AN:
Transformers on Earth
Autobots
Optimus Prime
Ratchet
Ironhide
Bumblebee
Sideswipe
Arcee
Chromia
Hawk
Mudflap
Skids
Que/Wheeljack
Jolt (Forgot to add him, sorry)
Major Decepticons
Megatron
Starscream
Sideways
Shockwave
Soundwave
Onslaught
Breakdown
Knockout
Thundercracker
Skywarp
Swindle
Dreadwing
"I...I get that we're not friends. I'm...kind of your responsibility, and it's a little annoying—"
"Not really. Trust me, I'm used to looking out for other people."
She smiled a bit at that. "Well, regardless, the way you and your um, partner seemed to know each other's thoughts today...well it's pretty obvious you don't have very many friends."
A pause. "I have enough. Having a lot of friends is overrated."
Liz bit her lip. "Would you mind having one more?" She heard a slight exhale from the other end, the kind that came when someone breathed out sharply while smiling.
"Not at all."
…
1 month later
NEST headquarters, Washington, DC
1 year, 1 month after the death of the Fallen
Caden ran outside to the sounds of ambulance and police sirens getting closer to the building, snapping his head sideways to see a convoy of both around a familiar red-and-blue semi towing a trailer. The convoy entered the main hangar of NEST HQ a minute later, most of the police cars filing out within ten minutes. The spy wasn't able to reach the center of their staging area, as the sheer thickness of NEST and medical personnel was too much for even him to muscle through. As a result, he was forced to wait almost twenty minutes to get to Optimus, who he found crouched in front of his trailer, most of his face hidden behind his battle mask. Even without a good look at his features, however, Drake could tell he was brooding. A few theories ran through his head before he looked at the trailer and noticed that it wasn't the gift from Que, a mobile armory, but a normal storage container.
"Optimus," he said, looking up at the bot with a confused expression on his face, "what happened?"
The Prime was silent almost a full minute, his expression grim. "It was a trap, an ambush. I failed them." His optics were staring at the still-closed trailer, and Caden followed them. "I failed them all."
Drake strode up to the side of the container hesitantly, reaching for the latch on its side to open the side access door. He unlocked it and pulled on the sliding door, causing it to open its full eight-foot span. What he saw inside made his eyes go wide and heart sink with understanding.
"Oh...Optimus...I'm so sorry."
…
20 hours earlier
Indian Ocean, 10 NM outside Diego Garcia
"You situated okay, Optimus?"
"I am indeed, Major. This planet's oceans are...magnificent. A shame they are becoming more polluted each year."
Lennox crossed his arms and stared out at the blue expanse between them and the former NEST base. "Well," he said sarcastically, "that's human genius for you." Will put a finger to his earpiece and nodded. "We're coming up on the surge any second now."
Optimus nodded his head and strode over to the transforming trailer on the top of the naval aircraft carrier, tapping a series of buttons on the side to activate it, turning it from a rectangular container to a circular, flat-based armory, complete with extra melee weapons and a built-in flight system with a jetpack and attached weaponry. The previous day, energon detectors left at the now-vacant base had been triggered by a sudden spike 10 nautical miles off the coast of the island, causing NEST to deploy a carrier group that had been left in the area just in case. Optimus, the Twins, and a few dozen NEST soldiers were deployed and flown in via AC-130, and had been waiting aboard the lead carrier as backup, just in case the spike was no glitch in the system.
The Twins were confined to the lower deck and given strict instructions to hold off on their relentless bickering for fear of damaging the ship. Optimus had been waiting above deck, admiring the natural beauty of the ocean as they drew closer to their intended destination. Now, he found himself collapsing a shield and subspacing it in his back, pulling an energon sword that was longer and wider than the ones contained in his arms off the armory as well. The sword was subspaced in his back along with the shield and his trademark ion blasters. Brandishing one, Optimus ran a hand along its barrel before beginning routine maintenance in preparation for the possible engagement. Each blaster was equipped with two firing modes: rapid, repeating blasts of highly charged plasma bolts that can chew through most armors with ease, and compressed shells of depleted energon that serve as high-velocity projectiles capable of piercing tough armor.
