Heroes in Disguise

(Inspired by Transformers)

One day, after a long, hard day of cleaning the beach, Izuku decides to climb up one of Japan's biggest mountains, near the hospital where his mother works, to continue his exercise in learning how to become the number one hero. There, he sits down and begins to muse about his life and the choices that have led him here, and how he plans to go forward with his life.

His outlook is, generally, pretty optimistic. Despite all the torment and trouble that he's been through in his life, his bullying at the hands of Bakugo and the discrimination that he has suffered as a quirkless person, he has been able to retain his cheery optimism and outlook on life, and is very much looking forward to seizing his chance to be not just All Might's apprentice, but also the hero of his dreams as well.

It is then that he meets someone else up on the mountain. A girl whom calls herself Ochako Uraraka, wearing a single glove on her right hand. Izuku is surprised to see someone up here and is embarrassed at the fact that he's never talked to a girl before, but the two are able to hold a conversation, when Ochako reveals why she's up the mountain:

At the dawn of quirks, there was this great big flash, like a meteor falling out of the sky, landing right in this mountain. Izuku remembers reading about it and speculates it to be one of the first emergences of a quirk, and Ochako adds that despite all the searching by authorities, no one was able to find anything, despite it being such a massive flash. This is the first day that the mountain was opened to the public, and Ochako, having a keen desire in space and all the things associated with it, wants to see if she can find anything herself.

Then, suddenly, the ground beneath them begins to shake, and then suddenly gives way, sending Izuku and Ochako plummeting down into an empty chasm inside the mountain...

Or at least it would've if it hadn't been filled with a massive, damaged spaceship.

Izuku and Ochako land on the ground, the latter having used her quirk to slow their fall, and end up exploring the massive spaceship, realising that it couldn't have been down here for long. It is then that part of the mountain around it flickers off like someone shutting off a light. The ship's automatic systems had projected some sort of hardlight hologram around it to protect itself. No wonder no one found it.

Izuku and Ochako are freaking out at having been the first ones to discover evidence of alien life living amongst the stars, but stop when they find themselves inside the ship and gazing upon the giant robots scattered lifelessly across the floor inside. The two decide that it's time for them to bug out and leave, and signal to the heroes what they have found...

But then, somehow, and suddenly, the spaceship's supercomputer, Teletraan-1 reactivates, and begins repairing all the robots scattered around them.

However, thanks to the crash and whatever combat took place in the ship judging from the still sparking and smoking holes and wounds in the walls, Teletraan-1 is badly malfunctioning and begins repairing all the robots indiscriminately, selecting new alt-modes for them and bringing them back up to full strength...

Starting with Starscream, who promptly shoots a prone Huffer in the head, killing him instantly. Then, he moves onto Gears, then Trailbreaker, then Hound, Windcharger, Hauler, Brawn, Bluestreak, and Gears.

(In case you couldn't tell, I'm taking quite a bit of inspiration from Skybound's recent take on the Transformers for the opening of this story.)

Izuku and Ochako are horrified to see such a blatant display of cruel execution, especially with how Starscream is laughing wickedly and gleefully at how easy it is to kill the Autobots on the ground, but just as he's about to turn his null-rays on an unmoving Bumblebee, he stops and sees the two humans trying to sneak away. Spitting out a disgusted comment at the fleshies, the Decepticon Seeker turns his null-rays on them-

Only to be tackled out of the way by a freshly repaired Optimus Prime, who spots the two human children himself and throws himself in front of them, protecting them from Starscream's attacks.

However, Starscream's Decepticons are being repaired as well, with Thrust and Dirge, two Decepticon coneheads, being repaired next alongside the Headmaster Cyberdroid known as Soundblaster, who's connected to a Transtector body and partnered with the Targetmaster Cyberdroid Wingthing.

But luckily the next Cybertronian to be repaired is the Autobot Bumblebee, who kicks down the two Decepticon thugs and swoops down to pick up Izuku and Ochako, promising to get them safely away from the fight as Ratchet is brought back online next, but not before the two humans themselves decide to help out and push Bumblebee's gun to him after he's attacked and pounced on by Ramjet, allowing him to land a shot on the conehead and get him off him.

However, as Skywarp and Thundercracker are brought back online, Optimus and the Autobots realise that they are outnumbered by the Decepticons, and are forced to abandon their ship, the Ark, gathering up as many of their fellow Autobots as they can and destroying Teletraan-1 as they leave, killing Thrust mid-repair as they do.

As the Autobots flee, Izuku is able to point them to a nearby scrapyard, which the Autobots then occupy. There, they lay out their surviving Autobots, that being Jazz, Prowl, Arcee, Wheeljack, Chromia, and Ironhide, the ones that they can fixed with time, and the others, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Beachcomber, Mirage and Cliffjumper, the ones who's lives are less certain. Bumblebee wonders if they can use the Matrix of Leadership in Optimus Prime's chest to heal their friends. However, Ratchet counters that that's not how the Matrix works. It imparts wisdom, not power.

Wisdom that Optimus feels that he really needs right now.

Not too far away, Izuku and Ochako quickly sit down, doing their best to try and process everything that's going on. Then, they're joined by Optimus Prime, who is quickly enamoured by the natural beauty of Earth, something that he's never seen before on Cybertron. He's seen such sights countless times on countless other worlds time and time again, and despite that such wonders never cease to amaze him.

