So before we get into it, I want to clarify some stuff.

First off: this isn't set in a specific Transformers universe. This is my own custom universe, blending elements from my favorite parts of the brand. The details of the universe will be filled in as we go along.

Second: Thundercracker's personality here is based on his IDW comics version. The one who turned against the Decepticons, is obsessed with human television and became a screenplay writer (And the observant of you readers have probably figured out where I'm going with this story)

Third: I may fudge some of the details from the Riordanverse stuff. I'm not perfect, and I don't have the time or patience to look through every single book to make sure I got all the details 100% correct. I will try my best though.

Fourth: This starts about two and a half years before Lost Hero.

Fifth: There might be some mentions of other Hasbro series in this but Transformers is the main one.

With that said, Let's start.

And as always, I do not own Transformers or the Riordanverse. They belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 1: I Catch a Falling Star.

The henchman was knocked to the ground. He dusted himself off and looked up to see his foe had a gun pointed at him.

"Now you listen here, buddy, and listen well." the foe said, "I want you to send a message to your boss. If you ever think of touching my daughter again-"

"It's your fault we lost that last battle, Quake!"

"Me!? I was the one fighting. What do you do, Crankcase, besides complain all the ti-"

There was a loud crash and the sound of a struggle.

In my personal chambers, I winced and then groaned. Of course. It felt like I never could get a peaceful night just watching my favorite movies.

Oh right. I need to introduce myself. My name is Thundercracker. I'm a Cybertronian (or Transformer, as you humans have nicknamed us) from the planet of Cybertron.

I am a giant robot. I have a sky blue paint job with red highlights, wings on my back, boosters on my legs, and I can turn into a jet, what you humans call an "F-22".

I'm also a Decepticon. The bots you humans have designated "The bad guys.".

Well, I guess that's not entirely inaccurate, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I sat up and paused the movie on the makeshift transformer-sized television I had constructed several years ago. I then walked over to the door leading out of my room. I could hear Quake and Crankcase's brawl from just outside.

I charged up my signature thunderboom powers and unleashed it upon the poor door. It burst down into the hallway and right in front of the two idiots.

Crankcase and Quake were caught so unaware they froze mid-fight. Crankcase (a dark blue robot who turned into a van) was on the ground, being held by the neck by Quake (a magenta and grey robot who turned into a tank); the former had his fist raised and ready to strike.

I probably would have laughed if I wasn't so angry.

"Would you idiots keep it down!?" I yelled, "I'm trying to watch the newest Tristen Mclean movie!".

Crankcase and Quake looked horribly confused.

"Thundercracker, who the frag is Tristen McLean?" Crankcase asked.

I scowled, "A-List actor? Native American? Got his big break in that show-"

"Are you watching those dumb human movies again?" Quake asked.

I crossed my arms and turned my head in the other direction. "They aren't dumb.".

"They're dumb." Crankcase insisted.

"Look." I glared at my "friends," "Maybe if you guys actually gave this planet's culture a chance, you'd see-"

Crankcase and Quake started laughing. Their fight had evidently been forgotten in favor of ganging up on me.

I scowled even harder. I hated it when this happened. Sure, I was a formidable warrior, and I had proven myself to the Decepticon cause on multiple occasions. But the second my interest in Earth's media was brought up, it didn't take long before I was turned into a laughing stock by the other Decepticons.

I couldn't understand why my fellow cons wouldn't give human media a chance. Would it kill them?

Behind me, I heard the familiar sound of thumping metal footsteps. I turned to see the arrival of a dark blue robot with a red visor and shoulder cannon. It was the Decepticon's communications head, Soundwave, AKA My boss.

"Is there a problem here?" he asked

I looked at Soundwave with an indifferent expression, and then I looked at Crankcase and Quake, who had fully picked themselves up by now.

"...No,"

I pushed myself past Soundwave and started walking out. I could still hear Crankcase and Quake snickering behind me.

"I'm going on a fly," I muttered, "Don't come after me.".

I almost hoped they would. Tell me they were sorry.

But they didn't.

I requested that a ground bridge be generated for me. Once the green portal appeared in front of me, I went through it and emerged somewhere in the Mojave desert.

I then transformed into my jet mode and flew off into the blue sky...

For hours, I found myself flying all across California. The wind whipped across my metal coat; it was cool and soothing.

