War as Old as Time Itself
Summary:Three months after The Battle For Earth, a mysterious mech abducts Optimus Prime from Cybertron and so his friends find themselves needing help to find him. A strange group departs their planet for the journey, while Optimus slowly mends gaps between his own people and the gaps with their greatest enemy.
Previously...
Optimus was not aware of Roller's concerned and mournful beeping beside him. He was not aware of the shrieks of pain from the beasts that had attacked them as they ran into the phoenix like creatures that lived in the woods a little further away. He didn't register the fire taking up the forest, nor the smoke slowly cogging his vents. All he could see was his offlined friend and think of Elita One, of Prowl...
A broken keen left Optimus's vocalizer as he mourned another lost friend.
Now...
How long he stood over his dead friend's form, keening like a lost sprakling, Optimus didn't know.
All he did know was that he felt empty.
Another bot had died while he could have done something, when he could have saved them. He didn't know why Primal Major thought he would be a good tutor bot for Alpha Supreme. It was obvious that even thought the two had never bonded like Ratchet had done with Omega, the old bot loved the shipformer. It didn't make sense in the young Prime's processor.
He was a failure in everything he tried to do. The only thing he is good for is being a model for all future Academy cadets, to inspire them to enter and die in a truly, relatively pointless war. Suddenly, he was angry. At himself, at Ultra Magnus, at Sentinel, at the Council... But mostly at himself. He was the one that allowed them to do what they wished with him! He should have protested! Should have said no!
The best and closest to that that he had done was stand up for Megatron!
Oh, slag! Megatron!
Optimus realized that he had been bot-napped on the day he should have started participating actively in Megatron's trail! What had the Councilmech that had supported him on that day thought when the very next day, when he was invited and welcome, he didn't turn up!? They probably thought he was only trying to get their attention! Oh, fraging Primus, Sentinel will never let him live this down! And no one will ever take him seriously ever again! He'll never be able to pull of that stunt that had gotten him into the trail in the first place! They'll probably turn Megatron into a slave just to spite him, too! As if the Warlord needed any more reason to hate him!
Optimus let out a keen anew as he realized his life had only gotten even worse.
And then he realized just how selfish he was being. His friend had just offlined, Megatron might be a slave right about now and all he cared about was himself and his stupid reputation! He started squeezing his sensitive audial receptors, using the pain to ground himself. He needed a clear processor right now. He needed to decide what to do ow. He and Roller were stuck on a planet he knew very little about, in forest some of those beasts were sure to have survived and he didn't know yet what they were... Primal said he will have most of his answered in either the captain's log or in the library.
And there was the matter of Alpha Supreme he had to deal with. He had just been saddled with a giant weapon of mass destruction with the processor of a never-maturing sparkling. It's not going to be like taking care of Sari and Bumblebee, or like explaining things to Bulkhead, nor it will be like meditating with Prowl when he needs to calm the shipformer down... He still wasn't sure if he wanted to online the mech. Primal was right. It would be the same as sending a sparkling into a battlefield, only this sparkling the Decepticons wont hesitate to fire on.
Optimus shook off those musings.
First things first, he had to bury his friend with all the dignity and respect he deserved.
And then he'll huddle up in that soft berth, hold Roller close and keen and cry until he eventually destroys the pillow-mesh from the sparks leaking from his optics.
As the humans say, he'll sleep on it and with a fresh processor, he'll decide weather he's up to raising a weapon of mass-destruction and he'll even rething weather he wants to be part of this war or of either faction.
It was about time someone started trying to unite Cybertron's people.
00000
When Megatron called Strike, she answered after only two astroseconds. The joy on her faceplates was obvious when she saw her lord and it only grew when she saw the rest of the Cons who had been with him. Then it all went to pit when she saw the Autobots.
''My Lord?'' There was so many questions behind those two simple words.
Megatron smirked. ''Strika, it is a pleasure to see you, like always.''
''My Lady Strika! I am here as well, guarding our glorious leader! Do not fret! I will not let anyone hurt magnificent Lord Megatron while I still function, my dearest general! I swear this on my very spa-''
''Shut up, Lugnut.'' They both said it so calmly and in such perfect timing of each other that the assembled Autobots had to wonder how much they said it on a daily basis to be so well practiced in it. The look on Shockwaves face said 'Don't ask'.