Izuku and Ochako are surprised by his words, and Izuku comments that he figured that Optimus would be disinterested in such a thing. Optimus comments that his home world, Cybertron, was completely made of metal. There was beauty, but it was all synthetic and artificial. Nothing like this.

And that beauty is gone now. Tarnished by a war that's been raging for millions of years. Now their world is a lifeless husk, though the actions of both himself and the people that they fight against. Izuku asks if that's Starscream and his lot, and Optimus comments that Starscream is just a lieutenant in the Decepticon Star Empire. A high-ranking one, but still not the top of the chain of command.

Optimus then begins to explain. Millions of years ago, his home planet of Cybertron was known throughout the universe as home to one of the most peaceful species in existence, the Cybertronian race. They were a species of scientists, theologists, diplomats, and explorers, pushing the limits of their understanding of the universe and wishing to spread that enlightenment to others as well.

But no golden age is perfect, and underneath the glistening polish was a rushing decay. The lineage of Primes, the chosen leaders of their species, began to steer away from the guidance that the Thirteen original Primes had left them, and succumbed to their pride and greed. Leaders like Nova, Nominus, Sentinel, and Zeta Prime turned their search for enlightenment into a desire for domination. The golden age rusted away, and an era of corruption fell over their world and its colonies, paved over by the expansionist desires of those who held power.

Soon, the Cybertronian race fell into an era of functionism, with their species being divided into castes based on their functions. Their form dictated their fate, and it was all propped by by a corrupt Cybertronian senate, ruled over by the equally corrupt Primes and their false claims to divine providence, with only the Council of Ancients standing above them, the last bastions of hope in their sulied world, for they were the only ones that could choose the next Prime.

It was an awful, terrible system, and it was one that Optimus Prime, back then known as Orion Pax, helped to enforce in his foolish ignorance, first as a data clerk, and then when he was conscripted to be a police officer.

But, in those days, a young Cybertronian from the mining caste rose up, a gladiator known as D-16, who defied the weight of the Cybertronian state by choosing his own name. He called himself Megatron, and he spoke out against those that would keep their species locked in oppression, calling those who would stand with him to his side. He named them his Decepticons, and he challenged those in power to change themselves for the betterment of Cybertron.

It was his words that draw the attention of Orion Pax, and through those words, he found himself waking up to the darkness and evils that plagued their world. He sought Megatron out, and together, under the guidance of Orion's mentor Alpha Trion, they stood up against the corruption of the Cybertronian senate and the functionist order that they sought to impose.

In doing so, they became brothers-in-arms and brothers-in-spirit.

But when they stood before the Council of Ancients to speak their piece, Megatron stood first and demanded that he be made the next Prime. It seemed that Megatron's version of peace was just another form of the corruption that came before. As he called it, it would have been a peace through tyranny.

But when he spoke at the stand, the council seemed to listen. All he did was speak what he thought to be the truth, but they seemed to be listen more than they did Megatron. He doesn't know if they were truly moved by what he had to say or if they had become just as corrupt as the senate itself and saw him as a useful pawn, but for whatever reason, they decided to name him as the next Prime.

Megatron would not have it. His rage overtook him at this rejection, and he raised his followers into an army to topple the senate and wage war against all those he deemed to stand against the future of the Cybertronian race. They killed the senate and the council, and decapitated Zeta Prime, but then began to kill anyone who would not stand with them.

It was then that Alpha Trion led Orion down into the depths of Cybertron and, as he fended off Megatron and allowed his spark to be extinguished by the gladiator-now-warlord, he passed Orion an artifact from Cybertron's ancient past.

The Matrix of Leadership, an artifact that held all the knowledge and wisdom of the original Thirteen Primes, which Alpha Trion had sealed away when the Primes that came after the originals proved themselves to be undeserving of it.

The Matrix bonded with him, and Orion Pax became Optimus Prime.

Rallying those who would stand against Megatron's tyranny, Optimus named them to be the Autobots in remembrance to the name that the ascendant races such as the Celestials and Omega Guardians, and became the resistance against Megatron's army.

And so the Autobots and Decepticons waged war against each other. A war across Cybertron and its colonies that lasted for millions of years. A war that the Autobots were losing.

It was in this hopeless situation that Optimus realised that Megatron wouldn't stop until all of Cybertron, and all the universe beyond, bent to his will. If he claimed control of the Allspark, the source of all Cybertronian life hidden within Vector Sigma, the core of their world, then Megatron could create legions of Decepticons to spread out across the universe, destroying all hope.

So, to protect all of creation, Optimus sent the Allspark rocketing off into space, dooming their home world to shutdown.

Optimus had hoped that this would be enough to stop Megatron, but in his arrogance, he once again failed to recognise the depths of the Decepticon leader's hunger for dominance, for he already had plans to leave their world. Regardless of their efforts, the Autobots were forced to abandon Cybertron, the Decepticons took over their dying world and its shattered colonies, and their war spread off-world.

Optimus had murdered his own planet for nothing.

