Chapter 1
*24 Hours Ago*
The sun had begun its descent, another glorious day was coming to a close. A lone car drove across an empty highway, its paint was a vibrant crimson color and its hood was adorned with a small pair of horns resembling a bull. A voice emanates from the car disrupting the peace.
"So there I am on the lookout when out of nowhere these high beams light up my rear view, and that's when it hits me, ... I'm illegally parked!"
A female voice responds to his story, seemingly unimpressed.
"Another parking ticket?"
"Better, the boot!" Answers the male, rather full of himself.
"Big metal tire clamp, impossible to remove."
"Bingo!" So the local police do their thing and I let them get aaalllll the way down the block. That's when I kick off my shiny new shoe and Bang!"
"New York's finest soil themselves" the female finishes, trying to suppress a giggle.
"You know me Arcee, mess with Cliffjumper..."
"And you get the horns," Arcee answers. You can hear Cliffjuumper's joyous laugh over the call. It makes Arcee smile internally, but you'll never hear her admitting that to him. "Not sure how that complies with Autobot rule #1, keep a low profile." She chastised. Cliffjumper's response was,
"What can I say, patrolling out here for energon in Dullsville gets lonesome. Almost makes me miss the decepticons."
"Like Jasper Nevada's a party? We're alone wherever we travel on this rock Cliff." She responds, almost somber. But Arcee isn't wrong, a blue and pink accented motorcycle rides along the barren road, an empty desert spanning for miles around.
A blip from Cliffjuumper's monster interrupts their friendly chit chat.
"I'm getting a signal" He responded a little too seriously compared to his normal laid-back character.
"Need backup?" The worry is too obvious in Arcee's voice, she cares for her partner.
"Do I ever need backup?" That seemingly proud and egotistical answer was just the thing Arcee needed to hear. She knows Cliff is strong, and if anyone will be needing help, it'll be whoever decided to pick a fight with him. Cliff pulled up to a massive crater, inside were a bunch of jagged blue crystals, each varying in size, but all massive and full of energy.
"I just found a whoole lotta energon!" Cliffjuumper announces proudly. But the mood quickly shifts when a loud, ominous humming sound approaches Cliffjumper. He immediately recognized who was making that sound, and it wasn't Arcee. Immediately taking action the red dodge challenger begins to shift. Many mechanical sounds of whorls and clicks accompany the now fully transformed and standing Cliffjumper. Much like his vehicular form, Cliffjumper is a bright crimson red in color with a pair of bull horns atop his head. "Decepticons..." A massive ship flies overhead, and some blasters immediately start shooting at him, knocking him into the energon filled crater. And if things couldn't get worse, a hatch opens up near the bottom and a troop of Vehicons drop in. "Arcee, about that backup..." Cliff comes in, there was no way he stood a chance against an entire decepticon fleet. His only hope was to hold them off as long as possible until Arcee arrived with backup. "Fair warning boys, I'll put a few dings in ya!" He then transforms back into his car form, and attacks the Vehicons.
Meanwhile Arcee had gotten Cliff's message and was calling in the calvary.
"Arcee to Optimus, the Cons are back. Cliff might be neck deep in scrap!"
"Understood," came the reply from a rough, serious, deep voice. Said voice emanated from a navy blue truck with red flames detailing its sides. "Ratchet, do you have Cliffjumpers coordinates?"
"I'm locked on his signal Optimus. But our team is scattered across time zones." A white and orange emergency vehicle responds from an icy tundra, his voice is also masculine.
"Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee rendezvous back at base and prepare to groundbridge." As Optimus too begins his long drive back to their base of operation another conversation is being held within the Prime's compartment.
"I can't wait to fight the Decepticons. It's been a long time since we've last seen them" said a girl. The tone in her voice implied immaturity, but she was older than her voice and looks implied.
"I am sorry to say this, but you will not be accompanying us this time." Optimus Prime replied, much to the girl's dismay.
"What? C'mon why can't I?" She inquired.
"If it is true that the Decepticons have returned, it is not safe for you to come with us. Besides we will be fighting near energon, it is highly explosive as you are well aware."
"Yeah I know..." she sounded like a sad child who didn't get their way. "Just be careful, ok?"
"We will return to you as swiftly as we can."
