Next Chapter. Also to those that notice this is the same ones I used for my other Altered DOTM story except I modified some parts. But still enjoy and review.
Ironhide optics slowly started to open, trying to remember what happened before he blacked out.
Slowly it came back to him and with a shout he got up as fast as a rocket, "Sentinel!" He yelled.
"Easy old friend, Sentinel is long gone from here." A familiar voice said to him. Ironhide finally took in his surrounding; realizing that he was in Ratchet's med bay and the medic was there as well. Ironhide's optics were still a little bit fuzzy but he managed to catch the images of several other forms in the room too.
"What…what happened?" The weapon specialist asked putting his hand to his head, Primus did it hurt.
"You were nearly executed by Sentinel's Cosmic Rust gun." Ratchet said simply. "But you managed to stop him from doing that, than he ripped out a pretty huge amount of circuits from your body and you fell into stasis."
Ironhide remembered the whole thing, especially the part about Bumblebee, "Bee, where is Bee?" He asked wildly.
"Easy old friend, he is fine." Ratchet answered, "He's over here." He pointed to the other table and on top of it was the yellow bot with plugs attached to his body.
Slowly, Ironhide moved his body to get a better look at the wound. It didn't seem as bad before where Bumblebee was hit but it looked far from better.
"I managed to stop the rust before it did any permanent damage." Ratchet explained
Ironhide let out a sigh of relief. "What about our losses?"
"Surprisingly not bad, none of the soldiers were killed, though a dozen or so were injured. The other Autobots took little damage, Elita-1 may not be able to transform for a while. Optimus is with Elita right now so Jazz has taken over command and Chromia is somewhere else, though I'm sure she wishes to see you. Mudflap also took some damaged but he's holding up thanks to Jolt" Ratchet explained. "It seems that Sentinel just wanted to grab the pillars and get out of here, with no intention of killing us."
"He didn't seem to have any trouble with trying to kill me." Ironhide retorted.
Ratchet nodded. "He probably didn't want too, but knowing your reputation he probably didn't have a choice if he ever hoped to get out of there."
The weapon specialist couldn't help but smirk at the comment. Than something important or someone important came up. "How's Optimus taking it?"
The medic sighed before answering. "He's not showing it, but I can tell that he's taking it hard about his mentor's betrayal plus the concern for his mate. He's also recalled all Autobots back to base, including Wheelie and Brains. Only the Wreckers have been left out, though he's ordered them to report every ten minutes."
"Any news about Sentinel or Megatron?" Ironhide asked as he flexed his arm.
"None yet" Ratchet said as he examined Bumblebee. "But I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. Energon detectors all over the world for the past 48 Earth hours."
"TWO DAYS!" Ironhide yelled, shocked at how long it was since Sentinel betrayed them, "I've been out for two days?"
Ironhide suddenly felt an enormous amount of pain in his torso as he moved to get up. Wincing, Ironhide tried to steady himself but Ratchet came to his side and set him back down on the bed, "No moving for you soldier, doctor's orders. We're all taking it easy for right now until something is done."
The med door suddenly opened, revealing Chromia. Ratchet looked at her and knew what she wanted, "Take as long as you want with him, I need to check on Elita, and don't disturbed Bumblebee." The medic said before leaving the room.
Chromia and Ironhide just stared at one another, before the former moved closer to him. No words needed, the sparkmates embraced one another in relief and comfort, Ironhide leaning his head helm down until it touched Chromia's.
Lennox stared at the message in disdain and anger, constantly muttering 'stupid politics' over and over again. Behind him was Jazz, who was currently in charge of the Autobots while Optimus was still recovering from the trauma. The 1st Lieutenant showed an emotionless and serious expression, rather than his usual jovial and carefree one, as he stared at the message. "I'll inform Optimus of this, though I have no doubt that he'll honor your leader's decision."
Just as he was about to leave, Mearing came in, folders underneath her arm as she walked up to them. "Colonel" She said to Lennox. "Jazz" This time at the said Autobot.
"We're starting to prepare for transport" She began, "Though I managed to convince the President to allow you to depart by tomorrow, hopefully that will be enough time for your wounded to heal." She paused before continuing. "I've requisition for Mr. Witwiky to accompany us for any new information since I…was wrong to doubt him." Mearing said it as if she felt disgusted to admit it. "He's earned the right to say goodbye to you all."