Now, as far as he remembers, the galaxy has been divided into three sections. There is the Autobot Commonwealth, a collection of worlds and civilisations such as the Solstar Order and the Spectral Knights that had aligned themselves with the Autobots against their enemies, the Decepticon Star Empire, a massive swath of territory made up of devastated and cyberformed worlds where the Decepticons had worked every species within it to extinction. Then there was the space in between, the constant battlefield of the Great War, where worlds like Quintessa, Nebulos, Master, and Klo were utterly devastated, and their species, the Quintessons, the Nebulans, and the Klovians were either driven off world or into extinction themselves.

So many worlds have fallen already, and now their war has touched another.

Optimus has been searching for the Allspark once again, to try and make up for his past mistakes, but all he has done is bring their war to Earth.

It is now his duty to defend it.

(This is ultimately supposed to be the key characterising moment of Optimus Prime and what defines him in this story, as while he is still the humble paragon of virtue that we know him as, he isn't as infallible as he is usually depicted as. This Optimus Prime has his flaws, very much makes mistakes, has a tendency to downplay his own achievements due to his sense of guilt and makes too many decisions based on that guilt, and has made bad calls in the past.

However, what makes him a good leader is that he acknowledges those mistakes and learns from them, and always seeks to do the right thing no matter what. Deep down, despite his flaws and mistakes, he is still very much the Optimus Prime that we know and love, and is always going to do what's right for the sake of all sentient life across the universe.)

Meanwhile in the Ark, the Decepticons are counting their losses as well. Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Dirge, Ramjet, and Soundblaster and his Targetmaster partner Wingthing are currently alive and operational, but Thrust is now dead, and they've still got an entire team of Decepticons, possibly their most powerful members, still down and out for the count. Soundblaster calls out Starscream for pursuing Optimus' ship without any backup before they all went down, but Starscream shoots back that it's not his fault, Soundblaster was supposed to be the one to cripple Prime's ship and leave them ready for the kill, not give them the chance to fight back.

What they need right now, however, is a way to contact Megatron and the rest of the Empire. Soundblaster points out that the Ark's comms are damaged, but Starscream simply tells him to use the various Autobot corpses to repair them. Thundercracker expresses his distain at such a thought, but Starscream makes it clear that he doesn't care.

However, that's only half of the problem, as they need a stable source of energon to initiate repairs. Luckily Soundblaster has detected a large settlement nearby with a power station, but he needs to focus more on initiating repairs in the Ark than out there. Realising that Starscream currently has the largest energon reserves, the Decepticons elect to send him out, much to his annoyance.

In the nearby town, Inko Midoriya is looking on nervously from the hospital that she is currently working in to the mountains nearby, as Izuku was supposedly up there and he hadn't returned any of her calls.

Meanwhile, Death Arms is consulting with a local detachment of heroes, ready to depart into the nearby mountains. According to reports, there has been a lot of noise and disturbances coming from the mountain, and now there's an entire chunk of it missing, and they needed someone to go in there and investigate. Death Arms would rather someone else do this, as he's more used to carrying out operations in urban areas, but he needs the boost to his reputation after that Aldera High fiasco with the Sludge Villain, and this is currently the best way for him to get it-

Then, suddenly, Starscream lands in the middle of the town and starts tearing up its power station, grumbling to himself about how he has to be the one to do the grunt work, a position unsuited for a leader such as himself. Death Arms, identifying Starscream as a villain, quickly rallies his team of pro heroes and orders the Decepticon to surrender...

And Starscream, in reaction, laughs at their efforts and blasts them away, before grabbing Death Arms in one hand, commenting about how fun it is to squish organics between his fingers, and then popping the pro hero like a grape, killing him instantly.

(Again, a lot of inspiration from Skybound for this one.)

Elsewhere, Izuku, Ochako, and the Autobots spot a trail of smoke leading up into the sky from the nearby town, and they realise that the Decepticons have begun their attack on the humans. Leaving Ratchet to care for their fellow wounded Autobots, Optimus readies to meet the Decepticons there, and orders Bumbebee to get Izuku and Ochako away from the fighting and to safety. Izuku protests, as his mother is inside that town, but Optimus is firm. This is no place for children to be.

But he will find Izuku's mother. He has his word.

Soon, Bumblebee is driving Izuku and Ochako back to the nearby city as quickly as he can, and Izuku and Ochako try to figure out what to do next. The two are still shellshocked and confused after what happened, and are struggling to process everything that they have learnt and witnessed. Izuku tries to make a call to All Might, only to find that his phone was smashed in the fall. He swears to himself, believing that if All Might was here, then he could easily defeat the Decepticons. He's the number one hero, after all. Ochako somewhat agrees, but is able to get through to someone on her phone, and begins to speak with them...

Only for Bumblebee to be attacked by another Decepticon that had been tracking them, Ramjet, who, wanting payback for earlier, instantly starts trying to kill them, prompting Ochako to tell whoever's on the other side of the line to get to the nearby town and pronto. Bumblebee, meanwhile, realises that the Decepticons are trying to scatter them and pick them off one-by-one, and is forced to make a run back for the town.

Elsewhere, All Might is currently travelling to the mountains himself, being told over his radio of the disturbances in the region and the loss of communication with Death Arms and the other heroes in the area, and though he'd honestly rather be training his apprentice for his future handling of One for All, he recognises the importance of his duties and what is demanded of him as both the number one hero and the Symbol of Peace.

