#Sure like the first thing OP said was that he was optimus prime but did orion get completely erased??? It shows him okay but was he??

[hercarisntyours]

the identity crisis they must've went through

[prince-toffee]

So, I rewatched the trailer over and over again, I stepped back, organised my thoughts, and I think I get it.

So first the Bad, then the GOOD, because there's actually a lot to like here.

The Bad:

So, the trend of companies kicking actual voice actors onto the curb and replacing them with celebrities continues. I remember being really angry when they first announced the voice cast, and I still am. It's quite literally the most boring, generic casting possible. You can not get much more white bread, milk toast than a Chris and Scar - I want to play an Asian woman and trans man - jo. Also, why is Chris Hemsworth here? Do he really need the money? Did Thor 4 damage his pockets that bad? There are so many talented voice actors that could've been Orion, David Kaye is a prime example Animated Optimus and Beats Wars/Unicron Trilogy Megatron, beloved by fans, if he was announced people would've been over joyed. I love Brian Tyree Henry, and he actually has some experience with va work as he voiced Jeff Morales in Spider-Verse, my original criticism still stands.... And Kegan, oh Kegan, I love you so much, Key and Peele was my childhood, and the Toad performance was perfectly fine, endearing even. But as Bee? I'm sorry, but no, that's not BumbleBee that's just actor/comedian Kegan Michael Key, I can't hear anything else. And it doesn't help that he's handed the worst lines.

Which brings us to the comedy. First impressions are EVERYTHING. And if you fumble that that hurts your film, and the perception of your film. I think that's really the problem here, it's a bad trailer not necessarily bad content. Packing the trailer with jokes for the sake of jokes and having that samey Hollywood liscensed music cringey feel to it. Like the guitar riff that played when the 'This Fall' card came up just made me turn off the video immediately. That's why I recommend watching the trailer without sound. Bee's jokes don't really land for me, I'm sure kids with love it tho, and that's good. But I'm sure all the jokes won't be bad, the final door gag is actually really funny. So I think it was just a bad joke that soured out feel of the tone at the beginning, which is unfortunate because like I said first impressions are everything. Because this is Josh Cooly, of Up, Inside Out, Toy Story 4 fame, I'm sure the film will have an emotional core to it.

A minor thing I don't much care for is having Bee be in the same age range as Orion, in my mind he's always constructed during the war at like the half way mark or near the end, he's the little brother of the group, and now he's old enough to remember Op and Megs before the war. Also he sounds way too old.

Oh, also I don't like Orion's personality.

Good:

Now for the good; I think the animations style is gorgeous. Would have I liked something Spider-Verse/Mutant Mayhem-esk, of course, but what are you gonna do? The stand out here is the environments, a visual feast. This might already be my favourite Cybertron, it's so different yet reminisant of the Cybertron we know. The fact that the surface transformers and shifts and changes is genius, very IDW Phase 2 inspired. And the fact that Cybertron is a techno-organic hybrid world ala Beast Machines is crazy! I love that, and wildlife! I bet that's how we get the cassettes. The character models are great too, you can actually tell what emotion is happening on a person's face. Gone are the days of faces being made up of razor blades and mandibles BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT INSECTS FUCK YOU MICHAEL BAY. THEY'RE PEOPLE! There's the nose, the lips, the eyes, and I can tell where one begins and ends. The eyes are gorgeous and detailed, and the face surface detail has smuges, wear, specs of dirt, metallic texture. Like, you nailed it! It's a person but a robot, you got it!

We see what we assume are the 13 Primes, Alpha Trion being the only survivor, maybe they were killed by the Quintessons and they took over. D-16, a ref to IDW and his toys designation in the toy catalogue, he'll obviously name himself after Megatronus ala TF Prime. He seems to have the Decepticon insignia before meeting The Fallen so maybe Megatronus' face is some sort of religious iconography, the Primes are a religion on Cybertron after all. It's all so fascinating, I can't remember the last time I was so excited to learn more about a new TF continuity.

Orion and D-16 are both miners and or workers, that's a refreshing take, no coptimus here. They've suffered the same way together, I bet story will be about dealing with that pain, what justice means, how far one is willing to take it and where justice stops and injustice begins. I know people are mad that the origins are a little different, but I ask you, different from what? Which continuity are you talking about? TF has never had a consistent singular timeline, and that's what I love about this franchise! It builds on itself with each new continuity! Take a bit of the old, mix it with new ideas and create something fresh, then that old guard leaves and a new team takes over and does the same and the franchise continues to evolve or should I say transform. Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get, and new incarnations always give second chances to improve apon what came before. No Reboots, no risks means no Skybite, or Nemesis Prime, no Stasis Pods, Sparks, Protoforms, Energon ore, no Star Saber, Hot Shot, Knock Out, Airachnid, no All Spark, no Sari, no Bulkhead, no old grumpy Ratchet, none of that. Reboots are a part of this franchise's DNA. I sense the people that are complaining are the people who only value one continuity and discard all others.

It's really neat this universe's version of The Cast System is lower class worker protoforms being denied a Transformation Cog, it seems like it's reserved for the higher classes, the very thing that makes their species special and unique is denied to them. Also I didn't notice it the first time, but Alpha actually pulls the t-cogs out of the dead Primes which kind of signifies a passing of the guard, the old Primes failed, now it's your turn, and of course history repeats itself with the downfall of Megatron.

I like how Trion is covered and intertwined with moss and vines and has a beast mode, showcasing that he's of an older era now gone and forgotten.

Some other smaller stuff:

The sun looks like a holographic simulation, which makes me wonder, Cybertron doesn't usually have a sun, but there's plant life now, so what's up?

The cave that the dead Primes and Trion are in kinda looks like a Dweller.

Megatron's black helmet is a ref to Marvel G1.

That spin kick where Elita twirls her entire waist around is sooo satisfying. I love it.

AIRACHNID!!?!!!! MY QUEEN HAS RETURNED!!!!!!!

I think that's a good point to end on. So, yeah, v excited.

[bots-and-cons]

What type of soulmate AU do you think Optimus prime would have (timer, red string, tattoo, first words, etc), what are his opinions? Would he be opposed to meeting his soulmate? Would he try to avoid them? (Gn human reader preferably ^^)

Uuu, I’ve maybe done one soulmate thing in this blog, but I’m not sure. I really like soulmate AU stuff though and I feel like this was sort of funny to write. Idk if this is actually funny to anyone but me but hey, at least I had fun. Pretty long for HCs and might have gone a bit off track also, but eh. If you want to me to find the other soulmate thing you can ask but you can also just check the masterlist in the pinned post and look for it yourself, I’m pretty sure it’s an OP or a Ratchet one

•I think I like the whole first words thing for him

•Optimus was incredibly confused when he read the words etched onto his wrist for the first time

•To his surprise he didn’t understand a word, because it wasn’t cybertronian it was some language that was foreign to him at the time

•When he eventually came to earth and learned english he was quite perplexed by the fact that it was of a human language, a single word in english that decorated his wrist

•”Quack?” was what it said

•He of course soon realized this either meant his soulmate was a human, or some autobot or a decepticon he had yet to meet that was also on earth and was using english

•The sentence itself had him quite convinced that his soulmate was indeed a human

•Optimus of course turned out to be right about that

•You’d been wondering your whole damn life what the hell the words on your wrist meant

•What situation could you possibly get yourself into, where someone had to tell you “Duck!”

•There was an exclamation point and everything, so were you going to get attacked by a duck and someone was going to warn you or something

•A lot of people made fun of you because of the word you had, many people came up with all kinds of crazy/stupid scenarios for it, but you never really found any of them funny or realistic

•But none of them would come even close to how crazy it was when it actually happened

•Optimus honestly wished he wouldn’t meet you, he didn’t want another person he cared about for Megatron to hurt

•He got really anxious about it for a while, and when he did eventually meet you the anxiety got even worse

•So, how did you actually end up meeting your soulmate?

•It was just about the worst day of your life, you were out for a walk, because your head couldn’t handle being cooped up at home anymore and you ended in some remote part of a park on the edge of town

•You saw some weird lights in the woods nearby and your curiosity got the better of you so you went to investigate

•You had no idea what you were looking at at first

•There were these light projectiles going back and forth and the sound of metal scraping on metal

•Then you heard it, someone yelling “Duck!” at you, you didn’t realize it was a command to move so you just meekly went “Quack?” because of course that’s a reasonable reaction

•Then you got swept of your feet by something very big and got pushed to the side

•Optimus just froze when he heard you say that, because he knew what it meant

•He’d found his soulmate in the first possible moment, in the middle of battle

•The autobots had to retreat and Optimus grabbed you to take you with him, because he couldn’t just leave you there with the cons, you were just a tiny human and they would’ve surely hurt you

•At some point you’d just closed your eyes and the next time you opened them was when you were set down on something soft

•You were sitting on a couch, in some place you didn’t recognize and surrounded by some huge robot looking things

•Since there was no one else around, you figured your soulmate had to be one of them, but since you’d closed your eyes, you hadn’t seen who’d talked to you before

•So you go taken in by the autobots, but it was weeks before Optimus admitted he was your soulmate, because he was terrified or the consequences 

•Optimus felt like if he didn’t tell you, you would be safer, that maybe you wouldn’t be targeted if nobody knew

•He most definitely did not want you to get involved with him, but of course fate had other plans

[mincedpeaches]

Transformers One post

Okay FIRST off I have to say. Sentinel Prime. He was everything. Blue and gold color scheme, with gorgeous gold WINGS. The most obvious villain in existence, but still kind of charms with his first overly friendly reaction to Megs and OP. The scene were he killed Alpha Trion: SERVING. Arachnid being his fag hag. I'm kind of obsessed.

Anyway. I just got back. Walked into the movie theater at 7pm in business casual since I came from work (after a quick detour to pick up dinner to sneak in). I say I want a ticket for Transformers. The teller goes "just one?" with a just barely perceptible bit of puzzlement. I say yup and proceed to have the entire theater to myself. Because no one is taking their kids to see Transformers One on a school night at 7:15pm. And I came alone. 👍

Of course I had fun. The humor I'd say was like 75/25 for me. I had some chuckles and laughs. For kid humor I thought it was really good.

Once again I kind of struggle to conceptualize what it would be like to be watching it as a fresh face though, and someone NOT well versed in transformers canon and lore. Like of course I (metaphorically) barked and clapped my hands like a seal when I saw Transformers I recognized but had no real lines. But a normal kid isn't really gonna care about that.

Anyway, again. It's late for me and I'm trying to get thoughts down now. What else. Let's try rapid fire all over the place.

Loved Elita's whole career woman thing and REALLY loved her "I'm better than you" bit because A) woman after my own heart and B) we love some unironic "girls rule boys drool" style feminism in this house. and I'm so serious.

I don't want to reduce Arachnid to just Sentinel's fag hag either because she also ruled. Her helicopter design looked siiick. The extra eyes on the front of her face and they way they moved independently was also sick. The way she was always yelling when she was stabbing guys was also kinda funny. (The way they used her eyes "seeing everything" to expose video of Sentinel, SOMEHOW, was actually kinda dumb. But don't worry about it.)

The way the trains and roads appeared in front of the train/driver looked really cool.

The scene where Optimus was dead and was floating into the heart of Cybertron, conversely, looked bad.

When it was first revealed in the movie promo content that Optimus was also going to be a miner alongside Megatron, while I wasn't as disappointed as the average tfp simp, I did think it was kinda of a bummer. That being said, it actually fucking RULED how Optimus was a miner. Ever since the introduction of oppressed bots into the tf canon, it was always this post. But in THIS canon Optimus is right there with Megs being oppressed and Optimus is the one that's fighting for social change, while Megatron is towing the line until he learns its all a lie. And once they learn its a lie, Optimus is still advocating for that change, and meanwhile Megatron is just really pissed off and down to get revenge and murder. I remember when I watched Siege and my conclusion was "hey guys, you can just do Autobots Good Deceptions Bad"! Well guess what. they DID that here, to great affect.

That being said..... it did make the megop slightly less tasty. 😔 Autobots Good Deceptions Bad generally requires a goofier, more G1 style favoring of megop. The scene were Megatron drops Optimus into the pit is very befitting of him being evil but if he's already willing to genuinely kill Optimus this early? It does not bode well for the homoeroticism.

Also what this movie loses in not having the Megatron be a liberator is how he gets followers. The Deceptions being the old high council is such a odd thing. Sure they'd want to get rid of Sentinel now, but it's odd to think of them with their whole "the strongest bot rules" thing (or whatever it was, I forget the exact line but you get the gist) but wouldn't they have been working for the other Primes before Sentinel? Who were ostensibly the good guys? Why would they all join up with Megs after getting rid of Sentinel, when Megs goals are seemingly going to shape up to be "just killin everyone". Where would the Council's bloodlust be coming from? Maybe its a political party thing, the Prime Left vs the Council Right lol. Or maybe I missed something. Also side note is funny how Starscream had them all languishing in cowardice when I all I could think the same thoughts I had when a very similar thing happened in IDW's Spotlight Megatron, which was: "come on, it can't all be Starscream's fault. the other guys like Soundwave are competent right. why aren't guys like Soundwave doing shit."

Also may I say. HUGE ups to the timescale in this movie. It's been "50 cycles" since the quint war and if Megs and Optimus were born after it then they're 50 "cycles" old at most. And I missed it but I think Alpha Trion says the war went on for "hundreds and hundreds" of cycles. Four millions year naps? We don't know her!

Bumblebee was the kid appeal guy of course, but it wasn't too grating to me. What I think also helped is alot of the slightly awkward-to-me humor was already in the trailers. So I was prepared for it.

Finally, when Megatron generates his canon. Oooo big sexy.

I enjoyed myself alot! Of course its for kids but that at least wasn't to it's detriment. And it made me want to go look up some toys so. A SUCCESS on the only front Hasbro really cares about, lol.

[moonlight-tmd]

Can you write more on the mob family a.u but focused on Prowlbee?

To be honest it's one of those prompt ideas that don't click with me well so there's little info on that, but i can try. [anker post]

Prowl was impressed with Bee's abilities since they met- the scout was discreet, he planned ahead and took note of every advantage he had and used it. On top of the impressive skillset, he was adorable- cute and deadly one might say.

They get together and i will say it's about a year of them dating when Bugshot shows up and abducts Bee. They are left wonderign where the fuck Bee went until they get an unregistered Spark Signature on their radar along with Bee's. So they go check it out and are forced to into a chase with a black and yellow old school camaro with a closed-off trailer. So in a chase they get bumby and only then they see Bee, cuffed and gagged, nearly falling out of said trailer. At one point they get into a crash and Bugshot grabs Bee, points a blaster to his helm and tells them to frag off. And to their surprise they learn that the fucked up bot that is trying to murder Bee rn is his own Sire.

"You wouldn't kill your own Sparkling!!" Prowl protested, his own Spark trembling in its casing.

"Try me." Was all Bugshot said with the coldest and most Sparkless expression they ever seen.

They take advantage when Bugshot focuses his attention on Bee for a nanoklik to tell him to stop crying. Bugshot has to flee cuz he is outnumbered. Bee is so scared he is unable to talk until they go back to base. Ratchet kept him in medbay for the night cuz apparently his SIre has stuffed him with stasis-inducing chemicals.

The next day is when he is really questioned. Although it's just Optimus with him, he doesn't want to pressure Bee with others in the room. So Bee tells him the bare minimum he needs to knows, he refrains from telling OP about more personal stuff like how he was treated or where he was and did. Only that this was his Sire, he was forced to commit crimes and that he run away. Also that Bugshot wanted him dead cuz he knows too much.

