A/N - Hoo-boy. Getting into the really intense stuff now.
Now I did a lot of research and came across something interesting. We humans have named our home galaxy the Milky Way. But there is nothing in any Transformers Lore about what the Transformers called it. So, I sat there, did some thinking, and then decided to follow the same basis for how we named our galaxy. The Milky Way is called such because it looks like a "milky band of light" in the sky, or "spilled milk", depending on the source you read. Those in China call it the "Silver River" (in western China it's called the "Straw Way"), or "River of Heaven" in Japan. In the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa, it's called the "Backbone of the Night". The common name Galileo Galilei gave is commonly believed to come from the Greek Myth about the Goddess Hera spraying milk across the sky (yes, that myth). But overall, almost all names come from myths or beliefs.
As such, I delved into the mythos to understand what kind of name they could give the galaxy. But given how many different continuities there are (not to mention the multiversal lore rabbit hole I ended up going down and the headache that gave me!) I decided to focus on my preferred one, Aligned. This is because this was the first series that introduced me to the in-continuity mythos, via the Prime cartoon (and which has also been widely accepted by fans as the "main" mythos, despite every single writer pretty much saying Aligned is in its own separate 'bubble'. I think why fans accepted it as such is similar to how I was introduced to in-universe lore/mythos). But trying to find legends outside of the Thirteen Primes was a pain in itself, so I ended up back at the drawing board…
And then it hit me at the point I wanted to kick myself. A lot of lore, some canon, some fan made, talk about energon rivers. The Milky Way is often referred to as a "river of stars". Thus, the answer came to me; they would most likely refer to the galaxy as a "river" in some form. Thus, the name I give it further down and the explanation.
Also, sorry it took so long. Let's just say I had a major crisis this summer with my mental health, and that left me with one massive block. Summer just became a blur…
On a brighter note, I have raised almost two dozen monarchs. Now I am just waiting for the five larger, migratory "super" generation to emerge. They are taking extra long to 'incubate' in their chrysalis' due to the current colder weather but remain healthy and alive. While there is controversy over raising monarch inside, I strongly feel there is a difference between 'captive rearing' and 'captive breeding'. As in, there's raising monarch's from freshly laid eggs in mostly natural environments, then there's actively trying to breed monarchs to increase population but subsequently reduce population diversity. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Anyways, onto the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, only my OC and parts of the plot (i.e. what's not in the canon). No stealy.
To Cybertronians, Earth, specifically the city of Detroit, was a rather interesting place. Inhabited by the dominant species of organics, they were more used to robots being "lifeless" or with rudimentary "AI". To have living robots amongst them, let alone alien ones, meant that the stranded Autobots were surprisingly popular. Especially due to their heroics saving civilians and police from Cyberpunk's rampage.
Though, adapting to the culture and rules of this planet could be quite a challenge.
"Curse'd organic enforcers…" Override looked up from her datapad as Ratchet entered the bridge, the older mech grumbling. Leaning back in her seat, the femme raised an optic-ridge. "What happened?"
The medibot just grunted, stomping over to his (not really secret) high-grade stash. "Apparently a bot can't take a stasis nap without being ticketed."
The Prime ex-vented in semi-exasperation, shaking her helm. "Ratchet, the human enforcer was only following the rules. It's not their fault you decided to nap in a no-parking zone." Again. The last word went unsaid, if only to avoid additional ire.
"Yeah yeah." The mech waved her off, grabbing one of the small white cubes. "Want one?"
"Ratchet, I don't drink." The femme Prime reminded the mech, turning back to her work. The medibot walked over, looking at the screen. "Still nothing?"
They had been stranded on Earth for a couple of 'months' now, or about 17.5 cycles, almost three quarters of a megacycle. Sari's mech creator – 'father' – Issac Sumdac, had been more than willing to work with Wheeljack on building a device strong enough to hopefully get a signal to Cybertron. So far, they had transmitted a few distress signals in hopes a scout ship would pick it up. Unfortunately, wherever Earth was in relation to the Hadean System, the star distribution couldn't be matched to any known charts. They may be in a different galaxy for all that they knew, and that was a terrifying thought in itself: of being in an unknown galaxy unlike their home one, Riva Energa.
"So far." Override answered, reading through the recent report the inventor had sent her. "Though it seems that they have been able to create a device to synthesize synthetic energon."
"Well, that'll be useful." Ratchet took a swig of his high grade. "Maybe we can bring this design back to use to combat the shortage back home."
"It would be, if it wasn't producing poor quality low grade." The femme scrolled through. "But it's a start. Apparently, their most successful attempt was with solar power."
Ratchet huffed. "Except Hadean is a lot smaller, redder, and doesn't produce the same amount of energy as their Sun." The medic groused, taking another swig.
Override shook her helm. "But there are Autobot colonies orbiting similar stars. Being able to produce their own energon would take a massive load off the energon farms." She glanced at the older bot. "Maybe even bring down the cost of high grade."
Ratchet grumbled, reluctantly consenting to her observation, before finishing his cube. "Yeah, well it's of no use if we don't get back home."
The femme remained silent, staring at the holoscreen. That was what was worrying her: that they may never see Cybertron again. Or if they ever did, they would've been gone for too long to even resume a life on the planet. Already she feared that they had been in stasis for decavorns, and considered offline by their people.
A servo rested on her shoulder plate. "I'm… sorry Prime. I know how much this bothers you."
Override smiled a little, though her spark remained sullen. "Thank you, Ratchet." In an attempt to change the atmosphere, she glanced at him. "Any glyph from Prowl?"
The medic shook his helm. "Not this cycle. Though he's probably off galavanting through one of the nearby forests."
The femme barely stiffled a chuckle. The ninja had been surprisingly enamoured by Earth's wilderness, and often spent time slinking through the wooded areas on the outskirts of the metropolis. "Better he finds a place to enjoy than to be sulking somewhere." She grinned.
The older mech huffed. "Or running around like CPU-less scraphelms." He groused.
"Bumblebee and Bulkhead are barely over a thousand stellar cycles." Override reminded him, closing the holoscreen. "They're more open to humans than most other bots would be. Besides, the humans, especially the younger protoforms, love them."
Ratchet rolled his optics, plopping down in the seat of his console, which was next to the Prime's. "Yeah well… they could be a little more relaxed about it."
Override just shook her helm again. "Let them enjoy it. Besides, it only proves to the humans that we're not 'mindless, destructive robots'."
The medic stared at her. "…what was that servo motion?"
The femme reset her optics, before chuckling. "Apologies. Sari recently taught me about 'air quotes'." She did the motion again. "Apparently it's quite popular among humans."
Ratchet scoffed, shaking his helm. "Bah." He turned his seat away, powering up his monitor. "I think I'll stay down here and out of 'human culture'."
Override ex-vented but left him be. Instead, she put the datapad away and stood, heading towards the bridge door. "Well, I'm going to head up. Earth is a rather fascinating planet. Humans are so similar yet so different from Autobots."
The medibot just waved her off, grumbling. Shaking her helm, the Prime left the bridge, though she smiled a little. Ever since they had arrived Ratchet had been a bit more relaxed. Though whether that was because Wheeljack was not around as much making things explode half the time or not was debatable.
Being around humans was rather… interesting. Despite how similar their species were - minus the differences in biology - there were stark differences. Instead of being a united society following one military leader, they were instead composed of many different 'ethnicities' and resided in different countries with their own laws and leaders. These leaders in what were considered the 'first world' countries were often voted in by the people, instead of being elected by a council. Humans also had many different 'religions', beliefs that they held based on cultures from ancient times.
However, one thing that had struck Override the most was their society. Instead of a caste system, humans could work to reach the jobs that they wanted, not slotted into a caste based on their determined function. Young humans - children - went through the education system to instead learn about language, history, arts, science, and mathematics, all for them to find what careers suited them.
Currently the femme found herself parked in vehicle mode across from an elementary school, watching the young humans running about carefree in the school yard. A pang of envy went through her spark. Though she knew that this was only true for 'capitalist' countries, the options humans had even from their creation was more than a young protoform would ever have back on Cybertron.
Then again, their World Wars were not as destructive as Cybertron's Great War. Override thought to herself, getting ready to drive away.
That was when she heard shouting and the high-pitched sound of an engine. Her battle protocols sprung to life, registering a young human mech - boy - standing in the road, a ball in hand, staring in terror at the sports car speeding towards him.
