Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don't own the Transformers. They officially belong to Hasbro and Takara. I'm taking them for a short spin.

Athenia. Home. Not like Cybertron was once home, but from all his eons of experience, Kup knew home wasn't just a place. His good memories of Cybertron couldn't match some of the memories made elsewhere, and more recently, relatively speaking, of course. He was in hiding. Supposed to be in hiding. Not really hiding when he wasn't trying anymore. No point when the space bridges connecting Cybertron to her colonies failed. Interstellar travel for the Cybertronian species was a thing of the past. Unless one had a ship, and knew how to fly it. Kup did know how to fly, but he didn't have a ship. Otherwise, he and his charge would've been off Athenia and on to another colony world long before now.

And he thought by now someone would've come for them, if they were able. Those were the plans, anyway. If there was anyone left who remembered him. Just as well, he mused. If he was forgotten, they were safe, and he could live with that. “Safe,” relatively speaking, of course. Outpost 687-030 was home. Had beenf or quite a while, and Kup wasn't counting the vorns anymore. The outpost housed a long-derelict space bridge, but he'd taken over the outpost, which was used as a meteorlogical monitoring station, among other things. The small base also served as a hub for the planet's limited ground bridge network.

Now was punctuated by the fact his young charge was being escorted out of a ground bridge just outside the base, and into his office in binders. And not even the stern look on his ancient face could wipe the grin off the youngster's face.

"You shoulda seen it, Kup," Hot Rod said. "I almost had Overdrive this time."

Illegal racing. Of course.

"Let him go," Kup said, watching as Blighter released the stasis cuffs binding Hot Rod's hands.

"What's the damage?" Kup asked.

Blighter shrugged. "Not much this time. Just keep him out of trouble," he said.

Kup snorted, sending a pulse, activating the ground bridge.

"Seriously, Kup,” Blighter said. “The racing wasn't the problem. There were some spacers trying to pick a fight. I don't think you want some aft-headed spacer cleaning the floor with your kid, do you?"

"Spacer wouldn't have stood a chance," Hot Rod muttered.

"Let's not find out, shall we?" Kup said, grabbing the much younger mech by the arm and dragging him along. "Thanks, Blighter. I don't suppose he remembered the parts he was supposed to get?"

"Frag," Hot Rod sputtered.

"You. Forgot. The. Parts," Kup said through gritted denta. "C'mon lad. We're gonna have a little chat."

"Have fun, kid," Blighter said, leaving the young mech to his fate.

Kup waited until he was gone, and laid into the youngster.

"Parts. You were supposed to be picking up parts, not getting into fights," Kup said.

"It wasn't my fault," Hot Rod said.

"It's never your fault," Kup mimicked. "Yeah. And I'm Alpha Trion. You need to be more responsible. It's our job to keep this outpost running. . ."

"Yeah. Some job," Hot Rod snapped.

"It's not just about keeping this outpost running," Kup said. "We have a duty. . ."

"Duty? Kup, this place is falling apart. No one from Cybertron is ever coming back. We should sell what we can salvage for scrap, buy a ship and get off this fragging scrapheap of a planet," Hot Rod said.

"Do you know how much a ship costs? And how rare it is to find an affordable still-working ship this far out on the Rim?" Kup asked.

"You're probably gonna tell me," Hot Rod said. "Fine, if we can't afford a ship, why not passage offworld?"

"And where would we go, lad?" Kup said.

"I don't know. Velocitron? Paradron? Why not Cybertron?"

"Because Cybertron is the last place any sane Cybertronian would want to be," Kup said.

"You keep saying that, but what proof do you have?"

"Enough," Kup snapped, once again grabbing the younger mech by the arm. "You can finish going through the latest data burst for me. I've got to go check the shield generators in section Delta-9. If I'm not back by Overdark, put up the shields and activate the sentries. You'll also need to monitor the bridge nodes because Coil's got several supply drops to make before the storm hits tomorrow night."

Hot Rod exvented.

"Or you could go check the generators," Kup said.

