Chapter Text
Optimus Prime and Bumblebee snuck closer to the newly discovered stasis pod. They hid behind some boulders, and watched carefully as Starscream pushed a cube of energon into the massively large stasis pod. The pod came alive, lights around it flashed.
“Starscream, end this.” The Autobot leader aimed his cannon at the seeker. “Surrender!”
“Surrender? I don’t think so, Optimus Prime.” Starscream’s high pitched crackling voice echoed through the valley, “You won’t survive!” Bumblebee ran to Optimus Prime’s side and he pulled his guard closer into his frame. The massive stasis pod opened and a cloud of fog drifted out of it, slowly covering the ground completely. “Now Autobots face the most powerful warrior to ever live!” And the acting commander of the Decepticons began to laugh.
Two small laser blasts came out of the low fog and it blasted Bumblebee to the ground. The the second set of beams aimed for Optimus Prime. The Autobot leader narrowly dodged the small yet powerful blasts.
Starscream continued to laughed as the Autobot leader stood up brushing the dust off of his frame. “Now, here he is, the great and powerful Skyquake!” Starscream then stared at the stasis pod, waiting for the the powerful warrior to emerge.
The Decepticon waited, and then glanced back at the Autobots, Optimus Prime was aiding Bumblebee to his pedes. The seeker coughed, “Any minute now.” The slick seeker watched with seriousness as the fog slowly faded away from the stasis pod.
“Starscream, there is still time to end this war. Megatron is gone. Be the leader he was not.” Optimus Prime stepped toward Starscream offering a empty hand to the Decepticon. The Autobot scout was close behind the Prime. Though, the mysterious laser blast had burned the color off Bumblebee’s chassis.
“Don’t be foolish, Prime. The Decepticons will not surrender until we win this war.” Starscream growled, and turned back to the now dark and fogless stasis pod. “Isn’t that right, Skyquake?”
Again, the acting Decepticon Lord received no response from within the stasis pod. “Skyquake, are you in there?!”
The Autobot scout beeped and whirred viciously. Optimus Prime held up a servo, “Not yet, Bumblebee.” Starscream continued to scream at the seeming empty stasis pod. As the seeker screamed, another set of lasers appeared near the base of the stasis pod. This time, the lasers did not aim for the Autobots, but for Starscream himself.
“What?!” The seeker yelled as he narrowly avoided the small yet extremely powerful laser blasts. Starscream watched as a small bot, not much larger than an average human, exited the stasis pod. The seeker repeated himself. Starscream stared as the small bot neared him, its optics glowing red. “How dare you?” Starscream aimed his arm at the small bot, and fired his single missile.
The small bot took the missile dead on, but the missile did not detonate. The bot was simply pushed back. Then, he tossed away the missile toward the Autobots, and continued his slow charge toward the winged decepticon. Starscream, still on the ground, shuffled back as the small mech came closer. “What do you think you’re doing?” Starscream stuttered as he spoke, his voice cracking as he backed away. “Do you know who I am?!”
“Starscream, that is no Cybertronian!” Optimus Prime warned.
The decepticon seeker knew otherwise, he didn’t know how, “Don’t be a fool Optimus Prime.” He half heartedly mock the Autobot leader.
Starscream watched as the mech froze, but only for a brief moment. The bright green optics faded into a bright red then the red began to fade. The Commander of the Decepticons knew those signs. The mech was low on Energon. Smirking, Starscream took this chance and transformed into his alt mode and shot up into the sky. The both Autobots aimed their weapons at Starscream and fired on him. He was able to evade most of their shots fired.
Optimus turned to where the small mech was, and he caught a glimpse of the brown and blue mech collapsing to the ground. Lowinger his weapon, Optimus Prime started to run toward the small mech. “He cannot fall into Decepticon hands” Optimus thought to himself.
Though, he didn’t make it in time. A green vortex appeared directly beside the mech, and Soundwave stepped out of it and began to fire on the Autobot leader. Optimus Prime knew he had to rescue the bot, but with Starscream and Soundwave against them, he knew Bumblebee and himself didn’t stand a chance.
Only one of Soundwave’s blasts made contact with the Prime’s armor, but that’s all that it needed. It hit Optimus Prime in the shoulder and he fell back.
Which gave Soundwave his chance to grab his prize. The Vortex was gone by the time Optimus Prime was back on his pedes. The new mech was lost to the Decepticons, “for now.” He thought to himself. There was no way the Decepticons will be able to control a weapon like that.
The fog was dense, he couldn’t see out of it. Though, he heard voices from just outside. He tried to listen, the voice were not familiar at all. It wasn’t his team. Nor was it his former team. So, who or what was outside.
There was only one way to find out, he powered in his laser optic and began to exit the fog.
It was hard to see, and the only thing he spotted was a yellow mech far away.
“This might me my only chance to knock some sense into him.” The mech saud as he fired his laser at the yellow he could see though the cloud. “That will keep the cat from bothering me for a while.”
The fog cleared up a bit. He could see another figure, standing over the yellow bot, the color scheme didn’t match any in his memory banks. Again the mech fired, and he narrowly missed his target.
His processor was as foggy as the area around him, but his processor was not clearing up. His HUD showed his low amounts of energon, and recommended he transform to conserve the remaining energon. “Frag, I don't have time for this.” And he ignored the recommendation.
