Chapter 50-Aftermath
One Week Later
About a week after the designated Battle of New York, Terra was just beginning her long and painful recovery. With the Decepticons defeated and fragmented, Karaba had pulled the bulk of its forces out of Osea and returned to Utopia, demoralized by the death of their leader Magda Lehnsherr. All in all, the enemy had been routed, but with the major threat gone, the full magnitude of the situation was discovered.
None felt this pain more than the Autobots. It took a while for them to properly situate themselves after beating the Decepticons. No one could celebrate Megatron's demise after going through so much. They managed to rebuild Omega One and use it as their temporary base. It was cramped, but it had to hold them until they could build something bigger in the future. In the meantime, the Autobots had to assist in the rescue and recovery of the people in Osea who suffered from the Decepticons' raids.
"Look at this place, Prowl." Optimus said, standing in the ruins of New York. It was deathly quiet, and the sky had been dark and gray for the entire week, as if the city was just a still corpse. "How could we let this happen?"
"This crisis was caused by a myriad of outcomes, none of them necessarily our fault." Prowl said, his voice soft. Talking loud in this city felt almost blasphemous to him. "The important thing is that we stopped it. We won."
"This is no victory, Prowl. We've defeated the Decepticons and Karaba, but at a high cost for this planet." Optimus sighed. "And a high cost to us."
Three days after the battle, the Autobots held a proper funeral for Tomahawk, cremating her with full honors. Afterwards, Ultra Magnus left with the Valkyries to go find out what happened to Orbital Command and search for survivors. Following their departure, Autobot refugees began landing on Terra to join up with Prime's team. Huffer, Blurr and Guardshell (Cybertron Landmine) were among those that joined them.
Most of the Autobot outposts had fallen, many of them self-destructed in suicide moves that took out a large chunk of the Decepticon army. Only a few had been retaken. There were other Autobot teams that hid on colony planets to regroup, but their numbers had decreased significantly from the Surge.
"How goes the rescue operations?" Optimus asked.
"Not bad, but not good either. The Army's setting up several field bases throughout the city and are cleaning up the insecticon bodies they find. Some soldiers found Thrust underneath some rubble." Prowl scowled. "Apparently instead of calling us, they just executed him on the spot."
Optimus saw the look on Prowl's face and said in a warning tone, "Prowl…"
"I understand we lack the means to imprison any Decepticons, but I'm not exactly crazy about killing wounded combatants. I've already made several complains to Major Carver, but it seems he's ignoring me."
"Tread lightly, Prowl. The humans have suffered under the Cons' rule for a month. The damage they've done to Osea and the other nations was great. That type of animosity won't just go away." Optimus said. "I'll talk to Major Leonard about it before any Autobots get into fights with the soldiers."
"Too late for that." Prowl muttered, remembering the fight Rodimus had with a couple of soldiers the other day.
They walked down the street in silence, weighed down by the oppressive atmosphere that just brought their spirits down with each step. After almost twenty minutes, Prowl decided to finally say what was on his mind.
"Prime…I believe we should leave Osea."
Optimus paused and looked at Prowl. "Excuse me?"
"It's no secret that our relationship with humanity has been tense since we beat the Cons. The Army barely trusts us, and every mission we take with them feels like we're under inspection as much as the Cons are. Protests are springing up all over the country over us remaining in Osea and the Senate isn't being very cooperative with us."
"Prowl…"
"I'm not saying we should stop helping them, but we can't hunt down the Cons if we're constantly looking over our shoulders at people who are supposed to be our allies." Prowl said unflinchingly. "Osea is no longer safe for us."
"Where do we suggest we go, Prowl. We barely have the resources to maintain our ground at Omega One let alone traveling abroad." Optimus sighed. "I'll think about it."
That was all Optimus said on the matter. Knowing that was the best answer he'll get from Optimus, Prowl transformed and drove down the street, blaring his sirens. He hoped Optimus listened to him. Things were volatile now on Terra, with the world's greatest nations on their hands and knees struggling to recover and society falling apart from its brush with oblivion. Terra was in a weakened state right now, and Prowl hoped no one would take advantage of that.