Optimus is torn in what to do- one one hand this is a serious case that needs to get to Elite Guard for proper action. At the same time he doesn't want to tell the Elite Guard cuz they will take Bee away and put him somewhere no one can find him, and Bee obviously wants to stay with them cuz he feels safe here.

Prowl is very much stressed out- first Bee is kidnapped and then it turns out it was his Sire who's a boss of an underground mafia and THEN HE TRIED TO KILL HIM- yes, Prowl is very stressed out and scared. He sneaks into medbay when Bee was being held there and had a talk with him. Despite the scout feeling iffy from all the drugs he managed to push himself to answer few of Prowl's questions; that he was a former criminal, that he was suffering as a Sparkling and that he never wanted such life so he ran away. He was sure that Prowl would become sceptical of him but instead was met with a surprise of him promising to stay by his side no matter what.

Bee is scared to recharge with Prowl cuz the ninjabot has a room with uncovered entrance smack-dab in the middle on his room- so instead Prowl recharges with Bee every night in his room.

Now it's the 'idea flops dead' moment- idk what to do.

Most likely Team Prime manages to be heroes and catches Bugshot, they lie to Elite Guard that he wanted to steal the Allspark and he is taken captive- but of course he breaks loose just before they reach the prison on Cybertron and he is again missing without a trace. The Earth is being watched by an additional E.G. ship so that no more unwanted guests arrive to bother them.

As for Bee and Prowl, while they are concerned about Bugshot coming back they try not to focus on it and live their lives. However Bee feels this unfairness towards Prowl for not telling him some very important things- one day when Bee was keeping himself secluded on purpose and Prowl tried to talk to him- "My family had hired hitbots many times, Lockdown included... There was always a list of targets to be eliminated. Before i ran away i noticed that list and... one of the names there was "Yoketron"." Bee confessed, his family eliminated everyone who could potentially endanger them. His Sire hired Lockdown to offline Yoketron- Prowl's Sire-figure, for that very reason.

He didn't say anything else, he just left Prowl and locked himself in his room for the time being while his sparkmate tried his best to get him to explain further. Prowl was left to figure this out on his own for the night. In the end Prowl firmly stated that Bee is nothing like Bugshot and will love him no matter what.

On the side-note; Bee might teach Prowl few tricks from his criminal life just in case. You never know when you find yourself in danger with no advantages whatsoever.

And that's it. Nothing more to tell. Hope you are happy.

[ppnuggie]

HII OMG first of all, i was just stumbled upon ur account and im absolutely HOLLERING at ur chat scenarios with decepticons, especially the whip & nae nae situation 😭😭 i also read ur other written works and i absolutely love them!

OKAY OKAY SORRY I GOT OFF TRACK Since i just saw ur request box is open, can i request headcanons for Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and Jazz— what are their tendencies or how they overall react/handle things when they’re in an argument with their S/O, and how would they handle the argument when it somehow happened in the worst timing ever (like in an emergency hideout in the middle of a battle or some sort)

sorry if my english isnt the best and i hope you understand what i meant :( thanks a lot and looking forward for more amazing works from u! <3 (also hope u’re having a great day ahead)

　　　　　　BAYVERSE x gn human reader

　　　　『　jazz ,, optimus prime ,, gender neutral human reader 』

　　-> argument w/ so

　　— angst ish ,, sfw ,, curse warning

　　— so glad you enjoy my works !! :) your english is fine ,, so dont worry <33 i get what you mean !! just make sure next time you add what continuity of transformers ,, bc i only write for bay op but not bay bee ,, :(( nor did i really know what continuity this would be suited for <//3 so hopefully this is alright ?

— also sorry for my late income of getting requests out !! this is my last week of school before summer break ,, and so ill have all summer to do requests and such ,, but unfortunately all my finals are this week :( so ive been more focused on those instead !! promises i will get requests out !! feel free to send any more ideas and requests you have !! :D i dont write for just transformers anymore either !!

optimus prime

• arguments are definitely avoided ,, especially in this case ,, but the snarky remarks of how he didnt really care for the damage he would take in battle slipped out your mouth without your notice

• at first ,, op kind of brushed it off and focused more on trying to keep you safe from decepticons ,, yet when he had taken a heavy shot to his shoulder ,, your scolding made it clear that you were mad

• he could understand why you were upset ,, he did ignore what you had just said to avoid ,, and resulted in being scolded by both you and ratchet

• though the longer you went on about how he should have listened to you ,, how he should have been careful ,, how he should’ve seen it coming ,, he cant say he didnt feel slightly upset

• he felt as though you only saw him as a child as humans called them ,, coddling him when he knew what he was getting himself into ,, he’d known that since the beginning of the war

• and with you treating him in such a way ,, even though you meant it for good ,, he still became upset with it ,, as it was bad enough ratchet wouldnt let him back out when he was cleary needed ,, and he definitely didnt need you to talk his aft off about how he should’ve listened to you

• so maybe in the brink of the moment ,, with anger boiling his energon ,, he had said some harmful words ,, some sentences he didnt mean to say ,, only meant to keep them inside his mind

• “i can handle myself perfectly well, (l/n), i dont need you to fight.”

• obviously he had already stepped over the line with how aggressive his tone was in the beginning ,, but he crossed it more as he saw your eyes widen ,, the use of your last name coldly rolled off his glossa

• you huffed and crossed your arms ,, nose scrunched into wrinkles as your eyes glowed with rage ,, “look who finally put their big boy pants on.” was all you had said before leaving him alone with the others under ratchet’s care

• op was quite furious that you had left ,, even though he stepped the line quite a bit ,, especially since you were only looking out for him as he was your significant other

• he sighed ,, shaking his helm and tried to block out the sounds of gunfire in the background

• when the battle was over and won ,, op would try to seek you out ,, yet kept deciding against it ,, telling himself you’d need time to think about how he talked to you

• he lightly scolded himself for how he reacted ,, as he had been immature to say such words to you at the time

• though it took a week or two ,, you’d finally come around ,, and he would apologize as would you

• the two of you would take the time to have a small discussion ,, and take the argument from that day as a learning point to further prevent such thing from happening again

jazz

• like op ,, arguments rarely happen with jazz ,, as he is more chill and easy going then most ,, which was quite the person to vibe to ,, he didnt really show if he was irritated or didnt like someone often ,, and he was quite friendly

• though when he happened to act extremely careless ,, especially with his life on the line around megatron ,, it made you quite angered how he had disregarded himself like that

• and you were quick to express how you felt when he asked what the scowl was for ,, explaining that it was quite upsetting to act such a way around megatron ,, especially when he could have died

• jazz was quite taken aback ,, as he wasnt as used to hearing you mad ,, especially at him ,, though he did catch the few sentences saying you cared about him and if he’d die you’d be quite sad

• and he cant have his favorite human be sad now can he? he reached down and lightly ruffled your hair ,, telling you not to worry about him ,, that he’ll be fine

• though you didnt believe him ,, if anything ,, you kept on arguing about how him saying that was even worse as he just disregarded how you feel about him performing such careless acts

• he didnt really know what to say ,, only eyeing you before telling you to calm down and take a deep breathe ,, to cool off and then the two of you will discuss this

• it didnt take as long to make up as it did with op ,, as jazz was quite free often with his open schedule (if lennox or op wasnt filling it up with patrols) and he was ready to talk

• the talk went smoothly ,, aside the few tears you let loose when you told him that you just didnt want to loose him ,, especially when it could be avoided

• the mech only shakes his head ,, a small chuckle escaping him as he promised he wouldnt be going anywhere

[cas-kingdom]

Out of Sight

A/N: Set in Dark Side of the moon, when the autobots and Sam are saying their good byes before they’re sent back up in the rocket. I wondered how reader and OP’s good bye would go, and this came from that!

Title: Out of Sight

Summary: Optimus struggles with his conscience on whether or not he should tell you he won’t be leaving Earth.

Words: 1210

“Make it short,” Optimus’s voice was quick and deep as he spoke to ‘Bee. The yellow ‘Bot’s face fell, and he moved to speak to Sam as Optimus turned, taking the few steps over to where you were waiting by the rocket.

Waiting was a loose term. Really, you were fidgeting like mad, biting at your lip, eyes trained on Optimus. They left him for the briefest of moments as you watched ‘Bee and Sam move to talk. Your brother looked off. Seemed off. Had done for a while, now. But you didn’t think on it any longer as that shadow fell over you and you flicked your eyes back to those ice blue optics.

“Hi,” you said after a momentary pause. Your voice was squeaky. You would have felt ashamed if you weren’t so busy holding back tears.

“Hello,” Optimus replied, the rich, baritone voice you loved almost calming you completely. He tried a smile, the corners of his lips curling upward, but you glanced away immediately, turning your back on him. He blinked, seeing you quickly raise your arm to wipe at your eyes, and sighed.

“Y/N…” He took a small step forward and lowered a hand, placing it next to you on the floor. He saw you stare at it for a moment. Your shoulders were tense, and for a moment he wondered if you would stay as you were, but a second later you turned slightly, and he let a soft breath waft through him as you climbed onto his hand. He lifted it, straightening, and brought it up to his shoulder, where you instinctively moved to, clinging to his plating.

You sighed. “I don’t want you to go.”

Optimus’s fists clenched lightly at his sides, and he shook his head softly, staring up at the rocket in front of him. “I wish I did not have to,” he said. He turned to you, finding you were gazing thoughtfully at the rocket, too. Doubtlessly wondering all sorts. You were like that.

“You could stay in my garage,” you suggested, an innocent twinge to your voice. You moved your head to stare at him, shrugging lightly.

He chuckled softly. “I don’t think I’d be small enough.”

You smiled. “I don’t know. Dad would make it bigger if I asked.”

“I’m sure he would.”

“You don’t have to go.”

You were gripping onto him tightly, and he found himself sighing once more. “Yes, little wolf, I do. This is not my planet, though it may be my home. I must listen to its people first over anyone.”

“I’m one of its people,” you told him. “I want you to stay.”

He smiled. “And if only you were ruler of this Earth.” His expression softened. “We would all be saved.”

You weren’t sure why it was that that line finally brought the tears to your eyes, but it did, and you squeezed them shut. Maybe it was because of what he’d said. Maybe it was the way he’d said it. Maybe it was because, at the back of your mind, you knew it’d likely be one of the last things he’d ever say to you.

A deep sound reverberated through Optimus’s chest, and he lifted a finger, allowing you to grab hold of it in the only comfort he could physically give you. Often he wished he were human, if only in the moments you needed him to be, so he could hug you as he saw Will and Sam do, and press a kiss to your head in a way that wouldn’t likely crush you. But for now, as the tall, metal robot that he was, he could walk a way off under a ledge of the rocket, sit down on the damp ground, hidden from eyes and optics, and lean his head towards you. You rested your own against his, the coldness seeping in and somehow calming you.

“Don’t cry,” he said quietly, a hint of gentle pleading infused into his tone.

“I can’t help it.” You clutched his finger tightly. “You’re- leaving me.”

And in that moment, Optimus Prime felt a pang of conflict pierce his spark. Not only of guilt, which was something clearly there. He wasn’t leaving. That was the plain fact of it. But he had ordered his Autobots not to say a word of it to absolutely anyone. He knew it was hard to keep a secret. But it was for the safety, not only of them, but of the humans. Of you.

Nevertheless, he was feeling it harder, now, with you on his shoulder, crying for him to stay. It was not only guilt swirling inside, but panic. Why? He wasn’t sure. It wasn’t often he felt panic.

But he was feeling it all now and more. And he knew, deep down, it was panic at the thought of time running short. Of you feeling this pain and this loss while he was supposedly gone. Leaving willingly while he knew Decepticons still roamed and raged the lands.

He shut his eyes. It wouldn’t be a long-lasting pain, but it would be a pain all the same. A pain he could stop right now if he just...

“Y/N-” Your name left his lips before he could think about it twice, and he heard your sniffling pause for a moment as you turned red eyes to him. He was lost in them for a moment. He’d long since passed the slightly wild thought that a human could make him feel such a thing as lost. 

“Yeah?” Your voice broke him from his thoughts. He stared at you, realising he must have been silent for a while longer than he’d thought.

“I...” He sighed, shaking his head. He couldn’t. At least not directly. “Just...” he started. “However far I may seem to be, I’m closer than you know.”

Your eyebrows drew together for a moment, and you blinked. “What do you mean?”

And, damn him to Primus, he was so close. So close to telling you he wouldn’t be leaving you. Leaving Earth. That he’d barely be up in the sky for a few moments. But Ratchet came into view the second he opened his mouth to speak.

“We’re ready, boss,” Ratchet said. He stared between the two of you for a moment, optics narrowing a barely visible amount, but said nothing, walking off.

Optimus didn’t stand immediately. He gazed aimlessly at the spot Ratchet had left, before turning to you again, trying a smile.

You shuffled over, stretching your arms around his head as much as you could while he shut his optics and let a sigh flow through him. He heard you suck in a deep breath. “Thank you for everything.”

“Thank you,” he said, and you smiled, pressed a kiss to his helm, and jumped the short distance from his shoulder to the ground.

“I’ll be looking up.” You wiped at your eyes and let your arms hang loosely at your sides. “Bye, Optimus.” And you turned, walking briskly off. He watched you go. You crashed into Sam’s arms, your head ducked, and Sam gave him a final nod as he rose to his feet.

“Don’t look beyond the clouds, Y/N,” he whispered, his spark flickering. “I won’t be too far.”

Transformers Masterpost

[quetzalpapalotl]

So I did another dialogue reading because is so much fun, this time one of the conversations between Optronix and SG Megatron from chapter 11, it's kinda long. Again, full text under the cut.

"So," Megatron said as soon as Optronix leaned back and crossed his arms. "You almost died while I was away."

"I almost killed myself," Optronix corrected. "Let's not downplay what happened."

Megatron became acutely aware of the faint scent of disinfectant hanging in the air around them. "Yes." He stopped for a long time, not sure how to proceed-- or even if this conversation had a productive way to proceed. Finally he settled with a single question: "Why?"

Optronix's optics flashed. "Why?" He repeated, coldness breaking away to red-hot anger. "You condemned me to a lifetime in a cell after everything I've done, and you want to know why I tried to kill myself to get out of it?"

"You don't have a moral compass," Megatron answered. "Surely you didn't want to be executed out of sudden remorse or a sense of fairness for what you've done."

"That's not what this is about, and you know it!" The angry revv of Optronix's engine vibrated enough for Megatron to feel it through his pedes on the floor. Optronix pinched the bridge of his nose above his mask. "Well, there's one thing I'm still right about. The people of Cybertron still know anger and vengeance, and this entire affair is proof of that." He onlined his optics and started resetting the board pieces.

"Oh?" Megatron waited for Optronix to take the chance to keep ranting.

"It's simple. You get to keep your facade of mercy and fairness by sentencing me to a 'mere' life in prison rather than executing me outright. And in exchange, you and your Senate get to keep me in a cage, free to display as a sign of your dominance, keeping me alive to suffer through this farce all the while." Optronix stood from his chair forcefully, but all he did was reach over to Megatron's side of the board to reset his pieces for him before sitting back down.

Megatron picked his words carefully. "That's the way you choose to see it. In reality, the same door of rehabilitation is open to you as it is for every other Autobot. Your imprisonment is not a farce; you are merely refusing to take part in it."

"Please. No one, absolutely no one, actually believes that I can be rehabilitated. Not even that annoying therapist of mine, and especially not you. So if we're all in silent agreement that this entire affair is pointless, what, then, is the purpose of keeping me here? It's because I hate it here, and you lot know that I hate it, which is why you're all too happy to keep me here to rot away." Optronix snapped his first piece into its new position, a sharp sound cutting into silence.