However, he's then cut off as he reaches the town and spots Starscream on the ground, surrounded by the smoking bodies of dead town residents and heroes. All Might calls for Starscream to surrender, but the Decepticon Seeker instead, laughing sadistically all the way, jets up into the air and swats All Might away, sending him flying into the ground.

All Might and Starscream then face off, and here is where we get to see Starscream's power level in this story, as while he's still a cowardly, short-sighted, arrogant snake at heart's, he's not the Decepticon's primary air commander and a high ranking commander for nothing, as he proceeds to delay All Might for long enough to allow his fellow Seekers, Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Dirge, as well Soundblaster and his Targetmaster Wingthing to arrive.

Starscream and Skywarp then begin to fire on All Might as he lands in the town and the fleeing civilians below, whilst Thundercracker and Dirge help Soundblaster and Wingthing collect the parts that they need to begin repairing the Ark and their remaining Decepticons onboard. A group of heroes, arriving with All Might, try to attack the Decepticons, only for Wingthing to use his Targetmaster connection to Soundblaster to take control of his arm and send a single, incredibly powerful shot into the crowd of heroes, annihilating them all with one shot.

Soon, Starscream and Skywarp succeed in pinning down All Might whilst the other Decepticons succeed in finishing the power generator. However, Starscream orders them to stay, wanting to destroy the entire town and everyone inside it as an act of petty spite against the fleshies that would foolishly declare themselves to be heroes-

And that is when Optimus Prime speeds by in his truck alt-mode and slams himself into Starscream, sending him spinning away as he transformed and tossed Skywarp into the Decepticons at the side.

Putting himself before All Might and the humans, Optimus declares that there will be no more innocent lives lost today, and opens fire on the Decepticons.

Elsewhere, Ratchet has gathered enough energon together from their scant few reserves, but it's only enough to revive one of their allies, but gets a call from Optimus, telling him that he's under fire from the Decepticons and has humans under his protection, and needs reinforcements, all before he gets a call from Bumblebee saying that he's under fire from a Seeker as well.

Ratchet frowns, and then decides on who to bring back first. They need fighters now.

Elsewhere, Ramjet is continuing his pursuit of Bumblebee, and Izuku and Ochako inside are panicking at the thought of being blown to bits by the deranged Decepticon. However, Ramjet soon gets a swing on Bumblebee and sends him flipping over into his robot form, forcing the little yellow bot to throw down with the Seeker, right before the Decepticon, upon realising that he is losing, to aim his cannons at Izuku and Ochako on the ground in an act of spite-

Only to be interrupted by a giant foot kicking itself into him, tearing him into pieces and sending him flying through the air like a crumpled can.

The humans and the lone Mini-bot look up to see a giant woman standing over them, giving the Autobot an apprehensive look and readying to stomp on him as well... only for Ochako to run up and throw her hands up defensively, telling her that Bumblebee's on their side.

The woman, the hero, blinks in recognition, shrinking down to person-sized and hugging Ochako. Spotting Izuku giving them a confused look, Ochako introduces the hero as Mount Lady, or rather Yu Takeyama, her adoptive sister.

Yu then recognises Izuku as that kid that stupidly ran in to try and defeat the Sludge Villain back in Aldera, and as Izuku looks away with a blush, demands to know what the hell is going on.

As Ochako puts it, there are bad guy robots trying to kill them all and good guy robots trying to make sure that doesn't happen. Bumblebee says that that pretty much sums it up.

Unfortunately, Ramjet isn't as down as they'd like, and the wounded Seeker ends up fleeing from the lot, intent on warning Starscream of the incoming organics coming after them. Mount Lady ends up leading the charge on a bunch of hero reinforcements, including her fellow heroes in the Lurkers agency. The hero known as Edgeshot ends up pulling Izuku and Ochako behind to safety, but as the heroes and Bumblebee speed off into the town, Izuku ends up following behind them to find his mother, inadvertently dragging Ochako behind with him.

Meanwhile, Optimus is doing his best to try and defend the wounded All Might and the civilians, but finds himself outnumbered by the more agile Seekers - now joined by Ramjet - as well as being outgunned by Soundblaster's enhanced firepower as a Targetmaster. Even the reinforcements in the form of Bumblebee and the heroes, including Mount Lady and the other Lurkers, are not yet enough to stem the tide, not helped at all by how demoralised the heroes become when they see that even All Might has been struggling against the rampaging Decepticons.

But then, that is when Ratchet arrives to the battle alongside a newly risen Autobot to turn the tide.

Ironhide, who turns his guns on the Seekers and blasts Ramjet to pieces, killing the Decepticon before throwing his heavy weapons at Skywarp and mortally wounding the teleporting Seeker as well. Realising that his Seekers are now being picked off by the Autobots and their new fleshy allies, Starscream prepares to leave, but not before noticing something:

Inko Midoriya and other doctors and nurses, ushering people into the town's hospital for shelter.

Realising that this is where the humans go to be fixed, Starscream, in an act of spite, turns his null-rays on the hospital and opens fire, ripping it to pieces and critically wounding many of them, including Inko herself, and callously catching a wounded Skywarp in the blast, killing him as well.

