Hey guys! Sorry I left this fic for a while...yet again. I got swept away by Epic the Musical lol. It's so freaking good! Anyway, as always, a reminder that this story isn't my original idea! I saw a post a friend on TikTok Deckar Terdax made about a potential live action movie about how Drift came to Earth and joined the Autobots. I asked if I could write it and he said yes, so we've been collaborating on this project! He proof-reads the chapters for me and I take the notes he gives me (or sometimes sections of the fic he's written) and write it all out as a chapter!
Now this story does have some reviews, but it seems like pretty much all of them seem to be spam, so I won't respond to them.
Anyway, hope y'all enjoy this chapter!
God Bless and Good Day!
~The Lupine Sojourner
A mech slowly regains consciousness, finding himself in a laboratory, strapped down to a table. He's confused, as last he remembered-wait, what is the last thing he remembered?
Suddenly, several shadowed forms surround him and begin pulling out what looked like tools. "Is he ready for the procedure?" a familiar voice asks. Turning his head, he spots who it belongs to.
One of the other figures speaks up. "He is sir. But with all due respect, don't you think this is a bit extreme? He's done nothing wrong and by all accounts-"
The voice is suddenly silenced as the other voice continues. "Proceed with the operation."
He began to panic, thrashing around violently. Soon, he broke his right arm free. The shadowy figures rushed forward to restrain him again, but as they tried, he threw them off and punched upwards.
Tarn is suddenly pulled from the waking nightmare when he feels something grab his arm. In an instant, he's pulled into the light from under a pile of boulders. Looking up, he sees to his surprise that it was Bludgeon who'd helped him, albeit with a rather disgusted look on his face.
"You should be grateful I even stayed to help you." Bludgeon sneers, helping Tarn to his feet. Tarn doesn't say anything but does give a brief nod of appreciation to the assassin before stepping away.
"Sir!" Tarn and Bludgeon turn to see Helex, battered and dented, but still functioning as if nothing had happened, holding what looked to be Kaon's mangled body in one of his large hands.
He looks offline, but as Bludgeon looks closer, the body is still moving slightly, but his vocal processor had been damaged in the avalanche, something that had gone unnoticed by his other compatriots.
A dark smirk forms on Bludgeon's face as an opportunity presents itself to the assassin.
"So, you found the dead chassis of Kaon, so what?" Bludgeon asks. Unnoticed by the other two, Kaon gives Bludgeon a glare of hatred before Helex continues warily.
"It's not that. He doesn't have the List copy on him."
Tarn tenses in fury before turning away from the group and walking off. Without saying a word, he simply makes a gesture with his hand, one Helex knew the meaning of and the cockpit in his chest springs open.
Kaon's optics go wide in horror as he's suddenly crammed into the cockpit and the lid snaps closed. In the next instant, the cockpit lit up a fiery orange and Kaon screams silently, unnoticed and unheard by Helex and Tarn.
While it's a gruesome sight to witness, Bludgeon can't turn away, watching with sadistic satisfaction as the irritating Decepticon he had come to loathe so much melts away into nothingness.
As Kaon melts, Bludgeon also notices that certain areas on Helex glowed as well, along with the sound of something powering up.
With that out of the way, Bludgeon can't help a question. "What is so important about that copy of this 'List', anyway?"
Helex turns to Bludgeon, an almost panicked look on his face. "That copy has a direct link to the main computers back on Cybertron" he explains. "If the Autobots somehow got ahold of it, they would be able to use it and delete all copies and files containing it." Helex turns back to Tarn, who has his back to the two. "And with Kaon gone, sir, we have no way of tracking down Deadlock's precise location once we've reached the city. How will we be able to find him now?" Tarn stays silent, seemingly not hearing the question, so Helex steps forward with noticeable caution. "Sir?" he asks again.
Still no response. Helex, though nervous, is about to ask again, until he hears, "Etsuko Sasaki."
Helex turns to face Bludgeon, who has his head down in thought. "Come again?" Helex asks.
Bludgeon looks up to face Helex. "When I contacted Deadlock," he explains with minimal patience, "I overheard something in the background. An announcement of sorts. I heard a particular term, something called 'Etsuko Sasaki'. That could be a potential lead."
Helex stares at the assassin with what looks like a combination of fury and shock that the troublesome assassin actually had a lead for them.
Bludgeon had not said anything about this to the DJD, but as Helex thought back over the last few days and the others' attitudes toward the assassin, he could somewhat understand his refusal. Taking the initiative, Helex accesses the internet to begin searching for the term.
Soon, he got a hit. "I've got something. 'Etsuko Sasaki' isn't a term, it's the name of a human." Helex raises his arm and a holo-projector displays the image of two humans, one older male and a young female, on what looked like a news bulletin. The female, Etsuko, had apparently won some kind of award. "Deadlock must have some kind of connection with the female."
Bludgeon stares at the image, memorizing every detail of the young female human.
"Perfect," he muses with a wicked grin. "We find her, and we can use her to draw Deadlock to me, then." He says coldly.
Helex switched off the projector and steps forward to protest.
