Still in the fight
Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or Transformers Prime. That should be obvious but just in case. They belong to their respective owners.
(A.N): This idea just came up in my head one day so I decided to try it out. I love Halo and Transformers Prime was my favorite cartoon as a kid so I wanted to see if I could create a crossover between the two. As of right now, this is a trial run so I may or not continue this.
FYI, this story takes place after Darkness Rising and Master's and Students.
Prologue
In a forest, far away from any human settlement. A pack of deer ate on a bunch of a leaves hanging from a large bush. While a few maintained guard to keep an eye out for any predators, the rest ate in silent contentment. The forest was quiet except for the occasionally bird chirping and wind blowing the leaves. For many days, this was all you could hear if you walked through it.
Until now.
Suddenly, a loud pulse emitted through the air, prompting the deer to be startled as they looked up in confusion, looking for the origin of the sound. High above, a blue wormhole opened up as a small ship came through. As soon as it was clear, the portal closed while the ship began to descend towards the ground. Smoke came pouring out of the ship as whoever was inside tried to control its descent. Despite their best efforts, they still came diving towards the ground at high speed. Deer's ran away as it came closer to ground. What looked to be landing gear came out of the ship's underbelly, but the speed at which came down made it broke on impact. When it crashed, it left behind a trail of dirt and metal as the crash emitted a loud sound throughout the forest.
The ship sat there in the crater it made. Black smoke continuing to come out. For a few minutes, nothing happened as the forest was once again quiet. However, soon the silence was broken when another wormhole, this time green instead of blue appeared near the crash site and a red truck, green SUV, and blue motorcycle came driving out of it.
A few minutes ago, near Jasper, Nevada in a hidden bunker, was the Autobots base on the planet known as Earth. It's been nearly a week ever since Team Prime destroyed Megatron's plan to bring an undead army to invade Earth and destroyed his space bridge. Other than Optimus and Bumblebee defeating Skyquake two days ago, things have been pretty quiet for the Autobots. Now they're either training, relaxing, or hanging alongside their human friends. Even Agent Fowler was there too, making a routine visit to the base. Everything seemed to be calm, until a certain Wrecker broke one of Ratchet's tools.
"BULKHEAD! I NEEDED THAT!"
"Oh..uh…my bad Ratchet, sorry" Bulkhead apologized to the Medic for breaking one of his tools. Again.
Right before Ratchet threw his wrench at Bulkhead, the main console let out a beep, which indicated that it detected something. Deciding to throw his wrench at Bulkhead later, he went over to check it out before speaking up to inform the others on what it picked up.
"Optimus! I'm detecting an unknown energy signature." Ratchet told the others as he read out the information displayed on the console.
The Autobots gathered around the main area to listen in while the humans listened in from their spot by the console.
"Can you determine what it is and what caused it," Optimus questioned.
"I don't know Optimus. Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen this type of signature before." Ratchet admitted to the group.
"You haven't?" Raf asked in surprised.
"No." Ratchet replied to Raf's question. "I've seen many different types of energy signatures but never this one. While it does share similarities to spikes made by groundbridges when they open, there is something about this one that's different."
"Might be some kind of new weapon or device the Con's are testing out," Arcee thought out loud.
"Nevertheless, this requires further investigation," Optimus looked towards Arcee and Bulkhead. "Arcee, Bulkhead you're with me. Maintain your guard as we're heading in with minimal information."
"I'm with you," Bulkhead said while Arcee gave a nod in acknowledgement.
"Be careful out there Arcee," Jack said to his guardian
"I'll be fine Jack, don't worry," Arcee replied with a small smile.
"Bring the hurt Bulk!" Miko shouted enthusiastically to Bulkhead, who responded by pounding his metal fists together.
"Ratchet, lock on to those coordinates and activate the groundbridge," Optimus commanded the team's medic.
Ratchet gave a short nod as he pulled out the lever that activated the groundbridge. The three cybertronians watches as the portal opened up, as soon as it was the three transformed into their vehicle modes and drove through.
As soon as they reached the other side, the Autobots were greeted with a trail commonly made when something crashed such as an airplane. When the portal closed behind them, they saw black smoke akin to that emitted by a fire coming out from a hole in the ground a small distance away. The three members of Team Prime transformed back into the robot modes and walked towards the crater to investigate what exactly crashed. As they did, they remained on alert for any Decepticons that might've come as well, none were in sight as they reached the crash site. As they reached the edge, they saw a badly damaged ship lying in the middle of it. Soot covered the entire outer hull and the wings were twisted beyond repair. However, none of the Autobots recognized the design of the craft. Or whether or not it was a cybertronian or a ship used by one.
