The alien kid's outburst and running away with the Autobots has been a welcome distraction and an excellent way to get rid of most of the other natives.
But not all.
The lead scientist remains in his seat, letting out something like a tired sigh as he turns his attention back to where Starscream is struggling against his bonds.
He won't to be able to get out.
Not on his own.
Growling silently, Ravage stretches his neck and bites down on the bonds of his right front leg.
The Energon filling his mouth has long stopped flowing. The cut made when a denta-modeled piece of metal broke and slashed the inside of his mouth was small enough that it wasn't too much to worry about.
However, his bonds are too tight.
Ravage can hear the razor start to whirl again and the Air Commander's pleas, but the alien scientist seems deaf to them.
When the shrieking of metal against metal fills his audials, shaking him to his very spark, the Cassette finds enough strength to rip off the clamp, half of his lower jaw breaking with it.
Not losing another nanoklik, he transforms to his biped variant. The changes are minuscule, with his paws unfolding into servos, and the angle between his hips and hind legs readjusting for bipedal movement, so they don't catch any unwanted attention. But they allow Ravage to reach one of his guns on his hips with his freed arm, and bending painfully, he manages to shoot the alien right in the eye.
The giant jerks back with a yelp, razor thrown away from the quivering red and white frame. Without hesitation, the Cassette destroys Soundwave's bonds with a couple of well-placed shots, and together, they make short job of the rest of the clamps keeping them down and go free the Seekers.
Thrust is visibly shaken, optics almost white in horror as he wobbles to his pedes. His nosecone-shaped helm bears a long fissure that makes Ravage worry about his processor, and his plating has almost shattered after all the continuous crashes. Still, while surprised at the Cassette's new biped stance, he still recognizes him and the need to escape.
Starscream, on the other servo, only moans as Soundwave pulls him up to a seating position.
His canopy is gone, a fine golden dust mixing with the Energon covering his front. His chest plates haven't been completely broken through, miraculously, but his cockpit has been ripped apart and sparks flicker dangerously from now exposed cables.
With a menacing snarl, the alien giant rises again. One eye is closed and bleeding purplish, and one of his hands is held high and open, about to slap them against the table.
Soundwave jerks to his pedes in front of the other Decepticons and releases an audial-splitting sonic burst that makes the other Cybertronian flinch back with pained yelps. The alien scientist shrieks, louder than any time before, and collapses once more with a small quake.
They clear their audials of the remaining static with some shakes of their helms while Soundwave pants tiredly, still standing guard. Ravage, now helping Starscream stay upright, has no time to worry about his Carrier when the Air Commander starts fiddling with his wound. It takes only a nanoklik of watching shaky blue dactyls pull at broken Energon lines, before Ravage realizes just what Starscream's trying to do.
Focusing on nothing else, the Cassette starts tying up the broken tubing to stop the Energon loss, and connects those wires he knows go together while isolating the rest. The first aid may be pitiful at best, but it still earns him a grateful pat on a shoulder plate before the Seeker stands.
"Starscream—"
"It's not as bad as it seems," the Air Commander cuts, voice filled with static and sounding weak, but after a couple of wobbling steps, he seems to recover his balance easily.
Even then, Ravage has to wonder if the bent wings aren't giving him more trouble than the slashed chest plates and cockpit.
"Let's go, before that scrap-heap recovers," he hisses, glaring at the edge of the table, before picking a startled Soundwave up and taking to the air with a burst from his turbines.
The Communications Officer hangs on tightly, arms around the shoulder vents with his visor a pale pink in worry and dread. But once airborne, Starscream barely wavers.
So, grabbing Ravage, Thrust takes to the air as well. Both Seekers rush towards the slightly open doors without a look back, immediately increasing their altitude to avoid unwanted attention, or find themselves in grabbing range once more.
"There they are!" Thrust shouts, pointing at the running alien kid while holding the Cassette close with his other arm.
For some nanokliks, they just follow and observe, until the alien trips as it turns to look at the guards chasing it – and some tiny colorful beings fall from its servos right through the spaces of a grate covering a hole in the ground.
The grown-up aliens soon enough manage to get the kid up and away, so the Decepticons cautiously land next to the grate once they're sure there are no other aliens around.
"Autobots: Located," Soundwave says, despite none of the others seeing any—
Ah, there. Getting out of the liquid as fast as they can.
The Seekers don't fly down as much as they let themselves fall, turbines engaging just before they crash.
Blue optics quickly land on them as Soundwave and Ravage are set on their feet, but for a long time, nothing happens.
