Pretender Chronicles

A War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron/Transformers Prime Fan Fiction

By daywalker03

Prologue, Part 2: Eye of the Tiger

-Some time later-

A cloud of dust appears over a short rise in the desert just outside of Jasper Nevada, and the faint roar of powerful engines is heard; as it gets louder, two highly modified Can-Am Spyder F3 three wheel motorcycles crest the rise and slow to a stop. Mae got off and raised the face shield of her helmet to reveal a face that is both young and old at the same time as well as feminine. Her companion remained on his cycle as though uncertain as to what to do next. Mae linked herself with Teal's systems and ran the calculations on the readings she had been picking up the last 20 miles and compared them with those she was familiar with from the War; all reading in her sensor range were within the expected parameters for Autobots she had fought alongside at various times in the War, but the strongest one was in close proximity to a human youth, as were several others that she had no record of. Butch had the same information available through his sensors, and was coming to his own conclusions about what was happening. It was time, and past time, to act on what they knew.

-Butch's PoV-

/* Pure Cybertronian bio-signatures confirmed, */ he heard through his headset as the female figure lowered her face shield again. /* Multiple bearings, though Arcee and the human will be making an appearance in approximately 1 minute by jumping off of the closed ramp. */

/* The young man will be safe, won't he, Guardian? */ Butch asked cautiously. /* I mean, those are Decepticons chasing them, am I right? */

/* Yes, those are Decepticons pursuing them, most likely some form of semi-autonomous drone, since the self styled Lord Megatron tended to utilize questionable methods of recruiting at various times. The boy will be safe, because Arcee will make sure of it; I also suspect that, since Optimus Prime is here on the planet, they will want to make sure the boy isn't harmed by the Decepticons, so one of the 'bots will become his guardian.*/ A faint cry of surprise came from the direction of the uncompleted highway exit ramp as the purple and pink motorcycle jumped carrying her human passenger. Mae smiled at the reaction, but scowled as she noticed something she had previously missed; a younger boy was in the drainage ditch and had seen the cycle and rider. Both turned as the two dark purple cars that had been chasing the motorcycle and boy drove down the embankment towards them, then transformed in midair. /* Scrap; that's not good. We can't intervene directly and risk revealing ourselves to the 'cons, but 'Cee and 'Bee are going to need a boost until Bulkhead gets there. */

/* How is that going to be possible, Guardian? */ Butch asked.

/* Just watch and listen, my sweetspark, */ Mae said mysteriously, as she prepared to unleash her favorite talent, one learned from a mech she had come to view as an expert in his field. She thought back over the music she liked, and selected a tune appropriate to the occasion.

- Arcee's PoV-

/* Scrap, another human, though the one that calls himself Jack Darby does seem to be a well balanced rider, when he keeps his hands on the handlebars*/ Arcee thought as she transformed to face the incoming Decepticons. Jack and the younger boy had at least stepped back out of the way so she could concentrate on fighting the Decepticons. She knew Bumblebee should be close by and knew that Bulkhead was coming as well, though how long it would take the big lug to actually arrive was anybot's guess. As she took up a fighting stance, a faint but insistent beat was felt throughout her entire frame, and she took off at a run toward the twin Vehicons that had been pursuing her and Jack.

-Hilltop, Mae's PoV-

/* By the AllSpark; I know those boys, but how? And where? */ Mae thought as she watched Jack and Raf run toward the sewer drain, pursued by a Vehicon. She stood next to Teal watching the scene unfold, and suddenly an old memory began to replay itself.

~~~ Iacon Hall of Records, Cybertron~~~

/* Sir, I'm concerned about Orion now that he has had these organic pets; they got taken and he's acting like someone punched him in the tanks. Is there anything you can do to help him? */ Teal asked her boss, the head archivist Alpha Trion. He slowly rubbed his face with one servo while contemplating the Quill in his other. Finally he spoke, /* Orion needs to understand these little ones, for reasons I cannot explain, young one; I know only what the Covenant says of them, and find myself wondering why Primus elected to mention them at all, since their kind do not yet have space travel. */ /* The Covenant speaks of their kind, Sir? */ Teal asked, somewhat astonished that such small creatures could have attracted the attention of their Creator enough to merit reference. /* Indeed it does, but as I stated, I do not know why, */ Alpha Trion said.

Further conversation was halted as Orion and Jazz returned with two small figures; Defensor and Cypher were carried carefully in Jazz's servos and Teal let out a pained ex-vent at the condition of the two. While the smaller of the two, Cypher, seemed relatively unharmed, the same could not be said of Defensor; his condition was horrific, as though he had been forced to fight in some perverse gladiator's arena. /* Jazz, give me Defensor; he needs some special care. Orion, where in the Pit did you find them? */ Teal said to them as they approached Alpha Trion's office. Jazz willingly and carefully handed Defensor to her as Orion let out a low rumbling growl; Teal didn't visibly flinch at his reaction, but firmly said, /* I promise not to cause him any injury, my friend, but his condition warrants extremely delicate care right now; and again I ask, where did you find them? */ /* In the Organic Pit, */ Orion replied with a growl. /* The mech that had them wanted to work out a "deal" where I could keep them unless he wanted Defensor for a match. */ /* It's bad enough that they were there to begin with, but to attempt to negotiate such a horrifically one sided arrangement is disgusting, */ Teal stated, while she scanned the little organic in her servo; what Orion had said was causing her tanks to churn uneasily, as she attempted to determine exactly what course of treatment would be best. /* Jazz, do you have the medical scans for these organics? I'm having a bit of trouble determining what is normal for this one, so any information you or Orion have would be appreciated, */ Teal said to calm herself.