Capable of piercing most armor, anyhow, Optimus thought in reminiscence as he ceased maintenance and subspaced the weapon, his thoughts drifting to his second-to-last confrontation with Megatron. He and the other Autobots had discovered Sam Witwicky's kidnapping by the Decepticons, but only he and Bumblebee were close enough to make a difference. And they did. The Prime had crashed right through the roof of the abandoned factory in New Jersey, Bumblebee taking on Starscream while he assaulted Megatron, giving the humans time to escape. Both ion blasters were in rapid-fire mode for the majority of the fight, that is, until it was just Megatron, and then his left blaster went high-velocity. He had hoped that by firing it directly into the Decepticon leader's chest, the shot would go straight through, piercing his spark and ending his threat forever.
Instead, he was merely blown back several dozen feet...and lived to kill him. Optimus' spark thrummed uneasily at that memory. Some days, he wished he could forget how it felt to feel his spark stop, to die. Most of the time, it was an ever-present reminder of the fate that many had shared at Megatron's hand, and of the need to decisively end their war, and soon. The human death toll that had resulted from Decepticon aggression up to that point was staggering. Thousands upon thousands dead, with no end in sight. Turning his processor back to the present task, Optimus activated his trailer's flight systems, equipping the jetpack and dual ion cannons attached to it, the wings expanding at his touch and giving him increased flight control.
"All hands," the carrier admiral said over loudspeaker, "man battle stations. Energon signatures intensifying."
The Twins were coming to top deck, their neon green and red bodies shining brightly in the tropical noonday sun. Each took a ready stance, deploying autocannons on their right and left hands, respectively, mirror images of each other.
"Steady," Lennox said over comms. "Steady...it's...right below us."
With that, Optimus' optics widened in realization. "Major, it's a trap!"
Before anyone could even think to react, a gigantic, metal, worm-like creature emerged from the sea and slammed into Optimus, two clawed tendrils grabbing his chassis and carrying him off the side of the carrier, into the depths of the ocean. He struggled with the creature underwater, firing his ion cannons repeatedly into the tendril and severing it from the main body, which, now underwater, he had his first full glimpse of. The monstrosity that was the Driller was a metallic behemoth rivaling Earth's legends of sea serpents and other underwater monsters, except one far more advanced, and far deadlier. Several metal tendrils snaked toward the Prime, and he activated his jetpack to give himself an instantaneous boost away from them, firing as he moved.
"Major Lennox," he said over the comlink when he had gained enough distance, "what's your status?"
"Taking heavy fire! Crewman, put that fire out!"
"It's Seekas, yo," Skids cut in when it became clear Will was too busy to respond. "Dey attackin' the carrias, takin' out fightas before dey can launch."
"Understood," Optimus sent back, "I'm on my—" The Autobot leader's momentary distraction allowed the Driller to "gain ground" and close the distance enough to crisscross tendrils over his chest, squeezing hard and dragging him back down. Optimus groaned in pain, which quickly turned into frustration and determination. Triggering a powerful thrust from his jetpack, the Prime angled his body so his arms faced the enemy and activated the secondary fire mode of his ion cannons: two high-explosive missile launchers. Firing once with each, the two missiles streaked toward the Driller's "mouth," leaving a trail of hot bubbles in their wake before exploding on contact, causing it to roar in pain, an horrific sound audible even underwater.
The tendrils released Optimus, allowing him to jet toward the surface briefly before looking over his shoulder and spotting the Driller's entire body moving toward him, tendrils leading as its circular, serrated mouthparts rotated in opposite directions, showing precisely why it was called the Driller. The Prime adjusted his course horizontally, firing his main guns three hundred rounds a minute, taking off chips of armor and metallic teeth, but doing little to no damage to the superstructure. He took a dive, looping underneath the Decepticon monstrosity and twisting in a corkscrew to shake off a tendril that came too close. Another hundred rounds were fired in an attempt to slow the Decepticon down, and after another minute or so of fighting, it paid off, allowing Optimus to charge directly toward the surface. In a last-ditch attempt to stop him, the Driller threw up a net of tendrils in the jetting Prime's path, but Optimus just fired both weapon systems dead-center and accelerated, smashing through the web and breaking out onto the surface and into the open air.