Until Starscream steps forward, front and legs stained pink with new Energon.
Ravage makes a note to check those lines again in case one has reopened.
"Starscream," Prime whispers, startled at both their being there and their appearance, for he quickly looks over dents, cracks, Energon stains, and the Cassette's bipedal stance.
"I'm sure you will agree that this situation merits a truce," the Air Commander answers simply, voice still flecked with static, as he spreads his arms to gesture at the sewers they're in.
One look around, and Optimus deflates.
"Agreed. Any ideas how to get back to Earth?"
"As many as you do," Starscream sighs, tilting a bit to the side until Soundwave straightens him, and even then, he's obviously leaning against the Communications Officer. "Any possible energy sources?"
"None either."
Slowly, the Autobots approach, but even as tense as they are with their enemies' proximity, neither side attacks.
"Can I take a look at that?" Perceptor asks calmly, gesturing to Starscream's chest, and after a piercing look, the Seeker nods.
With the red mech looking after their commanding officer, Soundwave and Bumblebee update each other about the events since they last saw the other group at the lab. So, Ravage turns to Thrust.
The Conehead looks better now, but his slightly bent wings are shivering, and he's concentrating too hard in order to see the Autobots in the poor lighting.
The Cassette takes a step closer to him, unable to do anything else. Thrust relaxes minutely at his presence, though, so Ravage feels a lot better.
"Prime, we have company!" Smokescreen calls, weapon drawn, and everyone tenses as they turn to see glowing yellow eyes.
The beast stalking them is one of the tentacle-faced dark gray creatures, smaller than the six-legged ones but with equally sharp denta easily seen in its mouth. Unlike the one back in the alien kid's room, this one is even larger.
Both Ravage and Soundwave shiver and move away, the memories of the monsters chasing after them still too fresh to face this one.
"Attack at my signal! Now!" Optimus orders, and all blasters fire in unison as the creature jumps for them, sending it into the draining pipe with a pained shriek and a splash.
When it doesn't surface again, the Cybertronian lower their weapons.
"Hold it, guys! It looks like surf's up!" Inferno shouts, the rushing sounds reaching them an instant later, and the two Fliers straighten with loud curses.
"Climb in! Let's ride this wave to shore," Prime orders, taking hold of what look like open cans.
Grimacing in disgust, the Decepticons get into one while the Autobots jump into the other. There's no way the Seekers will be able to take them all to the surface in time, and they all know it.
As energy-preserving as riding in the cans is, Ravage and Soundwave still cling to Thrust and Starscream, in case they need to fly away.
It isn't exactly an emergency, but as their 'boats' fall down a comparably tiny waterfall, the Seekers take flight, calmly landing on the rock where the Autobots have jumped to safety.
The sky is darkening, planetary night falling, as they just stand there and finally take a moment to calm down.
"Query: Course of action," Soundwave asks, bringing their attention back to their predicament instead of the stars over them.
Red and blue optics exchange worried looks.
"I suggest we get back to Aron's house. He thinks of us as friends, and I believe we could convince him to trust you if you behave," Prime offers, and while the Decepticons sneer at the words, insulted, no one interrupts. "We could use his room as base of operations until we find a solution to this."
Unable to come up with anything better, Starscream and Soundwave exchange a look. With a simple nod, their trek begins.
The planet's two moons are almost halfway to their zenith, or what seems like it, and they've managed to scare away two of those feline six-legged pests with their combined shooting when they finally reach their objective. Despite what should be a late hour, the alien kid is leaning against the windowsill, looking through a shiny white telescope-like contraption.
"Now, all we need is a way to get inside," Prime muses out loud, looking at the Decepticons.
"We can't get all of you up there in one go," Starscream points out, sizing the Autobots. "You and Inferno will have to be the last, you're too big."
"And that will ensure our cooperation," Smokescreen adds, not fooled, and the Air Commander gives him a sharp smirk.
"Of course."
"And why would you come back for them?" the Doorwinger continues, glaring.
Carrier and creation exchange a look, before Soundwave steps forward.
"Ravage: Stay with Prime."
"It will do. Autobots, behave," Optimus agrees with a nod, and after some grumbling, his mechs all resign themselves.
Thrust takes Perceptor and Smokescreen, hanging off his servos, while Starscream grabs Soundwave and Bumblebee. Soon enough, without apparent problem, they land next to the startled and wary alien kid.
From where they are, Ravage can't make out what they say, but the yellow scout hugging the Air Commander and the Doorwinger patting the Conehead's shoulder plate seem to be enough to convince the alien that they're all 'friends' now. When the Fliers go back to the remaining mechs on the ground, the giant kid looks in awe and curiosity.
