Chapter Text
Starscream jumped out from the ground bridge into the battlefield where Thundercracker’s signal had last been. He frantically looked around for any sign of his friend, finding nothing but carnage and bright blue flames.
“Thundercracker?! Where are you?!” the small bot called out. No response. Several other bots came through the ground bridge, beginning to help Starscream search.
“Knockout, is Thundercracker’s life signal still online?” Megatron asked. The blue medic checked his scanner.
“I’m not able to track his position at all. It might be too late.” Knockout answered worriedly.
“I’m not going to lose another partner! He has to be alive! He has to!” Starscream shouted. The two-wheeler spotted something buried under a pile of debris and sped over to move it away, Soundwave running over to assist him. Once the rubble was cleared, Starscream simply released the intake he was holding, tears beginning to well up as he stared at the only thing that proved Thundercracker was ever here.
His head crest.
Starscream carefully scooped it up in his servos and held it close, allowing himself to cry. His partner was gone. There was nothing he could do to bring him back. Starscream sank to his knees, clutching the crest tightly. Soundwave and Megatron knelt on either side of him.
“He’s gone…” Starscream choked out. Soundwave pulled the small mech into a hug, and Megatron gently placed his servo on Starscream’s shoulder.
“I’m so sorry, Starscream.” Megatron quietly spoke.
Everything went silent aside from Starscream’s quiet sobs as he mourned the loss of his partner.
Thundercracker awoke in a fortified holding cell, two vehicons standing guard in front of it. The eerie dark grey of the walls told him he was on the Nemesis, the Autobots’ warship. As his memories returned to him, he realized that he had been captured. Great.
Thundercracker sighed and leaned against the wall, listening to the sounds of pedfalls echoing through the halls. One of the sets grew louder, and the seeker looked up as a black mech with bright blue markings approached. His optics narrowed.
“Ratchet. Been a while, hasn’t it?” he greeted in a bitter tone. Ratchet simply stood up straighter, his cold red optics boring through the Decepticon.
“Indeed it has, Thundercracker.” He stepped closer to the barrier keeping the other bot in the cell. “I must say, I wasn’t expecting you to run into us this soon.”
“Where’s ol’ Primey at?” Thundercracker snidely asked. Ratchet only smiled.
“Optimus’ location is not your business to know, but I am happy to inform he won’t be away for much longer. That’s as much as I can divulge to the likes of you, Decepticon.”
“That’s as much as you want to divulge.” Thundercracker corrected.
Ratchet laughed darkly. “I suppose that is the case.” the black mech began to turn away. “I wouldn’t suggest making yourself comfortable. I have a feeling you won’t be in there for much longer.”
Thundercracker held back a shudder as Ratchet left, his pedfalls growing quieter until they blended in with the sounds of the Nemesis. He curled himself up in the corner of the cell and buried his faceplates in his knees. He wished he could see his friends- his family- one last time before he met his inevitable fate.
Starscream sped along the highway, activating his holoform as he approached the town of Jasper, Nevada. He needed to get out and get some fresh air after losing his partner. While he was at it, he could protect humanity if the need arose. He was used to multitasking.
He stopped at a red light, groaning in annoyance as he spotted two dark red cars approaching behind him. Vehicons of all things. Right in the middle of town.
“Perfect timing, you two.” He muttered sarcastically. He sped forward as the light turned green, then turned into a parking lot while the vehicons drove past. He sighed. “Guess I’ll have to lay low for a bit. Wouldn’t want a fight breaking out here where all the humans can see us…” Starscream said to himself. His holoform vanished, and he put up his kickstand, waiting for the coast to clear up.
Miko sat at a table outside KO Drive-in, drawing in her notebook while she munched on some french fries she’d bought herself. She’d been living in America for a whole month by now, but she was still getting the hang of Jasper, Nevada. She always thought going to America would be exciting, but nothing ever happened here. Not that she really minded. She liked the peace and quiet.
Her phone started buzzing, and she answered it.
“Hello? … Hi Ms. Darby! What’s up? … I’m at KO Drive-in hanging out, eating fries. … Nah, I can walk. Thanks for the offer though. … I will, don’t worry. Hardly anything happens here.” Miko laughed. A glint of light caught the corner of her eye, and she looked over to see a silver and blue motorcycle with red accents. It was… really cool looking actually. “Woah… Er- nothing, don’t worry about it! I’ll see you later, Ms. Darby!” Miko ended the call with her host parent and gathered her things into her backpack, disposing of the french fry container in the trash. She walked over to the motorcycle and ran a hand along it. “Wow, you’re really fancy… I’ve always wanted to have a motorcycle like you one day.”
