All I will say? Brace yourselves.


"Captain… captain please! Be a reasonable man!"

"Reasonable? Reasonable?! I took you and that mad bull of a man in, welcomed you to my ship, gave my daughter my blessing to marry you, took care of you when your heart flipped it's shit, and what do you do? YOU MURDERED MY DAUGHTER! In cold blood! Now, I'm returning the favour, you lame pig."

"Blessing?! You wanted me to marry her!?"

"Enough talking, pig, the beasts of the deep will have more use of you now. Now hold still, and die."


"DERRICK!"

They lurched up, optics wide in the pitch black room, vents labouring as the armour on their sides flared, letting off a collective blast of hot air in a desperate attempt to cool off their already running hot frame, the room, however, was no salvation, the temperature having already spiked beyond a comfortable sauna.

Steam already fogged their optics, and they stumbled to rise, the door sliding open, revealing the bunker beyond as the steam cascaded out around them.

Their optics darted out, left wing bracing on the opposite side of the corridor, stabilising them on unsteady pedes.

Pede steps were approaching, by how much the ground shook, they knew it was Optimus, knew he'd have questions, knew that they weren't in any state to get around them…

This was the fourth time now… the fourth time they'd had that dream, in a row… it was coming quicker and quicker in the night, stealing their much needed rest…

It had been so real… the smell of the open ocean, tainted by the metal of the ship, the foul scent of oil and diesel, mixed with the barely felt rise and fall as the giant cargo ship crashed over the waves…

The look of madness and rage in the other mans eyes… the pleading, desperate… scared… oh their little brother had sounded so scared…

And they could do nothing, they were seeing what he was seeing, moving with him… they couldn't lunge into the line of fire… they couldn't take the shot themselves… not this time…

That moment, that moment right after the trigger was pulled, they felt it, as that burning hot piece of metal met flesh, the wrong side to hit their little brothers single heart… oh but it burned Wren's.

They could hear Optimus trying to get their attention, but they'd pitched forwards at some point, banging the front flare of their helm against the concrete of the opposite wall, their little brother hated bland walls, an art fan to the end, it was why they even bothered painting, well, him and Ira, she apparently liked the atrocities they made too…

They could feel his presence now, he'd stopped walking, he was close enough to touch them.

Wren's wing was rubbing at their front, where the phantom pain of that bullet still was… that had been… too real… a memory… not a fantasy… and that did not bode well for them…

If what they'd seen was… true… their little brother was dead… or soon to be… or worse… had been… for a long time… and they'd been trying so hard… so hard to find a way to get home… get back to him… keep him safe… their little brother, their sweet, innocent little brother…

The only family they had left…

And if the dream was the be believed, it was too real to be a dream though… right? Back on track… it meant… their little brother, who they'd fight the gods to keep safe… keep from being tainted by the sins of the world… he was a murderer… had taken at least one life before his own demise…

A noise cracked through their throat, and it took a moment to realise what it was… a sob… they'd just sobbed, and they were crying… ancestors they were such a mess… and Optimus was standing right there, watching, made weary of contact from the outbursts…

Those damn outbursts… no one touched them now, refused to, they didn't want to set the twins off, that was the claim at least.

They weren't ornate china… were they? Something pretty, or rather, hideous, to look at, marvel from afar, and never be of any real use?

Another sob tore through, despite the attempt to swallow it back down.

The lubricant was coming fast now, leaking out of their half lidded optics, it was still too bright in the corridor, the visor, their stupid visor, they just had to break it, didn't they?

Touch… something… someone… Optimus… he'd touched Wren's wing, just enough for them to register he was there, he seemed to hold perfectly still as he waited for their protrusions to flare, picking up his stance, completely relaxed, worry on his features, they couldn't quite read his optics though, they weren't that good yet.

Another sob, and they'd moved, clutching onto the large mech with all the coherency they could, they tried to speak, but all that came out was incoherent mutters and whimpers.

They couldn't put it into words… that wasn't a memory of theirs… it was something else…

How else were they supposed to take it such a scene? The pain? The terror?

The sweet touch of Grim once she reached him…

Grim would tell them if Derrick was dead… right?