I always felt a sense of peace as I flew in the sky. Where (mostly) nothing could touch me. I took pride in being a flier. I enjoyed looking at all the people on the ground and seeing their envious looks as I soared above them.

And the view wasn't too bad either.

I suppose I should give you a bit more backstory. It had been approximately seven years since I came to this planet with the first wave of Decepticons. We had arrived looking for the Allspark, the mythical artifact that powered our home planet of Cybertron.

Why was it on Earth? You see, after the Decepticon founder Megatron kicked off the war against the Autobots, the Autobot leader Optimus Prime had the Allspark launched into space, to keep it out of our hands so Megatron couldn't use it to fuel his war machine.

After that, the planet started to die. Without the Allspark to sustain it, Cybertron's natural Energon (basically, it's like fuel and food for us) deposits began to fade away. If something didn't change, our whole race would die.

Then, the Allspark was found on Earth. In fact, it had been there for so long Energon deposits had formed on the planet. But this was a different kind of Energon. Cybertron's Energon is more mineral-like, but Earth's Energon is more of a plant-mineral hybrid. Both the Autobots and Decepticons had sent teams to Earth to recover it.

To make a long story short, after a long year-long search, yet again, Optimus had to ruin everything. In a battle in the Grand Canyon where the Allspark had been found, he had destroyed it. Its essence was scattered across the planet.

Now, the only way to save our race is the Energon deposits that formed on Earth. We've been waging our battle on Earth since then. Both of our sides have made allies on the planet.

A lot has happened over the past couple of years. Among them was the Battle of New York City a couple of years ago. Megatron had decided it was time to stop hiding, so we Decepticons and our human allies chose to attack the city and try to raze it to the ground to send a message. The Autobots had managed to stop us with the help of their respective human allies. That was when we first became public knowledge to your kind.

Oh...there's a decent chance you were either there or had family and friends there when it happened... sorry.

So you're probably wondering. If the Decepticons are so ruthless, why was I still with them?

Because I still believed in the Decepticon cause. I believed in the goals Megatron stood for, and that was expansion and progression. To break Cybertron out of its stagnant status quo and push it into the future.

Even still. I hated seeing innocent civilians get hurt. I hated it on Cybertron, and I hated it even more on Earth.

I knew we were doing the right thing though, my friends in the Decepticons assured me we were.

Plus, it just felt nice to have a place where I was needed.

I soon found myself near the city of Los Angeles. I transformed into my robot mode and found a nice, sturdy building to sit on. I made sure to activate my digital camouflage so no human could see me. While the Autobots still had a mixed reputation among the humans, Decepticons like me were mostly hated. It was probably best to avoid the possibility of one recognizing me and starting something.

I looked over the landscape of the city. I took in the bright lights, the hustle and bustle of the people going about their lives, and the gorgeous view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Each time I saw one of the landmarks your kind has made, I had to take a few moments to absorb it all.

The thing is, I'd never tell my fellow Decepticons this, but I admired you humans so much. You all are so fragile compared to Cybertronians. Your lives are so brief. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to live in a vulnerable fleshy body where all it would take was a massive stomp to snuff you out.

And yet, you could accomplish so much in so little time.

I couldn't remember the last time my kind had built something beautiful.

As I sat there watching the city life unfold around me, I heard a voice.

"Like. Oh my gosh. Did you hear the news?"

I turned to see where the voice was coming from. It was a blond-haired woman on her cell phone down on the street. She was wearing a ridiculous but fancy outfit. It had to be one of those vapid, shallow valley girl types like the ones in those teen dramas I watched on occasion.

"The climax of the upcoming Tristen McLean movie is being filmed today! They're doing it in Hollywood right now!"

Tristen McLean.

That was a name and actor I was familiar with.

A few weeks into our arrival on Earth, my associate Starscream had unwittingly discovered human television and radio signals. Most of my fellow Decepticons had been annoyed and bewildered by the human's idea of entertainment.

But I loved it. I often spent hours of my free time just watching the television, seeing all the different varieties of cartoons, shows, and movies you humans have made. The stories you told enchanted and amazed me.

One of the first shows I watched all the way through was Doctor in the House. It was a medical drama where Tristen played the lead role. That role had been his massive break into acting. I had been observing his career for a while.