Within less than a nano Override had transformed and lunged forwards, scooping up the boy and flipping out of the speeding car's way. Setting the youngling down in the safety of the schoolyard, the femme transformed and took off after the speeder. And unfortunately, there are too many similarities between our species.
It took only a breem for the Prime to catch the speeder, and she carried the sports car under her arm to the nearest group of police officers, holding the car just above the asphalt so that the driver could be extracted without being able to speed away. After explaining the situation, she left the cursing man in the officers' custody, transforming and driving away. She soon found herself returning to the school, where she could see the young boy surrounded by his peers, talking animatedly, likely about his rescue. Relieved that the child appeared to be all right, she drove off.
Eventually she stopped at a small park, where she transformed and carefully sat on a hill. Leaning back on her servos, Override shuttered her optics, letting out a deep ex-vent as sunlight warmed her armour. Another difference: this planet was bathed in warm sunlight, not dim starlight. And it felt… calming.
"Heya Prime!"
Rebooting her optics, the femme glanced down. Sari stood by her pedes, an ice cream cone in hand. Override tilted her helm at the preteen. "Are you not supposed to be in school?"
The girl giggled, walking up the hill to sit next to the Autobot. "I'm homeschooled, remember?"
"Oh, right." She smiled at her crew's young human friend. "I'm surprised to see you without Bumblebee and Bulkhead." Ever since they had met the three had struck a fast and strong friendship. It was almost impossible to find the young bots or the young human without each other.
Sari shrugged, taking a lick of her ice cream. "I think they went to see this outdoor movie. But I wasn't interested in it."
Override rebooted her optics, before letting out a deep ex-vent and looking towards the blue sky. "Please tell me they're not seeing another horror movie…" she begged, already feeling the oncoming helmache.
The pre-teen just smiled sympathetically, which got a groan from the Prime's engine. "You'd think after the last time they'd know better." The girl commented.
"And yet I am not surprised." Override vented, shaking her helm. "So long as they don't try to 'ghost proof' the ship again. Ratchet nearly had a spark attack." And that was putting it lightly.
Sari giggled at the femme's air quotes, before gaining a thoughtful look. "You know, having to go back underwater all the time probably sucks. I mean, you have to dry yourself off going into the ship and coming into the city."
Override shrugged, moving to lean back on her elbow joints. "Unfortunately, until the ship is repaired, we have no way to move it to land. And," she glanced at the strange, Allspark powered key on the girl's neck, "Ratchet insists on doing the repairs himself."
Sari blinked, before looking down at her key. It had been rather useful, especially whenever Bumblebee or Bulkhead got into a mess. Or whenever Wheeljack blew up his latest invention/attempt. "You don't think I hurt Ratchet's pride, do you?" She asked softly, referring to when she had offered to help repair the ship with her key.
Override chuckled, smiling at the young human. "No Sari. He's just very protective of the Orion." She ex-vented, looking up at the blue sky. "It was his ship before I became captain. Still is his ship."
"Huh…" Sari took another lick of her ice cream, scowling as it started dripping on her hand.
The two sat in mostly silence for the next hour, with the young human occasionally asking a question, which the femme answered. That was, until the Prime's comm. went off. :Uh… boss-bot?:
Override felt the helmache coming on as she answered it. "Yes Bumblebee?"
:Bulkhead's stuck up a tree.:
"Stuck up a-?" The Prime rebooted her optics in startlement, before groaning. "Send me your location." Allspark help me with those two! She glanced at Sari, who was giggling. "Oh yes, very amusing." Rolling her optics, the femme walked up to the parking lot, transforming and opening her passenger side door. "Come along." If she had learned anything, letting Sari come along was easier than having the human youngling begging to come. If told no, it would often result in the human attempting to follow, which usually ended disastrously.
No one wanted a repeat of the hijacked trash bot incident.
The human grinned and scrambled in, careful to keep from spilling the remains of her ice cream. "I gotta see this!"
If she had been in root mode Override would've shaken her helm. Instead, she drove out of the parking lot, heading to the location Bumblebee had sent her way. This would most certainly end up on the human news networks later.
The incident did, indeed, end up attracting news crews, who reported the scene with amusement.
By the time the sun was starting to set, Override was finally able to get Bulkhead safely down from the large oak he had somehow gotten stuck up in. Thankfully the incident only seemed to endear the humans more to them, instead of upsetting them. Turns out an Autobot being spooked by a horror movie was very relatable and very hilarious. Except for the few humans who were more concerned about the tree.
Sari had laughed and taken pictures with her phone, though now she was staring at the screen with a thoughtful look. Bumblebee knelt beside her, curious, while his leader placated the humans who were mad about the damage to the tree. "Whatcha thinking about?"
The thirteen-year-old blinked, before grinning. "It's a surprise!" She chirped, hiding her phone before the minibot could peek at the screen.
Bumblebee scowled and sulked, which only made the human smile. "Sorry Bee. But I'm not going to spoil it!"
Off to the side, the Prime ex-vented tiredly as the tree-loving humans finally left, rubbing her optics. Allspark above, she was exhausted…
The next evening, Sari led the bots deep into the city's old industrial district.
"What is this place?" Bulkhead asked as the group parked outside what looked like an abandoned factory.
"And why were we dragged out to it?" Ratchet grumbled, looking around disdainfully.
"My Dad got this in a merger a few years back. I don't think he even remembers owning it." Sari answered, climbing out of Bumblebee's alt mode. "Figured you guys could use it as a base that's not at the bottom of Lake Erie."
As the bots transformed, activating their headlights, the human unlocked the padlock that kept the large rolling door shut. Bulkhead lifted it, the metal screeching from disuse, and their headlights revealed the dusty interior of an old machine assembly plant. "I know it's not much, but you guys shouldn't be bothered here! And it's totally okay if you break something too!"
"It's… I think it's what you organics call a real 'fixer upper'." Bumblebee reset his optics, not sure what to make of the space but also not wanting to upset Sari.
"Well I think it's great!" Wheeljack grinned, looking around. "Plenty of space to-!"
"Ah! You are not building any of your whacked inventions in here 'Jack!" Ratchet swatted at his fellow bot. "We don't need the roof collapsing when it inevitably blows up!"
"Aw, have a spark Ratch!"
"Don't call me that!"
Bulkhead walked right past the two feuding mechs, stretching out before dropping to sit on the concrete floor in the middle in the open space. "Anywhere I can power down for a few joors is okay by me." He vented, leaning against one of the metal supports. Thankfully, the thick beam held his weight.
"I think this will work." Override nodded, shining the headlights on her forearms around. "Thank you, Sari."
The human grinned, before everyone's attention was drawn outside to the sound of distant sirens. An orange glow was lighting up the city outside the district.
"Autobots, transform and roll out!" The Prime ordered, ignoring Bulkhead's tired groan. With that the bots transformed and took off, Bumblebee stopping long enough for Sari to climb in.
"I'm live on the scene where a massive fire has broken out in an apartment building in the Newport District. Already several fire departments have rolled up to try and contain the blaze; though given how fast the inferno occurred many are uncertain that they can halt the spread of the fire."
The camera's feed was focused on a forty-story apartment building, which was almost completely engulfed in flames. Several forms could be seen leaning out of windows or huddled on balconies, waving for help. Flying drones with the fire department logos were flying up and down, helping to carry victims to safety.
One drone reached a balcony on the 22nd story that had a mother and her child on it, and the firefighter directing it had it reach out to grab the two. Unfortunately, that was when the balcony's supports suddenly gave out, sending the two into a free fall screaming.
On the ground several people gasped in horror and pointed, some pointing their recording phones towards the falling mother and daughter. Even the reporter directed her camera drone towards the falling duo, unable to hold back her gasp of horror. The mother was curled around her child in an attempt to protect her from the inevitable impact…
A black and gold form shot through the air, snatching the two mere moments before they could hit the unforgiving pavement. A cheer rose up as the form stood to reveal the Autobot Prowl, who carefully deposited mother and daughter into the care of an ambulance crew.
"Just in the nick of time, Autobot Prowl has saved a family from certain death! But can the Autobot alone help save the many still trapped in the burning building?"
The camera suddenly turned, and the sounds of transformation heralded the rest of the Autobots arriving on the scene.
The femme Prime took command the nano she finished transforming. "Ratchet, join the human paramedics and help transport the victims! Wheeljack, work with the firefighters to better control the blaze - no inventions!" The inventor whined. "Bulkhead, make sure debris don't hit any evacuating humans! Bumblebee, work with Prowl to rescue any humans still trapped in their apartments!" Override ran at the building, raising one of her arms. "I'm going to get the humans trapped on the roof!" With that she released her grapple and used it to start climbing the building.