''It would seem that we have to ally with the grounders for a short period of time, Strika. You see...''
As Megatron explained the situation with the help of Shockwave and Alpha Trion ,since everyone else was scared to slag of the infamous Decepticon General of Destruction, Bumblebee and Sari couldn't help but comment on said Decepticon General of Destruction.
''That's a lady?!''
''I know! We were shown her picture when Bulk and I were trying out for the Academy and all that slag and I couldn't believe she was a femme! I mean, look at her! We saw that female Starscream clone, whatever her name was, and it was almost clear she was a femme, but I wouldn't recognize Strika for a femmebot if you painted the words in neon pink on her plating!''
''I mean, if she's a female Cybertronian, should she resemble Arcee or Blackarachnia?''
''I know! You know, I heard that this one time a Nebulon minister mistook her for-''
''You do know that although I may not be there, I can still hear you!'' The sudden interruption in the mission briefing had Sari and Bee jumping to the ceiling and falling on their butt and aft.
''I'm so sorry! Please don't slag me!'' Bumblebee yelled, shielding his head as if expecting a blow.
Sari kept wisely quiet.
Ratchet put his face into his right servo and shook his head. ''Slag it all, Bumblebee!'' He then looked at the equally exasperated Magnus. ''This is why we need Optimus. The only one with political skills worth speaking off.''
Team Athenia and Cliffjumper looked ready to leak, Sentinel was barely fearing any better and Jazz looked ready to defend himself should a fight start. Prowl and Yoketron didn't change their stances, thought their servos slowly crept to their weapons.
Then the Decepticons burst out laughing, definitely enjoying the jumpiness of the little Autotbot assembly.
''Relax, I'm just pulling your stabilizer! I couldn't care less what a protoform thought of me! Now, if it were a worthy opponent that thought of me as such, I would show him why even the DJD fear me!'' She puffed up her plating in pride, causing Lugnut to start another ode to her magnificence, although it wasn't anything as grand as the ones he made for Megatron. One would think that one's Conjunx Endura was dearer than your commander... But, the Decepticons were a strange folk and these two mechanisms, beside Shockwave, were known as two of the three most loyal to the Decepticon Cause and to the Decepticon Lord himself.
''What is DJD?'' Sari asked, and almost everyone in the room shuddered and for a moment only the rattling of plating was heard.
''The Decepticon Justice Division. They're a group known for hunting down all defectors or traitors of the 'magnificent' Cause.'' Ratchet even did the whole air quotes thing he had picked up on Earth, making Sari giggle. The laughter died in her throat as he explained all the terrible things the group, and especially the Phase Sixers, did and did so willingly. ''Everyone fears them. If the DJD hear of you-''
''You're a dead mech walking, and you won't be walkin' much longer.'' A voice from the window said and in dropped Lockdown, startling everyone. ''While if you have a bounty on your head, the buyer can dictate your faith, if the DJD learn of you, then not even Primus himself can save you. There's a rumor that they once blew up a whole planet because they reported Decepticon activity to the Galactic Council, and thus the Autobots. And it was quite a big planet. Much of the Universe watched the fireworks.''
''Just how did you get in here!?'' Sentinel yelled after he got over his fright.
''A good bounty hunter never reveals his tricks. Oh, hello!'' Lockdown's red optics widened then flashed with interest upon seeing his old master and the hot little two-wheeler he got his optic on, who should both be dead.
''Explain later.'' It was an order, and Prowl was more than appalled that it was directed at him!
''So, it is decided that you will meet us at the space port, where we will all board the ships and get going. You'll bring Cyclonus and Starscream. Tell him this is his last chance at not only freedom but also at redemption, and that includes being erased from DJD's traitor list.''
''You're going rather far with all this, just for one Autobot Prime, no matter how good a warrior he is, Lord Megatron.'' It was as much a challenge as Strika would dare pose in front of Autobots, but those who were more observant still heard it. Megatron scowled, but was cut off before he could even open his intake.
