A/N: Leofan221: Here is the next chapter for Y'all! I finally got my lazy butt in gear, and posted this. I did only get it yesterday. Ugh. Anyway...
Tell me and HardyGal if you've seen the finale of TMNT, or the premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. If you have, we need to talk.
A/N HardyGal: I am a very bad person for making you guys wait this long. I have excuses. School, road trip, original stories for school, and a new obsession with Criminal Minds. Also I've been recapping on The Transformers G1. Double also, a crap ton of writer's block. Seriously, I wrote the first twenty-two paragraphs of this chapter, and then… "Now what? What the heck's gonna happen next?" Usually it takes me at least a month to get my full inspiration back, but this time it took a lot longer. I hope this makes up for the hiatus.
I don't own Transformers Prime, or TMNT. Seriously, some crazy scrap would be happening if I did. Leofan221 is awesome.
"Ha! I found you!" April had been tossing up the lair frantically, trying to find her T-Phone after Metalhead had went offline.
She had to know what had happened to Metalhead, what was going on at the waterfront, and what exactly the boys had got themselves into. Quick dialing Donnie, April held the phone to her ear.
The tone rang two times, before the call was answered in the middle of the third tone. "Uh huh, who is it?"
"Donnie!" April exclaimed, for some reason feeling relieved. "Donnie, we need to talk."
"Um, yeah…!" He was in the middle of a fight, she could tell by his voice. Oddly, though, there didn't seem to be any background noise. "Now is not a great time!"
"Donnie, I sent Metalhead to the waterfront you guys were patrolling…"
"You don't say…?"
"What?"
"Nothing!"
"I sent Metalhead to the waterfront, and I saw something weird!" April was pacing as she talked, her heart pumping in her chest. Something was happening, she didn't know what, and it was driving her crazy. "Like, really weird!"
"Yeah, ok!"
"Don't you want to know what it is?"
Donnie yelped suddenly. "April, I'm not kidding, now isn't a great time!"
"And I'm not kidding, Donnie! Something weird is happening, and I think you know something about it!"
There was no reply, except for a few shouts and grunts as he fought.
April took a deep breath. She might as well get this bombshell over with. "Donnie, I think Metalhead is dead."
"No, he's fine."
"What?"
"Aw, man!" Donnie berated himself. "Look, April, I would love to tell you more, you have no idea how much I would love to. But now really is not the time! What?"
"What?" April demanded.
"Nothing! April, I'll call you-Ah-!"
With that sudden cry of pain, the call went offline.
"Donnie…? Donnie!"
Starscream was just trying to survive. He had only come back to the Decepticons for a few groons, and already he was stuck in a firefight. This had to be that femme's fault! Her enemies really were formidable, even if they had no form of long range weapon. But at least they were occupied with the Vehicons. So Starscream focused his fire on the Autobots.
The seeker was no melee combatant. He was a flyer for Primus' sake, he felt safer from long range. Oh, sure, that brute Dreadwing could use a sword, but unless he was threatened from close range, Starscream stayed as far from a fight as his firing range would allow him to.
So it really was annoying when Starscream felt the wrecking ball suddenly smash into his faceplates. The thin bot flew backwards, and he quickly sat up to see the glowering form of Bulkhead. Starscream silently cursed the slagging Autobot, cursed Megatron, and cursed Silas. What he wouldn't give to be able to fly.
"I never got the chance to ask you, Starscream," the Wrecker ground out, approaching slowly. "What made you come crawling back to Megatron?"
"Who's crawling?" Starscream snapped back, getting to his pedes.
"You're about to be!" Bulkhead charged, his wrecking ball raised above his head.
Starscream aimed an arm missile. "Why not you?" And fired.
The Shredder was getting impatient. The tall bot that was called Soundwave, his screen mask kept on blinking, every time another portal activating, into which more and more faceless bots went through.
"What is happening out there?" Shredder demanded of Soundwave. The ever silent robot didn't even look at him.
The leader of the Foot clenched his fist. He had a mixture of emotions among the constant one of rage; concern for Karai, his daughter, the daughter of his Teng Shen. Curiosity as to how these new robot lifeforms worked, and curiosity as to how Karai had been turned into one of them.
Finally, his patience drew to an end. Shredder jumped down from the tall table, right in front of his two followers, who were seeking refuge underneath said table. "Xever. Bradford."
The mutant dog and koi approached warily. They almost recoiled as another drone walked past aimlessly. Shredder ignored it.
