(A/N:) alright, chapter 2, coming your way! I'm sorry if things seem slightly rushed in this chapter, I'm not sure why it turned out that way. I will endeavour to slow the pace of thing in the future!
And so begins the true story!
To Be A Faction Again
Chapter: 2
A New Threat Emerges
And An Old Guardian Awakens
Hunting
Gathering
Building
Recharge
Repeat
Three years of it, nonstop.
After Prowl never showed, the team forced themselves to change their demeanor, all of them acting like it was one huge game.
Or as Rewire and Sideswipe liked to put it, constant hype mode.
Ironhide found that if they worked nonstop to keep their spirits up they had an easier time coming to standards with their current standing.
Left alone, on a dead planet filled with enemies, and no hope of rescue.
Yeah, life was a little bit grim at the moment.
Yelling and cheering was a constant, and Ironhide knew that if they hadn't kept themselves in that constant energetic high, most of them most likely would have fallen into a deep depression. Several had already come dangerously close.
For three years they gathered broken metals and hid deep within decayed buildings, struggling to stay in high spirits as their energon supplies ran dangerously low.
In the time that had passed something had changed in all of them, and not just from the war. The fact that they knew that they were really and truly left behind and forgotten hit them hard.
The younglings had little to no hope of ever getting off Cybertron, and Ironhide could see in the eyes of his men that this broke their sparks more than anything.
"They're supposed to be so full of life," Trailbreaker had said to him one day, "to see their little optics so dead… I don't know what we're gonna do 'Hide. Frag this war… those kids deserved a childhood…"
The two younglings, Roller and Rewire, had grown a lot physically. Where before they had mini-bot frames, in their place stood full grown bots.
Although they were still rather slim, both of them being two wheelers, the two could pack an incredible punch.
But despite the little bots optics being dull, the two best friends forced themselves to join in the never ending ecstatic buzz.
After all these years of fighting to survive, they had never expected the drastic situation that was about to be thrown at them.
In the middle of a decaying field of rust just outside the boundaries of the ruins of Iacon, two nearly identical mechs glided swiftly across the landscape. Skating along their wheeled feet, the two mechs motions were in perfect unison, when one moved left so did the other. Perfect harmony.
"Oi! Boys!" a loud, deep voice echoed across the dead plains, causing the two twin mech to skid to a stop.
Together the two looked towards the location of the voice, their sky blue optics landing on a huge red and black mech, with enormous canons on both arms. The large red mech seemed to raise an optic ridge at them from where he stood, his servos firmly planted on his hips as he gave them a disapproving glare.
"Really?" he said in the dullest voice they had ever heard.
One of the twins broke into a fit of giggles, placing a servo on the back of their head.
"Sorry 'Hide, we had to get out of there for a bit! its way too cramped in there for our liking!" said the red twin, his light grey face plates flushing slightly.
The larger mech growled angrily, baring his teeth at the two, "Well your little escapade put everyone in our base at risk! You both know that we are not the only ones left on Cybertron, and the Decepticons still have a strong foot hold here!"
The second twin, a yellow and black mech with a gleaming finish, growled right on back and leaned forwards, "No one saw us, 'Hide! And even if they did we would have taken care of them!"
"That is not the point!" the older mech yelled, "the two of you knowingly put not just yourselves, but everyone inside our base at risk! You both know that if the Decepticons caught wind of our location, we would quite literally have no defence!"
At the mechs outburst the two finally had the decency to look guilty, the red twin looking down embarrassedly while his yellow twin just huffed and looked away.
"Sorry 'Hide, won't happen again…" The red twin mumbled.
Ironhides shoulders slumped as he heaved a great sigh, closing his optics tiredly.
"That's what you said the last time" He grumbled.
The red twin once again began to laugh nervously, crossing his arms across his chest.
Sideswipe and Sunstreaker stood behind Ironhide, attempting to use him as some sort of shield as the two young medi bots in front of them practically exploded.
"How could you have been so foolish!? Do you even comprehend just how idiotic you are!?" screamed a small red, white, and grey femme, her small hands on tight fists, just about ready to punch them.
