Crawls out from under a pile of life Alright! So! Life and writers block kicked my ass, but I finally finished chapter 58! So here's 53! Good luck and enjoy!


"Rumble… Rumble… Come on little one… pits… Rumble, ha, there you are"

He mumbled as his optics opened, batting away the long claw tipped servos that were trying to gently shake him awake. "The slag you want?" He muttered, annoyed that his recharge had been distrubed.

He looked up, and then froze in place.

Terror, sheer unabashed terror was written on the faceplates hovering over him.

"Shrike? What… what's going on?" He asked, looking around to find his twin still in recharge beside him.

"Wake your brother, I need to wake the others." Shrike whispered, moving to try and coax Ravage awake.

He looked around, finding that someone was missing. "Where's Soundwave?"

"Buying us time, quickly, wake your brother." Shrike answered, Ravage was already stirring, red optics flashing online, much more alert than Rumble was.

Rumble turned to his brother, pushing at him. "Wake up glitch helm, the boss femme wants us up." He grumbled, sending as much across the bond they had as well.

Frenzy grumbled, batting at him just like he had at Shrike's servos. "Frag off, five more breems."

"We don't have five breems." Shrike spoke, Rumble wasn't imagining it, she was shaking, already moving to wake Laserbeak and Buzzsaw, who were already coming around from all the hushed talking. "Quickly, everyone up, come on, to the corner."

He dragged Frenzy off the low set berth with him, who seemed to finally be picking up on the urgency that seemed to be radiating off Shrike. "What the slag has got you all worked up boss femme?"

"Sssh, quickly." She got down onto her knees, still much taller than all of them, pulling a vent hatch from the wall. "All of you, get in, take two lefts, a drop, and a right, and you'll find Dust in the medbay. Tell her to get up here as soon as she can."

They were all much more awake now, Shrike didn't even give them time to get in themselves, she picked up Ravage first, pushing him less than gracefully into the vent, her secondary limbs already pushing Laserbeak and Buzzsaw in behind him. "And whatever you do, no matter what you hear, don't come back this way, get Dust, and stay with her. She'll keep you safe. And if you spot him, flag down Orion, tell him to get to the Mutes."

She looked to himself and Frenzy then. "Go, quickly, please, Soundwave is running out of ways he can stall." She pleaded.

Frenzy clambered in first, and he followed after, his pedes had barely cleared the opening when she pushed the slatted vent covering back in place behind him.

He'd barely shuffled forwards at all when he heard something, they all did, the sound of something smashing in the room next door, the lab.

Something had just smashed in the lab, and there was shouting, muffled by the wall but now there was shouting.

Rumble froze, listening as Shrike rose back to her full height, and went to the door that led to the lab.

"Rumble? Rumble come on! Move your aft!" Frenzy hissed.

Rumble did, but when he reached the first corner, he used the extra room to turn around. "You all go get the medic, I'm staying. I wanna know what's going on." He whispered.

Frenzy didn't bother to argue with him, continuing to shuffle down the vent behind Laserbeak and Buzzsaw, who were doing their best to hop along quietly.

He heard the door open, and whatever commotion was going on in the lab immediately froze, only broken by the sound of something heavy hitting the floor.

"Sound… Senator Proteus! What in Primus name are you doing in my lab at this time of the lunar cycle! And what are you doing assaulting my assistant!" Shrike exclaimed, he wasn't imagining it, she sounded terrified and furious all at once.

So it was a Senator… figures, they loved causing everyone who worked under them grief.

"I want a report on your progress."

"A… A report?! I gave you a full lecture at the beginning of last cycle!" Shrike exclaimed, the vented slats prevented him from seeing, but he could imagine her gesturing with all four of her arms.

"You did not give us what we wanted. You spoke of only numbers. You've made no progress."

"Progress? Sir, we're still in the preliminary stages! We're still running the calculations! Numbers are all we can give you! You assigned me to helm this project because I'm the top theoretical physicist on the planet! My entire field of study is running the numbers!"

