AN: I do not own Transformers nor Halo.
Before you all say it, I know, I'm horrible. I didn't manage to upload another chapter last week like I had intended. I tried though, trust me.
I had begun work on this chapter Monday when I began to hear my guinea pig squeaking in an abnormal way. I walked over to her cage and picked her up to find out what was wrong and was shocked. She had a sack hanging out of her rear-end, to put it politely. She was pregnant (without my knowledge) and was giving birth.
Now, you all may be saying, "that's nothing abnormal, she's female and birthing is a part of life".
Well, it is abnormal when the pet store I received both of my guinea pigs from assured me they were both female as they ONLY receive female's to sale. Turns out they had made a mistake and didn't check their gender properly (I called the store, they confirmed this as I wasn't the only one who called and had ended up with surprise babies, apparently) because upon inspection of the first guinea pig I bought, he is definitely a male.
So now I have three furry squish-beans who as of right now all have homes waiting for them when they are ready to be seperated from mom in a few weeks.
Long explanation, I know. I just wanted all of you to know why I hadn't uploaded in a bit.
I haven't forgotten about this story.
Earth, birthplace of the human race.
A species much like our own, capable of great compassion, and great violence.
For in our quest to protect the humans, a deeper revelation dawns.
Our worlds have met before.
For the last two years,
An advanced team of new Autobots has taken refuge here under my command.
Together, we form an alliance with the humans and the last of the Forerunner.
A secret but brave squad of soldiers.
A classified stirke team called "NEST".
We hunt for what remains of our Decepticon foes
Hiding in different countries around the globe.
Storm was completely silent as she paced the metal expanse that was the inside of the military aircraft, doing so around Ironhide's alt-mode. The soldiers around her were visibly tense as was the air collectively surrounding them. This was not a good situation, Storm thought silently. This was the sixth rogue Decepticon sighting in eight months.
She felt that there was an underlying reason for the sudden resurgance. The Decepticons had readily been making themselves known, not even attempting to be the least bit inconspicuous with themselves or their actions. Whatever the reasoning, Storm did not know for sure. However, she was sure that that it would not bode well for the future.
Storm's face must have betrayed her inner turmoil as Lennox was staring at her with an odd expression. "Are you alright, Stormy?"
Storm snapped her eyes up from the floor toward Lennox, meeting his concerned gaze. "Yes, Will. I'm just worried as well as frustrated."
Lennox sighed heavily in response, averting his gaze towards the ground whilst he rubbed at his forehead in exasperation. "I think we all are, Stormy. We just got back to base and already there's another Decepticon sighting."
Storm scoffed, proceeding shortly after to bark out a small laugh to the NEST Major. "Well, you know the human saying. "No rest for the wicked" I suppose."
Lennox sluggishly agreed with Storm as he stood up, directing his attention to the soldiers within the military aircraft whom were now preparing to depart from the plane as he spoke. "Alright, listen up. China's cover story on this one is a "toxic spill". We've got to make sure this one doesn't get out in the public eye, so keep it tight."
After debriefing the soldiers, the plane began in it's descent to land at the Chinese military base below them. This only furthered Storm's current anticipation, the Forerunner exiting the plane with determination once the aircraft door had opened. She was not the least bit oblivious to the fact that she was being stared at for her appearence though she was not concerned with this.
She walked with a small group of soldiers, all of them collectively following after Ironhide as he removed himself from the back of the plane. The Autobot weapon's specialist opened his doors for Lennox and Epps, the pair climbing in willingly upon his invitation.
Storm opted to climb into the bed of his alt-mode with the other soldiers, holding onto Ironhide's vertical exhaust stack with a clawed hand carefully where she stood as he began to pull away with haste towards what she presumed was the last location reported that the rogue Decepticon had been spotted.
...
Once the group arrived, Storm took in her surroundings, leaping down off the back of Ironhide's truck bed as Lennox and Epps emerged from their respective places inside his alt-mode.