Starscream and the Decepticons flee with their new power generator, and the heroes and Autobots are left to pick up the pieces in the devastated town, and Izuku rushing to his wounded mother's side as she is ushered into the damaged hospital, the situation only made worse by the fact that Starscream took out the hospital's backup generator, meaning that a lot more people are going to die tonight...

Until Bumblebee, in an act of self-sacrifice, uses his own spark and body to act as a generator for the hospital. He is still alive, but in committing such an act, he will be left in a coma until the hospital has been repaired, meaning that the Autobots are once more without one of their own.

But at least no more people will die tonight.

However, as it stands, neither the Autobots or the heroes are in any condition to pursue Starscream's Decepticons. Optimus is battered after the fighting and low on energon, and All Might is feeling the wear on fighting the Decepticons as well. Plus, multiple other heroes have been killed and many more have been wounded, not to mention the townsfolk as well.

Luckily, the heroes, moved by Bumblebee's act of sacrifice, begin to call in reinforcements.

Meanwhile, Izuku is sitting inside the hospital, waiting to hear any news on his mother, and Ochako decides to sit next to him. The two have been through a lot in the last two days, and there's no sign of it stopping anytime soon.

Still, the two of them decide that if this won't at least make them friends, then nothing ever will.

Izuku is terrified at the thought of losing his mother, and can't imagine the thought of being without her. Ochako tries to offer comfort, but Izuku can't help but snap at her in her worry and frustration. What does she know about loss?

Ochako knows a lot. In this story, she's an orphan. Her parents died in a villain attack when she was young, and she doesn't even have any memories of them anymore. Only the impressions and ideas of them. She was shunted around in child protective services for a year before landing in the children's orphanage known as the Masters Home, cared for by the husband and wife billionaire philanthropists Giga Yoshida and Megan Cesone. It was there that she had met fellow orphan Yu, Mount Lady, as well as Yui Kodai and all the others that she would come to know as brothers and sisters.

Hell, her arm wasn't real. She took off the glove that she'd been wearing over her right hand, and asked Izuku to touch it. Izuku, shyly and nervously, took hold of it, and found that the skin was rubbery and the bone underneath didn't feel like bone at all, all the way up to the shoulder where the skin became discoloured from the rest of her body. She'd lost her real arm in the car crash along with her parents, and Megan and Giga had paid to have it replaced with the best that money can buy.

But her parents, her blood parents, were still gone. They were dead, and she was left to see that whatever legacy they leave behind is a good one. It was why she wanted to become a hero: to honour them, and to make sure that no one else will ever have to go through what she and all her brothers and sisters have gone through as well.

Izuku has no words left to say at that. All he can think to do is hug her, which she tenderly returns. They stay like that for a long while, before Ochako gets up, an idea in her head, and she heads off to find Optimus.

Elsewhere, a battered Optimus and All Might are talking with each other, entertaining the townsfolk's children as they do. The two share stories and find kindred spirits within each other, that being tired old leaders feeling the grind of fighting battle after battle with seemingly no end in sight. All Might expresses that he's made his own fair share of mistakes, as has Optimus, and ends up confessing that he is training a successor to take his place. Optimus confesses that he is training people as well for the inevitability that he won't be around to lead the Autobots anymore, and namedrops other Autobots like Bumblebee, Jazz, Windblade, Hot Rod, Ultra Magnus, Springer, Star Saber, Beta, Dai Atlas, Daburu Leo, Hacksaw, and Metalhawk as those who, whether in peace or in war, would be there to take his place should his time come.

No single person can hold up a nation, a people, and a civilisation all on their own. It takes many hands to create a better world.

This gives All Might pause, and he is left with food for thought.

Then, the two are approached by Izuku and Ochako, and the latter tells them of a nearby construction site that are owned by her adoptive parents, one that they can use to store their wounded warriors.

And during this conversation, Izuku approaches All Might... and asks for One for All early.

Elsewhere, the Decepticons have attached their makeshift generator to the damaged Ark, spliced together from both the human's technology and the cannibalised bodies of the dead Autobots littering the floor, and are finally able to begin rebuilding their incapacitated warriors.

However, they are critical of Starscream's actions, as so far his plans have consisted of nothing but mindless destruction. No conquests, just petty acts of violence, made all the worse by the fact that their supposed leader has killed one of their own in such acts as well. Starscream is hacked off at this, as they cannot conquer much when his warriors are so incompetent that they are being picked off by a tiny group of Autobots and their fleshy allies, and instead deflects the blame onto his surviving minions, Thundercracker, Dirge, and Soundblaster, for not helping him enough in killing said Autobots and fleshies, despite their being busy creating the generator needed to repair their fellow Decepticons.

But then, as their prone Decepticons are being rebuilt, Soundblaster detects a growing surge of energy coming from a construction site, and they realise that the Autobots and the humans are now working together to repair their own fallen warriors. Seeking to end such an act before it can begin, Starscream orders Soundblaster to stay behind and continue repairing the rest of their minions, whilst he rallies Thundercracker and Dirge to his side.

