"Tell me," demanded Megatron, not noticing Solon. "What has become of Cybertron? Who's won the war?"
The two bots looked at each other, Chopblock speaking first. "S-Sir, the war continues. With you and Optimus Prime gone, both sides stopped giving all they had, Lord Megatron. And… Cybertron…"
"Cybertron is dead," finished Beater. "We used up all of our Energon reserves faster than they could be replenished. As such, all Cybertronians abandoned the planet, Autobot and Decepticon alike. Only Straxus and his team at Darkmount remain on the planet-"
Everyone went silent as their leader angrily charged his fusion cannon, blasting at the mountainside multiple times. As smaller rocks pelted the group and larger ones crashed into the road, he seethed with anger, turning to the group once more.
"I was correct," he declared at last. "Prime and his foolishness has driven us to the brink of extinction. Tell me, who is the highest ranking Decepticon?"
"Uh, Straxus, sir."
"I must pay him a visit. He needs reminding who is in charge and why, yes…"
Megatron stepped forward, transforming into an alien fighter jet before flying off. Chopblock transformed and followed after him, leaving Beater and Solon to follow on the road.
Chapter 3: Recovery, Part 3
Hot Rod and the humans stepped through the dark cave, hoping to find some sign of the missing ship. As he shined a light from the top of his head, Matt and Anna felt at the cave walls, checking to see if there was anything metal behind the dirt. Eventually, Hot Rod found something shiny poking out of the dirt, scanning the area to discover that there was a spaceship behind it.
"We've found it!" he called, readying his arm pipes and pulling down his visor. "Stand back, hot stuff coming through!"
He aimed the pipes at the dirt, flames eating away at it until most of it had vanished. It wasn't long until they discovered an entrance, the Autobot managing to press it open. Inside, it was very dark, with no sign anyone had even set foot in the ship for millions of years. They eventually made it to the bridge of the Exodus, Hot Rod wincing as he looked inside.
"What is it?" asked Anna, before looking inside and finding out for herself. It didn't look like the crew survived the crash, their bodies strewn about the bridge in pieces. "This is grim. Did you know any of them?"
"Not very well. Guess I'll never get the chance now." He stared down at them, then looked at the ship's computer. "We can bury them later, right now I have an idea." He tried starting up the computer, to no avail. "Okay, I think I'll need your help rebooting this thing."
Starscream paced through the Decepticon's base, wondering where everyone was. Nobody was answering their comms, and something was masking their spark signatures on his scanner. So when the landing pad began descending, he immediately marched up to the entranceway.
"There you are, you sad lot of bolt-for-brains! Who do you think you are, gallivanting around like protoforms? I should-" He stopped as soon as he saw who was with them.
"Well, Starscream?" asked Megatron. "You should what?"
The flyer stammered for a moment, before quickly dropping to one knee. "Lord Megatron!" he cried. "It fills my spark with joy to know that you survived, after all these-"
"Spare me, you gaseous sycophant." Megatron walked past him, taking in the Decepticon's base. "This will serve. What is our goal here?"
"Well, we came here to find the Exodus, but also to find you, sir," replied Chopblock. "We have a ship to get back to Cybertron, but we barely have enough resources to power ourselves, never mind a ship."
"If I may," spoke up Solon, flinching as Megatron looked down at him. "Hi, I'm Solon, I work for Starscream. Uh, there's a hydroelectric dam nearby, that provides power to the local area. I'm sure you could gather some stuff from there."
The Decepticon leader stared down at the human, who awkwardly ran a hand through his hair. "I must thank you, Solon. You will serve the Decepticons well." He turned his optics to the other Decepticons. "We will attack the dam tomorrow. In the meantime, Solon, tell me more about this planet."
As the human followed after Megatron, Starscream's brow furrowed. That human was becoming more than a handful, almost as though he had forgotten just who had rescued him all those years ago. If that glorified gladiator had any plans of taking his charge away, he had another thing coming.
The Exodus's computer had been repaired, and the humans watched as the Autobot began typing at a keyboard like mad. A small antenna emerged from the side of the screen, which began to flash a green light.
"What does that thing do?" asked Matt.
"That's a planetary recall beacon," explained Hot Rod. "If there are any Autobots on the planet, they'll be called back to the ship. The ones who can will, anyway, and the ones who can't will show up on this monitor."
Eventually several red dots showed up on the monitor, spread out over several continents. Some of the dots remained stationary, but the ones closest to the mountains began moving closer.
At a nearby hospital, a white helicopter sat on a landing pad. A beeping began sounding from its radio, and took off in the direction of the mountains.
Close to an abandoned farmstead, a green muscle car heard a beeping from its radio. It pulled out of the farm, turning onto the street towards the mountains.
Mountrek stalked through the trees, stopping and ducking out of sight as a noise rattled through the woods. A large truck, painted a faded red, passed along the road, heading in the direction of the Exodus.
Outside the cave, Matt and Anna stepped out, having heard a vehicle approaching. It was a long-nosed truck, the Autobot insignia painted on its grille signifying it wasn't really a truck. The rush of rotors and the roar of another car showed that the truck wasn't alone, as it came to a stop before the two humans.
The nose split in half, becoming shoulders to two arms that pushed it off the ground. The trailer hitch split in half to form legs, the upper body rotating at the waist. The windows came down to form a chest, a head popping out of the top of the cab. At this prompt, the other two transformed, the rotors on the helicopter ending up on its left arm, and the car's front end forming a chest and its doors becoming "wings."
