Wrecker replied a bit confusedly, panting to herself as she adjusted her mecha's settings while trying to calm herself down from the adrenaline of the battle.

.: None of these guys are pilots. Wrecker, look at them. They have faces, fully articulated and emotional and- there's too many of them. No government would fund all these mecha and- look! That one just transformed into some sort of futuristic jet! :.Tailbreaker exclaimed, gesturing to a mecha who had jumped into the air and turned into a flying aircraft. .: And these buildings… are way too big for humans. :.

Wrecker finally noticed her surroundings, stiffening in her cockpit as she sees the giant buildings that were her mecha's size. The mechas around her were gesticulating, most of them had faces that moved lips, frowned, smiled, blinked. "Holy shit." She muttered as it finally hit her. She and Tailbreaker subconsciously stood close before Senscript, like sentries, keeping separate from the not-pilots around them. ]

"There's the realization!" Miko snickered, grinning at the way her older, other self was looking stunned. Honestly she was expecting a more explosive reaction considering she was, y'know, her. But hey, that's fine. Miko was a little stunned herself when she first saw Arcee transform in that alleyway, only snapping out of it when Jack made the absurd move of rejecting Arcee's offer.

Like seriously, who wouldn't want to go with a giant alien robot? She sent a look to Jack who caught it and rolled his eyes.

"I see Hound, Red Alert, Remedy, Velocity- Primus, they're all there..." Ratchet said quietly, a bit disbelieving at seeing so many familiar faces in the background of the screen. Prowl was rallying both Autobots and Decepticons, instructing them from one place to another.

"Ironhide, Chromia, Jazz…" Optimus hummed quietly, a small soft yet sad smile on his faceplate as he saw his other self talk with old friends he hadn't seen since the Exodus, unfortunately. Not to mention a few faceplates that were… no longer with them. He took in a deep vent, at the sight of Kup and Impactor.

.: Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Blaster… :. Bumblebee whirred, doorwings drooping low. More and more names came to mind as he saw faceplate after faceplate, he felt Raf's hand and saw his concern, .: I-I'm okay Raf, just… missing old friends. :.

Bulkhead laughed, it was something happy and sad as he saw himself on the screen. Not alone of course. "Broadside, Springer, Roadbuster… Even Seaspray's there!" Primus, he hoped old barnacle butt was alright, he was alive during the Exodus. He could feel coolant gather in his optics at the sight of faceplates long gone, even before the Exodus.

"Nautica, Firestar- Cliffjumper!" Arcee abruptly exclaimed, standing up at the sight of both herself and Cliffjumper on the screen! "He's alive! Oh thank Primus, he's… he's alive." There. He was alive there, with her in that world. That was good. That was… frag, never thought she'd feel this jealous over herself in another world.

"That's Cliffjumper?" Jack asked, curious and careful. He smiled though when Arcee gave him a nod and a smile, shaky but there, and he said nothing about how unusually shiny her eyes were. Still, he furrowed his brows before calling out. "Pause!"

Several eyes, human and cybertronian, turned to him in confusion and question. "You guys look like you need a minute." He told the Autobots, seeming more than one of them taken-aback and eagerly looking at the screen. It was one thing to see your planet alive and healthy, but seeing old comrades, ones that you haven't seen one way or another…

Optimus Prime nodded slightly at him. "Thank you Jack, that is very kind." No one commented the slight sniffles that came from certain bots,

( "Skywarp… Thundercracker." No one commented the seeker's voice breaking slightly, not even the tyrant who looked at multiple Decepticon faceplates in the screen. Ones he has not seen in a long, long while.

A medic hesitates, but stays silent and does nothing. Merely looks away when he caught the sharp glare of the flier who was quickly recomposing himself, silently berating that tiny show of weakness.

