The list below will tell ya the roles everyone will loosely follow during the story. I hope you like my new chapter!
Optimus=Lord Montague
Ratchet='Nurse'
Blur=Juliet
Shockwave/Longarm=Romeo
Cliffjumper=Paris
Bumblebee=Mercutio
Bulkhead=Benvolio
Megatron=Lord Capulet
Starscream=Lady Capulet (In some parts)
Blitzwing:
Hothead=Tybalt
Icy=Lady Capulet (In some other parts too!)
Random= comical relief (the Nurse)
Labertasche*=a German insult that translates to 'babble-bag'.
It has been several deca-cycles since the events on Cybertron, they snuck through a spacebridge and the cruiser was being tracked. They searched for a place with Cybertronians, and were fortunate to find an energon mine, to make it greater, it is isolated from the maps. They took as much energon as they could fit in their new, and much larger ship, after some fray with the previous owner-who put up a fight even if it was due for major repairs. Their new ship is covered in thin patches of rust, cables and wires hang from the ceiling and walls, and many panels are missing. The ship's condition is an aversion to Shockwave, and the only thing Blurr detests are the tripping hazards that are missing panels and large cables.
Currently, Shockwave manually steers the ship to not abet another argument as Blurr anxiously paces behind him.
"Blurr please stop pacing." He sighs.
"I-will-pace-if-I-want, and-right-now-at-this-moment-I-want-to!" Blurr snaps and glares at the back of Shockwave.
"Can you at the very least pace elsewhere?"
"No."
"Blurr, if you're doing this to annoy me, it's working," he rubs the side of his helm "now stop it with this little paddy and the bloody pacing."
"Or-what?!"
"Or I'm afraid I'd have no other choice but to oust you out."
"Of-what, the-ship?!"
"No, out of the control room so I can steer this damp squib of a ship!"
"No-one-has-even-seen-us, it's-illogical-that-anyone-is-going-to-get-us! It's-been-so-long!"
"Well it's either flying this through the meteors or another fight while it's on auto-pilot!"
"Too late!"
"Blurr," Shockwave tensely groans "I am absolutely knackered right now, just do me this kindness, it's late and I'm terribly famished." He looks at the digital clock above the doorway and puts the ship on auto-pilot "You're anxious because you're hungry, aren't you?
"I'm-not-hungry!"
"Look at the clock," he points "knowing you, you get snippy around this time if you don't eat." Blurr scoffs and crosses his arms, he grumbles as he's carried then placed at his seat next to a large window, which is where they eat.
"I'm not hungry..." Blurr grumbles as Shockwave leaves to get their meal ready and returns with two large but unequal servings of energon.
"Yes, you are." Shockwave places the larger serving before Blurr with a soft clack from the metal bowl. The meal glows a soft pink and has the texture of mashed potatoes. A reused bottle jangles as the two get their own utensil. The room's quiet, save for the soft clacking of their utensils against the dull bowls. The sound of the energon being scooped up sounds like a soft cookie being pulled apart and to them the energon tastes of steamed carrots. Shockwave dips his first scoopful of energon into the darkness his mouth would be, and the end of the utensil vanishes into it like a finger dipped in putty. When he pulls it out, little energon sprinkles his visage while the utensil is clean. Blurr avoids optic contact by staring out the window, outside is the Horsehead Nebula, which moves in their view like a mountain. The famous feature of the nebula is, in reality, only a mere detail to the nebula birthed by the death of a giant blue star. It brilliantly glows scarlet and magenta, while its dust is a rustic brown.
"So all of that trouble just because you were hungry." Shockwave hides his chuckle, Blurr huffs and crosses his arms, Shockwave joins him in seeing the nebulas "Colourful, isn't it?" He eats the rest of his energon "Unbelievable how so little of us get to actually see it." Blurr nods in agreement.
"I-wish-we-would-be-seeing-this-on-a-vacation-together, and-on-an-actual-ship, not-this-nightmare-of-one."
"I couldn't agree more."
"So-how-much-longer-until-we-make-it-to-Earth?"
"We should be there soon, hopefully, you won't miss a meal and throw a paddy on the way~"
"It's-not-funny!"
"No, no, you're right, it's cute~!" Shockwave teases, Blurr's sneer darkens as does his blush.
"You-posses-no-notion-to-think-this!"
"Maybe I do~"
"No, you-most-certainly-do-not!"
"Why not~" Blurr growls and the two stare at one another until Shockwave breaks the moment with a hearty chuckle and leans back against his chair "Oh come on! We both can use some laughs, Blurr, or, we can play a fun game~" he purrs. Blurr sputters and slams his servos on the table, shaking everything on it.
"Not-only-is-this-a-bad-time, but-I-am-most-certainly-not-in-the-mood!