Now it was looking like I had the chance to see the guy in person.

I flew to the Hollywood lot where Tristen's film was being shot and produced. I remembered reading something about it a few weeks ago. The movie was a heist movie; Tristen was playing the lead role of a man who discovered how corrupt the company he was working for was and decided to help some robbers steal from it. It was sort of an inverse of Die Hard, where the robbers were the good guys.

I found the lot that filming was taking place on. From the looks of things, they were working on the big climatic action scene on top of the company tower. A massive prop tower had been built for the moment.

Once I located a decent spot to sit down, it was time to watch the movie production process take place right before me. Despite my love of human cinema, this was my first time seeing the process in which it was all made. It was very fascinating.

I finally managed to catch a glimpse of the man himself. A tall Native American man with dark skin and chocolate brown hair. He was talking to who I assumed to be the director. I couldn't make out the words, but Tristen seemed concerned about something. The director was assuring him it was going to be okay.

Soon, Tristen and his fellow actors were positioned at the top of the tower for the scene. The director let out his cry of action, and the magic began.

It was watching Tristen behind the scenes that my appreciation of him grew immensely. Just a few moments ago, he seemed like a different person, professional and composed, but now that it was time to act, he completely transformed himself into the role he was playing for the movie. He perfectly captured the desperation and panic his character was meant to be feeling while also showing great determination. It was impressive.

But the impressiveness was interrupted when I heard a large cracking sound.

Everyone else must have heard it too, because everyone stopped what they were doing and looked around frantically.

That's when I saw it. The tower's base had started to collapse. It bent over and turned to its side with a horrible screeching sound. Debris and scrap metal started raining down on the people below it. When I looked up, I saw that Tristen couldn't keep his balance and was beginning to fall, his safety harness snapped. I heard someone scream.

My eyes widened. My mind started running on instinct; I felt the jets on the bottom of my feet turn on. I jumped and began to accelerate through the air toward the falling actor. My camo was still up, so I must have been unseen.

I grabbed Tristen in my arms as I felt the debris fall on my back painlessly.

The next thing I remembered feeling was crashing into an abandoned studio building, Tristen still in my grasp.

I felt my head start to clear. I was dazed and hurt from the crash, but the Autobots had done far worse to me in the past; hell, so had the Decepticons. You should see Megatron on a bad day.

I was hoping my head would clear faster though, I needed to make a quick escape before anyone realized what had happened. I could see the headlines now, "Tristen McLean kidnapped by Decepticon.".

I rubbed the back of my head as my vision began to clear up. When the static was finally removed from my eyesight, I was met with quite a shock.

Tristen was awake. He was looking at me; it was hard to tell what he was looking at me with though, Amazment? Horror? Dread? Wonder?

I just stood there, not saying a word at first. It was a very awkward staring contest.

'...Um. Thank you..." Tristen said uneasily.

"...You're welcome." I blurted out. It took all of my composure to stop myself from geeking out. Tristen McLean was talking to me!

There was another moment of silence.

"So, are you one of those Autobots?" Tristen asked.

I froze. He hadn't seen my faction insignia yet. I made a mental note to block them so he couldn't see.

"Yes... I am an Autobot." I lied.

"Well... it's nice to meet you." he said, "I'm-"

"Tristen McLean, I know."

"You do?" he asked surprised.

"I mean...you're kinda famous." I pointed out.

"I just never pictured you Transformers watching my movies," Tristen said.

"Well, I do!" I found myself saying, "I've seen most of your movies. In fact, I came here to watch-"

I heard some voices and feet stomping nearby. It was undoubtedly the movie staff coming to see if Tristen was alright.

"...Look, I have to go," I said, picking myself back up.

"Okay..." Tristen said uncertainly.

"...Can I talk to you later?" I asked, "After you're done filming?"

It was a stupid question. Looking back, I don't know why I asked it. An A-List actor had much better things to do than talk to me, an alien who had brought his war to his planet.

I was surprised when I heard his response.

"...Sure." he said, "I can meet you outside the studio lot. There's a closed-off area that would be good for privacy."

I just stood there frozen. Tristen McLean agreed to talk to me, a giant alien robot.

Of course, it probably helped he thought I was one of the "good guys.".

I got the feeling he didn't agree to talk with fans one-on-one often, but he was still willing to do that with me for some reason.