"You've got your wish, assassin." Confused, Bludgeon and Helex turn to look at Tarn, who still had his back to them, but they could see that his posture is full of rage. "The traitor and the female Autobot are yours to do with as you please. But if either of you lays so much as a finger on Ultra Magnus before me…" Tarn finally turns around, causing both Helex and the usually stoic Bludgeon to recoil at the unbridled rage in Tarn's optics. "I will have your head on my desk next to his!"
#=#= (The Sasaki House) =#=#=
Etsuko feels a bit anxious as she sets the final few things in a backpack, waiting for her father and Deadlock to return. She feels the danger they're in if these Decepticons find them, so she's eager to get as much of a headstart as she can.
But her father was called away to a last-minute work meeting that he could not get out of, much to his chagrin.
But he had called and told her he was coming home, so Etsuko feels a little relieved…until she feels the ground trembling.
At first thinking it's an earthquake, Etsuko starts to run, but realizes it has a pattern, almost like footsteps. She then hears an almighty screech of metal on metal and frowns.
Is Deadlock back? Why would he have transformed?
She glances out the window, only to be met with a face even larger than Deadlock's, far more intimidating and menacing, looking like a metal skull. She catches a glimpse of the insignia on his chest. Just like Deadlock's, only not scratched, proudly displayed.
Deadlock's words come to mind; 'any who bear this insignia and the name Decepticon can never be trusted' and her eyes go wide as she backs up.
That's not Deadlock!
#=#=#=#
Kenji can feel his nerves rising as he and Deadlock speed home. He's eager to get Estuko and leave before the Decepticons Deadlock is so scared of show up.
The meeting had gone on longer than he anticipated, but now he was finally able to go home. He had called Etsuko as he left the office, but would not relax until he and Etsuko were on their way to the countryside.
He then sees a thin trail of smoke…right where his house is and curses, eyes wide in fear. "Etsuko!"
Deadlock sees it too and wordlessly speeds up, arriving at the house to see that the gate had been wrenched aside, completely wrecked, and right where Etsuko's room is is a rather large hole, the smoke Kenji had seen trailing upward in thin wafts.
Kenji gets out of Deadlock and runs into the hole, but of course there is no trace of his daughter. I was gone less than two hours! Kenji thinks, guilt and worry consuming him. Was Etsuko alright? Had the Decepticons captured her, or…worse?
He tries to calm down, reasoning that, if they had killed his precious daughter, they would still be here to lord their work over Deadlock, but the question remains…
How did the Decepticons know who Etsuko is and her connection to Deadlock?
Before he can even speak to Deadlock, who is examining the destruction grimly, the sound of approaching vehicles is heard and just as he sees a blue and red semi-truck and a mint green sports car reach the gate, they transform into two Cybertronians Deadlock had yet to encounter face-to-face.
As such, he gets into a stance, his swords in his hands. "Who are you?" He demands.
The larger, a blue and red mech, puts his hands up. "Deadlock, I presume?" He asks.
Deadlock narrows his eyes. "Depends on who is asking."
The mech nods, making sure to show his Elite Guard insignia. "I am Ultra Magnus, second-in-command of the Autobots." He gestures to the smaller mint green femme beside him. "This is my apprentice, Moonracer."
She waves, looking a bit nervous. "Pleasure. We heard an explosion and came to investigate."
Deadlock looks back at the smoking hole in the house and scowls. "The Decepticon Justice Division's handiwork, if I had to guess."
Ultra Magnus nods, gritting his teeth. "I believe so, as well. The cowards."
Deadlock sighs, sheathing one sword. "Despite the circumstances, I am grateful to finally meet Autobots."
Ultra Magnus nods. "It is good to finally meet you, as well."
Moonracer tilts her head a little, looking up at the commander. "What do we do now, sir?"
#=#= (The Decepticon Justice Division) =#=#=
Etsuko had never been more terrified in her life. She had tried to run away from the huge Decepticon, but an explosion had knocked her completely over just as she escaped her bedroom. A metal hand had then grabbed her before she could recover and she found herself restrained by seatbelts inside some kind of tank.
"W-what do you want from me?" She asks timidly, but receives no answer. Over the radio, she hears the same language she heard when Drift and the Decepticon were talking during the race, but she couldn't understand a word. "Are you the one who talked to Deadlock-san?" She assumes so, but again gets nothing that seemed to be directed at her in response.
Helex, having preemptively set his translation routines to the local dialect, listens to the girl. She'd obviously never been in a situation like this before, being seemingly young for the local lifeforms. It would be easy to torture information out of her, if need be.
"Sir, where do we set the trap?" Helex asks, knowing now was not the time to potentially extract information out of their hostage. "We have the bait now." What he doesn't fully realize in the moment is that his translation systems translated his speech as well as incoming audio.
As such, Etsuko hears the question, a wild and probably stupid idea forming in her head. "You are all cowards!" She calls boldly, trying to keep her fear out of her voice. "I've seen Deadlock in action! He knows this city inside and out! The only place he doesn't know is the construction site over-" She stops herself, pretending like she hadn't meant to mention the construction site.
She waits only a moment or two before another angry voice comes over the radio. "Where is this site, fleshling?"