His optics widened at seeing the situation above water. It was chaos, plain and simple. Decepticon Seekers were making relentless strafing runs of the carriers' flight decks, taking out any fighters and pilots who were brave enough to attempt a launch. Some had even landed on the decks themselves, or dropped in Pretenders to keep the soldiers on the ground busy. In short, the humans were outmatched and outnumbered. They don't stand a chance, not alone. Optimus' optics tracked over to the lead carrier, which seemed to be mostly intact due to the Twins' crisscrossing anti-air fire, and he decided that they were doing a good enough job that he could divert his attention elsewhere. The jetpack flared with glowing blue thrust as the last Prime jetted toward the tightest cluster of Seekers, who were currently pounding the hull of a smaller aircraft carrier at the edge of the group.
Two missiles impacted the chasses of Seekers in vehicle mode, tearing through their armor and causing them to nose-dive into the water. A burst from Optimus' ion cannons took another one down before they realized they were under attack from the air. Two Seekers twisted and rolled, corkscrewing toward their airborne adversary, firing guns and missiles in tandem. Optimus flew in a spiral, spinning midair to throw off their missile locks, then cutting his jetpack to throw off the weapons' heat-seeking capabilities. Angling the wings of his jetpack just right, he managed to glide directly between two missiles, causing them to arc sharply as he passed them, smacking right into each other in a brilliant explosion. Activating his jetpack again, Optimus rose to face the attacking Seekers and bombarded them with ion rounds, chewing through their wings and damaging their engines.
Arcing back upward, he spotted a trio of Seekers coming around for an attack run on the carrier below him and turned toward them, firing his weapons and landing several dozen glancing blows on their armor. They broke off and spun in his direction, following standard protocol, as he was expecting, to engage a more immediate threat. Strange, he thought as he weaved in and out of their formation, dodging fire left and right as he returned it, more than a dozen Seekers are attacking the carrier group, and yet I do not see their commander among them. He hadn't caught a glimpse of or any chatter among NEST or the Twins about sightings of Starscream, and it irked him. After all, Seekers did not perform a full-scale attack like this without a ranking officer leading them.
Taking down yet another jet Con, Optimus dove toward the water, fastening his left-hand cannon to the jetpack as he took the collapsed shield from his subspace, skimming the surface of the water and holding the shield between incoming fire and his jetpack, deflecting several dozen rounds that threatened to cripple his flight capacity. His right-hand cannon was hit and jammed when a bullet lodged in its reloading track, and he corkscrewed upward while subspacing the shield again, drawing his left cannon and firing a burst of auto-rounds at his pursuers while unleashing a missile from his right-hand cannon, whose secondary mode was still intact. The missile hit a Seeker dead in the nose, crippling him and sending him careening toward the water as a burst of ion rounds shredded another's lower fuselage.
One of his wings was hit, and Optimus was forced to alter his weight to compensate for the sudden change in air currents. Rising high into the air, the Prime took a headcount of the remaining Seekers, evidently just nine who had not either been shot down or broken off due to damage. Between the Twins and Lennox's men, the Decepticons had taken as much damage as they had given, and with Optimus' help, the tide had turned against them completely. Or so Optimus thought.
"Prime-O!" one of the Twins yelled out in a panicked voice.
"I'm here, Mudflap."
"We got problems on the main carrier, big problems!"
"Specify, soldier!"
"Shockwave!"
Optimus' optics widened. "I'm on my way. Stall him!" Prime arced off of his intercept course to get to the Twins and assist with repelling the infamous Decepticon assassin.
…
Two minutes earlier
Major Lennox shouldered a Stinger missile and aimed it dead at one of the jet Cons, waiting for the series of beeps to go steady, indicating a positive lock, then fired, sending an anti-air missile streaking toward one of the incoming fighters. The Seeker, as had happened the last five times, twisted away and performed several complex maneuvers to dodge the missile, but additional anti-air fire from another carrier perforated one of its wings and crippled its steering enough for the missile to strike true. A whoop was barely heard from a squad of soldiers behind him, as the deafening roar of jet engines was heard both overhead and on the deck as some of their own fighters were finally able to take to the skies. Will ran toward the stairs leading to the bridge of the main carrier and ascended five floors to get to the admiral.
"Admiral Trill, sir!" he shouted with a sharp salute.
"Major," the admiral said grimly with a return salute.
"What's the situation in the air?"
"All in all, we've only managed to launch a half-dozen fighters, but our pilots are givin' 'em hell. Between them and your robot friend in the sky, we're beatin' the bastards back. We've got 'em on the run."