Megatron had nothing to say. Everything Optronix had said was pure realism; vengeance was the primary motivation of those who had voted to keep him alive, and if there were any principles involved, they were merely obligation and equal treatment.

"You know it's true, don't you?" Optronix asked. "Finally, something honest out of you, and it's when you can't even say anything to rebut me."

"You are right," Megatron said. "But so am I. There's nothing stopping you from actually trying to participate in rehabilitation except your own pride. The possibility exists, Optronix. That's the entire point of this."

"There's 'nothing' stopping me..." Optronix rolled his optics and pinched the bridge of his nose again. "Just play the game so that I don't have to keep listening to you talk."

Megatron moved his own piece. It was always going to be this difficult. Asking Optronix of all people to change is like [...]. But I always knew that. That means that this is simply proceeding as I expected it to. In a way, it was a wonder; a thousand years ago, the thought of engaging in any sort of civil conversation with Optimus Prime was a pipe dream, completely impossible. So in that sense, the mere existence of this present moment was a miracle...

"Focus on the game, Megatron," Optronix said in annoyance, his voice cutting through Megatron's thoughts. Megatron surveyed the board and found that Optronix's strategy was far more keen this time; the pretense of averageness was gone, and in its place was a replica of everything Megatron had faced in war, condensed to fit within a single board game. If he kept playing the way he had for the last few moves, he was going to lose, and quickly.

The game continued at a ruthless pace. Optronix was the hardest opponent Megatron had ever matched, using aggressive moves and unpredictable strategies that sprang new traps just when Megatron thought he had outmaneuvered him. He nearly lost several times before finding a last-minute counterplay to preserve himself at the last moment. Optronix’s excitement grew beyond the glow of his optics, pushing against Megatron in the form of his energy field. At last, the game ended… with Optronix’s narrow victory, both of them reduced to their final few pieces.

Optronix leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms behind his helm. "So," he said. "If you are truly genuine in your belief that I can be rehabilitated, answer something for me. In an ideal future where I comply with rehabilitation and do everything required of my sentence... What kind of person do you see me becoming? What place do you see me having in society? Surely you aren't committing to something as arduous as rehabilitating me without some sort of goal.”

Megatron studied a piece between his fingers, imagining that it was one from Orion's board at home. He could nearly feel the texture of the carvings on the pads of his fingers. "Well, Optronix, you were never a good person even before the Matrix got its claws into you, so I'm not expecting you to suddenly become remorseful and charitable." He stayed quiet for a while longer, thinking. "I suppose your career options are rather limited when you're spending life in prison, but if you were to truly change your ways, we could easily give you access to all of Cybertron's archives. You could become a researcher again, and study whatever subjects catch your fantasy. Surely a mind like yours would find something of academic merit, solve it, and share it for the benefit of Cybertron."

"A mind like mine," Optronix repeated. "Why, Megatron, I never knew you could be so flattering."

Megatron gestured at the Turmae board. "Is it flattery, or just a statement of fact? You were renowned for your academic prowess long before you ever became a warmonger, and then I had a million years to find out how inventive you could be."

"Hmm." Optronix lowered his arms and leaned forward on the table instead, optics discomfitingly amused. "So the future you imagine for me is for me to become a simple librarian again, studying from my cell as if nothing was amiss, contributing to Cybertron's peaceful society, just like the one that I destroyed in my rise to power. Poetic."

"Not really." Megatron put his piece down and folded his arms, staring down at the board. "I can't tell you that I have any specific ideas for who or what you could become through rehabilitation. All I've ever really envisioned..." He looked up at Optronix, meeting that ruby gaze. "...was that maybe, one day, you would start caring more about improving life than about hurting other people."

The smile in Optronix's optics made Megatron feel sick. He dropped his own gaze and started resetting the pieces on the board again.

"Let's talk about hypotheticals, then. Say...that you never rebuilt the trans-universal portal, and you never brought me and my Autobots back home. What future would you envision for yourself and your Orion in that alternate outcome?"

Megatron stiffened-- and then relaxed, so quickly that the motion could have been taken for some sort of rapid glitch. "I'm not going to talk about him with you," he answered, but his throat felt tight, and he could hear the tension in his own voice. Of course Optronix had gone for that weakness. Of course Megatron couldn't suppress it.

"I think I can guess." Optronix's voice felt like poison leaking its way into Megatron's processor. "He was an idealistic one, wasn't he? He cared so much about doing the right thing that he was willing to sacrifice anything, including his own happiness-- and everyone else's-- to achieve it. Isn't that right, Megatron?"

"Stop talking and just play the game, Optronix. Or else I'm going to leave."

"’Every person who dies to escape slavery or to save others from enslavement. Autobot, Decepticon. They are all casualties of evil. I mourn for them,’" he quoted. "Oh Megatron, you weren't just deflecting when you told me that your Orion was an amazing public speaker. I almost felt something for a few moments, watching the recordings of him talk."

Where did he-- the news archives. Of course he would have spent time researching just to know how to hurt me. Megatron felt protective, possessive; for all that there were hundreds of public sites documenting Orion's speeches, when Optronix spoke of them, it felt like something private and sacred was being violated by his gaze touching it.

"I'm not kidding, Optronix. Keep trying to provoke me, and I will leave."

Optronix didn't even hesitate, didn't stop staring into Megatron's optics. He just kept talking faster. "What future would someone like you have had with someone like him? Nothing, that's what. If he had stayed here, he would have been turning a blind eye to injustice, ignoring every principle he stands for, all for your sake."

Megatron stood up and turned. His wing nearly clipped Optronix over the head, but he dodged it and then stood as well.

"He would have come to hate you for what you had done. No matter what choice you made-- bringing us back, keeping us away-- the outcome would have been the same. Orion leaves you, or Orion hates you."

You think I don't know that? You think that isn't why I let him go? But Orion wouldn't... Megatron remembered a dirt-streaked Orion shouting, "You should care about what happens to them!" If Megatron hadn't listened to him, then maybe Orion would...

Megatron violently terminated that line of thought. It didn't matter. He had made the decision; he had done the right thing and sent Orion back, not because of some vile mech like Optronix baiting him, but because he had loved Orion. Because he had realized that he was right.

"Goodbye, Optronix," Megatron said spitefully, passing through the forcefield. He withdrew the security chip from subspace, turning his back on Optronix and walking to the door. I can't get rid of this fast enough.

"Retreating again, Megatron? That's what you've always been best at: running away from your mistakes, hoping you could forget about them. Like you tried with me."

A shudder wracked Megatron's whole body. His fist tightened around the security chip, cracking it.

"You'd better not run away from me again, Megatron," Optronix whispered. "Prove that you've changed. Prove that you have a scrap of courage in your whole body and face me."

Megatron drew in a hissing breath and turned, feeling like his plating was peeling away. "I have changed," he gritted out. "But of course you haven't. I was wondering when you would finally make your move."

"It's easy to bury your sins when none remain who care to remember them." If Optronix's mask wasn't up, he would have been smiling cheek to cheek. "Luckily for you, I have a very good memory, and a mind that knows how to discern the truth from a situation."

"Cut the theatrics and spit it out!" Megatron stomped to face Optronix, face-to-face on opposite sides of the forcefield. "What 'truth' do you have to tell me? Please grace me with your understanding."

"Well. The benefit of switching universes was that I got access to all of those Autobots' records, and on top of everything I know about this universe... I must say that I am truly the most enlightened one out of all of us involved. I think I know more about 'Orion' than you do!"

"No, you don't," Megatron spat.

"And I know more about you than he did."

"No, you don’t. Orion did know me.”

"He knew parts of you. The pleasant ones. The ones that he-- and you-- didn't feel uncomfortable thinking for too long about. I know better, though."

"You know me from a time of war. You know the worst parts of me, and you think that they are the truest parts of me, simply because your twisted mind assigns the greatest value to atrocity and hatred, and you believe that the existence of evil nullifies the existence of good."

"Please," Optronix drawled. "The existence of good doesn't nullify the existence of evil, either. But both of you really did a good job ignoring the worst parts of each other, didn't you?"

"No," Megatron said, thinking of being awoken night after night by Orion screaming or sobbing in his sleep.

"Orion Pax was an officer of the law for an authoritarian regime. He was--"

"You think he didn't tell me that already?"

"-- in other words, he was one of the reasons that his universe's Decepticons even had something to fight against. Arresting lower class citizens, serving a Prime-- ha, imagine that, a Prime besides me-- who brainwashed his own citizens... He was to them what I was to you."

"Was." Megatron crossed his arms. "Is this the best you can come up with, Optronix?"

"I read his journal, you know. If he hadn’t been so set in his ways, or if he had tried to talk to his Megatron sooner, he could have prevented the war from ever escalating to the point of destroying Cybertron. He admitted it himself." Optronix raised his hands in a shrug. "How convenient, then, that you pulled him away from that universe that he shared the blame for ruining, and brought him here, where he got a clean slate and no one except his own loyal followers who remembered what he did."

Megatron remembered that, in the early days, when the war wounds had been more fresh, he had heard the murmurs of resentment Orion’s Autobots had said about their Decepticons… and he had thought of it as poetically perfect, that his invention had brought their two factions of nobility together and left the destructive ones to their own devices. Paying evil unto evil. “Yet Orion chose to go back specifically to set those wrongs right. And I still love him, even though he chose the path that walked away from mine.”

"Love such as yours was only able to exist because you stole it from another universe and built it with someone who you didn't know all of, and who didn't know all of you. The two of you made the perfect pair of fools. I hope you enjoyed your time together, because I certainly enjoyed my time with the other you!"

Megatron narrowed his optics, face twitching. He remembered the names Optronix had shouted after the trial. He remembered the casual way Optronix had spoken of violating his other self's mind. The other Decepticons were about to lose their war, just like we were...

"And speaking of that," Optronix continued. "What was even your plan with a trans-universal portal in the first place? Surely you knew that I would continue my crusade in whatever other universe you threw me into. Why are you so bothered by the thought of what I do to mechs from another universe that you'll never meet?"

"It wasn't a decision I made lightly. We were... we were in danger of losing to you, before we built the portal. I wasn't going to risk all of my Decepticons being enslaved by you."

"Yes, well, what happened was that I just ended up enslaving a different universe's Decepticons instead. But at least they weren't yours, right? Were their lives an acceptable trade-off for your life of domestic bliss?"

"This would be a compelling argument if it was coming from someone that actually cared about ethics outside of the desire to play mind games with other people." Megatron's fists were clenched, and he felt hot all over.

"Fifty percent. Over half of the Decepticons in that other universe were killed in our war. Oh... and half of my Autobots, too! Think about it, Megatron! Think of all those lives that never got their chance at redemption. All of those lives that were enslaved to me, who died fighting their own comrades. The former Decepticons of yours who were taken away to another universe who died alone, never to see their friends or their home ever again."

"That's why we decided to build the second trans-universal portal! To set things right again!" Megatron slammed his hands against the forcefield, staring into Optronix's optics as he shouted. "Does change mean nothing to you? Is this why you refuse to even try to make yourself a better person? Because you think that all we can be are our worst mistakes?"

"This isn't about me, Megatron. This is about you." Optronix leaned in until his forehead touched the forcefield, staring at Megatron in a parody of intimacy. His voice began in a whisper, and rose louder and louder with every sentence. "I alone on Cybertron know the extent of what you did. And let me tell you this, because I know no one else ever will: Every action we take has a consequence. The peace and love you bought for yourself were earned from cowardice, built on the deaths of mechs who were never involved in our war. You tried to win the best of both universes for yourself, but the universe detests cowardice. That's why no matter what you did, you were only ever going to lose all of it."

Optronix put his hands over where Megatron's rested and snapped back his mask, baring his face and the ghoulish grin beneath. It could barely be called a grin, for wide strips of his face had been removed, covered only by thin surgical mesh that couldn't conceal the facial mechanisms beneath. His face was made more out of holes than there was any actual face left. Only the teeth were still perfectly visible, and so much of Optronix's face had been cut out that far too much of them showed. The remainder of his face seemed like it would completely split open from the ferocity of his sadistic smile.

"Everything you strived for ended in loss. The universe gives people like you what they deserve, which is why your precious Orion left you, and all you have is me instead!"

[anon-e-miss]

Is Ratchet in the trailer? Did Punch drag Ratchet all the way to Polyhex with him? Do Rico and Jazz know?

Though the newling was rooting at Prowl's chassis, he did not expose his wells or attempt to reignite that bit of code. He had no idea what disease might be hiding in his frame. Prowl had not had a purge in nine quartexes, there was no telling was contagion he might be carrying in his energon. Speaking softly, Prowl rocked the bitlet and encouraged his creations to be patient with the young twins who had become instantly enamoured with them. They rolled a ball on the floor, the Twins, Bluestreak, and Tripwire and the little ones.

As the newling became increasingly distressed, Prowl removed his narrow band of armour. There was a time the idea of Ricochet seeing his wells and spark would have made him recoil but they were hardly sacred anymore. He laid the newling over his spark chamber and hoped the radiation of his spark might be a comfort. The little one seemed to soothe. Prowl stroked his helm as he cooed softly at him. He went silent when the door opened and Jazz appeared, with his originator this time and not with anymore bitlets.

"It's time to go," Jazz said. "Ori, think ya can get those lil bits?"

"Oh sure," Punch replied. Prowl felt his spark race as Punch, just a stranger, an intimidating one at that, coaxed the toddling mechling and femmeling to magnetize as he settled the femmeling on his back and the mechling his front. "Ya don't forget these things."

"Ori carries us like that!" Sideswipe exclaimed.

"Well sure," Punch replied. "It's the best way to carry twins. Yer geni 'n uncle are twins too." "Oh!" Sideswipe exclaimed. "We took after our geni!"

"In more than a few ways," Punch declared, fondly and Prowl had to to like him, a little.

"Trip, can your geni carry you?" Barricade asked. "So I carry Blue? You know he's a little shy with strangers."

"Uh huh!" Tripwire, leapt right into Ricochet's arms. The look of awe on the mech's face when he held his creation for the first time soften a little of Prowl's anger on his batchmate's behalf. "You wouldn't drop me? Right?"

"Never," Ricochet promised and Prowl was prepared to believe him. Barricade scooped Bluestreak up, watching Ricochet with Tripwire. He was anxious, Prowl understood that completely.

"I call Geni's back," Sideswipe declared and Prowl watched as Jazz froze as his/their imperious mechling climbed him like a jungle gym. Sunstreaker looked between Prowl and Jazz. Jazz knelt to his level.

"I can put ya on yer ori's back," Jazz offered. "Or I can carry ya, whatever ya like, Sunstreaker."

"Ori's tired," Sunstreaker said.

"I am never too tired to carry you," Prowl assured him.

"Geni can carry me," Sunstreaker said, he stretched his arms out to his progenitor. "Just this once."

"Thank ya for trustin' me, Sweetspark," Jazz said. He wrapped his arms around Sunstreaker and Prowl's spark fluttered as he watched his first breath in their first emerged's scent. The youngling hung back as they sorted out the mechlings. "Ya good, to walk, Smokey?"

"I'm fine," the youngling said. "You're taking me with you?"

"Of course," Jazz said and Prowl echoed the sentiment.

"Let's get movin'," Punch declared. "We got a friend waitin' in the trailer to see to y'all."

"Who?" Prowl asked, feeling alarmed.