"It appears that what Ratchet detected was this crashlanding. However, I am uncertain as to why it would emit an energy signature, nor do I recognize the design." Optimus said to the others.
"It must be a cybertronian." Bulkhead voiced out loud to the group." Most cybertronians cannot fit into a ship that size."
"But where did he come from? And is he on our side or theirs?" Arcee questioned
"Bulkhead, remain here to look out for any incoming Deceptions. Arcee, come with me. We need to determine how he came here and whether he was Autobot or not" Optimus ordered to the two.
Bulkhead remained on guard as looked out for any signs of the Decepticons while Arcee and Optimus jumped down to further investigate the unknown ship. Arcee began wiping the soot off the hull, looking for any markings that could identify whether or not it was friend or foe while Optimus did the same. As she was wiping the soot off, she came across a logo that she did not recognize. The marking was drawn in the shape of a bird, closely resembling that of a human bird. However, the rest of the emblem was destroyed during the crash. There were some letters written at the bottom of the emblem but damaged to be read. This confused Arcee as why would a cybertronian have a human bird as its logo.
"Optimus, do you recognize this symbol?" Arcee asked Optimus as she got up and moved out of the way so Optimus could see. Once he did, he stared at for a few seconds before saying that he never encountered this emblem before.
"Why would a cybertronian have a marking that resembled a bird from Earth," She muttered the question to herself.
"He might have been a neutral. Neither Autobot nor Decepticon," Optimus suggested.
"Hey, you find anything yet," Bulkhead asked Optimus and Arcee from where he was on top of the crater. However, before they gave a reply, they suddenly heard a loud alarm originating from inside the ship. Instinctively, they activated their blasters and pointed their weapons at it. Inside they also could hear a voice, though they could not hear what it was saying. Before Optimus could order a course of action, the door to the side of the craft blew open, launching itself into the wall of the crater. All optics turned to face the new opening as they saw a figure slowly making its way out of the ship.
The figure was small compared to the Autobots, though compared to the humans it looked like he would tower over most of them. It had a silver visor with armor none of the Autobots had ever seen before. The weapon it carried looked similar to that of a modern human rifle, though it looked more advanced and futuristic than any of the Autobots seen while on Earth. While the technology he possessed didn't appear to be made by the human race, it also didn't appear to be cybertronian tech either. Its armor was grey and black with many dents and marks all over it. On its left arm, it had some kind of the device with a hook located at the front that no one recognized. On its back was a large backpack and using one of its arms it dragged a crate behind it. The crate it was carrying had that same logo on it that Arcee saw was very similar to the one she found on the hull on the ship. The figure took slow steps forward, almost like he was having trouble staying conscious and was moments away from passing out. Whoever he was, he appeared to be either be really wounded or tired as he limped out of the ship.
The being walked a few steps, clearly trying to get out of the Crater. Optimus began to open his mouth to ask the being to identify himself, but before he could speak the small figure collapsed on the ground. While they could not see his face, if he even had a face, it was clear that he was just completely exhausted. Arcee and Optimus began to move forward to find out who he was, keeping their blasters trained on him just in case if he was faking it, but before they could get to him, they once again hear the voice inside the ship, as it became clearer for them to hear. The voice seemed to be automated, but it's what it said that caught their attention.
"ASSET DENIAL PROTOCOL CP-12 ACTIVATED. SELF DESTRUCT IN T-MINUS 7 SECONDS. PLEASE LEAVE THE BLAST RADIUS IMMEDIATELY."
With this new information in mind, Optimus quickly grabbed the unknown being and his gear before transforming, placing them in the driver's compartment, and drove off to put as much distance between the explosion and himself. The rest of the Autobots following his lead.
As soon as they were clear, the crash ship exploded behind them. Leaving only scrap metal behind as shrapnel rained down all around them. Once it stopped, the Autobots turned back into their robot forms as they looked back at where the crashed ship used to be.
"Well, that ship is gone," Bulkhead said to no one in particular.
Arcee turned to Optimus, who held the unknown being in his hands. Looking at him as he wondered who he was.
"Who is this guy?" Bulkhead questioned to Optimus.
"I don't know. But we need to find out. Ratchet reopen the ground bridge. For we are bringing back an unknown."
Shortly later, the groundbridge opened up and they returned to base. Once they got back, the others looked at them expectantly to tell them what they found out there. As Optimus walked in, they noticed that he held something in his hand along with a backpack and a crate.
"Who's that?" Miko voiced out the question everyone had on their minds.
"We don't know. He was inside of the unknown vessel we found. He came out of it as he set it self-destruct," Arcee explained.
"Cybertronians don't get that small. Do they?" Agent Fowler questioned out loud.