"On it!" The bots spread out to follow orders, helping the humans in rescuing as many victims as possible.
Bulkhead noticed another set of balconies giving way, and rushing over caught the twisted metal before it could crush the humans escaping from an emergency exit. "I got it! Keep moving!" He encouraged the terrified people, who quickly moved away to the safety of the emergency personnel.
Wheeljack quickly located the group of firefighter captains, and began to discuss with them plans to help control the blaze. With his calculations they were able to direct the drones spraying fire retardant to key areas, which rapidly reduced the size and spread of the overall blaze.
Prowl used his built-in jet booster to rescue several humans from higher floors, depositing them with rescue drones. Bumblebee helped humans down from the lower stories, his small size easily letting him scramble up and down what balconies were intact. He had the humans cling to his armour around his neck and back, leaving his pedes and servos free to climb or break through windows to rescue those trapped inside.
Ratchet was indispensable to the paramedics, driving those in critical conditions to the nearest hospital and allowing more paramedics to work on their patients, both on-scene and in his interior. When he wasn't driving, he was using his advanced scanners to help correctly diagnose the injured for treatment, saving lives from injuries that were not visible to the naked eye.
In the meanwhile, Override was collecting the humans who had run to the roof in a desperate attempt to escape the flames onto drones sent up there, helping speed up the evacuation. Part of the roof collapsed without warning beneath a man, yet before he could vanish into the raging inferno below, he was caught by a grapple. The Prime quickly reeled him out, her spark racing seeing the roof continuing to crumble. :The roof is collapsing! There are at least 20 humans still in need of evac!: She shouted over the comms, ushering the humans as far away from the fiery hole as possible.
:Frag!: Wheeljack cursed over the comm.. :Can you get them to the east side?:
:That's the side that's collapsed!: Override deposited a pair of crying children on a newly arrived rescue drone, moving to scoop up their worried parents with one servo while blasting the flames licking over with the built in fire extinguisher on her left forearm. :I've moved all the humans to the west side, but at the rate of collapse I won't be able to get them all on the drones!:
There was a klik of silence over the comms, before the inventor responded. :They're sending over some of the fire suppression drones! The humans should be able to hold onto them!:
:Good!:
"Daniel!" A woman's shrill scream made the femme whip her helm around, and she saw a mother leaning over another open part of the roof, her husband shouting "Carly!" while holding her legs.
Override quickly raced over, and kneeling down scooped up the young boy who had almost fallen into the burning floor below, blasting the licking flames with cybertronian Grade 1 fire retardant. Rescuing the young boy allowed the man to pull his wife back onto the roof, and they both hugged their son as soon as the child was returned to them. The Prime wished she could give them the time to hold onto each other, but the roof was continuing to collapse. "We need to move!" She ordered, and the family quickly scrambled up and raced away from the gaping hole. Unfortunately, there wasn't much roof left, with maybe a dozen square human meters of stable footing on the western side. Override worked quickly to get the humans onto the fire suppression drones sent by the fire crews, telling them to hold on tightly. To buy more time, the femme also activated the fire extinguisher built into her right forearm. Her extinguishers didn't have strong suppressants in them, installed for putting out small fires; mainly Wheeljack-created ones. But she prayed they would be enough to buy a few extra precious kliks.
By the time there was barely enough roof left for her to stand on, she got the last of the humans onto the last drones. "Go!" The Prime shouted, and the drones began their descent to the ground far below.
Coughing her engine to clear out the smoke, Override double checked to make sure there were no more humans. Seeing that there was no one else on the roof, the femme moved to release a grapple to climb down. In less than a nano the remaining roof beneath her suddenly gave out, and she shouted as she fell into the blazing building. The Prime fell through several burning floors before she caught herself on a thick support beam. Engine coughing from the smoke, she deployed her battle mask, trying to slow the intake of smoke into her vents.
Squinting her optics against the smoke and fire, Override's processor scrambled to find a way to escape. Grunting, she pulled herself up onto the beam and began to shimmy across it. Eventually she made it to what she hoped was an outer wall, and shifting onto her back on the beam she started kicking it with her pede, trying to get out. Eventually her pede broke through the metal, and pulling back she used her servos to force the metal apart so she could crawl out. Poking her helm out, gasping for smoke-free air, the femme saw that she was around the 32nd story. Grimacing, she pulled back, attaching her grapple to the beam, and began to climb down the side of the building. As she did so, her comm. went off. :Prime! What happened?!:
:The roof gave out after I got the humans off.: Override reported to the medibot, before trying to ease his worry. :I am functional Ratchet.:
:I'll be the judge of that.: The medic groused. :Just get your aft down here intact so I can examine you.:
The Prime ex-vented, but smiled under her mask. :Once the humans have everything under control.: She stipulated, chuckling as the medic grumbled over the comms, muttering in Standard about 'stubborn younglings'.
Eventually the femme reached the ground, and comm'd her team to check on the situation. :Status report.:
:According to the building manager all residents are accounted for.: Prowl reported. The mech was kneeling by a group of humans, looking like he had been conversing with one.
:Only seventeen humans suffered critical injuries.: Ratchet reported. :Though none were fatal. The majority of injuries are the result of smoke inhalation or minor burns.:
:Prime!: Wheeljack's voice cut over the . :I got a report from the human fire captains! The building is going to collapse!:
Override cursed. "Everyone move away from the building!" She shouted, both out loud and over the comms, and raced over to the inventor. "How bad of a collapse?" She asked, stopping by him.
One of the fire captains stepped forwards. "Most of the upper floors are already collapsing inwards." She reported, bringing over a tablet displaying a visual feed from a camera drone. It showed the top of the building, which was completely engulfed in flames. "Calculations show that once the top fifteen floors finish giving out, the structure will collapse towards the east and hit another apartment." She pointed towards the building that stood maybe thirty meters from the burning one. "It will result in a domino effect that could take out several more buildings."
"How long?" The Prime asked, kneeling before the woman.
"At least five minutes." Was the grave answer.
Override grimaced. Five Earth minutes was just over half a breem. Not very long and definitely not enough time to evacuate the other buildings. A thought struck her then. "Could we maybe control the collapse?" The Prime asked, looking at Wheeljack. "Contain the collapse to the apartment's area?"
The inventor became thoughtful, pulling out a data pad to do calculations on. About a klik went by before he nodded. "If we place an explosive charge here," he turned the pad, showing a schematic of the building. He was pointing to a section on the west side, just over the midline of the building, "and detonate it just as the collapse starts, we should be able to contain the collapse to the building's foundational area."
"Then let's do it." Override stood, looking at the firefighters. "Get everyone as far back as you can. The debris cloud won't be contained when the collapse happens."
The humans nodded and started shouting into their radios. The Prime then turned back to the inventor. "Direct me to the right position." She ordered.
Wheeljack rebooted his optics. "Are you glitched?! The heat could fry your circuits!" He gestured to where Bulkhead was ferrying humans away in his vehicle mode. "Bulkead's armour is thicker and offers better protection!"
"We don't have time!" The femme snapped, barely holding in 'you want to trust Bulkhead with this?!'. "I'm pulling rank: I order you to give me the explosive and direct me where to place it!"
The inventor reeled back from her shout, before relenting and giving her the explosive from his subspace, which his captain then placed in her own. "You need to set it exactly here," he pointed to the spot on his data pad, "I'll handle setting it off remotely."
Override nodded, then took off in a run towards the building. Releasing her grapple, she sprung up and climbed towards the location indicated. With Wheeljack guiding her over the comms, she soon reached the spot around the 25th floor. Reeling back her free servo, the Prime smashed it through a window, sending smoke billowing into her faceplate. Squinting her optics against it, the femme pulled her servo back, reaching into her subspace and grabbing the explosive. Carefully she placed the charge inside the building against an exposed support beam, then began to descend back to the ground. The moment her pedes touched the pavement she took off to where the others had evacuated to.
Behind her the east side began to collapse, and less than a nanoklik later the explosive she had planted went off. "Everyone, brace yourselves!" Override shouted, feeling the extreme heat as the building began to collapse in on itself. Throwing herself forwards she shielded several firefighters who hadn't been able to get behind their trucks fast enough, protecting them from the scorching debris cloud that billowed outwards.