"Ratchet," Jazz replied. Prowl's knees locked. Prime's medic. Prime's own medic. Why was the Prime's medic here? Why? His processor was grinding and it hurt to think. Jazz's digits massed the back of his neck, the magnets pulsing low. Prowl sighed and his helm drooped. "Soon as he got wind what we was comin' after, Ratchet declared he was comin' long. Since he'd o' stowed away if we refused, it was better to say yes. Better to let'm get started sortin' ya out."

"You are intimately involved with the Autobots," Prowl observed as he adjusted his hold on the newling. He only then realized he had not replace his armour, he had become so used to being nude in public. Even after this revelation, Prowl did not bother reaching for. None of the mechs presented teeked of arousal at the sight of him. Why would they be aroused?

"'M Commander o' Spec Ops," Jazz replied. "The left servo 'o the Prime."

"I see."

"Optimus isn't who we thought he was back then," Jazz assured him. Prowl did not care for his assurances. "Y'll see for yerself."

The brothel was dead silent as they walked to the backdoor favoured by those clients who needed to employ discretion. A grey trailer was parked immediately next to the stairs, its ramp already lowered. Maybe they were about the be ferried into the pleasure work for new masters. Prowl looked at and could not believe that this was possible. Ratchet appeared, the Iaconian medic's crisp red and white paint served to identify him as the medic he was. He made a sound, a gruff rumble as they walked up the ramp and Prowl resisted shrinking as he was forced to step passed him. The back of the trailer was covered in pillows and blankets. It was not a crew carrier, but a cargo hauler. Perhaps it would not be the most comfortable of transports, it would be utterly discrete.

"I was expecting four," Ratchet's tone was accusing as he spoke to Ricochet.

"So I didn't actually know Prowl'd had twins," Ricochet replied. "Or that he'd adopted a sick bitlet. The littlests Jazz found abandoned after their originators flew the coop and then there's the youngling and he's got his own story."

"Get comfortable," Ratchet ordered. He placed a servo on Prowl's shoulder and urged him down. "That newling looks fresh."

"I found 'm by the smelter," Jazz expained softly.

"Leaking lubricants," Ratchet cursed.

"Language!" Tripwire scolded as he wagged a digit at Ratchet, he was still held snuggly in Ricochet's arms. Ricochet would not let the medic discipline him. Ratchet looked at the fearless mechling and laughed.

"My apologies," he said. "Why don't you settle in? Make yourself a pillow fort."

"Sooo many pillows," Sideswipe sighed and he hopped off Jazz's back and tugged at Sunstreaker's ped.

His twin followed him and his cousin and they dove into the pile. Barricade lowered Bluestreak down next to Prowl and then sat himself, watching, not only the mechlings but the medic and Prowl. Punch sat next to him, with the mechling and femmeling twins. Ricochet joined them. Smokescreen did not seem to know what to do with himself but Punch took his servo and urged him to sit with them. He was safe. They all were and it felt so eerie. Jazz looked between the sparklings and Prowl before deciding to sit with Prowl.

"I'll start with the newling," Ratchet declared and he sat across from Prowl. Though he did not want to, Prowl gave him the bitlet. "Have you initiated the code to fuel him?"

"I have not," Prowl replied. "I had Pox and other ITD, I do not know what I could be carrying now, I am concerned my fuel is contaminated."

"It's unlikely," Ratchet replied at the same time as he examined the bitlet with his servos, he ran scanners over Prowl. "Your self repair systems are non existent. Literally, the programs have gone into standby due to your complete lack of nanite's. Jazz, get some pillows for his back."

"I think Bluestreak may have something of the same problem," Prowl replied, forgetting his fears of this mech. Below him, the trailer rolled as the Convoy took off for parts unknown to him. "He was addicted to Syk, his originator gave him small doses to keep him quiet. He has not put any mass on since we weaned him off it."

"I'll sort him out," Ratchet promised and Prowl believed him. Jazz guided him to lay back on the stacks of pillows and blankets he had claimed. Ratchet strapped a pump to Prowl's belly and inserted a line from it into an energon line near his hip. "The nanites will act as an external self-repair system while yours recharge. You'll wear the pump until I say otherwise."

"Yes, Medic," Prowl replied.

"I'll give you a booster divert energon to your wells," Ratchet said. "And take a sample before we put the bitlet on."

It was startling how quickly Prowl felt his nozzles stiffen as his wells swelled. Ratchet declared his frame must have initiated the code on its own at the sound of a hungry newling. Prowl was wary of such a loss of his autonomy, though the medic said it was common with experience origins. He and Barricade had nursed each other's creations when one or the other had been forced to work passed the fuelling time. They had both over produced in the end but it had allowed their creations to be well fuelled despite their surroundings. With a professional, plantonic touch, Ratchet stimulated Prowl's nozzle and energon leaked from it. He ran a tested on the rich fuel.

"Perfectly clean," Ratchet declared. "You want to try nursing him?"

"Yes, please," Prowl said and he reached for the bitlet. "He has been so hungry. I do not believe he has ever fuelled."

"Since he's dehydrated, I'd agreed," Ratchet replied. Prowl looked at the medic with alarm and Jazz brushed a thumb over his shoulder. "He's sort out quickly after he's fuelled from you."

There was no hesitation from the newling, he latched onto Prowl's nozzle and suckled greedily. Bluestreak watched with a little wonder as the bitlet drank from Prowl's well. He was lurred from Prowl's side with the offer of a treated and he sucked on the lollipop as Ratchet examined him with servos and scanners. When Ratchet said Bluestreak did indeed have no self-repair systems in place, he was encouraged to cuddle into Prowl's side before Ratchet installed not one but two pumps.

"He has Fuel Malabsorbtion Syndrome," Ratchet explained. "The external pump will give him constant infusions of vital nutrients until I can sort him out. This brave mechling is going to be fine and healthy in no time."

"Do you hear that?" Prowl asked as he stroked Bluestreak's helm. "You are going to be chasing after the Twins in no time."

[needs-to-stop-looking-at-valves]

Transformers Siege (WFC) show review!!;

So a lot of people have different opinions on this show, let me tell you guys some of my pros and cons!

*spoilers/thirst/swearing might be included.

Pros!!; 

Wheeljack getting to say ass. Took me out when I heard it for the first time.

The fact that they addressed how decepticons were mistreated through various means.(Like the time they revealed the ‘core override implants’. That shit was clearly a touchy topic, and I REALLY enjoyed the fact that Prowl hated thinking about it and its history.

Blackarachnia was fucking GAY. And I loved how they chose HER to have such raw energy. It wasn’t at ALL forced, and I appreciated my girl looking and feeling free.

Megatron ACTUALLY said ‘Starscream was right’, can you fucking imagine-

Optimus’s character arc. He came off as SO unlikeable. Like he was impulsive, kind of full of himself in a way, only for him to do a full 180 into the Prime we grew to know and love.

Megatron saying ‘fuck you’ to Galvatron. I love a Megatron that just won’t take that ‘my way or the highway’ bullshit (though Prime Wars Megatron did it the best).

The way the show LOOKS. Seriously, everything is SO detailed. Scuffed paint, feather textures, scales-all of it looks SO good?

Everything with Elita one. Fucking Queen, she deserved to kiss OP (or her three little simps either or-) at the end god dammit.

They gave Airrazor a LITTLE more screen time, and I appreciated what they did with what little they had.

That one fucking moment where Optimus had Megatron at gun point and asked for forgiveness. That WILL hurt you.

This is the FIRST time I've ever liked a Quintisson? I mean bitch WAS crazy.

Season two episode four. Optimus was ANGRY gay that episode, I loved it

The way the different continuities merged was actually really cleverly done, especially by showing the death of a different Optimus Prime.

Cons!!;

The voice acting. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen shittier voice acting in shittier series. I just feel like if you’re already a tf fan, you’ll be disappointed. From Beast wars Megatron, to Dinobot, it just won’t hit the same level compared to other series.

They hinted at Sunstreaker again, but didn’t give us SHIT-

Impactor’s death. Homophobic.

Galvatron. I just. Wasn’t impressed with him, aside from appearances. I was gonna include Nemesis as well, but that dude had major feral energy, and I appreciated that, so just fuck Galvatron. 

I appreciated the characterization in some of these guys, but the plots of some of the episodes seemed to just, zoom on by? I mean it was better than it being drawn out like some other series (RID2015), but it’s something that takes me out of it, in terms of pacing.

Megatron didn't get the happy ending he deserved. Optimus got insane amounts of closure, while Megatron and his decepticons were just kinda thrown to the wind. It's better than no punishments, but decepticon get the bad end of it in most shows. For more details on this kinda idea, I have @baebeyza post about it, definitely read it, it has great points;

Final thoughts!!; This show isn’t bad in the slightest, but it's personally not something I loved completely. I loved things ABOUT it, but it's not a series I'd recommend to my friends. Certain scenes sure, but not the series as a whole. 7/10. It could be improved by steady pacing and more gay moments, but on the whole, not too bad.

[eldritch-araneae]

Sparkpulse IV: Sleeping Beast Within.

Summery:

Bumblebee and Cheetor are chilling together on a nice quiet evening :3

It’s a nice and calm evening today. No Decepticons activities. Bumblebee and Cheetor are relaxing on a random ledge above the cafeteria, watching everyone chilling with their energon. Cheetor is currently in their spotted ray-cheetah alt form, laying with their limbs tucked underneath the body. A position which everyone lovingly calls a “loaf form”. Bumblebee is beside his feline friend, pressing onto their side and mimicking the same position.

Both Special Operations agents were talking about random stuff, from patrol and mission discussions to random shenanigans that happened to other Autobots. Life is never boring in their department, even during the night, considering a lot of agents are nocturnal cybertronians, including Bumblebee himself.

Bumblebee slightly nudges Cheetor to make them look at him. Cheetor is hard-of-hearing, and their hearing can vary from moderate to severe. They have hearing aids, but sometimes they are not much help. So everyone quickly learned that they must make sure that Cheetor sees them before talking to make lip-reading and signing easier.

“How was your patrol, by the way?” Bumblebee asks his diurnal friend.“Did you find any interesting stuff among the ruins?”

“Nope, whatever was in that building eroded long ago.” Cheetor sighs, but then grins a second later. “I still can’t believe you found that super old board game intact!” they exclaimed, lightly bumping the minibot with their nose.

Bumblebee giggles at the display of affection. He loves little things like this. He bumps Cheetor back with his forehead. “I know right! It was in such good condition that even acid rain and stuff didn’t eat it.”

At that moment, Jazz enters the room and as he sees the pair of “cats” on the ledge above, he bursts into laughter.

“I must admit, Cheetor, I never expected you to teach our youngest member the way of the cat!” the head of Special Operations Department chortles, “Bumblebee, please be honest! Can you purr already?”

Cheetor wheezes at Jazz’s question, while Bumblebee grins widely.

“Well, I tried, but apparently I can only growl.” the minibot answers with all his honesty. “It doesn’t feel like I am supposed to be a feline.”

“Well, it doesn’t stop you from being a cat anyway!” Jazz grins, gesturing at Bumblebee’s current “loaf” position. Cheetor wheezes, making a sound like a kettle from Wheeljack’s lab. That caused all three to burst into laughter. After that, they exchanged a few words before Jazz went to grab his energon cube. The minibot and the beastformer keep chilling on the ledge, observing everyone below them.

Imitation is an interesting thing indeed. It’s a natural process that allows a living being to fit better in their social environment.

It’s not like Cheetor was teaching Bumblebee feline behavior on purpose. It just happened because the minibot spent a lot of time with them and other Autobot felines after he made amends with Steeljaw.

Bumblebee adopted some cat mannerisms. This is when his beast protocols surfaced. Both Perceptor and Botanica are absolutely sure the minibot was bound to be a beastformer, but lack of resources forced him to take a vehicle-type alt form. This leaves a lot of questions, but it’s not possible to answer them for now.

Still, this explains a lot of things: his quadrupedal mode could be an attempt of his body to compensate for the lack of beast-type alt form. Or how he feels like he’s missing some parts, like additional limbs.

Bumblebee is sure he’s supposed to have wings! Every time he swings with his cables, the overwhelming nostalgia makes his spark ache and his back feels abnormally light. After a while, this feeling grew into an itch, and just swinging around the stronghold wouldn’t satisfy it anymore.

Windblade could see the pained look on his face, so she indulged him and took him skydiving. Just flying up with her already feels so much better. And the moment Windblade turns off her engines and they start falling is pure joy, making him tear up every time.

The wind rushing past him, the feeling of flying, the stimulant rush. Bumblebee forgets about all his insecurities and worries, feeling that he belongs in the sky.

This is the closest to flying he ever got, or will ever get, as sad as it sounds.

Bumblebee shakes his head. There is no reason to wallow about things he can’t have, he has to work with what he’s given. That’s why he can’t wait for Windblade to come back from her mission, so they can go skydiving again.

The anticipation quickly fades as the door opens to the cafeteria, revealing Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker going in. The minibot tenses upon seeing them. Those two are not buddies, not at all.

“Bee, are you okay? Your optics have slits.” Cheetor’s voice pulls Bumblebee’s attention to themself. Pupils turning into slits, another feature of a beastformer, that happens when one is angry, exposed to light, or in alt mode.

“I’m okay, it’s just... well him.” He hisses at Sunstreaker below, who seems like he didn’t realize that Bumblebee is in the room too. “I still don’t know what I did to him to receive such treatment.”

“He’s always been such a slaghead as long as I remember.” Cheetor sighs. “But it’s undeniable that he’s really out there to get you for no reason. Don’t worry, I will eat his shins if he tries to do anything to you!”

Bumblebee smiles at support. He really appreciates it. Though this smile fades quickly because the problem is still there and he does not know what to do with this.

Sunstreaker hates the minibot for unknown reasons and will grab any chance to harass him. Thankfully, his friends, especially Windblade, made it crystal clear that if he hurt Bumblebee, Sunstreaker won’t come out in one piece.

Still, Bumblebee feels that animosity directed at him from the yellow gladiator’s spark.

That’s just so unfair that it hurts!

Thankfully, before Bumblebee could start fully seething about this, Blaster, with his cassettes, entered the cafeteria. Cheetor greets the fellow Special Ops members, which pulls the minibot out of the spiral of negative emotions.

Suddenly, the optics of Bumblebee, Cheetor, Steeljaw and Nightstalker are locked onto each other. For a few seconds, they stared. Everyone who noticed this stopped doing what they were doing because they knew what would happen next.

Who will run first?

Who will start the game?

The next second, Nightstalker bolts from the spot they were standing into the stronghold corridors. Steeljaw jumps after them, followed by Bumblebee and Cheetor jumping from the ledge.

The chase has begun, leaving laughing bots in the cafeteria behind!

The stomping is so intense that someone might think it’s Dinobots, not three cats and Bumblebee running through corridors. He never said it out loud, but those games helped him to be more confident with his quadrupedal mode, making him even more agile.

After a few more turns of running, Steeljaw catches Nightstalker. Now it’s their turn to be chased. He turns around and runs in the opposite direction, into the medical wing.

A medbay door opens, and Ratchet almost got thrown on the floor if he didn’t see Steeljaw coming. With a yelp, he quickly jumps back into the room, and the rest of the group runs by him. He can only shake his head as he foresees someone getting hurt. But he cannot deny that cats need to get their zoomies out... though he still can’t believe they dragged Bumblebee into their games.

The three beastformers and the minibot keep running until Bumblebee finally catches Steeljaw.

“You’ll never catch me!” the minibot proclaims, as he takes an instant sharp turn and starts running at full speed.

“Hey!” Cheetor yelps, not expecting such a fast reaction from the minibot. Being the fastest quadrupedal out of Autobots, they quickly catch up with the minibot, almost being within their reach.

