Chapter Text
Deadlock sat on the floor of his cell, meditating peacefully. Thundercracker was pacing around. He had told him that doing that was just a waste of his Energon, but he still continued doing it. Finally, something caught the attention of both of them, stopping the sound of footsteps. The door to the small prison opened, revealing Ratchet, his former conjunx.
“Finally decided to stop ignoring me?” Deadlock said with a smug smile.
“I... needed to get some things off my chestplate.” Ratchet servos were shaking before he clenched them. “Last we saw each other, you betrayed me. You betrayed your promise.”
“I promised I’d love you forever... I still do. Despite how things ended.”
“Most normal Cybertronians don’t stab people they love in the back.”
“Please understand, I did it for Cybertron... for you! Everything had gone to scrap, and Megatron offered a solution.”
“Megatron offered an easy target.”
“Well, something needed to change.”
“And did it?”
Deadlock’s expression darkened. “No. I’ve... thought a lot about that lately.”
“Really, now?”
He scowled. “You think I have ulterior motives?”
“Why wouldn’t you? You’ve betrayed me once before.”
“Would you stop calling it that, please? I admit I don’t like how things ended, and I’m sorry for that, but I’d hardly call not saying goodbye—”
“Oh frag off, ‘Lock! You know damn well that’s not what I’m pissed about!”
He took a few seconds to respond. “Don’t act all high and mighty. You would’ve come with me if I asked.” He said accusingly.
“You don't know that.” Ratchet said, voice shaky.
“I do know you. Or at least, I know the version of you from back then.”
He turned around. “I need to go. The mission begins soon.”
“The mission?”
-
“It is functioning, then?” Optimus Prime inquired.
“Should be,” Bulkhead responded. “All of the parts are homemade by Jackie and I.”
“Mostly me.” Wheeljack interjected.
Bulkhead rolled his optics. “Anyways, the energon is luckily no longer a problem, thanks to Prowl and Windblade’s score on the seeker ship.”
Optimus nodded. “Very well. I will inform the team that we are to leave in one groon.”
-
“Kind of last-cycle, no?” Hot Rod questioned as he walked alongside Arcee, Bumblebee, and Charlie.
“True, but we had no idea if we were going to finish it or not.” Arcee replied. “We're way behind schedule. Elita One's team has been holding down the other space bridge for the last two deca-cycles.”
Hot Rod nodded and turned to Charlie. “So, kid, last chance to turn back. What're you gonna choose?”
“Hm?” She got knocked out of her thoughts by his question. Truthfully, she was thinking about how terrified she was to be leaving Earth. Humans had only made it to the moon twenty years ago, and here she was about to leave for an alien planet. However, she simply brushed those thoughts off. “Oh, I'm still going! I don’t know why everyone keeps asking that. It's not going to change the answer. I'm staying with Bumblebee, no matter what.” She held one of her partner's fingers.
“Well, it'll be nice to have you there, at least.” Arcee said. “Do you have everything you need? We don’t know how long we'll be on Cybertron.”
“Yeah, I packed my wrist blaster, a bunch of snacks, drinks, and tampons.” She pulled on the strap of the backpack she was wearing for emphasis.
“I don't know what that last thing was, but good, I think? You'll need to be prepared for anything.”
“Might want to bring a helmet as well,” Hot Rod said with a smirk on his face. “You might get stomped by a ‘con!”
Bumblebee lightly punched him in the shoulder with a visible frown.
“Sorry, sorry! Just joking!”
“It’s fine,” Charlie said, a similar smirk forming on her own face. “After all, I’m probably too small for them to notice me.”
“Ha!” He exclaimed. “I didn’t even know you were capable of joking about it! Bee, she’s a keeper!”
Bee looked exasperated as they made it to the main hall. It looked like they were the last there, as all the Autobots Charlie knew were all lined up and ready to go. Optimus Prime stared the space bridge down. He looked at the group arriving. “It appears we’re all here. Does anyone need something before we leave?”
Ratchet approached the leader of the Autobots. “Actually, Optimus... there was something I wanted to talk to you about.”
Optimus looked confused but nodded. “What is it, my friend?”
“I don’t think I should go to Cybertron with you all.”
His confusion only grew. “Your medical expertise will be necessary in the warzone our home has become.”