They had to contact Grim… a corpse…they needed to kill something… get one of their roses… put it on the corpse, and wait for their dear Aunt to rise from the shadows, smiling, and pass them their little brothers soul, she promised she'd do that, if they ever failed to keep him safe, she'd put his soul in a pretty little locket, and they could wear it, wear him around their neck, keep their little brother safe and in the living world with them…

But how were they supposed to do that? Optimus was holding them now, pulled close, their head resting against the glass of his chest, they could feel as much as hear the powerful spark, and the soothing waves coming of his EM field, he was trying to calm them down, comfort them… they appreciated the gesture, but they had to move, it was still dark out, more than enough time to snatch someone walking alone on a street, knock out the cameras first of course, snatch them up, and then slit their throat with a talon before they had time to scream, yes, that's what they'd do, then Grim would give them their brother, and they'd finally be reunited…

But at the same time, they hesitated… this felt so… nice… being held… having a comforting hand run down their back, one that wasn't made of bone… daggers… or red hot brimstone… no… this felt nice

(Why not… just have this for a few moments?)

/We have to find out if Derrick is… gone… we have to…/

(Ok… but… if he… if he is… there's no rush right? Optimus is actually a pretty good hugger…)

/I'm not denying that… but… we have to, I know you're scared of the truth Aria but…/

(Grim didn't mention anything when we met her at the temple… that was what… a week ago?)

/Four weeks actually… we've been… out of it, remember?/

(Ummmmhmm… Five more minutes getting hugged… please?)

/Fine… five more minutes… or when he pulls away… I'll admit this is… nice…/

(Just like when Voice used to hold us? Minus the feeling of being hugged by a pile of knives?)

/Yes… minus the knives part…/

(…Wren?)

/Yes?/

(I miss Voice… I know, I know, I've said it a thousand million times before, and you've admitted to it… sometimes… but like… he'd know what to do… right? He always had a plan…)

/I do miss him Aria… that's true… and I do miss that he'd always know what to do to keep us safe… the plan for everything certainly helped my nerves…/

(…Optimus is talking to us… think we should pay attention?)

/Hmmm… no… his voice sounds nice as background noise…/

(Hmmm…. Agreed, all in favour of just enjoying the sound of that baritone say I. I.)

/I… And when we're ready, we go tack down some fresh meat… that shipment of glass quality sand is coming soon, right?/

(Should be, we strong armed the owner of the plant pretty hard, it'll be here tomorrow morning at the latest, Flint and Max will bring it down, I want to see how his new arm is doing.)

/Oh good point, we're going to have to get back to recruiting soon, we've fallen behind on our targets…/

(Wren, honey, we took a proverbial sledgehammer to the head, we're allowed to fall a bit behind.)

/Not if you don't want me being twitchy before bed now that I've actually remembered that./

(Fucking damnit.)

/Sorry./

(No, no, not mad at you, I'm mad at the fuckers being all fucking smug in there, I've counted at least ten now… can't understand a fucking word they're saying though.)

/Same, and they're giving me a headache…/

(Oh hey, when the fuck did Ironhide get here?)

/Are we still crying?/

(Fuck me sideways, we are.)

/How do we stop that again?/

(Fuck if I know, this doesn't normally happen.)


Jasper Nevada

It was a quiet day, no traffic incidents reported, no one speeding with Prowl visible, and no teenage hijinks to interrupt.

Maria told them to take the rest of the day off after lunch, today was too hot for shenanigans, but to keep a radio on, for both of them, that was more for the receptionist to hear, the three of them knew Prowl didn't need a radio.

Prowl was on his mat pile, fiddling around with one of the red faces he'd discovered years ago he could remove.

He glanced over to Annie, she had busied herself with making them a pie, apple and cherry pie, he could already smell the ingredients, it was promising to be a good one.

He looked back to the badges.

They looked back, ever scowling, he didn't like scowling, so why did the badges always have to?

Maybe he'd find out why they were scowling soon enough?

Maria was calling in some old favours, trying to get him and Annie a few weeks to scour Monaco, try to find the big red and blue semi.

It was strange, ever since he'd seen the picture of it, he'd had this strange feeling somewhere in the machination that was his own form, that… he knew that truck…

He'd probably seen one pass through Jasper at some point, it was a pretty recent model, this was probably just another case of de ja vu, he'd experienced the odd one of those in the past thirty years.

