Again, apologies for taking so long with this update: my coursework has been a massive timesink and with my first set of exams in December I've been stressing out a little too much to be writing, not at all helped by this chapter being difficult to write in general (it was actually supposed to have a second part, but with this being longer than I thought it would be I just left it at one scene and saved the other for the next chapter). I'm hoping though that with only a few more chapters to go the next few will be more lenient on me.
xx
With all of Grimlock's enthusiasm and the effort that it took for Optimus and Wheeljack push him through the Ground Bridge, the Dinobot ended up barreling out and rolling across the expanse of snow like a nuke set loose. Most of it melted beneath him from the heat of his vents, covering him in a slick sheet of water as he snorted out flakes and clawed into the hard frost to steady himself.
"Grimlock feel them! Grimlock hear them fight!" His determined roar echoed all throughout the barren white as he rampaged onwards, kicking back a heavy storm of powder that buried Wheeljack and Optimus before they could follow.
"Wait up, Grim! Don't start the poundin' without us!" Wheeljack shoved himself through the thick snow, having to shift to his alt mode just to keep up with the Dinobot. Optimus had just as much trouble even with his larger wheels churning against the ice, but Grimlock made himself stop just before a cliff edge that sloped down to a frozen ocean, with a small white island so near from so high up that a bot could have picked it up in their hand. Even he wasn't stupid enough to try walking across the sheets of ice- or, more likely, he recognised the grey figure on the island marching amidst the white just as well as Optimus did.
If the other Dinobots were really down there, Megatron had found them first.
"Grimlock's team... Grimlock's brothers..." The Dinobot snarled out ropes of saliva that foamed around his gleaming denta, gouging the permafrost under his claws like the hard snow was just white paper. Something held him back, far more powerful than Wheeljack's cautionary servo held in front of his chest.
"Stay back, Grim," Wheeljack said, leaving Optimus surprised at hearing something sensible coming out of a Wrecker's mouth for once. He deployed his blaster on his other servo as he edged further towards the cliff. "We should see what's going on first-"
He must have been focusing too much on the warlord ahead, from how surprised he sounded at stepping into thin air and tumbling down the cliff's slope to land with the crunch of ice shattering beneath him. And with nothing around to cover the noise, Megatron was quick to spot him as he tried to pick himself back up.
"Dinobots! Deal with the Wrecker!" The warlord sounded much closer with the ground quaking after his command, thanks to the stampede of monstrous metal beasts that erupted from behind him, only shadows of the mechs Optimus remembered back on Cybertron. Wheeljack was still left sliding on the ice as he tried to scramble away, throwing a frantic look upwards to where Grimlock had already launched himself off of, despite Optimus' attempts to warn him of his weight cracking the ice apart.
Yet Grimlock's furious bounding towards the island kept him afloat by sheer force even as the ice dissolved into a thousand shards in his wake. And even more shocked than Optimus was Megatron, left as frozen as the ocean and stunned Dinobots surrounding him as he faced on the rabid brute rapidly approaching.
"What in the name of...?!" Whoever Megatron was about to plead to was lost to a sky-shaking roar as Grimlock made one last desperate leap towards his brethren, clearing the length of a gestalt in one move as his plating collapsed in midair; a shower of rust flakes falling to stain the snow brown. From so far away Optimus could be forgiven for not recognising the sound of a long neglected T Cog finally whirring to life, shifting the Dinobot's appearance so drastically that by the time he landed before Megatron he was almost unrecognisable. What hadn't just been moved elsewhere on his body had been replaced by entirely new golden armour plates hidden somewhere deep in his secret and primal anatomy; only the impatient razor lash of his tail, the knives jutting out from his frame and the savage red glare trapping everyone in place were what still made him out as Grimlock.
But he still had the courtesy to announce himself, just in case anyone was still in doubt.
