Hey, it's Nova. It's about time that I edited this and put it back on Fanfiction. It's a complete remodel of my very first fanfiction. I'll probably also post to AO3 if I can get it to cooperate with me. Same username over there if that's more your speed.
The Nemesis glided silently forward through dark black clouds. Megatron watched the jagged shapes pass as he looked through the space shield of his ship.
It wasn't often he let himself brood about Optimus. Too many memories. But today was an exception, and Megatron wanted nothing more than to see the light leave his old friends optics, just so they would stop tormenting him.
He was in such a foul mood, that when a Vehicon warrior came in and told him that they had picked up a strange Energon reading and the Autobots were closing fast on its position, he found himself roaring in anger.
"CONFRONT THEM, IMMEDIATELY!"
When the soldier stood their stupidly he blew a smoking hole in his chest. He had to stop killing his soldiers if he wanted them to do what he ordered, but at the particular moment he didn't care. He commed Soundwave, needing the competence of his Communications Chief.
:See to it that the Autobot's are greeted properly, will you?: He growled to the open comm link. He heard no reply but the sound of a ground bridge opening through the comm.
He turned back to the clouds outside. Far below, he could see that they were now approaching an abandoned highway. He turned to the scanner. The signal was coming from right below them.
Megatron was about to go out and confront his arch-enemy when Soundwave threw up a live recording on the HUB. Megatron watched as Optimus ran back through his own ground brigde. He turned back to the scanner to find the strange energy reading had not disappeared with Optimus.
"Most unlike you Optimus." He mused to himself. Megatron would have expected his enemy to take any Energon he might be able to get his servos on seeing that the Decepticons controlled all the known Energon deposits on earth.
Curious as to why Optimus might have left something so valuable behind he walked to the yellow transport tube to see for himself. When he arrived down on the abandon highway he saw a crowd of Vehicon's looking at something on the ground.
"What is it," Megatron said attempting to step around his troops.
"Out of my way!" He growled at them. They instantly scurried aside to let their master through. There, unconscious on the ground was a human girl emitting the faint hum, of Dark Energon.
3 DAYS EARLIER.
Jade sighed as the clock stopped ticking, again. It was a common occurrence with the ancient analog clock in their classroom. Jasper Nevada was far from Los Angelos, but would it kill them to put in a digital clock? She was pretty sure people here still died of tuberculosis or maybe even the plague. She sighed again as she watched the broken clock not move.
"Oh dear, the clock must have stopped working again. Well it's only been a couple extra minutes, have a good weekend kids." Her teacher announced cheerily. Jade rolled her eyes and then quickly scooped up her stuff and sped through the door. Goodbye school, hello weekend. She thought enthusiastically.
She even ignored all the whispering and looks she earned as she passed. Yes, Jade was not the most popular senior in high school. It was only because she and her twin, Icelyn, had moved in the middle of the school year. This was a small town, and the pair had yet to "fit in."
If it weren't for the earthquake, Jade and Icelyn would still be in Los Angelos, (with digital clocks and modern medicine) and Jade would've flown under the radar for her last year of school like she preferred. Unfortunately for her, Welker High consisted of a hundred kids tops and there was no "radar" to fly under.
Jade rushed through the halls just eager to finally be home. A weekend with just her and her sister and their step aunt. No one staring, whispering or bumping into her.
Jade slipped outside into the fresh air. Winter was coming and in Jasper that meant 60 degree days.
Jade saw Icelyn standing on the sidewalk and began to make her way over. Icelyn nodded at her twin and they began to make their way home together. As they walked, they called out cars they liked. It was a game they used to play when sitting in LA traffic.
They would spot a sports car or motorcycle they really liked and point it out to the other before trying to guess the price. If they guessed correctly, rules said the other would buy it for them one day. Of course, they were a ways away from ever buying any of them, but a girl could dream.
The only downside to the game was that it wasn't nearly as much fun to play in Jasper Nevada. LA had no shortage of high end muscle cars and slick paint jobs. Jasper had pickup trucks that looked like they hadn't seen the clean end of a rag in years.
Their favorite place to look for cars was in the old canal that ran under the highway, since the highway was the one place they had a chance of spotting a halfway decent car. Today they decided to stop there before going home. It was secluded from the rest of the world and they could use their backpacks as pillows and just watch the cars go by on the highway above.
The girls had sat there for hours on days past, exchanging words but mostly watching and listening. And today was just a day like any other. They watched, Icelyn did a bit of homework, and they watched some more. Then like every day as Icelyn continued powering through the schoolwork, Jade grew restless.
She began to explore further up the canal, nearing closer to the highway. The low sun cast golden rays through the canal and Jade imagined she was walking through a tunnel of fire.
She breathed deeply as she watched the clouds change from white to pink to purple as the sun set. The world was so silent. Jasper was nothing like LA, where no matter where you went you could always hear city life. Jade hadn't realized it was possible for a place on earth to be so empty.
Just as the silence was becoming uncomfortable, a throaty engine tore up the twilight blues. Jade smiled faintly. A familiar sound at last, ha.
Jade looked back towards her sister, about to joke about wanting whatever car had just screamed by when another engine blasted by much closer this time.
Jade turned around towards the noise to find a pair of bright yellow headlights barreling straight towards her.
Jade didn't have time to scream. All she could do was throw her arms in front of her, praying the impact wouldn't shatter all the bones in her body.
Strangely, the impact never came. Jade unearthed herself from her arms in time to look up at the car that had almost hit her. It was flying over her head, it's wheels and hood shifting apart as it flew and Jade finally understood what it felt like to experience a moment in slow motion.