It took a moment for her systems to recalibrate from the conclusive wave. Audios rang from the reverberations, HUD flashed with warnings, heat searing her back plating. The Prime slowly reactivated her optics as the dust began to settle, holding back a grimace as pain flared from her backplates. She looked down, optics faintly lighting the settling particles in a blue glow. The men and women she had shielded were getting up, appearing unharmed. Coughing some smoke from her engine and vents, the femme opened her comm. link. :Status report.:
There was the sound of an engine coughing over the comms. :Bumblebee here. The humans are rattled, but online.: A pause. :Sari's good too, if dirty.: A faint "Hey!" was faintly audible over the line.
:All good here boss-bot.: Bulkhead reported. That was followed by Prowl, Wheeljack, and Ratchet giving similar reports.
Override ex-vented in relief, standing up. :Good work everyone.: A small hand patting her leg got her attention, and the Prime looked down to see one of the firefighters she had shielded standing by her pedes. "Thank you." The young man said, smiling.
The femme smiled, before realizing her mask was still deployed. Retracting it, she knelt to his level. "It was our duty." She chuckled. "And you are welcome."
Another firefighter, looking around now that the dust had settled, held a fist up in the air. "Three cheers for the Autobots!"
The crowd of civilians and rescue personnel started cheering, while the Autobots just smiled, moving to help with anything the humans needed.
"…and once again, the Autobots prove themselves as Detroit's newest superheroes." The young reporter smiled, despite being covered in dust and soot. "Without them, this disaster could've proven to be a horrendous tragedy. Even now they continue to help, taking a load off the relief effort. This is Annabel Lennox reporting live. Back to you Huxley."
The camera panned out to show the Autobots helping with the relief effort, before the feed changed to that of the news channel room.
"'Heroes' hmm?" Starscream chuckled darkly, switching the screen from the human news broadcast to a star chart. The footage was about 10.375 breems old, though given the antiquated technology the primitive organic planet had, he wasn't surprised by the delay. "You're about to take a fall."
Outside, the Nemesis drifted past a large gas giant with a ring of debris around it.
Override grimaced as Ratchet cleaned up her back. The femme was the last to be examined by the medic (at her insistence), and the medic grumbled as he cleaned the peeling metal. "Small fall, my aft." He groused, dabbing the solvent soaked sponge on the areas of burned and scorched plating between the semi-melted tires. "You're lucky none of your wires or circuits fused!"
The Prime merely nodded, knowing better than to refute the medic. That only earned a wrench to the helm and a long lecture. She flinched, vents hissing as he dabbed at a particularly sensitive spot, which earned her a small cuff upside the helm. "Oh, hold still." He finished cleaning the damaged metal plating, before beginning to start repairs.
"That was quite the risk you took." The medibot said after a breem, glancing at the femme's faceplate. "You could've sent Prowl up there. The mech has a jet booster."
"He was better suited to carry humans from the upper levels." Override retorted softly, wincing from the feeling of the welder. "Given the situation I felt it best to save as many as we could."
Ratchet turned off the welder, ex-venting as he put it down on the berth the femme sat on. "I know you feel responsible for keeping this crew safe Prime." He rested a servo on her shoulder plate. "But you lead a team of very capable bots."
Override raised an optic-ridge. "Even Wheeljack?"
The medic paused, before barking out a laugh. "Even Wheeljack." He moved over to a table, grabbing a different tool. "Now hold still. I need to finish this section."
The Prime nodded, grimacing as the medic got back to work.
"Good morning!" Sari chirped as she skipped into the old factory one morning. The bots inside looked over and called out their own greetings.
The girl made her way over to one side, curiously looking at the series of monitors and terminals set up. "What's this for?"
Wheeljack pulled his helm out of one of the terminals, and he grinned. "Since this is going to be our second base, Prime insisted on having a monitor system set up." He sat up, wincing as one of his helm fins scraped against the edge of the terminal.
"Yeah, but…" the human trailed off, before looking up as pedesteps approached. Override set the crate she had been carrying down and held her servo out for the preteen to climb on. "Sari, we're programmed to protect all life. That includes humans." The femme gently set the girl on one of the terminals, then typing at the holopad. "I thought it best to monitor the city, and potentially the planet if needed."
Sari scuffed her boot against the metal. "I guess…"
"Sari." The young Indian girl looked up, her blue eyes meeting the Prime's optics. "I know you want to reassure us that we're safe here. But I want you to remember that our species are in your kind's equivalent of a Cold War. Given we have no idea where Earth is in relation to Autobot Space, there's a risk of rogue Decepticons finding us and attacking."
Sari looked down, remembering when Override had explained to the human about their kind. Including the war that had divided their species. A digit gently lifted her face up by the chin. "Sari," the Prime smiled softly, "thank you. For helping us."
The young teen smiled back, before both bot and human turned at a triumphant shout from nearby. Bumblebee stood up from under the television, grinning. "I got the TV working!" He crowed, before dropping onto a set of industrial tires that had been repurposed into Autobot sized seats. The bot fiddled with the bot-sized remote, flipping through channels, before starting. "Hey bots! We're on TV!"
Override lifted an optic ridge, carefully picking up Sari. The TV showed a news reporter covering the cleanup of the apartment fire, including the Autobots helping.
Ratchet scoffed, shaking his helm. "Bah! Back on Cybertron they wouldn't cover this!"
"We are not on Cybertron." The femme Prime reminded him, gently depositing Sari into Bumblebee's hold. "To the humans, we are a novelty. Give it time Ratchet." She smiled. "The humans will adjust."
The medibot grumbled and stalked away, leaving his captain to shake her helm. Watching as Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and even Prowl joined their youngest crew member plus their human friend in watching the news, Override returned to setting up the terminals. She placed her servos on one console, linking with the technology inside and continuing to set up the systems. A smile came to her lip plates as she connected wirelessly with the Orion, systems coming online, from security to their sky drones, data streaming across her optics.
The Prime had just started running a system check when the sound of a loud fizzling noise and shouting pulled her back to reality. Turning her helm, the femme raised an optic-ridge seeing the TV smoking. Bulkhead was whining, Prowl had vanished, and Wheeljack was being glared at by Bumblebee, who was blaming him for whatever had gone wrong. The inventor was denying any involvement, while Sari was trying to play peacemaker.
"You missed the fireworks." Override glanced at Ratchet, who had walked up behind her. "The primitive holo was about to show a clip of Bumblebee when it did," he gestured over, "that." The medibot then shook his helm. "Then Jackie had to go open his intake."
The femme ex-vented and shook her helm. "Why am I not surprised…?"
They both then turned as a full-blown argument broke out between minibot and inventor. Sharing an exasperated look, the two walked over to break it up before things exploded.
Sari whistled as she walked into Sumdac tower, greeting the receptionist-bot and taking the elevator up to the living floor. She hummed to herself as the floor numbers flashed, rising in value until it stopped. Smiling, she skipped out, going down the hallway to her bedroom.
She stopped, then backtracked, grinning. "Hi Dad!"
Issac looked up from where he was sitting at the sofa. "Oh, Sari! How was your day?" He asked, genuinely curious.
The thirteen-year-old smiled, walking over. "It was great! Though the TV blew at the bots' base." She giggled. "Bee thought it was Wheeljack's fault, but it turned out it was a rat." The giggling intensified. "Ratchet screamed like a girl!"
The professor chuckled, the edges of his eyes crinkling as he smiled. "Well, I don't blame him! Rats and technology do not mix!" He shifted over on the sofa, and Sari sat beside him. "Did you watch the news today?"
The girl blinked, thinking, before smiling. "You mean the one showing the bots? We watched the first half. Then the TV broke."
"I see…" Issac thought for a moment, before changing the topic. "Say Sari, how would you feel inviting the Autobots to the unveiling tomorrow?"
The preteen perked up. "Really? That's awesome!" She quickly pulled out her phone. "Le'me call Bee!" She pulled up Bumblebee's contact the bot had given her. "Oh man this'll be awesome!"
The father smiled, though once his daughter was on the phone, he stood and walked away, his face giving away his inner troubled thoughts.
The next day, the Autobots found themselves as special guests for an unveiling of an invention at the New Detroit Train Station. As it turned out, Wheeljack had been contributing to some of Issac Sumdac's projects, specifically ones the human had hit a dead end on. Standing outside the Victorian-style building, the Autobots stood just behind the makeshift stage that had been set up for the humans who would be speaking. Mainly, one Indian-American scientist who was the head of the biggest automation company in the western hemisphere.