''I am calling in a favor, General, if you would please.'' Everyone turned to stare at Alpha Trion until they heard and annoyed growl from Strika.
''Fine!'' She snapped. ''You're worse than the Zombains when it comes to collecting the boons! Slagger. Fine! But you owe me a cube of high grade for this!''
Alpha Trion smirked. ''I will arrange for it to be waiting for you when you land.''
The femme glared a bit more at him, then turned to her lord and bid him a respectful farewell before hanging up. Everyone turned to stare at the old mech once more. ''It's an old, long story I will not share without the lady's permission.''
''Aww!'' The younger bots all complained, only for Team Athenia realize they were trying to share gossip about Decepticons with actual Decepticons in the room. They went ignored.
''I think we should pick up my dad for the trip. He'd be good help for Ratchet and, um Red Alert?'' The femme nodded. ''He'd be good help in the med bay.''
''I have nothing against that, as long as he stays away from me.'' Megatron thundered. ''The safety on my cannon might slip.''
''Oh yeah?! Well so might the safeties on the weapons the Allspark gave me if you so much as loo-''
Before Sari's threat was finished, one of the Intelligence agents burst through the door, a disbelieving look on his faceplate. ''Sit, Ultra Magnus! You won't believe the signal we're getting!''
The Commander got to his feet. ''What is it? Is it the Quintessons?!''
The bot made a motion that indicated he wanted them to follow him. ''IT'S BETTER IF YOU SEE FOR YOURSELF!'' He yelled as he transformed and hurried off, the Magnus hastily going after him. The other exchanged glances and followed him.
00000
When Optimus woke up that morning with a dream still fresh in his processor, he knew what he had to do.
So he got up, refueled, read the coordinates he now had the codes for and told Roller to wait in the bridge and not panic if something strange happens.
And now that he stood before the giant spark chamber, Optimus had never been more sure of some decision than he was now.
Rising his hands, he accessed the codes Primal Major had given him and inputed them directly into the panel next to the opening to the spark chamber. The doors slid open and the fluxed of the sleeping spark reached for him, making him shudder as he opened his own spark to the still dormant shipformer that was slowly waking up. Optimus closed his optics as he felt that simple curious consciousness waking up and exploring some of his base programing, latching onto the codes and familiarizing itself with his spark-signature.
Then something snapped, and Optimus was back in his own processor, staring at a fully active spark as the giant mech did systems checks.
Then he spoke. His voice shook the whole ship as he introduced himself to Optimus Prime.
''I am Alpha Supreme. Yours to command; you pupil, dependent and servant. Where you go, I shall follow. What you say, I will obey.''
Optimus understood now what Ratchet must have felt at such an introduction and realized why there was only one appropriate response.
''I am Optimus Prime. Your friend.''
00000
When they arrived at the Intelligence office, it was in utter chaos. The agents were fluttering around, checking something on one screen, then looking at some datapads from the war. Ratchet and Ultra were both confused and disturbed to see records from the project Omega, an project whose files had not seen Haden's light since its start and ending. There was an entire list, all the names of the Sentinels and their mentorbots, including Arcee, who had never gotten the chance to become one in the first place. Their deaths were coldly recorded and staring the two mentors in the faceplates, making them wince in sympathy. Even Perceptor looked uncomfortable with all this information now staring him in the face, while to Wheeljack it was like a kick to the tanks. Megatron just looked at the pictures of great battles, remembered the lost sparks and the lengths to which Blackout had had to go to eliminate them and he felt both pride and loss. The youngsters could only gawk at the display of history before them.
It made Alpha Trion almost sick to his tanks to realize this information will never again be displayed like this and that Optimus will never see it.
''Ultra Magnus, sir!'' All the bots paused long enough to salute and then went back to work. A single mech came forward and saluted a second time to the Magnus, then greeted Perceptor with a nod. ''We believed you would want to see this, seeing as you were... a part of this... um, project.'' He gestured to a blue and ping femme to start up the big screen and she nodded at him. In seconds, the whole room was quiet and focused on the signal displayed on the screen.
''What am I looking at?'' Ultra Magnus asked even as Perceptor and Wheeljack stepped closer, frowning at something.