And yet… he knew it was different this time, it felt different.

That truck… was something he should know about, should remember.

"Hey Prowl?"

"Yes love?"

"Do you think I should pack like… a swimsuit? Apparently the hotel Narisa recommended has a pool, and, you know, no pool in Jasper."

"Hmm… do you even own one?"

"As a matter of fact I do! It's right… GAH!"

He jumped at her exclamation, nearly hitting the platform. "Annie! Are you okay?! What happened?!"

He already had the answer when he spotted the impressive flock of moths that had burst from one of her draws.

One that evidently, Annie hadn't opened in a while.

"Gah, damn moths… okay, scratch the previous statement. "She reached in and pulled back a few shreds of fabric. "This, couldn't hold a baby."

He chuckled at that, she always looked so cute when she pouted.

She caught his humour, and her expression promptly became one of scandal. "Prowl! My pout is not cute!"

He loved the fact that they'd been married so long, she knew exactly what he was laughing about, Annie said the doors on his back gave him away, whatever that meant, he couldn't turn his head that far back, and they'd never found a mirror large enough for him to properly see.

Jasper wasn't exactly a good place for pristine reflective surfaces, what with all the sand blasts, courtesy of the arid desert.

Whatever he was about to say was cut off with a sound, that only then reached his audible range, a jet fighter… curious, the nearest air base was a good distance away, and he was fairly certain none of them had flight paths over Jasper, they did their training further out in the desert, where the people of Jasper and her sister towns wouldn't so easily see…

Annie caught the sound soon after, human hearing wasn't as good. "Hey… what wise guys flying over a populated area?"

He shrugged, it mattered little to them, they had to go swimsuit shopping, and Annie had to make sure the pie didn't burn in the oven… Prowl looked up, his audios straining, was that in his head, or was that whistle getting… louder?

In a moment of sheer panic, he realised what it was, he didn't know how he knew, nor had the time to process it, all he had time to do was grab Annie, tuck her under his chest, and duck.

The whistle was screaming, Annie was shouting, but all he could do was screw his golden eyes shut, and brace for impact, those doors on his back breaking away and shifting to hide themselves under his outer metal plates.

Just in time for the world to slow down, for one singular moment, as something pierced through the ceiling behind him, and smashed into the concrete, detonating the payload.

He was sent flying, the blast knocking his senses out, all except the sudden burning pain that raced across his back, fire, he was on fire!

A thousand fire and police safety trainings came back at once, and he was rolling, his side banging into the crumbling wall of his home, it crashed down around him, and he barely had time to hold his hands under his chest to keep Annie from being hit, to take the falling bricks himself.

Only… Annie wasn't there…

His hands clenched at nothing but open air, his eyes snapped open.

All he could see were shattered pieces of his home, burning and charred around him…

He was shaking his head before he managed to croak out a word. "Annie! Annie! An…! ANNIE!" He'd spotted her, half buried under a beam from the platform… oh God she was bleeding, her skin, what he could see through the holes already singed in her clothes were burned…

He wanted to empty his gut… he army crawled to her, the bricks on his back sliding off and crashing to the ground, breaking into pieces from the drop.

With the same care one would pick up a broken bird, he picked up his injured wife, love of his simple life…

She was unresponsive… unconscious… the blow to the head had knocked her out, just as she had been stolen from his hold by the blast wave.

He wanted to cry, to scream, to beg for someone to save her, to turn back the time…

But he didn't, over the roar of the fire, there was the roar of engines, and the sound he made when he went between his humanoid form, and police car form…

"My my…You Autobots… Not even bothering to cloak your energy signatures any more? My and to pick such a place as your… base…?"

A towering mechanical figure stepped through the fire and smoke.

Prowl had never seen something so ugly in his life.

And he'd seen that picture Annie found of a Hagfish with it's jaw out.

"… Prowl?! You're online?!"

Prowl jolted, the disbelief in this other… robots voice… as his scowling eyes, more red than blood, widened in a moment of surprise.

He pulled Annie further out of sight under him.

Then, the robot was chuckling, the jet wings on his wings bouncing, oh where was Annie to read this ones mood when he needed her?!

Right, unconscious, with a serious head wound, caused by the one standing over him.