"You better start running before we start to channel the CMO, I have quite the collection of wrenches in my subspace!" said the other, a light blue mech with a scowl on his face.
The twins began to step further behind Ironhide when the large weapons specialist simply stepped out of the way and swung his arms towards them welcomingly.
"Be my guest," he said, wiggling his servos a little bit, "they deserve it"
"hey hey hey hey hey! No. hey!" Sideswipe began to ramble, holding his arms out in front of his as if to block them, "Don't!"
"Don't you dare…" Sunstreaker growled, although he too had his arms up in defence.
The small femme reaches up behind her, a wrench falling into her hand from her subspace, before she slowly brought her hand back in front of her, holding the tool menacingly.
"You got till the count of three" She hissed.
"Running!" the twins yelled in unison as they twisted around and began to run down the hall and around a corner.
"Commencing channeling the Hatchet!" she shrieked after them. She angrily yelled as she raised her wrench arm, running down the dull orange hallway after them.
"Hey, wait for me! I want to throw stuff at them too!" the blue mech called, he too pulling a wrench from subspace before taking chase.
Ironhide stood there for several moments, listening to the echoes of yells and screaming from the twins drifted from further and further away before he sighed and grumbled to himself.
"Younglings…"
Several hours had passed, and Ironhide sat with the several other Autobots inside the base.
A deep green mech sat on his left, small but well built, fiddling with a broken blaster in his lap. Hound, A talented warrior, known for his life like holograms he uses to fool Decepticons and lure them into traps.
An old, good friend.
On the other side of Hound sat a large, heavy black mech, with a red visor. He moved with great slow movements as he tried to help Hound with the broken weapon, before giving up and going back to reading with an old data pad. Trailbreaker, another old friend, whom Ironhide had made it his mission to help boost the poor mechs self-esteem.
The old weapons specialist moved his attention towards the far corner of the room where a tall slim mech stood, blue and white paint as bright and prideful as ever, and orange collar plating guarding his neck cables. Gold optics were dull in thought as the noble mech was lost in his thoughts. Mirage, a talented Autobot spy, capable of covering himself with invisibility cloaking, and a former noble. The mech still was very obviously influenced by both his upbringing and high cast programing, by the way he spoke and the soft hidden accent in his voice.
Suddenly there was a crash, causing Ironhide to raise an optic ridge as he turned his gaze towards the source… to his right, under the table…
The old bot lazily tilted his entire upper body upside down and peered under the metal surface, raising his optic ridge even higher at the scene he was presented with.
Roller and his small silver and blue frame, was caught in one of the strangest positions the old mech had ever witnessed. Legs up behind his back, pinned there by the underside of the table, arms crammed in odd angles.
"how did you manage that?" 'Hide asked dully, causing the little mech to look up at him with wide eyes.
Rollers optics shifted to the side before looking back at his commanding officer.
"I dunno" he said with wide eyes.
Ironhide was silent for a few moments before he made a perplexed face, "why are you even under the table, Roller?"
The silver two wheeler moved his helm to look over himself slightly before once again turning his gaze back to the red mech.
"I was dancing, obviously. What, never danced until you got stuck under a table before?"
With a snort of laughter and a roll of his optics, Ironhide reached under and tugged at Rollers midsection, pulling him out roughly from under the desk.
"Get out of there you big weirdo"
The large mech stood up fully, throwing Roller over his shoulder, earning a dull 'Ow' from the youngling, before he turned to face where Trailbreaker was sitting, only to find the black mech had placed his data pad on the ground and was gazing at him in obvious amusement.
"Having fun there?" he asked.
Ironhide grunted and swung his shoulder at the other mech, making the youngling on his shoulder yelp slightly.
"Do you want your youngling back?" 'Hide asked bluntly, swinging Roller around a little bit more, forcing stifled giggles from the mech.
Trailbreaker made a highly amused face, optic ridge rising beneath his visor, before he held his arms out towards Ironhide.
"Give 'im here" the black mech chuckled.