As it turns out as well, the other Decepticons that Starscream had brought with him during his attack on the Ark had been the Stunticons, being a heavily expanded and enlarged team in this continuity, and the current members that are operational and ready to join Starscream's assault are Motormaster, Drag Strip (who is a female in this continuity), Heatseeker, Wildbreak, Slashmark (all originally from the aligned continuity), and Brake-Neck (the stand-in for Wildrider in Earth Wars),

As night turns to day, the remaining operational Autobots and heroes have relocated themselves to the construction site owned by Ochako's adoptive family, and are joined by the head worker, one of Ochako's adoptive brothers that she and Yu have nicknamed Bullhorn. There, the Autobots revive Wheeljack to help them rebuild themselves, but considering how low on energon they are, he is left having to shut off his legs and waist and is left rolling about in the Cybertronian equivilent of a wheelchair.

Soon, the Autobots and the humans are able to create their own generator made out of Cybertronian and human technology, and are able to begin the process of reviving the rest of their friends, with Wheeljack confirming that with their own technology, they might be able to power the town for the next decade, maybe even beyond, potentially providing the town with a clean source of energy from now on.

Meanwhile, Izuku has eaten All Might's strand of hair from his head and is currently processing One for All as it goes through him. All Might warns him that, at his current form and with his training incomplete, One for All is going to be very volatile for him, but Izuku doesn't care. He's fine with it.

All Might tells him that what happened to his mother wasn't his fault, but Izuku doesn't hear it. He just wants to get back at the Decepticons for what they have done. All Might warns him against the path of vengeance, telling his young apprentice that such a path will only lead to pain in his future, but Izuku isn't hearing it. He just wants to make the Decepticons, make Starscream, pay.

Meanwhile, recognising that the Decepticons are going to be a constant threat for the time being, the Autobots decide to revive their warriors first, beginning with Chromia (at Ironhide's suggestion), and then with Jazz.

However, they are then interrupted by the Decepticons attacking the site, with Starscream leading his two surviving Seekers up in the air whilst Motormaster and his Stunticons attack the site from the ground, with Slashmark and Heatseeker combining together to form Heatmark, and Break-Neck and Wildbreak forming together to make Wild-Neck (in the aligned continuity, it's Drag Strip and Wildbreak who form together to make Dragbreak, but considering that Drag Strip in G1 is meant to be part of Menasor, then I'm just going to replace him with Brake-Neck).

The battle begins once more, with Chromia and Jazz joining Ratchet, Ironhide, and Optimus in repelling the Decepticons alongside the heroes whilst Izuku and Ochako dive for cover alongside the construction workers at the sight. Mount Lady enlarges herself and throws All Might up into the air to duel the Seekers once more, as well as Chromia and Kamui Woods to support them. However, she starts to take fire from the two Stunticon combiners on the ground below whilst Motormaster and Drag Strip are keeping the Autobots and heroes still on the ground suppressed.

During the fight, Izuku and Ochako end up being menaced by the newly arrived Wingthing, who begins diving and blasting at the two humans. However, Izuku summons One for All from within himself for the first time and lands a punch on the Targetmaster, sending the winged Cyberdroid-turned-mini-cassette flying back wildly, to which it decided to beat a retreat...

Only for them to be met by Drag Strip, who lowers her gun to obliterate the two humans, only for herself to be rammed into by Bullhorn driving a cement mixer and smashed through a wall. The Stunticon is quick to recover though, as she tosses the cement mixer away from her and goes on the attack once more, but is stopped by Ironhide, who picks her up and tosses her into Motormaster.

And meanwhile, Mount Lady picks up Wild-Neck and rips the combiner in half, killing both Brake-Neck and Wildbreak in the process as she tosses them at the Stunticons on the ground, giving Optimus the chance that he needs to throw himself at the other Stunticon mini-combiner, Heatmark, and lands a shot with his ion blaster right into its weak point, destroying the combiner and killing both Heatseeker and Slashmark in the process.

Realising that their numbers are beginning to drop, Motormaster and Drag Strip beat a retreat, taking Wingthing with them, and Starscream orders his Seekers back to base as well, but not before destroying the Autobots' makeshift generator in the process.

Realising that the Decepticons will just keep reviving more and more of their warriors to keep relentlessly attacking them and pick them off, the Autobots and heroes move to go on the offensive and pursue Starscream and his minions. It's time to take back the Ark. They move out, and Izuku and Ochako follow with them, much to the protests of the Autobots and the heroes.

Soon, the combined Autobot and hero force reach the Ark, but are then attacked by the Decepticons once more, now joined by the remaining Stunticons, the last of their warriors, that being Wildrider, Dead End, Offroad, Breakdown (in his Unite Warriors pickup truck form in homage to said Unite Warriors and Prime counterparts), and the Micromaster-turned-Headmaster Blackjack. They had been lured to the Ark in a trap by Starscream, who is eager to see his hated enemies finally crushed.

Then, on Starscream's order, the Stunticons merge together, with Motormaster forming the torso, Drag Strip forming the chest, Dead End and Wildrider forming the arms, Breakdown and Offroad forming the legs, and Blackjack forming the head to become the Decepticon combiner, Menasor (think of their final form as a fusion between Combiner Wars Menasor and kamitoge supino's fanart of the character).

And then, the violent and unstable Combiner turns his sights on Mount Lady and begins to attack her, beating her down and forcing her to use a pair of buses as knuckledusters to try and defend herself as the rest of the Decepticons open fire on the scattered Autobots and heroes on the ground, with Soundblaster in particular laying down scores of vicious and destructive fire with his Targetmaster Wingthing, even managing to shoot All Might out of the air with a single shot, knocking the number one hero out of the fight.