"We at Sumdac Systems continue our commitment to moving Detroit forward with this Fully Automated Rapid Transit System, or F.A.R.T.S.-" Issac stopped as laughter rippled through the crowd, and he blinked, confused. "Uh…" he looked at Sari for an explanation, and the giggling girl leaned over and whispered in his ear. The poor man started, before letting out an embarrassed chuckle. "Well, it seems that the spelling of the acronym was missed during development." Another wave of laughter rippled through the audience.
Bumblebee was confused, looking at Sari. The girl mouthed that she would explain later.
"Ahem. Anyways. Capable of moving at speeds of over three hundred miles per hour, faster than even Japan's magnetic bullet trains." Issac smiled as the crowd cheered, somewhat relieved that the name was outshone by the capabilities of his latest creation.
"I would also like to thank the Autobot Wheeljack, for his contribution to this project." At that the inventor raised a servo, grinning at the loud cheer from the humans. Ratchet just grunted, muttering "we'll see how long they like it until it explodes…" the medic then scowled as Override discreetly elbowed him, giving the older mech a Look.
Sumdac continued, smiling. "As well, I would like to thank our mayor," he gestured to the elderly African American man beside him, who nodded, "Police Chief Fanzone, and of course the rest of the Autobots, for attending this magnificent grand opening ceremony."
The crowd cheered loudly, while Sari grinned widely, looking so happy.
Override smiled, raising a servo for the crowd, and looked at her crew. Bumblebee seemed to be enjoying the spotlight, while Bulkhead had his servos clasped, feeling shy. Wheeljack remained grinning, though Ratchet seemed uninterested. And Prowl was just… being Prowl; arms crossed, indifferent to the situation, though somewhat annoyed as a camera bot got too close to his faceplate.
Chuckling, the Prime leaned in towards the medic beside her a little. "Smile Ratchet. Unless you aren't programmed for that?" She grinned.
The medic scoffed. "Oh, hush you. I just don't like being stared at." He grumbled something else, while the Prime ex-vented, shaking her helm slightly with a small smile. At least Ratchet had been willing to come along, instead of having to be dragged.
The ceremony continued on, with the mayor giving his own speech, then Fanzone. Wheeljack was then let take the mic, where he explained some of the finer specifications about the new train. Ratchet had to 'remind' the inventor a few times to use normal language, which got a few laughs out of the audience.
Eventually Issac stepped up again, gesturing to the sky. "If you will now kindly direct your attention overhead, please enjoy the aerial acrobatics of: The Crimson Angels!"
The crowd cheered wildly at the sight of the six brightly painted fighter jets soared overhead, beginning to do a series of coordinated stunts. At one point they even released fireworks, much to the audiences' amazement.
Bumblebee grinned, enjoying the sight. "For once, something that flies that's not a Decepticon." He commented.
"Well, I'm just grateful that Sumdac gave us the heads up." Wheeljack added, watching as three of the seven jets did a stunt that involved them doing what could only be described as a corkscrew in synchronization. The inventor let out an appreciative whistle. "You need to have a lot of bolts to pull off those maneuvers."
Override opened her intake to add her own comment, only to freeze hearing Sumdac mutter, "Odd… I thought I only paid for six jets."
Alarm bells went off in the femme's helm as she scrutinized the seven jets that now flew together. Six, each a sharp crimson colour, flew together in a perfect triangle…
With a seventh maroon and gray one of different make following behind.
Automatically she tensed, watching the extra jet. She didn't want to jump to conclusions, but…
That jet abruptly broke away and dove towards the crowd. The femme barely registered Bulkead's exclamation of "Is that guy crazy?!" before she shouted, "Everyone evacuate!"
The crowd screamed as the jet flew too close overhelm, before flying steeply upwards and just missing the building behind them. Override grimaced, holding her arm up to protect her faceplate from the wind picked up, narrowing her optics against the turbulent air.
Her spark dropped seeing the sharp purple emblems on the gray wings as the craft shot by.
"It can't be…" Ratchet gasped from beside her, while the femme yanked out one of her blades, battle mask snapping into place. Some of the humans noticed and gasped, the crowd becoming anxious.
The jet reached the peak of its flight… and broke apart, rearranging into the shape of a mech. A vosian mech.
The Decepticon grinned. "Hope you don't mind me crashing the party, Autobots!" He cackled, holding his arms out and revealing the null rays attached.
"Get down!" Override dove forwards, shielding the humans on the stage as the 'Con opened fire. Screams echoed as civilians fled, while the other Autobots tried to dive for cover.
Sari cried out, scared, before gasping as the femme shielded them. "Prime!"
Override held in a cry of pain as the shots impacted her back and the surrounding area, hearing her crew cry out. But she couldn't focus on that. "Go! Get out of here!" She ordered the four humans.
Issac grabbed his daughter's hand, pulling her with him as he bolted along with the mayor and Fanzone. The latter was yelling into his radio, calling for a full evac of the area.
Grunting, the Prime got to her pedes, in time for the Decepticon to land on the ground where the crowd had once been. Behind her, the other Autobots groaned, stunned from the blasts.
"The name is Starscream!" The con introduced, mock-bowing with a grin. "Exalted leader of the Decepticons."
Bulkhead groaned, sitting upright and rubbing his helm. "I thought that was Megatron." He grunted, confused.
Starscream didn't take too kindly to that. "Silence filth!" He blasted the young Autobot, knocking him and Bumblebee, who was laying beside him, into the building. The impact knocked part of the roof loose, forcing Wheeljack and Ratchet to drag the two out of the way before it collapsed.
Override shook herself out of her shock at how fast that happened and glared at the Decepticon. "Hey! Leave them alone!"
"Oh?" Starscream raised an eye-ridge. "And who are you to tell me what to do, Autobot filth?"
The femme tightened her grip around her blade. "Those are my Autobots, Decepticon!"
Starscream snarled, before unleashing a volley of blasts at her. "Die Autoscum!"
Override threw herself into a roll, trying to dodge the blasts, only to cry out as one got her side, sending her tumbling into the building.
Prowl, who had been seeing the humans to safety, rushed towards the vosian, tossing a hubcap shuriken. The seeker merely took off back into the air with a boost from his heel thrusters, firing his null rays. "You can run Autobot, but you can't hide!"
The ninja bot nimbly dodged all the pot shots, leaping into the air and landing on a nearby building. Though his battle mask was engaged, he made a 'come at me' motion.
Enraged, the seeker flew at the Autobot, ready to claw out his circuits. Unfortunately for him, 'Prowl' was merely a hologram, and when the Decepticon flew through it the real ninja jumped onto his back from where he had been hiding out of sight against the building's wall.
Starscream snarled, corkscrewing through the air as he tried to throw the unwanted passenger off. Undaunted, Prowl held on, pulling out one of his hubcap shurikens and stabbing it into the Decepticon's back. The seeker howled in pain, his flight veering, and the cyberninja cried out as he was smashed between the seeker and a skyscraper.
A clawed servo then reached back, grabbing the stunned Autobot, and the young mech shouted as he was thrown towards the pavement below. A few null ray blasts impacted him on the way down, and Prowl hit the pavement so hard he broke right through it.
"Aw, I thought you 'heroes' would put up a better fight than that." Starscream mocked, hovering over the downed ninjabot. He then cackled. "Then again, you are nothing but puny Autobots!"
Ion blasts suddenly peppered his side, making the seeker spin around. Override was running at him, having recovered from being shot, firing her servo-turned-ion blaster at the Decepticon.
Snarling, Starscream turned and flew at the femme. "Impudent Autobot!" He fired at her, but the Prime dodged, firing her grapple and catching it on the seeker's pede as he shot overhelm. Tightening the line, the femme was pulled along by the flying Decepticon, firing her blaster at him.
In retaliation, Starscream flew wildly between the skyscrapers, smashing the Prime into them in an attempt to get her to let go. Override grunted in pain at each impact, but held her grapple tight, firing whenever she got the chance. Having had enough, the seeker flew at the ground, before skimming just above the asphalt of a road, slamming the femme into it and then dragging her along.
To his displeasure, that hadn't dislodged the Autobot. "I thought for sure you would've let go by now!" Starscream snarled, flying straight up the side of a skyscraper. "But oh well…" the seeker twisted around, aiming his left null ray, "I'll just give you a servo!"
Override's optics widened as the shot severed her grapple line, sending the femme plummeting to the pavement below. Desperate to slow her fall, she transformed her blaster back into a servo and yanked out both her blades. Grunting, she slammed them into the building, the action slowing her descent while slicing through several floors.