"Alright Optimus, hey does this mean I can operate the groundbridge?" She suddenly asked, hope and joy returning to her voice.
"Yes Rose, we will need you to bridge all of us back once we secure Cliffjumper." Optimus responded glad that his human charge was once again in good spirits.
"Yas!" She responded silently, pumping a fist as high as she could in the confined space within Optimus' vehicle form. "Optimus, make sure you all come home in one piece, alright? I don't want to lose anymore family members."
"I promise you Rose I will ensure all of our safe return, so worry not about us alright?"
"Yes sir!" Rose responded giddy, and with a laugh. Optimus was glad to have her to brighten the situation. But he couldn't help but worry for Cliffjumper.
Back with Cliff, he had managed to take out quite a few Vehicon troopers, but at least 10 or more remained plus an entire battleship filled with reinforcements loomed overhead. The battle was lasting too long as Cliffjumpers strength began to wane. Three Cons surrounded him and knocked him back towards a large cluster of energon crystals. Slightly shaky he stands up, prepared to stand his ground.
"You want the horns? You got 'em" Cliff then transforms again, but instead of his body it's just his hands. And in the place of his Con bashing, metallic servos were two sets of blasters ready to roast some Decepticon plating. He began to fire at the Cons, and they too formed their own blasters and fired back. Cliff would dodge their blasts effortlessly, jumping to the right, roll to the left. He was winning, and would have too if the concentrated Con fire didn't ignite the energon crystals. The explosion then triggered the rest of the crystals to explode as well, filling the crater with blue fire that shot upwards narrowly missing the Decepticon warship. Fortunately all the Vehicons had been destroyed, unfortunately Cliff was also caught up in the explosion and was badly wounded. Two scouts exited the ship to look for Cliff's remains, however finding him still alive they dragged his battered body out of the crater and into the Con ship.
Within the dark ship there's a Seeker Con with heeled feet standing at the monitor. In a gruff yet immature voice he says,
"the energon, it's completely worthless to me now." He proceeds to scowl in annoyance, while two scouts approach bringing with them a dented and leaking Cliffjumper.
"Scream, been awhile..." before he could say anything else, he coughed up some light blue liquid, staining the ship's black floor.
"So... where's your master?"
"Never mind him!" Stars cream responds, clearly frustrated with Cliff's unnecessary remarks.
"I am my own master." And to prove his point, he then quickly yet painfully trusted his sharp pointed nails into Cliffjumpers chest. Poor Cliff shouted in pain, looking down where Starscream had just impaired him in disbelief. Smirking with satisfaction at the wounded Autobots miserable expression he removed his hand from Cliff's chest and said Autobot collapses to the ground lifelessly.
"Clean this up." Barked Stars ream to the two scouts. With the energon destroyed and the only autobot on sight dead, Starscream ordered the Cons on deck to move on.
Just as the ship pulls away, out of sight, a green and white swirled portal looking thing opens up. And out drives the first bot, an orange and white emergency vehicle transformers mid air into Ratchet the medical officer of their group. Next comes a green SUV looking Lamborghini LM002. Which proceeds to transform into Bulkhead, the hard hitter and tank of the team. Then a smaller blue with pink accented detailed motorcycle transforms into Arcee, the smallest yet arguably feistiest Autobot of them all. After her came a yellow camaro with two black racing stripes down his center. Just like the others he too transforms before touching down on solid land. He transforms and it is revealed that it's Bumblebee, the youngest member, as well as their scout. All 4 Auto bots have their weapons out ready to blast any enemies to the AllSpark. Finally Optimus Prime's Blue with red flames truck races out of the portal transforming into the proud and monotone leader of the Autobots. Quickly looking around and seeing no Decepticons they all disarmed themselves and proceeded to look around for their missing comrade.
"An untapped energon deposit..." Optimus pointed out.
"What's left of it." Bulkhead finished.
"First Decepticon activity in 3 years" Ratchet says, alluding to an unspoken and terrifying question. Optimus knows what he is hinting at.
"That we know of. If they are scouting for energon they must be preparing for his return." Optimus hoped that his suspicions were wrong, because if he truly had come to earth, then the plant as well as her people were in serious danger.
Seeing as there were no Cons, Bumblebee and Arcee jogged ahead and slid into the smoldering pit to search for clues as to where Cliffjumper might be. A small gasp from Arcee draws the attention of all the bots.