Lennox smiled slightly. "Glad to hear it, sir."
Just then, the roar of an unfamiliar engine was heard throughout the ship, even in deep vibrations on the lowest decks, as a Cybertronian jet transformed and touched down on the carrier's launch deck, the one-eyed monstrosity it was replaced with firing his cannon repeatedly.
"What in Sam Hill—" was all the admiral was able to get out before a massive shockwave slammed through the glass of the bridge's windshield, causing jagged shards to cut through the analysts and crew closest to it. Lennox and the admiral were nicked once or twice, but were able to get behind cover to avoid the worst of it. "God dammit! Status report!"
"Sir," said an ensign who survived, leaning over toward the now-nonexistent window, "there's a big-ass alien down there, and it's tearing up our launch pad!"
"Lennox," the admiral said, turning to the major.
"I've got it, sir." Will ran back toward the stairs, putting a finger to his earpiece. "Twins, stall that thing long enough for us to target him with heavy weapons!"
"Ya got it, Lennie!"
Will rolled his eyes slightly as he leapt down another flight, his balance knocked off by another shockwave, forcing him to grip the rail tightly to balance himself before moving again.
…
"Awwww, shit!"
Skids could only silently agree with his twin, as the target of their attentions fired another concussive cluster missile in their direction, missing but also leveling another launch pad and the fighter jets on it. "Mudflap, crane pincer!"
The red twin nodded in response and ran toward an intact radio tower on the carrier, evidently mounted right next to the bridge tower, climbing up several dozen feet and waiting for his green counterpart to get into position and launch a grappling hook over the top of the tower, the head falling neatly over the other side as his twin leapt toward it, grabbing it on the way down and pulling his twin into the air, where they swung in opposite arcs. The maneuver was one they pulled against Devastator a year and a month ago, but Skids tried not to focus too hard on that, as his twin had accidentally shot him in the face in the process. Instead, they spun in perfect harmony, laying down automatic fire on Shockwave, who raised his shield in alternating directions to block their fire before returning it with some of his own.
When the massive Decepticon realized that his unguided weapon systems weren't enough to take the Twins down midair, he focused on what was keeping them there, and targeted the tower's peak with a cluster missile. The admiral and bridge crew never stood a chance, as the top sixty feet of the tower were consumed in a massive series of concussive blasts, sending debris and heavy amounts of rubble crashing toward the hatches leading into the tower, trapping any survivors inside. The explosion also leveled the anchor for Skids' grappling hook, sending both of them crashing hard on the deck. Shockwave grinned evilly as he closed the distance, his left-hand shield collapsing into a thick blade, his cannon glowing warmly as he aimed in their direction. The first shot knocked Mudflap back into a stationary jet, and the second was barely dodged by Skids, who returned fire briefly before finding his entire head in the grip of Shockwave's massive left hand.
"Leggo a me, Decepticreep!"
Shockwave dumped the small Autobot's body on the deck headfirst, leveling his cannon at his spark chamber when Mudflap slammed into him feetfirst, knocking him back a few steps as they both settled into their battle meld. The two much shorter Bots gave the large Con a run for his energon, alternating close combat with ranged attacks and grapple trips as they ran around him, attacking from opposite sides to keep him unfocused. Shockwave was eventually forced to redeploy his shield to hold one off while he took shots at the other, gaining enough leverage in the fight to jump backward and transform into his tertiary mode: a large, Cybertronian tank. The Twins rushed the slow vehicle from opposite sides, firing and dodging high-explosive fire as they went. Confidence rushed through both their sparks at the same time as they both pounced on Shockwave's tank form.
And had both their throats caught in his clawed hands.
The large Con squeezed tightly, then knocked their heads together and threw them against the deck, drawing his cannon off his back and pointing it squarely at them. Mudflap threw himself in front of his twin, and as a result, his right leg and most of his chest were blown off by the concussive round. They both shrieked, the red twin in sheer agony, the green in panic as he shoved his wounded brother aside and charged Shockwave with a combat roll. The Con grinned sadistically as the grief-struck Bot leapt toward him, heedless of the shield that bashed into him and dumped him on the deck backfirst. The shield collapsed into a blade and thrust down into his chassis, its side grinding painfully against his spark.
In that moment, both of them critically wounded, and no help in sight, the Twins realized in their sparks that it was over.