"Oh I know! I merely wanted to jest with you!" Blurr growls more flusteredly and dashes away, the utensils and Blurr's empty bowl fly after him before tumbling to the floor, and he returns with something. Shockwave's antlers twitch in horror upon seeing his favorite datapad in his beau's servos.
"So-you-want-to-play-a-game? How-about-we-play 'where-can-your-favorite-stories-be'~?"
"NO~~!" Shockwave shoves the table away and in vain runs after the quickly fading ribbon left behind.
A soft mountain breeze travels down, the early sun of dawn only now peeking through the high treetops of the pine and the scant clouds as it's cool rays gleam in the morning dew. Soundwave is currently tending to a large area of forest he has all to himself at the bottom of the mountains. Ravage walks next to Soundwave and admires the garden of flowers and herbs, butterflies and bees fly around as they please in the carefully tended garden.
"I do quite enjoy this clouded morning that smiles upon the frowning night, chequering the clouds with its streaks of light, and flecked darkness, a drunkard reeling away from the day's path. Now, this sun advances, the day to cheer and night's dank dew to dry, at this moment we must fill this basket of ours with baleful weeds and valuable flowers. How strange of it that we often find many of these virtues ex-" Soundwave's vocalizer stops until he clears his throat "many of these virtues excellent, none but for some and yet all differing, correct? At large is the powerful grace that lies in these organic plants and stones of Earth. For not so vile that on the Earth does it live, but to the Earth, some special good it does offer, nor is it so good but strained from that fair use and revolts from true birth, stumbling on to abuse. Virtue itself turns into vice upon being misapplied, and vice sometimes is a dignified action. Within the small rinds of this small organic flower, poison and medicine can be found in it, in this component, humans find it pleasant as an incense, but when tasted, kills all the senses involving an organic's spark. Two such opposed ideas are found in bots as well as in this planet's flora. Grace and rude will can always be found together, and where the worst is predominant, full soon the canker death eats up that plant." Ravage perks her ears, intrigued by what her creator tells as he practices better speech. Sudden and loudening movements from trees and shrubs made them turn to the rustling, Soundwave calmly and Ravage aggressively.
"I never thought I'd see you caring for organic life." Shockwave walks from the canopy of pine trees in delight, Ravage backs her ears and bares her teeth with lowly growls.
"Shockwave, what do I owe this visit to? Finally wish to see me after so many video transmissions? I see now why I have not heard from you recently." Soundwave places his servo on Ravage's helm and rubs the back of her ears to calm her, the metal feline purrs and calms.
"I thought you didn't like organics."
"Why so?"
"Well, you never really wish to talk about it."
"Favoring and enjoying organics: disdainful among most Cybertronians."
"True." Shockwave sighs.
"I now only hate the humans who need to remember unity, and not harm this planet. I have grown to enjoy this planet's vegetation honestly, as well as the insects and animals. As for the techno-organic, I have moved on from such foolish vendettas. I was new to this world, and what humans say, 'immature'."
"I'm gobsmacked at you, you used to be so stubborn, and I've also noticed how your speech has improved!" Shockwave's optic smiles as he points out the noticeable efforts Soundwave has made.
"It has been difficult to enhance. I talk better when calm, and the humans of this area are helpful to listen to."
"Intriguing! Though sadly, and please pardon me, I am actually here because I've run into some...trouble."
"And what kind of trouble," Soundwave gently sets down a well-worn, topless metal crate, which is reused as a basket, inside are fresh flowers and herbs bundled with soft cables "what is so urgent that you need to see me? What about Megatron?"
"Megatron cannot know of this I'm afraid." Shockwave hides his servos behind him.
"Perplexing, this is very out of character for you. Why so?"
"Well, there is no other way to put it," Shockwave fumbles "I meet someone."
"Elaborate." Soundwave presses, his robotic voice grows stern.
"At first I tried not to mind him, but after this party, we grew closer together."
"Is there a sparkling involved?"
"What?! No!" Shockwave sputters, he starts to blush as Soundwave looks at him with an unreadable expression "no, that is most certainly not the case!"
"Then give me a reason to help you."
"Because-"
"LONGARM!" A blue dash darts to Shockwave, who turns around and with horror prepares his arms to catch the blue streak.
"Blurr, what are you doing here?!" Shockwave gasps seeing him covered in ash and covered in scrapes.
"I-know-you-said-not-to-leave-the-ship, but-one-of-the-engines-malfunctioned-and-exploded! I-tried-to-see-what-was-the-cause-but-there-was-too-much-smoke-and-I-barely-put-the-fire-out!"
"How in the bloody hell?! Are you hurt?!"