During the battle, Izuku launches himself at Starscream, desperately trying to claim revenge for what the Seeker did to his mother. The Decepticon responds by laughing in his face at his anger and swatting him aside, gleefully making fun of his mother's sacrifice and promising to kill her and everyone else that he knows once he himself is dead.

(In case you somehow weren't aware, Starscream is meant to be the genuinely evil type of villain in this story. He's very much not noble, he's completely monstrous, and he knows it and enjoys it.)

Worse yet, Izuku's lack of control of One for All leads to him crippling himself in the middle of combat and thus making him a liability, forcing Optimus Prime to step in to defend him only for Starscream to blast away at him as well, leaving the already severely-damaged Autobot leader crippled and on the verge of shutdown.

However, during all this fighting, Ochako has been able to slip into the Ark and begins messing with its internals, sending something inside the damaged ship's walls as she begins using her quirk to tear up the place, disconnecting the Decepticons' generator from the ship and releasing all the Autobot corpses that they'd been using to repair and power the ship.

However, she is soon met by Soundblaster and Wingthing, who prepares to blast her to pieces for her intrusion and sabotage. However, before he can kill her, he detects something unusual about her. Something distinctly... Cybertronian.

But before he can do anything about it, whatever Ochako has released into the Ark's walls does its job and begins to overload the reactor, detonating it and beginning a critical meltdown within the Ark. Seizing on the Decepticon's distraction, Ochako grabs a stray piece of detritus off the ground and, with her robotic arm, throws it like a javelin through the transformed Wingthing's barrel, killing the winged Cyberdroid in his gun form and releasing all the unstable energies that are held within all Targetmaster partners, beginning the chain reaction needed to overload the ship itself.

Ochako quickly grabs the thing that she'd used to wreak havoc within the Ark and flees, just getting out in time before the damaged ship explodes into a fireball, consuming Soundblaster in the process.

However, because Soundblaster is simply a Headmaster connected to a lifeless larger body, as soon as the Transtector is ripped into pieces by the blast, the human-sized Cyberdroid disconnects himself from the broken body and decides that it is time to beat a retreat, fleeing the battle and into the mountains.

Down below, Starscream is tossed aside by the massive blast, but the heroes and Autobots are unable to capitalise on this as Menasor and the rest of the Seekers continue to attack them, critically wounding many of them as Mount Lady is left on the defensive, broken and beaten under Menasor's mechanical fists.

But, as Izuku crawls to the wounded Optimus Prime, himself on the verge of dying as well thanks to the severity of his wounds, he spots the Matrix of Leadership shimmering inside the Prime's chest, which causes One for All to begin sparking around him. Realising the consequences of his actions and that he has to make things right.

So, reaching out his only working hand, he touches Optimus' chest, and the Matrix and One for All begin to interact with each other.

There is a bright flash of light, and suddenly, to the amazement of everyone - including the horrified Decepticons - Optimus Prime stands up, healed and up-armoured and in a brand new form, somehow stronger than ever.

Optimus Prime and Izuku Midoriya have just become the first Powermaster duo.

With his new powers in hand, Optimus channels the energies of One for All through himself and into his cannons, firing them directly into Menasor's chest, killing Drag Strip and giving Mount Lady the chance to not just rip one of the combiner's arms off - Dead End, which kills him - and slam it down across the deranged gestalt, but to also thrust her fist into Menasor's chest and crush his spark, killing the Combiner and all the remaining Stunticons as well.

Starscream, driven into a mindless rage at the loss of his ultimate weapon, orders the last of his Decepticons to keep fighting while he attempts to book a retreat, but Thundercracker and Dirge, realising that their base has been completely destroyed and that Starscream is ultimately loyal to no one but himself, abandon him and book a retreat.

Starscream is left on his own, and Optimus Prime offers the Seeker a chance to surrender, to possibly make things right between him and everyone that he's hurt.

Starscream refuses and launches himself into the air, intent on raining down a hail of missiles and null-ray blasts into the remains of the town and the hospital that he had shelled previously, intent on killing every single person there as one last act of spite.

And Optimus and Izuku, having to come to terms with the fact that Starscream has no intention of being taken alive, launches into the air under the power of One for All, Optimus' mechanical body much better at handling the strain of the cripplingly overpowered quirk, and delivers a single finishing punch into the Decepticon, ripping him to pieces and changing the weather around them.

Starscream is killed, and Optimus lands unharmed onto the ground, right before Izuku disengages himself from the Autobot leader and converts from his new engine form back into a human, whilst Optimus shrinks down from his up-armoured body into a more manageable form, having now lost his connection to One for All.

The battle is over and the day is won, and Inko Midoriya later wakes up from her medically-induced coma to see Izuku waiting at her bedside alongside his new friend Ochako, her son beyond happy that she is awake once more, even if she's going to have to live in a wheelchair from now on. However, All Might, upon revealing himself to both Inko and Izuku, promises to take care of Inko's expenses and needs. It's what a good mentor should do for their apprentice.