Despite her good intentions, her last sentence seemed to agitate Jazz. He had not spoken a lot to Sam, but he knew enough for the boy to earn his respect: From risking his life to protect the Allspark from Megatron too trying to bring Optimus back to life and nearly dying, Jazz didn't hesitate when he replied back to the women, "In mine, and my fellow Autobot's eyes Director, Sam Witwicky had earned the right to be among us way before you even knew him." The last part he said while leaning his face close to hers, "It is you who still needs to earn it, not him."
Jazz left the human to think over his words while he walked to Elita's room, where the said femme was recuperating with Optimus at her side. He ignored the glances he got from Autobots and humans alike as he reached his destination. He wasn't surprise to see Sideswipe leaning against the door. "I trust you already know that the world leader's have made a decision?" The Lieutenant asked Sideswipe.
Sideswipe just stared at Jazz before doing a shrug, "Nah, I'm just hanging here so the boss bot and his gal get some alone time. Though if you're here, then it must be important."
Through some quick words through their transmitters, Optimus Prime emerged to hear the report that Jazz had, which didn't really seem to lighten the Prime's mood. As of 34 hours ago a message from Sentinel Prime was sent out to the leaders of planet Earth: He and the Decepticons planned to take some of Earth's resources to repair Cybertron, and all the humans had to do was renounce sanctuary for the Autobots, and exile them. "And as I predicted, they agreed, Mearnings said we leave in tomorrow." Jazz finished. He looked up at his leader, noticing the grim look on his face. "Prime, I know what your decision is going to be. But in this scenario, I must say that doing this is not cool. The Decepticons clearly have laid a trap out for us. If we comply with the human's decision then we'll be heading towards our own grave-"
"Enough Jazz" Optimus finally said, his voice deep and saddened. Neither Jazz or Sideswipe have rarely heard such defeat in Prime's voice, the last time he was like that was after the final battle on Cybertron. "The humans have made their choice, we shall honor it. Go and tell the others, if they have any complaints, save it."
Jazz and Sideswipe just looked at each other as their leader went back inside, looks of shock on their faces.
No matter how much space she had she was still a prisoner. Dylan and the Decepticons were keeping her prisoner inside the mansion while "her" car and the freaky bird were guarding the perimeter and his servants maintaining visual contact within. The traitor to all humanity offered her a selection of expensive outfits, each in her size, which made things even creepier. She refused with a choice of words that would even have kept Jazz quiet. They let her wander around slightly since they knew she couldn't leave without being spotted. But that didn't stop Mikaela from keeping an eye open for an opportunity to escape the expensive location, to fight back, but she couldn't find one. She was thoroughly trapped by the rich traitor and his Cybertronian allies.
Now, he was dragging her by one arm towards a helicopter, normal or Decepticon, she didn't know. What she did know was that they were moving her to a new location; one Sam didn't know about and wouldn't be able to find her after he was forced to do the Decepticons' dirty work. She wanted to elbow that smug Dylan in the face, but she resisted the urge. She needed to bide her time, to act like a nice and docile hostage, until they lowered their guard.
As she sat down in the helicopter, she clutched her small purse close. They had gone through it earlier, removing anything remotely useful. After they inspected the bag, however, she'd managed to find a flat-head screwdriver in one of the junk drawers in the kitchen and slipped it inside. It wasn't much, but it offered her at least the illusion of control in this situation.
Mikaela intended get out of this. She'd find a way to escape this situation. And she hoped with all her heart that Sam and the Autobots got out of their problems before it was too late.
Sam felt terrible right now as he drove in the limo with Mearing. Not only were the Autobots being exiled by the planet's stupid leaders, but Mikaela was being held captive by that bastard Dylan Gould, A.K.A, traitor to all of humanity. And to add on to that, he was now an unwilling spy for them. As the Decepticon watch squeezed against his wrist, Sam could only wince at the quick pain and look down in shame.
His thoughts were temporarily gone when he saw the Autobot ship that he had never seen before, apparently called the Xantium. It was a very impressive sight indeed, like his childish side was coming out just at the sight of the ship. Also when he saw three Autobots, well four if you count the robot dog, he's never seen before, his curiosity got the better of him.
"They're called the Wreckers, they take care of the Xantium." Mearing explained as if she read his thoughts. "We don't let them out of the base because their assholes."
Sam wondered how bad these guys were if they didn't let them out of the base but let the Twins out though.
As he approached the ones called the Wreckers, he quickly heard the Wreckers foul languages and realized why they weren't let out. As he realized this, he then spotted someone among the human staff who he recognized.
"Epps!" He shouted as he walked towards the said man. The retired NEST soldier heard him and gave a small smile towards the young man. "What are you doing here?"