"ME GRIMLOCK KING!" A beacon shot out from his mouth as he bellowed, so close to melting Megatron in half before the warlord managed to throw himself backwards far enough. The hiss of melting snow, the stench of charred frost on the wind carrying the heat all the way to Optimus and Wheeljack confirmed that yes, that was actual fire coming out of the Dinomech's mouth, and it was keeping Megatron pinned behind against the nearest cover.
"Never knew he could do that…" Wheeljack didn't mention if he meant the jet of flame still arcing out the Dinobot's maw, or the fact that he still had a working T Cog. Optimus had only just managed to lower himself down the cliffside now, shaking from much more than just the Arctic cold.
"To think I let Scorpia play near that mouth!" he hissed to himself, left crouching in a rare kind of fear amidst Grimlock's shattered tracks across the sea. He rose slowly only partly from fear of breaking the ground further as he witnessed the Dinobot do what no mech in centuries had managed to do- stare down Megatron. Even as the fire faded, the warlord didn't challenge the new arrival, didn't even take aim at him as Grimlock swelled and stretched long-forgotten cables and cords, swinging his new helm slowly with a new plate bolted over his mouth, no doubt the only thing keeping the fire from erupting again. Then, still snapping his tail along the ice, he decided to be either extraordinarily bold or typically dumb in turning his back to Megatron. Instead he faced his teammates one by one, each still in a stasis-like trance.
"Lightning Strike Coalition! Snarl, Slag, Swoop!" Each Dinobot bristled as they were named, and even Optimus almost flinched from the echo of Grimlock's roar. There was an empty silence afterwards that stretched out as far as the snowscape went, as if Grimlock was unsure of what to do with his new audience. His tail fell limp behind him, dragging sharply across the ice like the words dragging themselves out of his processor.
"Grimlock... I... asleep for centuries..." He seemed to struggle with speaking past the plate over his mouth, or maybe he couldn't keep pace with his own thoughts. Optimus couldn't tell from the distance, and even Wheeljack knew better than to try getting closer.
"But... Grimlock survived!" The Dinobot's tail sliced at the air as if to prove it, every growl gaining volume again in the silence he commanded. "Grimlock find Autobots! Grimlock find team again! Grimlock still king!"
His tail shot out again, this time hitting the side of Megatron's sword and wrapping itself around its hilt before the blade could come anywhere near striking distance. The lash wound itself tight enough to leak energon, yet Grimlock's hisses only came from anger as he faced the warlord and his complete, absolute terror.
"You... Megatron... you took us. You try and make us Decepticons! But Dinobots are Dinobots! Dinobots follow no one!" And with one simple swipe of his tail, one that Optimus had felt before and felt again even from so far away, Megatron was hauled right over Grimlock's helm like a ragdoll and slammed brutally into the permafrost behind him. Optimus winced and even Wheeljack let out a hiss at the sight of Megatron crumpled on the ground, shuddering amidst a storm of disturbed snow. Once the veil cleared and the leader salvaged enough strength to push himself up, he was greeted by a circle of his former soldiers closing in on him, all following Grimlock's example by taking up robot forms and looking no less deadly than before.
"Shockwave creator... but Grimlock is king!" Slag's beaked cowl almost snapped along with his own mouth, and Snarl shot out an array of bladed spades from his back to make the point even sharper than those arching from Slag's own spine.
Swoop wasn't as intimidating as his brothers; even so his folded wings reflected a razor's edge as they scuffed together in the wake of his screech; "Grimlock, Grimlock!"
And Grimlock himself faced on the praise gladly, closing off the circle by standing behind Megatron and letting his shadow on the snow speak for itself.
In hindsight, Optimus might have thought, Megatron's next decision was actually one of the smartest decisions he'd seen the warlord take. Inching slightly closer to the scene with every nanoklick, the Prime was close enough to hear Megatron's last order into his comm unit.