Jade watched, mouth agape, as the car finished its strange twisting and shifting to reveal a golden mechanoid in its place. The robots armor gleamed like melting coins in the setting sun.
"Woah," Jade breathed.
A scream interrupted Jade's moment of awe and Jade's attention snapped to her twin. Icelyn was on the ground, scrambling backwards as fast as she could from another robot towering over her.
This robot was considerably less glamorous than the one that nearly ran Jade over. It was mostly a matte purple, with pointy armor pieces all over it. It was also, thankfully, not interested in Icelyn at all. The purple robot's full attention was on a a shiny red one, who's blue eyes were glaring with fierce intensity. Icelyn was caught between the two titans.
"You end here, con," the red one snarled, before his hand turned into a wicked blade and he lunged at the purple one.
Fortunately, Red tackled Purple away from Icelyn, and as Red began hacking with his sword, Icelyn got up and sprinted toward Jade.
Jade sprinted over and met her halfway.
"You okay?" Jade asked as Icelyn gripped her arm tightly.
"I think so," Icelyn said in a shaky voice. She was clearly spooked, but if there was any to describe her twin it was resilient.
"What are they?" Icelyn asked.
"Robot power rangers?" Jade supplied.
"Not helping," Icelyn hissed.
"You asked," Jade shrugged back, but she was as dumbfounded as her sister. Jokes just tended to surface when she was at a loss for real words.
"We should get out of here while they're fighting," Icelyn decided.
"But – but," Jade could barely form the words to her argument. She was entranced watching the golden one spin his own blade around with deadly precision.
"Oh no, this is not going to be like that time in downtown LA," Icelyn said sternly.
"This is better," Jade answered quickly.
Before the pair could exchange another word to each other, the purple one was suddenly flying through the air towards them. Jade's eyes widened comically as the robot landed inches from their faces. It's red visor was dark.
"This is the first interesting thing that's happened in this ghost town," Jade said as she gazed at the robot with a stunned expression. A second later, it's red visor flickered back to life.
Jade swallowed.
"Okay, now we go," she agreed. Icelyn rolled her eyes before grabbing her insufferable twin and pulling her towards the canals drainage pipe. Jade followed without complaint. The purple robot was getting up. It saw them running and dragged itself toward the girls.
Icelyn let go of Jade so the two of them could run faster towards their escape. As they neared the pipe they both leapt up into it, just as mean and scary reached a taloned claw in after them. It nearly snagged Jade's jacket, but just as it was getting too close for comfort there was a horrible shriek of metal and the robot was dragged backwards.
Jade snuck a glance back just in time to see the gold mechanoid viciously jam his sword through the purple robots throat. There was a spray of blue liquid and the red visor powered off. Jade had a feeling it wasn't going to turn back on. She shivered as a chill ran down her spine at the sight.
A moment later, Icelyn was dragging her away down the drainage pipe and Jade turned away from the excitement to follow.
Sunstreaker looked up from the Vehicon he just offlined to find three more of the drones jumping off the bridge to join the fight. He sent a warning to his twin through their shared spark.
Sideswipe looked up as the three purple mechs surrounded them. They were outnumbered, but that wasn't exactly worrying to Sunstreaker. Vehicons went down easy. Useless cannon fodder of the Decepticon ranks.
However, before a shot was even fired, the sound of a massive mech landed behind them. The Autobot's resident Wrecker, Bulkhead. At the sight of the brawler, the drones decided to turn tailpipe and run. Sunstreaker scoffed.
"Why so late to the party," Sideswipe teased.
"Traffic," came the reply.
Sunstreaker shot an annoyed look at the larger mech who just shrugged sheepishly.
"Let's roll out," Sunstreaker said before transforming down into his sleek Lamborghini alt mode. His brother and Bulkhead did the same and the trio drove off towards home.
Earth wasn't Sunstreaker's favorite planet. In fact, it was probably one of the worst ones he'd been on. As dust from the roads coated his alt mode his engine gave a disgruntled murmur. He hadn't felt properly clean in years.
Stuck in his processor as they pulled through the tunnel into their base, he didn't hear their leader question what had happened. Sideswipe took over giving the report as Sunstreaker tromped deeper into the silo towards his berth room to buff out the scratches he got in their little scrap with the cons.
Sunny. Sideswipe's thoughts came over the bond. Sunstreaker didn't reply with words, but sent a ping to show he was listening.
OP says we need to bring those organics back to base.
This caught Sunstreaker's attention.
What the pit for? Aren't there enough here already? He asked.
Cons saw 'em. Optimus says they might get targeted.
It's not like the cons don't have a variety of human pawns to choose from. We don't even know them.
Sideswipe sent an urging little push over the bond. Sunstreaker knew why. Even if the humans that caught them meant nothing to the bots, the cons didn't know that and OP would blow a gasket if humans got hurt, again.
Grumbling to himself, Sunstreaker walked back into the main room.
"Sunstreaker, I trust your twin has filled you in," Optimus asked calmly as he entered the room.
"Can't Jazz pick them up, he loves the little squishy's," Sunstreaker protested.
"Jazz is otherwise engaged at the moment. The sooner the two young women are here, the safer they are from the Decepticons," Optimus decided.
Sunstreaker felt his engine mutter in annoyance but he transformed with his twin and sped back out of base into the horrible dust and sand of the Nevada dessert.
Icelyn opened the front door quietly and peeked into their tiny dark house.
Clear.
She made for the stairs right ahead of her but before she made it one step a light flicked on in the kitchen to her left.
"What do you have phones for if your not going to text me," came the worried voice of their step-aunt, Harper. The sister of their mother's second husband.
"Harper, hi," Jade said in a sheepish tone.