Climbing on Starscream's back as the Second in Command grabs Prime's servos, the Cassette finds himself feeling just how much damage the Seeker is dealing with. He overheats noticeably hauling the Autobot's weight, and his fans working overtime seems to have no effect.
Nevertheless, he doesn't let his worry show as they finally rejoin the others atop the desk in the kid's room. That doesn't mean he doesn't send his Carrier a flash of worry through their bond.
Soundwave makes sure to stay close to the Air Commander even after both Fliers sit on the ground, with Perceptor taking care of whatever shoddy repairs he can deal with.
The alien looks at the assorted Autobots and Decepticons in childish curiosity for a while, though confused at the pink stains of Energon all over the purple-branded mechs.
"Oh, wait! I know where I-be seen this!" the kid exclaims, startling them, as he moves to rummage through one drawer—
And pulls out the Energon cubes they had all forgotten about.
The cries of happiness are shared by both factions' members this time, as they reclaim the sparkly receptacles and share them without protest, one for every two mechs.
"Utilizing the Energon cubes, and if we can modify this telescope into some semblance of transport beam, we may be able to get back to Earth!" Perceptor exclaims after refueling, looking at the shiny white metal, while Starscream also analyzes it pensively.
"Yes, I believe we could do that," the Air Commander agrees after a moment, and as soon as everyone is done with their cubes, they all get to work following the two scientists' instructions.
They move the chatter to comm channels after a bit, though, for the alien is lying on the table, arms crossed with its head resting against them, deep in recharge.
When the apparently unchanged telescope is finally modified, the sky is lighting up again.
"Once activated, the beam will only remain for a short time," Perceptor tells them, serious, and after some nods, he turns to the control panel—
And freezes, optics pale and frame starting to shiver in despair as he turns to look at the sky.
"Something wrong?" Inferno asks, turning around to see what kind of danger they have to face now.
"I… don't know where Earth is."
And they all lock down, fear and defeat filling them.
"But surely you can find it, right?" Bumblebee pleads while the two Fliers exchange strange looks.
Serious, fearful yet determined, and after some kind of silent agreement is reached, Starscream turns to the Autobot scientist.
"Could you triangulate its position if you knew where Cybertron is?"
It slams hard enough to make the Cassette take a step back, hope flooding his systems once more.
Fliers always know where Cybertron is.
Obviously having arrived to that same realization, Perceptor smiles widely.
"I—Yes! Yes, I believe I could, if I had accurate enough data—"
"Thrust?" Starscream asks, and the Conehead wilts a bit under the pressure of all the visual arrays suddenly on him.
"Around there," he says simply after a moment of silence, gesturing at the paling sky. "I don't… My sensors aren't that good, and I'm not built for interstellar travel…"
"I'm going to need more than that," Perceptor points out, and both Fliers grimace.
"Around, huh… 257,000 megakils?" Thrust answers, though his tone makes it sound more like a question, and the scientist waves his servo in a vaguely circular motion, indicating he still needs more data. "Moving towards… that direction," he finally adds with another pointed dactyl.
This time, the rest of the Autobots and Soundwave react, helping move the telescope so that it's pointing in what the Conehead says is the right direction.
"What else?"
Thrust starts to fidget, nervousness, embarrassment, and anger in his faceplate.
With a tired sigh, Starscream grabs him and pulls him so that both stand under the cannon of the telescope.
Curious, the rest merely observe as both Seekers look up at the sky, the Conehead's wings twitching softly before he turns away with a grimace.
"Nothing else," he whispers, and a slow shake of Perceptor's helm tells them that it isn't enough.
"Are you completely sure you can get us to Earth with Cybertron's data?" Starscream hisses again, more forceful this time, as he glares at the startled Autobot scientist.
"Yes, of course. But I'll need some more information. A more accurate distance and location, as well as the movement vector to compare with our last readings and triangulate Earth's correct position—"
"Perceptor," Prime rumbles in a clear warning, optics offline as he rubs his forehelm in the human gesture of reaching for patience.
"Ah, as much data as you can get me," he finishes meekly, and Starscream grimaces before looking up at the sky again.
"Stay back," he orders after a moment, straightening, though he grabs Thrust's forearm when the Conehead makes to move away. "Not you. I need you to catch me."
"Catch—?"