"You have had two vorns already Shrike. Progress should have been made."

"Senator Proteus, with all due respect. You. Are not. A scientist. What you have asked of us, is something that has never, and I cannot emphasise that enough, has never been done before! This is not something we can pull out of our exhaust pipes, slap onto a random table in here and exclaim 'We've done it!'. No. This is going to take time. And two vorns, is not enough time! Especially if you decide to take out your frustrations on my assistant!"

"Your assistant is a useless pile of gutter scrap, I highly doubt making sure he can't be a nuisance to me anymore this lunar cycle will affect your productivity."

"Mmm… Sir, if you want me to be productive, may I recommend you leave so that I may get Soundwave to Dust for a check up, that way I can return to my recharge, and continue on as normal tomorrow." Shrike suggested, even from this distance Rumble could imagine a grimace on her features as she spoke to the Senator.

"Hmm… you're being very… disrespectful to me Shrike…"

"! Ah… but..."

"No buts Shrike. I have already had the limits of my patience reached by the worthless excuse of an assistant, the one you seem to favour over your work…" Rumble's optics went wide as he heard the sound of something transforming into a charging blaster come through from the other room. "I am in a foul mood Shrike. I want progress, convince me you will work harder, and I won't terminate this waste of energon."

Shrike reacted quickly, he heard her rush forwards, and what sounded like her dropping hastily to her pedes, going down to plead for Soundwave's life."No! Please! Don't! All I can give you is numbers! Please understand! If I get these calculations wrong… It could doom Cybertron! I wish I was exaggerating! What you're asking us to do, if we get it wrong, we could irreparably tear open the fabric of space time! Please! I cannot have the lives of every being in this solar system on my processor, in my final moment before we are all destroyed by a singularity!"

"... That wasn't so hard now, was it Shrike? I'll spare this one for now… but the matter of your disrespect to me, you making me wait and have to engage with this gutter scrap, and your frequent remarks under your vents… All must still be addressed…"

"... I… what… what would you have me do?"

"Hmm… I'm growing bored of the current available stock here… perhaps… a change of model might… convince me to overlook your transgressions?"

Something heavy dropped into Rumble's tanks then… he couldn't be serious right?

Shrike was a scientist… just doing her job… she wasn't…

She wasn't a…

"I… but… I'm a scientist…"

"Yes, yes, I'm well aware of why we assigned you this task. Come now, no need to flinch Shrike, ask the Mutes, I'm sure they'd tell you how I perform…" He cut himself off with a low, menacing chuckle. "Oh wait… no… they can't answer you… oh well, take my word for it then… there's a lot of energon leaking out of their muzzles when I'm done with them~."

"And... if I... refuse?"

"Hmm… if you refuse… well I could take that mech from your arms and throw him out of that window over there, he's a grounder, he'll make an interesting sound if he reaches terminal velocity on the way down, you're the scientist, what sound would he make Shrike? Would he land on his helm first? Or maybe chassis first? Oh you don't like the sound of that, you're shaking Shrike… let go of the mech Shrike, let… go… LET GO!" Rumble flinched back at the sudden roar, the sound of something Rumble guessed was Soundwave's unconscious frame being tossed aside came, the body impacting one of the lab tables, causing whatever was on it to be sent flying and smash against the floor.

"SOUN-URK!"

"... Now look at what you've made me do… I'm not asking again Shrike, be a good femme, stop kicking, and I'll still let you enjoy this too."

The answer was a choked out string of noises that Rumble felt were a Praxian curse, but he didn't know Praxian, followed by what sounded like a much harsher kick to somewhere a lot more sensitive if the ensuing pained grunt was anything to go by.

"YOU GLITCH!"

There was a loud bang of metal on metal then, a pained grunt joining it.

Then again.

And again.

And again.

Then, it stopped.