"School got out five hours ago. Where the hell have you been?" Harper demanded. Her arms were crossed and her green eyes were flashing murderously.
"We lost track of time," Icelyn tried.
"You didn't even text me!" Harper cried. Icelyn had the decency to look guilty but Jade bit back with personality.
"It's not like anything is going to happen to us here, we're literally living in the middle of nowhere!"
For a moment Harper looked even angrier than before if that were possible, but then her gaze softened.
"I know the move hasn't been easy you guys. I promise, if I could afford living in LA like your parents did, we would be there right now," Harper said kindly. It was Jade's turn to look guilty.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean – I appreciate what you're doing for us," the brash twin amended.
"Come here guys," Harper said, gesturing to the stools around the small kitchen counter. The twins made their way over and took seats.
"I know there's not a lot to do here, and I'm sure you both want nothing more than to get out of this town, but if you're going to go explore for six hours then just text me so I know you're not dead in a ditch somewhere, got it?" Harper asked. Icelyn thought about how she and her twin were almost flattened in a drainage canal and the irony was not lost on her. They both nodded solemnly.
"Listen, I was going to ground you both for this little stunt, but let's call it a warning okay. We've only been here a few months and I know you're both still adjusting. I am too," Harper let them know.
"Do you think we'll ever get used to being away from LA?" Icelyn asked quietly, but there was hidden meaning in her question. Do you think we'll ever get used to not having our family around?
"We can learn to love it here and still remember our old lives girls," Harper said firmly. Icelyn nodded but it wasn't the answer she wanted. She loved Jade, and she loved Harper, but she didn't ever want to love Jasper Nevada. It wasn't home.
It didn't have the playground on the corner, or the candy shop on the first floor of their apartment building. She missed the doorman Javier whom she and Jade had created a secret handshake with. She missed the view of the distant ocean from her bedroom window. The ocean that was nothing like the rolling sea of sand here in Jasper.
Jasper also didn't have the thing she loved most about home.
Her parents.
"Why don't you both go wash up and I'll make dinner okay. You guys are covered in dirt," Harper noticed.
"Ha ha ha," Jade laughed suspiciously. "Jasper be like that," she joked. Harper just raised a slender eyebrow.
"Ooo – kay, well don't track so much sand in here next time," their step-aunt said.
"Yes ma'am," Jade agreed with a salute before she and Icelyn excused themselves to prevent Jade from alerting Harper any more to the trouble they had gotten into. Harper could sniff out lies like a bloodhound and Jade was about as subtle as a semi-truck.
The twins ran upstairs to the loft where their beds were. Icelyn's half of the loft was the left, her bed's headboard pushed up against the back wall and tucked into the corner. Directly opposite the bed was a dresser with all of her clothes and possessions. Well, the stuff that survived the earthquake anyway.
Jade had an identical setup on the right. Neither girl had a nightstand. Taking up a large chunk of the back wall was a massive windowsill seat below a large circular window. It was the one part of the old house that Icelyn liked. She and Jade each had half of the window seat and often used it as a nightstand during the night. Icelyn plugged her phone charger into the outlet below the window seat and placed it down on the cushion before sitting on the edge of her bed.
Jade turned right towards the bathroom in the loft. It was tiny, a shower on the right, and toilet and sink on the left. There was one small cabinet below the sink where the girls kept their bathroom supplies.
A moment later, Icelyn heard the shower running. Not wanting to get the sand and drain mud from her clothes onto her bed, she sat down on the window seat instead and gazed out at the dessert and mesa land of Jasper.
It certainly wasn't Los Angelos.
Sideswipe led the way through Jasper's streets as he and Sunny scanned for the two life forms that had seen them under the bridge. He could feel his brother's distaste for this certain mission, but the golden twin's half of the spark was not enough to dampen his spirits.
He and Sunny were the only two bots without a human partner save for Ratchet and Optimus, but even Ratchet was close with Raf and Optimus seemed more than fond of Jack.
Sideswipe had secretly been wanting a human friend for a while.
Did you really just think that? Came Sunny's disgusted thoughts over the bond.
I'm not you Sunny, I like the humans. They're fascinating.
If by fascinating you mean they're walking Petri dishes, then I'd agree with you, came the reply. Sideswipe just mentally rolled his optics. A habit that he picked up from Arcee who picked it up from Jack.
Come on Sunny, you're not the least bit excited to have a human friend? Think of what they could teach us about their planet. Their culture.
Sunny scoffed aloud behind him.
What exactly is there to know about Earth. It's a big wet rock with more sand than I ever needed to see in my entire life. Sunny complained. Sideswipe would've argued, but he felt the Cybertron Blues coming from his twin and decided to leave it.
Sunstreaker missed Cybertron a lot. Sideswipe couldn't blame him for that. Despite how fascinating Earth was, it would never be home.
I got something, unfortunately. Sunny said. Sideswipe slowed to a stop and used his review mirror to check the house Sunny had stopped in front of. He scanned through the walls for life signs. Sure enough two familiar signals met his scan.
The energy signatures of the two young women were faint, because they were human, but they were familiar.
Can we just, transform and grab them? Sunny suggested.
Sunny! Sideswipe reprimanded. His brother snickered to himself. Sideswipe pulled over and threw himself into park.
We wait til morning. Sideswipe decided. He could feel his twin's moodiness return but he ignored it. Nothing was going to dull his excitement. Aliens were fascinating and humans were the most Cybertronian-like aliens they had ever discovered.
2 DAYS EARLIER
Jade woke up that morning with a strange feeling. It was that disoriented feeling of not really knowing what had happened the last twenty four hours. Like when a dream feels so real you forget what's reality and what isn't.