The shriek is short but loud, forcing all Cybertronian to dial down their audials and hunch down as sparks, Cybertonium dust, and a spurt of Energon fall from the joints connecting Starscream's mangled wings to his back. The Air Commander arches with his faceplates contorted in agony, and Thrust is barely fast enough to catch him as his knee joints bend—
With another pained scream of gears and cabling, twisted and bent once-proud wings fall against a trembling Starscream's back plating. The lock that kept them immobile, with their uncountable sensors almost completely muted, has been disengaged.
Oh, Primus…
Ravage curls against Soundwave's side, not sure who is holding who upright, and unable to move or look away, regardless of how much they would like to. Starscream fights against the rush of sensory data, the plasma that must be scorching his wires and bombarding his spark at that very moment, shaking almost painfully in the tight grip a horrified Thrust keeps on him.
Slowly, the wings straighten, moving up and to the sides, and jerking so badly that it's impossible to know if it's a reaction to the pain or a conscious movement. Sparks still sputter out of the joints as struts and cables move against bent plating, with Energon now a constant stream.
Their comms crackle with static.
::256,443,813.250 hectakils…::
They all tense at the voice, more of a monotonous robotic drone than its previous high-pitched grating know-it-all tone.
::83 degrees of the planetary West, 16.5 of the North.::
Orders start coming from the comm with the Autobots, and they all get ready to move the telescope around, ignoring the now awake and confused alien kid staring at them.
::Moving South-Southeast at 833.6 kils per joor.::
"And taking into account Earth's orbit, the time passage and… Where are we in respect to Cybertron?" Perceptor asks, excitement morphing into a grimace as he turns to the trembling Fliers.
Thrust seems about to suffer a panic attack, and Starscream's optics are offline as he tries to stay active.
::28 X, plus 78 Y, minus 4 Z.::
"Move it this way!" Perceptor orders without missing a nanoklik, and without a word, they obey the scientist, carefully positioning the telescope. "Now, we need to get up to the lens. We need to be ready to jump when it activates."
"Aron!" the Autobot scout shouts, and startled, all visual arrays turn to see him bouncing happily in front of the kid while pointing at the objective lens. "Up! Get us up!" he tells the alien, and when it just observes in confusion, the Minibot rushes to grab a dactyl and pull until the giant obeys, letting its open hand rest in front of the two wary Seekers. "Everyone up!"
Finally realizing what is Bumblebee's plan, they all obey, with Perceptor being the last to join them as he programs the telescope.
And then, with some reaching gestures towards the objective lens, the confused alien lifts its hands so that they're hovering barely below the trajectory of the ray that will take them to Earth.
"Inferno, if you please."
"Right on it!"
The Autobot shoots at the short fuse next to the Energon cubes piled at the bottom of the telescope. It ignites almost immediately and starts to heat the piece of metal they've put the cubes on, like a frying pan. The Energon inside reacts to the heat, transfers to their modified telescope—
A beam of light shoots from the lens under them, and with Prime's deep 'now' echoing in their audials and the startled shout of the alien jerking back, the Cybertronian jump into it—
And their plating begins to boil as whipping winds slash them, and Ravage can only shout in pain and curl into Soundwave's embrace—
Five Earth days since the disaster at the baseball stadium, and no sign of his missing Decepticons.
If Megatron hadn't managed to get enough Energon cubes thanks to Prime's absence, and successfully sent them to Cybertron to make up for those lost, he would be in a really bad mood.
Scratch that, he is in a really bad mood.
Prime may be gone, but so are Soundwave and Starscream.
The Victory is eerily silent without them, mechs skittering around like scared solitary glitch mice, lost without their Commanders. Work is piling on Megatron's table at a fast rate.
Not to mention the depressed Seeker Trines and Laserbeak, who barely leaves the warlord's shoulder plate.
Shockwave, despite the Energon boost, hasn't called them back with news of the missing officers. The scans they have been conducting all over Earth, as well as the recorded comm call set on loop, have obtained no results either.
If this goes on much longer, Megatron will deactivate someone.
A beep as yet another scan pings completion, but the warlord pays it no mind. He's busy trying to decipher the report in front of him about whatever the Constructicons are asking for this time.
Slag it all, that's why he keeps Soundwave around! Or Starscream, in this case, because the list of materials is something that seems taken out of the obnoxious Seeker's voice box.
"We found them!" Spyglass shouts, and Megatron almost jumps out of his throne, Laserbeak exiting recharge at the sharp movement before starting to fly around with excited squawks.
"What—Where?!" the Decepticon leader thunders, rushing to stare at the screen. The map takes a nanoklik to be recognizable, but as soon as it does, Megatron turns to Spyglass. "Get Astrotrain ready!" he orders before rushing out of the bridge, the Cassette flying after him with happy chirps.