Snarling as he saw that, the Decepticon flew down, firing wildly. A lucky shot hit the Prime in the shoulder, and crying out she was sent plummeting down. Thankfully, instead of hitting unforgiving pavement, she impacted an empty tanker truck, somewhat cushioning her fall.
Sirens sounded as Ratchet skidded to a stop nearby in vehicle mode, the older mech transforming and running over. Carefully, the medibot extracted the femme from the twisted metal. "You alright Prime?"
Override disengaged her battle mask, spitting out a glob of energon. "I'll live." She muttered, her chassis aching. "After I kick that Decepticon's tail pipe."
Frowning, Ratchet opened his intake, only for both to look up hearing Starscream's irritating voice.
"You call yourselves 'heroes'?" The Decepticon mocked, descending to land on the street down from the two. "You think you defeated the great Megatron?! You did no such thing!" He hissed as he landed.
Override scowled, standing upright as the rest of her crew, minus Prowl, ran over to join her and Ratchet. "And what do you mean by that?"
Starscream cackled. "I defeated Megatron!" He crowed, stalking over to the bots. "I planted the device that overloaded his circuitry! His fate was sealed before he even reached your puny ship!" The seeker smirked, stopping to tower over the bots.
"He's lying!" Bulkhead exclaimed, before looking at his leader. "Isn't he?"
Override had her optics narrowed, thinking back to that fight. "So that's what caused the explosion." She muttered, tensing as Starscream aimed his right null ray at them.
"Now, bring me the Allspark, Autobot scum." The seeker demanded.
The Prime grit her denta. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She hissed. "The Allspark was lost decavorns ago!"
"Really?" Starscream frowned, before gesturing to the city around them. "Then I'll just have to destroy these puny creatures for no good reason!" With that he shot into the air, aiming the charged null ray at a group of nearby civilians.
Those civilians unfortunately happened to be Fanzone, the mayor, and the Sumdacs, who had hidden behind the train station building.
"No!" Override raced forwards, shooting at the Decepticon just as he opened fire.
"Take cover!" Fanzone ordered as null blasts rained down on the four. "In here!" He ushered them inside the F.A.R.T.S. "Quickly!"
Sumdac stumbled inside, before turning hearing his daughter cry out. "Sari!"
The thirteen-year-old had been tripped by a blast hitting too close to her and was now scrambling to move. "Dad!"
Smirking at the scene, Starscream aimed at the young human, ignoring the ion blasts peppering his side. At least until he aimed his other null ray, shooting the femme when he wasn't looking.
"Prime!" Ratchet rushed to his leader's side as she skidded across the ground.
"Sari!" Bumblebee raced past the two, horrified as his human friend tripped on the stairs as she scrambled up them.
Issac knelt down, scooping his daughter up just as she reached the door to the train… only for the Decepticon to open fire at them.
With a cry, the minibot threw himself between the Sumdacs and the blast, taking the shot straight to the back.
"Bumblebee!" Sari screamed, before yanking herself out of her father's grasp. "Bumblebee!" She tripped and stumbled down the semi-destroyed stairs, before falling to her knees next to the downed bot. "H-Hold on! I'll-!" She gasped as a clawed servo grabbed the minibot by an arm, pulling him up.
"You'll do what?" Starscream mocked, before blasting off into the air. "Now, let's try this again." He muttered, holding the injured Bumblebee up. "Bring me the Allspark Autobot scum! Or the puny bot gets it!" The seeker aimed his null ray at his unconscious hostage's chestplate.
Snarling, Override forced herself to her pedes, ignoring Ratchet's worried glyphs. "Leave him alone Decepticon! And face me!" She drew her blade. "Because you will never have the Allspark!"
Starscream sneered. "Is that so? Then…" he twisted, throwing Bumblebee at the F.A.R.T.S. The minibot hit the pavement, bounced, then crashed into the transit vehicle, nearly hitting Issac and the mayor. "Are you willing to sacrifice this?!"
The Prime's engine revved in fury. "Filthy con!"
The seeker just glared at her. "You Autobots and your pathetic heroics." He grumbled, before raising his voice. "You have one joor to bring me the Allspark!" The Decepticon then flew down, landing next to the F.A.R.T.S., sending Sari scrambling away to avoid being stepped on. "If not, this vessel and all it's contents-!" He grabbed the transit vehicle.
"No!" Override stumbled forwards, only to collapse into a concerned Wheeljack's arms. "Prime!"
"-organic and Autobot… will perish!" With that the seeker took off into the air, the vehicle held over his shoulder. Laying on the ground, all Sari could do was watch in horror with the remaining Autobots as he flew towards Sumdac Tower. "Then I will tear this planet apart until I find the Allspark!" The Decepticon decreed.
Far down below on the street, the remaining Autobots were left, forced with a horrible decision.
"The Allspark, or the Earth." Wheeljack mumbled, helping his Prime stand, her arm over his shoulder plates. "What kind of choice is that?!"
Ratchet frowned, tightening his servos into fists. "You know the kind 'Jack. The one where no side but the Decepticons win."
"Guys!" Sari ran over to them, in tears. "W-We have to save them! We have to!"
"Sari…" Bulkhead knelt down next to the girl, trying to comfort her.
"This is my fault." Optics and eyes turned to Override, who had lifted her helm and was staring at the distant Sumdac Tower. "We never should have revealed ourselves. Now all of Earth is in danger." She ex-vented heavily, moving her optics downward. "Ultra Magnus was right. I'm not programmed to be a 'hero'." She muttered, shuttering her optics. "Not that I ever wanted to be one…"
"Prime…" Ratchet worriedly rested a servo on the femme's shoulder but got no response. Letting out his own ex-vent, he had Wheeljack sit her down. "Hold still." He ordered softly, starting repairs.
Bulkhead made a worried sound, before looking over at hearing a voice.
"You're not alone Override." Prowl said softly, limping somewhat from his injuries. Everyone turned to the ninja as he stopped by them. "A wise bot once told me; 'a machine is stronger than its component parts'." He ex-vented heavily, looking down. "Only I had to learn that the hard way."
"Prowl…" Override slowly stood up, ignoring Ratchet as he tried to make her sit back down.
"Do we have a plan, boss-bot?" Bulkhead asked, worried.
The femme took a deep intake, looking at her crew. "First, we repair ourselves. Sari?" She looked at the human.
The thirteen-year-old blinked, before nodding and holding up her key. "G-Got it!"
Wheeljack stepped forwards, concerned. "And then?"
At that the Prime didn't answer, honestly not knowing herself. What could they do? They could use the Allspark to lure Starscream away from his hostages, but then what? They could lose the Allspark, or Starscream could catch on and then the hostages could be offlined. And an ambush was almost impossible, not with the Con's air superiority.
Her fists clenched. What can I do? I can't give him the Allspark, but I can't risk the hostages…
"Prime." Ratchet's servo felt heavy on her shoulder plate, despite the attempt to be reassuring.
Override took a deep intake, before ex-venting. "Bulkhead, Wheeljack… once Sari's done go retrieve the Allspark."
The other bots jolted. "Prime you don't mean to-!" The femme held out a servo, cutting the inventor off. "Please… just trust me." She met his gaze, and slowly, the mech nodded. "A-Alright…"
Ratchet felt worried, wondering what his leader was thinking. "Prime…"
The femme turned to him and gave a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Ratchet… we won't lose the Allspark." She turned her gaze towards the figure of Starscream hovering over Sumdac Tower. "Not on my life."
Bulkhead was worried as Wheeljack loaded the Allspark into his vehicle interior. "Do you think boss-bot knows what she's doing?" He asked softly.
The inventor paused, before letting out a deep ex-vent and finished pushing the life-giving relic inside. "While she wasn't there during the war, she did have full training from the academy. She knows what she's doing." He patted the S.W.A.T. van's side, in an attempt to comfort the mechling. "Now come on. We have a teammate and some humans to save."
With that the engineer closed the airlock, and soon the two were driving out of the submerged ship and across the floor of Lake Erie.
Starscream circled the tower in jet form, growing ever more impatient. While he had given the Autobots a joor to bring him the Allspark… he wouldn't wait that long. Who knows what kind of 'heroic' plan they could make in that time. He thought to himself, passing by his hostages. The minibot was still online, so at least he hadn't given the scum a reason to go all martyr on him. And the organics were online as well.
As he made another pass, a loud shout of his designation caught his attention. Transforming, the seeker looked down.
On a rooftop stood the lead Autobot, the femme. Scowling, he lowered himself down to hover above her. "What is it Autobot? Come to beg for those puny lives?"