…
One minute earlier
Optimus was pushing his damaged flight systems to the limit, trying to reach the main carrier and Shockwave before being shot down, but the Seekers had broken off from all their other tasks to hunt him. He arced up through the clouds, cutting the engines and freefalling to dive-bomb the Decepticons in pursuit, firing everything he had at them. He had dropped his right-hand cannon when it ran out of missiles, as its primary fire mode was irreparably jammed, and drawn his right ion blaster to compensate. Both weapons were laying down dozens of high-heat ion rounds, shredding the tightly-clustered Seekers and punching a hole that allowed him to fly past, toward the carriers and the lead in particular, whose rear he was approaching. His optics widened in horror at what he saw from that angle. The top half of the tower was on fire, and completely collapsed. He could only hope that Lennox wasn't there when Shockwave hit it.
Arcing downward toward the ship, he was too focused on the Twins and their battle with Shockwave to notice a lone Seeker drop in behind him and launch a single missile that impacted his jetpack, sending him into a tailspin. Optimus couldn't spare the processing power to return fire, as all his energies were devoted to getting onto that carrier. As it was, he was already dropping at a dangerously fast rate, the inconsistent and sputtering thrusts from his jetpack barely allowing his near-shredded wings to slow his descent. In a miracle of circumstances and forces, the Prime was able to level off and glide toward the rear edge of the carrier, his jetpack giving out completely as he gripped the side hard, getting a better hold before pulling himself up and dropping the flight tech. His relief was only momentary.
When his optics looked up at the battle on the deck, they widened in horror as they met Shockwave's single, massive eye. The Con only gave him a sideways grin as he fired his cannon directly into Mudflap's spark, ripping out Skids' with his left hand and crushing it. No…
"No!" Optimus yelled, pulling the longsword from his back subspace and throwing it into Shockwave's right shoulder, crippling his cannon arm as he ran toward the Con, enraged fury controlling every fiber of his being. "I'll kill you!" the Prime roared as he deployed his right-hand sword and stabbed Shockwave through the lower chest, causing the Con to bellow in pain and rage as he headbutted the Autobot leader. Optimus barely staggered before drawing back one step, his sword deflecting Shockwave's blade and legs barely withdrawing him long enough for Shockwave to pull the sword out of his shoulder. Their next clash was not so much a duel as a one-sided beatdown, as the last Prime's spark was completely consumed with his fury, slashing his red-hot blade across Shockwave's left leg and his blade, the Decepticon assassin desperately trying to hold off the infuriated Autobot.
Optimus rolled behind him when he made a swipe at his head, retracting his sword into his arm and grabbing Shockwave's left wrist as he thrust the arm back toward him, anger giving strength to his bare hands as he held the arm out straight with his left while his right elbow smashed down on the joint between the Con's arm and shoulder. The arm was severed with the sheer force of the blow, and Shockwave roared in agony as he lunged away from the Prime, rolling crudely to face him as he raised his right hand and cannon-firing directly into Optimus' chest. The concussive shot blew him fifty feet across the deck and forced him to drop Shockwave's arm as he recovered with a backward roll. The Con mounted his cannon on his back and retrieved the arm before sprinting toward the side of the ship, heedless of the ion rounds hammering into his back from a roaring Optimus.
The assassin leapt off the side, seemingly toward the empty ocean, but was caught by the Driller, which ended its submerged existence to catch its master and slam Optimus back with a strong tendril, two other reaching toward the lifeless bodies of the Twins.
"No!" Optimus yelled out again, firing one blaster at the furthest tendril as he slashed through another with his left-hand sword. Three tendrils at once picked up Optimus and threw him against the remains of the tower as Shockwave added his fire to the mix, allowing the Driller to reach for the bodies, its tendrils' saw-blades severing the heads and claws grabbing them before retracting into the main body, both creature and master retreating into the deep. Optimus ran toward the edge and fired both blasters into the water uselessly before the rage began to subside and rational thought returned, along with the sinking realization that two more of his Autobot comrades were now one with the Allspark.
He strode over to their now-headless bodies, suddenly limp fingers dropping his blasters as he sunk to his knees in grief. A minute passed before he heard the frenzied reports over his internal comlink and put one finger to his helm to respond.
"Status report," he choked out.