"I work here now Sam, this my dream job now." He replied as he shook hands with Sam, though a little disturbed by the fact that the boy held on a little longer then was necessary. Sam did his best to hide the fact that the Decepticon watch on his wrist was scanning the former NEST soldier.
"Oi, are you Sam Witwicky?" The green mech on the moving platform asked. He jumped down and circled the three humans with the other Wreckers, to get a good look at the boy they heard so much about.
Sam, nervous of speaking to these new Autobots just said, "Yea, that's me."
"We heard what ya did to Megatron a couple of years back, nice job." The red mech commented. "By the way the names Leadfoot, and these two are Roadbuster and Topspin." Then he patted the dog standing beside him. "And this is our little schnookums, Steeljaw."
The other two gave a more or less welcome while the dog gave a loud bark when Roadbuster spotted something. "What in Primus's name do you think you're doing, ya bunch of idiots?" He shouted at some humans who were escorting some supplies over to the ship. "Are you trying to blow us up with all that crap?"
Sam just smiled as the three Wreckers walked over to the humans. Epps laughed a little at their antics. "I better get over there before they accidentally kill someone. You better get going too if you want to say goodbye to the others before the world does the stupidest thing ever."
"Dis is whack yo, makin us go just becauze dat traitor told em' too." Skids complained as he and his twin was walking towards the Xantium.
Mudflap shook his head in agreement, his right hand on his wound. "I know, dey don't know dat da Decepticons can never be trusted, and now they listen to dem. Dat is messed up. We should be hutin Cons not leavin."
Skids stared at his brother's wound before asking, "Hey Mudflap, how does ya wound feel?"
The red twin rubbed it a bit before replying. "It doesn't hurt az muct az it did before, danks for pullin me out of dere by da way."
The twins bumped fists as Skids replied, "Dat's wat twins are for bro."
"Quit your whining and just keep moving!" Jetfire's aged voice said as he gave both of them a good whack on the head. Skids and Mudflap rubbed their heads as the ancient Seeker walked ahead.
"Wat da slag is his problem?" Skids asked as Sideswipe came towards them. The silver mech smirked, "Probably just as upset as you guys are about leaving too. That and he's not too fond of flying inside a shuttle." Skids and Mudflap looked at Sideswipe in shock. The mech shrugged, "Hey, from what I've learned about flyers, they hate cramp spaces."
The three Autobots noticed Wheeljack walking by with some equipment strapped to his back and muttering to himself. "Hey Jack, need any help with that stuff?" Sideswipe asked.
The inventor/scientist shook his head. "No thanks lads, this is stuff I still need to work on once we get on board." Then he turned away and called for the green wrecker "Roadbuster! Optimus told me to give you chaps a hand!"
Chromia led Ironhide towards the ship, since his wound was causing him to limp a little. She could hear her mech grumbling. "Ironhide, complaining will not help you right now, or us for that matter."
"Its not about us leaving, Chromia." Ironhide said, "Well, sort of that, but the real issues is that I got careless." Chromia looked up at her mate, trying to figure out what he was getting at. "And it wasn't the first time. Remember when Optimus tried to save Sam, I should've gone with him, I could've save him from being killed."
Chromia started to understand what he was getting at. "But we brought him back to life, along with Jazz and Jetfire."
Ironhide shook his head. "But that doesn't change the fact I could've stopped him from being killed. Then none of us, Elita especially, would have to have gone through that kind of pain when we saw his body. And if I had been more aware with Sentinel then none of you would've-"
By then she had lost it, and Chromia slapped Ironhide hard across the face. The bewildered mech looked down at her. "Stop it, you and I both know that none of us could've seen that coming. Now that doesn't matter, all that matters is that you're here, I'm here, the others are still here and that's all I care about." She said.
Ironhide just stared at her, before smiling. This is why he fell in love with this femme, her positive determination made him feel like nothing could stop him, except herself maybe.
Sam entered the station, trying his best not to act suspiciously, which was hard when the Con watch was controlling his arm, trying to scan data on the computers. Despite that no one really gave any thought of it, probably assumed that he was just anxious and his whole arm moving was just a nervous twitch.
Mearing was still with him when Sam saw Seymour Simmons rolling through, demanding to know who was in charge. And when he meant rolling, he meant rolling, Simmons must have busted his legs pretty badly because he was currently in a wheelchair while his assistant Dutch had a neck cast on.
When the former Sector Seven Agent spotted Mearings, Sam wished he had earplugs and a blindfold. From what they were saying, Sam figured they once had a relationship, if such a thing were possible for these two. Though, now that Sam thought about it, both were equally crazy, very paranoid, so the chance of them actually being together was likely.
