Chapter 6
When Sam woke up he saw in was in the middle of a forest, but through the trees he could see a city, though far more futuristic than what he was used to.
"Wow, I guess a lot can change in twenty years…the question is, just how much has changed." Sam murmured softly. Standing up, he tossed out Blitz's capsule. "Okay Blitz, can you hack into the WWW and check out some of the important things for me? Gotta be prepared for whatever's waiting."
The teen fell silent as he waited for his friend to get the information required. Blitz then started talking in rapid beeps, though Sam understood him perfectly and started to sort out the information, growing confused and shocked as he did so. Sometime, shortly after he disappeared, the Autobots had not only made a treaty with the Decepticons, they revealed themselves to the governments of the world…and took them over! While they weren't dictators or anything, the Cybertronians were pretty much in charge of the planet, each faction getting different countries and cities to rule as they saw fit. They told the leaders what to do and the leaders did as ordered. As long as their rules and laws were obeyed, the Cybertronians left the humans alone pretty much, each staying in their new cities, free of nearly all humans. It seemed only a very few, barely a handful, were able to even get into the cities.
"What the hell happened here?" Sam muttered, outraged.
He felt almost betrayed. He had been told countless times by Optimus that freedom was the right of all sentient beings, yet he just found out that Optimus had pretty much taken over the world with the Decepticons.
The human was brought out of his musings by more beeps from Blitz.
"Oh really? Well then, we'd better get going." Sam said darkly, hopping onto the bike.
Blitz had just told him that the city they were near was L.A. and the Autobots were holding some sort of meeting there with the humans. He figured he would give them a piece of his mind, shock the hell out of them, and get away with it all in one go.
Sam entered the city easily enough, the streets deserted. He figured it was mandatory for all humans to go. Finding the main street, he finally saw it. Thousands of humans lined it in front of him about twenty feet away, while at the far end stood the Autobots, both those he had left behind twenty years ago, and several new ones. He saw that they all looked colder, if that was possible. His angered spiked when Optimus stepped forward and the crowd chanted 'Lord Prime'. He couldn't hear what Optimus was saying though.
"Let's see if this works…" Sam said, concentrating.
The Matrix appeared, almost melting out of his chest and started to hover in front of him. With a flick of his wrist, Sam sent it high into the air and zooming towards the Autobots.
Several humans had looked up and gasped in surprise seeing the artifact flying overhead. Their gasps were what drew Optimus out of his speech, falling silent in shock, optics wide. The other Autobots followed his gaze and they copied their leader's expression. The Matrix started spinning rapidly, shooting up particles of light into the air, forming a holographic image. A very familiar but very enraged image of a certain someone to the Autobots. The humans gathered there were confused but didn't dare question about it so they kept silent.
"By Primus…!" Ironhide said softly.
"Is it really?" Jolt murmured.
"Sam…"Optimus nearly whispered.
All eyes and optics were trained on the image.
'Sam' glared at them, the image copying the real Sam's movements exactly.
"You all lied to me. You told me that freedom is the right of all sentient beings. And what do you think I find when I return? You took over the world! You all betrayed my trust." Sam growled at out them, causing them all to flinch.
"Sam, please I can-" Optimus tried to speak.
"Save it 'Lord Prime'!" Sam sneered out.
The Cybertronians all took a step back at the tone in the human's voice.
"I don't want to hear any more lies from you or any of you. I don't know why I even decided to return, what the hell was I thinking?"
The human shook his head before turning back to give an icy glare.
"This is the last you will hear from me Autobots. Enjoy what you've done for yourselves."
The Matrix cut the image and stopped spinning. It pulsed angrily for a minute before zooming back towards Sam, flying into his chest. The Autobots watched this, shocked once more at what had happened. The human gave them one final glare, before jumping onto his motorcycle and riding off out of the city.
"Sir, what do we do?" Ratchet asked.
Optimus continued to watch Sam ride off further and further away.
"I will not let it end like this Ratchet. We lost him once and now we might do it again. Autobots, roll out!"
"Now you're talking!" Bumblebee played before transforming into his alt and riding off through the parted crowd, the others close behind him.
The second the humans heard the familiar words, they immediately cleared the street for the Autobots.
With Sam…..
Blitz stayed silent while his human took over, tears of anger, frustration and sadness falling from his eyes and flying behind him. Sam didn't know where to go, only that the freedom of so much speed seemed to be helping him calm somewhat.
"This fragging sucks Blitz, I don't know what to do." Sam sighed sadly, wiping his eyes dry.