Rumble covered his servos over his mouth, only now noticing he was shaking.

Physically shaking.

The Senator chuckled. "There… that wasn't so difficult was it, Shrike? Be thankful… if I'd taken my frustration to the Mutes… well… I'd have torn their arms off at least, those pretty delicate arms… Hmm… maybe I'm not over their old model yet… they have a… 'unique' charm after all…~"

He was moving now.

A moment later Rumble realised he was moving towards the door that led to the berthroom.

He peered through the slats, he could see the Senators pedes cross the threshold.

Terror struck his spark again when he realised that he could see the purple pedes of Shrike dangling above the ground on the other side of the mech, they were limp.

Energon was dripping to the floor in small but steady drips…

The slagger… the slagger… he'd…

He'd just all but tossed her onto the berth.

"Hmm… normally I like my conquests awake for the beginning at least… but, I suppose considering your… fiery nature, it's for the best you won't be… Hmm… let's see… where's the over… ahh… there it is, your frame hides it well, but you're not the first of your frame type I've taken to berth…"

There was the sounds of panels moving, and a few moments later the senator growled.

"Completely dry… you're a glitch Shrike… oh well… Dust is very good at putting valves back together…"

"Rumble…"

Rumble was backing up, trying to shuffle back, trying to block out the sounds… the imagery… the…

"Rumble…"

This wasn't right…

This wasn't right

That was his carrier.

"Rumble!"

"CARRIER!" He lurched upright, latching onto the arm that had been gently but firmly rubbing his shoulder span.

His vents heaved in and out erratically, his optics blown wide yet taking in nothing.

His sire was there, he registered that through the proximity of his EM field and bond.

"It's okay, I'm here Rumble… I'm here…" Soundwave soothed, slowly and carefully moving to hold his youngling in his lap, he'd picked up on Rumble's distress and woken up himself, and was now sitting on the side of the berth while the other three continued to recharge.

Rumble realised he was still shaking, his digits clamped around his sire's arm in a vice like grip.

Soundwave just sat there, rocking Rumble for a time, doing his best to soothe the younglings frayed processor and racing spark.

This wasn't the first time Rumble had been hounded by that cycle in his recharge, and it likely wouldn't be his last.

It plagued him regularly enough that Soundwave knew this time wouldn't be the last, so, he kept rocking his son until the shaking eased enough.

Rumble looked up to him then, optics overflowing with lubricant. "... I… want carrier…" He whimpered.

His own spark quailed at the despair that plagued his son, he pulled him closer still to his spark, and tapped the younglings chassis. "She is with you Rumble… a part of her spark remains with you… but I understand your grief…" He muttered.

Rumble curled into Soundwave's chassis, trying to focus on the familiar thrum of his sire's spark. "I wanna go back… I wanna go back to when she was with us… I wanna be a better son… I… I could have… I could have..."

Soundwave tucked Rumble's helm under his. "There was nothing you could have done… if… if that Senator had seen you in that state… he wouldn't have hesitated to terminate you… we knew what we were doing… we needed to be sure you weren't somewhere he could get you… we would have been devastated to lose any of you..."

"Why'd she leave us sire?"

Soundwave let a sigh leave his vents. "Son… Shrike would never have fled… when there was someone she could help… you know that… we love her for that, even now… she did not want to leave us… but she did to save the lives of countless others… and for that, and for everything else, we will continue to hold her in our sparks with love."

Rumble let more lubricant fall as he clung to his sire. "Don't… don't leave us again… it… it was so much worse when you were gone… I hate remembering her so scared… and then… so… limp…"

Soundwave kept rocking. "I know… there is no amount of apologies I could give to take that pain away… I wish you hadn't gone back to the vent cover… I wish you hadn't seen and heard that… I wish I could have been stronger back then… but I was still weak… still recovering..."

Rumble continued to cling to his sire. "Have you felt anything from Frenzy?" He asked, wanting a change of topic desperately.

