Ok, so technically this isn't a new one, it's a re-do of Towers, and under TMJ oneshots because this is technically part of the TMJ universe.
But i had written it really fast and I needed to rewrite it anyways so here it is.
For new readers, this is a tribute to 9/11 that I did... a year ago? and needed to re-write. A warning, Mirage is a bit of a snob at the end and what he 'says' is by no means my option on anything. I have no intentions of offending anyone and I hope I don't.
Shouldn't need to say this but people will be people, no slash, only friendship.
So, enjoy.
"Today we mourn 9/11. A day in American history no one will forget."
I glanced at the screen curiously. I knew that the date was important to the humans at NEST, but I didn't know why.
I walked over to the scaffolding in the middle of the command room, resting a servo on the railing. Major William Lennox acknowledged me with a nod before his gaze slid back to the small computer screen before Epps.
"The day that terrorists hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 before flying them into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center."
I felt my energon freeze in my veins at the simple statement.
"At the same time, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon and fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was aimed for Washington DC. Flight 77 hit its mark, destroying the Western side of the Pentagon while Flight 93 was crashed in a field after her passengers sacrificed their lives to try and retake the plane."
Lennox chose that moment to shift his weight, giving me a clearer view of the screen before him and Epps.
Smoke was billowing out of a towering skyscraper, its sister tower engulfed in flames as though it had just been struck.
-green fire erupted form the base of the East Tower-
I reared back from the railing at the overwhelming memory, shaking my helm sharply as though to force it back to where I had locked it.
Lennox turned to me in concern, confusion on his organic face.
"Mirage? You ok?" He asked, gaining Epp's attention. The black human spun in his chair but all it did was reveal the rest of the screen.
Of the shaking camera as the first tower started to collapse and the screams of people-
-screaming as millions of tons of steel fell-
I had to get out.
The concrete walls were crushing me down and I had to get out!
Now!
I spun around and nearly collided with Optimus, just barely managing to dodge around him at the last nano-klick.
"Mirage! What-" He sputtered as I collapsed into my altmode, my tires already spinning before they had even hit the ground. The shriek of them catching and launching me forward triggered more memories-
-those are seekers!-
-and I raced up the tunnel. The gate didn't even have a chance to lift as I came up the ramp at 90mph and transformed, twisting over the barricade before folding smoothly back into my altmode and plowing into traffic.
I nearly sideswiped a semi, the driver blaring his horn as I skidded past him. I activated my spark dampener before I was even a block from the base and raced out of the city as fast as I could, ignoring the earth based Enforcers struggling to keep up with me.
I knew that I would have a lot of explain to do but I didn't care, I had to run!
I activated my camouflage, the coding making my armor tingle before the upgrade charged to full power and I disappeared. With the police scanners playing in the background, I heard their yells of surprise and alarm before I floored it.
"They're coming! Hurry!"
I blew through traffic at 200 mph, forcing my engine faster and faster.
-fire and super-heated metal and burning energon flooded my vents-
I lost control.
I was in a wooded area, the highway at some point narrowing to a two lane and I lost control on a corner.
I rolled hard at 289 mph, transforming subconsciously to try and slow, only to roll twice more and slam into a tree. Something ruptured in my thigh and I gasped at the pain, the old injury flaring up with more emotional pain then physical.
-something tore through my leg and I fell with a choked off scream of pain, energon pouring from the gaping wound in my thigh.
"Mirage!" Jem yelled, skidding to a stop.
"Help me! Don't leave me here!" I begged, trying to get up but my leg wasn't responding.
"Come on! Hurry! He'll just slow us down!" Slider spat, grabbing Jem.
"Don't leave me! Jem!"
I managed to get up but tripped, unable to stop the scream of pain as my leg hit the ground. She didn't look back. Mechs were running everywhere and someone tripped over me. I gasped in pain, spots dancing before my optics as I pressed a servo to the leaking mess that was my thigh.
Energon started to leak though my digits and I started hyperventilating as I panicked.