"Starscream… hold the Nemesis' position." The Dinobots might have ambushed him then, but his T Cog was just fast enough in getting his jet thrusters activated. With every exit blocked by bots, Megatron's only option was to get out with his alt mode, and he was long gone behind the clouds and blinding Arctic sunlight too fast to even leave streams of steam trailing behind. He might have broken a sound barrier somewhere far away, or that might have just been the Dinobots and their victorious chorus of trumpeting wails and screeches, laughter that could have re-awakened Unicron in the Earth's core. Even with the threat gone, both Optimus and Wheeljack approached cautiously so their audios wouldn't short-circuit.
Hearing the other two mechs approaching, Grimlock slapped his tail flat against his back before turning to face them. In his new form he still made tremors with nothing but his steps, towering over even Optimus. Up close his golden details shone stubbornly and competed with the glint of the ice, and his red optics could have still easily melted holes through solid steel. None of that stopped Wheeljack slapping him on the chest, even when he had to stretch his peds to reach up.
"Y'know, Grim, you almost look just like you did back on Cybertron. Just as ugly, at least."
Grimlock didn't glare down at the Wrecker as he usually might have, instead it was as if he was trying to melt the ice beneath him with nothing but a pensive stare.
"Grimlock... not remember transform," he said in his new uncertain, sluggish tone. Insecure of his new mode, flexing the digits that replaced familiar claws, trying not to growl as he spoke. "I… forget to walk… forget to think. But I see brothers, and remember. Remember everything."
It was strange, bordering surreal to see the brute Optimus had known as Grimlock being so reflective, making fists by his sides not to punch with, just to occupy himself as dark parts of his processor awakened. Even the other Dinobots gave their leader puzzled looks as he faced them, almost ignoring Optimus as he gave Grimlock a more gentle pat on his servo.
"You did better here than I ever could have, Grimlock. I see why the Dinobots would only have you as their leader." And hopefully with his own bots to lead, Grimlock wouldn't be so eager to challenge Optimus at every chance. The Dinobot gave a blank look to Optimus' sincerity, letting his optics simmer silently as they went from the Prime to his team.
"Grimlock missed them… didn't know why. Thought I could… replace them with femmes. But femmes not mine to take. Not anyone's. Like Dinobots, they led by no one. But they protected by Prime. Like I protect Dinobots. I see now." It was a stilted comparison, but one that Optimus couldn't help agreeing with. Was the Dinobot always this insightful, intelligent just without the means to show it? All the Prime could do was nod, with Wheeljack left literally speechless between them.
"Me still wish spider lady was here," Grimlock mused after a moment, drawing a muffled laugh from Optimus.
"You and me both," he agreed.
Still holding his tail thankfully flat, Grimlock turned to his team and their skeptical glares across at the Autobots. "Dinobots, Autobots are friends. Prime will save planet. So be nice!"
Optimus couldn't help but wonder which planet he meant, Earth or Cybertron, but he couldn't ask Grimlock for clarification with Slag stepping out to bristle his horns at his leader. "Grimlock not boss of Slag!" he snorted, despite admitting the opposite to Megatron just a few klicks ago. Maybe only Grimlock's processor benefitted from his T Cog, though he didn't even need to remind Slag with Snarl literally butting in to defend his leader.
"Grimlock boss of all Dinobots! Would Slag rather be Decepticon?!" And it wasn't long before Swoop joined in with chirrups like nails scraping against stone, pushing the Autobots to the outskirts of the manic and senseless argument in a bid to avoid getting in the way of any claws. Optimus only tuned his audios high enough to hear Wheeljack's assessment by his side.
"Looks like we've made some powerful new friends. So why the long face, Prime?"
Other than the knowledge that Megatron would doubtless return, and the ever present burden of keeping his new charges subdued, Optimus had one chief concern chipping away at his concentration. "...How on Cybertron are we going to herd these Dinobots back to the island?"
Wheeljack blinked, and laughed with a slap on Optimus' back that rang harshly through his frame. "Wait til they tire themselves out, then just throw 'em through the Ground Bridge. Should only take five klicks. Or… ten, since it looks like Slag still has an attitude after all these years."