Miko carefully sat down on the seat, testing out her grip on the handles. She sighed “I doubt my parents would ever let me have one of these. I guess it is kinda dangerous anyways.”
“Woah, cool motorcycle!” a voice spoke up. Miko jumped, turning to see Sierra with one of her friends. Miko took a moment to collect her words.
“Uh- thanks! Heheh.” she nervously laughed.
“You’re that transfer student from Japan, right? Miko?”
“Y-Yeah!” She shifted her seating. “Yep, that’s me! Um. What’s up Sierra?”
“Nothing much at the moment. We were on our way home before we noticed your awesome bike.” Sierra giggled.
Starscream inconspicuously adjusted his side mirror, spotting the two vehicons beginning to approach. “C’mon, kid. Hurry it up.” the motorcycle impatiently thought to himself.
“Heh, thanks. Do you, uh, wanna go for a ride sometime-?”
Miko was cut off by a loud engine revving, and all three girls turned to see two identical cars blasting their headlights at them.
“Scrap!” Starscream cursed internally. As the two cars quickly began to approach, Sierra and her friend dove out of the way with a scream, and Miko yelped in surprise as the motorcycle started to move on its own. She clung to it for dear life as it scraped past the cars and sped off down the street. The cars were close behind.
“WHAT IN THE-” Miko began. She was cut off by a voice from nowhere.
“Kid, do not let go!”
“WHO SAID THAT?!”
The two cars came up on either side of the bike, which fell back as they rammed into each other in an attempt to squash it and the human riding it. The motorcycle then sped ahead and turned a corner.
“Commander Ratchet, target sighted, accompanied by a human youth.” one of the vehicons spoke into a comm.
“Eliminate them both.” Ratchet responded.
In the meantime, Starscream screeched to a halt in an empty alleyway, allowing the shaken teen to get off of him. Miko stared at the bike with wide eyes.
“What- What are you?!”
“I don’t exist. If you dare tell a single other human about me I will not hesitate to hunt you down.” Starscream hissed. Miko took the hint and quickly got herself out of there. Starscream sped off once more, watching the vehicons come up behind him and give chase.
And one of them turned in the direction the human ran off.
“Oh for the love of-” Starscream groaned frustratedly and turned around, launching himself over the vehicon and speeding after the second one.
“I promise, I don’t know him! Leave me alone, please!” Miko shouted frantically. Starscream drove up next to her.
“Get on, quick!” he commanded. Miko climbed onto the motorcycle and sped off once more, the vehicons still in hot pursuit. As they approached the freeway, the two dark cars started shooting lasers at the motorcycle and human, the latter ducking with a shriek as the plasma whizzed past her.
Miko looked back at the cars. “Why are they shooting at us?! Who are those guys?!”
“They’re not ‘guys’, kid, and there’s no ‘us’ either!” Starscream shouted back over the sounds of the busy street. While they drove ahead, a white car with pastel blue and green stripes merged onto the freeway, knocking into the vehicons and making them spin out. Miko watched the new vehicle begin to follow after them.
“Who’s that?! Are they one of your friends?!” she asked.
“He’s more like family.”
Miko and Starscream continued to drive as Soundwave did his best to keep the vehicons from catching up to them.
Jack sat in the empty drainage canal, playing around with a remote control car toy. He paused briefly to answer his phone.
“Hey mom. … Yeah, I got off my shift about an hour ago. I’m just racing over by the street. … No, I haven’t seen Miko since school let out. … Yeah, I’ll get home fine, no worries. … Alright, talk to you later, mom.” He put his phone away and resumed playing.
Miko and Starscream were speeding down the freeway with the vehicons close behind. Miko looked ahead and spotted a roadblock on the fast approaching bridge. The girl shrieked in terror as Starscream veered right and launched off the side, landing in the drainage canal below with a screech of his tires.
Jack stared with his mouth agape for a few moments.
“Miko, wha-?”
“Don’t ask, Jack. Just- Don’t ask. Please.” Miko interrupted. She slid off the motorcycle and walked over to meet up with Jack. A familiar engine revving cut through the silence, and the attention was drawn to the two red cars that had been chasing after Miko and the motorcycle. They drove down the hill and careened off a ledge into the air, metal shifting and expanding until two giant humanoid figures landed on the concrete below.
Robots.
Jack and Miko stepped back as the motorcycle also started to shift, and standing in its place was a robot with wing-like appendages on their back and a red crest rising from their forehead. Starscream leveled his arm blasters at the two vehicons, a furious expression on his faceplates.
“This ends here, Autobots!” he proclaimed. He charged forward, shooting at the vehicons and dodging shots in return. The two humans backed themselves into the wall.