It was happening all over again.
xxXXxx
"Fraggin-" Plasma spat, slamming a fist into the drab, olive green mech. His helm snapped to the side, energon dripping form cracked lip plates but judging from the grimace on Plasma's features, it had hurt him more than the other mech.
"Feel better?" I asked casually, leaning with my back against the alley wall, Jem curled into my frame. She had her arm around my lower back, her slim digits playing with my armor seams and sending thrills up my spinal column. I leaned farther into her and she giggled before those slim digits were back in my armor seams, teasing the wires and protoform underneath.
"-glitch." Plasma finished when he could feel his digits again. "I'm still fragged I lost the race."
"You would have beaten that Deadend any orn." Slider said, readjusting his grip on the mech's arms so he couldn't move.
"I know I could have. But thanks to this careless pit-spawn-" Plasma snarled before slamming his other servo into the mech's jaw again, "I couldn't even enter the race let alone win!"
I rolled my optics, pulling Jem closer. She hummed quickly, turning around so her back was pressed against my chassis and my arms were around her waist.
"So why is it his fault you didn't show?" Jem asked. "I was distracted."
Slider snorted with a gleam in his optics.
"Makin' out with lovermech over there." He said with a wolfish grin in my direction. I quickly flipped him a rude gesture I had seen one of the servants use against my sire and Slider barked a laugh.
"He hit Plasma turning onto the highway and the crashed ended with Plasma snapping his leg." I said causally. "He couldn't even transform for 24 joors so he couldn't show up and Deadend won the race."
I lowered my helm to plant kisses up Jem's neck cables. Her light blue armor fit perfectly against my royal blue and white frame.
"So how'd he track down careless here?" Jem asked, turning around so I could kiss her lip plates.
"I may or may not have snuck into that Autobot base and found his file." I replied with a mischievous grin. "Their security is pathetic."
"Says the mech that can turn invisible." Plasma said and I glanced up at him just in time to see him land another blow. I winced at the wet sound of the mech coughing up energon and made the mistake of locking optics with him.
His blue optics were completely calm, like getting beaten to a scrap by a couple of Elite mechs was a normal part of his life.
But then again, it probably was.
I quickly looked away, that relaxed gaze unnerving me far more than it should have. Most mechs cowered in fear if they even had the ball bearings to look us in the optics.
"What's the problem, scum," Plasma demanded, "too scared to make a sound?"
"No, I just don't have anything to say." The mech said in a calm voice despite the slight waver in it. No hate, no nothing.
"Raj?" Jem asked quietly when I stopped returning her affection. "Are you alright?"
"Huh? Yeah, sorry." I mumbled before giving her a quick kiss.
"Nothing important!" Plasma demanded. "You should have paid for my repairs! Pit, you should have paid for it with your freedom! Doesn't take much for a mech like me to get a mech like you locked up for life."
"The reports don't blame me-"
"They should have!" Slider spat, tightening his armor cracking grip on the mech's arms. The mech gasped as his armor popped but remained intact.
"Hey, where's Dino. I thought he would be here." Jem asked suddenly.
"Huh?" I asked, dragging my gaze from the beating back to the femme in my arms.
"Dino. Where is he. He was pretty fragged off last orn when he left the race." Jem continued and I laughed.
"He got caught trying to sneak into the place completely overcharged." I said with a grin. "Sire flipped as you can imagine. I think Dino's still trying to get over the overcharge."
"Meh, his fault he wasn't quiet." Jem said, pressing against my chassis when I heard something over the normal din of Iacon.
"Mechs, hold up!" I ordered. Plasma paused, servo still cocked to hit the mech.
"What!" He snarled.
"You hear that?" I asked, the far off rumbling getting louder.
"Yeah, what is it?" Sider asked.
"That sounds like a shuttle." Jem said, stiffening against me as I glance up at the sky nervously. I had a really bad feeling about this.
"To low to be a shuttle if it's this close that we hear it." Plasma said, finally dropping his arm.
"Then what the frag is it doing." Slider demanded, shoving the dingy mech away from him. He fell against the alley wall with a grunt but didn't move other than to cradle his arm to his chassis.
"You don't think…" I trailed off. Plasma stared at me before he gave a bark of laugher.