The NEST Major walked around the Autobot weapon's specialist, tapping the hood of his alt-mode lightly two times with his fist as he spoke to him with a serious inflection. "Alright, Ironhide. We've got echoes. Vamos."
Ironhide did as was implied of him, transforming up to his bi-pedal form once the soldiers were at a safe enough distance away for him to do so.
Storm stared up at Ironhide, watching the mech as he began to sniff the air in a strange fashion before speaking to those around him. "He's here. I can smell him."
Storm scoffed upon hearing this, snorting out a laugh. "What the hell are you, Iron-aft? A bloodhound?"
The Autobot weapon's specialist had obviously not understood her joke, looking down at her with confusion. "I am nowhere close to resembing an Earth mammal."
Storm simply rolled her eyes in response to what Ironhide had said, thinking to herself in that moment that the black mech was extremely dense. Something both he and Sideswipe seemed to share in common, obviously.
Storm followed after Lennox and Epps as they made their way across a paved road, trailing closely behind them. She summoned a Forerunner bolt-shot into each of her clawed hands with a flurry of orange particles as she followed them, stopping beside the pair as they hid beside a rundown in appearence building.
"Oh, no." Epps said with worry, looking down at the screen of the device held within his hand.
Lennox stepped in behind the male, looking down at the device as he spoke to him with a question. "What have you got?"
Epps pointed to an area of the screen that was sporting many vibrant colors. "Thermal ripple."
Storm prepared herself upon hearing this. The rogue Decepticon was most definitely here.
Lennox pressed two fingers against the earpiece within his ear, advising caution to the rest of the team in hushed tones. "Alright, everybody. Be steady. We are right on top of it."
Storm did not like Lennox's usage of the word "it" in referrence to the rogue Decepticon though she opted to ignore this. Now was not the time for them to be fighting nor to debate over the usage of appropriate pronouns as there were much more important matters currently at hand.
In that moment, Storm was forcefully snapped from her thoughts by the distinct sounds of shiftng metal. She willed forward her protective mask and turned quickly towards the sound, panic rushing through her. The surprisingly large Decepticon must have spotted them in their hesitation to act, slinging missiles at the group haphazardly, knocking multiple human soldiers back whilst pinning one beneath a concrete cylinder before Storm could react to save them.
She ran over to the pinned human with in-human speed, using the advanced strength that her suit and Ancila granted her to lift the object off the man before tossing it in the opposite direction.
She looked down to the human male, examining him for any external or potential internal injuries. Thankfully, he appeared to be fine other that what seemed to be minor abrasions and bruising. She yelled out for the human medic in their group as she caught a glimpse of a silver vehicle driving away from her perphiral. One which seemed vaguely familiar to her.
Once she was sure the human would be cared for, Storm activated the gravitational manipulator of her suit to chase after the vehicle as she knew that there was no way she would be able to take on the giant Decepticon whom was now making his escape. She would leave that to Optimus.
Storm flew away after the the vehicle with speed, meeting up along the way with the Arcee triplets, much to her surprise. If they were here, then Storm's earlier, un-spoken assumption was correct. This car was a Decepticon.
Storm raised her bolt-shots out in-front of her as she flew, shooting at the silver vehicle with precision as she weaved through the streets of China.
That was when the Decepticon did something Storm hadn't anticipated. It transformed up to it's bi-pedal form and dove through the side of a residential building.
The Arcee triplets followed after the Decepticon through the large hole it had made as did Storm and she was thankful to see that the aged human male's within the building had not been harmed.
The silver Decepticon led the four of them in a circle, coming back around to the end of a street where Lennox and some other soldiers were now positioned. This Decepticon was much too fast for either of the four of them, but she knew someone he couldn't outrun.
As she flew by them, Storm yelled out to Lennox quickly with a deadly tone of seriousness, her voice tinged with metal due to her protective mask. "We need Sideswipe! Now!"
Lennox didn't hesitate, calling in Sideswipe via his radio. The silver Autobot rounded the corner soon after, following after a now far ahead Storm in her chase of the unknown second Decepticon though Sideswipe matched the distance easily, coming up behind the silver vehicle and subsequently Storm who was right behind it.