"No, they don't Agent Fowler." Ratchet replied as Optimus set the crate and backpack down.
"W-wait, hold on, you said that he blew up his own ship. Why would he do that? He would just be stuck here. And if he's not cybertronian than what is he? He can't be human, humans don't get that big," Jack asked out loud.
"Something about a denial protocol. My guess is that's why he destroyed it. Don't know about the rest through," Bulkhead replied to Jack.
"Denial? You mean he wanted to deny you his ship, but why?" Miko asked Bulkhead.
"Again. We don't know," Arcee said to everyone.
"Can I take a look at what he brought with him? It'll be easier for me than it would be for Ratchet," Raf asked Optimus
Bumblebee asked him if he was sure, which Raf responded by saying he was and that he'll be careful. This seemed to put Bumblebee more at ease. After a few seconds of thinking, Optimus gave Raf the go ahead.
"When he wakes up, we'll question him. In the meantime, Agent Fowler, you may wish to seal off the area where the crash landing was. I'll find a place to hold him until he awakens." Optimus said to everyone as he went off to find somewhere to place the unknown being.
Fowler nodded and began to make some calls while Raf opened the case and began to take a look through it. Everyone began to gather around the human area to see what was in there.
"Wait, before you go through it, can we take a look at the symbol on the top of the crate? I think I saw the same one on his spacecraft, though I can't be sure because it was too damaged," Arcee asked Raf.
Raf nodded and turned the symbol over for everyone to see. The symbol looked to be a bird sitting on top of a planet with its wings pointed upwards. A banner with the engravings "UNSC" was circled around the planet.
"UNSC? Those are human letters? Why would another species use letters similar to that of humans?" Jack questioned.
"Also, what does that even stand for?" Bumblebee asked.
Raf shrugged as he opened the crate. He saw what looked to be a belt of grenades as well as some kind of futuristic pistol. Wisely, he chose not to touch them and continued to look through. Multiple magazines of what seemed to be ammo was in it. There was wide variety of weaponry inside including what Raf guessed to be plasma weaponry. Everyone started to believe that this guy must've come from another world, the only question was where and why did he come here? When Fowler returned he noticed all the firepower in the crate and let out a loud whistle.
"Guy sure packs a lot of firepower. Could he be some kind of soldier?" Fowler thought out loud.
"Perhaps. Though the question remains, who is he fighting for and how did he get here?" Ratchet replied.
Raf than took out what looked to be a datapad and began looking to see if he could open it. Luckily it wasn't locked which Raf guessed that he forgot or that he was in a rush and didn't have time to lock it again. He scrolled through the pad looking for anything that might give them a clue on who he was. About a few minutes later he spoke back up.
"I think I found what looks to be some audio logs. Should I play it?" Raf asked the group.
"I don't know Raf. What if its something personal or private?" Jack said hesitantly.
"But we need to know who this guy is. If he's a threat," Bulkhead said in opposition.
After a minute of discussion, they agreed to play one. Raf chose to play the most recent one and played it while he turned up the volume so everyone could hear. Soon a male voice spoke in the recording, while they weren't too surprise considering his emblem had English letters, it still felt kind of weird and suspicious.
"Log 112, This is it. The final push. What's left of us is preparing to follow through with the plan to push Bravo off this Ring. Though some are still weary with her, most trust her enough to follow through with her plan. Guess she really proved that she was trustworthy huh. Everyone now seem to be more motivated and hopeful now than when they were at the beginning. Chief really inspired them. Though she says that it was the both of us, I believe that it was mostly thanks to him since he has more of a reputation than me. These lads seem really eager to get some payback on Bravo. Esparza is especially ready to go and get some. True warfighters, every last one of them. (beat) Chiefs been spending a lot more time with her lately. Though he denies it, I can tell he's glad to have her back. I do too, so does Jewel.
Well, we're moving out now. Zulu Hotel isn't going to free itself.
End log."
Everyone was pretty much silent when the log ended. Thinking about what they just heard. What did he mean by the "Ring." Who was Chief and "her?" Who was Dot? What was a Zulu Hotel? It was at this moment that Jack noticed that a certain rebellious kid was nowhere to be seen.
"Uh, guys? Where's Miko?" Everyone looked around and saw that Miko was not here.
Before they could star searching, Miko came running out of the hall leading further into the base. She looked to be in a hurry as she was panting.
"Miko! Where have yo-," before Jack could finish his question, Miko spoke up. Saying something that surprised all of them.
"He's awake."
(A.N): Just so you guys are aware. Zulu Hotel means Zeta Halo and Bravo means Banished. I just thought I put that here so you guys wouldn't be confused on what they meant.