Ratchet looked around at his comrades nervously. “I've... not been doing so well. My age is catching up to me. My servos start shaking when I'm doing surgery, I can’t even aim a pistol for scrap, and the list just goes on. Besides, we need someone to look over the prisoners.”
“But what will happen if one of us were to be injured?”
“Then you have Miss Watson.” He looked at Charlie warmly.
“What!?” She exclaimed, feeling suddenly put on the spot. “Hey, I’ve only been working with you for a few weeks! I’m not ready to be a solo medic!”
“Relax, kid.” He said, coming over to her and kneeling down. “You’re a natural. You didn’t need me when we met, you damn well don’t need me now.”
“But... what if I fuck up? What if someone dies because of me?”
He sighed. “Look, that won’t happen, but I had a feeling you would say that, so I had Wheeljack whip something up.”
Wheeljack tossed a small device to Ratchet, who passed it down to Charlie. “I have a matching device that will vibrate when you press the button here. It can also act as a walkie-talkie in short distance.”
“You can send a signal from that far away?”
“Just a simple one, mind you. Sending something with audio or video that far away would take many Energon cubes.”
Optimus nodded. “Indeed. It took over half our supplies at the time to plan our arrival with Elita One.”
Charlie shifted her weight. “You really believe I can do this? You're not just trying to make me feel better about doing it myself?”
Ratchet nodded. “There’s not a doubt in my mind.”
She took a deep breath. “Okay, if you say so.”
“Here, have this as well.” Ratchet took a small toolbox out of his storage compartment and handed it to her. “It won’t be as good as having all the tools in the medbay, but the tools in there should be helpful to you.”
She nodded and tied both it and the walkie talkie to her belt. “I think I’m ready to go.”
Optimus nodded and signaled to Bulkhead, who was standing in front of a control panel, to start the bridge. He gave a thumbs up and pulled a lever on the panel. A big green circle of electricity formed in the machine. Before Charlie had a chance to admire the technology, a laser blast came through the portal, narrowly missing Mirage. All of the Autobots readied their weapons, surprised by the shot. Ultra Magnus looked at Optimus. “Do you think the ‘cons take the space bridge back?”
“Then, we must go in.”
“But it could be a Decepticon trap!”
“The Decepticons taking over the space bridge means Elita One and her team are in danger. It’s our duty to help our comrades.
Magnus’ eyebrow narrowed but he didn’t say anything more, turning his attention back to the portal.
Optimus pointed to the portal. “Autobots... roll out!”
They all ran into the space bridge.
-
Due to her smaller size, Charlie was obviously the last one in. As soon as she touched the green electricity, she was transported to a new location. The effect was off-putting, but she didn’t have any time to fret about that. There was gunfire coming from everywhere.
A few feet ahead of them there were a few Cybertronians behind cover, all bearing the Autobot insignia. One of them, who Charlie recognised as the pink Autobot from the video Optimus Prime was watching, looked back in shock. “Orion, it's you!” She said with a smile. Then, a shot narrowly missed Mirage, and her expression darkened. “Quickly, get down!”
All of the Autobots followed her orders, squeezing together behind a barrier. Of course, Charlie didn’t have to crouch down, thanks to her size. “What happened here?” Optimus asked.
“After we took over the space bridge, they quickly tried to take it back. We've been holding it down for the last orbital cycle.”
He looked guilty. “I should have been here sooner.”
“Worry about that later— we have to get rid of these boltheads first!”
Charlie wasn't a soldier by any means. She didn't understand what Optimus Prime and Elita One were commanding everyone to do, all she knew was that occasionally an Autobot would peek out and fire a shot at the Decepticons. She just hoped nobody got hurt.
“Come out and fight like real soldiers!” Came a menacing voice from behind the barrier.
Optimus’ eyes widened. “Is that...?”
“Yes, it's Shockwave.” Elita responded, grimacing. “He’s been leading the charge to take back the port.”
The battle went on for hours. If she weren't the middle of a battlefield, Charlie would be bored. After a few successful shots on some Decepticons from the Autobots, Elita stood up and threw a grenade right at the one apparently named Shockwave. Before she could get back down, however, she was shot on her right shoulder. She yelled in pain, falling back down behind the barrier. “Elita!” Optimus shouted, audibly worried.
“I’m fine,” she said, though from her tone of voice it was obvious she was in pain. “Just focus on the fight, not me!”
He nodded and turned towards Charlie. “Miss Watson... can you do something to help her? Please.”
