Ch. 1: Resurrection: Part 1, Back to Life

Optimus stared off into the sunrise as he stood atop the Autobot Base. It had only been a few weeks since he and his team had destroyed the Decepticons' Space Bridge, but so much had happened in that time. As he had previously stated to Ratchet, despite everything Megatron had done, Optimus still wished he could've changed his mind instead of extinguishing his Spark. But as the sun rose on the Nevada desert, Optimus knew that with his age-old enemy gone, it was the beginning of a new opportunity to end the war peacefully. With Megatron gone, perhaps he could convince the remaining Decepticons to seek peace with the Autobots. Optimus knew that it wouldn't be easy, though, with Starscream now in command. Just as he had also told Ratchet, while Starscream was no Megatron, he was far from predictable.

Suddenly, Optimus heard his comm unit beep, accompanied by Ratchet's voice. "Optimus, are you there?"

He then pressed his fingers to the side of his head and spoke, "I'm here, Ratchet."

"You should probably come down here," said Ratchet. "I'm picking up some peculiar energy readings."

"Interesting…" Ratchet murmured as he looked at the readings on his monitor.

"I don't see anything, Doc," said Bulkhead, clearly confused as to what the big deal was. Ratchet merely rolled his optics in annoyance and began to explain.

"These energy readings are unlike anything I've seen," he said. "I'm not exactly sure what the cause is, but I have managed to trace it to this location." As the location appeared on the screen, Optimus pondered what could be causing the energy surge.

"We must investigate this immediately," he stated.

"You sure that's a good idea, Optimus?" asked Arcee.

"Yeah," agreed Bulkhead, "we don't know what we'd be going into."

"All the more reason we must ensure that this energy surge does not pose a threat to humanity," Optimus explained, "Ratchet, lock onto the coordinates and activate the Ground Bridge."

Ratchet did as instructed as the other Autobots took their positions.

"Autobots! Roll out!" Optimus called out as he and his teammates transformed into their alternate modes and sped off to their destination.

As the four Autobots wandered through the forest, they came to a clearing.

"According to Ratchet's readings, this is the epicenter of the energy signature," Optimus stated as he checked the scanner device in his hand.

"I don't see anything," said Bulkhead.

"Me neither," beeped Bumblebee.

As the Autobots approached the clearing, Optimus suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"You okay, Optimus?" asked Bulkhead.

The Autobot leader didn't respond. It was almost as if he were in a trance. Suddenly, a Ground Bridge portal mysteriously opened up in the sky.

"What the…" said Bumblebee.

"Ratchet, did you just open another Ground Bridge?" Arcee said into her comm system.

"Negative," responded Ratchet from the other end. "Why, what's happening?"

"It could be Cons," Bulkhead stated as he transformed his arm into a blaster.

Before any of them could do anything, Optimus suddenly transformed into his alternate mode and sped off toward the portal.

"Optimus! Wait!" Arcee called out. But he didn't respond. Optimus drove onto a large hill with such great speed that he zoomed into the air. He then transformed midair as he was just about to come under the Ground Bridge. As he flew under it, it looked as if he'd caught something that had come out of it. He then transformed back into his alternate mode and landed on the other side of the clearing.

"Optimus, are you alright?" Arcee asked as she and the others ran over to him.

"What was that all about?!" exclaimed Bulkhead.

Optimus transformed back and showed the rest of his team what, or rather who, he'd caught from the portal. It was two unconscious, young humans, a boy and a girl, about sixteen in age. The boy had short, bluish hair that went down to his ears, and the girl had long, red hair. But the strangest thing about them was that they were wearing armor like from one of those medieval fantasy movies the kids sometimes watched at the base; the girl's armor was bright red, but damaged around her chest and neck area, while the boy's was dark blue and there was a puncture around his left side as if he'd been impaled there, yet his skin seemed perfectly fine underneath.

"What the frag?" Arcee said in astonishment.

Deciding they couldn't leave them in the forest, the Autobots brought their new visitors back to the base. Medical staff discretely sent in by Agent Fowler, their government liaison, set up beds and monitoring equipment and changed them into hospital gowns. Ratchet looked at the vital readouts on the two teenagers who now lay unconscious on the two hospital beds in the base. "Well, I'm no expert on human physiology, but from what I can tell, our new guests don't seem to be damaged."