"No, I'll do it," Hot Rod said.

"That's my lad," Kup said, pulling the mech into an embrace. "I know you want off this rock, and someday, I'm gonna make good on that promise. Just be patient, Hot Rod."

Hot Rod nodded half-heartedly, and with another ex-vent, turned to head to the outpost's small command center.

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Overdark. The eight-hour period where parts of planet froze during the darkest, coldest part of its night cycle. Not a pleasant time to be out, and Kup was glad to be back before it set in. He took one last look at the space bridge node before closing the blast doors to the outpost's main entrance.

The space bridge network was dead. Useless. A reminder of the achievements and prosperity of Cybertron's Golden Age. Only a handful ever knew the real reason behind the "death" of the network. The loss was really an act of destruction carried out by Kup, on the orders of Alpha Trion. The move isolated Cybertron, and Megatron from the rest of the galaxy, hopefully keeping it safe from his ambitions. Ambitions which caused so much loss, and driving Kup from his homeworld. And he was getting maudlin. Couldn't have Hot Rod giving him a hard time about that, he figured as he headed toward the observation deck to seal it down for the duration.

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Hot Rod sat in a chair, keeping an optic on the various monitors in the command center. He was running a system diagnostic, making sure everything was working before they shut most of the station's higher functions down before the storm hit.

A light on the mainframe control panel was blinking at him, and he hit a few buttons, frowning at the result on the screen. He hit the same key sequence again, the results were the same, so he commed Kup.

"Kup, something's wrong," Hot Rod said.

"What do you mean, 'wrong?'" Kup asked.

"There's a malfunction somewhere. The mainframe says there's an active gate, and something's bridging in."

"That's not possible," Kup said.

"Yeah. I know, but the AI is being insistent," Hot Rod said, muting the volume on the computer.

The ground shook, and the flash of light from the bridge gate momentarily blinded them both. Kup recovered his wits first, and watched from his vantage point in the observation deck as a landing pod and small ship came through the vortex.

"Kup, what's going on?" Hot Rod asked, sounding panicked.

"I don't know, but stay where you are. Seal the doors, shut down the comms and don't come out until you hear from me," Kup said, onlining his weapons.

"But. . ."

"Don't but me, lad. Do as I say,” Kup said, ending the conversation.

Comms went silent, and Kup was left to watch as the pod touched the ground, and the other ship circled, staying only long enough to watch it's occupant exit the pod, and it jettisoned a cargo container. He squinted, watching as a figure emerged from the pod, and picked up one end of the cargo container.

He sprinted to the main doors as fast as his old legs could carry him, and hit the release for the doors, watching as the figure from the pod came closer, and had to block his optics from flying grit.

Kup backed away as the large figure finally made it inside the entrance, and he couldn't believe his optics.

"Ultra Magnus?" Kup said.

“Kup,” the big mech replied, dropping the cargo pod, sitting down beside it, taking a look around as the bay doors clanged shut. "Nice place you have here.”

"Yeah. What in the Pit are you doing here?” Kup said. “You shouldn't be here. It's not possible.”

"Looking for you, actually," Magnus said.

"Wy? And how did you activate the bridge? The network is dead. I saw to that," Kup said.

"Well, that explains a lot," Magnus said. "A few nodes were still working. It took some creativity and a lot of luck, but we managed to get here, and it's all that matters."

"What's going on, Magnus?"

"Where would you like me to start?"

"The beginning always helps," Kup said, crossing his arms, sitting down.

"Elita-1 and Chromia are dead," Magnus said. "Mgatron slaughtered them, and then he dropped Trypticon station on Vos four days ago. He destroyed half the city, and word had it this morning he leveled Praxus."

"Pimus," Kup said. "What.. ."

"I don't know," Magnus said. "We received word hours ago he was getting ready to lay siege to Iacon. Unfortunately, what he's looking for is no longer on Cybertron. He's gone mad. He's looking for the Iacon database, and the artifacts of the Primes. He's calling himself Megatronus Prime, and he's placed a rather large bounty on Optimus' head."