Soundwave sighed but nodded. "He's still online, but he's not elaborating on what the situation is on Earth, I keep asking him where Starscream is, and his only response is 'not with me, Barricade, and the Boss.' he is also not elaborating as to who this 'Boss' is… I fear something has gone wrong, and a quick extraction is required. Once more I curse this ship for not having a functioning com-link system..." It had been torn out when the ship was abandoned on that dying world.

Rumble nodded against this sire's arm. "We're not far now, right?"

Soundwave shook his helm. "No, we'll arrive on Earth in the next orn, so long as the ship continues to balance on it's precarious edge of functionality." Soundwave confirmed.

Rumble let out a weak chuckle. "Where do we go from there?"

Soundwave took in a long vent and sighed. "Uncertain… best to become nomadic for a time… Locate a neutral colony and hope for amnesty."

Soundwave glanced around the room for a few moments, before opting to get up, keeping Rumble close to his spark as he made the short journey to the pilots chair, once he was seated, he nudged Rumble to look out at the galaxy that surrounded them.

Rumble had seen a thousand different galaxies over the war, or at least, it felt as many to him, the war had gone on for so long after all.

But strangely, this time he felt an awe fill him as he looked out at the endless vibrant stars and all that surrounded them, glowing in the endless darkness.

He shifted around so his sires' arms were around his middle, he looked up and back for a moment to see where his sire was looking, dead ahead, so he looked back.

After a bit, words came to him. "I can see why Nebular and her twin missed this so much…"

Soundwave nodded above him. "Endless possibilities… endless adventure…"

Rumbled shuffled further back against his sire, still watching the galaxy around them. "You think The Polaris is still out there somewhere? You think their sparks went with it? … Do you think carrier went with them? They… they went out together after all..."

Soundwave let out a slow vent, and rubbed his sons helm with the palm of his servo. "It is a nice thought Rumble… a nice thought…"


Kansas, USA

::Optimus Sir… I swear to Primus… please tell me we will see a change of scenery soon?"::

::I'm sorry Red Alert, but this state, I have been told, is rather notorious for having only a sparse population of humans, and very much open flat lands. Filled with corn.::

::Don't apologise for this planets geology sir… wait, is that a farmhouse?!::

Optimus chuckled to himself as indeed, a farmhouse had indeed just appeared over the endless rows of cornfields that flanked them to the left.

Not a minute later, the general group com-line lit up with a happy exclamation from Raf and his parents.

::COWS!::

And as had become the practice over the journey, he and the rest of the Autobots echoed back the sentiment as they too spotted the grazing animals in the field next to the farm house.

What followed was a round of mirthful chuckles, including his own as they continued on with Prowl taking the lead.

It wasn't five minutes further into the journey when he received a message from Wren via email.

'Kia has her vehicles ready to rendezvous with you in Illinois, best to give everyone a heads up before that. How's the journey going so far?'

'It is going well enough, we haven't had any issues since we left Nevada… Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are behaving at least so I haven't required Prowl to perform a high speed pursuit to get them back in the convoy… yet.'

'Have you considered getting something to distract them? Do they know they have radios?'

He considered that for a moment, and then changed over to his com-link. ::Autobots, I have been reminded that all of your alt modes come with an inbuilt mode of entertainment, it should be labelled as 'Radio' in your HUDs, use them to pad out this journey by sampling human media.::

It took all of five seconds for Sunstreaker to be making himself much more familiar with the surrounding corn fields than he ever needed to.

And for Sideswipe to be howling with silent laughter on the side of the roadway as everyone slowed down.

::WHAT KIND OF PIT SLAGGED-::

::SUNSTREAKER IF YOU CURSE IN FRONT OF MY SON I AM CLAMPING YOUR TIRES AND HITCHING YOU TO OPTIMUS!::

'I think I should have informed them of the radio at our next stop…'

'Oh ancestors… did someone crash?!'

