Transformers / Mega Man:
The Longest Day

Obviously I do not own any part of either Transformers or Mega Man. The Transformers Copyright is owned by Hasbro, and the Mega Man copyright is owned by Capcom. This is a work of Fandom and I do not gain any profit from it in any way.

Story takes place after the events of Mega Man 8 and during Season 2 of Transformers

Quick apologies: For making some pretty fanciful and geek assumptions about the hows and whys of Mega Man that I don't think were ever coverred officially. For giving personalities to Wily Bots in the cases where none had been given before. To all Zero fans, for writing a Zero with the Wily Protocols in tact. To all Jazz fans, if I don't do him justice. And finally for fitting in backstory in the cases where there may not have been any before -coughProtectobotscough-

-- Part 2 --

Three flashes lit up the room from the screen of Teletran-1. They ended with a burst of sparks and blue light from the small blue robot that had been in front of the towering Decepticon Motormaster. The image quickly became filled with laser fire as Blades, Hot Spot and Streetwise began to subdue the three remaining Stunticons. The undamaged Protectobots seemingly proving to be a match for the Stunticons. What Prowl would later excuse as a lucky shot from Motormaster just as Wildrider and Drag Strip were coming to allowed the Decepticons to push past the Protectobots and retake the road. Bringing up the rear in their escape, Breakdown's wheels ran over both the remains of the small blue boy and the little red dog.

"Cease playback," at the command from the cool metallic voice of Optimus Prime, the computer screen faded and the lighting increased. The command room of The Ark was outfitted with a large table lined with smaller screens. There weren't any curves at the table but it angled in such a way that it resembled a circle if one wasn't looking at it up close. It had been modified from the various command stations that dotted the bridge of The Ark back when it had been a ship instead of a base. Optimus sat upright and proud at the seat farthest away from the screen they had been monitoring. Seated around him were various members of his command staff. At either side of him sat Prowl and Ironhide, his two most senior officers amongst the Autobots. Next to Prowl was Ratchet, his jovial demeanor wrenching in disgust at the mechanical gore he saw on the screen. To his right, Jazz didn't look any happier to see the scene. Directly across from Optimus sat the smallest of the senior staff, the young yellow Autobot Bumblebee had stopped watching the screen the second the first sparks from the robotic dog had come on. To Ironhide's left was the Autobot inventor Wheeljack, his expression was unreadable and he regarded the sight more with an inventive curiosity than the emotionalism of the doctor or anthropologist across from him. Between him and Bumblebee sat the most recent member of the temporary Autobot council, and probably the only one that would have smiled at the carnage if his face were properly equipped for it. Leader of the Dinobots, Grimlock tapped his fingers against the table impatiently and turned his attention toward Optimus Prime with a minor disdain as if he felt his time had been wasted by watching the playback at all.

Other Autobots dotted the room as well, notably Hot Spot and Blades of the Protectobots who'd been featured on the playback. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe stood side by side and didn't seem at all phased by the combat, though they'd been admittedly impressed by the tactics used to take down some of the Stunticons. Hound was directly behind Ironhide occasionally leaning in to share some insight with him or Optimus Prime, but the frown on his face was clear. They didn't sit at the table, but rather dotted the various free spaces in the room. It wasn't against any regulation for them to be present when Optimus' makeshift Council of Autobots met, but whether out of respect or reverence, those who gathered to be a part of the meeting didn't speak unless someone from the table regarded them first.

Prowl templed his fingers and focused his optics a little lower, "If that Earth robot hadn't interfered we'd be sitting on the best capture we've had since arriving here." He rested his chin a little closer to his hands a soft clang sounding as they connected together.

Bumblebee frowned and shook his head, "I don't see it like that. I see an Earth robot that went and did the exact same thing that any one of us would have done in the same situation. He might not have known that the Protectobots had the situation under control…"

The stylish Autobot to his left nodded in agreement, "To be fair, he might not have known they were there at all." Jazz tilted his head a little, "Transforming wouldn't have much of a point if everybody figured out it was one of us right away." It was in his nature to try and lighten a heavy mood. Usually a comment like that would be instantly followed by Ratchet, egging him on further or countering it with a joke at his own expense. The medic just looked blankly at him, however, and Jazz wondered if the attempt at humor may have been poorly timed.

"Me, Grimlock, say puny robot got what he deserved!" the Dinobot never seemed to be too concerned with any sensitivity. If they couldn't handle it, they wouldn't have made him a part of the council. He knew why he was here. He was the strongest in the entire Autobot army and they needed his input, "Stupid blue robot bit off more than he could chew and lucky to last as long as he did!"