"My? No dry remark? No 'You're under arrest?', none of that boring legal codex? … Oh well, save your voice for when you beg for a merciful death." The robot was smirking, revealing a mouth full of equally hideous teeth.

Annie groaned then, oh why did she have to groan?!

The robot became intrigued, then, pitched a leg back.

He was so confused, it was already too late to react, the giant metal leg was hurtling towards him.

His head snapped back, the rest of his body being dragged along with it, sending him flying back into the wall that was still partially standing at the back of his home.

Revealing Annie, his sweet, spunky Annie to the gaze of the robot that had destroyed his home.

"Oh! You have a pet! Oh don't worry Prowl, I'll take good care of her… I'll make her dance for me… yes… dance around baster fire… or whatever it is you have her for…"

His memory flashed of the life he'd had with Annie, and the light in his chest screamed, roared, NO, Annie was his.

This monster had hurt her enough as is.

But he couldn't put her down… the fire would get her… but he had to make sure she was safe before he could even think of balling a fist and sending it right into that fuckers face.

The other robot seemed to pick up on the sudden rage he felt, and actually seemed to take a step back.

This robot knew him… somehow… likely knew the old him.

Apparently the old him wasn't someone this robot had intended to piss off so royally.

Good.

Thinking fast, he dropped Annie to the ground, and in a mad scramble that had the claw like apendages at the front of his feet tearing into the charred remains of the floor, he lunged with a roar, fist pulled back, and going right for the other robots gut.

His fist landed true, and the other Robot staggered back, clutching his front, where a fist shaped dent was left, just beneath the glass cockpit at the centre of his chest.

His clenched fist hurt like a son of a bitch, but he didn't care, he had a hundred thousand more to deliver, and a little pain wasn't going to stop him.

Something flashed next to his vision, and going on impulse, he accepted.

The next thing he knew, something shifted on his back, and he was pulling a dual handed shotgun.

He'd never fired one before, to his memory, but it fit like a glove in his hands, cocking the barrel, and firing felt like something he'd done all his life.

The round exploded the moment it left the muzzle, each tiny shell screeching as they exploded into little balls of light, and tore clean through the other robots front.

You never shoot a shotgun at point blank, but he wasn't point blank, he was just far away to put a nice few hundred holes in the bastards front, they weren't deep, but the blue stuff now seeping down the larger robots front was tell enough.

Something inside him screamed in delight, another roared in anger, and a final one, was icy cold and silent, he lent into that one, cocked another round, and fired, this time, aiming higher.

He hit the upper torso, knocking the robot back again, causing him to stumble over the remains of the hanger doors.

This was when something went wrong.

The other robot fell into smoke, and for a moment Prowl couldn't see him.

That was enough time for the other robot to recover, and come back swinging.

Suddenly there was pain just under his chest, the first punch returned, with the force to clear his feet from the ground.

He groaned as he stumbled back, the shotgun crashing to the ground as he tried to clutch his middle, shield the area he could feel his blood pooling.

Another strike, a blow to the side of his head, and he was being sent to the ground.

He rolled onto his front.

The worst mistake he'd likely ever made.

One of those heavy feet came crashing down, right where his doors had hidden themselves away.

He screamed, the agony causing his golden eyes to short out, the world became nothing but static, and for a moment, he believed the pain had killed him.

But he was not lucky, not that kind of lucky.

"My Prowl… you must be going soft, the second in command of the Autobot forces, making such rookie mistakes… What would Prime say if he saw you n-"

"HEY! PERRA! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY DEPUTIES YOU ILLUMINATI FUCK SHIT WANNA BE!"

The shout was followed by the sound of a gun going off, quickly followed by a scream, and the foot being taken off, and landing not far from him.

He managed to look to where the shout had come from… and his eyes widened at what he saw.

Maria Lopez Rodriguez, Sheriff of sleepy town Jasper Nevada, with an unholy fury like that of an imploding star in her amber eyes, handgun held in unwavering hands as she stared down the robot staring back at her, one of his red eyes shattered, blown out completely, the glass melted around the entry wound.

"I hate repeating myself you Dorito whore. Step the fuck away from my deputies, or the other eye gets it." Maria growled out, her hold on the weapon tighter than a vice grip.