"When the next portal comes," Oroku Saki said. "The two of you are to go through it. Report back to me when the portal appears on your end."
"But… Master Shredder-"
"That was not a request, Bradford!" Shredder snapped. "Obey! Both of you!"
All four of them had attacked Karai, who was of course able to hold her own pretty well, but the 'Vehicon troopers' attacked them. The four assimilated ninjas backflipped to avoid the laser fire, and Karai bolted.
Leo sliced the arms and torso of one of the Vehicons, before deflecting the gunfire of another. "Don't let Karai get away!" he shouted.
Raph downed another drone. "I got her!" With a furious shout, Raph charged for the now smaller martial artist. Karai spun around, and allowed her tantō to be caught in the red ninja's sai. With a few quick moves, Raph was on the ground, and Karai was off again.
Donnie got there next, and he could see a different gleam in her golden, white-less eyes. It wasn't mocking or amused, it was dangerous. She had a mission, and he was in her way.
It was a short fight. Karai knocked Donnie aside, where he was accosted by several Vehicons. No sooner had that happened, then Leo ran at Karai with a yell, swinging his swords. Karai blocked, and the two of them ended up in each other's faces again.
"Where's the cube, Karai?" Leo demanded.
Karai's eyes glinted. "It's safe."
"Hey, Leo!" The two rivals' heads quickly turned to see Mikey holding a relatively small cube. He was almost absentmindedly taking down several Vehicons, before waving the cube. "Are you… Are we… Are they looking for this?"
Leo and Karai glanced at each other, before Karai shoved the taller ninja aside, and instantly ran towards Mikey, Leo right behind her. "Mikey! Keep-Away! Keep-Away!"
Mikey's eyes widened, and he instantly threw the cube at Leo, who caught it. "Not to me!" Leo protested, instantly running in the other direction as Karai turned her sights back to him. "Raph!"
Leo's immediate younger brother turned just when he threw the cube at him. Raph caught it. Raph could see Karai coming after him. However, Leo caught up to her, stalling her, and Raph quickly turned to Donnie, who was fighting several Vehicons and looking like he was talking to someone.
"Donnie!"
Donnie knocked out another drone with his staff. "What?" he shouted.
Raph threw the cube. Donnie reached out to catch it. He did. But something caught him as well.
Bradford and Xever, otherwise known as Dogpound and Fishface, jumped through the portal, which closed behind them. Almost as soon as their paws or metal feet hit the familiar ground of the New York City waterfront, an explosion reverberated through the air.
The two mutants saw nothing, but a bunch of things happened within seconds before they suddenly lost consciousness
Bulkhead had expected the missile. And all he had to do was move quickly to avoid it. Of all the times that his big, fat chassis could've decided to move fast enough to avoid injury, it had to be at that time.
The large Wrecker moved aside, the missile so close he could feel its heat. He watched as the missile hit one of the assimilated ones. The purple one. Donatello. Just at that right moment, when Donatello had stretched out his arm, and caught the cube in his servo, the missile caught him, right in the shoulder.
The cube was instantly dropped, and there was a flash. Bulkhead nearly fell back due to the shockwave, but he was determined to keep his pedes. Gritting his denta, shutting his optics, Bulkhead fought past the enormous headache.
Starscream was already on his pedes, and looked in horror at the scene. Not at the groaning youngling, but at the charred Assimilator.
Metalhead didn't quite remember retaining realization and sentience. Not many do. He remembered flashes, mainly of helping his creator in his lab. But Metalhead did remember sort of… waking up into this world, with sudden full knowledge of who he was, who cared for him, who he held familial bonds to, and why he was there. Some people have that moment, a sort of waking point, the earliest memory, where it seems as though you've only woken up from a long sleep, but you know who your family is, who your friends are, and what you are going to do.
Memory is weird.
Metalhead remembered the mission April had set him. He remembered the Kraang, the mutagen. The mutagen had oozed into his circuitry, into his power unit. Then Leonardo had dropped the cube, and BOOM. Waking up.
And then Donnie came. Metalhead had been so happy, for there had been a very lost feeling in his spark, a dejected want, and that feeling was gone as soon as his creator was there.
Metalhead had been only mildly surprised that his creator was a robot, but he had quickly analyzed and accepted the situation. There seemed to be some sort of bond that connected him to his creator, which allowed him to access a few of his thoughts and memories, so stuff was reasonably explained.