Bumblebee feels ‌Cheetor is getting close to him and takes another unexpected turn to avoid being caught. But surprises won’t end here.

Just ahead of him, the door opens and Optimus Prime steps into the corridor. Bumblebee sees it too late and slams into his leg at full speed. Optimus loses balance and falls onto his back. Cheetor, who was right behind Bumblebee, couldn’t stop in time and stepped all over their leader, including his face, before sliding into the wall. Steeljaw and Nightstalker, who were much farther behind, heard the commotion and slowed down, only slightly bumping into Optimus.

“What happened?! Are you okay, Optimus?” Prowl rushed from the same room to help his friend sit up.

“I am alright.” Optimus reassures the second in command and looks at the yellow culprit, who is laughing on the floor right.

“I’m sorry, Prime! I didn’t see you!” Bumblebee somehow utters the apology between laughs. He was so focused on getting away from Cheetor on his tail that he didn’t even pay attention to what was in front of him.

“I’m sorry too, for stepping on you!” Cheetor, who is giggling, apologizes next. “Looks like we got carried away.”

This earned a fit of giggles from everyone. Bumblebee’s laugh is simply contagious. No one can resist, not even serious bots like Prowl.

“This was bound to happen, I feel. Though, I wouldn’t expect Bumblebee to be the one throwing me off my feet.” Optimus chuckles. He turns to Bumblebee, who, despite the laughing fit, is cradling his left arm. “Are you alright?”

“I’m okay!” Bumblebee exclaims, trying to throw his arms up, but his left arm quickly responds with pain from sharp movement. “Ow, ow, ow!” he grimaces. “Okay, maybe I’m not. Looks like I dislocated my shoulder or something.” he corrected with a giggle. Sure, it hurts, but this entire situation is too amusing to him to focus on the pain.

“Oh no!” Cheetor feels bad for their friend. “I will make sure he’ll make it to medbay!”

“Good. So what did we learn today?” Prowl asks the youngest member of Autobots.

“I learned that if I slam into Prime’s leg hard enough --” he didn’t even finish as everyone erupted into laughs again.

After everyone calmed down, Cheetor with the cassettes helped Bumblebee to get to the medbay.

When they entered Ratchet’s domain, the medic already could guess what happened. But he would never guess who fell victim to their shenanigans this time.

“Let me get this straight.” Ratchet slightly pinches the bridge of his nose.” You, Bumblebee, tripped Optimus Prime? And damaged your left arm in the process?”

The only answer he received was another row of laughter from beastformers, which served as confirmation.

“Aright. Bumblebee, you get into the berth, and your three are out.” Ratchet said. The minibot nodded to his playmates, and they went back to their game, chasing after Cheetor.

Then he walks over to the berth. Ratchet helps him to get on it with his magnetokinesis, before proceeding to inspect the injury. The medic carefully popped Bumblebee’s shoulder into the socket. The pain is lifted.

“Thanks, Ratchet.” Bumblebee says sheepishly.

“You should be more careful with their games. You are not as durable as they are, Bumblebee, and they tend to play rough.” Ratchet grumbles.

“C’mon, they never hurt me, and it’s fun!” Bumblebee protests. He doesn’t like to be reminded of his condition, though he knows this comes out of concern. “Alright, alright I will.”

Ratchet nods, satisfied with the answer. “Hold still, I will check if your arm sustained any more injuries.”

Bumblebee decided to check radio channels as he waited. Maybe he can hear if Windblade is coming back soon. After swapping multiple channels, Bumblebee stumbled upon a strange signal.

The signal is transmitted through a channel that he never saw before. As if it was turned off until someone began using it recently. And the signal itself is something he never heard Autobots or Decepticons using. It sounded like a series of beeps, short and long.

“Is something wrong?” Ratchet asks, noticing the minibot’s confused expression. Bumblebee opens the radio channel with the medic, letting him listen to that signal.

“Did you hear something like this before?” he asks the medic. He’s one of the eldest Autobots. Surely he heard something like this, right?

But Ratchet is confused as much as Bumblebee, “I do not know. We should notify the High Command about this. Who knows if Decepticreeps invented another way of secret communication… after I finish with your arm.”

The minibot nods and continues listening to the signal. He can’t help but feel it seems oddly familiar to him. After multiple passes, Bumblebee notices it has a specific pattern that looks like this:

... .... .- -.. --- .-- .-.. ..- .-. -.- . .-. --..-- / .-- . / -. . . -.. / - --- / - .- .-.. -.- .-.-.-

After he got the pattern, much to Bumblebee’s surprise, his system recognized it and began deciphering. When he saw the meaning of the message, his spark almost jumped out of his chest.

“WHAT?!”

[dragons-socks]

Baby Bumblebee chpt 1

Bumblebee wheezed as his optics faded in and out of focus. His helm must have taken some damage as the humans around looked larger than he was. They were wearing white coats and blue outfits. They were shouting at each other. Bee tried to think back to what happened before he was here. He remembered going on a mission with Lennox and the op team. He could feel himself going into stasis. He tried to fight it. A mask was put over his face and for some reason the air grew thicker. The last thing he could hear was Lennox’s voice shouting in a different room asking for Bee.

When he woke up, it was to a white room on an unusually soft bed. Everything looked large. It almost looked like he was in Optimus’s room, however, it wasn’t the design of Optimus’s room. And in this strange very large room sat Lennox. He was asleep in a chair that was both large and also fit perfectly to the small human captain. Bee’s processor’s couldn’t comprehend what this mad illusion was trying to show him. He tried to access his radio to splice songs together to communicate to the captain. He even tried to use his binal speech to at least get the humans attention. However neither would work. He started to feel panicked, and tried with all his spark to comm-link into the other Autobots. It was silent and no messages seemed to be sent.

This made the young Autobot even more panicked. He could hear loud panting and the hammering of a very loud human heartbeat right next to his ears. He turned to see if Lennox was hyperventilating, but the man stayed quiet and asleep. Bee trembled from his bed and fell to the floor in hazey pain. He got up on shaky legs. It almost feels as if had just gotten out of surgery after his legs were blown up. He stumbled through a doorway hoping it was a way out of this unreal world and back to Optimus or Sam or anyone really. Even the normal sized Lennox would be better than the whacked out world he found himself in.

This strange room yielded even more terrifying and strange results. Its what Sam calls a bathroom. It usually was so tiny; as much in this new place was supposed to be. However, it was the mirror that had Bee frozen in horrific shock. Instead of seeing his face with his mouth guard fused into place and his glowing blue optics gleaming against almost too bright of a yellow finish. A human was staring at him. They were much smaller and looked younger than Sam. Bee reached out towards the mirror and the reflected image reached back towards him with small hands. A choked gasp struggled out of Bee and the image reflected his fear. He and the boy reached towards their head and instead of a metallic helm, fluffy blonde locks ran through his bandaged fingers as well as the reflection. He ran to the mirror, climbing onto the sink and sitting as close to the reflection as he could. He inspected this strange form he found himself in, investigating the realness of the image. He didn’t realize he had been clicking his tongue and making distressed whines as he fell even further into despair.

“Bumblebee?” Lennox whispered, slowly walking into the room. Bee glanced at the Lennox and cowered closer to the mirror, away from this not-Lennox. He held his hands out in defense, ready for a fight. Not-Lennox stopped, not moving an inch. Bee tried to talk to him again. But all that came out were whines, rumbles, and tongue-clicks. “It’s me, kid. It’s Lennox.”

Bee shook his head. He shook this human head, making accusing clicks, anything to inform this imposter that he was not believed. How was he Lennox if Bee wasn’t even Bee.

“I know you must be confused, but let me explain before you become more freaked, kid.” Lennox stepped closer, but Bee held his hands out like his shooters. “The Decepticons had this device and you got hit, kid. They had aimed it at Optimus, but you blocked what we assume was their only shot because they hightailed it out of there when it didn’t quite work. You fell unconscious and began to shrink. We brought you to this hospital when the transformation from bot to human was complete. You saved Prime, Bee.”

Bee didn’t know if he trusted this Lennox yet. What he said sounded plausible and impossible at the same time. It was just he was human! How in the All Spark was that supposed to be conceivable? Bumblebee squinted his eyes and gnashed his teeth.

“Still don’t believe me, kid? Um.. what if I told you something only the real Lennox would know?” Lennox asked. Bee cocked an eyebrow, but didn’t deter the man. He hummed, really thinking of the most perfect answer. Bee watched, his still large, overly bright blue eyes held onto Lennox’s own brown eyes. “After the huge fight between Megatron. The first one. You didn’t want to admit to the other Autobots that you kind of feared Sam’s mom and had me accompany you on your patrols for over a week to make sure the women wouldn’t beat you up.”

Bee dropped his guard. He didn’t even tell Sam as to why the Captain was also on watch for that week. Lennox let out a sigh, letting the tension leave his body. He walked over and picked the small child out of the sink. Bee looked no older than ten years old. If this was an accurate representation of the bot’s real age Lennox was going to use the Autobots as scrap metal. Not just a child soldier, but practically a baby soldier.

It didn’t take long for a nurse and then a doctor to come in. They both said their pleasantries about Bumblebee being awake and alert. Then they got to work. The young scout started to fight as blood was drawn and vitals were checked. He chittered when the doctor brought a light to his eyes and hissed as a nurse tried to get him to stop squirming.

“I see our suspicions were correct with his scarred vocal chords.” The doctor hummed.

“Are we good to get out of here, or are you going to continue to agitate my kid?” Lennox asked, tapping his foot.

“No need to get impatient, Mr. Lennox. We’ll just need to bring in the paperwork and you and young Bee here will be all set to go.” The nurse smiled before leaving the room.

They were once again on their own. Bee turned to Lennox and gave a series of clicks and ticks in what Bee remembered of Morse Code that the human army had used many times around him. He just wanted to know where Optimus was and when he was going back to his leader.

“That’s the thing Bee. Optimus doesn’t think its safe for you to go back to the base. And if we brought what could only be assumed as an eight year old child into a high security facility our operations might be shut down.” Lennox tried to explain, but the young autobot kept trying to get past him. Eventually Lennox just held the distressed kid on his hip, walking back and fourth trying to sooth Bee like he did his own, much younger, kid. Bumblebee soon tired out from his struggles and lay limp in the captain’s arms, trying to fight recharge.

For the first time, Ironhide almost drove cautiously down the roads as Bumblebee slumbered in his back seat and Lennox called his wife to tell her that he sort of adopted kid. Ironhide took this time to comm into the base. To talk sense into Optimus.

“He should be with his team, his people. Bumblebee is an Autobot, even if doesn’t look it anymore.” Ironhide reasoned.

“He is small. Smaller than any other human that we’ve ever interacted with. One misstep and he will be with the All Spark. I could not bear it if this were to happen.” Optimus stated.

“So you’ll ship him out, leave him alone in a world he knows nothing about? What if Bumblebee still requires Energon to survive? He is dead then too.” Ironhide shot back, his engines rumbling in displeasure.

“The other humans have their own homes to get back to. Bumblebee would be at base all the time, Ironhide. And with each passing day the decepticons grow closer to finding where we have stationed.” Optimus stressed. “If they found Bee, they would not hesitate to kill him. I know this looks like I am turning my back on my scout. I assure you, I have thought hard and with a heavy heart have made this decision.”

“I will look after him, then.” Ironhide declared. “I already watch over the captain and his family. If Bee is to stay with Lennox, then I am to stay with Bee.” He disconnected the link before Optimus could deny his wishes.

Lennox slumped back into the seat, looking back at the still slumbering child. Ironhide also wanted to just decompress for a moment. The stress of demanding answers and your wants to a superior is always nerve wracking.

“How did Sarah take the news?” Ironhide asked.

“Much better than when she first found out that our truck wasn’t just a truck. She’s not happy about it though. Though I wouldn’t worry.” Lennox couldn’t stop but continue to turn back and make sure the kid was still there. This time revealing that be was awake and running his small hands against the interior of his friend. “How are you feeling, Bee?”

A few clicks and rattling grunts came from the kid, but nothing too distressing. The thought of teaching him sign language flashed through the captain’s mind.

They arrived home after another hour of driving. Sarah walked out of the house as Lennox was helping the kid out of the back of the truck. She tried to stay angry at her husband, but couldn’t help but melt into the large blue eyes practically glowing against such small mocha cheeks of the child.

“Bee, you remember Sarah, right? She’s come to the base every so often.” Lennox said. The child let out a confirming chirp.

“Welcome to the family, Bumblebee.”

[bots-and-cons]

Hello! What would your HCs be for a setting in TFP where a fembot was mutual friends with both Megatron and Orion before the war. She was kind, polite and also highly intelligent, coming up with new types of Energon. She was abducted and placed in stasis for ransom but then forgotten when the war escalated, thought to be dead. By luck her ship landed on Earth in the present day, found by either the Bots or Cons. She has no idea a war took place and wonders why her friends look so tired.

As you can see I did both OP and Megs, I kinda feel like writing some sort of a scenario with a similar plot, but Idk if I’ll ever get around to that

~Optimus Prime~

•Optimus had pretty much put you out of his mind, because he thought you were dead and he had mourned your death a long time ago

•But when you happened to be found in a stasis lock on a vessel that crashed into earth seemingly ages ago he couldn’t believe it

•And at first he really didn’t, he thought it was just some cruel joke or tactic by Megatron

•But when you woke up, you were like “Orion?” because you still recognized him 

•The next thing to come out of your mouth was “You got an upgrade to your frame huh”

•Optimus couldn’t help but chuckle a bit, because that was exactly something you would say

•You sat up and asked where you were, because it didn’t look like cybertron at all

•Optimus told you where you were and you told him what had happened to you

•You shock him by asking him “Where is Megs? If you’re here, surely he is too”

•Optimus’ face falls, because he realizes you have no idea what is or has been going on

•He goes quiet and you’re wondering if you said something wrong

•He explains the whole situation to you, but he doesn’t really go into details

•“Ah, that explains why you look like you haven’t recharged in ages”

•Since you’ve been in a stasis for so long, you’re not an autobot or a decepticon, and you decided you don’t want to be

•Sure you live with the autobots and help them occasionally, but you aren’t on either side really

•You also set out on a bit of a guest to find out Megatron’s side of the story, because you want to know how your friends ended up like this

~Megatron~

•Megatron couldn’t believe his optics when the pod was opened

•He was sure he would never see you again after the mercenaries took you, but there you were, alive 

•You were brought to the Nemesis and woken up from your stasis

•You were pretty out of it when you awoke, and started trying to fight pretty much everyone, because you thought you were still with your kidnappers

•Megatron put his arms around you, pinning your arms to your sides and lifted you up so you couldn’t touch the floor

•You’re struggling against him and yelling at the bastard to let you go, but as soon as you hear his voice respond, and recognize him you stop struggling

•”No way” you mutter and look up

•Megatron is pretty much like “surprise” and lets go of you

•You hit him on the shoulder plate and are like “what took you so long? I thought I was never getting back home”

•Megatron is understandably confused and explains to you that you’ve been gone for a long, long time and that he thought you were dead

•Now you’re confused because you were taken like a week ago and now that you’ve gotten a good look at him, he looks exhausted and even angrier than normal

•You kinda cautiously ask what’s going on, because you’ve got a bad feeling

•He explains to you about the war and the destruction of cybertron, pretty nonchalantly might I add, and about how your energon research would be a great help at winning the war

•”You gotta be kidding” you say and sit down on the examination table, you just need a while to process this whole thing

•Megatron pretty reads your mind, because the next thing he says is: “Orion is alive, though he goes by Optimus Prime now”

•You have no clue what to say, so much has changed and your home is gone and all your “friend” seems to care about is your research

•You kinda get the feeling you need to hear another side to this war story

[signaturedish]

What was OP thinking when Harry asked him to rename him? And then his happy dancing? Bc tbh that was cute as hell and OP just—fritzing was also funny

Aww thanks, I had a lot of fun writing such an adorable scene!