The leader of the Dinobots was met with more than a few disapproving stares that he just shrugged off. None were more disgusted that one of their own would regard a life so emptily as Optimus himself. He found himself too shocked to come up with the words, and was almost thankful when Prowl spoke.

"The point isn't that the robot was destroyed in the conflict," he said it as if it were just a part of routine. A statistic he was quoting. It masked the discomfort he really had, as calculating and logical as he liked to be, it still shook his circuits to think of anything being destroyed so violently so pointlessly. He paused a moment, not liking the processes running through his systems, "The point is that between this, the incidents with Torque3 and Nightbird… I think we need to start seriously considering the Earth robots when planning our operations. This incident is just the most recent. We need to know who our allies are, Optimus."

Optimus leaned forward and the light in his optics dimmed a little, "As much as it saddens me, it seems a little late to investigate that with the robot in question. But I agree that it's a concern." He let out a long sigh to reflect his internal struggle, "Why? Why did that robot wait until this moment to assist us?"

"Assuming he had meant to be assisting us at all," Ironhide offered.

"How do you mean?" Bumblebee asked.

Ironhide tilted a little in his seat as if to become more comfortable and rested his head on his closed fist as he leaned over the table, now facing Bumblebee. He paused and seemed to furrow his brow a little, though it might have been a trick of the lighting, "Well, like you and Jazz said… maybe he didn't know the Protectobots were there. He might not have known he was helping any Autobots… maybe, he was just trying to protect the city?" he posed it as a question to the table in a manner that suggested it was certainly what he was thinking.

"Perhaps," Prime conceded, "This was the first time we've known about any Decepticon activity in Light City. What do we know about that city?" The question was directed at Teletran-1 and the computer was quick to reply.

"Light City, California. Population One hundred and sixty two thousand seven hundred fifteen organics. Two hundred and eighty thousand three hundred fourteen reploids…"

"What's a reploid?" Bumblebee interrupted, then looked around the table sheepishly as if they might all have known and only he was out of the loop.

Jazz smiled a little and patted Bumblebee on the shoulder, "A reploid is a humanoid robot that the humans make. Usually they aren't very special, know what I mean? No self awareness or personal style."

Bumblebee was shocked, "That city has almost a two to one ratio of robots to humans?"

Wheeljack nodded, "It's not that unusual in some places, I've seen. A reploid is any humanoid robot, just like Nightbird was, most of them just do the jobs humans don't want to do. Like drones back on Cybertron…" he brought his hand up to his chin and rubbed at the faceplate a little as the panels on the sides of his head flashed in time with his speech, "That blue robot is probably the most sophisticated design I've seen in an Earth robot. If I didn't know better, I'd say that it almost seemed…"

"Alive?" Ratchet finally spoke, a solemn choke to his voice. It became quickly apparent that even more than the others he was devastated by what he'd seen.

Wheeljack paused as he tried to find the right words to hand to his comrade, almost all of them had been disgusted by the display they'd seen, but to entertain the idea that a human had managed to create a robot that had the gift of life that they did. He liked to think that he was more willing to accept things based on fact than any of the others, that he wasn't as bound by any of the ancient religions that many of them believed… but he was aware and believed in the Spark. That was what gave them life, that was what separated them from any of the robots made on Earth. He paused, "I… I was going to say aware."

--

"So tell me, Shockwave," Megatron began, "Have you learned anything from the components that Rumble and Frenzy returned with?"

Shockwave's single eye stared back at Megatron from the screen as his hollow and nearly monotone voice returned, "A great many things, Lord Megatron. Though, I feel there are a great many more to learn. Much of the data is encrypted and will require far more code work for me to come up with anything of true value. Are you certain that these components came from a human scientist?" if Shockwave could sound sarcastic it would have occurred then, "The very idea that something so advanced could come from Earth at all…"

Megatron was quickly becoming impatient and felt no hesitation in interrupting Shockwave in mid-sentence, "Elaborate quickly Shockwave, this is not a social call…"

If Shockwave felt insulted at being interrupted at all, it didn't show. Not that anything ever did from the Decepticon leader's logical advisor, "Regarding the metal that Frenzy and Rumble had assumed to be indestructible - it is not." The screen shifted focus to a small yellow and black robotic organism that seemed to be wearing the hat that Frenzy had wanted so badly for himself. "Or rather, it is not the metal that holds that property.