"So many bots and cons still alive." A femme whispered lowly, optics narrowing as she sees a few past prey alive in the background. A sign that the war had stopped rather early, or perhaps she was not a cybertronian. Neither was an option she liked, one especially more than the other. At any rate though, she sneered when she caught the sight of a certain blue femme, snorting at the red mech that was beside her. "Ah, so she does keep a partner, a cybertronian partner, alive in another world… How long will she keep him?" )

It took a few minutes before the team unanimously decided to continue again.

[ .: So, to recap; our mission goes FUBAR at the end because that XTR Commander- I don't know, fucking warped us to some alien planet that has living mechas? We're surrounded on all sides by aliens! Aliens like the XTR- no, shit, that's an unfair comparison. They're not like the XTRs, they're- they helped us. They fought against the shits, and by the looks of it, the XTRs were fighting them too. Just look at this place. :. Wrecker commented and Tailbreaker nodded in agreement.

The mecha-sized city they were in was burning. Crumbling down. They recognized a city being attacked by the XTRs just fine… "I don't think they're hostile to us yeah, we might actually have found an alien race that doesn't want to attack us- that might help us with the XTRs." He was a bit relieved by that, and he straightened in his seat when he saw the two mechas- mecha aliens? Alien Mechas? That helped him and Wrecker before. "Incoming."

Much to his and Wrecker's surprise though, as soon as they were near, the red and blue alien-mecha began to speak English. "You are… humans?" ]

That certainly surprised them.

"He knows about humans?" Raf blinked, "Have they been to Earth yet?"

Optimus' expression furrowed slightly, "Perhaps? To know about humans despite being on Cybertron—" A sharp gasp interrupted him as Miko suddenly stood up.

"What if Wheeljack's here?! He disappeared into a spacebridge right?! He's gotta be here!"

Bulkhead's hopes began to rise, "If anyone managed to get on Cybertron before Miko, Jack and Raf, it's gotta be Jackie." He agreed immediately. The chance of Wheeljack being alive and on Cybertron? He'll take it! But Primus! It was going to be weird seeing Wheeljack as a human!

"Then let us hope it is Wheeljack." Optimus replied with a nod.

( "They already know of humans?" )

[ .: It knows English!? :. Wrecker gawped into their comm, Tailbreaker made an admonishing hissing sound at her before activating his external speakers to speak with the alien mecha.

"I- yes, we are humans." Tailbreaker confirmed considering what else could they do? They were outnumbered, by the looks of the transforming weaponry- outgunned as well. Trying to fight only one race of aliens was hard enough, fighting a similar species to the suits they were piloting definitely wouldn't be ideal. "How did you... Pardon, but- how do you know about us? Speak our language?"

The cracked mask the mecha was wearing slid away, revealing another face that was giving him a welcoming expression. "You are not the first of your kind that we've spoken too, he has become a friend of ours as he helps us in our war against the Quintesson. Do you recognize the name, Wheeljack?"

Almost immediately Wrecker's mecha lurched forward, her external speakers activating to exclaim. "Wheeljack?! He's here!? You have him?!" She reached out with her least damaged arm to try and grab the alien but was stopped firmly by the silver mecha who growled in warning.

Tailbreaker was quick to get between him and Wrecker, holding Wrecker back from doing something reckless or impulsive. ]

"He's there! Ahahaha! That's Wheeljack for ya!" Bulkhead cheered the moment Other Optimus said Wheeljack's name, he couldn't wait to tell Jackie all about this! "'Course Jackie survived! He made it to Cybertron too! No matter the species, he's always gonna find his way back to us Autobots!"

Miko was squealing, cheering with him. "Yes! He's alive! Man, Wrecker must be so stoked!"

Jack shared an amused but relieved look with Arcee, glad that the other Wheeljack was still alive. "Still, just what were the chances that Wheeljack managed to get to Cybertron with a spacebridge? Really makes me wonder just what happened." He commented, crossing his arms and leaning back against the couch.

"From the brief flashback, Wheeljack got ambushed by the spacebridge by the looks of it. Something pulled him in." Arcee recalled with a frown and Bulkhead's mood darkened at the reminder. He growled, hating the fact that Wheeljack had been hurt- kind of? His mecha had been damaged, but there was a real chance that human Wheeljack got hurt too.