"I-was-lucky-enough-to-be-in-the-other-side-of-the-ship!"
"Is this the Autobot in question?" Blurr squeaks and whips around to see Soundwave and a hissing Ravage.
"Yes," Shockwave confesses as Blurr vents heavily from the long run and holds onto his arm "this is Blurr."
"I see he's clearly aware of your genuine identity." Both nod, Soundwave holds a hissing Ravage back as he decides what to do.
"Are you certain he won't turn on you?"
"I'm certain," Shockwave scoffs with offence "I wouldn't have gone through all of this with him if I wasn't!"
"Fair enough," Soundwave goes into thought "but this may prove actually beneficial, seeing as how this dissent is reaching yet another peak. If you both wish to disclose this, there might be peace after so many vorns of your war."
"What?! Part of our ship exploded, telling more bots about this is the least of our priorities!"
"All right, settle down, and I will help you regardless." Soundwave sighs and starts to talk with him and Blurr about what they're to do.
While the Decepticon's colors stand out with how dark they are, Blurr blends in with the large rows of bright flowers and herbal plants, his lips part as he's in awe. Not only is it beautiful to anyone familiar with gardens, it is unlike anything Blurr's seen before, and the rest of the universe washes are like petals of cherry blossoms down a calm river. The singing birds, with their chirping and tweeting, are just as bright and unafraid of Soundwave, and in fact, rest on him while being wary of the new bots. Bees buzz and fly around with content and hundreds of butterflies fly about, then one lands on the electric blue and black bot, Blurr gently lifts his arm and looks at the butterfly-his first butterfly. The small creature is the color of iron's rust and looks as if it's cut out from the fuzziest paper the crafts store has. On the outer side are milky dots so delicately outlined, as if an artist lovingly added each dot with their best brush and with care painted the edges of its wings black. He gasps seeing how the black dots that are so perfectly symmetrical. On the overlapping halves of the wings, a darker orange fading outwards from where its wings connect to its furry body. Blurr looks closer, afraid his stare will make its slender legs break, but also that if he blinks or looks away, the butterfly would fly away. He recoils when it flies away silently, and watches as it rejoins its brothers and sisters in the perfumed air. Shockwave and Soundwave both watch Blurr as he then goes to a part of the garden with the most butterflies. Shockwave's large, red optic softens as he admires what is to him the most beautiful butterfly of all, Blurr, who blends in with the bright garden and is smiling so innocently at a group of butterflies scattered on his arms and shoulders. Blurr looks so delicate and is so pure, while Shockwave feels dirtied by the trouble he caused, which feels as black and dry as charcoal. A burdened sigh escapes him, his friend looks up to him.
"What is it that now burdens you?"
"Blurr's just," he pauses, looking for the right words to tell his friend how he feels "I don't...I wish I didn't bring him here, he's only here because I put him in this mess."
"You really do love him don't you?"
"Of course I do!"
"Then do what will make him happy, if he shares the feelings you do, then he will continue his endeavor with you, if not, I suggest you return his former life to him."
"I will, old chap..." Blurr goes over to the newest addition to Soundwave's garden, a pond. In it is a family of wood ducks, they're chatting using quacks and eat some of the bugs in the water. A large school of bluegills and trout are seen peeking out of the clear water to eat mayflies while newly added fry swim to and from safety. Blurr looks up to see an elegant Great Blue Heron, its blue-grey feathers are clean and groomed and it hunts and spears its long beak into the water for a fish.
"I trust that you'll be staying here, my friend?"
"Not for the moment." Soundwave leaves with a hum as he mindfully walks over to Blurr.
"Salutations." Blurr snaps back into reality and gazes up at the mech.
"H-hi!"
"My name is Soundwave, Shockwave's friend, and I've agreed to help you."
"Oh, th-thank-you!"
"You must be Blurr."
"I-am, who-is-that-cyber-cat-of-yours?"
"Her name is Ravage, my other creations are currently recharging so it's just her and me today."
"How-come-I-haven't-seen-you-before? I-never-saw-you-while-I-was-fighting-other-Decepticons-on-a-mission, before-having-to-come-were." Blurr looks at Soundwave's purple insignia.
"I am not as active in Decepticon activities as most, I do believe Megatron has forgotten me, but I do not mind. None of them know where I am, and leave me to my own studies." Blurr hums in acknowledgment and with a slight confuzzled frown until the butterfly from before, that has followed him, lands on his digit and admires it discretely.
"This-place-is-beautiful, unlike-any-other-garden-or-plant-I've-seen-back-on-Cybertron!"
"I've never seen any other planet, but I will take your word for it," Soundwave also admires the butterfly on Blurr's digit "beautiful aren't they?"
"Mm-hm!" Soundwave chuckles and leans in to get a better look "What-is-it?"