“Optimus, I’m fine, I just—”
“Please just lay down for Miss Watson, Arial.”
She rolled her eyes and laid down. “So, do you want to explain why an organic is here instead of Ratchet?”
“I’ll tell you later.” He said, turning his attention back to the battle.
She turned to Charlie, who was approaching her shoulder. “Guess he’s busy. You feel like telling me, little one?”
Charlie began to work on her shoulder, taking out tools from the box to help her. “Oh, I’m Ratchet’s apprentice. He felt I would be better suited to act as the medic than him. I don’t really agree, but he was insistent.”
“And how did you get to be his apprentice anyway? I was under the impression Prime was keeping our existence a secret from the local Earth organics.” She shot him a dirty look to the back of his head.
“It wasn’t his fault.” Charlie said as she continued to work on her shoulder. “When Bee came here, he lost his memory from a Decepticon following him here— sorry, there— attacking him.”
Elita looked horrified at that information, looking at Bumblebee, who was still fighting. “Dear Primus... and is he still...?”
“He managed to recover his memory, don’t worry. Anyways, I found him thinking he was just a normal car. I fixed most of his injuries.”
“Most?”
“It’s his voice synthesizer. It was ripped out of him. We haven’t been able to find a replacement one.”
She continued looking at Bee. Her face was riddled with sadness and sympathy. “I... had no idea. No wonder he’s been so quiet.” She turned back to the human woman. “So, you’ve stayed with him since then?”
“Well, we were separated for a while there. We met back up a few months ago and... well, we sort of both realized we’re both in love with each other.”
“Oh?” The Autobot smiled for the first time since Charlie met her.
“Uh, yeah. Me and Bee are Conjunxes.”
“I see.” She turned back to Bumblebee. “Hey B! You didn’t say you got hitched on Earth!”
He looked embarrassed, but continued focusing on the fight. Moments later, Charlie finished patching her up, causing her to get back into a crouching position.
“You did pretty good, ‘Miss Watson’.”
“Please, just call me Charlie. Optimus just keeps addressing me formally for some reason.”
“Well then, it was nice meeting you, Charlie. Anything else changed recently I need to know?”
“Well, he changed his name.” She pointed to Bumblebee.
“Hm? But you just called him B.”
“Yeah, but it’s short for something else now: Bumblebee.”
Before Elita One could respond, Hot Rod shouted something. “Look, they're retreating!”
Indeed, when Charlie peeked around, all of the living Decepticons were running away. All except one. “Hey guys?” She said. “One of them is... crawling away?”
There was a pause. Finally, Optimus Prime spoke up. “Yes you're correct. That's Shockwave.”
“They’re abandoning their leader?” One of the Autobots on Elita's team said.
“Surround him!” Optimus Prime shouted, vaulting the barrier. The other Autobots did as he said, running over to the lone Shockwave and standing around him. “Shockwave! Stand down!”
Shockwave turned himself around, facing Optimus Prime. “I will never surrender to a cowardly Autobot!”
Just as Optimus was about to respond, Shockwave took something off of a belt. At first it wasn't clear what he grabbed, but it became obvious it was a grenade as soon as he pulled the pin. “RUN!” Optimus shouted.
Everyone didn’t need to be told twice. Some dived out of range, while some simply ran. Luckily, Charlie was pretty far away already, but still backed away, just in case the size of the grenade caused it to reach her. Just in time, Bumblebee dived so he was in an army crawling position above her. The explosion went off, sending a ringing through her ears. After a few seconds, the couple looked up and saw that everyone was thankfully unharmed... except for Shockwave, who had been essentially reduced to a stain on the ground. She winced. “Is he...?”
Optimus Prime lifted up the scorched chestplate. “Yes. His spark has been extinguished.”
Both he and Elita looked distraught at this information. Charlie looked at Bee, who also seemed to be somewhat upset by the death of the Decepticon. She was confused by everyone’s reaction, but didn’t say anything.
“We will return for the body later.” Prime declared, breaking the silence. “For now, we have a mission to complete.
“Agreed,” Elita said, exasperated. “We need to keep pushing before news reaches Megatron that you’re back.”
“Everyone, take a breem to rest and recuperate.” He said, lowering his weapon. “Then, we move out and head for the palace.”