''This is not possible.'' The Head of Ministry of Science's monotone voice actually held a hint of incredulity in it. ''These readings must be fake.''
''There could be a glitch in the system. But this... No, Perceptor is right. This is not possible!'' Wheeljack agreed, shaking his head and refusing to believe what his optics were telling him.
''It's not. A glitch, I mean!'' The bot said as he walked over to one of the counsels and picked a datapad up. ''As soon as we saw what the signal was, we checked our systems. We found no glitch and not outside forces messing with the systems. The computers are in prime condition, the sensors are precise enough that this could not possibly be mistaken nor faked to such a degree that we wouldn't recognize tempering. We just needed confirmation from our two specialists who had worked on the project, and we just got it.'' He looked directly at Ratchet and Ultra Magnus. ''It's real, sir.''
''What is?''
''Yeah! What the slag is going on!?'' Ratchet chimed in. The others looked at the bot and he squirmed a bit.
''That signal is one we recorded only twelve times. When each of you bonded with your Sentinel, a signal was sent to one of out many sensors and we registered the full activation of their sparks. There were twelve Omega Sentinels and the Lugnut Supremes do not possess sparks, so it could not be from them.'' Perceptor explained.
''But like every normal spark has its own unique frequency and harmonics, their's did too.'' Wheeljack continued. ''Every signal was slightly altered because of this, so we could easily see which one had onlined when, as well as when each of them had offlined. This signal has not been seen since the Silver War...''
''It is a bit different. It has always been a bit unstable, but so had the Supreme been, too, so we had just attributed it to a glitch. He was a bit slow, too. His mentor was even less comfortable with becoming so than you were, Medical Officer Ratchet. We had suspected that it was the interference of the sucking forces of the black hole that had led to our sensors never detecting the moment he offlined, so we had labeled him offline manually.''
''Wait just a moment!'' Ratchet exclaimed as he stalked over to the monitors and looked down at them. ''Are you trying to tell me you left a bot and an Omega Sentinel high and dry without ever checking if they truly offlined?!''
''Typical Autobot behaviors!'' Blitzwing's Angry persona spat, making most of the bots in the room flinch.
''We presumed-''
''You should never presume.'' Lockdown said as he pretended to examine his hook while he was really checking Prowl out.
''The scans, what are they showing?'' Yoketron asked calmly even as he raised an optical ridge at his former student eying his greatest student up and down. Just how many things had changed that Prowl seemed to be forcing himself not to show his embarrassment at the attention?
''They are showing that an Omega Sentinel had just onlined somewhere on one of Seo's moons.''
''So! It could mean that another Supreme simply woke up, like Omega Supreme did!'' Sentinel said arrogantly. Really, this was all such a waste of time. First the whole Optimus business, then they were negotiating a ceasefire with the Decepticons because of the Quintessons and now this! So what! Bots tens of times smaller than the Omega Sentinels walked off some pretty serious damage all the times! Just look at Rodimus! He was hit by Cosmic Rust and he was already fit for duty! Or even Ultra Magnus! So what if another shipformer woke up after a long nap! It would just make their military forces stronger! That should be a good thing, right?
''I don't think you understand.'' Perceptor said. ''Omega Supreme wasn't the first of the Sentinels to fall into emergency stasis lock because of damage and then wake up after some time, although his damage had been the worst and that had been the only way to save his strained spark. Others had went into stasis and when they woke up, we would register their signals coming back online. This,'' He pointed at the signal on the big screen. ''THIS means that an Omega Sentinel had just been brought online. For the first time. Ever.''
Everyone stared at Perceptor.
''But I thought all the Supremes fought in the war and offlined in the war?'' Jazz asked. He looked confused and a bit worried that he said something stupid, but if there was one thing he learned from Optimus, it was that it was better to say something others mat consider stupid if it was the truth, especially crucial truth. He will never again ignore what others said just because someone of higher rank said it was nonsense. Nor will he believe everything he heard.
''They did. How is it possible that a Supreme wasn't onlined?!'' The Magnus's voice stroke fear into the sparks of the Autobots in the room. All except Optimus Prime's team, who had faced Decepticons and lived to tell the tale.