Sorry about the wait, I got a weirdly intense influx of business. Idk why every third family in my area had to vacation right now.

I’m just gonna jump right into it, since I really did love that scene and would be happy to expand on it a little further.

At first he was completely shocked. He really thought it was gonna be Ratchet who named him if Harry was gonna pick a new name at all, so that came right out of nowhere. 

And then when Harry asks about shooting him down, some jaded part of Optimus wonders if Harry simply doesn’t want a new name and is using Optimus’ comparatively calmer presence to come to terms with that.

He was glad to provide security, it was his duty, but it would be unwise to hope for more.

As a Prime and then, later, as the Prime who banished the Allspark, he hadn’t ever thought he’d have the opportunity to name a sparkling. He hadn’t even considered it, the notion was so far past what he felt could he had the right to expect.

Still, on the off-chance Harry was being sincere, no matter how unlikely, he would give Harry the one and only name Prime would ever give another being.

He spent the entire night silent and apart from the others, contemplating all he knew of Harry. They hadn’t interacted directly very often, but Prime was always watching, always checking on the physical and spiritual wellbeing of their youngest charge.

It was a difficult decision.

What he’d seen, since their very first day at the base, was humbling. Harry was a gentle creature, naturally empathetic with a strong sense of justice. Genuinely good sparks like that were rare to the point of nonexistence now, an age of battle and death had tarnished even the most honorable of Autobots by the end. 

Besides that, how could Prime concisely summarise even a vague approximation of the hopes and wishes pinned on Harry at this very moment? The first child in a millennia, holder of the Allspark, alien-born, so much of him was new and stunningly bright in their darkest hour.

When Harry finally reconvenes with him the following morning, Prime awaits his decision. He’ll make his peace with whatever Harry decides, whether it be to ignore him completely, contemplate the matter further, or demand his answer as soon as they come to a halt out beyond the base.

It was then, when Harry did ask for a name, that he understood his own caution to be a complete lie. He hadn’t realized how much of himself he’d invested in this endeavor, how unfathomably precious this moment would be to him, until Harry peered up at him oh so shyly, and requested Prime’s designation.

This wasn’t a duty, Prime realized past the searing ache of his own spark expanding far past the limits of its casing, it was a gift in every meaning of the word. And he had been desperate to recieve it.

It was all he could do to croak out his heartfelt gratitude. Wonder was such a rare thing to feel, and yet Prime felt fit to bursting. He had inspired within the last sparkling enough trust and affection to allow him a lifelong connection, and he wasn’t terribly certain how to exist in a world wondrous enough for that to occur.

He can see it the moment Harry accepts, the flurry of coding burrowing it into the deepest recesses of Harry’s processors, overwriting and overruling until it is Silverline who looks back at him. 

And Prime...soaks it in. Like a flower towards the sun, he is enraptured. For once, he is not a Prime staring down at his charge, that is much too plain for what he’s feeling. Formalities and obligations withered and died in the intensity of his own vulnerability. Here, he is simply Optimus, watching over his child. 

Silverline warbles a simple thanks over his com, as if he hadn’t given him the greatest blessing Prime could dream of, as if Prime could part with any of his own gratitude and share it with the sparkling. He is helpless to communicate this, though. The appropriate words too grand and complicated to fit past the lump in his throat.

Silverline’s expressive optics shimmer with gentle care, his posture is open and utterly relaxed, and his charming little wings pluck and pull at his heartstrings with every swoop.

Optimus doesn’t dare reach out and interrupt the sparkling, he’s never had the privilege of being so close to Silverline without a pall snuffing out any of his natural light and he couldn’t bear to ruin this moment stumbling through affection. Silverline’s happiness was dazzling at it’s brightest, it was easy to see how his troops might become possessive over this feeling.

Then, the world melts.

A syrupy, honey-sweet haze slogs Optimus’ processors to a crawl. His spark skips. splutters, and dies right in his chest and Optimus can only watch as overheating warnings and system failures roll in.

Muddled and confused, Optimus waits for the burning fire in his fuel pump to ease and for death to take him.

Except, he doesn’t die? It feels like he should be dead by now, he has most certainly ceased functioning. But as one second, two seconds, fifteen seconds carries on without him, he remains trapped in place.

True awareness swam just before him, elusive, but close enough to that snippets of stimuli brushed him. It was overwhelming, a tidal wave of excruciating emotions, none of which were upsetting, but that only made them more confusing.

His feeble matrix buzzed and whirred with the effort to drag him to the forefront of himself, and he is forced to process the audio data first. It is a purring hum, low and easy. It is a single note that snatches him up by his very core and yanks him out of his daze.

It is an optimal status alert, and it is directed solely at him.

If there were air left in his vents, Optimus might’ve choked. He was left reeling, the burning in his fuel pump ticking higher and higher as what he understood that it must be elation scorching through him. Satisfaction, praise at its highest, acceptance at it’s deepest, a bot wasn’t built to withstand such a brutal onslaught of unrefined joy.

His visual data was processed next, unrelenting, and the sweet haze gumming up his processors doubled its efforts.

Silverline was killing him, Optimus was sure. It was the most deadly, precious attack he’d ever witnessed.

Silverline was dancing. His paper thin wings fluttering wide and trusting, his optics huge and bright and focused right on Optimus. His steps were spiraling, childish, shrouded in Optimus’ shadow as Silverline danced mere inches from him. The optimal status alert hikes higher in volume with each almost-brush of armor, and Optimus couldn’t have torn himself away for all the galaxy.

I trust you, Silverline said in so much more than words, I love you. Stay with me and love me too.

It was a moment of intimacy that would only feel like hello in hindsight. Like they were finally reaching each other, like a bond could be forged. Whatever struggles cluttered their path were at once, easily defeated so long as they stayed together.

Optimus drifted in the euphoria of that connection. In so fiercely loving and being loved in return that he was rooted in place like an insect in warm amber. He could’ve stayed like that for eons, or until Silverline did something else so unreasonably dear that he really did crash.

Thankfully, although he did not feel very charitably toward Bumblebee in that moment, the scout shattered his amber with a loud radio clip and ushered Silverline back to their human charges with a teasing whistle.

Creaking, aged and wizened beyond his admittedly formidable years, Prime straightens and tries to look less wrecked. From the aura of smugness permeating the air, he isn’t succeeding.

-Ventilate, Prime- Bumblebee eventually suggests, and it is only then that it occurs to him that he should do something about the overheating problem reaching critical temperatures in his systems.

He ventilates.

[geminiofpluto]

So I’m going to talk about Transformers Earthrise

I kinda just wrote each thing after each episode so I won’t forget much.

I’m writing what I remember from each episode

🚨SPOILERS AHEAD🚨

Episode 1: Elita is cool as ever, freeing Decepticons and pulling out “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings” on Jetfire when he was questioning why she wanted to free them.

And then Steeljaw :( He was in cassette mode when they were hurting him. Makes me sad thinking about it. If Blaster is going to make an appearance, I hope Steeljaw will be with him.

Also, I need to know what’s up with Megatron having Ultra Magnus’s head on his table and just talking to him like a normal conversation.

There’s a happy Red Alert moment when he talks about how happy he is to have someone on their team who can fly. I’m calling for a Red Alert and Jetfire friendship.

Megatron acknowledges that Elita is a good leader and saying she could’ve been leaderbof the Autobots instead,. He may have started a war but he still knows what’s good.

The bots at Section 12... I loved them, they were so nice to Megatron and were admiring him a lot. It’s easy to tell it hurt him very much to have to “sacrifice” them for the project. I’m pretty sure all of us were sad. Those three bots were very nice.

Episode 2:

Elita is once again acknowledged by Megatron she is a good leader. He even called her Ariel. I’m wondering if we’ll see the past between them.

When Megatron put them in the cylinder thingies, the Decepticons the Autobots frees the first episode came to save them.

The bot even said “Til all are one”

And Skyfire... this huge dude really did just fall against the glass wall while they were trying to escape all stealth mode.

Luckily Skytread let them escape. It was funny when he asked one of them to punch cause Chromia was like “on sight, bro” and went for it. Like I love Chromia. :D

We also get to see our bots on the Ark again! And we get to see the mercenaries too.

We get to see conehead seekers again dudes! And this is my first time seeing Doubledealer on the screen(might be his first time? I honestly don’t know)

What’s with the gray colored Bumblebee, Wheeljack, and Hound? But yet again, it could just be reusing the same models.

Where’s tiny man Prowl? Where’s Ratchet?

When G. Bumblebee said “Where’s the ugly looking one?”, I was like “sir, you looked in a mirror lately?”

Quintessons! And for some reason, blue spirit mask looking Deseeus just cut off all the Qunitesson other faces just cause she wanted a consensus? Damn

Episode 3: Oh no sad Optimus. D:

BUMBLEBEE!! HE’S GOT THE SIGIL NOW!!

Ooh Ratchet and Wheeljack are working together.

“Bumblebee is correct-“

“I am?!”

Ayyy more Elita and co, they even got a bunch of Decepticon with them. Oop the Reflector with the scars is named Scrapface.

Elita seems more chill with Jetfire now. More friendships! I really like seeing Elita and her group.

Also the Autobots found the Nebulon station.

THERE’S SOMETHING ON THE STATION! WHAT THE FAQ IS ON THE STATION

Bee and Prime walked through the space bridge, and the other side of beautiful. It’s got a similar terrain like Earth’s. It’s leafy and green and colorful.

Oop it’s a giant scorpion on the ship. Is it Scorponok?

Yep it’s Scorponok.

Elita and co are going to stop the remaining Decepticons from getting harvested by the Shockwave. How nice of them :3

ONEGA SUPREME! oh wait dangit it’s a mirage.

Damn Scorponok is tall. He looks like Devestator and RID01 Megatron had a baby.

So Megs finally caught up with the Ark.

Episode 4: I love Ironhide. He may have few moments, but he’s still my fav.

Optimus noooooo

Bumblebee was trying to help, but Optimus is over here being a worried dad.

Ooh, Megatron really shot Scorponok to say “Optimus Prime is mine!”

Soundwave has unleashed his cat :0

Prime’s just trying protect his kids.

So they got knocked out from the blast, and Ravage was sniffing Starscream to check if he was alive, but the dude shoved him off. Rude, he making sure you live.

He thinks Megs is dead so now he’s leader.

Now Prime and Megatron are stuck in a room together, and now they’re talking. Megatron’s got a girder in his chest and he slowly dying.

Here’s a picure I got of the scene ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

The bots and cons are working together now! S not for now though.

Then Starscream starts talking shit to Megs and when he’s done talking about how he’d be a better leader, he says “What’s your argument?”

Megatron just shoots him. Ravage then checks on him again, but he shoves him off again. Why is he so rude?

Oop bots be out here calling Megatron a Quintesson and he’s offended. Quite hilarious

Starscream is really taking command and tossing Barricade aside. Starscream I love you but push him again and I’ll fight you.

So now something happened to the Nemesis ship, or perhaps it was the Ark.

Episode 5: Alpha Trion and Sky Lynx!! Sky Lynx wants to be a Prime too.

So the Autobots are in the Dead Universe. Sky Lynx is still alive and can apparently hear all.

Andddd he’s got some spiritual power and talking to Optimus now.

Sky Lynx is now humbled, I think he’s gonna join the Autobots.

So Megatron alive and he’s boutta pimp slap him.

GALVATRON?! where’d he come from?!

Sky Lynx is really making sad.

And now Galvatron doing the same spiritual thing to Megatron.

OP, let Sky Lynx go with you! Let him be redeemed.

Now Sky Lynx seems to be mentoring OP.

Optimus, Elita isn’t dead! She’s alive!

Yes, Megan. Don’t trust Galvatron! He’s trying to make you kill the bae.

Damn I keep forgetting how much the arena hurt Megatron mentally. :(

Ah yes, OP comforting Sky Lynx

Dang Galvatron don’t got them lips.

Woah the hate plague appears again? Damn Megan what you doing?

Sky Lynx NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

What what Unicron and the golden discs! And now the bots are before Earth. It’s building up to Kingdom!

Episode 6: Megatron still after OP I see.

Wow Arcee strong enough to chokehold Starscream. ,,•^•,,

YES COG, QUESTION OP. Optimus, why you holding a gun to Megatron, trying to force him to accept your apology and forgive you.

COG NOOOOOOO

ah yeah more Elita and co screentime.

Shockwave stalking Elita with a invisibility cloak

And now OP and Megatron yelling and fighting. OP’s officially lost it guys

Ooh Bumblebee is taking charge

Ooh the mercenary gray Wheeljack is named Exhaust and the gray Bumblebee is named Bug Bite

Lol Elita tripped on air. Nvm it was Shockwave.

Shockwave actually believes Elita knew the Guardians.

And now Elita and her team have been compromised. :(

Doubledealer nooooo. Deseeus better let him go

COG, YOU’RE ALIVE?!

okay so Spinister caught Elita’s team, Shockwave has Elita.

COG NOOOO! cog :,(

ELITA NOOOO

EVERYONE NOOOOOOOOO :,,,,0

oh shit Megs got the Matrix, and he calling OP Orion

YEAH BEE! SHOOT MEGS

oh no he got away with the Matrix

Ooh Earth!

RAPTOR! RAPTOR! DINOBOT!!!!!

I finished it ;-; Hope you guys liked the show cause I think it was good.

I miss Cog and Elita ;-;

Also very sad there’s no Sunstreaker

[art-gelato]

Twice as Shiny

1. a little worse for wear, practically walking on air

Ratchet bit off a curse halfway. “If that young idiot is hanging his hopes on Starscream, of all mechs, I’ll kill him myself.”

Miko supposed that Ratchet was probably the only one around who could get away with calling Optimus Prime either young or idiot. “What hopes?” she asked. [AO3] [prev]

Miko had been given strict orders to stay out of the med bay ("I mean it, Miko," in that commanding Prime voice), so of course she set about getting in as soon as she was left unsupervised. Her timing was perfect—she approached the door to the converted storage unit just as Ratchet was exiting, and she slipped through the door behind him as he headed towards the other end of the hallway. Inside were a few beeping monitors, and a makeshift stretcher-thing that was too high up for her to see onto properly. She craned her neck, but she could only catch glimpses of a few sharp silver angles and the wings that poked out over the sides.

Undeterred, she clambered up the stretcher, which looked like it used to be some heavy-duty machinery that lifted really big stuff—probably aircraft, if its current use was anything to go by. She reached the platform with little difficulty, and found herself at the occupant's pointy feet. He wasn't moving, and his eyes were closed, and plus his wrists were chained to the rails, so she figured it was safe enough. She half-jogged along the platform until she reached his shoulder, and gave the armor plating there a nudge with the toe of her shoe. When that didn't elicit a response, she kicked him.

There was a low hum of activating machinery, and his eyes slowly opened. The creepy red glow of them was unfocused, though, and his gaze drifted aimlessly around the room before finally settling on her. "You," he croaked, and she wondered what was going on with his voice box to make it sound so crackly. It reminded her of the way Raf sounded after he pulled an all-nighter to finish his extra smart-kid homework.

She didn't like that. It made him seem more like a person.

"Me," she said, hands on her hips. "Got a problem?"

He stretched his jaw back and forth, like he was trying to get used to his own face. "Can't even remember your name," he said eventually. "But I suspect you have a problem with me."