But later that day, as the Autobots count their losses and can finally begin repairing their wounded alongside repairing the devastated town alongside the heroes (now joined by Bumblebee thanks to their finally repairing the hospital's backup generator), Wheeljack, now no longer needed his Cybertronian wheelchair after fixing their generator, informs Optimus Prime of what happened back at the Ark, and how he had fused with Izuku and channelled that weird power of his. According to his readings, whatever Izuku's quirk is, it seemed to merge with the Matrix itself to empower and upgrade Optimus into that super form of his, whilst also allowing him to channel the strength of said power.

This binary bonding combination, similar to the Headmasters and Targetmasters - to which Wheeljack dubs it as the Powermaster process - is yet also uniquely different, as it had allowed Optimus to use his partner's quirk as well.

If that was correct, then that could mean that if they started looking into the process, there could be an entire generation of Autobots as Powermasters, binary bonded to these humans and given access to their quirks. It could be the real key to not only turning the tide against the Decepticons, but maybe even defeating them as well.

But Optimus is reluctant. As much as the heroes have been a major help to them this last few days, a lot of them have also died, and he has no desire to bring any of them to anymore harm by bringing them into their war.

Not only that, but Izuku and his friend Ochako… they are just children, young even by the terms of their species. He has no desire to see children fight and die in their war.

Let them be. They've been through too much already.

Soon enough, Optimus ends up talking to Izuku, and the latter confesses that he thought winning would feel different. He got his revenge against Starscream, and yet it doesn't make him feel any better. The fact that he took a life only makes him feel worse than before. Optimus imparts onto him that revenge will never bring satisfaction to a person's mind. It will only bring more hurt.

Izuku apologises for his actions. He had almost got himself killed, and he had almost got Optimus and a lot of other people killed because of his actions. Optimus doesn't hold it against him though. He's ultimately the forgiving sort. He simply tells Izuku to remember what he learnt from these past few days, because that need to make things right, and that sorrow that he feels for any loss of life, is what separates him from monsters like Starscream.

Optimus then asks Izuku what he is going to do, and the boy replies that his plans haven't changed. He's still going to be a hero. Optimus asks him if he's sure, as this life can be quite the painful one, but Izuku is undeterred. He knows what he is getting himself into now, and even still the violence and horrors of all that he has seen has not changed his mind. If anything, it has only strengthened his resolution to make sure that something like this can never happen to anyone else.

Optimus, seeing that Izuku is dead-set on becoming a hero, simply tells Izuku to hold onto that dream and that hope, even if it may seem like an impossibility, but to also enjoy the life that he has.

And to never give up in the face of darkness, as there is always the flicker of hope that all sentient beings deserve to have.

And Izuku, encouraged by Optimus Prime's words, thanks him for the encouragement.

Soon enough, the day of U.A.'s exams arrives, only this time, All Might has brought Izuku in as a recommended student, seeing no reason to have him attend the regulars as there are already rumours of him taking part in the chaos that took part in the mountains not too long ago from now, and he no longer sees the need to hide his connection to Izuku from the staff there. Getting shot to bits by giant robots and coming the closest to defeat that you've ever been in years tends to put things into perspective.

There, Izuku is greeted by Ochako once more, now herself a recommended student alongside her other adopted sister, Yui Kodai. The three of them quickly become friends as they share their experiences, and go to take the recommendation exams together.

They pass them flawlessly, and end up getting top marks in the first year's entrance exam in general

(To say Bakugo is unhappy with this is an understatement.)

And later that day, as Izuku and Ochako meet with All Might and the Autobots in their new headquarters underneath Musufatu, they mourn the lives of all those that they have lost, celebrate everything that has been accomplished, and getting ready to face whatever the future may bring to them and test the bonds that they have forged together.

(The biggest theme that would be running through this story is the power of bonds, both amongst heroes and villains, which is primarily expressed through the Transformers concept of binary bonding and combining, and what can be done and made through said bonds.)

However, dark forces are afoot in the background. Megatron and his Decepticon Star Empire are still rampaging across the galaxy, and Thundercracker and Dirge are still unaccounted for. Worse yet, All for One and Shigaraki have found and picked up the missing Soundblaster, as a suggestion from their newest member, a sly-talking robot by the name of Steeljaw...

But there's something else. A darker force moving in plain site. As Ochako and Yui return to the Masters children's home, they are greeted not just by their still-wounded sister Yu, but also by their other adoptive sister Mayumi and their brothers that they'd nicknamed Cancer, Wilder, Bullhorn, Hydra, Buster, and Clouder.

Then, they all depart down the building through a hidden compartment, down an elevator and into the basement...

Where they are greeted by a massive factory, filled with human-sized protoforms of humans being made into bestial Cybertronians, and a dozen full-sized Cybertronian drones being prepared by the last two living Seacons under their care, that being the former Decepticons Turtler and Jawbreaker.

Not too far away from them, the corpses of Fangry, Horri-Bull, Squeezeplay, Doubledealer, Dreadwind, and Darkwing have been converted into their Transtectors.

And then, in the centre of the room, as Ochako allows Browning, her little friend and asset that helped her destroy the Ark, slips out from her side and climbs onto her shoulder, she approaches their adoptive mother and father, Megan Cesone and Giga Yoshida, just as they finish consulting the imposing Decepticon known as Overlord.

They all turn to her, and Ochako smiles at them.

She's in.

And the Autobots?

They don't suspect a thing.