The femme's jaw tightened, before she spoke. "We have what you want, Decepticon." With that she gestured to the elevated road below. Sure enough, the medibot and the helm finned bot were pulling a cube out of the green one's trunk. A very familiar, very glowing cube. "Now release the hostages!" The femmebot demanded.
Starscream couldn't believe his optics, but still, he had to be certain this was no Autobot trick. "Leave the Allspark unguarded!" He counter demanded, aiming his null ray at the tower behind him. "Or I'll destroy them all!"
The femme's battlemask engaged. "Release the hostages! Now!" Suddenly her right servo transformed into an ion blaster. "Or I will destroy the Allspark!"
The bots by the Allspark looked startled, which made Starscream frown. "Don't try to deceive a Decepticon, Autobot." He snarled, but still lowered himself down towards the road, passing an ad blimp on the way. "We are the masters of deception."
"Do you think I'm bluffing?!" The femme snarled, and her ion blaster powered up. "I would sooner destroy the Allspark than risk innocent lives!" She looked at the shocked Autobots below. "Ratchet, Wheeljack, Bulkhead, step aside!"
"B-But boss-bot-!" The large green Autobot tried to protest, but the femme cut him off. "Do it!" She snapped.
The blaster whined as it reached full charge.
"Wait!" Starscream shouted before his processor caught up, horrified that the Autobot would even consider this. Clearing his engine, the seeker reactivated his boosters, rising to be at optic level with the apparently crazy femme. "Let's not be hasty shall we." He said slowly, eyeing the still whining ion blaster. "We can discuss this like civilized Cybertronians…"
The femme raised an optic ridge, before barking out a humorless laugh. "A Decepticon, civilized?" She scoffed, narrowing her optics at him from behind her battlemask. "Yeah, as civilized as razing the Youth Sectors during the War!"
Starscream scowled. "Well, it's not like your kind ever treated a warframe youngling fairly, so why should we have?!"
The femme pointed at him with her left servo, keeping her blaster pointing at the Allspark. "And yet there are no records of warframe younglings being massacred during the war!" She snapped back. "At least until the neutral Youth Sectors were razed!"
The vosian's engine snarled loudly. "You don't know nothing about the War, or what really happened during or prior to it, Autobot!" He raged. "Why I-!" A sound, like a yell, stopped him. Ignoring the femme shouting at him, Starscream turned. Instantly fury flooded his circuits. "Someone tampering with my hostages?!" His thrusters flared, the extra boost sending him soaring upwards towards the ad blimp that floated below the tower he had placed his hostages on.
However, before the Decepticon could reach it, something yanked on his pedes. Looking down, the seeker saw the medibot using some sort of magnetic tools on his wrists to magnetically grab him, stopping his flight. "Not… so… fast… flybot!" The old mech grunted, straining to hold onto the Vosian mech.
Cursing, Starscream tried to fly away, but the magnetic grip was strong. Regardless, he hadn't gotten to where he had in the Decepticons by brute force alone. Twisting, the seeker flew in tight, fast circles over the medic, twisting the magnetic field until it imploded, knocking the old bot back onto his tail pipe. Unfortunately, the recoil also sent the vosian spinning upwards…
Where the femme waited with her blaster aimed right at him. Crimson optics barely had a chance to register it before she fired, and Starscream yelled in pain as the fully charged blast slammed into his chest plate. The force of the impact destabilized his control over his thrusters, causing them to shut off and send the seeker spiraling towards the ground.
He never impacted, as a large green wrecking ball slammed into his side, sending him flying back. The green mech moved to hit him again, but the Vosian recovered faster.
In less than a nano he had transformed back into a fighter jet and with a roar of thrusters, soared over the big lug, barreling him over. The seeker then raced towards the tower, twisting and dodging the desperate shots fired his way by the femme. Soon he was flying almost vertical with the tower, soaring up to where he had left his hostages.
Stinger blasts peppered Starscream's plating, more of an annoyance than damaging, though it told him his Autobot hostage was online. Treacherous Autobots!
Suddenly the ninja bot soared past him with his jet boosters, reaching the top of the tower first. A pair of hubcap shurikens were thrown, and unable to avoid them the seeker cursed as they hit his nose cone. "So, you Autobots want to fight dirty, do you?" He hissed, using the force from the shuriken impact to change course and soar into the air. Turning back to the tower, null rays powered up, Starscream bellowed, "Then you better be prepared to go all the way!" With that he fired a massive, combined blast from his weapons, striking the tower next to where the yellow minibot was firing from. The blast struck next to the transit vehicle and sent it careening over the edge.
Both Autobots dove and grabbed it, which told the seeker that there was still a hostage inside. Laughing maniacally, he transformed to root mode. Too easy! He fired a single, massive shot, sending the vehicle and bots plummeting over the edge.
"No!" Override clenched her only fist as her bots and Sari were sent plummeting down. The sound of thrusters caught her attention, and she turned her helm to see Starscream hovering by her.
"There, the hostages are released. I kept my end of the bargain." The Decepticon stated with a grin, before shooting off past her. "Now it's time to keep yours!"
Cursing, the femme leapt off the building, transforming her servo back before landing on the pavement. The asphalt shattered under the force of her impact, but that was the least of her concerns. "Bulkhead, Ratchet! Go help the others!" She ordered.
The two transformed and took off, with Bulkhead asking, "What are we supposed to do, catch it on the first bounce?!"
Turning to the inventor, the Prime then ordered, "Wheeljack, make sure there are no more humans around to be taken hostage! I'll keep the Allspark out of that Decepticon's servos!"
"Yes ma'am!" The mech saluted and transformed, before the femme raced over and snagged the Allspark. She took off, and just in time, hearing the seeker smash into the ground behind her. "Nice grab Autobot." Starscream hissed. "But even you can't outrun me on pede!"
The sounds of transformation echoed as the Decepticon transformed, thrusters firing up. Battle protocols flared as shots impacted the asphalt by her pedes, but the Prime only kept running. No way was she going to let the seeker get his greasy servos on the Allspark!
Thinking fast, she did a ninety-degree turn, pedes skidding in the pavement, before leaping off the overpass. The Decepticon's voice echoed above her suggesting she "set down that heavy load and transform into vehicle mode", but she ignored it. Instead, the femme used the tight roads between the buildings to her advantage, forcing the seeker to mostly remain above her.
Unfortunately, Starscream got wise and cut her off, forcing the Prime to do a one-eighty and go back. That led her to the base of Sumdac Tower. Hearing the Decepticon right on her tailpipe, she shouted, "Ratchet! Think fast!" before throwing the Allspark with all her might just as the seeker caught up to her.
Thankfully the medibot caught it with his magnets, however Starscream was soon upon him, transforming. This forced the medic to throw the life-giving relic behind him. It rebounded off the wrecked F.A.R.T.S., where Bumblebee caught it, and with Sari holding onto his shoulders engaged the wheels on his heels. With a shout to the young human of "Hang on!" the two took off just before Starscream could grab the Allspark.
Sari couldn't help but grin as she held on. "I know this game! It's called "keep away"!" A glance behind however sobered her up. The Vosian was gaining on them! "Can you go any faster?!"
Bumblebee smirked. "It's not about how fast you can go…" He suddenly twisted his pedes just as he threw the Allspark, the momentum sending the relic flying towards an overpass, "but how fast you can stop!"
Starscream shot past them, sending Sari's hair into a mess. Desperate, the seeker reached out, only for Prowl to snatch the relic out of midair. In less than a klik the ninjabot had thrown the cube into the bed of a gray truck, and kicking the bumper sent the vehicle racing down an incline. Cursing, the Decepticon shot past the ninja, diving for the relic.
The truck smashed into a fire hydrant, sending the Allspark flying, and Bulkhead fumbled to catch the relic. "I got it I got it I-!"
The Vosian snatched the cube as the green mechling fumbled, and hovering over him cackled. "Fool! Did you really think you could keep the Allspark out of the servos of-!" That was as far as the Decepticon got, as a big green wrecking ball smashed into his faceplate.
The relic dropped into Bulkhead's waiting free servo. "I said, I got it!" He huffed, pulling back his wrecking ball and transforming it back into his servo.
The rest of his team ran up, Override grinning with her battlemask retracted. "Nice going bots!" She complimented.
Wheeljack raced up then, transforming from vehicle mode. "All humans have been successfully cleared out!" He reported.
The Prime nodded. "Good." She smiled as Bulkhead passed her the cube. "Now, let's get the Allspark somewhere safe-"
Battle protocols flared to life just nanokliks before a massive blast of energy slammed into them.