Ironhide grunted and swung Roller of his shoulder and gently throwing him at Trailbreaker.
"He's yours"
By this point the young mech was in a fit of laughter by the time that Trailbreaker caught him, bringing the silver mech close to his face.
"What the heck were you doing under the table, you little scraplet?" he rumbled lowly, a fatherly smile on his face plates.
Roller grinned and leaned in closer, "…Dancing… vigorously"
From where he was sitting, Hound let out a snort of laughter, snickering as he made a perplexed face.
"What the frag does that even mean?" he managed to laugh out.
Roller grinned widely and swung his head to gaze at Hound upside down.
"Tis a mystery, wrapped in an enigma…"
Trailbreaker blinked slowly, "wow, you weirdo"
All Roller responded with was a little wiggle of his optic ridges.
Suddenly the entire room shook violently, causing all of them to break out of there little fun moment. Snapping to attention, Trailbreaker pulled the silver youngling flush against his chassis and slammed to two of them against the floor, covering the little mech protectively as Roller yelled out in surprise.
Not even a second later, Ironhide and Hound joined them upon the ground, covering their helms with their arms as the room continued to violently shake.
The poor spy in the corner was rudely snapped from his inner thoughts, the tremor tossing him about on his peds before he finally lost all hope of finding his balance again, falling to the ground with a yell.
"What's going on!?" he yelled in shock, attempting to shield himself as debris began to fall from the ceiling.
"No fragging clue!" Ironhide shouted.
As soon as it came about, the violent tremors stopped.
After several seconds of silence, the Autobots began to cautiously raise their heads, glancing around at the now dirt covered surfaces around the room.
"What the ever loving frag was that!?" Roller yelled, clutching his arms tightly around Trailbreakers neck.
Ignoring Mirage, who mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'Language', Ironhide slowly lifted himself back up onto his peds, the other Autobots looking up at him for an answer.
"I haven't the slightest…" he mumbled lowly, face conflicted, "Hound, please com Rewire, Jolt, and the twins, make sure they're alright. The rest of you, follow me. We're going to head to the surface to see if we can spot any explanation for what just occurred."
With a chorus of 'Yes sir!', everyone began to stand.
Hound lifted a servo to the side of his helm, where his com unit was located, and began to speak quickly.
"Autobots Rewire, Jolt, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker, please respond and confirm your location"
As the green mech went silent, seemingly listening to a response, Ironhide turned to the other three mechs present.
"let's be off then" he said shortly, turning and walking towards the door with powerful strides.
Trailbreaker gently placed Roller on the ground, allowing the small mech to walk beside him as the two and Mirage followed their leader out the door.
Mirage glanced back at Hound once, concern on his face, before he fully stepped out of the room.
All was silent for a moment, the green mech still not speaking as he waited for the bots on the other end of the line to finish.
He took a deep intake in.
"Yeah, that's just the thing, we have no idea either" he said worriedly. He fell silent again.
Quietly Ironhide poked his head back into the room, whistling slightly to get the green mechs attention.
"when you're done, please meet us outside" and with that, the red mech left again.
Silence followed his exit as Hound breathed deeply and trailed his gaze around the room.
"what the frag"
Outside the run down base, Mirage, Trailbreaker, and Roller stood, blank faced and wide optics as they stared at the sky in silent shock.
Loud footsteps sounded as Ironhide trudged out of the hidden entrance, catching up with the members of his team.
When none of them even acknowledged his presence he made a slight face.
"What the frag are you all staring at- HOLY PRIMUS ON A RUST STICK"
Ironhide, just like his team members before him, froze in his spot, mouth falling open as he stared with wide optics into the sky.
The sky was the same as it was any day, dead, grey, and lacking all sound. That is, if you chose to ignore the giant space bridge, along with the huge swarm of decaying mechs and femmes rushing towards it.
"By the Allspark…" 'Hide breathed, his spark sinking, "what-what is this?"
"All those people… they-they're offline!" Mirage whispered in disbelief, lifting a servo to cover his gaping mouth.