“Wh- What… are they?” Jack stuttered.
“Robots? Talking cars? Maybe both?” Miko answered, unable to look away from the intense battle before her. Starscream punched and kicked at the two vehicons, knocking them back but not really doing any lasting damage.
“This! Is! For! Thundercracker!” Starscream growled in time with his punches. The vehicon he was attacking slowly regained their composure, and Starscream’s optics widened as he prepared to dodge. He started backflipping to avoid the plasma fire coming from both of the Autobots, but took a hit right to his helm. The small bot was sent flying, landing a few yards away with the screeching of metal against concrete. Miko and Jack gasped in horror, thinking that this was it.
Soundwave’s alt mode came flying over the edge of the bridge, transforming midair and landing on top of one of the vehicons. The white and blue mech delivered a hard punch to the other vehicon’s face, sending them flying backwards. The faceless bot stepped back triumphantly, freezing up when he heard something crunch underneath his ped. He looked down and lifted his ped, revealing the remains of a little toy car. He displayed a sad emote on his visor, looking to the humans nearby and beeping out an apology.
“It’s alright, don’t worry about it-” Jack began to reassure. Soundwave was suddenly caught off-guard by a plasma shot from one of the vehicons, knocking him to the ground. He tried to get back up, but a ped forced him back to the concrete as the vehicons closed in on him. Their blasters were aimed right at his spark. Jack stepped forward. “Hey! Leave him alone!”
The vehicons turned and looked at him.
“Uh… please?” He shrunk back.
“Not a very good decision there, Jack.” Miko nervously pointed out.
One of the vehicons started to approach the humans. In a panic, they started to run, heading towards a sewer drain. It was their best bet.
“C’mon, c’mon! Move it!” Miko shouted. They climbed into the drain and away from the vehicon, who was reaching a clawed servo in to grab at the children. It didn’t seem like they were fast enough. They were lucky to have been saved by Soundwave. Once the vehicon had been taken care of, he peeked into the drain, beeping at them to get to safety.
“Thank you.” Jack replied. Soundwave beeped that it was no problem, then ran off to continue the battle. Miko grabbed Jack’s arm and started to pull him along.
“Let’s go. Don’t look back.”
“What even was all that?”
“I don’t know and I don’t think I wanna find out.” The two children continued on ahead.
Soundwave was doing his best to fight against the vehicons, but a solid punch sent him flying back towards Starscream, who had recovered from his own rough landing. The motorcycle helped Soundwave to his peds, and the two Decepticons got into a fighting stance as the Autobots approached.
A loud horn followed by approaching headlights came up behind Soundwave and Starscream, and Breakdown rolled onto the scene, transforming and landing just behind his teammates.
“You ‘Bots ready to dance?” the wrecker taunted. Now outnumbered, the vehicons fell back, transforming and making their getaway. Soundwave sighed in relief, allowing himself to slump over tiredly. Starscream glared up at Breakdown.
“And what took you so long?” he asked. Breakdown awkwardly rubbed the back of his helm.
“Sorry, got stuck in traffic.”
Soundwave flopped to the ground, exhausted. Starscream jumped and was about to help him back up, but a thumbs up from the white bot reassured him that he was fine.
Starscream supposed this counted as a victory.
“Those vehicons would’ve been done for if I hadn’t been distracted with the human.” Starscream complained, leaning against a wall.
“You were seen by a human?” Megatron asked, voice laced with concern.
Soundwave beeped, correcting that there were two humans.
“I see…”
Starscream rolled his optics. “I guess the second one just got roped in by accident? I was a little preoccupied trying not to get fragged.”
“Starscream, this is serious.” Megatron began. “If the Autobots are targeting us, anyone they perceive as our ally is in danger as well.”
Starscream looked to the floor, letting that sink in.
Miko walked down the front steps of the school, dragging her feet a bit. She turned and spotted Jack waving at her, so she ran over to him.
“Hey Jack. …so about yesterday, uh, let’s just keep it between us, yeah? We’ll forget anything ever happened.”
Jack was about to respond, but a honk brought his attention to something approaching. “Miko, look!” He pointed as a familiar white car with pastel blue and green stripes rolled up to the two humans.
Miko groaned. “Not again.” Soundwave opened his side door and beeped for Jack to hop in. Jack stepped forward. “Uh, does it… want us to get in?” Miko asked. Jack shook his head.
“Nah, just me.”
“Wh- How do you know?”
“He told me. Your ride’s over there.” Jack pointed to a very familiar silver and blue motorcycle with red accents. Miko grimaced a bit.
“I really don’t think this is a good-” Miko cut herself off as Jack got into the white car.