Instinctively, Metalhead had known where he was supposed to be. The small robot had climbed to his creator's back, transformed into himself, and latched himself into a space between his creator's wings, leaving a very small (at least to his creator), NYC manhole cover shell on his back. Again, unexpected, but accepted.
Now, Metalhead was once again unlatching himself from his creator's back struts (he had done so once before, to show his creator's blue brother that he was there).
The purple bot was on his knees, crying out in pain. Metalhead could feel the feeling of shock, pain, and even confusion as his creator cried out. The little turtle bot beeped his concern, and was about to climb onto his creator's left shoulder, but realized that right there was the source of the pain.
"Donnie!" The red brother, also a robot, like Leo and the creator, ran over, concern and fear in his optics, his vocals, his body language.
Metalhead climbed onto his creator's right shoulder as Raph knelt next to him. The red brother was staring at Donatello's left shoulder with wide optics for a moment, before hesitantly touching it.
"Don't! Don't do that!" the purple turtle-turned-bot shouted, his vocals practically a scream.
"What do I do?" Raphael demanded, panic mixed with a very frustrated exasperation.
It was very bad. The creator's shoulder had a charred hole in it, sparking with wires. The arm was just short of falling off. And his left wing was charred and heavily indented.
As soon as the missile had hit his shoulder, Donnie only knew pain. His processor was flashing warnings, he could practically hear the alarms. The missile had spun him around, and he'd landed on his shoulder of all places.
Some semblance of sense and dignity managed its way into Donnie's screaming, pain blurred mind, and he'd somehow made it to his knees. Then, nothing else really registered. He was aware of some gunfire, a bit of fighting, but everything seemed blurred, the loudest sound in his ears only being his rapid and deep breaths, punctuated by what sounded like vocalizations of pain, which he soon realized were his own.
"Donnie!"
Raph. A familiar voice among all this confusing chaos, and this brought Donnie out of his pain filled confusion, but not out of his pain. He was aware of Metalhead hanging off his right shoulder, and this gave him some comfort, as well as Raph suddenly kneeling next to him, staring at his arm. The comfort of the latter, however, was quickly dashed as Raph touched his shoulder.
"Don't!" Donnie screamed. "Don't do that!"
Raph pulled back both hands, glaring in his worried, frustrated way. "What do I do?" he demanded.
Donnie gasped, grabbing his staff, quickly smacking an armed Vehicon on the helm. Another vehicon he quickly swept off its feet, and stabbed his nagnita blade into its shoulder. Why the shoulder? He didn't know, he didn't care, he just didn't want himself or Raph hurt anymore giving the current situation.
Megatron had been quick to come to his pedes after the shockwave. Then, a young cry reached his audial receptors, and he looked up.
He had been aware of all four of the young assimilated ones, the other three showing the same peculiar yet impressive skill as the blue one. The red one was an impressive brawler, and Megatron wondered how he would have fared if he had been a Pit fighter. The orange one showed a very strange enthusiasm and youthfulness that Megatron had almost forgotten existed. And the purple one. He had an oddness about him that separated him from the others, besides the auburn optics and the wings, and he fact he was the tallest out of the four. He was simpler, showing not the forcefulness of the red one, nor the agility and speed of the orange one, nor the flair of the blue one.
And a staff. Odd choice (Megatron wasn't going to wonder over the weapons of the orange one). But the young purple mech was purposeful, he analyzed his fight, and reacted accordingly.
And it was this purple mech that was crying out in pain. Most of the fighting was momentarily halted by the shockwave, and Megatron used this time to watch. The youngling cried out, and quickly moved to his knees. He stayed leaned over in this position for a few seconds, before the red mech ran over, showing a sentimentality that Megatron knew would get even this worthy brawler a grave in the Gladiatorial Pits of Kaon.
The purple mech shouted at the red mech, and Megatron noticed a small bot on the purple mech's shoulder. A symbiot perhaps. But how would an assimilated one gain access and bond to a symbiot? Yes, this assimilated youngling human certainly was interesting.
Megatron raised an impressed optic ridge as the purple bot took out two Vehicons on his knees, stabbing a blade from his staff into the shoulder of the second Vehicon. By this time, the two other assimilated ones had run over. There was an odd unity between the four, suggesting, perhaps, a familial bond.
Optimus Prime was now there, on one knee beside the younglings. The Decepticons, having noticed that their leader was making no movement of attack, fell back a little, much to the surprise and wariness of the other Autobots, who backed away themselves, casting glances at the group around the injured mech.