XXXXXX
Two Weeks Later
'This is depressing.' Bumblebee thought to himself for the thousandth time.
He walked through the ruins of a city that had been hit hard by an insecticons attack. Paramedics and talos scoped out the streets moving rubble aside to search for any stranded survivors…or bodies.
"Jolt, you see anything?" Bumblebee asked his partner.
Jolt hovered above he area in his alt mode looking for any sign of refugees. So far he saw no one on top of the buildings or making signals through the windows. "Sorry, Bee. Nothing from up here. The people hauled it as soon as the swarm came. I don't blame them."
"…Any Cons?"
"You know they're in hiding, Bee. You're just reaching."
"It's all I can do to keep my mind off all…this." Bumblebee said helplessly.
There had still been no sign of the Decepticons. Bumblebee knew that several Cons were still left behind in New York City after Nightshade sounded the retreat and Starscream took half their number with him into space. The Cons were stranded on Terra with no ship, but they still had several bases around the world to bunker down in. Megatron was dead, but Nightshade, Soundwave and even Shockwave were still enough to keep the Cons going, at least most of them. Bumblebee would sleep better knowing if they were dead or imprisoned, but the Cons had gone completely underground. Maybe even literally."
Bumblebee walked over to a partially destroyed building and dug through the rubble. He paused when he saw a woman's hand peeking out from under the rocks, covered in blood.
"We've got another one here!" A paramedic called out.
Bumblebee helped them dig the woman's body out and watched them put her in a body bag before carrying her away. He watched them take the body away and leaned against the side of the building, his head in his hands. He never took the deaths of organic civilians as well as he should.
"This is terrible." He muttered.
Jolt landed next to him in robot mode. "Bee, you okay?"
"Ask me again after we're done here." He replied. "I can't believe things got so bad here. We were so close to being torched by the Cons. And the damage they've done to this planet…"
"This shouldn't surprise you, Bee. You've seen the Cons do this hundreds of times to other worlds."
"Between you and me, none of those planets were home to dear friends of mine." Bumblebee looked up at the grey covered sky. "The fallout of this slag is getting worse for us, and now we're getting more and more refugees every day."
"No said recovering from this was going to be easy, Bee. But the humans are a hardy bunch. They're already on the road to recovery, and they're coming back stronger." Jolt said, patting Bumblebee's leg.
"Let's just hope it's before the Cons make a reappearance." Bumblebee muttered. "Speaking of which, has there been any signs of Karaba?"
"No, the majority of the group hightailed it to Utopia after their death squad got destroyed. A few cells remained behind to harass the military, but there hasn't been any sign of them in this area."
Bumblebee felt a wave of unease wash over him, as if Jolt just tempted fate by saying that. He was about to change the subject when one of the ambulances suddenly exploded down the street.
"What was that?!" Bumblebee and Jolt ran down the street, past the other paramedics along with the Army mecha tanks rolling down to assist him. "Jolt, get the paramedics back! Contact the mobile unit teams to send them here!"
Bumblebee took out his stingers and approached the burning vehicle. He looked to see if there were any survivors. Unfortunately, whatever hit the ambulance was strong enough to pretty much destroy the vehicle and kill the two paramedics driving it. He looked around for the attackers, but saw no one. But he did see the next attack though.
A bright orange beam of energy slammed into his back and sent him smashing into a wall. Bumblebee rolled aside as another blast grazed his shoulder, making him hiss. He fired his stingers and the electrical blasts destroyed the building across the street from him.
"If you're going to fight me, at least show your face. I'm not an easy target as an ambulance." Bumblebee said.
"I beg to differ!" A distorted voice called out. Bumblebee tracked it to a man emerging from one of the collapsed buildings.
One look at the man and Bumblebee knew he was trouble. He looked pale and sickly, covered in ash and dust, his brown hair stringy and unkempt. But what's more was that the entire front of his chest from his mouth to his naval was hollowed out and was emitting a bright orange energy. He glared hatefully at Bumblebee as he stalked forward.
