The Decepticon looked like, and was ready for, the scrapheap. It hadn't gone down without a fight, though. Arcee gazed warily at their surroundings. Nearly a square mile of jungle had been trampled around them. Trees lay splintered in every direction. The ambient noises of wildlife had ceased. Even the sounds of the ocean current had temporarily been halted by the Decepticon's ice weapon. Despite the small numbers of Cybertronians on this planet, Earth was very fragile, and she felt a pulse of fear in her spark that they might inflict the same desolation that they had onto their own world.
After all, if a single Decepticon could do all this, imagine what a whole platoon of them could do. Arcee hated how soft everything on this planet was.
She maneuvered her triplet bodies up beside Ironhide, who stood tall behind their leader. As she and Ironhide exchanged looks, she could see the same indignation burning in his soul. But Optimus Prime trembled with moral outrage. It radiated from his body, evident even to those behind him.
He cradled his weapon in both hands and brought a foot down onto the Decepticon's head. "Where are the others?" he demanded, his baritone voice rumbling darkly. Shrapnel flew as his foot connected again. "Talk, you piece of aluminum!"
"Optimus!" Ratchet snapped. "He can't talk now. You've crushed his vocalizer."
"Bah!" he snapped. "Then stabilize him, and prep him for transport. We'll see what kind of information we can rest from his processor."
He turned to his troops. "The rest of you, well done. Transform and roll to home. Ratchet, Sideswipe and I will remain behind for NEST transport."
Ratchet looked displeased, but Optimus was clearly in a Mood that brooked no defiance. "Very well."
"Ironhide," Arcee tight-beamed her friend as they rolled back to their plane. "Is it me, or does Optimus seem more… less stable than he used to?"
"Cut him some slack. He's been through a lot," Ironhide rumbled.
"Haven't we all?" Arcee asked.
Ironhide hit his brakes and transformed. "Did your own brother start the greatest war in Cybertronian history? Have you had the weight of our entire race planted on your shoulders? Were you forced to destroy our only chance for survival as a species and condemn our planet to waste!?"
Arcee's spark sank. "No," she said quietly.
"I may not be the most compassionate 'bot there is, but when I look at Optimus Prime, you know what I feel? Not disappointment that he's not the impossibly perfect paragon of virtue that the stories would have you believe. I feel sorrow."
"Do… do you think he might snap someday?"
Ironhide sighed and collapsed back into his alternate mode, possibly to avoid eye contact. He spun his wheels and resumed the drive back to their plane. "If he does, I hope I don't live to see it. If we ever lose Prime, we lose our last scrap of hope."