"No..." She says quietly to herself, praying to Primus that Cliff was ok somewhere. The others arrive at Arcee's side and see her holding one of Cliffjumper's horns.
"Ratchet, can you track his position?" Optimus asks, his concern growing. Time was of the essence to find Cliffjumper, if it wasn't already too late. The medic nodded and opened a screen on his arm, it displayed 5 little blips, that was until one went out.
"No...!" All Autobots are looking at him now, they were worried, but none were prepared for what he said next.
"Cliffjumper's life signal just went offline." A somber silence befalls them, they have lost their friend. They were too late, Cliffjumper was dead.
Back with the Decepticon warship Starscream is still at the helm of the bridge beaming with pride after just extinguishing the spark of an Autobot. But his prideful smile washes away when a tall, slim, pure black and deep purple Decepticon walks up to him.
"Soundwave, what is it?" He asks, trying not to sound too annoyed, but failing. Said Con does not say anything, but replays a part of Arcee's transmission to Cliffjumper he intercepted earlier.
"Like Jasper Nevada's a party? We're alone wherever we travel on this rock Cliff." Starscream smirks once again, a devious plot coming together in his mind.
"Ah the one called Arcee... why slay just one Autobot when we still have the advantage of surprise." Starscream's cynical laugh fills the bridge as he orders Soundwave to get some Vehicons and send them to Jasper.
Meanwhile Optimus had finally given Rose the signal to open the groundbridge. She was excited to see her friends, and couldn't wait to hear all about how they kicked some Con tailpipe. But when they walked through all sad and without Cliffjumper, she began to fear the worst.
"Hey guys... where's Cliff?" Optimus opened his mouth to respond, to tell her the bitter news but Arcee cut him off. She did not say anything, but she approached the human girl and showed her the horn. She instantly understood, Cliff was gone, disaster had claimed yet another member of her family. Arcee, Bumblebee, and Ratchet began making their way up to the roof of their base. Bulkhead followed soon after while Optimus offered Rose his hand. As she stepped on he brought her to his shoulder, it was her favorite spot. The Autobot base was in fact an abandoned missile silo within a rocky pillar like many found within the area. They made a grave for Cliff up there, overlooking the setting sun and the endless desert beauty of Jasper Nevada.
"We must not allow our anger over the death of Cliffjumper to impair our judgment. As of today only we 5 autobots remain on this earth. We owe it to ourselves, to the memories of Cybertron, to any Autobot in any galaxy seeking safe harbor, to humankind, and we owe it to the memory of our fallen comrade to survive." Optimus had just finished his big 'ole speech, it wasn't a happy one, but everyone needed to hear it. Arcee placed down Cliff's broken horn, Optimus was worried about her.
"Arcee?"
"If Cliff's gone then standing around here sulking won't bring him back so unless anyone minds I'll get back to protecting humankind." And with those harsh, grief ridden words Arcee transforms and rides off.
"Optimus, helping humans will only result in more tragedy." Ratchet said, not caring that he said it infront of their resident human. It was well known amongst all of them that Ratchet had a deep distaste for humans.
"Your opinion is noted..." Optimus replied. Which basically means he heard him, but he won't change his mind.
Out in the middle of nowhere sat Jasper Nevada, and within Jasper was a little fast food place called KO Burger. And now we meet a teenager working at the drive through when a car full of jerks pull up. And on his uniform Jack Darby was neatly printed for all customers and fellow employees to see.
"Welcome to KO drive in, where every burger is a knockout. May I take your order?"
"Uhm 2 super combos and extra fries..." says a young man.
"Dos numerous 2s, anything else?" Our hard worker asks.
"Yeah, some advice, how do I get an awesome job like yours?" The entire car explodes into laughter. Our poor burger boy isn't impressed though.
"So that's 2 we're not as funny as we think combos with a side of bite me!" He sasses right back. The laughter abruptly stops.
"What'd you say?" Asks the jerk, but it was more of a challenge.
"5.59 sir, at the window" knowing he'll get in trouble if he goes any further Jack drops the insult and continues his job. But when he wasn't looking the car pulls up to the window, takes the food then drives off its passengers laughing historically.
"He-hey! I have to pay for that..." Frustrated and defeated Jack begins to clean up and ends his shift.