"Decepticons?" He asked. "Oh please, they're a bunch of terrorist that shouldn't be taken seriously. They wouldn't dare touch Iacon."
"The Decepticons are not a joke." The mech spoke up and my optics snapped to him.
"Who asked you!" Slider demanded, turning and kicking the mech for good measure. I didn't say anything but I knew that he might have a point. The mech was one of those Autobots. They were fighting the Decepticons all the time.
"Maybe we should go home." Jem said nervously hugging herself. I wrapped an arm around her as we started out of the alley. I sensed Plasma and Slider come up behind us and I glanced at them as we walked out of the alley. Plasma had subspaced a rag and was trying to get the cheap paint of his digits. The olive color looked utterly horrible against his rich purple and grey frame. Slider had the same olive marks on his bracers and he was scrubbing at them as well.
A thunderous roar tore through the air and we instinctively ducked as a shuttle streaked past overhelm, far too low to the ground.
"What the frag is that dumbaft doing!" Slider yelled as I pulled Jem closer to me. The shuttle disappeared below the skyline and a moment later it abruptly pulled up as it neared the security dome over the Towers.
Like it was expecting it to not be there.
Then an explosion behind us rocked the ground.
I had heard the rumors.
That Silver, the miner that had led a rebellion almost a dozen metacycles ago had been executed in cold energon.
That the Gladiatorial Games in Kaon were an easy way to terminate troublesome mechs.
That the so called 'murders' in the rings were nothing more than starving mechs accused of stealing a few cubes of energon.
That Silver was very much online and out for revenge.
The Council said they could control mechs.
They said that things wouldn't get out of control.
But then Kaon had rallied behind the new Games Champion Megatron, a mech claiming to be the missing creation of Sentinel Prime.
Then all of a sudden, the rumors had started to become real.
Kaon fell first to the newly designated Decepticons.
Kalis was next to follow her sister city while Vos and the seekers quickly aligned themselves with the Decepticons.
Orion Pax, the younger creation of Sentinel, had bene declared the new Optimus Prime.
That Silver, Megatron's former mentor in the Games, had executed Sentinel's advisor and it had been broadcasted live across the planet.
Megatron had said that the only way for there to be freedom was to destroy the Council, the Primes, and what they stood for.
And now Iacon was under attack.
"Mirage! Run!"
I didn't need to be told twice as three seekers, trines I reminded myself, tore through the air far too low to the ground. The crack of a sonic boom nearly deafened us and I clapped my servos over my audios as they screamed past over helm.
Explosions behind us had all four of us spinning toward the direction the seeker had come to see columns of smoke and fire fill the sky.
Mechs and femmes around us were screaming in panic as more explosions shook the ground around us.
A skyscraper collapsed, an enormous cloud of smoke billowing into the air.
"Decepticons!" Someone yelled and I glanced up just as another seeker trine roared past.
The jagged purple insignia was stark against the mech's white wings and I felt an ice cold vice around my spark.
"They're coming! Hurry!"
Slider grabbed my arm and I took off after them, the road too full of frames to drive. Plasma quickly took the lead while Slider, Jem and myself stayed as close to him as possible as we ran toward the safety of the Towers. The security dome would stop any kind of attack those Decepticons could pull off. We would be safe there.
The smell of fire and super-heated metal and burning energon flooded my vents and I coughed on the heavy smell. Jem stumbled and I quickly pulled her back to my side before she fell. Gunfire ripped through the air around us as more explosions shook the ground.
I couldn't believe this was happening, we had been told that Iacon was safe, that they would never be stupid enough to attack Iacon.
But the blaster fire and explosions proved otherwise.
Something tore through my leg and I fell with a choked off scream of pain, energon pouring from the gaping wound in my thigh.
"Mirage!" Jem yelled, skidding to a stop.
"Help me! Don't leave me here!" I begged, trying to get up but my leg wasn't responding.
"Come on! Hurry! He'll just slow us down!" Slider spat, grabbing Jem.
"Don't leave me! Jem!"
