Chapter Text
There was nothing new about ambushes on The Ark, Hot Rod mused to himself. It became a routine for the Autobots ever since they arrived in space.
Hot Rod zoomed past Ultra Magnus as he approached the main battle site. Adjusting his rear-view mirror, he noticed a familiar hovercycle catching up to him.
“Heading to the battle?” Asked Arcee.
“Yeah. Bet’cha five credits that I’ll make it there before you do!” Hot Rod challenged, slowing down to match Arcee’s pace just to taunt her a little.
“We’ll see about that,” Arcee laughed before speeding up once more. Hot Rod followed soon after.
Racing through the empty hallways, the flame colored Transformer began to hear the sounds of explosions and gunfire.
Before the two could make it to the main event, they were stopped when Soundwave stepped in front. He pointed at them and said, “Ravage eject.”
Soundwave’s chest compartment opened with a click, a cassette dropping to the floor before transforming into a mechanical cat.
“Wuh-oh!” Hot Rod quickly transformed into his Protoform mode, stepping back. He clenched his servos, pointing his arms directly at the Decepticon. Before he could fire his flamethrower, Ravage lunged, biting on the arm. “Get it off!” Hot Rod screamed.
Arcee was quick to grab Ravage and pull the one-eyed cat away from Hot Rod’s arm. There was a clear bite mark of where Ravage had been, the paint having been chipped off.
“I just got my paint job done!” Hot Rod whined, dusting off his arm. “Now I have to redo it…”
“Too bad,” replied Arcee, holding Ravage back.
Soundwave got into a stance, leaning back and ready to blast the two Autobots with ear-piercing sound. Hot Rod quickly showered Soundwave with his flames. “Get flamed!” Hot Rod laughed.
“A little… help?!” Arcee fell onto the floor, being dragged off by Ravage and into the main hall of the Ark. She held onto Ravage’s small body, all the while avoiding various pieces of debris and lasers.
Hot Rod transformed into his alt-mode and rolled out, following Arcee. Just above, he heard the voices of Starscream and Windblade.
“What a futile use of your talents, Windblade,” Starscream cackled as he transformed back into his bot mode. “If it weren’t for your soon-to-be death, imagine what you could have accomplished as a Seeker!” He avoided a slash from Windblade’s sword.
“Joining the Decepticons is the last thing on my mind, Starscream,” Said Windblade, raising her blade.
Amidst the battlefield, Hot Rod saw no Megatron… which was an odd sight. Optimus Prime and Elita-One were fighting another group of Vehicons.
Hot Rod transformed back into his Protoform mode, stopping as he watched Arcee let go of Ravage and get picked up by another cassette—Laserbeak.
The mechanical bird squawked, flapping its wings as it held Arcee by her back panels. She hung, legs and arms out. The pink and blue bot fumbled to grab her gun from her side, looking up to make sure she wouldn’t crash into anything.
“Where are you taking me?!” Arcee called out, servos touching the tip of the gun’s handle. The bird screeched once more, swooping down.
Arcee finally grabbed the gun with an exclamation, “Hah!” She looked up, optics widening as she realized that she was going to crash into a falling pillar. “Ah!” She screamed, ducking and holding onto her gun.
Before Hot Rod could do anything, he was suddenly ambushed by a bunch of Vehicons once again.
“Soldier numbers: low. Soundwave suggests we retreat,” Soundwave said, watching Starscream fight off Windblade in his alt mode, Skywarp and Acidstorm following him in a triangular formation.
“Retreat?! We are so close to winning!” Starscream transformed into his Protoform, a scowl on his face. “Surely they must have that blasting map somewhere!”
Arcee swung herself a couple of times, trying her best to somewhat dislodge herself from Laserbeak’s grip. She hit Laserbeak's small claws with the back of her gun, “I’m sorry!”
Laserbeak finally let go with a screech, Arcee plummeting to the ground—until she was caught by Optimus Prime.
“Are you alright?” Asked Optimus, glancing down at the Autobot. Arcee mustered a shy smile as the hand with the gun relaxed a little.
“I’m alright, thank you,” She said. Her hand with the gun stuck out a little, tilting.
Meanwhile, Starscream held his null ray out, ready to shoot Bumblebee. Before he could shoot, Laserbeak crashed into his wing. The ray was wasted on another wall, just barely missing the Autobot.
“You stupid bird! That was my last shot!” Starscream shoved the bird into a nearby pillar out of rage. Laserbeak slid down the pillar, falling in front of his caretaker’s pedes.
Soundwave glanced up at the seeker and picked up his cassette bot.