Another voice called to his direction, this one he knew. Everyone in the universe knew that screeching voice that brought Cybertron so much destruction. Why was that Unicron Spawn here? He again charged his optic laser and fired them at the voice’s direction, it was because of this treacherous thing that the war was lost. He continued to fire, he could hear the mech yelling, not screaming, but he still couldn’t process what was being said. His systems were slow shutting down.
The fog from the pod was nearly cleared away, he saw the frame of the seeker on the ground aiming a weapon at him. With a huff of annoyment, he stood his ground and braced for impact. The missile was slower than he thought it would be, he was able to grab it before it detonated, it pushed him back a bit. But he was undamaged, and he tossed the missile aside. T he unrecognizable voice again called out, and the mech could see the seeker respond. He tried to take another step toward them, but his legs wouldn’t move. “Stasis lock imminent.” His HUD blinked in front of his line of sight.
“Override!” He commanded. The HUD again flashed, “WARNING: Further expenditure will result in permanent loss of spark. Stasis lock must commence!”
“Override!” He spat, and his internal systems complied, with his legs able to move again, he charge to the grounded seeker.
The treacherous seeker smirked at him, and transformed and soared into the sky. The mech cursed aloud, he could hear shots being fired. He wanted the seeker for himself.
But he could not longer hold himself up, and he fell.
Just before everything went dark, he saw a vortex of green appear out of thin air, and a dark slim figure came toward him and reached for his frame.
“All this damage from one hit?” Ratchet shouted at Bumblebee,the scorched burnt metal the scout’s chassis stung at the medic’s touch. “Describe the mech to me.” Ratchet said as he began to repair the damage. Bumblebee beeped an whirred as he described the mech to Ratchet. The medic nodded slowly keeping his optics fixed at his delicate work in front of him. Bumblebee beeped a few more times until Ratchet helm snapped up and said, “Tiny? Like minicon tiny?” Bumblebee shook his helm, “Human tiny?”
Optimus Prime answered this time as he waited for the Ratchet to examine him. “Large than a human, but definitely not a minicon.”
Bumblebee whirled with agreement. Optimus Prime then started at the ground bridge Arcee had just opened for Bulkhead. The large wrecker rolled into the Autobot base and the swirling green vortex disappeared behind him.
The three human children exited Bulkhead, all laughing. Bulkhead transformed into his bipedal form and laughed with them.
Optimus Prime then frowned. “We have to retrieve that mech from Decepticon hands. Who knows what Starscream’s plans are for him.” He said aloud. “Arcee.”
She looked at the Prime from the ground bridge controls. “Yes, sir?”
The small mech awoke, his frame ached. It didn’t help that the air was bitter cold which caused his joints to hurt even more. He shifted his weight slightly, and he discovered that his arms and legs were tied down.
The mech powered on his optics and saw a massive dark room in front of of him. Massive was really an understatement, this was the largest thing the mech had ever seen.
“Ahh, awake at last, I see.” A screechy voice said from the doorway. The mech began to walk closer. The size of the new mech became apparent as he neared. The new mech was easily four times larger than himself, maybe more. And that didn’t even account for the mech’s massive wingspan.
“Welcome to the Nemesis.” The winged mech beggan, “I am Lord Starscream, leader of the Decepticons.”
The retrained mech roller his optics, he knew who Starscream was. Who didn’t? Megatron’s treacherous second in command.
“Who are you then? You’re no Autobot, and not Decepticon either?” Starscream asked as he tapped one of his pointed digits a little too close to the small mech’s frame for his own comfort. Though, he dare not speak aloud to the Self Declared leader of the Decepticons. “Well?” Starscream inquired, “Who or what are you?” The small mech knew what Starscream was capable of, he also knew that the seeker was self serving and opportunistic. He knew he had to play his cards very carefully in order to out smart Starscream.
Smirking, Starscream backed away from the table where the small mech was tied down. “Silent treatment won’t help you.” He then turned behind him to watch a lanky purple, visored mech approached, “Will it, Soundwave?”
No, not him. Not Soundwave! The mech attempted to fight against his bonds and Starscream laughed. “It seems Soundwave, your reputation precedes you.”
Soundwave did not respond to Starscream, he just stared at the much smaller bot. The small bot stared back at Soundwave’s blank visor. Not to stare down the Decepticon Chief Communications Officer, but to stare at his own reflection in it. His blue and brown frame was damaged, minor dings along with some scrapes that were stained with old energon. His own red optics shinned brightly back at him. The reflection moved farther away as Soundwave pulled away from the mech and turned to Starscream.
The CCO’s visor flashed with an image the mech didn’t recognize. It was a large cable, with various lights down it. Starscream smirked, “Oh Soundwave, if you have some ideas, then I’ll leave the rest of the interrogation to you.” The flyer turned and made his leave, “And Soundwave, our good doctor is on call. Please keep our prisoner alive.” And he disappeared through the doorway.
Soundwave looked back at the small bot, “Our good doctor is on call.” Soundwave played back Starscream’s voice with a slightly deep static. Soundwave then extended a strange looking tentacle out to a control console and the screen began to flash. Another of the tentacle appeared beside the small mech.
And that’s when the pain began.