"Of all the Autobots I get, I'm stuck with the mascot." He growled, his voice distorted from the energy his chest was emitting. How he was able to speak was anyone's guess, Bumblebee was not going to argue the physics of esper biology. "God really loves shitting in my dinner, doesn't he?"
"You'll find that we bumblebees are pretty vicious when it comes to defending ourselves." Bumblebee pointed his stingers at the esper. "Surrender now or—"
The esper's chest glowed brightly before a blast of plasma energy was shot at Bumblebee's head. The yellow Autobot dodged, but as he prepared to shoot at the man, something sharp sliced into the back of his leg. He hissed and looked back to see a woman with long arms that end in razor sharp sickles backing away from him.
"Hit him, Jasper!" She yelled.
Jasper charged up his energy and fired another blast, but a loud gunshot went up just as he grunted in pain. A bullet pierced his leg and caused him to miss Bumblebee's chest entirely. Jolt flew in firing his auto-guns and drove Jasper back. Bumblebee spun around and grabbed at the woman, who avoided his hand and sliced her arm blades into his wrist.
"Slag, how sharp are those things?" Bumblebee growled. The woman smirked.
"Sharp enough to gut you."
Her eyes went to Jolt, who continued to fire on Jasper and avoid the plasma blasts shot at him. She charged at Bumblebee, leaping onto his shoulder and kicking off his head to leap into the air at Jolt. Bumblebee realized what she was doing and called out to the Minicon.
"Jolt, look out!"
Jolt saw the woman coming at him and transformed, narrowly dodging her long blades and kicking her in the chest. He grappled her in the air and they both fell to the ground, with Jolt slamming her face first into the dirt and pinning her there.
"Let her go, you tin can!" Jasper growled, preparing to attack. He leapt back to avoid the electrical blast that hit the ground in front of him.
"Forget about me?" Bumblebee said.
Jasper growled and his body glowed with plasma energy he began charging up. Not wanting to give him a chance to attack again, Bumblebee tossed a flash grenade his way that completely blinded him. Jasper shouted and cursed in pain as his eyes were assaulted by the white flash, and that gave Bumblebee room to leap forward and snatch him up in his hand. Bumblebee slammed Jasper to the ground and pinned him there with his hand while pointing his stinger with his other arm.
"I need backup over here! I got him!" Bumblebee called out.
"On our way!" Said the team leader of the mobile armor team heading the protection detail.
Bumblebee felt Jasper struggling in his grip and pressed down harder on his body. "Don't struggle you'll only embarrass yourself."
Jasper chuckled, which sounded chilling with his disembodied voice sounding through the mass of energy leaking from his chest. "I beg to differ. You're the one who'll be embarrassed very soon."
Bumblebee felt the man's temperature increasing and his eyes widened. "What are you doing?!"
"Showing my dedication to the esper cause." Jasper said as his chest began to glow brightly. "For Karaba!"
Before Bumblebee had a chance to remove his hand, Jasper's body exploded, taking off his arm completely and engulfing the front side of his body in flames. The lead talos in front of the team sent to aid him was also severely damaged in the explosion, and the force of the blast caused the unstable nearby buildings to collapse.
Bumblebee was thrown back into the building behind him, crashing right through the front side and landing on his back inside what used to be a living room. Pain erupted from his destroyed arm and his chest and face burned from the intense heat he was exposed to. He faintly heard shouting going on outside, and maybe even heard Jolt calling out to him, but Bumblebee wasn't in the position to talk right now.
Honestly this didn't surprise him. It was exactly the kind of ending he expected to get for this mission anyway. Just a reminder of the long road ahead of him before things could simmer down.
XXXXXX
Three Weeks Later
When the Decepticons lost the Battle of New York, Karaba also fled Osea following the death of their leader Magda. They lost a considerable amount of resources in their mission to torch Osea's capital city, and with the Autobots back in bulk, they couldn't hold a prolonged conflict anymore. But not all of them returned to Utopia. Several esper divisions remained behind to harass Osea, often leading random attacks on military bases and towns. They damages they caused the still scattered military was more heinous than it needed to be.