.: Well, whatever happened. He survived and he's with the Autobots now. ;. Bumblebee chirped before tilting his helm. .: So far we've seen almost everyone from the team there on Cybertron with the exception of me and Ratchet. Do you think we're human? :.

"I hope not!" Ratchet grumbled, frowning at the thought of being human. He was very content with being a cybertronian! "I would not know how to deal with being so small, and fragile."

"Aw c'mon Ratchet, I think you'd do fine! You wouldn't know anything different since you'd be born a human anyway." Raf grinned, now wanting to see whether or not Bee or Ratchet were humans like Shockwave and Wheeljack.

( "It was too much to hope that the Autobot, human or not, had perished I suppose." A seeker grumbled, annoyed by the Wrecker's continued survival.

"Though it is impressive that he's managed to make it all the way to Cybertron. Considering how we last saw him." A medic chimed in.

His conjunx grunted, "Something had him, speared through his mecha. Wonder what happened… Knowing Wheeljack though, explosions were involved." The SIC seeker shuddered, remembering the demise of a certain plateshifter after their attempt of infiltrating the Autobot base. )

[ "You know him."

Tailbreaker nodded towards the red and blue mech, "Yes, he was- is, a good friend of ours. Wrecker especially… We didn't know what happened to him, he just disappeared during one attack. He was eventually labeled MIA and—"

"They considered him dead! But no! Not Jackie!" Wrecker exclaimed, shoving Tailbreaker away who wobbled with his damaged leg. She laughed, it was a touch bit hysterical but mostly relieved, "I knew it! I knew he was alive! Didn't think he was on a whole different planet! Where is he?! Is he here? Is he nearby?! WHEELJACK!" She called out, looking around, hoping to see her old friend.

"Wrecker, Wrecker pull yourself together." Tailbreaker said sharply, they were speaking with what seemed to be the leader of the aliens here. All the other aliens seemed to answer to them earlier on. "I'm sure we'll see him at some point, but right now, we need to focus. Senscript is still down, we're on another planet and- I'm sorry, we're being rude. My callsign's Tailbreaker, MECH pilot 05."

Wrecker had calmed down, nodding, "Wrecker, MECH pilot 00. Our third's Senscript, MECH pilot 013." She gestured to the unmoving Senscript.

The robotic alien frowned before offering a welcoming smile, "I am Optimus Prime, Leader of the Autobot Faction of Cybertron. Cybertron being the planet you are on, of course. And this," He motioned to the silver not-mecha beside him, "Is Megatron, Leader of the Decepticon Faction and Lord High Protector of Cybertron." ]

"There's that title again." Ratchet muttered, optics narrowed at the alternate version of their enemy. "Just what does it mean?"

"Something obviously important if it's part of Optimus' introduction to the kids." Arcee said, arms crossed as she too wondered just what 'Lord High Protector' meant. By description, it should be obvious but it was actually pretty vague, did that mean protecting Optimus since was Prime? Seemed like it.

But even if this was an alternate Megatron, he was still a Megatron who was the Leader of the Decepticons, Autobots and Decepticons still existed as different factions and knowing the power-hungry mech. Being Optimus' protector wasn't the only reason why he was Lord High Protector, he wouldn't be satisfied with just that.

( Speculation ran through the war room, they, too, were wondering what Lord High Protector meant.

Their leader's expression was looking more displeased yet he kept calm, kept sat down as they all continued to watch the screen. )

[ .: Alright, so we are talking to the leaders of their race. And the planet we're on is called Cybertron. :. Tailbreaker muttered into their private comms before replying, "It's nice to meet you both, wish it was under better circumstances."

"Yeah…" Wrecker trailed off, scowling at the silver… cybertron guy? Megatron. Not that he would know, unlike the aliens, her mecha didn't have a face. Anyway, he didn't seem too happy to see them. "What's his deal?"