Ravage grabbed Hot Rod’s leg in the midst of his battle with the vehicons. Hot Rod launched his flames, covering the cat in heat. Ravage let go, only to lunge onto Hot Rod’s chest plate. “Nice kitty!” He yelped.
Hot Rod fell onto two other autobots from behind, Ravage clawing at his chassis. Both Arcee and Optimus collapsed onto the ground. The pink bot had accidentally pressed the trigger of her gun once she hit the ground.
The blue laser hit a metal pillar, then hit the floor, which bounced off onto a broken panel… and then it hit Starscream in the side as he was in the air.
As if on cue, Soundwave began to speak. “Decepticons, retreat.” He gestured for them to exit the large hole in the Ark.
Hot Rod pushed Ravage off, watching the mechanical cat scurry back to Soundwave. He stood back up, helping Arcee up. “You okay, Arcee?”
“I’m good,” she replied.
“Wait!” Starscream called out, now on the ground. “You can’t just leave me here, Soundwave!” Energon began to pool from his side, creating a puddle on the ground. “Soundwave!”
“You hurt my Laserbeak,” Soundwave walked past Starscream, heading towards the hole. “Decepticons, follow me back to the Nemesis.”
The remaining Decepticons retreated with Soundwave.
***
“Great work, Autobots,” Optimus said as he watched Wheeljack repair the hole (again). “You’ve all worked well as a team.”
“Did you actually mean to shoot Starscream?” Hot Rod kicked aside a piece of rubble as he stood with his friend.
Arcee blinked. She chuckled, “Not at all. I pressed on the trigger when you fell onto me!”
“Sorry ‘bout that.” Hot Rod patted Arcee’s back with a firm servo.
“We might need to start thinking about heavier reinforcements for the wall, Prime.” Wheeljack stepped back, picking up his small gadget. “Honestly, it’s almost laughable with how many times the ‘cons managed to break our walls.”
“Yes… We will look into that later on.” Optimus nodded. He turned to his conjux-endura (and his second-in-command), noticing her skeptical look on her faceplate. “Did you need something, Elita?”
“What are we going to do with Starscream?” She grabbed the Prime’s servo, turning him to look at the bleeding seeker.
Both of them watched as Starscream repeatedly tried to sit up.
Optimus began to walk towards Starscream, Elita letting go and following behind.
“Starscream,” He called out softly. The seeker scrambled away from the Prime.
“S-spare me! Please!” Starscream stammered, bringing his servos together to beg for mercy. He winced, energon still pouring from the open wound. “I—you…”
There was a long pause before Starscream spoke again. “Let me, please, join your side! The Decepticons do nothing but mock my leadership and humiliate me as their second-in-command.”
Optimus opened his mouth to answer, but Starscream continued on. “They’ve abandoned me, Prime! Don’t you see? They’ve left me to die…”
“Join us? Why would we…” The Prime held up a servo to stop Elita.
Optimus then began, “We will get Ratchet to patch up your wound first. From there, we’ll allow you to rest in the medical bay until further notice. We’ll discuss more later.” Optimus glanced at Elita, “Please comm Ratchet for his assistance.”
“Optimus, I question your decision. Are you sure we should…” Her voice trailed off, knowing there was no use in changing his mind. Elita nodded and walked towards Starscream with two digits on the side of her helm. “Ratchet, we need your help in the main command center of the Ark…”
“Thank you,” Starscream said.
Optimus nodded and turned around, only to be stopped by Hot Rod.
“Okay… what are you doing?” Hot Rod huffed.
“It would be best if we gave Starscream medical attention,” Optimus said. “We can let him rest in the medbay until we figure out where to put him.”
“What?” Hot Rod furrowed his optic ridges. “We’re not seriously gonna help an injured Decepticon… right?”
“We are,” Optimus said. “We would be no better than the Decepticons if we were to leave him to bleed to death.”
“But he’s a con, might I remind you?” Hot Rod emphasized that last part. He wasn’t too sure why they would decide to help the second-in-command of the Decepticons.
“He may be a Decepticon, but he’s still a Cybertronian, much like the rest of us.”
“O.P., the word Decepticon has the word ‘deception’ in it! How is this not ringing any alarms?”
Optimus sighed, “Decepticon or not, all sentient beings deserve a chance at redemption… no matter how unlikely or sudden the situation may be.” The old Prime gestured to Starscream, who was now being aided by Windblade and Ratchet.
Hot Rod let out a sigh, turning away from Optimus. “Arcee, ready to head?”
“Yep!” Arcee grinned. “Race ya to our quarters!”
“You are so on!” Hot Rod transformed and rolled out!