"An insect known as a butterfly, and is one of many species. The humans have found so many that they need to name them using a dead but complex language to scientifically name them."
"Can-you-tell-me-what-its-name-is?!" Soundwave cannot help but chuckle.
"Of course, that butterfly is a Speyeria aphrodite, from the family Nymphalidae, or you can call them by their common name, Aphrodite Fritillary. They're very common in this region."
"And-you-know-all-that-simply-by-looking?"
"Yes, I've been studying them. I have been reading books using my holoform and what I believe to be the greatest thing the humans have made: the internet."
"Really?!"
"I'm impressed!" Shockwave's smiling optic looks around, a large cloud passes over, carefully shading the mountain. Soundwave feels more pride in all his hard work after they all have seen his masterpiece of nature.
Meanwhile, Bumblebee and Bulkhead play Bee's favorite game: Ninja Gladiator and wait at the empty base for Sari to finish her home-school lessons. The rays of dawn peek in and the birds and cars of the morning rush incite to start the day, to which, to the day's disappointment, they take no heed and move with leisure of the weekend. The sounds of the singing birds and cars are damped by the sounds of the video game, and joysticks and buttons being furiously pressed.
"Ha! Gotcha!" Bee triumphs as he gains the upper hand.
"Hey! No fair!"
"Well suck it!" Bulkhead slumps, the petal-like kibble on his back lower to his sides. Unsurprisingly, Bumblebee wins the round "Woohoo!" He throws his fists into the air, dropping the controller onto his lap in triumph.
"Come on, let's get some energon, I'm hungry." Bulkhead sighs as he tosses the controller to the side in defeat.
"You're always hungry bro!" Bee jumps off the stone couch and skips to the canteen, Bulkhead grumbles, and glares at his smaller friend.
"That's not even true, and at least I don't annoy Doc-Bot until he throws wrenches!"
"Hey! That was uncalled for!" Bee turns to Bulkhead, shoulders high and fists tight.
"Saying I'm always hungry was uncalled for!"
"Fine! I'm sorry!" Bee throws his servos in the air.
"Good."
"Hmph!" Bee turns his back to his friend and crosses his arms as he resumes walking. They get their own servings, Bulkhead gets two cubes and drinks them while Bee only drinks half a cube.
"Remember when the Elite Guard was helping us out?"
"Yeah? What about it?"
"And remember when I went for a drive earlier today?" Bumblebee suspiciously nods "Well, Blitzwing dropped this hologram in front of me while I was out, after making sure it wasn't a bomb or something, I played it and found out it's for Blurr."
"What?!" Bee spits out his mouthful of the pink energon and right onto Bulkhead's arm "Oop! S-sorry!"
"You didn't have to spit your food at me y'know." Bulkhead grumbles as he cleans it off with a bedsheet he uses as a cleaning cloth. Bee, mortified, rambles apology after apology "You owe me now."
"Okay..." Bee drops his head in shame and cringes at the thought of Blurr, remembering how often he lost against him "So what was that message about?"
"Blitzwing wants a re-match."
"Oh my gosh, Blurr as been gone for, like, forever!"
"That's why this is so weird, well, weirder."
"Let's go see it!" Bee grins eagerly as he sips his cube before slamming it onto the table, Bulkhead shakes his head and leads Bee to his room. Bee follows and boxes with the air, whispering victories and pretending to be the boxing judge and imagines fighting in Blurr's place to prove he's the better. The doors to Bulkhead's room open with a low metal creak and show the well-lit room, which has countless works on the walls. The concrete floor is littered with dried paint from painting or accidents. Metal shelves with buckets of paint and empty ones with brushes are well organized but dirty from use. On a nightstand made of old doors sits a transparent, navy blue card, Bulkhead gently pinches the card to pick it up and hands it to his friend, who plays it and a large blue hologram pops up, surprising Bee.
"Grüß dich~!" (Hello there~!) Blitzwing, as Random, heckles. Bee and Bulkhead glance at each other as Blitzwing turns into his Hothead personality.
"Now listen 'ere, labertasche*, I know du are back on dis hideous planet, du haz caused lots of trouble for us wit' ze Autobot pests at ze spacebridge, so I vant to settle things! I vill track du down if du don't meet me at dis location in two days!" A set of coordinates appear where Hothead points.
"Auf Wiederhören." (Goodbye.) Icy, the main personality, regains control and ends the message.
"Dummy, Blurr's obviously still back on Cybertron!" Bee sneers as Bulkhead nods in agreement. Bee tosses the card to its former place on the nightstand, only for it to tumble into the small space in between it and the wall, joining the lost brushes and forgotten things collecting dust. Suddenly the monitors of the communication room have their ringing echo from the quiet halls and to Bulkhead's room, the two look at the door and follow the echo to see the monitor getting a call, they answer and gasp seeing Blurr and the large ship's rusted walls in the background.