"Optimus," Lennox gasped out from the other end, relief in his voice, "thank God! I'm trapped below deck with a couple dozen crewmen. We're inside the lower section of the tower, but the rubble has us trapped. We need an assist!"
"Understood, Major," he said sullenly.
"Optimus," Will said hesitantly, "what's wrong?"
The Prime didn't answer immediately, as he strode over to the buried doorway and began lifting the debris off. "It's...the Twins. They're dead."
…
Present
NEST headquarters, Washington, DC
Caden stared in disbelief at the large Bot in front of him. They had been sitting like this for almost an hour as Optimus gave his account of the attack, Drake's eyes drifting over to the trailer and its grisly contents every so often. They had called for medivac and reinforcements immediately after Shockwave and the last of his Seekers bugged out, several C-17s landing on respective carriers to take the wounded and fallen, as well as drop off additional crewmen to maintain the ships until naval reinforcements arrived. Optimus had insisted that he be the one to return the deceased brothers to base, and arranged for a carrying trailer to be stationed at their LZ in Virginia. The headless bodies were loaded onboard, and the trailer attached to Optimus' rear, the procession from before escorting them into DC.
Drake shook his head in silence, taking in the report with a numb mind. When Optimus was done speaking, though, the numbness ceased, and the human feelings took over. He stared at the headless and nearly unrecognizable bodies in the trailer.
"Optimus," he said, "you know my feelings on the Twins. I never particularly liked them. They were always too...undisciplined for my taste, but…" He shook his head mournfully. "They didn't deserve to die like this. Or at all, for that matter." When he looked up at Optimus, he realized there might be an additional reason for the Prime's melancholy expression. His eyes drifted back to the Twins and narrowed slightly in thought for a few moments before it struck him. "They...they were what you call younglings, weren't they?" Caden looked back at the Prime to see him nod stiffly. Drake's heart sunk in realization and understanding. "So every time someone like them dies, you feel one step closer to extinction."
"Yes," Prime responded quietly, lowering his optics.
Caden let out a long breath. "Optimus...I can't even begin to imagine what you must be going through. What you go through every day. I mean-" He gave a humorless laugh. "I mean, my species is seven billion strong, and growing every day, despite the best efforts of the Decepticons, and us, if I might add. Unless some unknown catastrophe, like, say, the uncovering of another Sun Harvester, happens, I don't see that changing. I can't imagine what it's like to watch your entire race slowly slip into extinction."
"And," Optimus interrupted, his voice low, "I sincerely hope you never find out." The Prime continued to brood for several minutes before feeling slight amounts of heat trace up his chassis. His optics looked down to see Caden climbing up his bent right arm and seating himself on the Bot's shoulder. "What are you doing?"
"Little something we humans call 'sitting shiva.' Seven days of mourning the lost." He looked back at the Twins' bodies. "I may not have known them that well, but you did, and if you're hurting…" Drake gave out a sigh as he sat down and leaned back against Optimus' right exhaust pipe. "Well, I'm ready to do my part."
Optimus looked away from him, back at his dead comrades, and stared at their lifeless forms as other Autobots and NEST personnel filed into the large hangar, Hawk among them.
"We're all here for you, Prime," said Ratchet, who sat next to his old friend as the other Autobots made a ring around the trailer.
"Thank you, my friends."
And almost the entire base stayed with him, mourning the loss of their brothers-in-arms until exhaustion or responsibility claimed them all, even the haggard Prime, who fell into a peaceful recharge with a human boy on his shoulder, the one person who, throughout the entire night, never left his side for an instant.
AN: Don't hate me for killing the Twins. I, personally, thought it was a good move on Bay's part to exclude them from the third movie, and decided that their disappearances, along with most, if not all, of the Autobots from ROTF that didn't feature again in DOTM, needed to be explained. Next chapter focuses on Hawk and the struggle he has with his past, and introduces Dreadwing, who I'm making as close to his TF Prime version as possible, cause I just thought he was a great character. Hope you enjoyed seeing Optimus Prime in action in this chapter, and I hope you all thought I portrayed him accurately.
As always, please review and recommend.
Musical Inspirations:
Transformers: DOTM - Shockwave's Revenge: Attack of the Driller
Transformers Promotional Score - Stumble Bumble pt. 1: Shockwave's attack on the tower to Twins' deaths