The icy coldness in the over sixty year old woman put a fear within him that couldn't be explained.

It was a look of unholy fury, of promised retribution, of an anger that spanned the cosmos with its breadth… mercy upon him may he never earn that same ire.

Evidently, it was enough to put the fear of his boss within the other robot, who turned tail, jumped up, shifting back into the form of a fighter jet, and blasted off.

The force of the jets didn't even blow her back, his boss stood strong against the gale-force winds, unloading round after round into the retreating jets form.

Each round landed dead on the retreating jets thrusters, until the magazine clicked empty.

A few more clicks followed, before the gun was tossed aside, and Maria was running over, old age hindering her none as she called out to him. "Dios moi… Prowl! Sweet mama…"

He watched as she trailed off, as what happened seemed to finally dawn on her, before her attention snapped to focus again. "Annie! Where's Annie!"

Annie?… Annie! Recognition dawned on him like the robots kick to his face, which felt dented in in ways he couldn't properly register, he wasn't even sure he could speak at that point…

So, he acted, crawling back to where he'd set her down, desperate to see that she was at least in the same condition as when he'd left her…

He barely felt the agony of his own body… for it was stolen by the sight of his beloved, laying motionless, just under the reach of the smoke…

It wasn't just a head injury…

"Annie… oh god… Annie… Prowl! Call an Ambulance!"

He already was, watching frozen as Maria managed to heft the fifty year old up into a fireman's carry, and run out of his still burning home…

His home… he looked around, there was nothing left he could recognise… that monster… with one shot he'd destroyed his and Annie's home…

He wanted to sob, but he had to focus, Annie needed him to focus, he had to tell the lady on the other end what had happened.

"Ambulance… please… Old plane hanger… outside of… Jasper… to the… South… Sheriff Rodriguez is already… here…" He managed to rasp out, but it hurt so much to talk… he probably had a broken jaw at the least…

He somehow managed to get himself out of the burning ruins of his home, and spotted Maria bent over his beloved, CPR already in effect.

In a moment of clarity, his shifted down and turned on his projection, not even bothering to generate inside himself as he ran over to aid Maria.

Just as Maria hit thirty, he bent down, and breathed as much as he could into his loves lungs.

They kept going, they had to, they kept going even as the Ambulance arrived, until they could pass Annie over.

Maria grabbed his wrist before he could jump into the Ambulance with Annie, the urge to go with her fierce.

His head snapped around to stare at his boss, but stopped at her harrowed expression.

"If you go with her, your body will follow, you'll be at risk of revealing yourself…"

He wanted to rebuke her, but she kept going, though her voice seemed to waiver in pain before she even spoke the words she seemed to be dreading.

"You have to get to Monaco, I'll take care of Annie… but you have to find your own kind… or else that one will come back for you…"

Prowl couldn't help but gape at her, before pointing at the Ambulance already racing away. "That… That's my wife Maria… And you want me to just… leave her?!"

Maria shook her head. "No, I want you to one, take a drive, try and clear your head, she won't be out of surgery for a while, two, be there when she wakes up, she won't be going anywhere any time soon… and three… once she's awake, tell her you're going, and that, when she's strong enough, she'll come join you, I'll make sure of it, I promise you."

He wanted to rebuke her, like hell was he just… up and leaving his wife right after she woke back up!

But the sympathy in Maria's gaze stopped him as she reached up, grasped the sides of his shoulders, and pulled him into a hug.

The beating heart he could hear was a reassurance… at least Maria was okay, probably just as shaken as him…

His boss, not a few years from retirement, just unloaded an entire magazine at an alien robot… she was probably still processing that herself…

He needed to go drive… every part of him hurt, but he knew he had to drive some of this off first… he had just as much to process as she did, but she was taking one for the team now, and he had to make use of that.

"I'll… I'll be back by dawn…" He muttered.

Maria nodded, and let him go, watching as his human form flickered out of existence, just as the shattered front headlights of his actual form lit up, and he slowly drove away.

Maria watched until his form disappeared on the horizon, before she looked to her own vehicle, sliding into the driver's side, she pulled out her personal phone, and dialled that ever memorised number.

"It's me… it happened… Starscream found Prowl… those Magnesium laced rounds you made worked a charm, got him in the optic for you."