Blitz gave a low beep of assurance, telling Sam that everything would be alright.
"Thanks Blitz, you always know what to say…sort of."
Sam gave a short laugh at the joke while Blitz started chirping happily, glad his human cheered up at least for a moment.
That was short lived though when a roar of engines was heard behind them. Turning his head, Sam's eyes widened when he saw all the Autobots he had just left, following behind him. What made him even more shocked was that the Decepticons, both familiar and unfamiliar, were with them.
"Ah frag it!" Sam grumbled. "I am so not in the mood for this…"
Sam took control of the steering again, making a sharp turn and urging more speed from the motorcycle.
However, it seemed that the Autobots and Decepticons were faster as Ratchet pulled in front of Sam, forcing him to make a sharp turn to avoid barreling into the other. He had to make another when Barricade did the same thing. This game continued for a few minutes, Sam realizing too late what the Autobots were doing, herding him into a tight circle with them blocking his way.
Sighing in frustration and anger, Sam stopped Blitz in the center of the circle, glaring angrily as the Autobots and Decepticons transformed quickly, all staring down at the human.
"I don't have time for this. What do you want?" Sam stated coldly, eyes hard.
They softened the tiniest bit when he saw Optimus' optics. They were so sad…
"Sam, please let me explain. It's not what it seems. Yes, we did make a truce with the Decepticons and yes, we are pretty much the rulers of this planet. But there is more to it than that."
"Please believe us Sam…"Ironhide said, voice softer than anything Sam had ever heard before.
Sam stared at them all, seeing each one wore the same sad and longing look. He glanced towards Blitz,
"What do you think?"
The Autobots were confused at this and their optics widened when the bike started to beep radically, Sam nodding every so often.
"Alright." Sam turned back to the Autobots. "I'm going to give you all a chance to explain just what the hell happened when I left." He then glanced at the Decepticons. "How the heck are you guys here already? I didn't see you at that meeting thing in the city."
"Optimus alerted me to what had happened. Luckily, I was already on my way to that blasted meeting and just changed course to here. I must say, I never thought I would see you alive again."
Seeing the two leaders standing there and not fighting each other was just surreal to Sam. He turned back towards Blitz and chuckled, "Man, this is so fragging weird. This will take some getting used to."
Before anything else could be said, Prowl's optics flickered quickly before stopping.
"Oh, just fragging perfect. Optimus, Nemesis has been spotted heading straight for us."
"'Nemesis?'" Sam questioned, watching the Bots and Cons gear up for battle. "Who's that?"
"To put it simply, he's like a dark version of me Sam." Optimus answered, gazing at the human. "Similar strengths and abilities."
"Though he lacks compassion and is completely insane." Ironhide added.
Megatron growled, powering up his fusion cannon.
"The slagger has been messing with us for several years now. Time for some payback." Off in the distance, a black semi could be seen heading rapidly towards them.
"Sam, stay behind us." Bumblebee ordered.
The human just raised an eyebrow and snorted, shocking them all.
"Nice try, I'm gonna help."
"And how are you going to do that boy?" Starscream asked, not in a condescending way but in a curious one.
"Like this."
Autobot and Decepticon alike watched in awe as the bike started to shift and Sam jumped into the middle of it. Soon a silver and gold Cybertronian stood before them.
"Who…what…. how?" They all stuttered.
"Not now! Here he comes!" Sam called, bringing out his weapon.
The black semi transformed into a demented version of Optimus.
Nemesis laughed, bringing out his gun,
"What's this? A new playmate for me to destroy? Oh Prime, you shouldn't have."
"Is that the best you can come up with? I've heard better lines from villains in video games" Sam stated.
The dark Transformer growled.
"You will pay for that with your life; you insolent piece of scrap!"
"Over our cold lifeless shells, you will." Sideswipe growled. Autobot and Decepticon alike had moved to stand beside Sam.
No more was said because Nemesis gave a loud, feral cry and charged, waving a dark energon sword and his gun.
It seemed that not only did he possess similar strengths to Optimus, he also possessed his fighting prowess, Sam would have never guessed that one Transformer would be able to take them all on at once like he was doing. The battle raged on for over two hours, the Autobots and Decepticons fighting like a seamless unit against the dark lookalike, though the latter did manage to injure several of his attackers. At one point he was about to finish off Megatron with his sword but the combined human pushed the Decepticon Leader out of the way of the attack and ignored a burning sensation in his side.
"You saved me." Megatron said, surprised.
Sam ignored the pain in his side and smirked, "Now I can say that you owe me one Megs." He snickered at the look the other had.