She now knew why this vehicle had seemed familiar now that she was closer to it. She recognized this vehicle. It was the one she had seen leaving the mall many years ago when she had been shopping with Mikaela and Sam.
Storm moved out of the way for Sideswipe to intercept the Deception and the silver mech she had came to know as one of her closest friends preformed a somersault over the vehicle, detaching one of his wrist mounted blades and slinging it deep into the front of the Decepticon's alt-mode.
The Autobot frontliner landed in-front of the silver enemy and grabbed onto his wrist blade that was stuck in the hood of the Decepticon, dragging it through his alt-mode with little resistence and cutting him competely in half.
Sideswipe stopped in his place, spinning in a graceful circle twice before retracting his wrist blades and posing in a jokingly egotistical manner. "Damn, I'm good!"
Storm snorted in laughter from behind her mask, having heard this comment as she flew past him on her way to apprehend the large, one-wheeled Decepticon whom had escaped.
Sideswipe was a complete show-off, Storm thought to herself fondly.
...
Storm barrled down the human-made highway at high speeds, catching up with Epps and the soldiers whom were now chasing after their only and most major threat. She lowered herself down close to them, listening to Epps as he brought a radio up to his face and proceeded to speak into it. "Air support, we need Big Buddah to deliver the drop now."
Storm chuckled from behind her mask upon hearing what Epps had said, not knowing if they had chosen to call the transport carrying Optimus by such a call-sign or if it were Optimus himself as both would aptly fit.
Not long after this, a large military plane flew overhead. It proceeded to drop a very valiant in appearence Optimus out of it in his alt-mode, the Autobot leader transforming mid-fall complete with parachutes to slow his descent.
Optmus detached his parachutes when in close proximity to the highway below him, transforming back to his alt-mode as soon as he hit the ground whilst speaking through his communications to his Autobots and Storm as well, knowing well that she was listening. "Autobots, Tempest, I am in pursuit."
Storm sped up, closing the distance between her and Optimus as she responded to him. "Understood, Prime."
She stayed close to the Autobot leader, only slowing in her chase once they came upon the large Decepticon, Demolisher. She watched as Optimus transformed, leaping onto Demolisher's face. He grappled with the large Decepticon as it rammed through a thankfully empty overpass causing Storm's heart to sink. There were going to be many potential human casualities if this situation continued on as it was.
Optimus swung himself up on-top of the Decepticon's head, gathering his equilibrium and standing before proceeding to fire multiple shots into it's head with the hand that Optimus had transformed into a deadly blaster.
Storm attempted to aid the Autobot leader to the best of her ability despite her small size, firing off her dual bolt-shots at the Cybertronian titan until it ran off the elevated highway and into an empty area below.
Storm hastily floated down next to Optimus whom was now walking up to meet the Decepticon nearing the end of his existence along with Ironhide, following him until he stopped.
The Autobot weapons specialist rotated his shoulders to relieve their tension, speaking out with anger as he did so. "Punk-ass Decepticon!"
Optimus ignored the black mech and his comments, continuing to walk towards Demolisher as Storm deactivated the gravitational manipulator of he suit, lowering herself onto the ground as the Autobot leader spoke to the Decepticon with audible disappointment and anger. "Any last words?"
Demolisher rolled his head to the side to face Optimus, attempting to speak despite missing half of his face due to the Autobot leader firing upon him at such a close proximity. "This is not your planet to rule! The Fallen shall rise again!"
Storm felt an uncomfortabe sensation wash over her upon hearing this, a million questions flooding her mind. The most important of those being what is "The Fallen"?
She did not know. But whatever it meant, it held a sense of fore-boading and of something more to come. This much she knew for certain.
Optimus did not seem phased, however. He pointed his weapon at Demolisher's face and Storm turned away, not wanting to see the end come for the Decepticon before her as the Autobot leader responded to his comments. "Not today."