Back with Arcee, she pulls into the town and activates her hologram so as to not seem suspicious. Not long after entering the town two Vehicons spotted her and tried tailing her.
"Twins" She knew a fight in town would be bad, so she pulled into a little restraint to lay low. The two Cons rolled right past her.
"Take 5 Sadie" Arcee said, then deactivated her hologram wanting to just wait out the Cons.
Jack walks out of the KO Burger finally done with his shift and about to head home. But he's suddenly stopped by his mom calling him.
"Hey mom, I just got off... no, I'm not going to the dance... experience suggests I should never cut the rug, unless I'm installing carpet... be careful, seriously? This is Jasper." He suddenly stops as he spots an amazing blue motorcycle with little bits of pink by her front tire. That's right, Arcee parked at KO Burger, and has now caught the eyes of a young human teenager, aka Jack Darby. He was entranced by her sleek design, her lovely colors, and how shiny she looked in the setting sun. Without realizing he said,
"I love you..." before his mom brought him back to reality.
"Y-yeah I love you too mom, I gotta run!" Then promptly hangs up his phone, and goes right back to admiring Arcee.
"Hello beautiful! Where have you been all my life?" He starts to run his hand gently over the seat, parts of the handles, just getting a feel for the bike.
"It may take a couple KO paychecks, but I am gonna own a ride like you someday." Unbeknownst to both Arcee and Jack, two ladies had walked up and spotted him.
"Are you talking to your motorcycle?" Jack yelped in surprise, but also embarrassment. The two girls giggled at his reaction.
"M-my motorcycle? D'uh... no! I-i mean yes, yes it's mine but uhm no I'm I'm I'm talking to -uh to you! I, I am ...." Poor Jack was very flustered, so flustered he couldn't even talk right. I mean who could blame him, he was talking to the most beautiful girl in the entire town. The girl he secretly had a crush on.
"Hey maybe I could take you for a spin sometime?" Jack was hoping that she would say yes. So much so that he didn't hear a second voice mumble,
"come on smooth operator, wrap it up!" Turns out those two Vehicons were back and had spotted the group.
"Yeeaaaah... you know my name?" Her question shattered his heart and his world.
"Yeah, we're in homeroom together. I'm Jack, Jack Darby." He said, hoping she had just forgotten him. Suddenly, and without warning high beams blinded the 3 children. It was the two Cons, they had located their target and were ready to attack.
"Scrap" mumbles Arcee, again no one managed to hear her. But the Cons didn't need to hear her to know who she was, they then drove forward intending to ram all of them. The girls screamed in terror while Arcee started her engine and sped off in the direction the two Vehicons were approaching. Jack was terrified, he kept screaming woah as Arcee squeezed right between the two cars and sped off. The Cons wouldn't give up that easily, they turned around and started to chase the speeding motorcycle. Concerned that the human child on her back might fall off she spoke up.
"Hang on!" She shouted, making sure he could hear her despite how fast they were going. However Jack became even more freaked out by that.
"Who said that?" He didn't get his answer because the two Cons had managed to catch up to them. One on the left, one on the right, they both moved inward together in an effort to squish the Autobot and the human. But Arcee was ready for that, she slowed down so that she was behind them, causing the two cons to bash each other. And in that time she slipped away behind some buildings and into an alleyway, slowing to a stop allowing a shaken Jack to get off.
"What ... are you?" Jack asked, almost afraid to find out. But Arcee knew the Cons would be back, so in an attempt to follow the rules and protect this kid she threatened him.
"I don't exist! Tell anyone about me and I will hunt you down." Jack, having just about enough of this, runs down a nearby alley just as the two disaster twins show up again. Arcee drives away from where Jack had gone expecting them to follow her. Well one did, but the other went down the exact alley Jack had!
"Scrap! Arcee to base, come in base!"
"Arcee, Rose here, what's wrong?"
"I've got Cons on my tail and one went after a human, I need backup stat!" Arcee sounded frantic, and well it was a serious situation.
"Understood, Optimus and Ratchet are busy, but Bumblebee, myself and Bulkhead are in route to you. Be there shortly, Rose out."
With help on the way Arcee turned around and used the Vehicon coming her way as a ramp to launch herself closer to Jack. She heard him shout,
"I don't even know her!" Well at least he listens. Speeding up Arcee catches up to Jack before the Vehicon does.