The battle resumed quickly for Sam when Nemesis got in a lucky shot and had Sam on his back with the former's cannon right in his face.
"Say goodbye." Nemesis snarled, charging up the cannon.
Right before he fired though he was tackled to the ground by Bumblebee and Barricade while Soundwave helped Sam up.
"Thanks." Sam murmured, already bringing out his DAW to finish the fight.
Soundwave merely nodded. Every Bot and Con backed off when they heard the whistle of the weapon swinging through the air, their optics widened when they saw it effortlessly cut through Nemesis. When the other was nothing more than a head and a torso all the Cybertronians fired their cannons at Nemesis.
"You will-" Nemesis never got the chance to finish what he was going to say, the attacks vaporized him completely.
No one moved for a moment, all panting slightly because of the fight. A groan caught their attention, everyone turned towards the sound only to have their optics widen when Sam fell to his knees, clutching his side. Ratchet and Hook were immediately beside him, gently lowering him onto his back, the other Bots and Cons surrounded the trio.
Ratchet moved Sam's hand and saw that the other had a large gash in his side. Cursing in Cybertronian, the two medics started to make a temporary patch for Sam.
"You're back one day and you're already trying to give me a restart boy." Ratchet muttered finishing up, though he had a small smile on his face.
Sam chuckled but then groaned when the action caused some pain to flare.
"It's what I live for Doc Bot, driving medics up walls." Sam groaned softly when Optimus gently picked him up.
Prowl was sending a comm to base for a ground-bridge to take everyone back.
The human was going in and out of consciousness and was not fully aware of what he was saying.
"Man, all that training and a slagging sword wound knocks me out, Gramps must be laughing his aft off at me." Sam slurred out, finally falling asleep.
"Did any of that make sense to anyone?" Ironhide asked.
"It seems like Sam has had some adventures while he was gone." The Prime said, watching the ground bridge appear.
"We have a lot of explaining to do. Did you see the look in his eyes?" Sideswipe said.
The Autobots shuddered at the raw pain, anger and betrayal they saw before.
"We'll come too, help explain to him." Megatron said.
"Let's go, that patch will only hold for so long, I'd like to see to my patient now." Ratchet said, waving a wrench around. That got everyone moving, making the medic chuckle darkly. "I still got it."
Groaning, Sam onlined his optics. Wincing at the bright lights shining above him, he looked around and saw that he was alone in an infirmary. And seeing how neat, pristine and orderly it was, not to mention one wall completely devoted to wrenches of various sizes from the size of a human to one half the size of Optimus, told him exactly which infirmary he was in.
"I'm in Ratchet's domain, oh joy." Sam chuckled to himself, feeling Blitz laugh with him.
He glanced down at his side where the wound was, only to see no wound.
"Wow, I'm impressed. And no wrench bump…yet. I figured he would have hit me while I was out" Sam snickered, getting off of the berth. Walking out of the med-bay, Sam de-combined from Blitz who gave a confused chirp.
"I figured you could use a rest for a while, don't worry, I got my shield if anything were to happen." The human assured his friend. Blitz gave a nod before going into his capsule form. Sam pocketed it and started walking.
After walking for a bit, he finally heard some voices coming from behind a partly closed door. Peeking through it he saw all the Autobots and Decepticons around a large table, staring at something and talking to each other, the topic lost in a buzz of sound from his vantage point.
Squeezing through the door, Sam walked in, unnoticed by everyone. Snickering softly to himself Sam walked over to the closest one which happened to be Sunstreaker. Easily flipping himself up, Sam now sat on the yellow frontliner's shoulder, who still took no notice of the human now on him. Nor did any of the others, but thankfully his new vantage point let Sam see and hear what they were talking about.
They had drawn up a giant chess board, Megatron against Optimus, the former winning.
"Move your queen there, it'll put in check and he'll have to sacrifice his Rook." The other Bots nodded in agreement and Optimus reached for the piece.
Just before Optimus could make the suggestion, Prowl interrupted him, he and Sam having seen a problem.
"That wouldn't work Jazz." Prowl said.
"And why not?" Jazz asked, confused.
But before Prowl could explain, Sam beat him to it, shocking everyone with his presence.
"If he moves his queen like you want it'll be in a position for that knight to get it. Then Megatron will be in a great spot to checkmate Optimus." Sam stated simply.
The human flipped off of Sunstreaker's shoulder and landed in the middle of the table and folded his arms. Optimus shut off the hologram and everyone gathered in a tighter circle. The silence rang throughout the room, none of the Transformers knowing what to say or do at first.