"How big?"

"Big enough Lockdown's interested again," Magnus said. "There's a price on my head now, Kup. Megatron doesn't take treason lightly. It's why he attacked Vos. Starscream refused to align himself and Vos with the Decepticons. And he's no longer neutral."

"Treason?"

"I stole Megatron's flagship, the Steelhaven," Magnus said. "And a few other things he had no right to claim."

"Like what?"

"I have the activation codes to the remaining Omega Sentinels," Magnus said. "Among other things. That's not all. I don't suppose you've met a femme named Arcee?”

“Nope,” Kup said.

“Pink and white, barely upgraded into an adult frame? Not familiar at all?” Magnus asked, still hopeful.

If such a femme was on Athenia, Hot Rod would've told him all about it by now.

“Why?”

“She's Elita One's daughter,” Magnus said. “She left Cybertron days ago with a copy of the database, looking for you.”

“What the slag for?” Kup asked. “I've got no part in what's going on. . .”

“The Pit you don't,” Magnus snapped. “Alpha Trion said I needed to find you, that you were essential to all our plans.”

“And why didn't that old wreck contack me himself?” Kup countered.

“He's missing,” Magnus said. "Kup, we need you.”

"Who?"

"The resistance," Magnus said. "Welcome to the Autobots."

Kup glared, jaw set, ready to give the other mech a scathing reply, but didn't.

"I had a message I was supposed to deliver," Magnus said, standing. He opened the cargo pod, and hefted the object within, setting it into Kup's hands. "Before he disappeared, Alpha Trion told me to find you, and said you'd know what this is. It looks like my hammer."

"Your hammer was forged in the image of this," Kup said. "And I do know what it is. Do you?"

"We, ah, used it on the Steelhaven's engines," Magnus said. "And the ship AI. I didn't think we'd be able to use it."

"The Forge of Solus Prime doesn't just respond in the hands of a Prime," Kup said. "It will answer in a time of need, and in the hands of the right mech or femme, it's a fearsome weapon."

"The Forge isn't the only weapon in Autobot hands," Magnus said. "We also have a piece of the Star Saber. Megatron was allegedly close to finding the Apex Armor.”

“Primus,” Kup said.

Finally, the ancient mech was starting to see the crux of the problem.

“That's not all,” he said. “We, ah, launched the Allspark into space.”

Kup's knees buckled. “Why?”

“It's probably the only way we're going to find Optimus Prime,” Magnus said.

Chapter Text

Kairos

Chapter 2--Truth and Fiction

Disclaimer: I don't own the Transformers. They officially belong to Hasbro and Takara. I'm taking them for a short spin.

Kup stood on shaky legs, using the Forge of Solus Prime to prop himself up, torn between glaring and gaping at the mech in front of him.

“The Allspark will lead us to Optimus,” Ultra Magnus said. “It has to. Past data suggests it will pulse in the presence of the Matrix of Leadership.”

“So you just launched it into space on a lark? Are you out of your mind?” Kup spat. “Do you know know the alleged origin of the Allspark, or have you forgotten everything I taught you?”

“Possibly Quintesson in origin, but it can create Cybertronian life,” Magnus replied.

“Mass-produced Cybertronian life,” Kup said. “It should've been destroyed eons ago, but the High Council was too stubborn to let it happen.”

“I don't need a history lesson, Kup,” Magnus said. “Besides, Megatron was going to use it to create an army to conquer the colonies. He left us with no choice.”

“There's always a choice, lad,” Kup said. “Always. What else am I missing out on?”

“Well, I do need help finding Arcee. She had the only existing copy of the Iacon database," Magnus said. "Alpha Trion entrusted it to the femmes. I don't think I have to explain it's importance, do I?"

Kup frowned, jaw clenching. He knew well what the database contained--a list of the artifacts belonging to the original 13 Primes, and more importantly, their locations.

"What in the Pit was he thinking, keeping it on Cybertron?"