Debra didn't care about all that. She was mourning the loss of her stepmother. She wised she could console Sue and Jane, who were both devastated by their mother's death, but she was stuck overseeing the evacuation efforts of their army from Osea. It was only by luck that the search and rescue teams sent out to search for her father manage to find him before he starved to death.
The flight home was quiet and solemn, at least for her, but when Debra's airship returned to Utopia, she was greeted by a welcome party and the booming cheers of thousands of espers. To her surprise, they weren't too sad they lost the war. A mindset had spread amongst the populace that it didn't matter that they lost, it was the fact that they managed to achieve so much leading up to the complete subjugation of Osea. Karaba had grown into a world power, and now they Utopia was theirs, they had the means to enforce that belief. Even in defeat, they were still strong, and no one could take that away.
Debra couldn't even look at anyone after that.
The next couple of weeks were spent helping her father recover while she and her sisters held a funeral for their mother and got to work on militarizing the island. They repaired the damage they caused in their invasion, settled everyone into key positions around the island, and continued to provide medical and social aid to the civilian population. Airships patrolled he skies, captured warships from the few countries that thought they could blockade Utopia's territorial waters, and their mechanized forces patrolled the streets and beaches.
Thanks to Wolfe, Utopia was now one of the most advanced nations on Terra, alongside Atlantis.
While her sisters managed military affairs, Debra ran the political side. In addition to that, she was helping Dreyas get better. He was in very bad shape when the telepaths found him. Multiple broken bones, severe lacerations, bruises, and severe dehydration. He was in no shape to fight or lead, but thanks to Joshua's powers and Utopia's advanced medical technology, his condition was improving.
Mentally, he was another story. Losing his second wife had hit him hard, and he often spent his days in his room alone or with Tirant planning…something. He didn't speak to his daughters about his plans, only that it was something he was sure would cement Karaba's dominance.
"Dad, you have to rest." Debra told her father. "You won't heal as quickly if you keep moving around."
"One thing I've learned about our powers, Debra, is that our connection to the electromagnetic spectrum strengthens our bodies. How do you think I'm as strong as I am at my age?" Dreyas said, still pouring over the notes given to him by Tirant. "I'll heal just fine."
Debra rubbed the bridge of her nose. "What are you even working on that requires your so much of your attention?"
"That's a surprise." He said. "But it's something that'll remind the humans of the power we possess."
"How? I know you're not ignoring the fact that a lot of our success this year was due to the Decepticons aiding us."
"Tirant got a good look at their technology. As we speak, he's working on replicating some of their technology and weaponry." Dreyas said proudly. "And thanks to Megatron, we have plenty of energon at our disposal too."
It's amazing how her father could say both so much and yet also say so little. She sat next to him and held his hand. "Dad, please talk to me. What are you planning?"
Dreyas looked at his youngest. Though he was a bit thinner thanks to his bout in the desert, he was starting to fill out again, and those morning physical therapy sessions were helping him a lot. He held Debra's cheek and smiled.
"Without the Decepticon, the humans will think that we are weak, vulnerable. We've ran from Osea after losing one of our leaders and a powerful weapon. We cannot let them believe that they can march up to us and enslave our kind like they use to." He said. "We must show the world the consequences of making an attempt on us."
He patted her cheek and leaned back. "This project is top secret, even to you and your sisters. Besides, it'll take more than a year to implement correctly and establish suitable safety measures."
Debra nervously nodded and left her father's office. Once the door closed behind her, she sighed and ran a hand down her face.
Debra knew she was considered to be a bleeding heart by most of her peers, but could you blame her? After all the death and destruction they've caused to get to where they are now?
She had no friends here, at least no one she could truly open up to. The only person she could honestly consider to be a friend was probably light years in space right now. Debra walked over to a window and looked at the sprawling city before her. The kingdom of Karaba.
"I hope you're doing better than I am, Thundercracker." Debra said.