They all breathed heavily as the watched and listened, loud unholy screams and cries filling the stale air as more and more long dead Cybertronians forced themselves out from the ground, missing limbs and broken bodies having no effect.
"T-This is… so wrong" Trailbreaker hissed, optics panicked.
"Who dare defile our fallen comrades and ancestors in such a fashion?!" Mirage rumbled dangerously, his optics briefly flashing red as he curled his clawed servos threateningly.
All was silent, aside from the dead cries, before Ironhide spoke softly, "Who do we know who has zero respect, or regard, for those he believes lower than him…?"
Optics flared angrily, and Ironhide could tell they had all come up with the same answer.
"Megatron" Hissed Roller.
Visor flashing vivid red, Trailbreaker protectively placed a servo on Rollers shoulder guard, pulling the little mech closer to him as he growled.
"He killed our planet, and he still wants more…" he hissed, "wait until that fragger gets a taste of my ion blasters…!"
Several pares of running footsteps came up behind them, lurching to a stop right beside the weapons specialist. He knew who it was even before they spoke.
"W-What is that?!" Hound yelled.
The twins arms were limp at their sides as they too stared in shock.
"Holy mother of-"
Before either could finish their sentence yet another violent tremor began, this time accompanied by the horrid sound of an explosion.
They bots yelped in shock and surprise as they were once again thrown off their feet, tossed onto the ground as the explosion rocked the planets very core.
"WHAT THE FRAG IS GOING ON!?" Sideswipe yelled over the chaos.
Jolt looked up, before he gasped and called out, "GUYS! THE SPACE BRIDGE! IT'S COLLAPSING!"
They all looked up and sure enough the enormous space bridge that had only briefly occupied the sky was fluxing dangerously, energy lashing out at the hoard of undead Cybertronians. Straining their optics, set onto the highest setting, they could just barely make out the figure of the undead creature at the very front of the pack reach out desperately, the tips of his fingers only just brushing through the spiraling vortex, before the entire thing violently burst into an eruption of light.
Ironhide forced his men together roughly, dragging them to the side and beneath a large piece of fallen building, attempting to shield them as best he could from the shockwave of the explosion. Trailbreaker and Hound forced the younglings underneath them, completely covering their small frames with their own.
The sound was so intense Ironhide found himself unconsciously shutting off his audial sensors. That didn't, however, stop him from feeling the vibrations of every explosion that ripped through the air. Looking desperately towards his team, he watched in a protective panic as with every shock, every violent quake, their mouths opened in fearful yells.
The unstable buildings around them began to tumble in the intensity of the attack, the one closest to them on the left began to topple towards them.
The last sound heard, by any of them, the high pitch scream of young Rewire, before their worlds were suddenly turned black.
Rebooting, please wait…
…
…
Reboot complete
Reporting current status
Status: Online
Energon levels: under 20% - require immediate refuel
Time since last online: 3,240 stellar-cycles
Suggestion: refuel and-
Shut up.
Shut up shut up shut up SHUT UP.
This isn't right… I-I should have never woken back up… I was…
Energon 20%, online 3,240 stellar-cycles ago- 3,240!?
No
Nononononono
Who did this to me?!
Who would dare do this to me?!
…
What is that scratching sound…
What- what is that SOUND?
Follo-…-OBEY-…-DESTROY THE AUTOBOTS AND THEIR PRI-
Oh dear, so that's what that sound was.
Pffft.
How dare someone desecrate my final resting place with the foolish notion of controlling me!
No one commands Cyclonus!
NO ONE!
…
"I believe you need to calm down, brave warrior… you are safe with me…"
…
That's…
Alright, maybe I do heed his commands..
BUT ONLY HIS
(A/N:) and it was thus that the first sub plot of the story began~
I would like to remind everyone that subplots do eventually meet up with the main plot, and also play a big role in the story.
And hooray, Primus once again makes an appearance, however small it may have been!
Also, clarification for the future, all subplots will be written very vaguely, and in italics, as so not to cause confusion.
Alright, thank you for reading, and please if you can offer some constructive criticism to help me improve both my own writing skills, and this story