"Duh," Miko replied. "Maybe it has something to do with all the times you've tried to kill me and my friends!"

Starscream sighed, a staticky rush of boredom. "Get in line, sparkling."

"My name is Miko," she said, giving his shoulder another kick. She wished it would leave a dent, and then maybe he'd stop looking at her with that cross between mild annoyance and vague amusement and take her seriously.

"You think I care?" Starscream asked, one side of his mouth twisting up in a mocking smile.

"I think you'd better!" Miko snapped. "Because if you do anything else to hurt my friends, I'm coming for you."

Starscream rolled his eyes. "I'm shaking." He sounded more awake now, and his attention shifted to take in the room properly. "Where's the medic? I'm surprised my new benevolent masters saw fit to allow you in here alone."

Miko crossed her arms. "They know not to underestimate me."

He looked her up and down, which didn't take him long at all. "You snuck in," he said, and his grin was almost genuine. "Nice to see a healthy disregard for authority in the youths, at least."

She burned with rage at the thought of Starscream approving of any of her actions, and she opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind when-

"Miko! What are you doing in here?"

"NothingI'mnothere!" Miko yelped automatically, scrambling for the edge of the stretcher. She tripped on Starscream's wing, but before she could fall, Ratchet's hand was there to catch her. His fingers closed carefully around her, and he carried her out the door and deposited her in the hallway.

"We'll talk later," Ratchet said through gritted teeth, and slammed the door shut.

Miko let out a long groan, then pressed her ear to the door. Ratchet was speaking, sounding way grumpier that usual. She hadn't even known that was possible.

"-a day to make sure the transplant takes. Absolutely no transforming before then, or I'll rip that T-cog right back out of you with my bare servos."

"Charming," Starscream drawled.

"If you want a smooth talker, go back to Knock Out. Optimus will be here soon to get those coordinates from you. No," Ratchet added, apparently cutting off Starscream before the former 'Con could object, "we're not waiting until you're cleared for flight. There's too much at stake. The T-cog will take, I just don't want you to strain it. Ready or not, you're giving us-"

"Miko," said a deep voice far above her.

Miko jerked away from the door and looked up. She hadn't even heard Optimus approaching—he might be twenty tons of solid metal, but the guy was stealthy. He was also very, very good at making her feel guilty when she was doing something she wasn't supposed to. Maybe it was because he didn't actually try to make her feel guilty. He just would be disappointed, but he wouldn't say he was disappointed even though it was written all over his face. Sometimes she wished he would just get mad about stuff, because she knew how to deal with angry people, but he was too nice for that.

"I went in while Ratchet wasn't there," she admitted, so it wouldn't all get drawn out.

Optimus made a contemplative sound, then crouched down so they could talk easier. She liked it when he did that, because she really felt like he was paying attention to her. Not many adults gave her the courtesy. "Starscream shouldn't be disturbed too much right now," he said. "I know you're curious, but he did just have surgery."

"I'm not curious," she said, a little too defensively. "I was making a point."

Optimus gave her a bemused look. "And what point is that?"

Miko punched her palm. "I'll scrap him if he even thinks about double-crossing us."

"I see," Optimus said. "Was he suitably intimidated?"

"No," Miko grumbled, scuffing her shoe on the concrete floor. "But I'll show him."

Optimus reached out and placed a gentle finger on her shoulder. "Starscream is our ally, at least for now," he said. "Perhaps showing him some compassion will be a more effective way to keep him so."

"That creep probably doesn't even know what compassion is," Miko said, crossing her arms.

"All the more reason, in that case," Optimus replied with a small smile that quickly faded. "However, I would prefer it if you stayed away from him."

"Aw, c'mon!" Miko whined. "If he's gonna be here, I'm gonna run into him! What, am I supposed to leave the room if he walks in?"

"Starscream is dangerous, intentionally or otherwise," Optimus said. "He's not used to being around humans, and any of you could get hurt if he isn't careful. And if he is planning to betray us, you children would likely be his first target as the most vulnerable among us."

"If?" Miko echoed back at him, hooking air quotes around the word. "OP, he definitely is. This is Starscream!"

And Optimus… hesitated. He was quiet for a moment, clearly trying to decide how to reply. "Under normal circumstances, I would agree," he said at last. "But as it is, I am certain he no longer feels any loyalty to Megatron. He's on his own side now, and I'm hoping…" Here, he trailed off, his usually steady gaze turning inward.

Miko put her hand on his finger, still resting on her shoulder. "Are you okay, Optimus?"

Optimus closed his eyes and took a deep breath (or vent or whatever it was giant robots did). "My apologies," he said. "I don't want to concern you."

"Hey, no, it's okay!" Miko said, grabbing onto him tighter, with both hands, as he began to pull away. She couldn't actually stop him, but the attempt made him pause nonetheless. "If you wanna talk about something, I'll listen. You have a hard time being vulnerable around the bots, cuz they look up to you and stuff. But you're not my boss, you're my friend. I'll listen." The words fell out of her, quickly, desperately, before she could think about them. He always gave off an aura of distant leadership, even when he was being nice to her. Now, she'd caught a glimpse of something more underneath, something small and sad and almost scared, and she needed to know.

"I- believe that would be unwise," Optimus said, and now he did pull away. Miko's hands felt empty and cold. He must have seen the disappointment on her face, because his own softened. "Miko, the strength of your heart is admirable, but this is not a weight I can lay on it."

Miko clenched her fists. "Gimme- gimme something I can do to help, at least." Because she could see it—he needed help, and the problem wasn't something punchable, or shootable, or even medically fixable. It wasn't something any of the Autobots could help him with, she was sure of it. She wasn't certain she could help either, but she wanted to try.

Inside the med bay, Ratchet and Starscream were arguing, their words muffled but the vitriol coming through loud and clear. Optimus' eyes flicked in the direction of the closed door before returning to Miko. "This is not your war," he murmured. "Perhaps you can see things in another way."

With that, he pushed himself back to his full height, and Miko knew the conversation was over.

She threw her arms out and shouted at him anyway. "What the scrap is that supposed to mean?"

Optimus just gave her a faint smile and opened the door.

"-not a prisoner my aft! Take these chains off me right fragging now, Hatchet!"

"Sit still, you insufferable glitch, I told you-"

"I hate to interrupt," Optimus said, and that shut them both up.

That was one of the many things Miko thought was really cool about Optimus—his ability to just stop people right in their tracks, no matter what they were doing. Often just by showing up. She aspired to have that kind of power someday.

But she knew the start of a boring conversation when she saw one (something something keys, something something coordinates), so she skulked off. Bulkhead would certainly be looking for her by now, anyway. It was almost dinner time, and she had to be home in half an hour or her host family would… worry, or something. Who knew.

Besides, she had some stuff to think about.

=

The next day was a Saturday, which meant normally Miko would have slept in past eleven. But this Saturday, she woke up with a weird knot of anxiety in her gut around eight and couldn't fall back asleep, so she shot a message into the group chat with Jack and Raf.

u guys up?

Almost immediately, Raf responded. Wow, I'm surprised you're awake.

cant sleep, Miko typed back. i wanna head over to base u in?

Yeah why not, Jack said. My shift isn't until later anyway

Is something going on? Raf asked. I mean, besides the stuff with the Omega Keys.

Miko's thumbs hovered over her phone for a minute before she settled on a reply. idk lets talk on the way

After that, she sent a message to Bulkhead, asking him to pick the three of them up. Then she rolled out of bed and got ready as fast as she could. She pulled her hair into its second ponytail as she crept quietly down the stairs, hoping no one from her host family was around. Luck was on her side as she snagged some breakfast from the kitchen—they tended to sleep in on the weekend as well.

"Oh, hey, hun," said a voice behind her. "You're up early."

Miko's groan was muffled behind a piece of toast. So much for luck being on her side. "Morning, Mrs. Jones," she said, not bothering to swallow her mouthful of bread first. She poured coffee into her travel mug and dumped in a few heaping spoonfuls of sugar. Then she added cream, screwed the cap on the mug, and shook it.

"Big plans for the day?" Mrs. Jones asked.

Miko turned around, looked Mrs. Jones in the eye, and took her time washing down the toast with the coffee. "Yup," she said, popping the 'p'—a neat trick to insert attitude into a simple word that she'd picked up from some of the girls in afterschool detention. "I'll probably be back late."

Mrs. Jones had a tense smile. Miko wasn't sure if it was always like that, or just always like that for Miko. "Hanging out with your friends… James and Roger?"

"Close enough," Miko said, and was saved by the honk of a horn outside. "I gotta go. See you, Mrs. Jones." She brushed past the older woman and hurried out the door.

Sure enough, Bulkhead was waiting by the curb. She was usually last to get picked up if one Autobot was getting all three of them, but when it came to Bulkhead, she had automatic dibs on the passenger seat. When she opened the door, she saw Jack behind the wheel and Raf in the back seat. Both boys gave her a wave.

"Morning, guys!" she said, feeling a sudden surge of energy as she hopped in and deposited her travel mug in the center console. "Okay, so, something super weird happened yesterday."

"Seatbelt," Bulkhead reminded her.

"Weird how?" Jack asked, simultaneously.

Miko huffed and buckled herself in, and Bulkhead began to drive. "So I snuck into the med bay after Screamer got his appendix removed or whatever," she said.

"That's where you were?" Bulkhead exclaimed, then added reproachfully, "I was looking everywhere for you."

"And you didn't look in the one place I was told not to go? C'mon, Bulky, you know me better than that."

"I-" Bulkhead paused. "Yeah, that's on me. Wait, Starscream didn't do anything to you, did he?"

"No, he was just, like, kinda rude," Miko said, flapping a dismissive hand. "The weird thing happened with Optimus, actually. I was listening at the door after Ratchet kicked me out, and Optimus came up and gave me one of his dad lectures about compassion and stuff. That's the boring part. But he seems really convinced that Starscream isn't gonna double-cross us. That's weird, right? Like, double-crossing is what Starscream does."

"Mmph," Bulkhead said. He'd never been particularly good at subtlety. All three kids' full attention was immediately on the steering wheel, Raf even leaning forward through the gap between the front seats.

"Do you know something?" Miko asked.

"N-o," Bulkhead replied, drawing the word out into two uncertain syllables.

Miko drummed her hands on the dashboard. "Yes, you do! What's going on?"

If a Jeep could squirm, that's what Bulkhead would be doing. "I don't know!" he insisted. "Not anything specific!"

"But you know something," Raf said.

"Okay, okay," Bulkhead said, able to weather the worst Decepticon interrogations but caving under the pressure of a few determined juveniles. "I was with Prime when we went to negotiate with Starscream for the keys. Then halfway through, just when Starscream's threatening to go to Megatron out of spite or something, Optimus sends me 'n Smokescreen back to base! I don't know what went down, but after that, Optimus brought Starscream right into the base. Now we can't treat him like a prisoner, but we still have to take turns babysitting him just in case he decides to cause problems despite our deal—which! We don't even know the full terms of! We're getting what we want, but there's no way Starscream only wanted his T-cog replaced. Sure, we're not hunting him for sport either, but there's gotta be more, right? I think he and Prime hashed something out, but for some reason Prime ain't telling!"

The end of his rant was met with a few moments of silence.

"You… really needed to get that off your chest, huh," Jack said eventually.

"Maybe!" Then Bulkhead sighed. "Things have just been weird around base, y'know? It's great- beyond great that we've got this shot at bringing back Cybertron. But having Starscream with us for it feels…" He trailed off, searching for the right word.

"Icky?" Miko suggested.

"Icky," Bulkhead agreed.

Miko took a slow sip of her coffee as she thought. She couldn't bring herself to tell Bulkhead the last thing Optimus had said to her, and she wasn't sure why. Maybe because it had felt like it was just for her. Or—no, that wasn't right. It just wasn't for the other Autobots. That was why he'd said it to her. Because he couldn't say it to anyone else. It had been a moment of… weakness, or something that could be easily perceived as weakness.

But she couldn't figure this out on her own, and Jack and Raf had just as much insight into how Optimus' brain worked as she did.

"Would anyone know what OP is thinking?" she mused aloud.

"Ratchet, maybe," Bulkhead said. "He's known Optimus the longest. Since before the war, before the Primacy, before everything. If anyone's got a clue, it's the doc. He won't talk to us about Optimus, but maybe he'll talk to you."

=

When they got to base, the Autobots were holding a discussion in the main area. They stood around a stack of crates which the four Omega Keys sat atop, fused into a pyramid shape with a holographic blue orb floating above the point.

"-all the good a map does us," Arcee was saying. "We can plot routes through the wastes as much as we like, but that doesn't change the fact we can't even get there."

Bumblebee chirped something.

"Because using Megatron's spacebridge worked out so well for us last time," Ratchet replied wearily. "We've been over that already."

"They've been at this since before I left to pick you guys up," Bulkhead muttered to the kids. "Talking in circles. I was ready to make up my own excuse to get out of here by the time you texted me."

Smokescreen, separate from the rest of the Autobots, was the first to notice them. He was clearly on Starscream duty, since he and the former 'Con were leaning back against the wall to the right of the entrance. Smokescreen seemed unsure if he was disappointed about being left out of the argument or relieved. Starscream just looked bored.

"Hey!" Smokescreen called out, jerking away from the wall and making half a step towards Bulkhead and the kids before remembering his task. He glanced expectantly over his shoulder at Starscream, who made a big show of rolling his eyes and pushing out of his slouch to follow Smokescreen over to the newcomers. "They're all kinda deep in it," Smokescreen said apologetically.

"It's a wonder you lot ever get anything done," Starscream grumbled. "I've spent the last half-joor reorganizing long-term memories just to break up the monotony."

"If you would like to add your wisdom, Starscream, you are welcome to," Optimus said, his voice cutting easily through everything else. Nearly all the bots in the room jumped in surprise, and Starscream's wings flared upwards.

Then he settled them back to their default position, and slowly turned to face the rest of the Autobots. All of them were glaring at him, with the exception of Optimus. "I doubt my insight would be appreciated," Starscream said.

Arcee scoffed.

"Could you think of a way to access the spacebridge without alerting Megatron?" Optimus asked.

Starscream was quiet for a moment. Miko couldn't see his face, but his hands were clenched behind his back, one wrist caught tightly in his clawed fingers. "No," he said. "And whatever trick you used to sneak around him last time won't work again. He's a fast learner. You'd have to defeat him first to get to the bridge safely—but if you had the means to do that, you'd have done so already. Wouldn't you have?" That last bit felt pointed somehow, but the meaning was lost on Miko.

Optimus, as always, was unfazed. "Any other ideas?"

"Oh, I don't know," Starscream snapped. "I don't suppose you picked up any ancient artifacts that can just magically transform your groundbridge into a spacebridge?"

"The Forge!" Smokescreen blurted. "What about the Forge?"

Now everyone's attention was on Smokescreen, and he grew uncertain when no one said anything. "It could do that… right?"

Starscream tilted his head, turning to look at Smokescreen in an exaggerated motion. "Are you referring to the Forge of Solus Prime?" he asked, incredulity dripping from his tone. "It's real? And you have it?"

Smokescreen opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"Well," Bulkhead said. "I wouldn't say we… have it."

"That would work, though," Arcee said. "Wouldn't it?"

"I don't see why not," Ratchet replied.

Bumblebee let out a string of beeps.

"You just have to get it?" Starscream echoed. "Get it from where?"

The room fell silent.

"Ah," Starscream said, putting the pieces together. He straightened his back, suddenly exuding smooth confidence. "Well, that shouldn't be too hard."