She listened as the one she called laughed. "Yeah, thought you'd be happy about that… but… Annie is hurt… badly… and there's practically nothing left of their home… I'm sending him to Monaco… but… Annie… there's not much of her that wasn't burned… enough for skin grafts to be warranted but… when I send her to Monaco, you pamper the fuck out of both of them, okay?"

Resolute confirmation came from the other side of the line, and Maria couldn't help but smile, why had she even bothered asking?

She'd known these girls for almost her whole life, they all took care of each other, and Annie was no exception, sans the whole life bit.

"Alright, signing off, see you all soon amigos." Maria cut the call and sighed, rubbing her temples.

As she was putting the phone down, she spotted something, something familiar.

Her door swung back open and she jumped out, striding right back into the fire to look over what she'd spotted.

The pump action shotgun of alien origin laid there in front of her, unflinching under her withering gaze… apparently Prowl's combat protocols had fully engaged, and he'd managed to draw the weapon…

Sighing, she reached down, and began dragging the giant hunk of weaponry behind her, she'd have to get it back to Prowl later.

Certainly explained all the small entrance wounds she'd seen when Starscream had turned to take her own bullet to the optic…

Her trunk door swung open, and with a grunt, she managed to heft the thing into the deep trunk, where it clunked against the padded metal… she'd deal with that later… Right now, she just wanted to get away, so, she walked back to her open driver side door, and clambered back in, buckling herself in after a moment of deliberation, always best to act on the same laws she upheld, despite how little she could give a toss for them in that moment.

A moment later, her car came to life, and she drove away, already spotting Jaspers one fire engine racing towards the burning warehouse.

She had an incident report to write up, and deputies to look after, she'd leave the burning remains of the hanger for the fire department to worry about, she knew the fire chief, he'd understand.

Not that James wouldn't bitch about it, he'd had a date with Carol if his bragging earlier today was anything to go on…


Somewhere at the bottom of the Atlantic.

This was, servos down, the worst idea he's had in his life, ever.

Another something went squish under his pede, something not fast enough to get out of the way.

And now there were more spines lodged in his pedes he'd have to pick out later.

Joy of joys.

But this was just his luck wasn't it? He couldn't take the form of a boat, and he was certainly never leaving the ground, so what was he to do when he reached the Atlantic but walk the whole way to the European continent?

At least he wouldn't be bothered by any mechs he wanted to explicitly shoot.

Frenzy was more alert right now, he'd waited for the minicon to become alert to tell him what he was planning.

Since then, the minicon was hidden away in one of the crevasses of his armour, holding on tight to make sure the currents didn't steal him away.

This far down, it was easy to get turned around, what with the pitch blackness, and the weakness of the planets magnetic field causing unreliable readings.

As luck had it, he'd discovered where a massive fibre optic line ran across the ocean floor, one that linked the American and European continents together.

All he had to do was keep following that and…

He came up short, something had just pinged on his HUD,

A spark signature, not his, not Frenzy's, and not one that belonged to any mech or femme he'd ever met.

Curiosity piqued, he set a way marker on his HUD for his current location next to the cable, and changed course.

If it was a bot he needed to slag, he'd slag them, if not, he might have some company.

A few kliks of walking, and he came to where the signal was reading a presence, but there wasn't anything actually… there…

Sighing to himself, he activated his spotlights as well, and let their light cut through the murk.

Almost instantly, they found a face.

He jerked back at the wide open scream on the other bots faceplates, optics blown wide despite there being no colour in them, a semi-transparent navy blue visor covering them as well.

He ran the spotlights down, the helm was attached to a surprisingly long set of neck cabling, broken up by two metal rings each a bright blue, which eventually met the rest of the very thin frame…

That was when he spotted the wings…

Realisation struck him a moment after, they were the same type of wings he'd seen on Kia and Ira… ones that replaced the arms, that stole the dexterity of the frame…

The frame, it was a mech, at least, he figured it was a mech, the two vibrant blues, along with the darker navy and blue tinted green made it a bit confusing, alongside the fact the mech seemed to be very… narrow…

Well, what off him he could see, which was, the one wing, the helm, the upper torso, and that was about it, the mech was more than halfway buried into the silt.