~~~End Flashback~~~

-Autobot Base Omega One, after the battle is over-

"And the 'Cons would have been scrap metal if I hadn't been distracted by the human," Arcee said to Optimus. "Human?" Optimus asked, while focusing on the console in front of him. Bumblebee chirped something in Cybertronian Basic, to which Optimus replied, "Two boys." "I guess the second one caught us in action, I don't know; I was a little busy at the time," Arcee said irritably, glaring at Bumblebee. Optimus stopped and thought briefly, then said, "If the Decepticons are targeting us, anyone perceived as our ally will be at grave risk." Bumblebee chirped again, and Arcee said, "Now that you mention it, I did notice that; it felt like it did back on Cyberton when one of the battle-singers would start reinforcing our combat focus." Optimus turned from the console at that and said cryptically, "She is here."

-Jasper Nevada, in a motel-

Mae pulled her cell phone from her pocket and brought up Agent Johnson's number, then held the phone to her ear while it rang. Just as she thought it would not be answered, he picked up and said, "Evening Mae, find out anything important yet?"

"Yes, Johnson; that blast was caused by the Voidwalkers, as you suspected. I don't have a way of giving you hard numbers on this, but there seems to be a hefty number of the bad ones out there; what I do know is that the good ones are ones I'm personally familiar with, so joining up with them, if we choose to, will make things easier on me," Mae said.

"Okay; do you want me to tell anyone about this, beyond the ones that need to be reassured there isn't an imminent invasion planned, or aren't you ready for that, yet?" Johnson asked.

"Not yet, but depending on how things go in the next day or so, that may change," Mae said. As Johnson hung up, Mae's optics dilated a bit as she felt Optimus mention her presence on the planet. Butch noticed it and said, "Guardian, what's up? Your eyes just spun a bit." "Optimus seems to have realized someone he knows is here; this is going to make the next day or so very interesting." Mae said.

-Jasper Nevada, 0700 Hours the next day-

/* Come on, you big lug; I know you're here, just like you know I am. What's taking you so long to get your big aft in gear? */ Mae thought as she and Butch sat at a rest area just outside of town waiting for Optimus to arrive. /* Guardian, are you sure he will come? Don't forget that you said they can't detect us, so maybe he's not sure exactly where to look for us, */ Butch said over their private comm channel. "He'll be here, since he does know what to look for, even if the normal scanning process can't detect us," Mae replied, as a Peterbuilt semi pulled into the rest area. Mae watched it pull into the section of the lot set aside for semis and park, then flash its headlights in an extremely intricate pattern that was too fast for normal humans to notice. /* That's him? */ Butch asked nervously, realizing that the semi had done that to find them. /* Yes, that is Optimus Prime, youngling. Don't be so jumpy; he likes younglings, even though there haven't been any born to our kind in millennia, */ Mae replied, getting off of Teal and walking slowly toward the semi. /* Let me talk to him first, to see if there is a place we can go that's more private so he can see the whole picture. */

Optimus sat still in the parking lot, watching the two cycle riders apparently conversing but he didn't hear any audible voices. However, there were weak indications of the presence of Cybertronians here, so he knew that he had found the right place. As the female rider approached, she took off her helmet to show her face fully and he took notice of the features and rapidly cross-referenced this with the appearances of the native life forms; she appeared to be of a tribal group that was not commonly known to reside in the area, and if he had been in robot mode, he would have been frowning at this. /* Long time, no see Optimus, */ she said to him in spoken Cybertronian. /* Teal? Is that really you? */ he sent via radio in response, not quite believing his audio processing subsystems. /* Yes, it's me. Perceptor's coding modifications worked somewhat better than expected, to be quite honest. My companion and I would like to file an official report with you, preferable somewhere private, */ Teal/Mae responded the same way. /* I know just the place for this; follow me, */ Optimus said.

Author's Note:

Yes, the flashback is set during the events of Chapter 12 of Deja Vu, by Foxbear; while the text that Foxbear wrote in that chapter implies that Jazz treated Jack/Defensor, I felt that having a femme that may possibly remind Jack of Arcee handling that would be a better approach for this story, as Teal's form is, even with her somewhat more massive alt mode on Earth, not all that different from Arcee.

The chapter title is inspired by the song of the same name by Survivor, from the Rocky 3 soundtrack, and is the same song that was felt by Arcee, Bumblebee and to an extent by Bulkhead when facing off against the Vehicons.