"It was safe all this time," Magnus said. "Megatron only recently found out about its existence, and started looking for it. I know we were betrayed."

"'We' being the little band of resistance fighters Alpha Trion put together, right?" Kup asked. “The answer is no. Maybe the femme hade enough sense to dump the database, and she's hiding.”

“Arcee had explicit instructions to find you,” Magnus said. “She wouldn't deviate from the plan. Not when there's so much at stake. Besides, you still don't have the full picture.”

"What?" Kup snapped. “Megatron finally lost his mind, and there's still more?"

"He wants the Matrix. He thinks it will make him a Prime at last," Magnus said. "He's been content with Cybertron all this time, but now, it's not enough. He wants the artifacts, the Matrix and Optimus. He's coming, Kup, and there is no one left to stop him."

"What makes you think I'm interested?"

"You're the last of the Knights, Kup. The last living link to a part of heritage we'll never get back," Magnus said. "And there's the fact Elita thought you could protect her daughter and the database.”

“Well, she was wrong,” Kup said.

“I don't believe that, and neither do you,” Magnus said. “And if Megatron gets his hands on Arcee, he will kill her. She's innocent in all this, Kup.”

Kup tightened his grip on the hammer. “She's not the only innocent to ever die because of someone named Megatron,” he said. “What makes her so special?”

“Possibly the fact she's Optimus' daughter. She could be a Prime,” Magnus said.

“I doubt it,” Kup said. “Not every true Prime has been a descendent of a Prime.”

“How many are left of the line of the Primes?” Magnus asked. “Arcee may be the only hope we have of beating Megaron if Optimus is dead.”

“Enough,” Kup said. “Come have some energon. We can finish this discussion later.”

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Hot Rod dozed, having given in to boredom while waiting for Kup, but his head snapped up as his comm pinged, and Kup asked for him to meet him in their living quarters. He tripped over himself in his haste to get there, and found Kup sharing some of their energon ration with a big mech.

Kup smiled at his young charge, and introduced him. "Lad, this is Ultra Magnus. Ultra Magnus, meet Hot Rod.”

Hot Rod noticed the way the big mech's optics snapped to Kup for a moment, before he leveled his gaze on him. Hot Rod swallowed nervously before offering him a hand.

"It's nice to meet you, sir," he said.

"Call me Magnus," he replied.

"You're the Ultra Magnus?" Hot Rod asked, awe in his voice.

"What have you been telling him, Kup?"

“Teaching him his history,” Kup said, sitting down.

“Stories,” Hot Rod muttered.

“Most of Kup's stories are history,” Magnus said, offering the ancient mech a rare smile. “I grew up with Kup as my guardian and tutor. My genitors thought he was a good choice for that role, and you're lucky to have him.”

“Mechling doesn't think so most of the time, do you lad?” Kup said.

“Sometimes,” Hot Rod said, grabbing an energon cube. “Did you come from Cybertron?”

Magnus looked to Kup, not sure how much he should divulge.

“I did,” Magnus answered. “I'm grateful to see Kup's made a good life for himself.”

“I guess,” Hot Rod said.

“You don't agree?” Magnus asked.

“I don't know,” Hot Rod said. “I could go for a little more excitement sometimes.”

“Illegal racing and getting into fights with spacers in bars isn't enough excitement?” Kup said.

“I mean real excitement,” Hot Rod said.

“A class-5 ion storm coming also isn't enough?” Kup said, expecting a retort, but Hot Rod's reply was sticking out his glossa at his mentor. “Yeah, that's what I thought. It's getting late. Time for you to turn in. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“OK,” Hot Rod said, standing, giving Kup a quick hug.

“And no sneaking out, or trying to listen in. Us grownups have important things to discuss,” Kup said.

“I two field generators to repair, and a run into town to pick up parts,” Hot Rod said. “Plenty to do.”

“Yeah, so you'll need your rest,” Kup said. “Good rest, bitlet.”

“Don't stay up too long, old-timer,” Hot Rod said.