It's official. I have to stop watching so many indie sci-fi films late at night. She thought to herself.
She glanced over at Icelyn's side of the loft. Her sister was still fast asleep. Jade smirked at the sight. The one time her collected twin didn't look put together was when she was asleep. Her long, platinum blonde hair was a mess, sticking to her face and strewn about the pillow. Her mouth was open and she a small puddle of drool was forming.
"Icey," Jade said walking over to shake her sister awake. Icelyn's frosty blue eyes snapped open and she sat up quickly, her hair sticking up due to the dry climate and static electricity that built up from the pillow all night.
"Jade," Icelyn groaned, pushing her sister away. Jade chuckled.
"How was the beauty sleep," Jade teased.
"I miss having my own room," Icelyn shot back. Jade just laughed loudly and dodged the hairbrush Icelyn threw at her before running down the stairs two at a time.
Harper was in the kitchen flipping an egg when Jade turned right and into the small kitchen. Harper's copper hair was pulled back in a pony tail for work, and her purse and coat were already by the door.
"Early work day?" Jade asked. Harper glanced at the time forlornly and groaned. Seven fifteen.
"Too early," her step-aunt said before yawning loudly.
"I can finish breakfast," Jade offered.
"You don't need to do that," Harper started but Jade cut her off firmly.
"Let me make up for last night?"
Harper shot Jade a sideways smile.
"There's nothing to make up for Jade. But okay, it would be a huge help," Harper agreed. Jade took over cooking while Harper went to get her coat on.
Harper worked as a waitress at a breakfast café on the other side of Jasper. Granted, the other side of Jasper was just a ten minute drive from the house.
"If you and Icelyn decide to run around town again, be back at seven for dinner?" Harper asked as she pulled on her black boots.
"Sure Harper," Jade agreed, as she slid the egg onto a plate.
"Aren't you going to take this?" Jade asked, pointing to the egg.
"I was making breakfast for you, I'll eat on my break," Harper explained, before disappearing through the door.
Jade felt a small knot of guilt in her stomach. She and her sister were extremely lucky that Harper existed. After the earthquake, there was a scary month when Jade and Icelyn didn't know where they were going to end up.
Their real father had walked out on them when they were two. Their mother didn't have any siblings and her parents were already in a senior home. Their step-father had plenty of family that all hated Jade and Icelyn's guts because he named them the inheritors of his fortune when they turned 21 in two years.
Harper was their step-dads only family member that never cared about the money. She had loved the girls from the day she met them. It was ironic, because she was the only one in the family who was steep in debt from art school. Jade and Icelyn had already agreed that once they got the money, the first thing they would do was pay off Harper's student loans.
The knot of guilt settled in her stomach. Dealing with her brother's death and a massive move was already enough for Harper to deal with, she didn't need to add to that list.
At eight, Icelyn finally came down stairs looking back to her proper self. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a perfect ponytail, and her face looked clean and awake. She even did her eyeliner, wings sharp enough to cut glass.
"Look who's awake," Jade said, sitting down at the counter.
Icelyn sat down and the two of them began eating in silence. Both of them were thinking the same thing.
Was it all a dream?
"Did we?" Icelyn began.
"Witness a death match between titan sized robots?" Jade finished.
They matching blue eyes locked onto each other.
"What do we do?" Jade asked.
"Forget it ever happened. I have no desire to end up dead underneath a giant metal foot," Icelyn pointed out.
"So we just mope around this nothing town pretending like we didn't just witness the most insane science fiction plot ever?" Jade protested.
"Jade, imagine what will happen to Harper if we get killed by some metal monster," Icelyn pointed out.
"I can't just, pretend it never happened Icey. This could be our chance to – to"
"To what Jade? This isn't one of your science fiction movies. Those things are dangerous. We could die."
"We're going to die anyway," Jade muttered quietly. Icelyn was silent at this. Surviving the earthquake had both of them thinking about death a lot. Jade took that opportunity to argue again.
"Icelyn, at least in LA we would've died happy. If I die here going about the same boring life we've had for the last month, I'm not going to be ready." Jade said softly. She felt a lump form in her throat but she swallowed it down and turned the churning emotion in her stomach into anger, which helped some.
A long minute of silence passed between them.
"Okay," Icelyn said at last.
"I can't – wait what?" Jade stopped her argument, looking up at her twin in surprise.
"Okay, let's go see what sort of science fiction disaster we stumbled upon last night."
Jade grinned widely.
"I love you Icey,"
"Come on, before I change my mind."
Jade rushed up the stairs with her sister in tow.
She threw open her closet with an excited light in her ice blue eyes, making them gleam like sparkling snow.
"Time to get ready Icey, we're going on an adventure."
Icelyn chuckled to herself. Her twins enthusiasm was endearing.
Jade pulled on cargo pants and a racer back tank top. She tied a dark blue flannel around her waist and pulled on combat boots to complete the look.
"We're looking for robot cars Jade, not fighting bears.
"Har har," Jade snarked back, before turning and admiring herself in the mirror. Icelyn shook her head at her sisters antics before pulling on jeans, boots, and a sweatshirt. Both of them however, grabbed their earthquake backpacks.
Since the quake in LA, the twins hadn't parted from the survival packs. They had rope, first aid, large hunting knives, flares, water canteens, and they would replenish the snacks before they left.
"Ready?" Jade asked, turning towards her twin. Icelyn nodded, and shouldering their packs they made their way down the stairs and stopped by the front door.
"Listen, if anything dangerous happens, we find cover immediately and if we get separated we meet at the high school. We don't want these things following us home," Icelyn pointed out.
Jade nodded but she was practically bouncing at this point, eager to leave.
