Author's Note: Here is chapter 13. Enjoy.


Chapter 13

The Deceptions were not nearly as coordinated as Megatron had originally expected. A few of them stayed grouped together, of course, but no one was leading them. It was shameful. He had built the mechs up from nothing, yet that was what they returned to without his guidance. They were easy to scatter or maim in this state, taking all of the fun out of it. There was no challenge, although he had expected there to be one with how coordinated those who attacked the base seemed. It was pathetic. Even with their numbers, he came out victorious; injured, yes, but victorious nonetheless.

He had not expected to run into Thundercracker and Skywarp. In fact, he had not heard of their presence on Earth. Starscream was still waiting for his trine mates back when the incident with Sentinel Prime had begun. He transformed as soon as he saw the shadows on the ground, taking a moment to recognize the spark signatures. Each of them landed gracefully before him, taking on more vibrant colors than the rest of the Decepticon contingency had when arriving to Earth; Skywarp was a mixture of black and deep purples, while Thundercracker had opted for blues and silvers. It reminded him much of the coloring the trine had taken on Cybertron, back when Starscream had favored the color red. It was not a practical color for his vehicle ode if he planned to blend in, though. These two did not seem to care.

"Lord Megatron!" They greeted in unison, at attention like good soldiers he remembered them to be. But, unlike the third of their trine, they had always been soldiers. They waited a moment for Megatron to acknowledge them, but when all he did was stare at them, Skywarp stepped forward.

"Megatron, sir, we tried hailing you or Soundwave, but received no response. We would have attempted to contact Starscream through the bond but…" Each of the mechs took on a somber expression just briefly before Thundercracker shoved Skywarp and snapped them both out of it. "No one else has been answering comms since we got here, other than a few grunts. One of them… They actually had the audacity to say you surrendered, sir!"

"Don't worry, Lord Megatron, we roughed 'em up real good." Thundercracker added in, making to crack his knuckles like a human might. Megatron forced back a snarl at the action, at the reminder that he had surrender. But they were not there. None of them knew what he had been forced to do. What had happened to him. Many of them speculated about something being wrong with his programming, but it had been much, much worse.

The dark energon had warped his mind and spark, almost beyond repair. It was a marvel that Ratchet had been able to purge it all from his system. Hook had once attempted, but wound up in more dire need of repairs himself. He ground his denta together, clenching his servo in a tight fist. Both mechs took a few steps back, remembering this behavior from before. "They were right." He said, voice low and crimson optics daring them to say a word about it.

Of course, he had forgotten how bad Skywarp was at staying quiet sometimes; and Thundercracker was said to be the louder of the two. "What?! You can't be serious! After all of this, you surrendered? What happened?"

"I lost all of my men!" Megatron snapped, lashing out at the seeker. Skywarp went tumbling back, clutching at his faceplate where Megatron's claws had done some damage. Thundercraker wrapped a protective arm around his trinemate, placing himself slightly between the two. "All I was left with were a few grunts, bots who are barely sentient! Mere drones!" His snarl echoed around them, thankful he had actually been on a rather deserted road at the time. "All of my officers were dead, and I was not much better off myself! I did what I could to try and preserve our species! There are not enough of us to keep fighting. Our planet is gone, the allspark is gone, and soon all of us will be, too. That is not what I wished for us when I started this war." There was a softness to his tone when he stopped speaking that frightened the others more than his rage. "You know of Starscream's death, of course. Soundwave, Shockwave, Barricade, the Constructicons… They're all no different. Dead. So, I did what I had to do to try and save our species and ended it. Unfortunately, not all of the grunts got the message, it seems. They attacked the Autobot base a while ago. Killed a few bots and sent the Witwicky boy into a coma."

"So… You're sided with the Autobots?" Thundercracker's question was hesitant, and Megatron could not blame him for being frightened. While he certainly had a better grip on himself than he did before, it was still not good by any stretch of the imagination. He was known for lashing out any mech he thought showed even the slightest bit of insubordination.

Megatron nodded, "Yes, my brother and I have sided together to attempt to preserve our race."

"It's about damn time," Skywarp grumbled as Thundercracker's posture eased.

. . .

Incoming Decepticons! All NEST operatives report to their stations! Code red, Incoming Decepticons!

The alarm rang and rang, snapping Ratchet from his focus as he examined the boy- no, he was much more like a mechling, only skin distinguishing as him once being a human. Sam startled, accidentally sending out a pulse of fear through his comm. Ratchet hissed, overriding his protocols and shutting off his comm for the time being. Sam looked up, blinking curiously. "You need to get a better grip on that," Ratchet lectured. "You're generally pretty good, but anything too strong and you just start transmitting. It is not really fun for the rest of us."

His head hung low at that, Ratchet lightly tapping him under the chin with a finger to get him to look back up while he scanned him. "Sorry. I- uh, didn't know what happened. Shouldn't we be hiding?" Sam asked worriedly, optics darting about. "What if they come in here?"

"This medbay is the second safest place here. The first is the brig. Would you rather be there?" Ratchet asked, all gruff sarcasm that Sam had missed. "Unless you're trying to imply you think I could not protect you, then I would like to remind you that I've been alive longer than your people have had a written language and have been in my fair share of fights before the war."

