Zero had joined the Decepticons close to the beginning of the war, or.. when the war came to Earth. They had no clue what would happen. They had no clue that they'd be allowed on missions. They had no clue they'd have a chance to see Cybertron.
They panted as they shot at the autobot in front of them. They dodged a blast, their eyes wide. They were simply reflecting on their life decisions as they fought. They froze as two more autobots had gathered around them. They took that moment to breathe, only to be shot at.
They dodged, honestly worn out. They aimed their shaky hand at the bot, shooting them and falling backwards, breathing heavily. They backed away the best they could as the autobots gained on them. They shot all they could, backing away, failing to gain a distance between them and the autobots.
"What is a human like you doing on the battlefield?" One of them asked, picking Zero up by the shirt. They aimed their gun at the bot's optic, shooting it. That made the autobots drop them with a yelp of pain.
They landed, standing up and running to a fellow decepticon. Climbing quickly onto their back and shooting any bots that tried flicking them away.
They took a moment to breathe, only to have an autobot shoot at them, landing a hit to their right eye. They yelped in pain as they fell backwards. Everything became black in a matter of seconds. They held their hand to their eye, forcing themself to carry on.
I WILL NOT BE DYING, I STILL HAVEN'T KILLED HIM! They thought, standing up shakily. They aimed their gun at the autobot who shot at them, ignoring the stinging on the right side of their face. They raced forward, transforming their gun into a sword.
They bounced from a Decepticon to the autobot, landing right on their chest plate. They dug their sword in between the plates, forcing it open. As quickly as they could, they shot the spark inside the bot. They shot it until the bot fell. They were suddenly as awake as ever.
They ran forward, shooting at the autobots until eventually they retreated. They stood there, panting like a dog, their face hurt. They were tired, tired enough to pass out right then and there.
They woke up with a groan, placing their arm over their eyes. They realized the right side of their face was.. spikier than before. They placed their hand on their chest, sitting up and looking around. They were in Shockwave's lab, half of their vision was a little.. red? They were confused.. what even happened?
They sighed, standing up, only to be urged back onto their aft by Knockout, "Ah, ah, ah, Zero, you need rest." He said, pushing them down with a single finger.
"I'll be fi-"
"Illogical, you will not be fine. Your right eye was basically melted by that autobot. You need time to get used to that new optic." Shockwave said, walking over.
"Why is it spiky though?" They asked, raising their one eyebrow left.
"Simple, Megatron requested that the space around your optic be spiked, similar to his shoulder plates, so that you two 'matched'." Knockout said, picking them up carefully. "Soundwave will be contacting your school about your condition, meanwhile, you will stay with me in the Medbay." He said, nodding a small "thanks" to Shockwave and walking towards the Medbay.
At the Medbay, he set them down on his desk, careful as to not hurt them. They rubbed their eyes, flinching as they realized their hands were also slightly different, "AH!" They looked at their middle fingers, they were a lighter metal, the lighter metal encased the entirety of their lower arm.
They stared for a moment before looking at Knockout, as if hearing the questions rushing through their mind, he said, "Your arms had also gotten damaged, ironically, your middle fingers fell off on the way back." He said, working on a Vehicon. They sighed, grabbing a datapad and doodling until they fell asleep.
Nearly a week later, they were attempting to shoot with this new optic installed. Along with the new lower arms, they got new guns. One in each arm. They were a little off with their right gun, but still pretty close to the center of their target.
"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" They flinched at the voice of the Decepticon leader.
"M-Maybe?" They stuttered out, looking at him and lowering their arms. "Knockout said it was fine-"
"But I did not. You shall go back to the Medbay and rest." Megatron said sternly.
They sighed, "Fine.." they started walking away, yelping when they were snatched by Megatron.
"It is only logical that I take you there myself." He said, carefully taking them to the Medbay.
They sighed, pouting when they were placed on Knockout's desk.
After a couple more weeks, they were used to their optic, meaning they could go to school once again. They sighed, walking into school, ignoring the stares aimed right at their face. The scar underneath the Cybertronian metal was still healing, they walked to the office, going to ask if they had received Soundwaves message.
"Uh, hello, I was wondering if you had received a message as to why I was gone for three weeks?" They asked the lady at the desk.
"Oh, what is your name?"
"Zero.."
"Last name?"
"Uh... Ceptico..?" They questioned, half-remembering their made-up last name.
"Ah yes, Zero Ceptico, we did receive a message about you getting too close to a fire, I assume that's why you have the cool little eyepatch?" The woman joked.
"Uh, it isn't really an 'eyepatch'.. I can actually see out of the.. eye.. right here." They tapped their optic lightly.