"Wrecker!" She ignored Tailbreaker's hiss to asses the other leader.

Optimus frowned and turned to Megatron, speaking in their language. ]

"Ugh, what are they saying? What gives? Earlier on, we understood Optimus just fine but now we can't?" Miko complained, gesturing to the screen.

"It's a perspective shift, thing." Raf sighed, shifting on Bumblebee's shoulder. "I couldn't understand a lot of things within the Observer but depending on perspectives, languages can be translated automatically to be understood by the users. Since we're in um, our other selves' perspective, who don't understand Cybertronian- it doesn't translate it until we shift to someone who understands Cybertronian."

Ratchet grunted, "It should be automatically translating no matter what perspective but, again, damaged systems within. As for what Megatron's saying he's complaining about there being more humans. To be expected, honestly."

Arcee's faceplate furrowed as she tilted her helm, "Doesn't really sound like complaining though, he seems… concerned? Optimus is trying to reassure him but Megatron's… not happy with how the humans are being treated? That they sound young? The frag?"

Jack and Miko blinked, "What."

Bulkhead had to agree, what. "Since when did buckethead care for young human huh? Or humans in general?!"

"'Their government is less to be desired Megatron, but your displeasure is being mistaken to be aimed at them, specifically.' That's what Optimus just said." Raf frowned with confusion on his face. "Now Megatron's sighing and saying he should have made more effort in learning the human language so he could apologize himself and… and Optimus is teasing him?"

Bulkhead needed Ratchet to check on his processor because he's pretty sure a few fuses blew as he hears Optimus tease Megatron about not learning English, even smiling at Megatron- unfortunately the grumpy medic seemed to have blown a few fuses himself, gawping at the screen for the very same reasons.

Megatron wanting to apologize to the human kids? Optimus full on teasing Megatron?

Forget the Quintessons, the mecha suits, and the change of species for some people, this was the most shocking thing they've seen in this world yet!

Meanwhile, Optimus was watching with not exactly wide-optics, but he had yet to look away. Seemingly entranced by the comradery he saw between his other self and the other Megatron. It… reminded him too much of Orion and Megatronus, far more than the actor universe ever did.

( Unwanted memories come to a warlord's processor, old ones that depict of an Iaconian archivist smiling at a Kaoni gladiator during a time that seemed more simple than the present. Of late cycles with messages shared across the planet, of a relationship building from the same interests, and a potential for more.

The room tenses at the loud growl their leader let out, dark and irritable. Only one other mech in the room recognizes the slight hint of conflicting jealousy hidden beneath the building anger, and like always, keeps silent about it and everything else. )

[ "His displeasure isn't aimed at you, this cycle- hm, day? Has been stressful for everyone involved." Optimus finally said in English to them, "For now, let us retire to somewhere safer so your comrade can be overseen by a medic. Wheeljack is on his way."

At the mention that Wheeljack was one his way, Wrecker was immediately going over to Senscript. "Lead the way bossman!"

"Wrecker!" ]

"No matter the universe, Miko is Miko… the actor doesn't really count." Jack sighed, palming his face at Wrecker's casual attitude to someone who was suppose to be one of the leaders of an entire planet. For some reason, he thought being a bit older, Miko would have learned to be a bit more… he doesn't know, restrained? Respectful? To figures of authority, but nope. She could follow orders at least… Mostly?

"Jackie must mean a lot to you Miko." Bulkhead said with a smile, happy at the fact that even though he and Wheeljack hadn't known each other as long and were different species, at least he still had a good close friend like Miko worrying over his human butt.

Miko grinned, "Looks like it! Aw man, aw man! I can't wait to see human Wheeljack!" She cheered, excited to see the Wrecker as her own species- he was already cool as an alien robot space cowboy samurai, he would no doubt be just as cool as a human! It was Wheeljack they were talking about after all!

