17-year-old Michael Crovan, a young teenager with a peculiar set of values and beliefs that he grew up with, runs away from his toxic grandparents, having lost his parents and brother in a tragic accident five years prior. Taking shelter from a stor...
Tailgate was driving along the Jasper desert roads with Arcee next to him, with Jack and Vince riding on her, and with Cliffjumper driving behind them.
The white and blue mech was able to find a suitable vehicle mode for himself thanks to Jack and Vince's assistance, and was now fit to explore Earth. The vehicle he had scanned was a Dodge Challenger like Cliffjumper, but instead of it being the 1970s variant like the red mech had, Tailgate had scanned the more modern 2010 version of the class, though his outer appearance didn't change all that much.
Jack couldn't help but feel reminded of when he, along with Jessica, had gone out with Smokescreen to find an Earth-based vehicle mode for him the day he had arrived on Earth, and felt a strange sense of deja vu as they did, but he didn't mind it.
The quintet drove in silence, as Tailgate took in the interesting, yet odd-looking sights that Earth had to offer. It was certainly different from Cybertron, and yet, it was pretty beautiful despite being primitive.
As they drove, Arcee remembered something, and turned off the road, taking the others by surprise, but Tailgate and Cliffjumper followed her.
They soon came to a spot a few miles away from the remains of where Autobot Outpost Omega One used to be, and came to a stop.
The spot overlooked the desert from a cliff, where the sun would set on the horizon ahead of it. It was mid-morning, but that didn't mean it wasn't peaceful and quiet.
Cliffjumper and Tailgate transformed, as Jack and Vince looked at the desert ahead.
"I remember this place." Cliffjumper smiled, as Jack and Vince took their helmets off and dismounted from Arcee, who transformed as well.
"Why'd we stop here, Arcee?" Jack asked.
"This spot is one that Cliff and I came to a lot back when we first arrived here before the war restarted." Arcee explained.
"I remember the first time we found it." Cliffjumper said. "It was a few days after you and I joined Optimus and had to get used to being on Earth by exploring and finding our vehicle modes."
"You nearly blew our cover back then." Arcee said, remembering when Cliffjumper had tried searching for a vehicle in a car dealership, only to nearly get spotted by humans trying to buy cars, but had thankfully not been caught outright by quickly scanning the closest one he could find, that being the one he had now, and hiding amongst the cars until he had been able to sneak out without being seen.
"Come on! It wasn't my fault, Arcee!" Cliffjumper exclaimed, chuckling.
Tailgate chuckled too, picturing how awkward such a thing must've been for him.
They all then fell silent as they looked out at the sandy landscape ahead of them, taking in the silence around them. They remained like this for a while until Tailgate spoke up.
"Arcee?" He asked, as the femme looked up at him. "What happened after my death?"
Arcee's expression fell as a haunted look crossed her faceplate; the haunting memories of that day flashing across her mind.
"TAILGATE!"
"After what happened, Cybertron eventually went dark, and the masses scattered to the galaxies." She began, as Cliffjumper, Jack, and Vince looked at them. "A small team led by Optimus made their way here, and I was to join them, but the 'Cons captured me, along with Cliff, and they were able to figure out where Optimus and the team had gone, but Cliff and I were able to sabotage their only Spacebridge, and use it to reach Earth and join the team. The war was on a three-year hiatus after that while Megatron was exploring space, but the war restarted months ago as he was returning, with Cliffjumper nearly losing his life in the first battle here since the war on Cybertron."
Acree paused, thinking about what she had gone through in the aftermath of Tailgate's death.
"It was... hard, losing you... After your death... I closed myself off from everyone else, and focused on fighting the 'Cons... but not a day went by where I didn't think about you after what happened. When I met Cliffjumper again after we were captured, I distanced myself from him too, as I didn't want to get too attached to someone again, lest I lose them like how I lost you... but, after we arrived here... we grew closer and became partners, and we remain partners to this day, even though Jack and Vince are my junior partners." She added, glancing at her human charges and smiling at them as they smiled back. "I would've lost Cliff too, had Michael not intervened when he had."
"I'm forever grateful, too." Cliffjumper added, giving a small smile, and took the femme's servo in one of his, and she smiled back.
Tailgate smiled too, grateful that Cliffjumper had been there for Arcee when she needed someone most, and took the femme's other servo in one of his as well, and she smiled a little more, and they fell silent for a while once again until Tailgate asked something else.
"Hey 'Cee?" He asked, looking down at her, while she looked up at him. "Whatever happened to Airachnid?"
Arcee smiled a little, remembering how she had finally been able to put her demons to rest for good.
"Let's just say, she got what she deserved." The blue femme replied, and Tailgate smiled, having realized what she meant.
He was silent for a few seconds until he whispered something through their bond, something that only she could hear.
"/Arcee, Thank you./"
Arcee smiled, and leaned into her sparkmate's side, as he pulled her in close, and leaned down, kissing her on her helm.
Jack, Vince, and Cliffjumper watched, smiling, happy that Arcee was finally happy again.
They all fell silent as they looked out into the desert again. As they did, Arcee couldn't help but smile.
She knew that the trauma from losing Tailgate wouldn't go away so easily, but at least with her sparkmate by her side once more, it would be a bit more bearable.
She was glad to have him back.
-----
Arcee and the others arrived back at the base a few hours later, a sense of peace falling over the group as they walked into the hangar to join the rest of the team.
The blue femme looked around as her partners mingled with the others members of the team, and smiled to herself.
Whether her partners were human, Cybertronian, platonic, or romantic, it didn't matter, for they all had one thing in common:
They were all her partners, and she was glad to have them all in her life.
~~~
A/N: Another 'in-between' chapter is now done, and this one took far longer to finish than I hoped, despite the short length. Writer's block is not fun, but I'm glad to finally get past it. For all my American readers, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. What do you guys think of that chapter? Let me know in the comments!
(Tailgate's vehicle mode)
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Next Chapter: Startling revelations about the Predacon makes Megatron reconsider Project Predacon as a whole, with a plan being devised to throw the Autobots under the bus. Meanwhile, Michael devises his own plan to right a few wrongs and change a few fates for the better.