The Triple Changer is already waiting, along the two incomplete Trines. As soon as the tower rises, he transforms to Shuttle mode to allow them to board before flying to the given coordinates as fast as his engine allows.
Excitement fills the bay, but no one pays it attention, too busy with their own thoughts.
The flight is too long, the landing too rough, the braking too sudden. But the Decepticons just grumble as they get up from their fallen positions, and are out of the bay almost before the ramp is fully lowered, Megatron at the front.
As soon as he sees the missing mechs, lying in stasis lock at the lakeshore, the warlord freezes in place, optics paling in disbelief.
They're all scratched and more gray than colored, but the pink of spilt Energon dripping off their wet frames is too glaring bright. Their plating is dented, bent, pierced, and slashed. Thrust is missing his canopy, with most of the plating that is still attached to his frame cracked, alongside his reinforced nosecone-shaped helm. The thrice-layered glass-metal cover on Soundwave's chest compartment is almost completely gone, and his back is as full of holes as a pincushion. Ravage's lower jaw is nowhere to be found, and the Cassette is in his rarely seen bipedal variant. Starscream's chest plates are slashed open from neck struts to pelvic plating, and his wings are crushed and bent out of shape.
On the other side of the lake, equally scratched but in far better shape, the Autobots step out onto the shore.
His fusion cannon activates even before Megatron can send the command, blazing optics seeing only Prime—
The roaring of interstellar-capable engines distracts him, making Megatron turn to the Autobot Shuttle landing next to his enemies, more of those accursed glitches spewing out of the lowering ramp—
The Weapons Specialist's gun is lowered by Prime himself, no longer pointing at the Decepticons trying to apply basic repairs to their newly recovered companions as they carefully take them inside Astrotrain.
The Autobot leader turns around, staring into Megatron's optics, and for a short eternity, no one moves.
And then, as if of mutual accord, they both turn away from the other faction, getting into their respective transports and flying away as if the other party wasn't there.
Prime refuses to fight despite having the advantage of numbers, but the Decepticon leader doesn't bother trying to understand why.
He has more important matters to take care of.
UPDATED 09/01/2023: Corrected grammar.
AN: This chapter is named 'Iron Tag' because it's the name of the Tag variant where the base (gool, den, whatever) is when the player is touching iron. Alright, Cybertronian and the ships aren't really made of iron, but the game's over and they're safe now, so it fit.
About the first part: It always bothered me to see two green-clothed aliens inside but only one pursuing Aron... only to find out the other hadn't remained with the Cons, but that it had simply vanished. So, I solved it. I actually didn't expect to go so far with things...
Also, the reason the Autobots ended in the sewers is because Aron tripped, instead of being urged there. Why? Because Aron sees them as animals, not real intelligent people. You don't just tell a dog you've just found to meet you at your place a block away, because the dog won't understand a thing.
Ravage has only one alt mode, but his root mode, his panther mode, has two variants. Why? Because, come on, isn't he Cybertronian too? Besides, it's just changing the angle of hips and back legs and extending fingers that, as paws, were simply curled. That can't possibly count as a full transformation, right? Right. So, there, we have bipedal Ravage ^^ And yes, that means Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Ratbat, Steeljaw, and Ramhorn have bipedal modes too (seen Beast Wars? Doesn't that Ravage look like G1's Ravage standing up?). In my headcanon, these kinds of mechs that have two root mode variants are not Triple Changers, like Astrotrain and Blitzwing. I call them Bestials, as they have one 'corrupted' root mode variant that resembles a beast. Not all the details come naturally with the frame, like snouts and beaks, but they can be added afterwards. And yes, they have instincts to go along the Bestial variant, it isn't just looks.
Oh, and if you were a bit lost with all the 'Finding Cybertron' data, don't worry, I'm lost too and I'm the one that wrote it *insert 'I Don't Know What the Frag I'm Doing' face*
Well, that's it, The End. Nice having you all around for the ride!
... Actually, this isn't it. Due to some changes, there will be an epilogue. Well then, one more tiny chapter to go, I guess.
Giddy: Eh, no, the captivity wasn't so 'torturous', but yet again, it wasn't realistic either (children's cartoon, after all), which is one of the reasons I 're-wrote' the chapter. And Screamer was being a selfish glitch again, 'cause he needs them all to get out, after all (though that doesn't mean he didn't do it because he actually cares for the other Decepticons, but come on, who would believe Starscream cares for people ;P). Thanks for everything!