XXXXXX
Four Weeks Later
It was raining again. It seemed to be doing that a lot over New York City. As if the sky was crying over the desolation suffered by the city that never sleeps.
Thundercracker hated it. He was always stuck in the rain, soaking wet, and that hadn't done his wounds any favors either. Water and dirt and dust got up in every opening in his body, he felt dirty and beaten. He felt like slag, looked like slag, and probably smelled like it too. He was no clean freak like Knockout, but Primus he wanted a good washup after this.
'A washup. Look at me.' Thundercracker thought with a snort. 'Stranded in the middle of a half-destroyed city with no allies for miles and I'm planning a fragging oil bath. Primus, I'm losing my mind.'
Thundercracker should be thankful that Skywarp was so damn weak he couldn't kill a mech at point blank range. He didn't know what happened after the purple bastard shot him in the fact, but he woke up inside a crater in the middle of the street somewhere in the East Village. He never bothered to learn the names of the places, he just pointed his gun and fired. Boy, did he wish he paid attention to Dreadwing's ramblings now.
Too damaged to transform, Thundercracker spent almost two days walking all the way back to the epicenter of the destruction his team had caused. The closer he got, the more evidence of the Decepticons' violence of the city was visible along the buildings and streets. There were no humans around, none that were alive anyway, and the Autobots and military were nowhere to be seen, which was good. He was in no condition for a fight.
With nothing else better to do other than use the primitive technology around him to amplify his Decepticon distress signal (and pray that neither the Autobots nor the humans discovered it first) Thundercracker hunkered down inside a hollowed-out office building left behind by Devastator and watch human television to pass the time. Yeah, he hit rock bottom.
For weeks afterward he kept up to date on the news, watching constant news coverages on the ongoing fights against the remaining Karaba terror cells, about the Autobots struggling to remain afloat while their so-called human allies barely lifted a finger to help them, and for any news of his Decepticon comrades. Nightshade did the right thing and completely went radio silent. No peep from her or the others.
When he wasn't doing that, he would idly spend his days watching other stuff…like nature documentaries. It started out of boredom at first, but then turned into curiosity and interest. All these myriads of species living together in a strange dynamic that Thundercracker had never seen before. It always puzzled him how so many creatures could live so close to each other without destroying themselves. He wondered if Cybertron had such a natural balance before the arrival of the Quintessons. How would their society look if the Quintessons hadn't shoved all their advanced tech and societal changes onto him from the get-go? Would Cybertron have still suffered from the same problems?
From there he moved onto historical documentaries, TV specials about ancient historical sites and religious icons. Famous works of art that have survived for thousands of years. Testaments to men and women who were long dead and yet whose names were still spoken amongst the people as if they were still alive.
It amazed Thundercracker how much these people often looked to the past to remind themselves of their greatest achievements and failures. Their greatest victories and defeats. Wonderful and horrific moments in history that made a place for themselves in Terra's long and varied story. Thundercracker knew that his people probably would have been similar to them if everyone wasn't so caught up in that caste bullcrap. Humans teach themselves and others to learn the mistakes of the past to not make the same ones again, and cybertronians weren't exactly known for looking to their past. Hell, they were famous for eliminating it whenever they got the chance.
Thundercracker had always been loyal to the Decepticon cause. He was a soldier. He served Megatron. He served the Seekers. He had dreams for a new age where they were on top of the cosmic pecking order. But he couldn't stomach the mindless slaughter of weaker beings. That kind of attitude is what started the Uprising in the first place. It wasn't so much as him being sympathetic to humans as it was him seeing a reflection of what the Senate did to them back in the past.
Starscream was an asshole, but he had a point. Megatron had no idea what to do next. They almost won the war, but their planet was still dead and now their species was endangered and dying off little by little. How the hell do you fix that? Thundercracker thought it funny that for all the slag the Cons gave organics, at least they could repopulate regularly.
Salvation came in the form of Scrapper, who brought him back to a ragtag group of Cons that consisted of Tankor, Wildrider and that fragging slaghead Shockblast, because heaven forbid that Thundercracker have any peace to himself. Thankfully they didn't know of his "betrayal", and Wildrider spent several hours patching him up with what he had on and, and afterwards the group looked to him for leadership.