Tarn knew it may be a bluff of some kind, but in lieu of any other ideas, he decided a construction site might prove a good place to lay a trap.
Etsuko cheers internally. Her crazy idea is working!
However, her joy is short-lived when Bludgeon, as soon as he realized the Justice Division were actually talking to the hostage in it's own language, runs a translation routine and catches the majority of the conversation.
"I-I don't know what you're talking-" She replies, doing her best to keep up the act when Bludgeon decides to tighten the odd belts in his alt mode around the hostage, feeling a bit of satisfaction when she groans in pain.
"Where is it?" Bludgeon growls. "I won't ask again."
#=#= (The Sasaki House) =#=#=
Kenji desperately tries to contain himself, but his panic at the thought of his daughter in the hands of the Decepticons was too much and he steps forward.
"Forgive me, but they took my daughter! Please! Isn't there anything you can-" His phone starts buzzing and, thinking it's Etsuko (forgetting she likely doesn't have her phone or access to it if she does somehow have it), he quickly answers the call, barely seeing it was the office. The giant robots were discussing the situation and didn't seem to have heard him. "Moshi-moshi?"
"Sir, surveillance cameras picked up vehicles entering the construction site. However they are, they didn't hesitate! They even have a tank, of all things! Do you want me to contact the authorities?" It was one of the security staff. He was about to say yes when he realized what may have happened.
Had Etsuko somehow convinced the Justice Division to go to the construction site to presumably lay a trap for Deadlock so the security staff would pick up them breaking in and alert him?
He feels a mix of pride in his daughter's quick-thinking and concern that perhaps the Decepticons would end up hurting her or worse when they realize she had played them and helped lay a trap for them?
Hoping against hope he was doing the right thing, he swallows. "No, I'll do it. Thank you for alerting me."
"Are you sure, sir?"
"Yes, I'm sure. I'll call them right now."
"Of course, sir." With that the staff hangs up and Kenji puts his phone back in his pocket.
The robots had reached a lull in the conversation so he once again approaches them. "I think I know where they took my daughter." He says, making sure to speak louder this time.
Deadlock crouches to speak to him. "Where?"
"The construction site. I got a call from the security staff saying the cameras picked up vehicles breaking in. I think she may have convinced them to set their ambush there."
"Wait, your daughter?" Moonracer asks, crouching as well. "You think they have your daughter?" She'd learned about human families during her few days on Earth before leaving on this mission.
Kenji nods. "I am certain of it. I don't know how they discovered we have a connection to Deadlock, but that is her bedroom there." He gestures to the wreckage that had now stopped smoking. "And she is nowhere to be seen."
Deadlock places a gentle finger comfortingly on Kenji's shoulder. "I will get her back, I promise."
Moonracer turns to Ultra Magnus. "Sir?" Her face makes it clear she's asking if they'll help rescue the girl.
Magnus considers. He knows the Prime prefers to limit contact with humans, but it seems these two were already involved in this situation. And the fact that the Justice Division took the girl as a hostage did not bode well. She would likely be killed if they did nothing…and he knows the mandate to protect all sentient life overrules Optimus' preference not to involve humans.
And, well…this way, he can finally settle things once and for all with Tarn.
"We will help you, Deadlock." He decides. "I will check in with the Prime and notify him we have found you, then we will leave." He holds up a hand to stall Moonracer's excited reaction to his decision as Deadlock stands, bowing in gratitude for their help. "You know where to go?" He asks.
Deadlock nods. "Yes." He glances down at Kenji. "Remain here. We will return with Etsuko when the Division have been dealt with, I swear on the Allspark."
"Not a chance!" Kenji protests, face determined. "Please!"
Deadlock shakes his head. "It is not a good idea. You could be hurt."
Magnus steps closer, nodding but not crouching down. "Deadlock is correct. You'd only get hurt if you were to come with us."
Kenji looks between the giant robots desperately. He had to help rescue Etsuko! He just had to! "She's my daughter! I can help you! I know that site very well! I can tell you where to go to get the upper hand on the way there!"
Moonracer sighs. "We can leave him outside the site once he's explained where we should go." She suggests. "I know if someone I cared about was a hostage, I'd want to help rescue them any way I could."
Deadlock hangs his head for a moment and then groans. "...very well. I will bring you with us if you promise to remain outside the site until the battle is over."
While it wasn't what Kenji wanted, he knows the robots would only be concerned about him if he were in the middle of the battle. "...alright. Thank you."
Magnus nods. "Now that's settled, we must get going if we wish to have any element of surprise."
Deadlock nods. "Agreed."
Magnus steps aside to motion for Deadlock to take the lead. "We will follow you and the human."
Deadlock pauses for a moment, grateful they trust him to guide them, then nods and transforms. "Thank you." He opens his driver-side door for Kenji, who climbs in quickly.
As the mechs leave, Moonracer hesitates, realizing one of the reasons Magnus agreed to help Deadlock rescue the girl.
He wanted to take on Tarn alone.
She sighs, then transforms and follows her commander and the former Decepticon they'd come all this way to find.
Primus, please be with us.