I managed to get up but tripped, unable to stop the scream of pain as my leg hit the ground. She didn't look back. Mechs were running everywhere and someone tripped over me. I gasped in pain, spots dancing before my vision as I pressed a servo the leaking mess that was my thigh.
"Well, well, well." A terrible voice sneered and my attention snapped to the dark grey mech with the vicious red optics glaring at me as he stalked over. Gritting my denta, I forced myself up but my leg couldn't hold my weight and I fell with a whimper, struggling to stay conscious.
"What's the matter royal, wrong end of the caste system?" He asked, his grip on the gun tightening as it started to glow white hot. The jagged purple Decepticon insignia on his chassis practically glowed from the fire surrounding us, leering down at me.
"Seekers may have drawn energon but you're mine." The Decepticon rasped as he raised the gun level with my helm. I flinched away, waiting for the gun to go off and seal my fate.
The gun went off and a spray of fluid hit me.
In confusion and dumb shock I glanced back at the Decepticon in time to see his legs buckle under him and collapse to his side, a gaping hole in the side of his helm and energon and internal circuitry everywhere.
It was the first time I had seen a terminated mech up close.
I scrambled away from the gory sight as fast as I could, energon and other fluids making the ground slick under my servos. A rough servo grabbed my shoulder guard and I twisted around in dumb terror expecting another Decepticon.
But it was the olive green mech that Plasma had beat up.
"You alright!" He demanded, the gun in his servo still smoking. I couldn't even respond, the shock of being shot, that Decepticon nearly executing me, and seeing the terminated mech was too much.
As though the mech understood me, he gave me a weak smile before crouching down to examine my leg. He hissed lowly in sympathy before prodding the torn edge of the wound. I nearly passed out, the cry of pain getting past my lip plates whether I wanted it to or not.
"The shot severed an energon line." The mech said after a nano-klick. "I'm no medic so this will hurt. You'd better stay conscious to watch out back."
I jerked my helm in a nod before he pulled out a small medkit from subspace.
When he started welding the templating on I nearly blacked out again but gritted my denta and tried not to move too much.
"Done, come on, we have to get to cover." The mech said, grabbing my bracer with an energon slick servo. My energon. I tried not to purge as the feeling of energon seeping between my armor made my tanks roll. He dragged me to my peds and I stumbled, heavily favoring my bad leg.
Another trine of seekers screamed past and I watched in horror as they headed for the Towers at full speed. At the last possible moment they banked away from the Towers.
"At least the Dome is still holding." The mech growled before glancing behind us frantically. "The others should be here! We're completely outnumbered!"
"What others." I managed to gasp.
"So you do speak." The mech said with a forced chuckle. "The seekers. Silverbolt and-"
The mech was cut off as something exploded behind us, throwing us both though the air and I landed hard on the ground. Glass and debris rained down on me as I covered my helm, my audios ringing from the explosion. As soon as the mech yanked me back to my peds I knew that the patch had torn and I clapped a servo back to the wound, trying not to cry out again.
"Fraggit that was a close call." The mech said, scrambling through the debris back to my side. Energon was leaking from a deep gash in his shoulder guard and I could see a jagged shard of metal imbedded in the joint.
Another terrible shriek tore through the air but it wasn't a missile. I watched in shock as two seekers collided midair, both screaming at each other as they clawed at each other's wings. They broke apart just feet above the ground and the smallest of the pair slammed into the ground and didn't get back up. The second seeker managed to roll the hard landing off, razor sharp ped claws gouging the road as he slid to a stop and shot back to his peds. Bright blue optics locked on them as he flared his white armor in an aggressive manner.
"You alright!" He demanded, optics darting around constantly. "You're damaged."
"I'm fine, what's going on Silverbolt, there are 'Cons everywhere." The mech asked.
"I don't know, we just got here. Prime's on his way but the road's been shot to pit and back and I don't know if any ground bound mechs can even get through." The seeker said before his bracer spilt apart and he spun around to shoot a charging Decepticon. "Starscream and his armada are ripping the city to shreds."
"Targets?"
"Who knows? The Hall of Records is being bombed, the Estates, most of the outer rings, the industrial sectors, there's no pattern. Nothing. Prowl's ready to blow a fuse." The seeker said before he finally noticed me.