"One more thing," Icelyn demanded.
"Lay it on me," Jade said.
"Don't do something stupid."
Jade normally would've argued, but to appease her sister she just nodded and continued to bounce in place. Icelyn took a breath.
"Okay," she said determinedly. With that they opened the front door and stepped out.
The second they were out they were greeting by two identical Lamborghini's save for the paint job. The red and gold robots from last night. Jade thought in awe.
In unison, the sports cars doors opened and Jade delighted to see they were the kind of doors that lifted upwards instead of sideways.
"Slick," she whispered excitedly.
"Come on," a gruff voice said from the driverless car.
Icelyn shot Jade a worried look as if to say, this wasn't the plan. But Jade was already walking towards the gold one cautiously. Icelyn sighed in defeat and approached the red one slowly.
"We're not going to hurt you, but we want to make sure you're not in danger out here," the red one said as she stopped by passenger side.
"I'm armed, so don't try anything," she warned. The red Lambo gave a very human-like chuckle and muttered,
"Dully noted."
She steeled herself and climbed in. The seatbelt snaked around her and the door shut. Before she knew it, they were off, speeding down the road after the red cars golden friend.
Icelyn gazed out the window at the city rushing by and before she knew it, the view changed from buildings to towering mesa plateaus.
I guess it's scenic in it's own way. Icelyn thought. It wasn't the ocean, but Icelyn couldn't deny it was a view.
After speeding through the dessert for a bit, both Lambo's turned off road and headed towards one of the larger mesas looming in the distance.
"Where are you going?" Icelyn asked the driverless car.
"Home," came the dramatic reply.
"There's nothing out here," Icelyn countered, her hand inching subconsciously towards her knife.
"A little trust new friend," the red robot said cheerily. He's was getting worryingly close to the large mesa ahead.
"I don't usually make a habit of that," Icelyn muttered to herself.
She tensed as the golden speedster in front of them was a moment away from smashing itself into the rocks, but just as her twin and the golden robot were about to become pancakes, the rock broke apart.
The rock was not rock at all, but rather hidden mechanical doors that revealed a tunnel that both cars sped into.
Icelyn relaxed some in her seat as they made their way into the hidden base on the other end of the tunnel.
As they approached, the twin cars slowed down and Icelyn marveled at the sight out the windshield.
Massive mechanoids stood proudly before her, observing her with as much curiosity as she did them. Her ride came to a stop and the vertical doors lifted to let her out. Icelyn stepped out slowly, taking in the different robots before her,
The one in front was a huge green one, all round curves and powerful lines. Standing on either side of big green were two much smaller ones. A slender blue one that looked like a femme bot and a bright yellow one who's car doors stuck out his back like wings.
Leaning against a cement wall in the back was a white one with a stern blue visor over his eyes. To her right, standing at the computer, was a white and orange one with ambulance symbols on his arms.
"What are you?" Jade asked. Icelyn finally tore her gaze away from the mechanoids to look at her sister, who looked like she was living her science fiction fantasy.
"We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron."
The hair on the back of Icelyn's neck stood up at the new voice. It rumbled like thunder. Icelyn and Jade turned around to face the newest titan. He was far taller than all the others, but his movements were gentle as he lowered his head to speak to them.
"But you may call us Autobots," he rumbled.
"Autobots," Icelyn breathed. She felt rooted under the big ones stare.
"We're sorry you were caught up in our fight, but you aren't the first to have stumbled upon us," the large autobot said, and gestured towards a catwalk to his right. Icelyn and Jade turned to see four other kids waving at them from above.
"Our human friends, Jack, Miko, Rafael and Kristofer. They can help you get acclimated to your new surroundings," he explained.
"Hi!" Miko chirped as she bounded down the steps to meet them.
"It's been ages since we had anyone new around here. What do you think of base? What do you think of the bots? I can't believe the terror twins got human partners!" The girl rambled as she came to a stop in front of Icelyn and her twin.
"We are not partners," the golden mech grumbled from where he had transformed back into his bot mode.
"Don't mind Sunstreaker," Jack said kindly and held out a hand to shake, which they both did. The bot in question, Sunstreaker, scoffed and then transformed again before driving back out the tunnel from which they came.
"He'll come around. He may look grumpy but he's as sunny as his name," Miko promised. Icelyn couldn't help but feel that was not the case.
"Like boss bot said, I'm Miko and that's my partner Bulkhead," she said pointing to the big green bot. The mech waved sheepishly. Icelyn gave him a nervous smile in return.
"I go by Raf," the young boy with glasses said, smiling up at the twins.
"I'm Kris," the last boy said in a quiet tone, and wouldn't fully meet their gaze.
"I'm Jade, and this is my twin Icelyn," her sister said.
"It's nice to have some new faces around base. Come on, we'll introduce you to the bots," Jack said, before leading the way back up the catwalk. Jade followed eagerly and Icelyn trailed behind at a much more cautious pace.
"This is my partner, Arcee," Jack said as the small blue one walked over to say hi.
"Welcome to the scrap show," she said in a dry voice.
"Day one Arcee, go easy," Jack teased. Icelyn could tell from the two's relaxed stances that they were close.
"Bumblebee, come say hi!" Raf called to the yellow one. The mech buzzed and beeped in what sounded like and enthusiastic manner but did not offer words.
"Bumblebee had his voice box replaced, so he speaks like this, but he says he's happy to meet you guys," Raf translated. Icelyn and Jade returned the sentiment.
Kris didn't introduce them to the bot standing in the back, rather the white mech walked over himself to say hello. He introduced himself as Jazz.
"Don' mind me lookin' all tough and scary in th' back there, Ah'm a big fan of human allies hangin' roun' base," he greeted.