"Hop on." She says, and without hesitation he does. Once Jack is on, Arcee revs her engine causing Jack to yell once more. The two Cons continue to pursue the duo. Realizing chasing them while as cars are insufficient they both equip their blasters and begin shooting at the disguised Arcee and fleshy Jack. To avoid getting hit Arcee swerves a bit before turning into an on ramp and entering a highway.
"Why are those guys shooting at us?!" Jack asks frantically.
"There's no us kid," Arcee responds. She had gotten him involved enough, he didn't need to know about their war too.
"And they're no 'guys'." Well that would have to do. Unfortunately the two Cons entered the highway too, but thankfully they had put their blasters away. But the situation had finally taken a turn for the better as Bumblebee, in his vehicle mode, sped onto the highway right behind the two unaware Cons and bumps them, sending them sliding right into the dividers. Satisfied Bee whips around and follows behind Arcee and Jack.
"Friend of yours?" Asks Jack, hoping it isn't another enemy.
"Family" came Arcee's response. With Bee's help he kept the Cons off her tailpipe. However Bee was only one bot, and there were two Cons. So when one swerved to go after Arcee, Bee blocked him, only for the second Con to go to the other side and bash him into the guardrail, hard. As the two Cons sped after Arcee a groan escaped from within the yellow Autobot.
"Bere-ep?" Bee asks.
"I'm ok, what about you?"
"Bep-beep-erep-oooo" came his reply.
"Alright, Imma hop out, see what's going on." Rose climbs out of Bee's cabin and she's Arcee down the side of a bridge in bot form fighting the two Cons. Thankfully both boys were off to the side and semi-safe. Wait two humans?!
"Oh geez, Bee try and join up when you can, I gotta get those kids outta there!" Rose ran off without hearing Bee's 'stay safe bleeps. As she draws closer she can hear the screeching sound of clashing metal, but also Arcee's voice.
"This *punch* is *punch* for *punch* Cliff!" She then throws one more hard punch but it just angers the Vehicon. Realizing she was in trouble back-flipped in order to distance herself, but also to avoid getting shot. But one of the Vehicons manages to hit her right in the chest, sending the two wheeler flying back and landing hard. But before the Cons could finish the job Bumblebee drops in from the bridge landing on top of one Con and punching the other away. As he stepped off the Con he had pancaked, a semi-loud crushing sound came from under one of his feet. He lifted it up revealing it to be the younger kids toy car.
"Bee-er-ep." He apologized.
"No problem, really!" Replied the younger kid. Bee was surprised he understood him. But he didn't get the chance to express that because the Cons had recovered and punched Bee in the face, knocking him off balance then was shot fully sending him to the ground. One of the Cons then stepped on Bee's face while both were prepared to finish him off.
"Leave him alone!" Came an enraged shout. All eyes turned to the two humans,
"please?"
"Bad call," Jack says. The poor kid just wanted to help, but it only placed them in more danger. Out of nowhere a girl slid off the side wall and in front of the two boys, Rose had made it just in time just as one of the Cons began to approach the two boys. With her mini blaster she began to shoot at the Con, but he wasn't deterred.
"Don't just stand there, RUN!" She shouts. Jack grabs the hand of the younger boy and begins to lead him away, Rose follows close behind looking back just to shoot every so often. Jack leads them to a runoff sewer tunnel.
"Quick in here!" He calls out. All 3 humans climbed in trying to get as far back as possible. Rose stopped and put her full attention into shooting at the Con, hoping the close range would make a difference. The Vehicon bent down and reached his sharp clawed hand into the tunnel, attempting to grab them. Rose's shots made the Con flinch a bit, but weren't doing much damage. Just as it seemed they would be grabbed the Con was yanked away, followed by a bunch of metallic clangs. Suddenly Bee's face pokes into view.
"Beep-eep-beep-bop" He said, meaning the kids were safe.
"Thank you," the smallest kid replied.
"Beep-ee-ero-beep." After that Bee left to deal with the Cons once more.
"Don't look back." Jack said, turning their attention to escaping.
"What did we just see?" Asked the glasses wearing child.
"No idea, and I'm not sure I wanna find out!" Jack replied.
"Trust me, you don't..." Rose added, now both boys were looking at her.