"Oh, yes," Arcee said, cold and acidic. "Stealing a powerful artifact from Megatron will be a walk in the park."

Miko had already begun sidling around to where she could watch the full show, and she could see the shift in Starscream, like he was coming to life. Before, he'd been idling, only physically present because he had nowhere else to be. Miko was intimately familiar with the feeling—it was how she passed most of the time in school.

Now, the thin slash of his smile sharpened with purpose, and a low fire blazed through him, burning away any submissiveness in his posture. Even his eyes seemed to glow a little brighter. "Why not?" he said. "I know the Nemesis inside and out. I know where Megatron hoards his treasures. I know all the past guard shift schedules and I can accurately predict possible future ones. Even after going rogue, I was able to sneak aboard and raid the energon stores without getting caught. And with Hot Shot's favorite toy-" He gestured to Smokescreen. "-I could be in and out like a ghost."

"No way," Arcee said, taking a threatening step towards him. "There's no way we're letting you anywhere near the Nemesis. Especially not with the phase shifter."

"My apologies," Starscream said with false sweetness, mirroring her step forward with one of his own. "I wasn't aware you had another flight frame readily available. The Nemesis, in case you've forgotten, is quite high up."

Smokescreen shuddered. "Extremely high up."

"Arcee is right," Optimus said. "We can't trust you on a mission like this. Not alone."

"Not at all!" Arcee exclaimed with a swift chop of her hand, her glower fixed on Starscream.

Optimus laid a hand on her shoulder. "We have no other way to get aboard. Soundwave would detect the energy spike of a groundbridge. But if Starscream could carry someone-"

"Who?" Arcee said. "Bulkhead? You? I'm the only one small and light enough for him to…" Her eyes widened with realization.

"No!" she and Starscream shouted at the same time. They gave each other appalled looks.

Starscream coughed into his fist, struggling to regain his composure. "I could probably carry the yellow one."

Bumblebee jabbed a finger at Starscream as he chirped something distinctly displeased, his eyes narrowing.

"…carry Bumblebee," Starscream corrected himself through gritted teeth.

"You'll need speed and maneuverability on your side," Optimus said. "The less weight you're carrying, the higher the odds of success."

"Then don't make me carry anyone at all!" Starscream snarled.

Arcee's hands curled into fists. She began to move forward, opening her mouth to retort, only to be stopped when Optimus' grip on her tightened.

"Starscream," Optimus said, his voice somehow both soft and warning. "Compromise." It sounded less like an order and more like a reminder.

Starscream's wings flicked one after the other, as if he were physically trying to shake away his agitation. Then he took a shallow breath and straightened his spine, his hands going behind his back again as his stance became more formal. "Very well," he said, tone and expression carefully neutral. "I understand why I cannot be allowed alone on a high-stakes mission. Logically, Arcee is the best choice for infiltrating the Nemesis with me." His gaze shifted from Optimus to Arcee. "It would be foolish, at this point, to allow personal feelings to stand in the way of the restoration of our home planet."

Arcee's face contorted in fury—Miko felt scorched by her glare just by being in vague proximity to Starscream. Then she closed her eyes, breathing deep. When she reopened her eyes after a couple of moments, the harsh boil of her anger had reduced to a simmer. "Fine," she said, and looked up at Optimus. "Can we talk?"

"Of course," Optimus murmured, and followed her out of the main room.

After the two of them were gone, an uncomfortable silence settled over the room. Bulkhead, Smokescreen, Jack, and Raf were still clustered by the entrance, and the rest of the Autobots were by the Omega Keys. Starscream stood alone between the two groups, looking in the direction Arcee and Optimus had left in with a strange, unreadable expression on his face.

Miko decided to take action. She strode over to Starscream. "Hey, birdbrain," she called out. "You'd better not pull any tricks on Arcee."

Starscream didn't so much as twitch, eyes still fixed on the hallway. "What would you do?" he asked, sounding oddly far away.

This threw Miko for a loop. "Huh?"

He blinked, coming back to himself, and looked down at her. "What would you do?" he repeated irritably. "If it was just you and me. If you had no weapons, no powerful friends at your back. What course of action would you take? How would you, alone, damage me?"

Miko opened her mouth, but her mind was blank. Heat rose to her cheeks.

"Back off, Starscream," Bulkhead said.

Starscream's eyes widened, and he swiveled his head towards Bulkhead. "Are you seriously telling me you've allowed these organics to follow you onto the battlefield multiple times, and never gave them the tools to defend themselves?" he asked, his irritation congealing into outraged disbelief.

"Hey!" Miko said, crossing her arms. "I took out an Insecticon, you know!"

"And just how did you do that?" Starscream said, and Miko knew her answer wouldn't hold up under the weight of his condescension.

"Wheeljack's ship," she mumbled anyway.

"So you can use your surroundings, at least," Starscream said, which wasn't exactly the scathing insult she'd been expecting. "But you won't always be so lucky." Then, to her surprise, he dropped to one knee. At the sudden movement, every Autobot in the room started towards him, and he waved a hand. "Relax, I'm just going to show her something." He crooked a claw at her, beckoning her closer. "The other two should know this as well."

Miko exchanged uncertain glances with Jack and Raf, and then the three of them warily approached. Smokescreen and Bulkhead followed, while the rest hung back and watched.

Starscream traced the tip of a claw down a seam on the outside of his ankle. For a Cybertronian, it was too small to easily access, but Miko figured she could probably stick her arm in there. "Cybertronians vary massively in design, but there are always gaps at the joints, to allow for movement," Starscream explained. "Inside those joints, you will find sensitive wiring, especially in complex areas like this. If you find yourself facing an enemy you can't beat, your goal should be to cause enough of a distraction to facilitate an escape. In that regard, ankle joints should be your prime target. Use a tool, something sharp or hooked, and long enough to get to the circuitry. Just don't actually reach inside, since that would be an excellent way to lose those fleshy little servos of yours."

"You mean hands?" Miko asked.

Starscream ignored her, continuing, "The combination of pain and surprise should be enough to buy you time. If you're lucky, you may even impair your enemy's ability to give chase, albeit mildly. However, when you are so much smaller and weaker than your opponent, every advantage counts, no matter how slight." He rested his forearm on his knee. "After that, run. Not in a straight line—our motion algorithms can easily track you. Keep your movements unpredictable and seek cover. Anything that puts objects between you and your pursuer, preferably something that disguises the direction you're headed in. Find somewhere to hide, and wait for backup."

While Starscream was talking, Raf had ventured even closer to peer through the seam Starscream had indicated, trying to get a better look at circuitry. "Cool," he breathed.

"Was nothing like that ever explained to you?" Starscream asked. The annoyance, which had begun to fade during his lecture, was back full force.

"We've gotten the 'hide and wait for backup' talk a few times," Jack said.

"Unbelievable," Starscream said, aghast. "How did I never manage to kill you?" His tone was weirdly impersonal—a little frustrated, but mostly marveling at what he seemed to view as a massive oversight.

"Well, thank you," Miko said, and realized that she meant it despite his last remark. "For telling us all that."

Starscream gave her a hard look, as if trying to assess her sincerity. When he found her guileless, his eyes flicked away, discomfort crossing his face. "It's about time someone did," he muttered, and pushed himself to his feet.

At that moment, Optimus and Arcee returned, and Starscream stepped away from the kids. Miko turned her attention elsewhere, trying to ignore the fact that she hadn't felt threatened at all while being so close to him. He was a creep and a jerk, and he probably had some sinister reason for giving them potentially life-saving advice. Yeah.

Yet she couldn't help thinking about yesterday. Starscream's voice raspy after waking up. Optimus talking about compassion and war.

Miko shoved her hands in her pockets, stepping over to Jack and bumping shoulders with him. He bumped shoulders back, and she felt a little better.

Arcee still looked furious, but also a lot calmer about it. She clapped, a sharp sound that shot across the room and drew all eyes to her. "Alright, everybody," she said. "Let's plan a heist."

=

While the bots plotted, Miko totally thrashed the boys at Mario Kart. The three of them were, under normal circumstances, pretty evenly matched at video games. Today, though, Jack kept shooting worried glances at Arcee, and Raf's attention faltered every time Bumblebee spoke. Miko couldn't blame them, because she was anxious, too. She just channeled her anxiety differently. That was, directly into kicking ass at Mario Kart.

Eventually, Jack had to leave. His shift started at 4, and by then the planning was over, so Arcee took him. She looked like she was dying to get out of base anyway. Miko couldn't blame her.

Now, Optimus and Ratchet were looking at something on one of the big screens, and Bulkhead and Bumblebee had joined the remaining kids for TV time. As for the last two mechs in the building…

"You don't have to shadow my every step," Starscream snapped.

"You're pacing," Smokescreen said. "It's making me nervous."

"If you don't leave me be," Starscream said, his wings vibrating with tension, "I'll give you something to be truly nervous about."

"Starscream," Optimus said in reprimand, not even looking away from whatever he was working on.

Starscream let out a low growl, flexing his claws like he was aching to sharpen them on something. "Ratchet," he said, his tone cajoling. "Hasn't it been a day already?"

Miko and Raf watched from over the back of the couch, the monster truck rally on TV forgotten. "What's he mean?" Raf whispered to her.

"Docbot's making him wait a day before he can transform again," Miko whispered back. "Overheard it yesterday."

Ratchet was close enough to the couch to hear the hushed exchange, and he gave Miko a taste of his best glare before he turned it on Starscream. "Not quite," he said.

Starscream responded by taking on a pose that could only be described as 'toadying'—bent slightly at the waist, one hand curled over the other in front of his chest, his wings dipped to a nonthreatening angle. "Surely a couple of, er, hours won't make much of a difference. We need to make sure I'm in top condition for this mission, after all. With such a skilled medic as you, I'm sure I'll be-"

"Alright, alright," Ratchet said, holding up a hand. "Just stop doing- that, and we'll head up top."

Starscream straightened up, a smug smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"I wanna go," Miko said instantly. The only times she'd seen Starscream or any Decepticon transform was either from far away or while she was worried about her immediate safety. Without the threat of danger, there was no way she was gonna pass up the chance to see a giant robot turn into a fighter jet up close.

"I'd like to, as well," Raf said, apparently having the same thought.

"No," Ratchet said.

To her surprise, Starscream backed them up. "Oh, what's the harm, doctor?" he purred. Miko wondered if he was physically capable of not sounding like he was up to something sneaky at all times.

Ratchet squinted, looking between Starscream and the kids. Miko and Raf smiled at Ratchet, giving him their best puppy dog eyes.

"Fine," Ratchet grumbled, and he extended his hand to the kids. "But I'm gonna hold onto you. Ap-bup-bup!" he added when Miko opened her mouth to complain. "I'm not leaving you anywhere you can get accidentally squished."

Miko groaned, but Raf was already clambering into Ratchet's waiting palm, so she followed.

They took a cargo elevator to the top, which creaked ominously at the weight of two Cybertronians. Ratchet didn't seem worried, though, so Miko tried not to worry either. At one point, she thought she saw Starscream watching her from the corner of his eye.

The ceiling above them opened, and the platform grated to a halt once it was level with the flat rock around it.

"Nice view," Starscream remarked, casting a judgmental eye over the desert expanse. "So this is where your precious base is."

"Don't make us regret letting you in," Ratchet said, and held out a small disc to Starscream. "Optimus tell you about this?"

"Oh. The tracking device." Starscream's lip curled slightly, but he took the disc.

"Put it wherever," Ratchet said. "You can take it off, but we'll know if you do."

Starscream fiddled with it. "And if it gets damaged in the field?"

"Comm us and explain."

"Would you believe me?" Starscream asked.

Ratchet let out a harsh sigh. "Optimus will, at least."

Turning it over one last time in his fingers, Starscream said, "I suppose that's the best I'll get," and slipped it under a ledge in his chest. He cricked his neck, stretched his arms, and walked right up to the cliff's edge.

He inhaled deeply, his wings twitching in anticipation. Then he clicked his heels together and did a neat little about-face, giving the kids a smirk just before he tipped backwards off the edge. He transformed as he fell, and Miko found herself holding her breath as he dropped out of sight.

Engines roared, and Miko couldn't help whooping as he shot straight upwards, so fast the gust of wind he created made her and Raf stumble. Starscream must have heard her, because his wings waggled in what felt like acknowledgement. He kept going up, up, nosecone pointed to the clouds, until she had to shade her eyes to keep watching him. Abruptly, his engines cut out, and he seemed to hang suspended for a moment before toppling backwards again. Miko gripped Ratchet's index finger as Starscream spun around and around, plummeting towards the ground in freefall.

"Relax, kiddo," Ratchet said. "He's just showing off."

Miko couldn't tear her eyes away. How could falling like that be showing off? And then, just when she thought Starscream wasn't going to be able to pull up in time, his engines fired and he righted himself with a quick flick of his wings. He turned freefall into a graceful dive that hooked around the tall mesa that disguised the Autobot base, only half of one wing visible like the fin of a shark as he circled them. Then he was up and away again, doing loops and flips and barrel rolls, all because he could. For the sheer joy of it.

She wondered what that would be like, to have the wind as a friend and gravity as a plaything. She wondered if she could get him to tell her honestly.

"Hey, Ratchet," Miko said, still watching Starscream. "Optimus said something to me yesterday."

"Go on."

"It was after you kicked me out of the med bay. He seemed sad about something, so I asked how I could help, and he said that this isn't my war, and maybe I could see things another way. But then he wouldn't tell me what he meant."

Ratchet bit off a curse halfway. "If that young idiot is hanging his hopes on Starscream, of all mechs, I'll kill him myself."

Miko supposed that Ratchet was probably the only one around who could get away with calling Optimus Prime either young or idiot. "What hopes?" she asked.

Ratchet let out a heavy sigh. "He's got this notion of ending the war without winning or losing. Where both sides come back together to rebuild the world better this time. It's-" He made a frustrated grinding noise. "No one else would think it's possible. I sure don't. But he hopes." His free hand clenched, and he sounded so old and tired as he murmured, "Primus save him, he hopes."

Raf crouched to give Ratchet a comforting pat on the palm, but Miko just kept holding onto his finger, still watching Starscream. She didn't really know what any of that had to do with her or her ability to see things another way, and yet… she had a strange feeling she was starting to kind of understand.

Maybe it was something about the way Starscream cut through the sky. Exuberance radiated off him—there was nothing calculating or scheming in the twirl of his wings, the gunning of his engines. He'd been on the ground for so long, and now he was celebrating flight. She couldn't deny anymore that he was just another person, with his own motives and dreams and history. And if Starscream was a person, what about the rest of the Decepticons? She knew plenty of people did plenty of bad things for plenty of reasons, but she was used to applying that mentality to humans. It required another shift of thinking to apply it to alien robots, especially when she'd been taught by most of the Autobots that Decepticons were just plain bad.

And maybe they were bad people, but Miko was starting to think that maybe it wasn't all that simple. If Optimus thought there was a way to reconcile their differences, maybe… maybe…

Miko didn't know. But she was going to find out.

"Alright, pack it in," Ratchet said into his comm. "That's enough fancy flightwork for today. Save some fuel for your mission."

Starscream veered back towards the mesa, transforming again as he landed. "Killjoy," he said, but he was grinning, exhilarated and sincere. Then he caught himself, and the grin shifted into a haughty sneer.

Miko came to a decision. She wasn't sure if it was the right one, but that had never stopped her before. "Woo!" she crowed, throwing up horns with both hands. "Starscream, that was awesome!"

Starscream gave her a startled look, then quickly composed himself. "Of course," he said, lifting his chin. "I'm the best there is."

But some of the sincerity had returned to his smile, and Miko knew she could do this.