"Jazz is the cool one," Miko promised, to which the white bot chuckled good-naturedly. Icelyn suspected he was just as apprehensive of new faces as she was. She and Jade were here on a matter of their own safety, but the mechs had no idea if they could trust two random humans off the street.
"What about big red?" Jade asked quietly, shooting a curious glance at the massive leader.
"That's the Autobots leader" Raf said.
"OP himself," Miko added.
"Optimus Prime," Jack finished.
"He's like, space Jesus," Miko explained, like that cleared it up perfectly.
"What about him?" Jade asked, pointing to the orange and white mech who was typing away at a computer.
"I can hear you, and my name is Ratchet," the mech said in a clipped tone, without looking up from his work.
"Touchy," Jade said quietly to herself. Icelyn heard her and shot her a look. Pissing off metal titans was not on the to-do list.
"What about the two that brought us here?" Icelyn asked. There seemed to be a theme of bots pairing with humans and she had a feeling she knew who was assigned to her and her twin. She was looking around but the red and gold mechs were nowhere in sight.
"Who the terror twins?" Miko asked. "They're probably off sulking now since they finally got put on curbside duty."
"Curbside duty?" Icelyn asked.
"Heh, they're your personal taxis now that the cons know of your existence," Bulkhead explained. Well that confirms it. Icelyn thought.
"How are we going to explain this to Harper?" Icelyn asked her twin.
"Don't worry, we know how to stay off parent radar," Arcee joked.
"Not that you have to," Jack pointed out to the small femme.
"Why not?" Icelyn questioned.
"Jack's mom June is privy to our existence," Arcee explained.
"Can we tell Harper about you then? If we're going to be here a lot, I'd rather not lie to her," Icelyn pointed out. To Icelyn's surprise it was Optimus who spoke up.
"While I understand your concern Icelyn, I do not know if it is wise to endanger more humans than is necessary by clueing them in to our war," Optimus explained.
"Woah, wait. War?" Icelyn said reeling. She realized they were fighting but war was different from a couple bad bots. War was a much larger scale, and it meant there were a lot more Decepticons out there than just the purple mechs that attacked the other night.
"I wish I could say otherwise, but it was indeed war that brought us to your planet," Optimus said solemnly.
"He and Megatron have been rivals since like – forever," Miko said, stretching her arms.
"Megatron?" Icelyn repeated.
"The leader of the Decepticons," Optimus explained.
"He's th' Cybertronian version o' Darth Vader," Jazz added.
"Wicked," Jade said, and Miko nodded in agreement.
"Optimus, if this is a war, isn't it safer if we're not apart of it?" Icelyn asked steeling her nerves. The leader of the Autobots commanded authority, but no one was going to tell her and her sister what was best for their safety if they were wrong. Optimus however did not seem upset. He gave her a respectful nod before talking.
"The Decepticons often attempt to gain the upper hand by any means necessary, and they have not been above human hostages in the past. It is for this reason that we have brought you into our fight. We are better able to protect you if you are with us. If circumstances were different, I wouldn't dream of bringing you and your twin into our war," Optimus explained.
"I had my doubts about the bots when I first joined Team Prime too," Jack said suddenly. Icelyn turned to him in surprise.
"But the bots are pros. Arcee has saved my life more times than I can count. There's no one better to protect you, and there aren't better friends to have," Jack promised. For some reason, the human reference reassured her a lot more.
"Plus, if you stick around you can get to know us," Raf said kindly.
"Yeah we need another girl around base, you never know, we might be besties," Miko said raising her eyebrows at them. Jade grinned at the pink haired girl.
Icelyn made eye contact with Jade, and she didn't need to ask to know that her sister wanted to stay. She turned to Optimus.
"We'll stay, but we have to be home by seven and I'll keep Harper out of it unless it comes down to lying," Icelyn bargained.
"Very well," Optimus agreed with a polite nod of his head.
Suddenly Jade was throwing her arms around her, nearly knocking Icelyn over.
"Thanks sis," she said.
"Don't act stupid," Icelyn said sternly. Jade just nodded eagerly.
"Perhaps take the rest of the day to get to know you're new teammates," Optimus suggested, before turning and walking deeper into the base.
"Does that not include him?" Icelyn asked the others as the Prime disappeared from view.
"Don't mind him, Prime's don't exactly do socializing," Arcee explained.
That's one kind of leadership I suppose. Icelyn thought absentmindedly as her sister began chatting away with Miko and Bulkhead.
She turned back to the small crowd of bots and kids as her mind raced. Her mind couldn't grasp the reality of their new situation quite yet, but she had a feeling that if she and her sister weren't careful, what was a science fiction adventure would quickly turn into something much more deadly.
Sunstreaker wasn't a friendly autobot. Ask any of his comrades and they would be the first to tell you that 'welcoming' was not part of his personality. He became an Autobot to be a soldier, not a human chaperone – sue him.
Unfortunately, no matter how many one word answers and exasperated sighs he delivered, his new human tagalong didn't seem to get it. He wished he had gotten the blonde one instead of Sides. She at least seemed quiet. The girl in his passenger seat had a purple colored 'punk' haircut as Miko would've put it and a personality to match.
"How long have you been on earth?"
"Too long."
"Do you like it here?"
"No."
"What's Cybertron like?"
"Dead."
"What do you mean dead?"
"Uninhabitable."
"Oh. What did you do before the war?"
"Killed for sport."
"Ha, you're funny."
"…"
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
"What was that like?"
"Do you ever run out of questions?" Sunstreaker snapped finally.
"I only have twenty four left before I'm out for the day," Jade replied smoothly. Sunstreaker was confused before realizing the human was joking with him.