The truck knelt down, a faceplate retracting and yellow optics taking in the two humans-who now felt very small. "Uh, h-hi," began Anna, taking the initiative. "My name is-is Anna, and that's my boyfriend Matt. Are… Are you Autobots?"
"My name is Optimus Prime," boomed the truck, making both humans take a step back. "We are indeed Autonomous Robotic Organisms, or Autobots, from the planet Cybertron."
"Should we really be exposing ourselves to these natives?" asked the car.
"That's something you should've asked after we transformed."
"Forgive Speedstar, they tend to fret," said Optimus.
"It's okay, Hot Rod told us you guys are supposed to work in secrecy," responded Matt.
"Hot Rod's here? Well, scrap," muttered Speedstar.
"My field medic, Evac, is less worrisome…"
The helicopter was staring down at the couple. "I'm detecting high levels of stress and confusion from the natives," he declared.
"...although he needs to work on his tact."
"Optimus! Guys!" Hot Rod ran out to meet the group. "I see you've met Matt and Anna. I had to rescue them from Decepticons."
"So, we aren't alone," the medic remarked.
"That's one thing we never had explained," piped up Anna. "Why are you and the Decepticons fighting?"
The other Autobots turned to Optimus, who sported a grimace. "Because of Megatron," he answered, projecting a series of images from the crest on his forehead.
In the past, our world was at conflict. Gigatron and his sparkless hordes would have conquered the neighboring star systems had it not been for the work of Delta Major and her Cybertron Defense Force. But supporters of Gigatron would spring up, each with their own set of beliefs; and with each new set of followers, the Defense Force would create a new division to deal with them.
The situation was dangerously close to all out war, and none of the sides valued neutrality. I met Megatron because we both worried for the future of our people, and wanted to bring a peaceful end to the conflict. We both wanted Cybertron to be free from its myriad of factions, but while I wished for none of them, Megatron wished for one, with himself at the top.
His Decepticons quickly overwhelmed the Defense Force, and they would have conquered Cybertron had it not been for myself and the Autobots. I tried reasoning with him, but the bot I was friends with was long gone.
The humans watched the projection fade with wide eyes. They had no idea how long this conflict had been going on for, but it sounded ancient.
"Megatron refused to allow the refugees to leave, so I had to confront him on the Exodus," concluded Optimus. "But if he is also on Earth, there's a chance he has exactly what he wants."
"Hot Rod, have you found any stasis pods?" asked Evac.
"Yeah, I found one over that way. Occupant's gone her own way, so it's unoccupied."
"Speedstar, come with me to retrieve the pod. We cannot allow the Decepticons to find it. Hot Rod, get the humans home. Evac, guard the Exodus. For the time being, we shall use it as a base."
The vehicular Autobots transformed, Matt and Anna climbing into Hot Rod, and the three of them drove off.
On the road back to the apartment, Matt spoke first. "So, how else can we help?"
"Sorry, you two, but I don't think you can do much," apologized Hot Rod. "I'll drop by every now and then, just to say hi, but I think this is where we part ways."
"Come on, this is our world," said Anna. "Surely there's something we can do. We could watch for that brat or, or something."
Their ride was silent for a moment more, the Autobot thinking. "Optimus wouldn't want you getting hurt in battle, and I don't think Speedstar likes you, but I'll see what I can do." All too soon, Hot Rod stopped next to the apartment building, and the humans got out. "Later!"
As they watched him drive away, the brunette stretched his arms. "Well, I'm gonna call my dad. He goes back to work tomorrow, and I'm sure he'd appreciate the chat. See ya, hon."
They hugged briefly, before Anna went back to her car.
At the stasis pod, Speedstar carefully loaded it onto the back of Optimus' hitch assembly. While not that big by Cybertronians standards, it stood out against the leader's alternate mode.
"That should be it," they said, transforming to vehicle mode and driving behind Optimus.
"Speedstar, what brought you to Earth?" the leader asked.
"Uh, let's see…" The muscle car contemplated whether or not they should answer, before deciding to go ahead and do so. "I was on the crew of a prison ship, the Second Chance. It was full of Decepticons and even some Autobots who were too dangerous. We were gonna take 'em somewhere, and once the war ended, try and have them rehabilitated."
"Allowing them a second chance sounds very noble."
"Elita knew you'd say that. It was her idea." Even though they were both in vehicle mode, Speedstar could tell Optimus was smiling. "But it crashed in the Antarctic, about eighteen vorns ago. Stasis pods scattered across the planet, I was the only one with enough Energon to track them down. We've got our work cut out for us, boss bot."
"Indeed, Speedstar. Time is of the essence."
Alexander Summer watched the sun rise through the windshield of his car, pulling down the visor before turning on the road to the dam. He was glad most of his work would be indoors, and not out in the open. As he parked, he spotted a teenager standing outside. He stood out, wearing a tank top and hard hat, and looking at his phone.
"Hey, kid," the older man called out. "What are you doing out here?"
"Internship, sir," replied the teen disinterestedly, glancing up from his phone. "I'm working with one of the folks in administrations."
"Uh-huh. Well, best get inside. Those administrators are sticklers for time."
The teen gave a thumbs up before heading inside. Alexander thought something was up, but didn't say anything as he too went to work.
And now the leaders of both sides are involved in the fight. Things will definitely be getting interesting, since there's now two sets of stasis pods to be tracked down. The stuff with Straxus will come into play later on in the story, but next time comes a scene completely unknown to Transformers fiction: the Autobots having to stop the Decepticons from stealing energy. Stay tuned!