A Need For Contact.
Summary: When Optimus Prime receives some shocking news, he realises that he must try to reach out to an enemy, for nobody deserves to live and die alone.
Rating: M for adult content.
Warnings: Character death in prologue, but not after that.
Disclaimer: Transformers belongs to Hasbro and Dreamworks/Paramount, not me.
Pairings: Optimus/Barricade.
A/N: The science for this story is very shaky, but until I can find a better reason for the following events, it'll have to stay this way.
A Need for Contact.
Prologue.
A year after the events of Mission City.
There was a knock on Optimus' office door.
"Come in." he said in measured tones. In walked the two latest arrivals to the Autobot base, Wheeljack and Perceptor.
They had arrived two months previously, and had brought with them two hideously degraded Cybertronian bodies they had found in space, a light year or so away from the Earth's solar system. Perceptor had been able to encapsulate them in a quarantined force-field before bringing them down to Earth, and he and Wheeljack had been working on finding out what had caused the degradation of the metals.
"We have ascertained the cause of the degradation on the bodies." said Wheeljack.
Optimus was surprised, for working on materials in quarantine was a painstakingly long process, he knew.
"I would like to hear your conclusions." He said.
"The cause of the degradation is due to a combination of an element we have never seen before but seems to be a component of this planet's atmosphere, and a bacterium also fairly abundant on this world." Wheeljack stated. "The combination is harmless within this planet's atmosphere, but when the bacterium is exposed to vacuum, they explode and die, and a chemical reaction between the element - which appears to have an affinity for Cybertronian metals and will build upon them - and enzymes within the bacterium combine to form an acid which eats away at and weakens our structures until we can no longer hold our structural integrity. We are safe so long as we stay within this planet's atmosphere, which means we are trapped here until Ratchet and I can find a way of dealing with this problem-which could take centuries."
"You say that this condition is a problem that would exclusively affect Cybertronians who have been to Earth?" asked Optimus, a sharp note entering his voice.
"Yes." said Perceptor. "That is what our studies suggest, so we have dropped the quarantine since we are all effectively infected already. None of us should risk leaving the planet until Ratchet finds a certain method to protect us from the degradation."
"I want you to examine the two bodies you found and find out, if possible, their identities." Optimus said.
"We know who they were already, Ratchet was able to look at their processors and systems." said Perceptor.
"They were Starscream and Scorponok."
Optimus took a breath as Perceptor paused."
"It seems Starscream had some idea of what was happening and managed to send out a message that any Decepticon out in space would have received." Perceptor continued. "It orders them to avoid this planet at all costs."
"When did this happen?" asked Optimus.
"The message was sent nine months ago," said Wheeljack.
"That could explain why Barricade has been seen cruising around near our base." Optimus stated. "All of his companions on Earth – Megatron, Frenzy, Blackout, Brawl, and Bonecrusher - were killed, and now we know that Starscream and Scorponok are also dead."
Optimus blinked twice. "We all assumed he'd had orders from Starscream to spy on us when he started this behaviour four months earlier." Optimus said. "As we have the force-field, which has a scrambling signal running through it, we ignored it. However, from what you say, that is impossible. I wonder if he's driven to watch us by loneliness?" Optimus pondered this for a moment.
"I cannot leave the situation as it is. I shall go out and attempt to contact Barricade. He at least deserves to know what has happened to Starscream and Scorponok, and he also deserves to know that it is highly unlikely that any other Decepticons will be coming to Earth."
Optimus stood.
"I will go and talk to Ironhide. If Barricade is seen in this area, I want to know about it."
He beckoned the other two to follow, and then he went out.