Another Avian… he huffed, he was at a crossroads now…

Either this was an Avian like his boss, and would probably be in his debt for saving his aft from being rusted to the sea floor… or… this one was just like Fernando…

He opted to pull the mech out of the silt at the least.

Frenzy seemed to agree, already clawing himself free enough to get a better look of the mech himself.

So, he did just that, grabbing the wing by it's furthest joint, and pulling.

It took him a moment, but the mechs frame came loose, the silt shifting away into a cloud that obscured his and Frenzy's vision for a moment.

When it cleared, he had a brief moment of near spark collapse at how far back the mechs helm had rolled backwards… so much so he could only see one of the blue rings…

That did not look healthy…

At all.

Then the current shifted, and the helm rolled sideways, and banged dully against the shoulder pauldron.

Odd, for half a moment he thought the mech was someone else… oh well.

He looked down the rest of the exposed frame, the same double jointed pedes, a narrow waist Starscream would be jealous of, the sides of the mech were barely armoured, just a few flaps to hide what a poke revealed to be external vents.

Interesting, kinetic flight must cause a lot of internal heat build-up.

His curiosity was building even more.

He remembered that the two Harpies he had seen, had each had different styles of tail feathers, perhaps this one…

'Oh for the love of Primus… that's just… excessive.' He thought, as he spied the massive green with multifaceted blue orb marked tail feathers that flowed with the currents, each one longer than the mech was tall, and easily making up a good chunk of the mechs mass.

He glanced to the sea around him… he couldn't leave the mech here… he seemed to be slightly taller than him, but so frail, he likely wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight…

He made his decision, and easily hefted the majority of the mech up over his shoulder, the wings and helm lolling behind him as he let his forward motion push the rest of the mechs frame back under his arm, giving him the mobility he needed to make his way back to the cable, with only one servo up to hold the mech in place.

Only when he arrived back at the cable, did he set himself back on track, he'd hardly wasted any time in obtaining the mech, and now, he had something to give Kia as an apology for abandoning his duty.

To be fair though, Starscream at the least was likely already on his way to Europe, his injuries from his fight at the Cosmopolitan finally healed enough for him to have a sustained flight across the massive body of water that was the Atlantic.

A joor later into his journey, he finally humoured to do a more invasive scan of the mech than just what his optics could see, his curiosity again getting the better of him.

What the scan came back with was… to say it was confusing was an understatement, outside of the basic struts, apparently mostly hollow, and the outer casing that wrapped around the spark chamber, there was little to nothing of the mechs anatomy that he could make helm or pede of.

Dust would of probably had a field day if she got to do an autopsy on a mech like this…

His spark gave a painful tug… refreshing the memory banks had brought Dust back to the forefront of his processor… and it was… interfering with his thought processes…

But he couldn't be mad at that, and especially not her… he knew what he was doing when he refreshed the entire memory bank he had of her during his trek from California to the Atlantic.

Speaking of which, he was running low on his reserves, Kia had managed to send him another hunk of crystal, hidden somewhere out of sight that only a coded message had led him to, but even that chunk was starting to get worryingly small.

Not enough to keep him, Frenzy, and whoever this mech was, going for very long.

If the mech would even ever wake up, there was a spark pulse yes, that was how he found the mech, but it was weak, and little to no EMF that he could feel.

If anything, it was just… static… like no bot was actually home in that helm.

He'd worry about that later.

He'd be Kia's problem soon enough.

At least he had something else to worry about other than… and he just stepped on another of those spike covered things.

Again, joy of joys.


Monaco

Ratchet's holoform scowled down into the open spark chamber before him.

What he was seeing was… alarming… one because what he was seeing was arguably impossible, and two, the fact he had missed it in the first place…

To be fair on himself though, he'd been a bit too preoccupied stabilising his current patient to care much about the severed bond that was joined by their sparks.

But now… with imminent offlining far from the table, and the twins concerns over a recurring memory-like dream that wasn't theirs… well… he'd had to investigate…

And sure enough, there it was, proving his wildest suspicion correct.

That severed familial bond, seemed to of re-tethered, and gauging what the twins had described, it was making up for lost time.

Which was just raising too many questions for him right now.