"The robot inside produces a field with certain components. The field dispels any energy fire or physical attack. However, the field requires such a focus of energy that to divert for any reason dispels it's effects. The robot protected by the field would become vulnerable."

"Then it is useless!" Megatron pounded his fist into the arm of his throne in fury, he hated having his time or energy wasted.

Shockwave's face returned to the screen, "The met - as it is called - is of little value beyond as a field sentry. The real pieces of interest have come from data within the computer, Lord Megatron."

He found himself at a pause. That must have been what Shockwave had meant before, it was in deed laughable that a human could come up with anything of real value to the technologically superior Decepticon army. A smile began to curve on his lip components, and his voice became melodic and calm, almost at a whisper as he looked down to the screen to see Shockwave, "Tell me more, Shockwave…"

--

"…ing back online now."

Sound was still shaky and metallic as his audio receptors began to come back up. Even still, he could make out the voice of Dr. Thomas Light. The man he called dad. There was a disturbing echo to the voices as he registered them, and he still couldn't feel or move any of his other components. He hated this part. Being lost in a world of darkness and disembodied sound. Even as broken as they sounded, he could still make out all of the voices as they spoke.

"Is he going to be okay?" the sweetness and concern could only come from Roll. His sister, arguably his best friend amongst all his siblings, though she had an unfavorable tendency to pester him into doing his chores and nagging him on all sorts of things. That was what sisters were for, though, right?

"He'll be fine, the Doc's the best." That had to be Auto. Nobody else could sound that cheerful just watching the doctor work. He wondered how many of his brothers were present, but hoped that it wouldn't be many. He could handle whatever teasing he might awake to from Roll and Auto, he didn't want to think about how bad it would be if Elec Man or Time Man were here watching him in this state. Sure, they'd all been here. Broken and scattered in pieces across a table while Dr. Light poked and prodded and reattached the unattached and replaced the missing. But for whatever reason, Rock always felt like he was supposed to be better than that… even though he'd probably been on this table more times than any of his siblings. Or all of them for that matter.

He felt a pang of relief when he heard a low murmuring growl from a familiar red helmeted mutt. He'd been afraid that the damage would have been too much too quickly for Rush, and maybe his memory core couldn't have transmitted in time for the re-life process. Along with the Solid Light Technology, the re-life process was one of Mega Man's secrets in the war against Dr. Wily. It would occur automatically anytime his fusion core was about to rupture, any time his sensors detected an imminent system failure, or any time he - himself - assumed that he was about to be dismantled or destroyed. His internal systems would transmit a signal that copied all of his memory protocols and neural pathways into a system specifically set aside for those files. The doctor would know the begin when a little icon of his son's head appeared on the screen smiling back at him. With those files in tact, it was just a matter of reassembling the pieces of Mega Man that Auto would relocate. Or, in the worst possible case, completely rebuilding Mega Man might be necessary. But the system meant that as long as resources were handy Mega Man could be back in action to continue fighting against Wily's menaces.

There were similar systems in place for all of Dr. Light's children, almost all of them had been used at least once. Only the original one, Blues' system… had never flared to life. Defying the odds they all knew were against their oldest brother.

Finally his sensory receptors came back up and he could feel his body again. He was whole, for the most part at least. It felt like he was still missing a leg and the joints in his right hand were a little stiff, and it seemed like his left arm was stuck in gun mode. Whether there was a component in his Solid Light system that was damaged, or if the ability had been turned off for his repairs, he didn't know.

With pixilated flickers his optics began to come online again. It wasn't precise yet, but he didn't think he saw any of his brothers around the room as he began to look around. Well, it might be Cut Man over in the corner… if it wasn't a coat rack. A horrible electrical pain rang all through the back of his head as he began to sit up his hand pressing at his neck and trying to rub a kink out of his neck joints. He probably needed to be lubricated again.

Even as his optics were coming into focus he felt a soft thump on his back, he turned to see a pink and yellow blob that he was pretty sure was his sister Roll. That tongue running against his foot was either Rush or Auto had a serious malfunction. He reached down and patted his dog on the head. Everything came into clarity just as he looked up to see his father's frowning expression staring back at him, his arms folded over his chest and the clear sound of his foot tapping down on the floor. He was obviously trying not to explode at Mega Man, which made it all the worse and awkward for him to try and look Dr. Light in the eye. The doctor took a long deep breath, "I've told you a thousand times, Rock Light," both names… nothing meant you were in more trouble than when your parent used both names, "How many times more until it sinks in! You can't abuse the Re-Life system!"

