Chapter Text
[SOMEWHERE OVER CONNECTICUT - 2002]
The woods shook with the impact, birds shrieking as they fled the scene. Brush burned around the sleek pod’s cracked exterior, filling the air with smoke as the door slowly opened.
Blitzkrieg nearly fell through the open hatch, stumbling out and trying to orient himself. He could feel cracks in his plating, and his comms were entirely unresponsive. He looked around, venting quickly as he took in unfamiliar surroundings.
He collapsed to the ground quickly, shocked at the softness beneath him. Blitzkrieg had no idea where he was, no idea if anyone else even made it off the Ark. For all he knew, he was alone.
He might be the last Autobot alive.
His HUD was filled with warnings, red coloring the edge of his vision as he struggled to vent normally and not panic. Tears came unbidden to his optics and his voice hitched on a sob. His sire was still on that ship. She wouldn’t leave, not unless everyone else did first.
Blitzkrieg had never gotten to meet his carrier, and now his sire was probably gone too.
His processor ground to a halt as soon as he remembered the other image seared into his memory files. Convoy had cradled his youngest sister close to his chest as his siblings were herded into a pod, followed closely by Optimus. He’d promised before he got inside. He’d hugged Blitzkrieg tightly when another shot rocked the Ark, a steady presence in the chaos.
“It’ll be okay,” Convoy had said quietly. “We’ll be okay, and I’ll find you. I promise I’ll find you.”
Blitzkrieg didn’t even know if Convoy made it off the Ark. His best friend was dead for all he knew, and his siblings couldn’t make it on their own, they were still far too young.
He curled into himself, crying amidst the flames, unable to gather enough strength to move his broken frame from the wreckage. Darkness quickly began to overtake the corners of his vision, his frame sending him to emergency recharge to preserve itself.
The last thing Blitzkrieg saw was a shadowy figure before everything went black.
———————
[TRANSLATION MODULE ACTIVE]
[LANGUAGE DATABASE UPDATED: ENGLISH]
Blitzkrieg slowly felt his systems coming back online, loud voices turning from gibberish to understandable words.
“Well what else were we supposed to do?! Leave it there?!”
“Give me a second to think…YES TRAVIS!! We don’t even know what ‘it’ is! It could be some military thing and the government could be on their way to kick your door down right now!! You IDIOT!!”
“I don’t think it’s military. It looks way too complex for that. And whatever that blue stuff it was leaking doesn’t look like any hydraulic fluid or fuel I’ve ever seen.”
“See! Not military. We’re fine.”
“Well then what is it, wise guy?”
“There were symbols on whatever it crawled out of. We could go back later and - OH GOD IT MOVED.”
Blitzkrieg finally got control of his frame, optics flying open to see a small group of bipedal creatures staring at him in shock. He scrambled backward, vents blasting as his chest heaved, trying to cool his overheated frame. He frantically looked around, searching for any way out. The only way seemed to be a doorway behind the creatures, so that was out.
He scooted backward, trying to use the various shelves as cover as he grabbed for his weapons, only to feel a sharp pain in his shoulder joint that had him freezing up with a cry of pain. Blitzkrieg curled up tightly, trying his best to protect his spark as tears welled up in his optics.
He was going to die here.
He was going to die alone on a strange planet at the hands of strange creatures that he was too damaged to even try to fight. He wanted to go home. He wanted his sire, and Convoy, and his own berth, and to never step outside his room ever again. Blitzkrieg closed his optics, waiting for the inevitable and trying not to shake as quiet sobs wracked his frame.
But no strike ever came.
Instead he heard hushed whispering and shuffling as one of the creatures came closer. He slowly raised his helm, opening his optics to watch it approach. It was the tallest one, with dark wires on its helm that was shuffling closer, its optics kind and honest.
“Hey, it’s okay. We’re not gonna hurt you,” he said, slowly inching closer with limbs held out in a position Blitzkrieg recognized as surrender. Blitzkrieg slowly mirrored the position, raising his arms and spreading his digits wide to display his lack of weapon. The creature closest to him turned to look at the others with a wide smile, giving them a thumbs up as the smaller ones with longer wires all shook their helms no.
“You were hurt when we found you,” the creature said, slowly inching closer. “I fixed you up best I could. You were leaking some weird blue shit, but I’m pretty sure I got the leaks all patched.”
A quick systems scan showed the creature was right. All the previously logged cracks and leaks were patched. Not as well as a medic would have, but well enough that Blitzkrieg’s repair systems could do the rest.
“T-Thank you,” he said quietly, watching the optics of all the creatures open wider in shock. The one closest to him grinned and moved closer. He looked like a he, but Blitzkrieg couldn’t be sure.
“Sweet, you speak English,” the tallest one said, sitting down in front of him. “Makes this a lot easier. My name’s Travis, and the girls over there are Heather, Kate, and Rowan.” He pointed out each of the other creatures as he said their names, Blitzkrieg carefully cataloging each one.
“Where am I?” Blitzkrieg asked quietly, his venting starting to slow down. They could’ve killed him while he was in shutdown. They could have left him where they found him. But they hadn’t. They’d taken him somewhere and fixed him. Maybe they weren’t going to hurt him.
“Oh, sorry about that, yeah. You’re in my basement. We found you in the woods and you looked tore up, so we put you in a wheelbarrow and took you here so I could fix you. You’re kinda heavy, but we managed,” Travis said, gesturing at their surroundings.
Blitzkrieg wasn’t sure what a wheelbarrow was, but it must’ve been some kind of transportation device. The basement explained what the room was, but he still had no clue what planet he was on.
“What planet is this?” He finally asked, slightly uncurling himself. “And solar system? If it’s alright to ask.”
Travis smiled triumphantly, jabbing a digit back at the one he’d called Heather.
“Alien!” He crowed, clearly pleased with himself. “I told you!”
Heather sighed, seeming to get frustrated as she crossed her arms. This one reminded him a lot of Miss Elita, down to the coloration, putting him at ease slightly.
“Great. So now the government is definitely going to kick your door down cause you weirdos talked me into stealing an alien out of the woods. Great,” she said, dusting off a chair before seating herself with a huff.
The one called Rowan came closer, sitting on the ground next to Travis. Blitzkrieg noticed that the purple thing he’d thought was a part of her plating seemed to be just a garment. Their plating must not be very colorful.
“Hi,” she said gently. “Do you have a name? Something we could call you?”
“Blitzkrieg,” he responded softly, smiling back a little at the smiles from the creatures.
“Well Blitzkrieg, welcome to Earth.”