Sam held his hands up, trying to ignore the slimness of his own fingers. "Hey, I wasn't saying that. Just wondering. Not at all what I was saying. I've seen you fight, Ratchet. I know. Just a bit worried." He cut himself off then, trying to prevent further rambling that was likely to come if he did not stop himself. He had only been awake for a couple hours. Ratchet had been spending most of that time showing Sam how to recalibrate his own systems and making sure nothing bad happened in the process. It was slowly dawning on Sam just how little of him was still human. He could even pull up a sort of HUD display, which was both cool and terrifying all at once.

Jolt came rushing into the med bay, whips out and battle protocols obviously running. "Prime said to lock down the medbay. Do you wish for me to stay here?" He was bouncing somewhat on his peds, though; Ratchet and Sam could both tell that the medbay was the last place Jolt wanted to be.

"Who exactly is incoming?" Ratchet asked back, needing to know. Different mechs were capable of causing different wounds. If it made Jolt wait as well, well that was just a side effect of the question, really.

"Two seekers. Looks like it may be Thundercracker and Skywarp. Can't quite tell yet."

"Oh Pit." Ratchet's groan at the names startled Sam some as the medic seemed to go on high alert now, too. Seekers? Where had Sam heard the term before? "Get out there. They'll need you more there, especially if I am supposed to play babysitter." Ratchet jerked his thumb back at Sam as he started to set up various monitors. "I'll ready in case anyone needs something more extensive than field treatment."

"Yes, sir." Jolt said before speeding down the hallway, somehow avoiding all of the humans at his feet. Sam waited until he could no longer hear the other and the medbay doors were shut once more before voicing his curiosity.

"Who're Thundercracker and Skywarp?"

. . .

"They certainly didn't pick very discreet colors," Epps commented quietly to Lennox, earning a glare from his friend and commanding officer. The man shrugged, pointing to the sky where the jets were clearly visible. "I mean, purple and blue? No country has purple and blue jets. Are they sure these guys are 'Cons, 'cause I've never actually seen a 'Con with colors like that. They don't seem very menacing either. They're actually flying pretty slowly."

Lennox rolled his eyes, "Epps, I get that you're incharge of communications, but that does not mean you need to "communicate" my fucking ears off. Optimus said they're known 'Cons, so we're gonna be at the ready. They may be here to join up, but until we know that for sure, we have to be prepared for anything." Epps sighed, mumbling a 'yes, sir' to that before heading back to his post.

Lennox looked up from where he stood by Optimus, watching the mech scan the horizon. Every other bot seemed to be humming with anticipation, yet Optimus was perfectly still. Although, Lennox could say the same for his own soldiers. The last attack had left everyone on edge. It was to be expected. "Anything, big guy?" Lennox called up to Optimus, hoping to catch his attention.

"Megatron is with them." He stated simply, and if the Prime sounded at all relieved, he could blame it on the fact that they were no longer likely to be under attack. "I believe we can all relax. They are less likely to attack with him. Although, I must say that I was wondering where he had gotten off to." There was a hint of amusement to Optimus' voice as he sent out a comm ordering everyone to turn off battle protocols. He reached out to his brother over comm, pleased when Megatron accepted the link.

:Rolling out the welcome wagon, Orion?: Megatron's tone was a bit sarcastic, which Optimus could not really blame him for. :I found some stragglers on my way back. Thankfully, some mechs still know what loyalty is. They will join your little Autobots, so long as I am here. No worries.:

:Are you hurt?: Optimus could not help the inquiry, having been separated from the other for quite some time now. It had been a terrible habit back before the war, and it was steadily becoming one once more. Megatron used to come back from the Gladiatorial ring or his work shift with various new injuries that always worried Optimus to no end.

He felt Megatron's annoyance through the comm. :I am capable of taking care of myself, certainly more so than yourself. I am in need of some minor repairs, nothing Ratchet is not able to do in the next Earth day or so.: There was a brief wave of reassurance before the connection was cut off completely.

Optimus waited patiently as Megatron and the two seekers finally arrived. The seekers landed a short distance behind where Megatron transformed, following him cautiously up to where the main Autobot contingency was gathered. Both seekers looked oddly out of place, and Optimus noted that they each opted to stay truer to the bipedal forms and coloring on Cybertron than Starscream had. He was rather glad, really, that they had not shown up before a truce had been called; he remembered how fearsome the whole trine had been on Cybertron, and on Earth Starscream had caused enough trouble on his own. He hated to think that more of his men may have died if they had arrived a few months sooner.

"Welcome," He greeted when Megatron stopped before him with Skywarp and Thundercracker. He ignored how they glared pointedly at Sunstreaker and Sideswipe as he continued to speak. "I trust Megatron has already told you this, but you are welcome to join us. Our forces have joined to help eradicate the last of the Decepticons who chose to continue their destruction of this planet, and your help would be greatly appreciated in this endeavor. Should you choose to just stay here as Neutrals, though, that is fine and we will all respect your choice. Ultimately, what you do now is your decision."

"Where the boss bot goes, we go." Thundercracker stated, and Skywarp nodded in agreement. "If he fights with you guys, then so do we."

"Then welcome aboard." Optimus said, nodding to them both. "We can get you set up with quarters soon enough. For now, you may stay in the rec room. Prowl will notify you of your assignment to quarters."