"Ratchet's right," said Jack as he looked at their vitals on Raf's computer. "No broken bones and their breathing and pulses are normal."

"Dude, how do you know all that stuff?" Miko asked in confusion.

"Hey, it helps to have a nurse for a mom," Jack said with a confident smile. Suddenly, they heard the elevator doors open and Agent Fowler entered the base.

"Agent Fowler," Optimus greeted him, "were you able to find anything out about our new friends?"

"That's why I'm here, Prime," said Fowler, "but I've got some pretty puzzling news. We can't find anything on them. I ran the information Raf gave me, but nothing turned up. No facial recognition, fingerprints, DNA matches, criminal records, or any records period."

Everyone exchanged confused looks at one another, trying to figure out what this could all mean.

"You said they fell out of one of your Bridges, right?" Fowler asked.

"It wasn't our Ground Bridge, Agent Fowler," Ratchet explained.

"And since there weren't any Decepticons who came through the portal, I do not believe they were responsible either," Optimus added.

"We'll probably have to wait until they wake up before we can find anything out about them," Raf stated.

Just as Raf finished, they heard a groaning sound coming from the two teens. They slowly opened their eyes and looked around a bit until their eyes found each other. A smile grew on each of their faces and tears of joy began to stream down from the girl's face. "I thought I'd lost you," she said.

"You'll never lose me," the boy said as he reached over and gently put his hand on her cheek. They then tried to sit up, but Agent Fowler stopped them.

"Easy, you two," he said.

"What happened?" the boy asked.

"You tell us, you guys were the ones who fell through a Ground Bridge," said Miko.

"A what?" asked the girl as the two of them sat up. Suddenly, their eyes widened as they finally saw the five Autobots. The boy then jumped out of his hospital bed and rushed to the girl's side. He then wrapped his arms around her and held her protectively, as if he was willing to die for her. Fowler and the kids then ran in front of them.

"Whoa! Calm down, it's okay!" Jack tried to explain.

"Who are you people?! Where are we?! And what are those things?!" the boy demanded.

"Please, calm yourselves," said Optimus, "you are among friends here."

The girl then looked at the Autobot leader and something inside of her told her that he was telling the truth, "I think we can trust them," she whispered to the boy.

"How can we be sure?" He said. "I'm not losing you again."

"Trust me," the girl said.

The boy looked at her, then nodded in agreement.

"You guys have obviously been through a lot," said Jack, "we promise to explain everything, but why don't you go first? Maybe tell us who you are?"

"Alright," the boy said. "My name is Romeo Candore de Montague, and this is my wife."

"Juliet Fiammata Arst de Capulet," the girl introduced herself.

"So your names are Romeo and Juliet?" Raf asked.

And after exchanging a few confused expressions with each other, Miko suddenly burst into laughter.

"That's a good one!" she laughed hysterically. After a few moments, she stopped laughing and wiped her eyes. "But seriously, what're your names?"

The two teens looked at each other and then back at the other humans.

"Those are our names," said the girl, Juliet.

"…Seriously?" Miko asked, this time not laughing.

Meanwhile, back in the forest, a squad of Vehicons searched the area, but couldn't find any trace of the energy signature. Suddenly, one of them found a set of tire tracks, and immediately knew what they meant.

"Lord Starscream," he said into his comm system, "the energy seems to have dissipated, but it appears the Autobots have already been here."

Back on the Nemesis, Starscream growled in frustration as he looked at the viewing screen. "Of course they have. It seems they've already acquired whatever that source of energy was. Say what you will about Megatron, he knew how to mobilize."

Suddenly Soundwave approached him.

"Is there anything we can do to gain an advantage over our enemies, Soundwave?" Starscream asked, to which Soundwave didn't respond.

Soundwave did, however, point to the navigation console, which went from displaying Earth to a map of the solar system. After it zoomed in between Saturn and Jupiter, the monitor displayed two dots accompanied by the Decepticon insignia.

"What?" the air commander questioned as he walked over to see for himself. After looking at the data, his eyes widened, as he recognized these particular Decepticon signatures, before growling in annoyance. "What the scrap are they doing here?!"