'Yes, though Sunstreaker is unharmed, he now has a newfound hatred for something called a 'Nickleback'.'

'Oh…'

'Well… we can't blame him? We're not fond of their music either, and if he tuned in at the wrong time… with the volume cranked up to max…'

'Sunstreaker is unharmed and we've already gotten back up to speed, I can only assume that Sideswipe is 'ribbing' him for this.'

'They're siblings, of course Sideswipe is going to 'rib' him for that.'

'I assume you are speaking from experience on this Wren?'

'Oh absolutely… So, how are you feeling? I'm handing over the tablet to Aria now.'

'Hiya Op! Wren said there was an incident with the radio? She's snickering too much to tell me.'

'Sunstreaker got hit by the full force of 'Nickleback' and ended up getting much more acquainted with a corn field than he wished.'

'Oh my! That is rather funny, we'll have some wax and buffing materials sent to the ships so he can feel better.'

'I think he'd rather appreciate that, thank you Aria. I won't inform him of that now, so as to avoid the need of Prowl performing a high speed pursuit to get him back in line…'

'Oh Ira's feeling better now, Ratchet's cleared her from bed rest, she's mountain biking with Jazz and Maggie at the moment apparently.'

'That is good to hear, how is Kia?'

'Oh her and Barricade are out clubbing again, probably cutting rugs like nobody's business, Bee and Mikaela are also having a date night at Mikaela and her fathers apartment, and Mikaela's dad is with Ratchet, probably grumbling and gripping about something or other.'

'Everyone seems to be having fun then. How is Derrick and Megatronus?'

'Last I saw, they were moving up to their second floor with Derrick holding that phone of his, you know, the one he found in his subspace when he finally figured out how to use it? Megatronus has been wanting to listen to some of the music on it so they've been hanging around and listening to what's on it. Honestly we're really happy they've found a way of bonding that doesn't involve scaring Derrick half to death.'

'That is certainly an improvement from trying to train him in combat… which I assume has been put on hold?'

'For now yes, we've asked Ironhide if he'd like to give Derrick some starting pointers, and he said he'd think about it.'

'Ironhide is likely trying to work out where best to start with him, Derrick is a unique case after all, now, how are you and Wren faring?'

'Well I'm working on dinner, making miso style steaks tonight, the beef's been marinating for about three hours now so I'll be getting ready to cook it soon, and Wren's reading that tablet of hers again next to me on the island. So everything is pretty quiet here.'

'That's good, and I hope the steaks come out to your liking, I remember the last time you made them, they tasted wonderful.'

'Yeah, they were, but I've experimented a bit more this time, I want there to be a stronger secondary kick, heh, Wren just gave me one of her looks, anyway, I gotta get to actually cooking this, chat later Optimus! And remember! You need to rest at least 8-10 hours a day so that you're conforming to the road laws!'

'I will endeavour to remember that, take care.'

He closed down the email tab and returned his attention fully to the road, once again surrounded by endless fields of corn.

Hopefully there will be another change of scenery soon…


Somewhere in the Philipean Jungle

Strong winds howled through the dense jungle, causing the trees to sway and groan as rain pelted down hard on the area.

So deep into the jungle, in such weather, no humans would dare to go, meaning the only things around were the animals seeking shelter.

Meaning, there were no humans around to witness three cacophonous explosions, scattered by only a few hundred feet, nor the metallic bodies that dropped from them, the rain that hit them hissing into steam as the burning hot metal swiftly cooled.

From one of the bodies a groan of acute pain came, foregin limbs struggling to move at the wishes of the body's mind.

After a few moments, one red and one blue optic flickered online, the helm they belonged to shaking as symbols unknown danced in front of them as the foul weather buffeted them.

They tried to raise their hand to shield them from the downpour, but the arm caught on something, and stuck, no matter how much they pulled on it.