"About-time! I-was-suspecting-no-one-was-going-to-pick-up!"
"Eh, yeah," Bee scratches the back of his head "whatcha calling us for?"
"We-are-in-need-of-assistance!"
"Who's 'we'?" Bulkhead buds in.
"Um, Longarm-and-me."
"Longarm's there?!" Bee grins in excitement as Blurr nervously nods, Bulkhead perks up hearing and remembers the name.
"Where do you wanna meet?!"
"At-our-ship, I-will send-you-the-coordinates." They look to the corner of the monitor and a set of coordinates are received just as promised and show on a map, which says it's deep in the forests of Michigan-far from Detroit.
"Okay, we got it! Can't wait to see you!" Bulkhead gives Blurr a thumbs up.
"We'll-see-you-two-there!" Blurr almost smiles as he ends the transmission.
"Think we should get Optimus?" Bulkhead asks his small friend.
"Nah, they're too busy doing other things, let's go!" Bee races to the egress without announcement, Bulkhead does his best to keep up, but his thick legs are no match for Bee's flexible, and agile ones. They transform and begin driving on the paved roads of Detroit.
After several hours, the paved roads turn into smooth dirt ones. Now covered in dust, they get as close to the location as the dirt roads and even some offroading paths will allow. When they can drive no more they transform and stare past the coppice as it fades into lush wealds, the uninhabited clearing of brush is all that's left between them and it. Bulkhead grows concerned for his still friend.
"Ya okay there bud?"
"Just...just don't like the woods, e-especially after last time!" Bee crosses his arms and shudders, the woods seem to stare back at him, ready to pounce and threaten to swallow him whole and trap him in a gameless retention.
"You don't have to go, I'll just tell them that you couldn't make it. They'll understand." Bulkhead offers and gently places his large servo on Bee's shoulder. Bee shakes his head to rid of the anxiety and paranoia and builds up what courage he can "Or we can get a map and make sure a trail can t-"
"N-no...I can do this!" He squeezes his optics shut and hies in, trambling young saplings and getting brush tangled around his peds.
"Wait! Bumblebee!" Bulkhead shouts after him, he huffs and starts to run after Bumblebee, grunting with each short stride and struggles to scud with his stout legs. Fallen trees, rocks, and saplings snap and crumble underneath him, all that's left for him to know where Bee's going is the narrow trail of trampled brush and scrapped off bark he left behind.
As Bumblebee sprints blindly through the woods, he opens his optics a crack and sees an upcoming clearance, his grimace turns into a wide grin of relief but he then realizes how swiftly the distance is closing, he gasps and screams. He skids and slides as the forest floor collects on his peds. His voice cracks and Blurr peeks into view. Blurr was peeking into the woods to investigate the tumult and with his faster thinking evades collision by moving to the right.
"Bumblebee?!" Blurr gasps in surprise as a blur of yellow zips past him.
"Watch-urgh!" Bee skids across the clearing and tumbles like a ragdoll. Once stillness sets, he gets up as he gags and coughs out the mountain earth "Gross! Plah! Plah!" He frantically swats his face clean.
"Are-you-okay?!" Blurr helps him to a rock to sit on.
"No! No! Never again am I coming back here!" Bee shouts and spits out the black soil, Blurr sighs and puts his servos on his hips.
"Why-didn't-you-just-come-through-the-trail?" He motions to the used trail at another side of the clearing.
"Oh." Bee slumps seeing the wooden sign that says 'Orange Trail', he gives it a dirty look as he forgets why he's there and instead dwells on his anger of ignoring Bulkhead's advice to use a map. Blurr quickly turns impatient.
"Universe-to-Bumblebee! Universe-to-Bumblebee!" Blurr snaps his digits before Bee's face before looking around "Where-is-Bulkhead? Come-to-think-about-it, the-best-explanation-here-is-that-you-could-have-simply-came-here-by-yourself, knowing-how-you-are-overeager-from-the-brief-time-we-meet, it's-highly-plausible-that-you-did-not-wait-for-your-friend-and-went-on-ahead. On-the-other-servo-you-could-have-come-by-yourself, both-are-terrible-choices." The rumbling thuds that pound the air halt Blurr's hypothesizing and the mountain breeze blows through the now shaking trees. Alas, they see the bulky jade green adolescent scudding through the trees as they either snap or lean to the side. Slow enough to not make the same mistake his friend has, he stops without stumbling.