"You gonna stay online?" He demanded, optics hardening.
I nodded dumbly as the seeker straightened to his full height and towered over me.
"Then get moving, we can only hold them off for so long." The seeker snarled before jumping into the air, transforming and blasting off with another deafening warscream.
"Come on, if we can get inside that security dome we'll be alright." The mech said, offering me his servo. I accepted it without thinking, letting him pull me to my peds and steading me as my leg gave out.
As fast as I could go we headed for the Towers. Blaster fire and missiles continued to rain fire and shrapnel everywhere and the stench of burning energon and smoke filled the air. A mech screamed in pain as a Decepticon ran him though and when he turned to us, the mech beside me went rigid.
"Frag…" The mech muttered, his gun charging up. "You sure you can't transform at all?"
"I doubt it." I said, staring at that deep red visor as a wicked smirk cracked the mech's faceplates. A huge mass of a black mech came out of nowhere to tackle the Decepticon with a savage yell.
"Hound! Get him out of here!" The mech snarled as the two rolled across the ground, fists and blades flying. The mech threw my arm around his shoulder guards and we took off toward the Towers.
A low thrum filled the air and I stopped dead in my tracks.
"Come on, we have to go!" The mech yelled. "Our best bet is those Towers!"
I couldn't answer him.
The shuttle was far too low.
I hadn't seen it until it breached the skyline, smoke billowing around it as it roared toward the Dome.
The security dome suddenly flared white, sparking a few times before dissolving.
The shuttle flew straight into the base of the East Tower.
It exploded, the green fire a dead giveaway that the shuttle had been filled with explosive chemicals as plumes of smoke spilling into the ash streaked sky.
"Primus no…!" The mech beside me gasped.
I could only stare at it in horror.
Another shuttle came over the horizon. It struck half way up the North Tower.
It also exploded in green fire.
"No!" I heard myself scream.
Then I remembered my brother.
"Dino!" I screamed over the comms. But all I got was static. I took a lurching step toward the burning Towers.
"Wait, what you are doing!" The mech yelled, grabbing my arm.
I shoved him off with a savage snarl.
"My brother is in there!" I spat, turning just in time to see a third shuttle hit halfway up the East Tower.
I could hear the groan of over stretched metal from here and horror turned to dumb shock as the Tower started to lean.
And lean.
And lean.
With a shriek of tearing metal it gave way, the Tower falling and slamming into the already damaged North Tower.
It started to collapse as well, the once pride and joy of Iacon's skyline tipping and falling into the crowds with a boom that shook the planet, kicking up metal shards and glass into my faceplates.
My vents were starting to choke from the dust in the air, the horrible smell of burnt metal getting worse.
"Dino!" I scream again, only to find the mech holding my arm again.
"We have to get back! There's another bomber coming!" The mech barked. I tried to jerk free but I couldn't find the strength as the forth shuttle hit the West Tower, also at the base.
Then a fifth.
Then a sixth.
The Towers screamed as they fell, hundreds of mechs and femmes crushed beneath the falling Towers and slaughtered under the guns of the Decepticons as Iacon was overrun.
xxXXxx
"Mirage!"
xxXXxx
Energon was everywhere. The mech had shoved me up against a building at one point, rubble from the South Tower slamming to the ground where we had been mere klicks before.
"No no no-" I repeated, gripping my helm in my servos as if I could make the entire orn go away.
"Hey! Listen to me!" The mech yelled, jerking my servos away from my helm and forcing me to look him in the optics.
"You're online, we're both online! Come on! We have to keep moving! The Decepticons are retreating and the Autobots are here in full force!"
xxXXxx
"Mirage! Mirage talk to me! Come on mech!"
xxXXxx
They were gone.
The Towers were gone.
Nothing but a massive pile of metal and crushed frames and destruction.
The mech had pulled me to my peds again but my frame had gone limp.
I just wanted to collapse.
Wanted to offline.
Wanted to erase what I had seen.
Wanted to forget.
Wanted my brother.
Dino.
Where was he!
xxXXxx
A hard slap shocked me out of the past.