Despite the short meeting, and the whole 'Makeshift' thing that happened before it, Miko had a great impression on the real Wheeljack. She'd been pretty disappointed when he decided not to stay, making him promise to visit Earth again in the future. And hey! Considering what they were doing, maybe as soon as Bulkhead told him what was going on, Wheeljack would totally have to come back to Earth and check it out for himself!

[ "There's nothing there?!"

Abruptly, the scene cuts back to Earth. Silas hunched over intimidatingly over a table with a glowering look on his face, the poor soldier reporting to him shook his head. "N-No sir, nothing aside from the remains of the XTRs."

"And the trackers?!" Silas snapped towards a man sitting by a console.

The man flinched but answered, motioning to a screen. The pilot pictures of Wrecker, Tailbreaker and Senscript were dim with all their statuses being labeled 'N/A'. "Out of range sir, possibly offline."

Silas growled while Shockwave, who was by another monitor, stood by in silence. Finally speaking, "Play it again." He ordered the woman controlling the computer. She did as ordered and played Wrecker and Tailbreaker's last messages.

. JD-05 : W-What the— :.

. MN-00 : No- n—o! —AY! MAYDAY! Wr—ECH HQ! We a—ing s—ome sort of vort—tal! It's the th—ing that took Ja—:.

Shockwave hummed, "… Vortex… portal… Senscript did not say anything, he must have sustained damage or was knocked offline." He said mostly to himself with interest, but the screen suddenly flashed over his hands behind his back. They trembled and clenched tightly. "Hmph." ]

"We're back on Earth!" Raf declared, surprised at the sudden shift from Cybertron to Earth.

Miko glared mulishly at the screen as she pouted, she wanted to see Wheeljack! She wanted to be back on Cybertron! "Back with MECH."

"Back with Silas and Shockwave." Jack sighed, though he looked confused at the sudden switch to Shockwave's hands. Not seeing the importance of it.

The Autobots on the other hand seemed slightly dumbfounded. "Is that…"

.: Emotion? Is Shockwave experiencing emotions? Like- as a human? Humans… don't have emotion suppressors do they?? :. Bumblebee whirred, turning to Raf who shook his head.

"Not… really? I guess there's medicine that can help calm people down I think, and some people can't feel emotions correctly like other people but…" He trailed off, shrugging helplessly.

"Question is, just what is he feeling? Annoyance that he didn't get results over his prototype testing? Anger? Disappointment?" Arcee scoffed, the initial thought of Shockwave having emotions was absurd but paused as she thought it over a bit more. She shuddered, it was bad enough that the cycloptic scientist was emotionless, if he actually had access to emotions like anger again…

Optimus spied Ratchet on his datapad once more, this time on a different website pertaining human emotions and medicine related to it. The medic catches his glance and his faceplate tints, grumbling with a cough as he abruptly closed the website. Optimus hummed yet said nothing about it.

( A seeker perked up, delighted, "My, my, is that frustration I see a hint of from Shockwave of all mechs?" He needled to nobody but himself. Unsettling as it was to see Shockwave even portray a silver of emotion, it was quite the sight for someone who'd been at odds with the scientist before hand.

"Well, he is human. From my… information gathering, I find that humans, even those who claim to be emotionless, do seem to have emotions of sorts." A medic said, tapping at his datapad. "Humans can't exactly permanently render themselves emotionless, not without severe repercussions that a cybertronian could easily ignore."

Unnoticed by all but one, a silent mech bowed his head slightly. The warlord, initially displeased by the return to the planet they were currently on, paused for just a moment before returned to being displeased. )

[ "Three pilots, three of our top pilots are gone and that's all you have to say?" Silas questioned, annoyed by Shockwave's perceived unaffectedness. "Billions of money, years of investment, in training, gone."

Shockwave didn't bother turning to him, "You knew that was a possibility the moment they started piloting mechas. All it takes is one bad battle to lose everything, as is usually the fate of all pilots."