"I'm here! I'm here...!" Bulkhead pants heavily as he rests his servos on his knees, both agiler bots glance at one another as Bulkhead breathlessly sighs "why," he regains his strong posture "why didn't you stopda see if I was behind you?!"
"S-sorry! If it makes you feel any better just know that I crashed into a lot of trees!" A foreign chuckle whispers in the now calm air, Bee and Bulkhead look at the ship and hang their jaws seeing a figure mysterious yet somewhat familiar walking down the hanger ramp.
"My my, look how much you two haven't changed~"
"Longarm?! Longarm!" Bee gasps and runs over to his old friend.
"Hello, Bumblebee, it's been a long time," he looks up at Bulkhead, his tired face covered in black soot, and walks with hips too tired to not sway as he takes steps out of the ship and onto the green shrubbery "it is equally fantastic finally seeing you, and of course you too Bulkhead-especially in person." Longarm cracks a tired smile as Bulkhead also goes over with a smile "Bee told me a lot about you!"
"As great as it is seeing you, where's the rest of the Elite Guard?" Bulkhead frowns, making the couple shift uncomfortably.
"It's just us, and we can really talk about this later?" Longarm sighs and cleans his face with a dirtied rag.
"Okay~?" Bee lifts an optic ridge and looks past him. His suspicious expression blanks when he finally notices the actual ship's details "What is that doing here, don't you have your own ship?!"
"It got damaged, a lot has been going on lately." Longarm quickly explains in a hushed voice.
"Forget about talking about this later, we really need to know!"
"Fine," Longarm sighs and puts his servos up in surrender, then lets them fall to his sides "we've been framed, apperently there's another spy somewhere in the high ranks."
"WHAT?!"
"We're not sure how it happened, and knowing how Sentinel is, he wouldn't be one for listening to us."
"When?!"
"After Blurr came home, we were at my place, we were sleeping and they just...tossed us to the floor. We barely made it to my ship." Bee scoffs and crosses his scrapped arms.
"What's wrong with those bots?! You're the hardest working and most trustworthy bot I know!"
"Even now," Longarm tiredly sighs "you're still as eager as you were in boot camp, I'm glad to see that some things haven't changed. How's everyone?"
"Th-"
"Upset at two sparklings who just couldn't wait until we got back to base." flouts a grouchy, older mech, the four of them jump and turn to see Optimus and Ratchet walking through the trail Bulkhead left behind while Prowl uses the real trail.
"U-u-ugh...hi!"
"You two are in big trouble." Optimus glares.
"How about four shifts of patrol duty?" Ratchet's scratchy voice sneers at them.
"Come on, gramps, we're just here to say hello to our friends!" Bee anxiously laughs, Ratchet grumbles and walks up to Longarm and scolds him.
"Now what kind of a bot doesn't contact us when they need help?!"
"One Primus created to go through the pits and back apparently." Longarm groans and slumps his shoulders, dropping the rag as he almost yawns.
"We can see that," Ratchet looks at Blurr then back at him "are you two partners now?"
"Yes and no, we're um," he quiets his voice to a whisper "dating."
"So that's how it is, eh?" Ratchet crosses his arms with an amused chuff "Can I have a word with you?"
"Please don't make us go on patrolling duty," Bee begs, peeking in from behind an imaginary wall "we already had to go through double last deca-cycle!" Both Ratchet and Longarm facepalm and mentally cast the mini-bot aside.
"Why not?" He shrugs, he walks with Ratchet to the side while the rest of the bots catch Blurr up on current events.
"Don't mind Bumblebee," the old medic sighs "sometimes that little sparkling just loves to hear himself talk."
"I know, it's nice to see how he still has the same spunk even after everything that's happened." A faint smile spreads across his lips.
"Maybe so, but I pulled you aside not because I wanted to talk about Bumblebee, but because I'm concerned about that sweetspark of yours."
"Oh?"
"If you're not serious about him, then I suggest you two go back to Cybertron on your own after cleaning up whatever trouble you've caused, we have enough drama as it is, and we saw how dimmed he was last time he was here. He was doubting himself and was struggling to keep it together when we had to destroy the spacebridge!" Longarm looks down in shame.
"I know, and I may never stop apologizing..."
"Well you two can get that sorted out, but I'm serious about you two separating if you have to. If I know anything besides how to put a bot back together is young love, and it almost never works."
"We are fully grown adults, Ratchet, we are not young sparklings," Longarm scoffs, insulted "we both know what we're doing, and we have been together for a long time!"
"Just be careful not to break his spark."
"I won't," His tone darkens defensively, Ratchet's linaments sharpen as the two glare at each other "I risked my job and my life for Blurr, and I'm not going to let anything else happen, not as long as my spark still beats." Ratchet glowers and leaves, mumbling something inaudible while Optimus makes his way over.