Grunting in annoyance and confusion, they moved their other arm closer to them, and tried to prop themself up so their front wasn't laying on the cold, wet, muddy floor.

The moment they tried to put enough pressure down on it, a stabbing pain shot up from their wrist and their hand reflexively jumped, causing it to slip and for them to slump back to the wet floor with a pained groan.

With a snarl more animalistic than not Moira growled out. "By the gods… what… where… how…" She tried again to push herself up, even with one limb caught on something, but again that same pain, like she was twisting her wrist, grimacing she let it drop again.

She tried her legs then, stretching them out, and almost immediately recoiling at the sudden wrong she felt as toes that were in the wrong places stretched in the wrong way.

Taking a long, slow, shuddering breath that came with the unnerving sound of fans buzzing, she tried to come to terms with what she couldn't see.

Something was drastically wrong with her body.

Seeing as she likely wasn't going to get up she frowned and looked at the symbols flashing red across her view… it seemed to be displayed on a convex pane of…

"Why am I wearing a visor?" She mumbled to no one.

Still, the storm above and the jungle around provided no answer.

She ground her jaw, only to jerk as the sound of metal on metal screeching against itself resulted instead of the clack of teeth.

A sense of morbid curiosity was swiftly brewing inside her as she slowly ran her rubbery tasting tongue over where her teeth should be.

A sharp sting of pain had her hesitating, whatever had replaced her teeth was unnervingly sharp.

Being more careful on the second pass, she identified a set of blade sharp metal arches that replaced her teeth, with parts of it stretching further to make hooked edges, with one larger one at the center of each arch.

Almost… like a hooked beak…

She slowly moved her head to the side, trying to ignore just how much neck needed to move to do so, and looked at the limb that had gotten stuck.

Just as a crack of lightning illuminated a broad, distinctly not her arm, wing, one that was caught on a tree by the hooked end of where she felt her wrist should be…

The moment of light was already long gone by the time she tried to move the limb, pushing it out until the resistance of the tree could no longer be felt, before pulling back down and closer to the body, she could hear mechanical systems humming and whirring over the sounds of the storm above, and she tried not to let it overwhelm her, she needed to get upright, she needed to make sense of herself.

From there, she could make sense of what had happened to her.

Once the wing, not arm, wing was back close to her side like the other one, she tried once more to push herself up, both complained, but neither had to go at too harsh an angle before she managed to get a leg under her, followed by the other.
She felt what she could only assume weren't her feet, grip into the soft and loose earth, she tried to ignore the feelings of damp leaves, sticks and stones falling into the spots where she was gripping, and pushed.

She got a face full of mud and leaf litter for her first attempt.

Spluttering, she tried again, letting out a growl of frustration as it led to almost the same result, this time she had the forethought to tilt her head to the side to avoid getting another face full.

The moment of impact she sorely wished she'd just accepted another faceful of mud.

Pain shot across the side of her head enough to force a pained gasp out from her locked jaws. The symbols on the visor in front of her flashing even more red symbols.

Letting out a string of pained pants she shifted so that it was her jaw resting on the ground this time.

The pain was taking its sweet time to subside.

Moira allowed herself to use that time to think, spotting a tree which looked sturdy enough just ahead, she tried crawling towards it, her limbs didn't obey her as they should, but she ignored them in favour of pushing on, if she could use it for support, she could get upright…

It took longer than the storm had to pass, but she was standing, her legs shaking like they were in an earthquake, but her arms, wings, were wrapped as tight as she could around the trunk.

The side of her head still gave dull throbs of pain, but she'd gotten around to ignoring it in favour of remaining upright and trying to gauge her bearings.

A while later another crack of lighting lit up the jungle around her, and in that moment she managed to spot something her new standing position allowed her to.

She wasn't alone.


Alright, here's hoping I don't get struck by another writers block like that for a while.

And in other news, the 'Adults' have joined the party! Wish them luck, they have no idea what's going on.

Until next time!

Moon.