"Well, do me a favor and use those twenty four on some bot else," he grumbled.
"Come on, we're partners now. Don't tell me you're not at all interested in humans," Jade said wiggling her eyebrows.
"We're not, and I'm not," was his short reply.
"I bet there's plenty you don't know about us," she pressed.
"I'd like to keep it that way."
"Bet you didn't know we change color," she said slyly.
Sunstreaker had to admit that no, he wasn't aware of that fact, but he didn't give in.
"Cybertronians can too, it's not that original."
"Well, our skin turns red if we're out in the sun too long, we're not just switching paint."
"It's amazing your species has survived this long given how unequipped you are even for your own planet," Sunstreaker drawled.
"Oh come on, there's nothing on Cybertron that's hazardous to your health?" Jade shot back.
"Well, I mean acid rain isn't exactly meant for any living creature," Sunstreaker pointed out.
"Acid rain? And you think earth is bad. The rain here is plain old water," she shot back.
"If I agree that water rain is better than acid rain will you stop asking questions?" Sunstreaker tried.
"Square deal, but my question counter resets tomorrow."
Sunstreaker engines rumbled in annoyance and Jade laughed.
"This is me," Jade said and Sunstreaker pulled over in front of the small house he had collected her from the same morning.
"See you tomorrow Sunshine," Jade said cheerily before hopping out.
"It's Sunstreaker," he replied grouchily before taking off down the road, leaving the human on her doorstep staring after him.
He didn't care how many question the human asked, they were never going to be lifecycle.
ONE DAY EARLIER
Optimus's eyes widened as a manifestation of Unicron himself emerged from the cliff face. The Chaos Bringer had stirred from his slumber and was prepared to wreak havoc on the earth in order to extinguish the last Prime's spark.
"Know me as Unicron, YOU'RE DESTROYER!" The titanous mech of rock bellowed, and charged forward.
Optimus met the god with force parrying his blows with his own two blades. He fought Unicron off him and spoke before the violent god could strike again.
"I humbly request your ear, Lord Unicron." Optimus said lowering his head in respect.
"And what would a Prime be so compelled to say to me," Unicron demanded. Optimus took that as his cue to continue.
"I make this appeal not for myself, but for this planet which you constitute and the beings who inhabit it. Human kind relied upon you for life, sustenance. Your resurrection will only result in the destruction of a species which evolved from the seeds of your very greatness," Optimus explained. He knew it was an argument of desperation, and he waited for Unicron to declare humans as pests.
"This humankind of which you speak. You consider them my progeny?" The god mused.
"Indeed," Optimus agreed, setting his jaw gear.
"Then it will be by my progeny's hand that you will perish," Unicron boomed. Before another word could be spoken, the rock apparition crumbled into nothingness.
Optimus reeled for a moment, wondering if what he had said worked, but as his processor caught up with the facts – a terrible thought occurred to him. He activated his comm.
:Ratchet, are all the children at base and accounted for: he asked urgently. It was a moment before the surely medic replied and Optimus felt her spark flutter in worry.
:They're all here Optimus: Ratchet responded. Optimus was about to let out a relieved sigh when Ratchet continued.
:Scratch that. Sideswipe has not returned with Icelyn: Ratchet clarified.
:Bridge them to base, now: Optimus demanded.
:Optimus? Is everything okay?: Ratchet asked.
:I'll explain everything when I'm back: Optimus promised.
A moment later a ground bridge opened to take him home and he stepped through.
When he came through the bridge, the base was already in chaos.
Optimus located the source of the panic instantly.
It was Icelyn.
She was floating in the middle of the base, purple light surrounding her, pouring from her. Her eyes were glowing and she was limp like some religious sacrifice. Jade was standing beneath her, shouting her sister's name.
The matrix reacted before Optimus did. He felt his chest cavity open and a strike of glowing blue light erupted from the ancient relic – heading straight for the small human girl.
The aura around Icelyn deflected the matrix's blow. The power of the matrix – of Primus – reflected straight down.
Straight towards Jade.
It struck her square in the chest and she collapsed, unconscious. A moment later, Icelyn's ominous aura disappeared and she too fell unconscious towards the ground.
Optimus reached forward, but Sideswipe was faster. He snatched Icelyn deftly out of the air and cradled her close to his spark worry and fear apparent in his optics.
Everyone turned to Optimus with a varying degree of question and concern.
Optimus, for once, did not have an answer.
TODAY
Sideswipe was known for many qualities but worry was not one of them. He was always the 'relax Sunny' 'chill our bro' 'don't sweat it o brother of mine' kind of mech.
However, as Icelyn awoke the next morning on Ratchet's medical berth – eyes glowing like the Dark Lord himself – worry was beginning to make itself very comfortable in his spark.
"By the allspark," Ratchet gasped as Icelyn rose off the berth into the air. She floated through the air towards the ground bridge controls as the entire base watched in fear.
"Optimus, shouldn't we stop her?" Sideswipe demanded. He could feel his engine rumbling in anxiety.
"No, I fear Icelyn is currently being controlled by Unicron. Interfering with his control could spell disaster for her," Optimus said gravely.
"Well – we have to do something," Sideswipe's voice was strained now. This slag never happened to Jack, Raf or Miko. Why did he and Sunny get the humans that got possessed.
Icelyn, or rather Unicron, opened a ground bridge portal and floated through it.
"What are you waiting for!" Miko shouted suddenly. Everyone turned to her.
"Follow her!" She shouted, pointing at the open ground bridge. Optimus was closest and threw himself towards the bridge transforming as he went. He drove through and before anyone else could act the bridge vanished with a snap of energy.