What did they want him to do? Have him lead them on raids? Order them to pillage and destroy? They were stuck in a state that was crawling with military forces and they were isolated from the main team. They had no resources, no access to a ground bridge or energon, no ship. Absolutely nothing. Thundercracker was many things, but he was in no position to be a leader right now.
So he helped them make a little hideout for themselves. A cozy little underground base outfitted with some tech to use for energon detection and radar before making Scrapper the leader of the mix matched team and flying off to parts unknown.
Which led to where he was now, standing on top of a mountain watching the sunset while he thought of his life choices. He was abandoned by his Seeker brothers and sisters. Nightshade and her followers had gone underground. There were enemies all around him. He had no friends.
Except Debra.
That esper girl being groomed by Dreyas to succeed him as leader of Karaba. Who would've thought he'd have met such a kindred soul in a fleshy? Thundercracker did like the time they spent together. It was nice actually speaking to someone who had a brain between their eyes. She, like him, had her eyes opened to the brutality of her reality and together they questioned the justification of all this death and violence to get what they want.
How far could you go before you ended up becoming worse than the people you're fighting against?
Thundercracker didn't know anymore. He was just sick of the fighting and killing. What was the point of this war if all the victor was going to be left with was ashes? He didn't know what he was going to do now. Maybe learn some more about this planet. It was probably going to be his home for the rest of his life if things didn't change.
"Huh," Thundercracker grunted, looking at the sunset. "I never knew how cool this place looked at sunset."
A planet as beautiful as this and neither humans, merfolk or espers really appreciated what they have. And the cybertronians spend all their energy trying to leave. Maybe instead of trying to leave Terra, they could just stop and appreciate the natural beauty that Cybertron once had. Thundercracker certainly did.
What a wonderful world.
XXXXXX
One Month Later
Gina entered the hospital room, which was full of sunlight shining through the window. She walked over to the desk and replaced the wilting flowers with fresh ones, arranging them so they caught the sunlight just right before sitting next to the bed. She looked down at its occupant and smiled down at him.
"Good morning, Darren." Gina said. She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He didn't stir, which was nothing new to her at this point.
It was expecting too much for him to wake up this soon. He had been in a coma for several weeks, and it'll be longer before he wakes up. The thought made her heart clench. Still, he was alive, which was a miracle in itself.
Despite Gina's best efforts, Darren hadn't been revived when he suffered from that sudden psychic attack back in Washington. He died right then and there and his heart couldn't be started again. Two and a half hours later, she and Annie brought his body back to the Autobots, explaining what happened to him. The girls cried harder than they ever had before, thinking that was it for Darren.
But a miracle did happen, and it came in the form of Optimus. Gina still didn't know what happened, but apparently he used the Matrix to revive Darren. That should've been it, a happy ending for everybody, but it wasn't.
Gina looked at the advanced technology that was hooked to Darren's bed. Ratchet and Wheeljack made it. Having been clinically dead for almost three hours, Darren had suffered a serious amount of brain damage due to the lack of oxygen to his brain. Ratchet built the machine to repair his brain cells. It was something he made on the fly, so it was going to work slowly. If things went smoothly, Darren would make a full recovery.
The main problem was that it was a very precise and delicate process. Ratchet deduced that it'd take at least a year, if not longer, for the machine to repair Darren's brain back to functionality. It was the price he had to pay if he wanted to live his life properly ever again.
"Sorry I wasn't here last week. Things have been pretty hectic lately." Gina said. "I was off helping the Autobots get settled into their new base on Karda Island. It was nice of Queen Tyr to let them use one of her islands. At least the Atlanteans aren't treating the Autobots so badly like the Osean's are.
"There still haven't been any sign of the Decepticons, though there have been sightings of the Combaticons and Predacons over in Usea. The Karaba terrorist cells in Osea are finally starting to weather from the pressure the military's giving them, though the main forces in Utopia are still going strong. Everyone's sure that they're making plans for something, and for once I agree with them."