“Hey, nice to see you again! You doing well?” Jack greeted. The door closed, and Soundwave sped off with Jack. Miko was left standing there on the corner. She turned back to look at the motorcycle, but started walking away. Starscream sighed frustratedly and turned his holoform on to chase after the human. He found her in a little side alley and screeched to a halt in front of her.
“Kid, calm down. I just want to talk.” he stated.
“Don’t you mean you and your friend?” Miko unamusedly asked, motioning to the holoform.
Starscream sighed again, dissipating his holoform. “There’s a lot you don’t understand about all this.” Miko rolled her eyes, starting to walk away again.
“Okay, yeah, I get it, the first rule of robot fight club is you don’t talk about robot fight club. But I want you to understand that I care about my life, alright? I don’t wanna be put in danger by hanging out with a bunch of talking cars, or giant robots, or whatever you guys are.” Miko explained. Starscream transformed back to his root mode, kneeling down to be at eye level with Miko.
“Look.” Starscream began as the girl turned to face him. “It’s Miko, right? Your life safety is exactly why Megatron requested us to bring you back to base.”
“Uh. Who’s Megatron-?”
“You could be in serious danger, Miko. You know why? Because you are one of the very few humans- one of the only humans- who have ever seen us.”
“What are you waiting for?” a voice at the edge of the alley called out. Miko and Starscream turned to see a kid with glasses looking at them. “Go with!”
“Scrap.” Starscream grumbled.
“Wooooohooooooo!”
Soundwave and Starscream sped down the empty desert highway with the humans. Raf was having a blast with this, it was clear. Miko glanced back at him warily.
“Uh, why exactly are we bringing him with us?” Miko asked.
“Rules.” Starscream answered. The two vehicles sped towards a supposed rock cliff, but it opened up, allowing them to drive inside. The humans marveled as the entrance led to a huge open space, where two more of the giant robots were. One was a deep blue, and the larger one was a dark amber. The humans stepped away from Soundwave and Starscream out into the huge space, and the two vehicles transformed back to root mode.
“Weren’t there only supposed to be two?” Knockout asked. Starscream crossed his arms.
“Humans multiply.”
The humans stared up in wonder at the robots. Jack turned to Raf.
“Uh, hi! I’m Jack.” Raf completely blew him off, running forward.
“I’m Raf! Who’re you?” he asked the big bot. He knelt down to the tiny human.
“I’m Breakdown! Nice to meetcha!”
“Are you a car? I bet you turn into a truck! A MONSTER truck! Do you like heavy metal? How much do you weigh? Do you ever use a wrecking ball as a punching bag?”
Breakdown laughed. “Talkative, isn’t he?”
“You guys are robots, right? Who built you?” Jack asked.
Knockout rolled his optics. “Oh please, nobody built us.”
Gigantic footsteps approaching shook the room, and the humans turned to see a huge silver mech with bright blue eyes looking down at them with a kind smile.
Megatron.
“Allow me to clarify a bit. We are autonomous robotic organisms from Cybertron, a planet far away from here. We call ourselves the Decepticons.”
Miko stepped forward. “So why are you guys here?”
“To protect your planet from the Autobots.” Megatron answered.
“They were the two fraggers who attacked us last night.” Starscream added.
“So why are they here?” Miko asked. Megatron knelt down to the humans, extending a hand for them to stand on.
“A fair question, Miko. In part, they’re here because our home planet is uninhabitable, ravaged by centuries of civil war.”
“Why were you fighting?” Jack asked.
“Foremost, it was for our planet’s supply of energon, the fuel and lifeblood of all cybertronians, Decepticon and Autobot alike.” Megatron began. “The combat was fierce, and lasted centuries. In the beginning, I fought alongside one who I considered a brother. But ideals can be corrupted in war, and it was such that Orion lost his way…”
“Is there gonna be a quiz?” Raf was seemingly disinterested in this.
“What does any of this have to do with us?” Miko asked.
Megatron’s solemn gaze turned away from the small humans in his palm. “Orion hasn’t been heard from in a long time, but if his return is imminent, as I fear it is, it could be catastrophic for your kind.”
A small black and red bot approached Ratchet, projecting a small holoscreen from his arm. It seemed to be indicating a message from somewhere. Ratchet turned to the other mech.
“A transmission from deep space, I see. Ah, old friend, your timing is perfect as always.” he mused. He turned to a nearby vehicon. “Lock onto transmission coordinates and activate the space bridge. Our leader is surely waiting.”
Far up in space, a huge portal activated, and out of it flew a large purple and blue jet. He transformed, stretching his limbs after three years of traveling through the stars. His red optics drifted towards Earth, and he smiled.
Optimus Prime had finally returned.