Kup snorted, smacking the young mech on the shoulder. “Go,” he said, watching to make sure the young mech did as he was told.

“He seems very feisty,” Magnus said. “Where did you find him?”

“Here and there,” Kup answered. “And you have no idea—damn turbo-revvin' young punk is gonna be the death of me yet.”

“He seems polite enough,” Magnus offered.

“He is. That's part of the problem, Magnus. “He's young, brave, polite, charming, intelligent, but so damn stupid about the rules sometimes I wanna strangle him.”

“Illegal racing?”

“Part of it,” Kup said. “He wants excitement, and off this rock. I've got plenty of reasons to keep him here until he's rust.”

“Which are?” Magnus asked.

“None of your damn business,” Kup snapped.

Hot Rod was his kid. And one of the many reasons he left Cybertron. Magnus didn't need to know that.

“Just one of the many lost causes you've taken in over the years?” Magnus asked.

“You were one of those lost causes, if I remember right,” Kup said, picturing the terrified mechling dumped into his care, along with a smaller curious sparkling.
“So was Optimus,” Magnus said. “Well, Orion then.”

“You both turned out all right, too, with the exception of him bolting. You still haven't explained that. And why in the Pit did he leave behind his kid?” Kup asked.

“Something happened with Alpha Trion, and Elita wasn't yet aware she was sparked. It was a relationship undesired by both Elita and Optimus. The council was trying to breed a true Prime, one they could control, because they couldn't control Optimus.”

“Primus,” Kup muttered.

“Also, after Optimus left, Prowl put together a team to look for resources to deal with the Decepticons, and try and find Prime," Magnus said. "We still don't know what happened to the Ark."

"Who went?"

"More friends than I care to name," Magnus said. "Prowl, Jazz, Hound, Mirage, Blaster, Perceptor,. . ."

"Stop," Kup said. “How did all of this happen? Optimus was Prime, Megatron his High Protector. Things were mostly stable when I left.”

“Like I said, something happened to Optimus, and he fled. Megatron was all right for a long time,” Magnus said. “Things weren't perfect, but over time, he started raving about the Fallen, and the blood of Unicron. That's not all. There were stories coming out of Kaon about experiments, and tales of the dead rising. . ."

“Tales to scare sparklings,” Kup said.

"Kup, it gets worse," Magnus said.

Of course. "Go on."

"There are rumors the Quintessons are going to make another grab for Cybertron. Megatron's instability would be the perfect opportunity for them to come in and take over again," Magnus said.

"Well it ain't gonna happen on my watch," Kup said.

Magnus gave the old mech a wry smile. "I knew that would get your attention."

“I fought them once, and I'll be damned if they take over Cybertron again,” Kup said.

“So does this mean you'll help?”

“I'll think about,” Kup said.

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Morning came much too soon, and with it, the storm. The wind kicked up, throwing dust everywhere, and making Hot Rod's work impossible, so he packed up his tools and headed back to the safety of the outpost.

He found Kup and Magnus arguing over something, and the two mechs ignored him until a voice came over the bigger mech's comm.

“Jackhammer to Ultra Magnus—Mags, you better get out here. We gotta go. The Death's Head just entered the system.”

“Lockdown's here? You lead him here?” Kup snarled, grabbing Magnus, shoving him into the wall.

“I didn't know,” Magnus said. “Get to the Jackhammer. My friend will get you offworld, and and rendevouz with the transport I arranged. I'll stay behind, keep Lockdown busy. It's me he wants, anyway.”

“You're crazy,” Kup said. “Stay here, and I can alert. . .”

“Just go. Wheeljack's already on his way. He'll be here at the main gate in three kliks,” Magnus said.

“Lockdown? The bounty hunter? The scary one from your stories?” Hot Rod managed.

“Yeah. That one,” Kup said. “Let's go, lad.”

Grabbign Hot Rod by the arm, he started dragging him down the stairs and toward the main bay and outside, Magnus right behind them. They watched the small ship land, and Magnus pulled Kup into a quick embrace.