"So, Longarm Prime, here on Earth." The young leader crosses his arms and looks at Longarm in wonder "what made you two come all the way here?"
"We're on the run," Optimus' optics widen and waits to be told more "I've been framed, and they think Blurr's in on it too. I tried to clear things up but they wouldn't listen!"
"How do you think that happened?"
"I'm not sure, maybe the real spy planted something that made me look like a double-agent after Blurr and got so close to revealing him."
"Well maybe-" An erupting tremor quakes the air violently, they snap their heads to the source as the shock wave almost knocks them off their peds. They shield their optics as fragments spit on them. After the shock dies down Longarm's optic twitches, his fists clench in anger.
"I JUST FIXED THAT!"
"Is anyone hurt?!" Optimus looks at his teammates, everyone groans and gives him a thumbs up. Optimus runs towards the explosion to slay the pyre of red flames and neutralizes any explosion hazard in the process.
"Blurr?! Blurr!" Longarm shouts and goes after his beau after seeing him not here, he has fractured armor on his leg, meaning the damage is deeper than it seems. Blurr groans and coughs as he rubs his bleeding leg.
"Hang in there!" Ratchet shoves his way to the mini-bot speedster, letting instinct set in he pulls out his med-kit and quickly works on Blurr's injury after getting the leg armor off. Longarm watches on as he holds his servos close to his chassis.
They search for any trigger or planted bomb but they find nothing. The once gentle clouds choke out the setting sun and sprinkle droplets of cold mist onto the darkened dusk.
"What is this?" Longarm stops his cleaning to look up, closing his optics as droplets hit his false optics.
"It's called rain," Bee answers as he picks up a torn metal plate.
"Amazing."
"I think we've done enough. Autobots, roll out!" On cue, the team transforms and drives the trail to a dirt road where they then travel to the base. Shaken even after a relaxing bath Bee, Bulkhead, Longarm and Sari sit in a circle with Blurr sitting up on a medical berth.
"So, uh that Earth saying 'blow up on my face' just got a little too literal today right?"
"I guess so." Longarm chuckles as they sit around and drink some of the energon they salvaged from the ship "I guess so..."
"On another note, we are so glad to see you Longarm, or should I say Longarm Prime, head of Cybertron's intel! Nice to see that at least one of us achieved their dream." Bumblebee sadly smiles, Longarm frowns and places a comforting servo on Bee's shoulder and offers a smile to Bee.
"Well it's never too late Bumblebee, you're still young, you have your whole life! If I don't get my position back, maybe you can take my place?"
"You really think so?"
"I know so, Bumblebee, you may be young, but you have the talent and the skills to become whatever you want!" Bee cracks a smile and looks down.
"Thanks, Longarm, but I'm sure they'll give your position back to you once they realize who the real spy is! When all this blows over, maybe Bulkhead and I could be your co-workers instead!" Longarm chuckles and pats his shoulder.
"That's the spirit."
"Not-that-I-question-your-expertise, Ratchet," Blurr watches Ratchet work on better repairs on his leg with his crossed arms "but-do-you-think-having-me-brought-here-in-what-you-call-a 'flatbed trailer' is-over-doing-it? I-could-have-drove-here-like-the-rest-of-you. I-am-sure-that-my-leg-will-heal-soon, not-only-am-I-fast-but-I-can-heal-fast-too! I-am-sure-this-is-overdoing-it."
"Not that I doubt that, but I still have a job to do, kid." Ratchet sighs, Blurr narrows his optics.
"I'm-not-a-kid!"
"Yeah yeah." He mostly ignores what Blurr said and checks his welding.
"You know, this place really isn't that bad," Longarm looks around the once abandoned car factory, it looks like a Cybertronian sized version of a human's home, though underfurnished and with salvaged things from a dormant Omega Supreme "but it sure looks different than the apartments on Cybertron." He sees the antique games and some paintings Bulkhead has made on the walls "You really seem comfortable here."
"Plus no one minded when we made this our base," Prowl adds in as he makes his way through the small group to give Ratchet his tray of tools "before we came here, this used to be the abandoned Highland Park Ford Plant, which was built in the 20th century."
"How long ago was that?"
"Almost 200 hundred stellar cycles ago, but it's holding up thanks to efforts in restoration."
"Wanna tour of the place?" Bee offers with eagerness.
"Think you'll be all right if I go, Blurr?" Blurr shrugs and grumbles as Ratchet scans him.
"No-point-keeping-you-here-too."
"And I'll make sure he doesn't go anywhere until his leg's fixed." The veteran doesn't pull his optics away as he gets a tool from the metal tray Prowl holds for him.
"Don't worry, being apart for a cycle or two isn't gonna kill you!" Bee jokes "We've got a lot of catching up to do!"