Finally Ratchet broke the silence.
"I had thought that with your wound like it was you would have been out for at least a few more days. I'm surprised but happy to see you are alright."
"Thanks to a friend, I got faster than normal healing abilities now." Sam answered. "I would have been fine Ratchet, but thanks for your help. And please stop scanning me, got enough of that from a friend once I figured out he was doing it." He chuckled faintly with the last bit, shocking the medic into compliance.
That seemed to be the opening they were looking for because Optimus asked, "Sam…. where were you? How did you fight like you did?"
"You first Prime." Sam stated, staring right into the familiar yet unfamiliar optics. Sam was once close friends with Optimus but now things had changed drastically. "What the hell happened to make you do what you all did?"
The flamed Autobot gave a sad sound but nodded.
"You deserve to know Sam." He cycled his vents. "After you…. vanished, we spent ages looking for you. Doing everything we could to try to find you."
"We scoured this rock from top to bottom." Ironhide added gruffly. "And we came up with nothing. None of our resources could find you, not the human's CIA and FBI, not even NEST could track you down."
"After we were brought back and made the truce, we agreed to help try to find you." Megatron said. "Not even Soundwave could find you with the help of the human's satellites."
Jazz picked up the story, "We had questioned the US government about the humans that were there when I and the others were onlined…that did not end well."
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
All the Cybertronians shifted in their spots, uncomfortable.
"We found out several things that humanity wished to keep from us…among other things." Optimus finally said, voice like steel with a frigid undertone.
Sam shuddered, almost scared of the tone the Autobot Leader had.
"Because of what we discovered, we had to take action immediately."
"I was brought back thanks to some fragments from the Allspark." Megatron said. "Along with my Decepticons. Optimus explained what had happened and we agreed to the truce. We control everything now, though we let the humans have their leaders to make the petty decisions, we ultimately rule this planet."
"We did what we did for a good reason Sam, and we're sorry that this is what you came home to. We never wanted to break your trust in us." Bumblebee said, optics sad.
Sam stared up at them all in turn. He sensed that they were telling him the truth, but that they were also keeping something about it from him. The human decided he would find out what it was later.
"Sam…. would you please tell us what happened to you?" Sideswipe asked softly.
Taking a deep breath, the human nodded. He concentrated and the Matrix appeared beside him, floating around him in a lazy circle.
"The morning I disappeared, the Matrix floated over to me. I felt a pull from it and it led me outside. Using it, I was able to bring back Ironhide, Wheeljack, Jazz, Arcee, Chromia and Flare-up. But right after I did, those goons showed up, demanding I go with them. I refused and they fired some weapon at me that would have killed me in a very painful manner."
"What happened then Sam? All I remember is a bright light swallowing you and then you were gone." Jazz said.
"The Matrix saved me by teleporting me to see someone very special." Sam answered, smiling.
He told his story to the shell-shocked Cybertronians, leaving only the bit about his new abilities and who exactly taught him, he was going to tell them, but not quite yet. Sam believed that they had to earn that trust back.
"You have had quite the adventure boy." Starscream said, several others nodding.
"We didn't notice the signs of you being a Prime Sam, that is why we never mentioned it." Optimus said.
Sam nodded.
"That's what my friend figured that or you guys just thought they were anomalies with me."
"Sam…who was your friend? Is it the one you called 'Gramps'?" Ratchet asked
Sam stared up at them all while thinking 'I called Primus 'Gramps' oh he must be laughing his aft off at that one'.
"I forgive you all, somewhat, for what has happened. I understand that you had a very good reason for what you did, but you still did. But I can't trust you with the other part of my story quite yet. You all broke my trust with what you did, pretty much enslaving humanity with part freedom."
All optics, red and blue, grew sad at the words spoken by the human, knowing that they were true. The Autobots had always said that freedom is the right of all sentient beings and that they would always fight to preserve that right. And their favorite human comes home to see them rulers of his world.
"We understand Sam. And I promise you that we will work to gain your trust again, and this time that promise will not be broken little one."
The human nodded in acceptance, smiling slightly at the nickname that the other Optimus had given him as well.
"Well, I think that's enough for today everyone. You're dismissed." Optimus said.
He turned to Sam.
"You may go anywhere you wish Sam, in and out of the base. But I ask you to please not leave the city, not without someone with you."
Seeing the pleading look in the Prime's optics, Sam agreed to his request and hopped off the table and left the room.
"Do you think he'll ever truly forgive us sir?" Bumblebee asked softly.
"I don't know my friend, but I hope so." The Prime replied, voice sad.