"Don't worry I'll get you both home safe, but not a word about what you saw to anybody! Am I clear?" She asked using her serious military voice, well more like demanded.
"Yes ma'am" came two scared responses. And with that the humans left the tunnels and made it home safely.
Back with the bots Arcee has finally recovered from her fall and began making her way back to Bee. Bumblebee was holding his own fairly well against the two Cons. He's landed many hits, not taking too much damage. He lands a solid left hook to one Con, only for the second one to shoot him while his backs turned. Then the second Con delivers a mighty uppercut to Bee's lower jaw sending him back to where Arcee has just arrived. Both bots were dented and growing tired, but finally the calvary had arrived! As Bulkhead drives in and joins the fight it is now a 3 on 2 battle.
"Who's ready to rumble?" He asks, smashing his wrecking ball into his other fist. The two Vehicons instantly transform into cars and drive away, knowing they would lose. With the fight finally over Bee lets out a sigh of relief.
"What took you?" Arcee questions.
"Traffic" Bulk responds with a shrug. Both Arcee and Bumblebee look at him with a 'really?' look. Sighing Arcee transforms, Bee and Bulkhead following her lead, all 3 Autobots drive back to base.
"... and the Cons would have been scrap metal if I hadn't been distracted by the human" Arcee grumbles to Optimus, explaining the ordeal they just went through.
"Human?" The Prime questions.
"Bee-ep" Bee corrects.
"Two boys" He repeats rather grimly.
"I guess the second one caught us in action? I don't know! I was a little busy at the time." Arcee defends, rather annoyed.
"If the Decepticons are targeting us, anyone perceived as our ally will be in grave risk." He had a point, and they all knew it, but something was missing.
"Speaking of allies, where's Rose?" Before the others could think of what to tell the overprotective Prime a transmission came through.
"Rose to base, uhm guys can I get a groundbridge back to base? I may or may not have been left behind!" Exclaimed Rose, rather hurt that they forgot about her.
The flowering day, after school let out Jack is waved down by the same boy he had met yesterday.
"Raff, hey... look let's just keep this between us and forget anything ever happened ok?" Before Raff could protest a honking horn coming from an all too familiar yellow camaro.
"Jack look!" Raff exclaims.
"Ooh no! Not again!" Jack says still shaken up by yesterday's events. Bee pulls up and opens his door.
"Bree-ere" Bee says, hoping the small boy would understand.
"I-it wants us to get in?" Jack guesses, not understanding a word Bee had said.
"No, just me," Raff corrected.
"How do you know that?" Jack asked, confused.
"It said so." Raff answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What?" Jack asks, not believing that Raff had truly understood the yellow and black striped car-robot.
"Yours is over there," Raff said, gesturing to Arcee.
"But I really don't think-" Raff wasn't listening, he climbed into Bumblebee's cabin.
"How's it going?" He asked before Bee shut the door and drove off, leaving a confused and concerned Jack behind. He took one glance at Arcee and began to walk away, deciding it was better to walk home then get involved again. Arcee notices that Jack is walking away, so she starts up her engine, activates her hologram, and drives after Jack. However a young Japanese girl was curious about the bike and when she saw her driving away she followed behind very sneakily. Meanwhile Arcee easily catches up to Jack and pulls in front of him, forcing him to stop.
"Relax, I just wanna talk to you." She said in a calm voice.
"Don't you mean you and your new friend?" Jack retorted, feeling semi-betrayed, and hurt. Arcee deactivates her hologram, and Jack is relieved, surprised, but glad nonetheless.
"Kid there's a lot you don't understand" Arcee said slowly approaching Jack.
"W-we-we-well I get it! The first rule about robot fight club is you don't talk about robot fight club." He stuttered, Arcee not stopping her steady approach really freaked Jack out.
"What you don't understand is I don't want a bunch of crazy robot vehicles following me around trying to get me killed!" Jack exclaimed, turning around to walk away. But Arcee transforms to try and convince him otherwise.
"Look, Jack is it? Your personal safety is exactly why Optimus Prime has requested your presence."
"Y-yeah ri- wait Optimus who?" Jack didn't know who that was, and was a little worried to find out.
"You may be in danger because you are one of the few, the only who has ever seen us!" Arcee explained. Before anyone else could say anything a new voice cut in.