I was slumped on the side of the road in the ditch, energon trickling down my leg, the tree fallen to the ground behind me.
I had hit it.
I lost control and hit it.
"Mirage, fraggit snap out of it! You're scaring me!"
I forced my optics up to the familiar grey and olive green faceplates.
xxXXxx
They was streaked with energon.
The mech had a nasty gash across his helm, the energon dripping down his faceplates from shrapnel that he had shoved me out of the way of.
He had taken the explosion for me.
Why.
It was my fault Plasma managed to track him down. If I hadn't snuck into the Autobot base, he would never had found him.
"Which Tower was your brother in." The mech asked, brushing energon from his optics with the back of his servo.
"Nor… North." I stammered. The mech got to his ped with a wince.
When had I sat down? Or had I fallen.
"I'll try and find him, the Decepticons are retreating but there isn't enough medics on site. Wait here." The mech said, starting to walk away.
I would be alone.
"No!" I gasped, lunging for his bracer.
The mech spun back to me in surprise.
Primus I was weak.
"Please don't leave me." I begged, images of my friends abandoning me flashing though my processor. "Please don't leave me alone."
The mech didn't move but I couldn't release him even if I wanted to.
But I couldn't look him in the optics. Not after seeing that steady gaze as he was being beat up and yet I still did nothing.
"They left you behind. Those mechs." He said finally.
I couldn't answer. My pride wouldn't let me.
Screams sill filled the air of the wounded and the ones still online to morn for their old lives. The mech shifted and I snapped terrified optics up to his calm blue ones. Throughout the entire battle he had always remained calm with that easy smile on his faceplates.
"I'll stay." He said, sliding to the ground beside me. I shifted closer to him, my frame trembling and numb with shock. My leg was still leaking but I didn't care. I needed to find my brother, try and find survivors but I couldn't move.
I started to sob.
xxXXxx
A rough servo was rubbing my back, working between my shoulder guards and up my neck cables to the base of my helm and back down.
I took another shuddering vent, my frame finally started to calm down as I cried myself dry.
"You're alright Raj. You survived that. You've survived worse. Dino is fine, we found him remember?"
"I can't do this." I whispered. "The memories keep coming back, I can't handle them."
"That's why we're here Mirage. That's why I'm here. It's what friends do."
xxXXxx
They found Dino buried in the rubble almost a full cycle after the- they fell.
Medics were called in from every corner of Cybertron. My leg was repaired at the Autobot base but I didn't know what had happened to the olive green mech.
Dino was in stasis for almost a groon.
He said that he had been sleeping off the orn before's party. The only warning he had gotten was when he had fallen off of the berth when the- it started to collapse.
He said that I was weak.
I kept having nightmares so I was weak.
But he didn't know what I had heard.
What I had smelt.
What I saw.
Saw mechs crushed before your very optics.
Heard their final screams.
Had their energon on your frame.
Had a gun point-blank at your helm.
He didn't understand why I kept hanging around that working class medic, looking for the mech.
I needed to ask him why.
Why had he helped me?
Why had he risked his life for me when I refused to help him?
Why had he stayed by my side when I wept and sobbed for my life and home?
He found me first.
He had been repaired, sent back to active duty.
He was one of their scouts.
One of their best apparently.
He had turned away from me.
"Wait!" I called after him, walking faster to get to him.
I saw his armor flare a bit.
It was back like before the attack.
I was an Elite.
And he was the scum we walked over to get more power.
"You… you saved my life. When… when the- when they fell." I said quietly.
"Yeah. Yeah I did." The mech replied.
"Why!" I blurted finally.
He looked up at me in surprise.
"Why? Why what?"
"Why did you help me when I refused to stop Plasma?" I asked dropping my gaze to the floor. I never felt this way, this… subdued. I hated owing favors and I owed this mech my life..
The mech was silent but I could feel his optics watching me.
"Because to me, when I saw you leaking on the street, it looked like you needed a friend in life more than anything." The mech said in his calm and laid back voice. "And risking your spark for another is what friends do."
xxXXxx
Hound.
The mech's designation was Hound.