A flash of a towering extremely damaged purple mecha standing in front of something small, something dented, something mostly covered in XTR blood but underneath was a hint of yellow.

Silas narrowed his eyes at him, "The fate of all pilots is dying in their mechas for the sake of humanity, as they were trained to do. Not inexplicably disappearing all at the same time! No one left behind, not even a single component left from their mechas— Especially from the Ambus set! We even lost the prototype invention you made!" He seethed, scowling at the man who stood in place with his hands behind his back as if nothing had happened and they hadn't suffered a huge loss. ]

"Woah, woah, what was that?!" Bulkhead gawped at the very brief moment of what looked to be a familiar-ish purple mecha and something else on the ground.

A chill ran up most of the Autobots, a bad feeling at the brief flash they saw. It'd been too fast, too much in a too short of time. But it had been a flash of human Shockwave's past- hadn't other Miko said he'd been a pilot before? That that was the reason why he even had the callsign of 'Shockwave'?

Whatever it was, it was swept away by Silas' infuriating words.

"Excuse me?!" Arcee hissed, plates bristling at the screen.

Bumblebee growled, .: He's not even concerned about the kids! :. He exclaimed indignantly with anger, his engine growling with him from how angry he was.

"Money? Investment?! Ain't worth scrap to the lives that you actually 'lost' you tiny coward of a man! If you're so incensed and annoyed, go pilot your own mecha!" Bulkhead snapped at the screen, servos slamming on his knees.

Ratchet hissed something vulgar in cybertronian, not to the extent of much earlier when other Optimus had been dangling off a cliff with Megatron above him but the promise of pain was just as intense.

Even Optimus was sporting a dark expression as he stared dispassionately at Silas.

The kids glanced at their Autobot guardians with concern, but were all a bit touched by their reactions. Still, they did their best to calm them down.

( The words investment, training and dying reminded two ex-gladiators too much of their pasts for reasons unknown, even to them. Of patrons and battles, beneath the glory and fame, invisible shackles at their limbs, Tight and chafing. Having to fight for even the privilege to live.

A seeker, a medic, an ex-Wrecker, and an arachnoid flinch at the sudden dual noises of engines rumbling dark and low. One was expected as his faceplate darkened significantly, the other was a complete surprise considering his reputation and full-faceplated visor. )

[ "You are pointing out the obvious, Silas." Shockwave drawled, much to Silas' growing annoyance. "But I understand your frustration, the losses we've suffered outweigh what we've gained."

"Oh? And what exactly have we gained?" Silas questioned through gritted teeth.

Shockwave typed into the woman's console, replaying a segment of Wrecker's last message over and over again a few times. "Information. Information that may be crucial."

. MN-00 : We a—ing s—ome sort of vort—tal! We a—ing s—ome sort of vort—tal! We a—ing s—ome sort of vort—tal! We a—ing s—ome sort of vort—tal! :.

"I believe what Wrecker is saying is 'vortex portal'. There's been an ongoing theory of how the XTRs have been appearing stealthily on Earth, they don't always appear within a ship in our atmosphere after all and pilots have been known to disappear inexplicably in the past with little to no signs of pilot or mecha." Shockwave's red mask glowed a bit brighter, "I believe we just found the answer." ]

"The Quintessons must have been hiding the fact they were using bridging technology from the humans." Ratchet theorized with a huff, glaring darkly at both humans on the screen. One human he was already expecting to dislike considering who his counterpart was, but the other? MECH had originally just been a human nuisance, an unfortunate organization that found out about Cybertronians. Soon afterwards though, they became something dangerous with their kidnapping of Breakdown, then even willing to ally with Arachnid and kidnapping Ms. Darby, Jack's mother.

But now? In that world at least, he earned even more ire from the Autobots from his callous words alone. He could only imagine what treatment and training the mecha world children had been underneath the thumb of that man, not to mention Shockwave himself… And he didn't like it, not one bit.