Gina looked out the window. "Annie says hi. She and Brittany are still going strong. Um, oh yeah! Annie and Bulkhead went up into space with the Wreckers on a top-secret mission. Don't ask me why, I can never tell what your sister is thinking. Arcee and Moonracer say hi too. They're praying for you to get better."
"That's funny, considering they're the reason he's in this state."
Gina jumped and turned to see Debbie standing in the doorway. "Debbie! How long have you been here?"
"Long enough." Debbie said, walking over to the bed and sitting on the other side, away from Gina. A fact the inhuman didn't miss. "Good to finally know where my little sister's gone off to, the ungrateful brat."
"Um…you didn't know?"
"Of course I didn't know. You think I'd let my sister go space-trotting with an Autobot after what happened?" Debbie hissed.
"Sorry, sorry." Gina cleared her throat. Debbie looked like she spent the night with her bottle again. "Annie only told me that you and her had a talk and I assumed—"
"Well you thought wrong." She said, looking down at Darren. "I'm getting sick of you kids putting your lives on the line for them after all the shit they put us through."
"Debbie, I know you don't like them, but they risked everything to save our world. Without them, we'd all be dead." Gina said.
"If it weren't for them, we wouldn't even be in this mess." Debbie replied angrily.
Gina thought back to Sunstreaker. Looking back on t, she should've seen the signs. Sunstreaker had been greatly traumatized by his torture and dissection from OZ, and his hatred grew like a festering wound. She knew he hated humans, but to actually go as far and do what he did. It was unthinkable.
It wouldn't be until hours after they got Darren to a hospital that Gina and Ratchet realized that it was because of his headmaster connection with Sunstreaker that caused Darren's body to fail. Sunstreaker's death caused a psychic backlash that killed Darren too.
'Let's not tell her that. The last thing we need is to give her another reason to hate the Autobots.' Gina thought.
It was a tightly kept secret among the Autobots that Sunstreaker was the traitor who almost destroyed them and all life on Terra. This wasn't just because they wanted to quell suspicion. This truth might give some of the more radical elements of humanity to openly attack the Autobots. Things were already tense because of Megatron's war surge across the world, and that would only make things worse.
"Look, Debbie," Gina said. "Can we please not do this here in front of Darren? Please?"
Debbie glared at her for a moment before settling her gaze on Darren. "I know none of you kids are going to listen anyway. It doesn't matter if I move and take the twins with me. Hard to escape a group of aliens who can teleport to anywhere in the world in two seconds."
Gina was feeling very awkward right now, bearing the brunt of Debbie's anger. Fortunately, Debbie noticed this too, and she had the decency to look slightly apologetic.
"I'm sorry, Gina. I'm just going through a lot right now." She said. "Could you give us some privacy please?"
Gina nodded and stood up to leave. Just before she closed the door, her keen ears caught wind of something Debbie said under her breath. Something Gina never thought she'd hear the elder Radcliffe say.
"I wish they all burned in hell."
XXXXXX
One Year Later
'In other news, the Autobots have officially moved their base of operations to an undisclosed location in Atlantean territory after brief negotiations took place. According to Optimus Prime, this is a security measure in response to the attack on their bases in Osea by the Decepticons and Karaba.'
"Yeah right. More like running from the angry masses that want your heads." Steve Leonard snorted.
He sat in his hospital room by himself, with the occasional visit from one of his buddies or one of the surprisingly attractive nurses who came to check up on him. He had the room to himself, and a TV, though the news was nothing but constant updates on the nationwide reconstruction effort. He regularly got updates from his friends on the Karaba terror cells, which were finally starting to vanish one by one. Still, there was no sign of the Decepticons and that worried him a bit.
A knock on the door took him from his thoughts. "Come in."
The door opened and three men walked in, all dressed in crisp black suits and looking very official. Steve recognized one of them as General Adam Lane, a hardline bastard who was one of the few outspoken generals in regards to Osea's alliance with the Autobots.
"Good morning Major Leonard. Good to see you're in good health." Lane said.