"Ratchet," said Prime. "Activate a groundbridge. And prepare the medbay." A/N HardyGal: I'm not sure what the medical area is called, mainly due to the fact that it's still in the main room of the base.
"Lord Megatron." Megatron looked sharply at a very nervous Starscream. "I'm afraid the Assimilator… Well…"
Megatron caught the femme, Karai, out of the corner of his optic, and watched as she bent down to pick up a badly charred relic.
Leo was trying to keep it cool. That was his job, after all, to make sure that he could keep his team from panicking. And if they did panic, it was his job to be the levelheaded one. But this was something different.
It shouldn't have been. They had been hurt bad before, by the Shredder, but that was a very… unified thing. They all shared a reaction of dejection and hurt and, yes, nightmares. Right now, there was only Donnie, and there was a mixed set of reactions. Donnie's pain and forced down shock, Mikey's slightly panicky worry and encouragement, Raph's silent conflict of want-to-comfort, want-to-panic, want-to-help, and Leo…
"Donnie," Leo said, after he got over the shock of the charred hole in his brother's shoulder (thank goodness for their new robot bodies, Leo thought). "Just stay calm. We'll fix this."
Donnie nodded, his hand gripping his staff, which was stabbed into a Vehicon's shoulder. He whimpered a little. "Yeah, yeah ok."
"You'll be alright, Donnie," said Mikey. "You gotta be."
"Great, Mike," Donnie gasped. "Adding pressure to my getting better." Well, he was getting back his irritated sarcasm, that was a good sign. Metalhead, whom Leo had almost forgotten about, beeped an encouragement.
"Hey, is that Metalhead?" Mikey said suddenly.
Leo looked up in shock as Optimus Prime suddenly knelt next to him. There was a weird look in the tall robot's metal face. Leo sometimes saw that look on Master Splinter, mainly when he looked at his shrine to Teng Shen and Miwa. Regret and sadness.
"Do not worry," the red and blue bot said. "I will do everything in my power to make sure you are repaired, and all four of you are returned to your original forms. This is not your war."
'Actually,' Leo thought, as Optimus Prime stood up and sent a message to Ratchet. 'As soon as Karai got pulled into this, I think this became our war automatically.'
Speaking of… Leo caught Karai sneaking up out of the corner of his eye. She was bending to pick up a very charred cube. Leo was quickly in front of her, one foot on the cube, one of his katanas stabbed into the ground in front of her hand. Karai looked up at him, golden eyes flashing with annoyance and anger.
Leo glared right back. "Not this time, Karai," he said in a low voice. The groundbridge, the green portal, powered up.
Karai's metal mouth mask disappeared, sliding back. There was the familiar amused smirk. She backflipped away, and went to stand alongside the Decepticons.
Donnie was already limping through the groundbridge, with the assistance of Raph and Mikey. The Autobots, Smokescreen, Wheeljack, Arcee and Bulkhead, also went through the groundbridge, their weapons still on hand as they glanced at the Decepticons suspiciously. Bumblebee waited back with Optimus and Leo, the two smaller bots hovering behind the leader of the Autobots.
Optimus Prime was looking stonily at Megatron, who simply smirked just a little. "Till we meet again, Optimus."
Optimus didn't reply, just slowly turned and went through the groundbridge. Leo and Bumblebee followed, the latter aiming a low, angry buzz at the Decepticon that Leo interpreted as, *You can't ruin enough lives, can you?*
Just before Leo actually entered the portal, Megatron said, "Give my wish of a speedy recovery to your brother, little one." Leo grit his teeth and clenched his fists, before entering the portal.
A/N HardyGal: Ha ha! Done! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Fishface and Dogpound. But I don't know if I'll put them in the next chapter. So some ideas would be nice, it might fuel my inspiration tank too, instead of me waiting for it to fill by itself for three months.
Glad you guys enjoyed baby Metalhead. He's really sweet. I find myself wishing I had set this fic in the second season of TMNT, but that would've raised too many complications. No Metalhead for one… That is, if you want Casey. But I already have so many characters that I don't know how I would've inducted Casey into this, though he is a cool character. Same goes for Tiger Claw. Also, I didn't want to deal with the complications of Splinter and Leo knowing the truth about Karai. Double also… I started writing this thing during the season two hiatus, the time Slash and Destroy was the last episode for awhile. So I had nothing on Casey, hardly anything on the truth of Karai, and hardly anything on Rahzar as well.
Seriously though, the more new episodes come out, the harder it is to write this. Have you guys seen the finale? Do not get me started…