Sideswipe stared in horror at the empty space.
"Don't worry," Sunny said gravely, coming to stand next to him.
"Prime will bring him back," he said certainly. Sideswipe said nothing. He couldn't speak over the knot of guilt in his throat.
It had barely been a day and he had already failed Icelyn.
All those days of wanting a human partner and he screwed it up. Primus, why did he screw everything up.
You didn't screw anything up.
Sideswipe dismissed his brother's side of the bond.
Don't ignore me. You know that I'm right. Unicron would've gotten her one way or another.
Sideswipe blocked his brother's thoughts out of his spark. Sunny had never wanted a human charge. He didn't understand what it meant to Sideswipe to fail one.
Before the two could fight further, Optimus came on the comm and requested a bridge back.
Sideswipe stood straight as the Prime walked through, but the large mech was empty handed.
"What happened?" Ratchet asked.
"Unicron is using Icelyn's body as a means of attack against me. I had to return to avoid a fight from which her body would likely not have survived," Optimus explained in his grave tone.
"So, we just let Unicron wander free with her body?" Sideswipe demanded.
"Yeah, who's to say this Cron guy won't hurt her while he's out on vacation," Miko pointed out.
"I believe Unicron's intent is not to hurt Icelyn, but to take revenge on Primus and by extent, me," Optimus said.
"He's using a human because he knows you care about us," Jack said in a worried tone.
"But why Icelyn? She just met us," Raf pointed out.
"Because Icelyn wasn't at base when Unicron attacked," Sideswipe realized. "She was the easiest target, because I didn't take her here, where it's safe," he said bitterly.
"Sideswipe, while you were in charge of Icelyn's safety, I do not blame you for what has happened. I am certain we will find a way to free her from Unicron's control," Optimus said certainly.
"Free who?" A voice said from the ground.
Everyone turned to see Jade waking up. She rubbed her eyes and peered up at them questioningly.
She was met with a long silence that no one wanted to break.
To everyone's surprise it was Sunstreaker who acted. He knelt down and held out a servo.
"Let's go for a drive," he said in a soft tone. The only reason everyone heard it was because of how quiet the rest of base was.
Jade looked around confused, but stepped into his hand. Sunstreaker transformed, Jade landing in his passenger seat.
The two drove off without another word.
"Is it safe for them to be out there with Unicron roaming around?" Jack asked.
"Sunstreaker is a capable warrior," Optimus said in a final sort of way. Sideswipe turned to Jack.
"I feel sorry for any mech that gets in my brother's way when he's serious about something. Even if that mech is the chaos bringer."
Jade fidgeted nervously in Sunstreaker's seat as they drove out into the Nevada dessert. The sun was beginning to set, but then the sun always seemed to be setting here.
"So, things seemed kind of intense back there. Did something happen?" Jade asked finally.
"Your sister's been taken," Sunstreaker said, again in that soft tone. However, the soft tone did not stop the alarm that suddenly raced in Jade's heart.
"Taken?! By who the Decepticons?" She practically shouted. She expected Sunstreaker to have some grumpy thing to say about her outburst but was again met with a soft tone.
"By Unicron. He's an ancient god from Cybertron. The god of chaos and destruction. He's taken over Icelyn's body as revenge on Optimus," he explained calmly.
"Wait wait, what! You said you were going to keep us safe!" Jade demanded.
"No one could have stopped this."
"Then why the hell did you say you could protect us!"
"I understand how you feel," Sunstreaker told her.
"How could possibly know what it's like for your last family to be possessed by an evil god," Jade deadpanned.
"I don't mean the god part, but I know you're worried for Icelyn," he said.
"You don't understand, if something happens to her – that's it. The rest of my family –"
Jade got quiet and opted to look out the window at the ground racing by. Her eyes were watering and she had promised she wouldn't cry about it again. There was a stretch of silence that was only filled by the road under Sunstreaker's wheels.
"It was the Fall of Praxus." Sunstreaker said, interrupting the breakdown that was threatening to spill. Jade looked at the steering wheel, which lit up when he talked and felt similar to looking at his face.
"The Fall of Praxus?" She repeated, prompting the mech to continue.
"Sideswipe and I were supposed to hold the bridge from Kaon to Praxus. Nothing in or out. We held the bridge for cycles. Eventually, Megatron got tired of sieging the bridge and showed up himself to finish the job. My brother and I are pit fighters but even we weren't a match for the Kaon Champion himself. He beat Sideswipe nearly to the point of offlining. I thought losing him was going to be the last thing I felt but – Megatron recognized us. He wanted one of us to deliver a message to Optimus and knew that we both needed to be alive for that to happen."
"Why?" Jade asked.
"My brother and I are a split spark. If one half dies, there can be no other."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Jade said quietly.
"Don't be. If Sideswipe died I'd rather die with him. I can't imagine living without him, which is why I understand what you must be feeling because if Icelyn dies, you have to keep living, and it's that very idea that keeps me up at night."
"I'm sorry for loosing my shit, but I guess you can understand why?"
"I do."
"Well then, what's the plan for getting her back because if I'm going to not freak out about this then you can be damn sure I'm not gonna stop working until she's safe."
"I know."
There was another silence, but a comfortable one this time as the beginnings of understanding passed between the two life forms.
"And Sunshine, thanks," Jade said quietly.
"It's Sunstreaker.
Well hey chapter one. Please leave a review if you have feedback or thoughts you wanna share, or if you just wanna say hi. I appreciate the heck out of every comment I get. FUEL FOR THE FIRE - heh. ANYway - make sure to subscribe cuz there will be more chapters to come.
Keep Writing Keep Reading, Nova Out ;)