Wheelie leaned his head against the bars of the cage he was currently in. He and Brains, after arriving to the NEST base, were grabbed by humans just a few minutes later and put into a cage, so that they wouldn't scurry around the base.
It was just plain rude, treating advance sentient beings in such away, but there was nothing they could do, their human allies were exiling them due to a threat from that traitor Sentinel.
Both of them being former Decepticon drones, Brains and Wheelie knew that this was a trap; the Cons would never take the chance of letting their most hated enemies escape scot free, not with the chance of them returning. But these fleshlings wouldn't listen; their brains were set on getting the Autobots out of there, hoping that Sentinel kept true to his word.
"Look there's Sam!" Brain shouted as he ran towards that side of the cage, trying to get Sam's attention. Wheelie stood next to him but when he did, he felt something was wrong: Where was his warrior goddess? Sure they're relationship wasn't exactly perfect, but if her dork of boyfriend were here, then surely she would come too.
Determined to find out what happened to his Warrior Goddess, Wheelie turned towards the driver, "Hey let us out you idiot, I need to talk to someone! Hey can't you hear me? Let me out!"
Brain wasn't sure what had gotten into his friend, but he wanted out too. So he joined his companion, yelling at the driver who stopped the vehicle and glared at them.
"Listen you two toys, quit your yapping, if you need your batteries charge, you can do it after you get on your alien ship." He yelled.
"Well that's not very nice thing to say." A voice in front of him said. The driver looked up to see Ratchet and nearly fainted at the close proximity that the Autobot was at. Ratchet leaned forward and grabbed the cage that the two drones were in. "I'll take them from here." He said to the driver as he yanked a part of the cage off. The driver just nodded dumbly before heading off.
Arcee was helping her sister, Elita-1 to the ship, worried that she might not have fully recovered from her wounds. "Sister I'm fine, you don't have to help me-" Elita's sentence was cut short as she nearly fell, but was caught by Mirage. "La mia signora" He said as he offered his hand to Arcee. The said femme smirked as the mech's chivalry and took his hand as Mirage lifted both her and Elita up for the Wrecker Topspin to grab them and helped them inside.
As Ratchet was making his way towards the ship with Wheelie and Brains still on his shoulder, he spotted Jolt sluggishly making his way there as well, "Jolt?" Ratchet asked his student.
The weary Autobot looked up at the medical officer. "Oh hey sir, sorry I'm just tired. Doing surgery on Mudflap all night and in the morning took a lot out of me."
Ratchet put a hand on Jolt's shoulder. "It was your first operation that you had to do while on a battlefield, and if I was testing you then I say you got yourself an A and further more-"
"Yo Jolt!" Skids yelled. He and Mudflap were running straight towards the blue bot, whom they embraced in a hug, which nearly caused Jolt to fall. When they let go Skids shook his hand. "Danks for savin Mudflap before, don't wat we do wid out ya."
Mudflap shook his head, grabbing Jolt's other hand. "C'mon we want ya to sit by us on da ship."
As the twins were dragging him, Jolt looked at Ratchet giving a small smile. Ratchet grinned and gave a shrug
Sam spotted Optimus talking to Jazz, Whatever they were saying Sam couldn't hear from where he was standing. Optimus spotted Sam, knowing that he wanted to talk, the Autobot leader told his second in command to head towards the ship while the boy walked over to him. Jazz nodded before saying to Sam. "Peace out" in a sad tone.
Sam looked up at Optimus Prime. He respected the mech and wished that things were different. From what he'd gathered, Sentinel's betrayal had hit him hard. They'd been close once and it was hard to imagine what the Autobot was going through.
"What your leaders say is true." Optimus commented slowly. "This was all my fault, I told them whom to trust. I was so wrong."
Not sure what to say, Sam tried to reassure the Prime before him. "That doesn't make it your fault. It just makes you human for a change."
Okay, maybe that wasn't the best way to say it. The phrase "you're only human" didn't quite translate well when you say it to an extraterrestrial being. Still, he hoped Optimus got the concept across that everyone was entitled to be wrong, no one was perfect. Someone he thought was loyal and trustworthy had tricked him. Kind of like how Sam was about to trick him…
The Autobot leader seemed to understand what the young man meant and meet his gaze, stating, "Remember this: you may lose your faith in us, but never in yourselves."
Okay, the guilt was increasing. He didn't want to do this to the Autobots. He really didn't want to. They'd already suffered one betrayal from one close ally. They did not deserve to have it happen again. He would rather die than do something like that to them.