"Is that supposed to be a joke, sir?"
"What do you think?" Lane said gruffly. "Major, this is Peter Dille and Frank Shin. They're representatives from the United Nations."
Steve nodded to him, which was all he could do considering his entire body was covered in a cast. "What can I do for you gentlemen?"
"You can start by telling us how you ended up in this bed." Shin said. Steve grinned and shrugged.
"Doing what I do best. Hunting down alien death machines." He replied. "I was doing recon in New York for any lingering Cons and I ran into his huge robot jaguar or something. I think his name was Ravage. Talked a lot of good shit, but I took him down with a flaming right hook."
"Impressive, Major. Very impressive." Dille nodded. "Which brings us to our business. Are you familiar with Skywatch?"
"I've heard things. Most of them bad."
"Well that's the old regime. Skywatch is under the umbrella of the UN now. We have a new man in charge. Trustworthy."
"Osean." Lane grunted.
"This crisis has shown how unprepared we are when it comes to handling alien warfare. We've relied too much on the Autobots and the Decepticons caught us with our pants down. That can't happen again. Skywatch is now being reworked into an international organization that will over see all alien activity on the planet and work in tandem with the Autobots to capture the remaining Decepticons still on Terra." Dille explained.
"And it's only the beginning. Many of the member nations who signed on will also be forming a global alliance of sorts to act as a united front against any alien aggressors like the Decepticons." Shin said. "And we want you to join."
"You want me? But I'm an esper." Steve said. "I only got a promotion because I had a hand in taking out Megatron. I'm still getting strange looks from my superiors."
"We won't discriminate. That attitude is what made Karaba so powerful in the first place." Dille assured him. "And you've proved yourself in New York. You're a hero!"
"Guys, look at me. I'm in traction from fighting a robot puma. I'm no bureaucrat."
"We know. That's why we'd like you to head field operations in Skywatch's Osea division." Shin said. "Think about it. You'll be a part of something new for Terra. Protecting the planet with the resources of 192 nations. Are you in?"
Steve smiled. "And here I thought it was going to be a boring month."
"Excellent. We'll have your room moved up to our facility tonight." Dille smiled.
"Hey, one last thing. This trustworthy Osean. Do I know him?"
"Yes, yes you do." Lane said. "He's your father."
'Oh joy.' Steve thought. 'Now I'll be spending every day being judged by my old man. That won't get annoying fast.'
"We have another representative with us. She's the head of a PMC company who's been working with the UN for a while now. This whole idea was thanks to her." Shin said. A knock on the door drew his attention. "Ah, that must be her now."
"Sorry I'm late. I got held up at a meeting." A smooth female voice said as the speaker entered the room. Steve's eyes widened and he barely held himself back from whistling at her.
The woman was an absolute beauty, with long red hair tied into a bun and a few bangs hanging over her right eye. The tight blouse and pencil skirt with a slit up one side to show off a tasteful amount of thigh certainly looked good on her.
Her most defining feature were her eyes. They were a deep amber gold that almost appeared to be glowing in a certain light.
"Hello, Major Leonard. I'm Madelyne Ophis." She smiled seductively at him, her red lips curling upward. "I hope we can work well together to ensure Terra's future."
Book 3-End
That's it for book 3. Man, I didn't realize that this book would be so long. And the sad part is that I'm still stuck in limbo writing Mosiac while finishing this story. Well, you've got your snippets of what's to come in the future, especially in the end there. I may or may not write about Annie's secret mission with the Wreckers, we'll see how that goes. Also, I've fully rewritten Event Horizon, now renamed Illumination. On a different note, I will say that Deadscream will make an appearance in the next book. You'll be surprised where we'll find her though. Now that the story's over, I can focus on my Sofia story while working on the next entry. Not much else to say other than I'm happy to have completed this story and show it off. It's been a wild ride and I hope you'll stay with me for when I finally post the third story in the Origins trilogy-Transformers: Fall, and the fourth book of Transformers Titan: Extinction. Thank you all for your support and stay safe! Till All Are One!