"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF TOYING WITH YOU PUNY AUTOBOTS!" Starscream bellowed, null rays held together and forming the massive and drawn-out blast of laser fire.
Override dug her pedes in, optics fritzing from the glare as she held out against the blast. The shockwaves from it shattered nearby windows and knocked her comrades back. The heat of the blast started to sear her armour, and soon the Prime was to thrown back with a cry, the Allspark flying from her grip.
Disengaging his null rays, Starscream slammed down next to the dropped Allspark, shattering pavement beneath his pedes. Smirking, he snatched it up and soared high into the air, out of reach. A cackle rose from the Decepticon's vocalizer as he held up the cubic relic. "At last! The Allspark is mine!" At his command the cube began to glow and fired a blast of pure energy at a building. The structure was engulfed in an explosion of energy, which only seemed to grow out instead of dissipating. Shockwaves echoed outwards, and Starscream cackled as the light of the blast reflected from his crazed optics. "It's more powerful than I ever imagined!"
Down below, the Autobots could only watch as the energy sphere grew, consuming and destroying everything in its reach. Roads shattered and buildings crumbled under the onslaught.
"It's our worst fear, come to life." Ratchet whispered, helping Wheeljack to his pedes. "The Allspark in Decepticon servos."
Bumblebee whimpered as Sari healed his leg with her key. "W-What do we do?"
Override turned her gaze from her team to the seeker, servos tightening into fists. Then she took off, ignoring the startled shouts from behind her. Arm raised; she launched a grapple and swung herself up a building. Digging her pedes into the metal she used her momentum to run up the skyscraper, before launching another grapple and continuing to swing herself upwards.
"Has boss-bot blown a fuse?!" Bulkhead gaped, unable to believe his optics.
Ratchet watched as his captain made her way closer to the seeker. "No… she's just doing what she feels is right." He whispered.
High above, Starscream felt overcharged with giddy. At long last the power of the Allspark belonged to him! And him alone! "Now nothing will stop me from leading the Decepticons and crushing the Autobots forever!" He broke out into a mad cackle, spark pulsing with victory.
Warnings suddenly flared across his HUD, before a howl of pain echoed from the seeker as a blade embedded itself in his left wing. Gasping, he reached a servo towards it, before spinning as his battle protocols flared.
Too late; Override crashed into him with a yell, knocking the Vosian from the air. The two tumbled towards the city below, the Allspark in free fall as it had been knocked from Starscream's grasp.
Both Cybertronians impacted seperate building rooftops, and when the Prime pulled herself up she saw the Allspark had landed in front of her. Desperate, she lunged at the relic, grabbing it just as Starscream got up from the other rooftop. Bellowing with rage the seeker launched himself at her, forcing the femme to jump from the rooftop. While in free fall Override launched a grapple at another building, feeling the line pull taunt as she fell into a swing.
Her HUD flashed with warnings just as the Decepticon impacted her back, sending the two of them crashing through a building. Desperate, the Autobot Prime wrestled against the seeker, only to be overpowered and the Allspark snatched from her servos. Breaking through the other side of the building Starscream blasted off, only to choke as a grapple line wrapped around his neck.
Scratching at his neck cables with a clawed servo the seeker flew erratically, just as a weight impacted his back. Holding on tightly to the cable, Override yanked her sword from the Decepticon's wing, retching a shout of pain from her adversary. The Vosian desperately spun, trying to get her to let go, but the femme had her legs wrapped around his waist. With a yell she plunged the weapon into Starscream's shoulder, piercing the armour and getting a staticy cry of pain.
System alerts nearly blinded the seeker's HUD as systems cut out from overheating, sending the two combatants spiraling downwards as thrusters flamed out. Grasping at his neck cables, his claws finally cut the cable cutting off his intake tube, cold air rushing in as Starscream gasped. A fist suddenly impacted his helm, sending his vision into fits…
And then the two crashed onto the ad blimp still floating around Sumdac Tower.
"Prime!" Ratchet shouted into his , seeing the smoke billow upwards from the blimp.
Static crackled, before Override's voice came over. :I'm… functional…:
On the blimp, the femme forced her aching body up. In front of her was the Allspark, though on the other side Starscream was also rising. Blue and crimson optics met before both dove at the cube, each grabbing a handle and yanking.
"Let… go… Autobot!" The seeker hissed, his plating cracked and shattered.
"Never!" The Prime snapped back, grimacing as the seeker pressed a pede against her torso, trying to push her away. "The Allspark… is life!" She gasped out, pulling against the Decepticon, digging her gold pedes into the metal blimp.
Starscream snarled. "Then let it end yours!" Releasing a servo from the cube, he aimed his null ray straight at her faceplate.
Override snarled, narrowing her optics… before the cube suddenly opened, revealing the glowing sphere of energy resting inside it. Energy pulsed outwards, bathing the two combatants, before the relic began to rise into the air. Both Cybertronians were forced to hold on to the handles as the relic rose high up. The energy only continued to grow, light shining harshly from the relic.
Then the energy abruptly exploded outwards, engulfing the two.
On the ground far below, the crew of the Orion could only watch in horror.
Coming to her senses, Override found herself weakly clinging to the side of the blimp, vents heaving and rattling. In her other servo she clutched one of the Allspark's handles, keeping the life-giving relic from plummeting to the unforgiving pavement below. Optics still recalibrating, the femme looked around. Starscream was nowhere in sight, but she didn't dare let down her guard. Have to… protect… Allspark…
:Prime!: Ratchet! :Come in Prime! Are you online?!:
:I'm…I'm here.: She weakly responded, her right arm shaking slightly from the strain of holding on. :Could… use an assist…:
:Just hold on!: The medibot ordered. :We're going to get you down!:
Despite it, Override let out a half-ex-vent-half-laugh. :What do you think… I'm doing?: She weakly retorted, grimacing as her digits slipped a little. :Hurry…!:
Her servo gave, both the femme Prime and the relic sent plunging to the unforgiving asphalt.
:PRIME!:
The dust cloud from the impact made Ratchet's tank plummet, even as he raced towards it in alt mode. The others were behind him, though the medic barely noticed.
He barely even hit the brakes before transforming, sliding to a stop next to the broken frame half-embedded in the cracked road pavement. "Prime! Answer me! Prime!"
A weak, rattled groan was his answer, the femme's optics flickering. Only one came online, the other badly cracked. "R…Ra'che'…?" Was the staticy answer.
Sparks leapt from the edge of the medic's optics. "Hold on Prime! We'll get you repaired." Twisting, Ratchet shouted, "Sari! Get over here with your key!" As much as he didn't want to admit it, the damage was far too extensive for him to do anything. Please not again! I can't lose another close friend!
A rattled, staticy sound came from the femme's damaged vocalizer. "All…s'ark…?" Her vents rattled badly as she coughed.
"It's safe." Ratchet reassured, glancing over at the relic. Prowl was standing on guard by it, though his visored optics were trained worriedly on his injured leader. "Just save your energy."
Sari's boots kicked up dust as she ran over, tears in the girl's eyes. "H-Hold on Override! I'Il fix you up!"
The Prime just let out a staticy, humorless laugh, her vision fading as she felt her spark feebly pulse. "So… I guess…" another rattly cough escaped her vents, flecks of energon flying out, but she managed a small smile, "I am… p'og'ammed… a… her…o…"
Her spark gave out, the last thing she saw being her crew looking at her with worry and spark crushing expressions.
A/N - Radio waves actually take ~83 minutes to reach Saturn from Earth. Doing the math it's about 10.375 breems. Apologies, but I am a stickler for realism, no matter how fictional the story.
And I know that the episode doesn't end there, but… this is me we're talking about. I always like to end things on a cliffhanger. That, and the chapter was getting way too long. Like seriously, over 13,000 words! So I felt it best to end it here.
Is it longer because I added more than what the episode had? Yes. Did I deviate from the original episode? A little. Do I care that die hard fans will probably flood the reviews mad at me for 'not sticking to the complete canon'? Nope! Not my first time playing with a series canon and it won't be the last!
I've got a plot I've been dying to write for a while now and I'm going to see it through!
Also, the devs here really gotta get a fix on the formatting issue. I have to move my work over to Word from Google Docs in order to retain it, but still have to go through to place the page breaks back in. Is becoming rather... annoying. Seriously, when I copy something on mobile, I should be able to paste it here as is. But that's just me griping after being unable to sleep at 5 am... again.
Welp, until next time.
Next Chapter: Arrival IV: Spark