Unfortunately, his evil watch would not let him get out of that betrayal. When it looked like Optimus was about to turn and walk away, another painful spasm ran through his entire body. It hurt, but it also reminded him that he was not the only one on the line. He could ask the question or he could condemn Mikaela to whatever fate Dylan and the Decepticons had in store for her. Fighting through the pain and guilt, he opened his mouth to deliver the last words he wanted to say.
"I need to know how you're going to fight back." He couldn't meet Optimus' gaze now. He couldn't look the mech in the optic as he betrayed them. "I know there's a strategy. I know your coming back with reinforcements. Something. I know there's a plan." He looked straight at him now. He couldn't tell the Autobots the truth, that he was being used to spy on them, since the creep on his wrist could hear him. All he could do was provide a tiny hint and hope for the best. "You can tell me, no other human will ever know."
He silently begged Optimus to notice the stress he placed on the word "human." He wanted the mech to realize that his odd phrasing, saying "no other human" instead of "no one else," meant that the Decepticons would know. It was the only idea he could think of in such a short amount of time.
Whether or not the Autobot leader picked up on the subtle clue, the mech simply replied, "There is no plan."
His unwanted job complete, Sam could honestly ask Optimus a real question, "If we just do what they want, how are we ever going to live with ourselves?"
"You are my friend, Sam," the mech remarked, sending the young man's guilt to even greater heights. "You always will be."
He held nothing but the greatest respect for Optimus since the day they met. The Autobot leader considered him a friend, even after his attempt at normality in college led to ignoring his request for help with the government and the fact Optimus was temporarily killed trying to save him. Granted, Sam had also temporarily died trying to revive the mech. Still, hearing the transformed semi call him a friend after he'd just been used to gather info for the Decepticons was painful for Sam.
Optimus continued, "But your leaders have spoken. From here, the fight will be your own."
With those final words, the mech walked back towards the ship and muttered something to Bumblebee. The yellow Cybertronian walked over to the young man, the wound from the Cosmic Rust still showed a little, though it looked a lot better thanks to Ratchet.
The best friends looked at each other for a moment. Sam knew that this would be the last time he would ever see his guardian and wanted to remember every detail of the mech. He hadn't known at the time, but "buying" the Camaro years ago was probably the best thing that ever happened to him. It didn't matter that he'd been in danger of dying numerous times since; he could always count on Bee to be there to save him.
They didn't say much to each other. In fact, Sam couldn't even find a single word to express how much he would miss him, how much his friendship meant, and how much he wished there was another way. He had a feeling that Bumblebee had searched through all of audio media for just the right quote, just the right line for this moment. And when Sam heard it, there was nothing left to say.
"I will always be your friend."
He watched the mech, his best friend, heading on back towards the ship. Behind him, he heard Simmons roll up to him.
Quietly as he watched the Autobots board the ship one by one, the man commented, "Years from now they're going to ask us, 'where were you when they took over the planet'? We're gonna say, 'we stood by and watched'."
A few hours later, after informing the others he wished to be alone, Sam found a secluded spot to watch the launch. He just couldn't stand the idea of being around people at the moment. It was probably the worst day of his life.
As the ship began to take off, his phone rang. Only one person would be calling at that moment, someone he wished would just die: Dylan Gould.
"You got all that? I did what you wanted."
"Yes, we did," the piece of scum replied. "We just needed to make sure they would go without a fight."
Suddenly, Sam was hit with a new sense of dread. He caught sight of the first section separating, but his eyes were scanning the sky for something else, something far worse: The Autobots were in danger.
Starscream grinned, finally, a mission worthy of his greatness. With one move, he would eliminate the Autobots. If only taking power from Megatron could be this easy.
He locked onto the areas that were vulnerable and would do the most damage. Once he had done so, Starscream zoomed towards the shuttle, waiting for the right moment until unleashing a full barrage upon the unsuspecting Autobots.
Feeling smug as he watched the shuttle blow up and its remains fall back down to Earth, he flew off to rejoin the Decepticon forces
Sam watched in horror and dread as he watched the remains of the ship fall back down to Earth, that he flinched violently when the Con watch let go of his wrist. In a fit of rage, which was fueled of having his girlfriend in the clutches of the human traitor, being force to work for the Decepticons, and finally watching his friends being killed without a fight, Sam tried to squish the little thing, but to no avail.
Giving up on going after it, Sam groaned in sadness as he leaned his head against a rail, tears already coming out of his eyes.
Could I please try to get some more reviews, because it inspires me to write more chapters. I want at least five more reviews before I add in the next chapter.
Wacko12