"O-Oh my.. did you make it yourself?"
"No.. I have friends who are good at mechanics." They sighed, "Well, if you received the message then I shall leave now." They turned away before she could say anything.
In class, every eye was on them. Even the teacher caught herself staring. They dealt with this throughout the day, laying in their usual spot in the field at lunch. The boy that had been bothering them for the past year bounced over, sitting next to them.
"Hey, Zero!"
"Joseph." They said, staring at the sky.
"Did you really get too close to a fire?" He asked, poking the spiked side of their face.
"No, I got shot by an alien robot." They joked, not really joking.
He gasped, "Really?!" They chuckled.
"No, I'm joking, it was actually a firework. Megs just didn't want the school to know for some reason." They sat up, looking at him. "Don't you have other friends to hang out with?"
"Yeah but they're leaving me out.." he sighed, looking away.
They felt a small jab of pity for him. They placed their hand on his shoulder, "Wanna see something I can do with my arms? They got upgraded." His face lit up.
"Of course I do!!" He giggled like a toddler.
They chuckled, "Well you gotta wait until after school, I'd get expelled if they knew about it.." they plopped onto their back once again.
A voice made them flinch, "Expelled if they knew about what?" Becca.
They scrunched up their face, looking at her. "Nothing of your concern, BeCkY." They mocked the girl's name, making Joseph giggle.
"First of all, it's BECCA! Second of all, it is certainly part of my concern if it gets you expelled." She placed a hand on her hip sassily, "Also, WHAT exactly are you doing, Joseph?"
"What do you mean? I'm just hanging out with another friend since you guys decided to leave me out." He shrugged, laying down with Zero.
The girl scoffed, walking away. "If you look at her closely you might actually see some jealousy." They joked, earning a chuckle from Joseph. They pointed out a bird that was weirdly darker than others, "That's probably Laserbeak." After they said the bird's name, it flew down, revealing that it was indeed Laserbeak.
"Hey bud," they said, rubbing the robotic bird's head lightly, "were.. uh... Megs and Sounders worried that I'd get bullied because of the new opti... eye?" They had to correct themself to hopefully not raise suspicion.
The bird nodded, "Well, tell them that I'm doing fine, just dealing with an awful lot of stares." They then looked over their shoulder to see a confused Joseph, they sighed. "Laserbeak, this is my.. friend, Joseph."
The boy's face lit up at Zero calling him a friend, but his smile soon faded when a group of kids came up to Zero. They sighed, letting Laserbeak fly away.
A tall boy with black hair spoke up, "Hey, uh, was that.."
"A robotic bird? Yeah, so?"
"No no, I meant a.." he looked at Joseph, "Maybe it would be better if we spoke away from people who don't know about.. them?" He suggested, Zero simply nodded, getting up and following the boy, leaving Joseph to sigh and wander back to his friends.
The tall kid, along with two others, a short, brown haired boy with glasses, and a punk-like girl, brought Zero with them to walk the track.
"So.. that was.."
They finished his sentence, "Laserbeak, a decepticon." They shrugged, "I'm gonna assume you guys are with the Autobots, considering the fact that I haven't seen you around the Nemesis at all." The group stopped, so did Zero after taking a few steps.
"You.. live with them?" The raven-haired boy asked.
"Yes, and frankly I don't see any need for you guys to worry." They turned around, now facing the group. "If anything, it's better than sleeping in a Junkyard." They then walked away, listening as the bell rang.
Later, they met up with Joseph, "Okay, promise not to freak out?" They asked, waiting for a familiar jet or maybe a specific red Aston Martin One-77. Joseph nodded. They sighed, aiming their arms at a tree nearby. The guns transformed out, but they hadn't shot, hearing the sound of that cherry-colored Aston Martin One-77. They looked at Joseph, "Tell anyone about my blasters and you'll no longer be able to talk to your favorite.. cyborg." They said sternly, walking away, leaving a surprised Joseph to run to his mom.
At the Nemesis, they did their work in silence. They sat on the armrest of Megatron's throne, alone with their work and thoughts. They sighed, laying backwards from their work, staring at the ceiling. They sat up a second later, jumping down and wandering to the Medbay to talk to Knockout.
"Knockout?" They asked, peaking into the Medbay.
"Yes, doll?" He asked, turning around.
"First of all, don't call me that. Second of all, can we go somewhere? My work's finished and drawing's getting boring." They walked up to the mech calmly.
He looked at them, placing down whatever he was working on to crouch down and extend his servo, "Sure, I don't have anything to do but mess with tools and buffer myself." He said as they hopped onto his hand.