"Yes. Of course. I saw it when I came in," I responded, "I'll see you there."

I engaged my boosters and flew off, leaving a confused but still in wonder celebrity behind.

A couple of hours passed as I waited outside the lot at the location Tristen described. It was a small closed-off section of the studio lot that had fallen into disuse; trash and grime littered the pavement. The only things of note that were in here now were a few benches.

I was beginning to worry he wouldn't show. Or maybe I had interpreted the location he wanted to meet at wrong. It wasn't a big deal though, after all, he was famous. He shouldn't have to get involved in my business.

So I was honestly surprised when he did eventually show up. He walked right into the section and stopped next to me. He looked at me with that look of amazement I'm sure the Autobots got a lot.

"Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long," he said

"Oh no, it's fine." I assured him, "I understand you're a busy man."

"I don't think I properly introduced myself," I said, "My name is Thundercracker."

"And I don't think I need an introduction." Tristen laughed.

I laughed too, it had been a long time since I last laughed.

"...So, if I may ask." I said, "Why did you agree to talk to me?"

"Well, honestly, you're the most interesting thing that's happened to me in a while," Tristen responded.

"I'm the most interesting thing to happen to you?" I repeated. I sat down on the cool pavement. "I find that hard to believe."

Tristen sat down next to me on a nearby bench. "You'd think that, but when you've been in this business long enough, what starts as interesting becomes a day in the life.".

My hand grasped the bottom of my chin."Yes, I can see your point..."I admitted.

"So you said you were a fan of me?" he asked

"Oh yes." I said excitedly clasping my hands together, "Like I said back there, I've seen most of your movies and shows you've been in.".

"Since when does a giant alien death machine watch human television?" Tristen laughed

"Since he gets bored easily. We have to do something for entertainment." I said.

Of course, my idea for entertainment was different than most other cons. They were content to fight, scheme, or complain in their spare time. Obviously, there was no way I was telling him that.

"So, what's your favorite movie that I've been in?" Tristen asked.

I had to think about it for a moment, "Well there was that time you were in a James Bond film."

We continued on like that for a bit. Talking about his past roles and roles he was hoping to take in the future. The finer points of the movies he'd been in and the failings of other films he'd done. He had a deep analytic mind when it came to movie discussion.

This was the kind of conversation I always wanted to have with someone, but I never could until now.

I got the sense Tristen enjoyed it too. Maybe he didn't have the opportunity to talk about his career in this way with other people often.

Sadly, it all had to come to an end. The communication device all Cybertronians have built onto their wrist on me started beeping. "Sorry, I have to take this," I said.

"Believe me, I'd be a hypocrite if I got mad at you for that," Tristen assured me.

I turned and activated it. "Yes?"

I was greeted by the electronic monotone voice of Soundwave "Thundercracker; You have been absent too long. Return to HQ now.".

"Of course." I sighed, "I'll be there soon.".

I turned back around to Tristen, "I'm sorry. My friends want me back at home.".

"It's okay," he assured me.

"...Do you...want to meet up again?" I asked tentatively.

"I think I'd like that actually," Tristen said. He gave me the address of one of his houses. He told me to come by anytime.

He liked me. He really liked me and wanted to see more of me.

With the best day I had on Earth so far finished, I transformed into my jet mode and flew off into the night sky.

As I flew into the ground bridge Soundwave had deployed for me, something strange happened. I saw a flash of... I'm not sure what it was.

I saw Tristen McLean during the filming of the same scene I saw earlier. This time, however, the tower did not collapse, and everything went off without a hitch.

But as the shooting wrapped, I saw Tristen look unhappy as he walked around the craft services table. No one was talking to him, not in any meaningful way, and if they did, they weren't interested in his opinions or ideas. They only saw him as Tristen McLean, the fellow employee, or Tristen McLean, the famous actor.

He was at the top of the world, filming an exciting action scene at the peak of his career...

And yet, he was completely alone.

As I entered the Decepticon base, the vision faded, leaving me to wonder what exactly I had just seen.

And that's the first part done. Hope you all enjoyed it. Constructive criticism is welcome. Next time, Piper!

Oh and for just a bit of clarity. The Battle of New York City mentioned in this chapter is not the same one from Last Olympian. As I said at the start this takes place before TLO.