#look earthspark ratchet in canon is either dead or rogue like bee was. otherwise we would've seen him by now as he was deffo needed

[transingthoseformers]

Tarn definitely still has his tank kibble but he's got his OG colors back and his face is mended if scared. Thinking maybe a bronze or coper colored patch though because the material adhered better.(pretty color combination)

The Maltos recognize the Deceptacon badge but Damus is chill, and not acting hostile or threatening to them. His main concern was for Nickel. Mostly he was asking questions that boil down to him ascertaining the sparklings were in a safe home situation. To his minor surprise the answer was yes.

Damus knows Megatron's going to flip and try to find him it's why he gave the young ones his name. Damus wants to talk with Megatron and he's hiding out because he can't blend. Let Megatron find him. They can have out whatever they will have far from the younglings.

What's alarming Bee and Dot more than Damus initially is what happened to Prion. There is a little medic with big PTSD out there that needs help. Also this is intel about the wider universe boss-bot needs. Dot is torn between personally insulted and approving on general principle that Damus wanted to afirm her babies were safe. Alex is tentatively optimistic about the devlopemt.

Megatron is so suprised by Damus' description. No mask, no purple except for his badge, blue optics and biolights. He's describing Tarn and the fusion cannon is at home and the kids are well he was a tank but none of the rest is right. Plus he didn't transform at all just carried Nickel in his arms. Megatron is confused as well as panicking.

I had the stupid thought that in this AU! Pharma snaped and blew up Mestasanine by detanating all the Nucleon instead of the red rust virus and by chance Tarn and Nickel were off planet while the rest stayed behind. Maybe they were grounded or had temporarily "lost recreational activity privileges."

Yessss such a pretty color combo!!!

Awww yep yep, Damus cares🥰

Makes sense he's waiting for Meggsie to look for him rather than the opposite, there's a conversation between those two that needs to happen and Damus doesn't want it to be a surprise (in case it doesn't end well)

Makes sense that Dot and Bee are thinking that, especially considering Nickel's reaction and the information that the cybertronians outside of earth are definitely definitely not safe (and what if the black box consorta comes to earth??? They cannot have that.)

Sdgjjss yeah. She's proud of how she's raising the kids, and on one hand it's nice to know someone else is looking out for them too. But it also kinda stings that someone would be suspicious of her over it.

Megs is having so many big feeling about this, and what he knows of Tarn isn't matching up with what the kids are saying about Damus. Like, from what we can see, Megatron just is part of the Malto family in his own way. I feel like I'm entirely right on this. He has proven time and time again to be greatly protective of the kids, and part of him is afraid of what Damus could do to them. Confused and panicking indeed.

I can see WHY Pharma would make that decision in his scenario, it is a lot simpler than the Red Rust plan and he was rather desperate.

Hilarious then sad thought but Tarn had indeed lost planet privileges (that, or a factor of him being sick from something more mundane than the bleeding red plague) and Nickel was supervising, so they sent the others to do their usual deal which. Saying it went south is an understatement. I'm imagining that finding out what happened was an incredibly angsty moment, and I feel like it was another thing that made Damus reevaluate himself (after all, this was pretty much his fault because he pushed Pharma well past the breaking point for the sake of his dual addictions).

I can also see a situation where the Red Rust had progressed much faster than anticipated and the other members of the DJD caught it, after all wasn't Pharma's original plan for it to nail Tarn?? (After all it's centered around the T-cog. Not only does it prove deadly upon transforming, but it very probably makes the T-cog of the corpses entirely unusable. The Red Rust Plague very much was made with Tarn in mind.) And, I mean. There's no Ratchet and crew to have stopped it in canon (.... ... Unless, there was and it didn't work?? That would sure as hell explain why we don't see earthspark Ratchet in this au)