[ A red, white and green mecha suit was striding through a cybertronian hallway. Obvious from the other mechs and femmes that were going about in the large space. The suit was barely patched, its size was smaller than Wrecker's and even Tailbreaker but it was wider with two swords attached to its back. "Better keep up Maggie 'cause this cowboy ain't slowin' down for nothin'!" He called back to the larger mech that was attempting to follow after him. "I got a friend waitin' for me!"

"Wheeljack." 'Maggie' said with exasperation as he avoided a mech, apologizing for nearly bumping into them. The mostly blue mech sighed but gave a slight smile at how excited the human sounded. "Refrain from calling me that, Wheeljack." ]

"Maggie?!" Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee were definitely gawking now, Bulkhead especially considering he knew the relationship between his Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack hadn't been… the most agreeable in the last moments before the Exodus.

"Who's that? Who's Maggie?" Miko asked, watching Wheeljack and 'Maggie' weave through other bots and- yep, those were cons. Autobots and Decepticons really were working together.

"Ultra Magnus." Ratchet corrected, though he couldn't help the amused look on his faceplate. "He used to leader of the Cybertron's own Elite Guard before he later became the commander of the Wreckers."

"Oooh, he's a Wrecker? NICE!"

"Kinda? He's- well, he's uh… kinda rigid compared to most other Wreckers Miko. Much more by the books kind of mech, if you get what I'm saying." Bulkhead told herand frowned, "Man, can't believe Jackie's calling Ultra Magnus Maggie- and he only had a light reprimand! Something's up!"

( "Finally back on Cybertron… if only to witness the Autobots again… Hm, his mecha suit is quite different from his cybertronian self but I do see some similarities." A seeker mused, deadpanning unamusedly at the banter that was said between the Wrecker and the other Autobot. He recognized that one as well.

"So far the board's even, Shockwave's a human and so is an Autobot. Who knows who else is human here." A medic chuckled. )

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

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

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

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

"… Shit…" ]

It started out as such a tearful reunion, Wheeljack was alive! Wrecker got to see him alive!

That was, until Wheeljack's horrified question came.

They were all pretty confused by it, but two veterans could only feel dread for the upcoming conversation that was about to happen.

( On a warship, things just seemed to be getting a bit more interesting on screen. )

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

glad to have updated in the first week of june! unfortunately updates may or may not slow or just continue on, the new house needs a room (my room) built so its a bit hard to concentrate sometimes when construction goes on and other stuff is happening

BUT HEY WHEELJACK IS ALIVE! AND LOOK HERE'S ULTRA MAGNUS! WE LOVE THESE TWO!

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Chapter 5-6 of TFP: Universal Observations is now up on Ao3!

THAT'S RIGHT! DOUBLE UPDATE THERE FOR PRIDE MONTH!

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For the swap species AU, I'd think it be hilarious that Miko is Nitro Convoy or Nitro Prime. Purely because imagine the reactions to Prime Miko of all people. (She's Hot Rod coded)

Better yet, June as Codexa Convoy. (also is this ask actually coming through?)

sorry for the late answer! yes the ask is coming through, just havent gotten to it yet for one reason for another! the main reason being; writing the next uo chapter!

huehehehehe ooo thats such a good idea... the species swap au i have in my current list isn't something like that but OOOO i could make another one for much later.

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Once in a while, I remember I have an art account and randomly post angst. Anyways-- Skybound... Man 🥀 🥀 🥀

My favorite 'frames' :3

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council of megatrons (aka tfo megs getting advice from a bunch of divorced mechs and 1 (one) married ex-warlord)

ive been working on this comic for so long TvT i wrote the idea down like 4 months ago in my notes app. there are a few more comics i wanna make with megs, but they're gonna have to wait until after im done with all my exams </3

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hehehehHahhahahahahHRHWHAUAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA

its gonna be hype guys, trust

Helloo I know you all have been waiting for updates on the reaction fic, so I'll just say that I have 9 out of 18 chapters finally transcripted from the movie. Once that's done, I can move on to the actual reactions.