“Til' all are one,” Magnus said. “Now get going.”

Kup grabbed the Forge from where he'd left it the night before—propped up against his work bench, and with the other hand, dragged Hot Rod toward the ship.
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Up until the previous half-groon, Wheeljack wasn't having a bad time of it. A little bored, perhaps, but mostly content going over the past few orns. Wheeljack was an

engineer. Good thing one of his closest friends was a scientist with expertise in multiple fields. Wheeljack preferred the concrete aspect of his chosen profession--working with

his hands and achieving tangible results, even if it was an explosion. It was something he could qualify and quantify. With the engines, the hammer and the equations, they were in

unexplored territory. Somehow, though, it all worked. He could plug in coordinates to the Jackhammer's navcom, and it would emerge seconds later at the specified coordinates.

The physical and psychological effects of long jumps were. . .terrible, but he was working on it.

More importantly, Ultra Magnus was taking a huge chance, letting him play with all the shiny new toys. A risk, but one Wheeljack was willing to take. Besides, he liked the big

mech. So much so they'd enjoyed one another's company so much they'd progressed from drinks, to dinner, to waking up together more than once since the begining of whatever

it was they were calling it. Certainly no longer a business arrangement. More like a small crusade to save their homeworld and probably teh rest of the galaxy from the clutches of

Megatron.
And now Magnus was putting himself on the line, telling him to leave, and he'd made it an order. Of course he would, and now he was nowhere to be seen in the swirling

sand, and there were suddenly two figures coming toward the ship, both the same size and smaller than Mags, just a little taller than himself.

“I don't supposed Mags is behind you?” Wheeljack asked as an ancient mech and what looked like a just into his adult frame mechling stumbled up the ramp.

“The aft is staying behind,” Kup said.

“Damn it,” Wheeljack muttered.

“Are you gonna get us out of here or not?” Hot Rod asked.

“Take the ship. I'll stay,” Wheejlack said. “Coordinates for the rendezvous are already in the nav system. Just have to get her into open space.”

Kup punched him, and shoved him toward Hot Rod. “Stow him and strap in,” he said. “Magnus is on his own.”

The ship was a two-seater, and Hot Rod managed to lodge the offline mech in between the seats as the Jackhammer lifted off. Hot Rod threw himself into the seat, strapping himself in. He nearly purged as he was thrown back in his seat as the ship accelerated upward, and he did purge from the disorientation as the ship jumped.

Then the small death trap was accelerating toward the open bay on a nearby ship, and it careened inside, sliding to a stop as it crashed into a parked shuttle.

“Better stay put for a minute, lad,” Kup said, listening as he heard and felt the bigger ship's engines spooling up for their own jump.

Three jumps later, Kup unstrapped himself, helped Hot Rod lug Wheeljack to his feet, and between them, they dragged the still offline mech down the ramp, where an angry green mech was waiting.

“Where in the Pit is Magnus, and what did you do to Wheeljack?” he spat.

“Magnus stayed behind so we could meet this ship, and Wheeljack was in the middle of making a stupid decision, so I changed his mind for him,” Kup said. “I'm Kup. The orange mech is Hot Rod. And you are?”

“Springer, captain of the Xantium, and leader of the Wreckers.”

“Sparkling, you're not a Wrecker,” Kup said.

“How would you know?” the green mech replied.

“I commanded the Wreckers once, and this was my ship long before you were a glimmer in the Well of Allsparks,” Kup said. He helped Hot Rod drag Wheeljack past the other mech. “C'mon. Let's get him to the med bay.”

“We don't have a medic,” Springer said. “Just dump him in his quarters. Then we're gonna talk, Kup. If you're really him. I thought he died during the war of the Primes.”

“Might as well have,” Kup muttered, and Hot Rod looked at the ancient mech with concern.

“Kup, the Knight of Cybertron, of the Circle of Light. The one they called the Guardian? You can't be him. He's a myth,” Springer said. “Nice choice of name, though. You two had better be worth all the trouble.”