Storm heard the shot resound and she flinched before slowly turning around to face the Decepticon whom was now absent of life. She walked over to his lifeless form, climbing on top of him carefully as Optimus watched her with curiousty.
Storm willed back her protective mask, lowering her now un-covered forehead to Demolisher's metal one as she spoke, recalling memories of Barricade when she had done the same for him after having no choice but to end his existence. "May the Domain welcome you with open arms, Brother."
Storm slowly removed her forehead from Demolisher's before gently stepping down from off his metal body, not missing that Optimus was staring at her nor the emotion on his face that was directed towards her. It was respect and admiration, no doubt for her previous actions.
However, she ignored this, walking to follow after the human soldiers whom were now leaving with Optimus and Ironhide following soon after her.
She walked in complete silence with Lennox and Epps, only breaking the afformentioned silence to ask the NEST Major a question once her stomach began to growl in hunger. "Hey, Lennox, Would you happen to know where the closest resturant is that'd still be open?"
Lennox turned to face Storm, looking to her with a confused expression. "Uh, no? I've never been to this country before, Stormy."
Storm crossed her arms over he chest, sighing heavily in disappointment. "Damn. I really wanted some food."
Lennox laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. "Is food all you think about? You can get some when we get back to NEST, Stormy. We need to get back so we can report this mission a success."
Storm narrowed her eyes at the NEST Major due to what he had said, Lennox not missing this action. He sighed tiredly before attempting to reason with the alien female. "Come on, Storm. We're all tired and want to go home. Can't we just leave, you get the food and then teleport back to NEST?"
Storm looked offened, jokingly holding a hand over the armored area above her heart in disbelief. "You want me to potentially damage my precious food by taking it through slip-space? Uh, uh. No deal."
Lennox was visibly becoming irritated. However, in recognizing Storm's obvious joking, the Autobots laughed, all of them finding her actions highly amusing. Especially Optimus. This was the side of Storm they had all grown so fond of and enjoyed so much.
Despite Lennox's previous protesting, Storm began to walk away, causing him to try and reason with her once again. "Please, Stormy. Let's just go home."
Storm turned around in her place, stopping temporarily to respond to Lennox. "You guys can go ahead back to the plane. I, however, will be temporarily confinscating Optimus to go find food and will return once I have some in my possession."
Lennox rubbed at his forehead in vexation, speaking up to Storm with a question. "Stormy, can you even speak Chinese?"
Storm scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Of course I can. Super-advanced alien, remember?"
Storm said nothing else other than this, turning back around before continuing on in her quest for food with Optimus following behind her willingly.
Lennox yelled out to her, trying to convince the Forerunner to come with them so that they could leave and potentially arrive back to NEST sooner but to no avail. She simply turned around to face him, walking backwards as she yelled out to him in joking with a smile on her face. "No! I am going to get myself some legit Chinese food and you can't do shit about it!"
Lennox watched on helplessly as the alien pair walked away, smiling to himself. He understood now that the Forerunner was purposefully being stubborn to try and get a rise out of him and she had succeeded. She had been teasing him.
The NEST Major turned to look at Ironhide, gesturing to him with a hand as he spoke with audible amusement. "She is ridiculous. Come on, Ironhide. Let's get back to the plane so we can wait on her and Optimus."
Ugh. I finally got this chapter done.
I had a little trouble writing this chapter because I was trying to find the balance between making the end of it semi-funny without Storm seeming selfish because that is the complete opposite of what I want. I modelled Storm's personality after mine a lot in that I like to joke around and I try not to take a lot of situations too seriously (within reason, of course). I like to try and lighten people's moods in less than optimal situations.
I purposefully wrote this chapter with the idea that no humans would be gravelly injured so that I could add in some funny stuff without it seeming "inappropriate". They just got bruised up a little, nothing life threatening.
Now, I'm going to go play some Assassins Creed: Odyssey. I'm super tired and have a headache so I just want to rest at the moment.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and as always, thank you for reading.
(Also, the "Chinese Food" idea is not mine. It was supplied to me by Gamerman22.)