''Which Supreme is it?'' Prowl asked. They needed to know what they were up against.
''Alpha Supreme.'' Alpha Trion answered. Most of the room looked at him. ''Only one of the Sentinels was reported to have fallen into a black hole! Do none of you know any of your planet's history?!'' He asked incredulously.
''Nah, that's boss-bot's specialty!'' Bumblebee said cheerfully, as if it was something to be proud of. Only fools are proud of something a smart person would be ashamed of. The Archivist shook his head in exasperation.
''What is the excuse for the rest of you?''
''I know what happened. I was around back then, after all.'' Megatron said and crossed his arms. The rest of the Decepticons, excusing the clones, nodded, as did Ratchet, Perceptor, Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus. The rest of the young bots mumbled something and Sari just shrugged. ''Never mind.''
''He is right. It is not important right now. What does this mean?'' Ultra asked, looking at everyone at large.
''This means that someone hacked us and faked an Omega Sentinel's onlining. Alpha Supreme has never been activated, a crew controlled all his movements and that captain must have been in on it, meaning that Primal Major could be considered a traitor.'' The Agent that had gotten then said plainly.
''And it means that he either changed his mind...'' Wheeljack started.
''Or someone else now has those codes and has activated a weapon of mass destruction.'' Ratchet said, horrified at the implications. So much chaos could be caused by a single Supreme that, once, a planet was destroyed.
''It is possible he gave those codes willingly.'' Alpha Trion said.
''Why would you think that, Alpha Trion?'' Megtron asked. The old bot better be direct. He was getting tired of all the mystery solving! He just wanted to get the little Prime back so he could try his servo at wooing the pretty little Autobot.
''Because he once told me he didn't want to take a sparkling to the front lines, and we all know that the Omega Sentinels will always be just that. Sparklings, because their processor was not built with the intention of developing.''
Utter silence.
''Are you saying that he was looking for someone who would take Alpha Supreme away from war?'' Prowl asked. It couldn't be, right? That that person was who he so desperately tried to stop is spark from hoping it was?
''That is exactly what I am saying. And I think I know who he has chosen.'' Alpha Trion then stormed up to one of the consuls and accessed a file. It showed Optimus Prime from his Academy days and his basic information, including the reason for his dropping out of the ranks of the Elite Guard and his victory on Earth. He entered a password and a new section opened, written in a language no one but the old Archivist could understand. It just looked ancient.
Then the bot was cursing up a storm in a dialect long forgotten as he saw that the files had been entered recently.
''When I get my servos on him, Primal Major will wish Primus had never decided to throw him into the same time-frame as me!''
00000
''I am Optimus Prime. Your friend.''
''What is a ... friend?'' The shipformer sounded as confused as he was curious. Optimus knew that he probably shouldn't, that it was probably wrong in more ways than he could think of, but he actually find him a bit... cute. As cute as a giant weapon of mass-destruction made to wage war on Decepticons can be, anyway. Optimus snorted. If Ratchet were hear to hear him, he'd probably demand the young Prime to get a throughout examination of his CPU and a lot of rest.
''A friend is someone you care about and who cares about you in return. You trust a friend and share your secrets with them because of that trust. You protect your friends and they protect you. You help them and then your friend helps you when you need it. You comfort them and they do the same to you. You play and study and train together and do lots of other both pleasant and unpleasant things together. A friend is a companion you can always rely on.'' Optimus explained slowly, letting the big bot get used to his voice. He could see a camera focusing in on him from the edge of his optic and turned to look at it, allowing Alpha to see his mentor and new friend fully. ''The other bot, a Minicon, in the bridge... He's Roller, and he and I have been friends since I was a sparkling. And now, if you would like, you could be our friend, too?'' Optimus grinned.
A pause. ''I would... like that very much, Optimus Prime.''
His grin only widened. ''Optimus is for friends, Alpha.''
''Alright... Optimus.''
His optics twinkled and he ran a servo gently over the giant spark casing.
''It's time we get ready for our trip, my friend. We have a long journey ahead of us.''
His only answer was the heating up of flight systems and the start of powerful engines.