"While we're at it, can you tell me more about what other kinds of amazing weather you have here?"
"Sure-"
"Yo waddup, Doe!" Sari cuts in and flies in with her jetpack, finally finding out where her best friends are, she perks a brow seeing Blurr and Longarm "Who are the new bots?!"
"'What up...Doe?' what does that mean?" Longarm tilts his head seeing the techno-organic teen.
"It's another way of saying 'how's it going'!" Bee chuckles.
"Oh, and who's this?" Longarm points to Sari and raises an optic ridge, disappointed that she made Bumblebee change the subject.
"That's Sari, she's a good friend of ours!" Bee smiles at her as she lands on his shoulder. Longarm looks at her glowing blue eyes and the blue gem in the center of her chest.
"Is this what humans look like?"
"No," Bee chuckles "but we used to think she was human, and after Blurr left she found out she was techno-organic."
"But...but I thought that there's only one in existence!"
"Well, now you know, there are two and not one of them, and they're here on Earth!"
"Wait, Blackarachnia's here? On Earth?!" Bee sighs and leads him to the living room.
"How about you have a seat at the Davenport, this is gonna be one long as slag explanation!" Bee plops down onto the stone couch and Longarm follows suit.
He tells Longarm about how they've met Blackarachnia on Halloween night, and then the aftermath of discovering of Sari's true identity. Not long afterward, the three friends joke around then, with Sari, listen to Longarm's story about the time he forgot where his office was and how he accidentally stumbled into a Ministry of Science meeting with energon tarts in a bad time. They nearly choke on air as they holler and chortle like a group of women hanging out in some place. They make so much chatter that Optimus is given no choice but to intervene.
"I know it's been a while since you two have seen Longarm Prime, but Bulkhead has to go to Mr. Sumbac's tower to help him with some repairs now, remember?"
"I remember okay?!" Bulkhead huffs in disappointment that their fun has to end "Bye guys..." He gets up and yawns as he goes to his room to get ready. Longarm and Bumblebee look at each other then at Optimus once he left.
"You guys too, there will be plenty of time to chat tomorrow."
"Okay, Dad~" Bee sarcastically sighs and leaves, making Longarm and Sari chuckle, once Bee is out of the room Optimus clears his throat to recapture Longarm's attention.
"You and Blurr should stay here, after what just happened to your ship I think it'd be safest."
"You've read my mind." He smiles.
"I'll lead you to some extra rooms we have. You should come with us, Sari, since you're staying here too."
"Awe man!" She flies over and lands on Optimus' shoulder. Longarm is lead through a sleepy hall with all its doors open, showing everyone getting ready to recharge. When Optimus opens the creaky metal door at the end of the hall, Longarm's expression softens seeing Blurr sleeping on a berth, his armorless leg is fixed and has welding marks on them.
"Thanks, Optimus." The cast out Prime nods and leaves Longarm be to drop off Sari. Longarm closes the door and wiggles his way into his unofficial side of the berth, he bites back a moan of relief as his body is reminded of how it feels to be sleeping on an actual berth again and not on a bumpy floor. Blurr doesn't seem to notice Longarm's cuddling other than gaining a faint smile.
When morning comes, birds chirp and sounds of cars bustling about go on outside and are heard from the quiet inside. Sari pandiculates as she walks to the next giant door down.
"Ey, sleepy bots, time for breakfast!" She knocks and shouts, the couple jumps up with a start then sleepily grumble as they each get up from their own side of the berth. She hums and leads them to the canteen, where the team is seen drinking their morning energon and lazily slouching.
"You guys really aren't morning bots are you?" Longarm gets his energon and Blurr gets his, and has a slight limp.
"No, it's because we were up thanks to some 'Cons..." Bee's muffled voice talks as he rests his head in his crossed arms, Longarm raises an optic ridge. Meanwhile, Blurr listens to Sari as she tells him of the things her city has to offer, now that he's willing to go out and not remain cooped up in the Elite Guard ship that is Sigma Supreme "we had some trouble with that Lugnut guy."
"Then Bulkhead made it worse by gettin' some dang nabbit Constructicons involved!" Ratchet sneers.
"I'm sorry okay?!" The sleep-deprived Bulkhead shouts and stands up from his spot on the stone couch. Already irritated, Optimus growls and slams his servos onto the breakfast table he was sitting at, next to him is a startled Ratchet.
"Enough! Everyone's been arguing non-stop since we got back! Bulkhead has learned his lesson and will help sort this out before they cause any more trouble! I want none of us fighting each other, you hear?!" the team and their guests become muted as Optimus storms out the room with an irritated sigh "I'm going for a drive and when I get back, everyone should be working again as a team-or else!"