He turned his gaze up to the closed optics of his patients, the twins were propped up against one of the walls, the med bay wasn't ready yet here in Monaco like the one in Barcelona was, it put their chassis at an angle that allowed his holoform to stand just below the open chamber, but also gave them enough of an angle to not have any issue looking down into their spark chamber.

If said balls of bright white and faded black weren't too bright for their optics to handle without a visor that is.

Given they couldn't see what he could, he spoke. "One of the severed bonds attached to your spark has re-ignited."

He caught Optimus and Ironhide exchange a look in his peripheral, just as he felt the twins tense, they wanted to get up, apparently his words were all that were needed to connect the dots.

He sent a pulse of alarm to his beloved, and Ironhide moved, stepping forwards with heavy purposeful steps. "Stay there you two." He growled out in warning.

They tensed further for a moment, and he spotted them pulling their white painted lower lip plate in to chew for a moment, before releasing it, a tiny sliver of lilac energon marking their mistake of falling back on a human habit.

Carefully, he slid his holoform back off their upper abdominal plates, feet first to land into an upright position before turning around. "Until your visor is repaired, I strongly advise against leaving this bunker, I know I have said it before, just as I know both Ironhide and Optimus have had to block your way before."

They seemed to wince back at the scolding tone.

Despite that, Aria still spoke. "With all due respect Ratchet… if… if he's here… we have to find him."

Ratchet sighed, so it was a him. "And who is this him? We can search for him whilst you both recover."

Again they bit their lower lip, before promptly wincing from the pain and releasing it again, a nervous habit that was proving traitorous.

Optimus had already joined them, kneeling on their other side. "Aria, Wren, you need to tell us, if we're to find them, and bring them to you that is."

Again they grimace, and a sound came out from between their clenched denta, apparently they were at war with which option to take, to tell, or to remain silent.

The battle lasted a few more moments before they sighed in defeat. "Derrick… Derrick Selver Orichiono, he's our half brother…" Wren answered.

"And the only biological family we have left." Aria added.

He saw Optimus nod. "Bumblebee and Jazz have been informed, they'll try and widen their patrol boundaries to try and find him, I assume you'll want Ira and Kia to join in this search?"

They nodded, so he sent off that added bit of information.

Apparently that wasn't necessary for either of his mechs, once Jazz and Bumblebee had relayed respectively that the twins half brother had somehow jumped the gap between their realities, the two more able bodied Harpies had already taken off to pull their resources to the search.

Further discussion with the twins was interrupted however, when the human sized elevator attached to the bunker pinged, and two men stepped out, both pushing a dolly laden with a bag labelled with something in French.

Optimus recognised Flint quickly enough, but the other one took a few moments, and when recognition did dawn, he couldn't help but feel a bit… shocked.

It was the human who'd shot Aria's helm protrusion, the one that Keeley had promptly mauled the hand of.

Said hand, was evidently no longer with the man, instead replaced by a mechanical replica, that was being used to hold and push the dolly forwards.

Unlike the last time he'd seen the human, there was no anger, no hatred or bloodlust, only… admiration? Adoration? It was a gaze similar to the one he'd seen on Lena, but… different at the same time.

Flint let go of the dolly, letting the other continue to push it forwards as he began to make a showy announcement, bowing to them and everything. "My dear ladies, we present to you, this humble offering of sand, may it aid you in having a swift recovery of your sight… and~" The man pulled a bottle of something from his pocket. "... The chemicals you requested, already mixed and ready to go."

The twins seemed to trill at that, shifting to roll forwards on their pedes.

Their lower jaw snapped open, and the moment it was in range, the sandbag was gone, snapped up and swallowed down like a small treat, despite how much it made their neckcables expand out on the way down.

Once Flint stood within range, he offered the bottle of chemicals out, it promptly disappeared down the gullet as well.

The twins seemed to grimace though. "Not the nicest taste… but it will do, Flint, Max, you are excused, return to your normal duties and await further instructions."

Both bowed, spun on one heel, and walked back away.

The whole scene felt off to the three Cybertronians…

Perhaps it was the replaced hand… or how… drastically different the mans behaviour had been from when Optimus and the two other mechs had seen him… no it was definitely the later.

They still had to get to the bottom of that… whatever that was…


Quite a few... developments I'd say, until next time! See yah!