My optics finally cleared and I was able to focus on his distraught faceplates.
"You're scarring me Mirage." Hound said, his servos still painfully gripping my shoulder guards. "You have to stop doing this to yourself. I know the Towers was a terrible day for you, for all of Iacon, but you have to keep going!"
"They destroyed everything!" I spat.
I had my sire's temper.
Just like Dino.
But I had control over it.
I lost it now.
"They destroyed everything that was important to me!"
"Did they?" Hound asked, finally releasing my shoulder guards to sit back on his heels. "They destroyed buildings. Yes the Decepticons terminated hundreds of mechs and femmes. But you're still here Mirage. You survived the Towers, survived a War. There are so few of us left, how many can say that."
"They fell so fast…" I trailed off, the images still playing behind my optics. Fire and smoke and metal everywhere.
Hound sighed before shifting his legs to sit on the ground cross-legged in front of me.
"You know the date?" He asked.
I nodded.
"September 11, 2014." I replied.
"It's also the day the Towers fell in New York." Hound said quietly. "It's funny, in a sad way, how similar we are to the humans. Or they to us."
"What do you mean."
"Terrorists killed hundreds of people when they crashed those two passenger jets into the World Trade Center." Hound continued.
"So? Thousands offlined in Iacon. The entire city of New York would have had to die for the numbers to be the same."
"Its not the death toll that people remember. It's the act. The Twin Towers were the pride and joy of New York. At the time they were the tallest towers in world. Much like the Towers were in Iacon. The Decepticons destroyed the Towers to make a point. To hurt the Elites and teach them a lesson no one would forget."
"It worked." I snarled bitterly.
"Terrorists destroyed the Twin Towers to make a point as well. But you know what the difference is?"
"I didn't know there was a similarity."
"They rebuild. New York City rebuilt. They started over. Terrorists tried to crush them but they persevered and they rebuilt."
"We can't rebuild Hound!" I objected. "There's nothing to rebuild! Iacon- pit Cybertron is dead!"
"We can rebuild here. Our relationships with the people of this planet are getting stronger. Yes, the Towers, on Cybertron and on Earth, were a terrible day for everyone that witnessed the destruction. But it made them stronger. It made us stronger. And it's made you stronger. The mech that stood off to the side, watching his friend turn me into scrap metal doesn't exist anymore. He died when the Towers fell. The Towers stripped you. Left you with nothing and no one. Thousands of New Yorkers were left the same way. But they still had hope. Hope for a new start. And they did it."
"New York is as strong and bright as ever." Hound continued with a smile. "What won't kill you will only make you stronger."
"I don't understand."
"The most difficult and hard lessons in life are the ones we learn the most from. The mistake was the terrorist attack. And New York learnt and came back."
"What are you saying."
"That you can rebuild. Maybe not the lifestyle you had back on Cybertron, but the friends. The family. The memories. They can all be rebuilt." Hound explained. "Come on though. The others are worried about you. They didn't know why you took off like that." Hound said, offering me his servo.
And again, I took it without thinking.
Hound had saved my life that day.
Now he saved my sanity.
The drive back to base was quiet as I followed Hound at a much slower pace than my mad race out of the city.
As we drove back into the base, Optimus was standing just in the shadows watching us with concerned optics. Once I had transformed, limping on my bad leg.
"Mirage, are you alright?" He asked in our native language, instead of the course rough human's language. "We were worried about you."
Somehow I knew he wasn't talking about my leg or my scuffed paint. It was one of the reason I followed Optimus, because we weren't just a number to him, he cared about us.
Hound must have realised what I was thinking because he rested a servo on my shoulder guard and gave me that calm slime he always wore.
"I… I am now." I said quickly, glancing back at Hound.
"The humans are holding a small memorial service to honor those that died in the 9/11 terrorist attack. The others will be there. I know you have no love for Earth but I was wondering-"
"I'll come." I said, interrupting Optimus. "I want to come."
Hound squeezed my shoulder guard and I glanced back at him. At my true friend and comrade in arms. He was right, as usual. Maybe it was time to let go of the past and rebuild just like New York.