"Dude, what are you waiting for? Go with!" The young Japanese girl had seen and heard everything.
"Scrap" Arcee didn't want you, but now she had to bring an extra human back to base.
"And why exactly are we taking her?" Jack asks, it's almost like he hasn't caught on yet.
"Rules" Arcee responds, simple yet straight on point. Both Bumblebee and Arcee drive up to this large mountain, Jack is frightened and attempts to warn the others. But before the bots could drive face first into the rocky side, the wall slid open, revealing it to be a massive door, and the entryway for the Autobot headquarters.
It was massive inside, the rock was lined with metal, there were big screens, large corridors, everything was HUGE! Upon entering, Ratchet was standing by a bunch of monitors, safe to assume that was the command console. Walking up next to him was Bulkhead, he was curious to meet the humans. Ratchet however noticed something that he did not approve of.
"I thought there were 2?" He asked, questioning the presence of a very eager and curious Miko.
"Haven't you heard? Humans multiply," Arcee said sarcastically, transforming along with Bumblebee.
"I'm Raff" he said slightly nervously.
"I'm Miko!" She introduced herself with absolutely no hesitation. She locked eyes with Bulkhead and immediately ran up to him.
"Who are you?"
"Bulkhead..." he responds, unsure how to react.
"Are you a car? I bet you're a truck, a monster truck! Do you like heavy metal? How much do you weigh? Ever use a wrecking ball as a punching bag?" Miko asked question after question, not allowing an overwhelmed Bulk to respond.
"So if you guys are robots then who built you?" Raff asks, stopping Miko's rambling.
"Pfft! Pa-Lease" Ratchet scoffs. Heavy metal footsteps cause all heads to turn to the approaching Autobot. Optimus had entered the room and on his shoulder sat a little human girl. Curious to see the big bot, Miko ran up to where Raff and Jack stood.
"We are autonomous robotic people from the planet Cybertron." He explained, kneeling down to the level of the attentive children.
"Also known as Autobots" chirped Rose perched happily on the Primes shoulder.
"Why are you here?" Jack asks, unable to withhold his burning questions.
"To protect your planet from the Decepticons." He responded calmly.
"The jokers who tried to bump us off last night." Arcee explained.
"Oo-kaay.... Well why are they here then?" Jack elaborate hoping for a more straightforward answer.
"A fair question Jack. In part it is because our planet is uninhabitable, ravaged by centuries of civil war." Optimus answered somberly.
"Why were you fighting a war?" Raff asked innocently. Rose knew this sad story, she placed a comforting hand on Optimus' face plating.
"Foremost over our world's supply of energon, the fuel and life blood of Autobots and Decepticons alike. The combat was fierce and endured for centuries. In the beginning I fought alongside one whom I considered a brother. But in war ideals can be corrupted, and it was thus Megatron lost his way."
*sigh* "Is there gonna be a quiz?" Miko asked, mostly as a joke, but Rose glared intensely at her while the other two gave her 'seriously?' looks.
"So what does Megatron, or any of this, have to do with us?" Jack asked.
"Megatron has not been seen nor heard from in quite some time, but if his return is imminent, as I fear, it could be catastrophic." Optimus said. The news was grimm, but unfortunately not exaggerated.
Back with the Decepticons, Starscream is standing at the bridge with a proud and commanding posture. Soundwave began walking up to him, a strange beeping sound playing from his visor.
"Those transmissions are emanating from deep space. I would hate to waste the energon, unless you're absolutely certain?" Starscream asks to which Soundwave nods his head, never uttering once uttering a word. Starscrem knew fighting against Soundwave was suicidal so he sighed in defeat.
"Then lock on transmission coordinates and activate the space bridge!" Starscream commands turning away from Soundwave. The Vehicons get to work pressing buttons and swiping at screens.
And looming just within the outskirts of earth's atmosphere looms a large circular formation of rock and technology. The machine whirls to life as green and white energy swirl together creating a deep space portal. And out flies a lone Decepticon, its plane form miniscule compared to the spacebridge. The Cybertronian Fighter Jet transforms shouting to all his allies, asserting his presence and dominance as the leader of the Decepticons.
"Decepticons! I have returned." Megatron was received by the Nemesis where his Decepticons are awaiting his next command.
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End of Chapter 1,
next chapter: One bot's Death is another's Chance to Rise (part 2)