Mega Man looked down and away sheepishly and scratched behind Rush's ears, "I hadn't expected it to be a problem, Doctor…" when he was in trouble he was more formal with Dr. Light. He frowned, "They were hurting people, I had to stop them."

The statement softened the stern look Thomas was trying so hard to keep in the face of his son when he was really just so thankful for him to be okay. He sighed and rubbed his head and scratched his chin under his long beard, "I know you meant well, Rock… it's just, I don't know if it's safe for you to be running around with those alien robots. They stomp around and fight each other with no regard at all for the safety of the humans or reploids that might be hurt in the process."

"Fire Man says…" Rock jumped a little.

Dr. Light shook his head, "Fire Man likes to look for righteous causes to get behind. He means well, but he's idealistic. I'm not sure that I trust even those Autobots." In his mind it was them acting late that had damaged his son.

Rock shook his head, "Don't you always say to judge each robot based on the quality of his character? Not by the origin of their programming?"

"Well… it's not that I don't think those Autobots are bad," he rested his hands on Rock's shoulders, "But they're always followed by trouble…"

--

As the rest of the Autobots filed out of the room, Prowl stayed and watched the playback on Teletran-1 at least a half dozen more times. His shoulders rolling back and his head shifting form side to side as if he were trying to work something out of his joints that he just couldn't find. His face was calm and his optics clear, but there was something clearly bothering him as he brought his hand up to his face and scratched at the side of his chin. The feeling of a hand coming down on his shoulder brought his attention away from the screen and to the serious expression of Hot Spot.

There was a moment of silence before Prowl turned to fully face Hot Spot and offered him a nod, "What is it, soldier?" Prowl was often one of the most formal Autobots, always addressing the others by rank or title as opposed to their name. He knew as much about each of them as Optimus, but he knew this was an army and more often then not he treated it as such.

Hot Spot frowned and folded his arms, "Something's bothering me, sir." He paused, Prowl didn't interrupt him so he took it as a cue to safely continue, "When should I expect my reprimand, sir?" He tilted his head as if impatient for a punishment he felt was coming to him.

"I'm not sure I follow you, Hot Spot." Prowl tilted his head.

"Sir. That robot was terminated because of my inability to react to a situation promptly. Because of my inaction, a civilian was a casualty in our war."

He had to admit, he was proud of Hot Spot. Not many mechanoids, even amongst the Autobots, would actively seek out a reprimand. It boasted well of his conscience pathways, Optimus would be proud. But frankly, Prowl wanted to keep this as quiet as he could. The Protectobots were directly under his command, and as it was Groove was already in need of heavy repairs and the Stunticons had gotten away. He paused, his shoulders rolling even as he spoke, "Be thankful it wasn't a human and let it go for now soldier." There was a bitter sensation left on his internal sensors as he bit out the words, "It was probably just another one of those mechanized soldiers that some cities have policing themselves now. No loss of life. You did your best." He turned away sharply but tried to keep his tone as pleasant and friendly as it had been, "Dismissed."

Ratchet was still sitting at the table focusing on apparently nothing at all. He'd seen death before, so he couldn't imagine why this bothered him so much. Maybe, he thought, because they were sitting right in front of the potential for new life. The opportunity to find new life came across maybe once in a function cycle if a Transformer was lucky, and all of his comrades were just waving it off. Especially…

Prowl sat down next to him and leaned in, making sure that none of the others were close enough to hear him, "I agree with you."

Ratchet's optics lit up in excitement and confusion as he turned to face Prowl. He'd thought for sure the security chief had been his biggest opponent in trying to suggest that it might have been another living robot. But here he was agreeing with him? "But you…"

"It doesn't make sense. One has to pay close attention to the playback, but twice I can see the robot react." His shoulders rolling again, "Once he responds with clear fear for the danger, and another time with shock and fear for the other robot that was destroyed before he was. Then it's not clear, but it's almost like he reacts with pain when he impacts with the ground."

Good old Prowl, Ratchet thought. He always noticed something about a scene that the others missed, "Then why?"

"It wouldn't do to divide ourselves right now, especially without concrete proof that we're right about that reploid. But I want to check this out to be sure. And I want you to come with me."

Ratchet regarded him curiously, "How do you mean?"

"I think it's about time that the Autobots paid a real visit to Light City, California…"