With that, the body language of everyone in the room shifted. Almost immediately, Arcee and a green cybertronian from Elita’s team ran towards each other. As soon as they reached each other, they kissed. It didn’t take full knowledge of the Autobot ranks to guess that the bot she was kissing was Greenlight, the conjunx endura of hers she had mentioned over a month ago.
“It’s nice to see you too.” Arcee joked when they finally separated.
“Like you didn't come running as soon as the battle ended too.” Greenlight teased, letting Charlie hear her voice for the first time. She looked at the human. “I overheard your conversation with Elita. Is it true you’re B's conjunx?”
She felt put on the spot. “Uh, yeah.”
“Woah.” She said, looking between the couple.
Arcee gave her a playful punch in the shoulder. “I'm gonna go catch up with Greenlight here. Why don't you go introduce yourself to other Autobots?” She pointed to the rest of Elita’s team, who were all surrounding their two leaders.
“Is this really all that’s left?” Optimus Prime said, looking around. Charlie counted three new Autobots besides Elita and Greenlight.
“There are some squads spread across the planet, and of course there’s all the undercover agents.” Elita One said, trying and failing to seem unaffected. “But other than that? This is everything. Most of us died defending the space bridge.” She gestured to one of the corpses, who died wearing an Autobot insignia.
“All of these Autobots died... just to bring us here.” He looked completely devastated.
“Don’t. Don’t go blaming yourself. This was the only way to end this war, and all of them died knowing that. They died for the dream of a free Cybertron. Don’t let their dreams die as well.”
He still looked upset over it but took a deep breath. “I know.” He walked away and sat in a corner.
After a moment of silence, Elita looked down to Charlie and let a sad smile come across her face. “I saw you already introduced yourself to Greenlight. This is Ironhide, Chromia, and Powerglide.”
The new Autobots all waved at her awkwardly. They were all obviously thinking the same thing: why was an organic on Cybertron?
She shifted her weight nervously and backed off. “Uh... nice to meet you all.” Bumblebee followed her, concerned. When they were out of earshot of everyone else, he whirred curiously. “I'm fine, Bee, I'm just... a bit out of my element.”
There was a pause. “Anything— I can do?” He asked.
Charlie thought about it. “Not really, I’m just feeling a little homesick... already.” She looked back over to the purple corpse. “Listen... What was the deal with that Shockwave guy? Everyone seemed really upset over his death, especially for a Decepticon.”
Bumblebee spent a few seconds scrolling through his recordings. “He was— an— Autobot— long time ago.”
“So.. he betrayed you guys?”
Bee shook his head “no”. “Brain— wash— ing.”
“Oh... I see.” The reactions of everyone began to make a lot more sense. Other dead Decepticons, they chose to be in the position they were. They chose to pick the side of evil. Shockwave, though? He was forced to work for them. “Was there any chance of getting him back?”
“Never— tried. Needed— his— body. We— never— got it.”
“Jesus Christ.” She leaned against the wall.
“I know.” Bee said, a tired look in his eyes.
They sat on the ground, embracing each other until Optimus called everyone from exit. Everyone gathered, lining up in front of him.
“I'm sure everyone else does not need reminding, but to all of my team: remember that we're in enemy territory.” He said stoically. “Be prepared for anything. The journey will be about ten groons.” He turned into an Earth tractor truck. “Autobots, transform and roll out!”
On command, all of the other Autobots transformed, and Charlie stumbled her way into Bee before he took off. His door was still open by the time he started driving off. Now that they were outside, she could see the architecture of all the Cybertronian buildings. It was like something in a sci-fi novel came to life. The buildings were mostly purple and yellow, and were taller than any building she’d ever seen, even in pictures. However, there was also a... creepiness to it. A city that big should’ve had more people in it. However, the only cybertronians she saw were the ones she was travelling with. “Woah,” she said unconsciously.
“Should’ve seen it— before—” Bumblebee stopped there. She waited for him to continue his sentence, but it stopped there.
“Before what?”
“Don’t have— words— for it.”
“Oh. That’s alright.” She paused. “Were you close to him?”
He let out a whir of confusion.
“To Shockwave, I mean.”
There were a few seconds with just the sound of driving. “Yes.”
She hugged his steering wheel, leaning on it. Then, she kissed it, moving back away. “You've been so strong, Bumblebee. I'm sorry for your loss.
Bee didn't respond. Just as Charlie was about to say something else, there was a massive roadblock as they turned a corner. Before anybody could respond to it, explosions started raining down on all of them. Bee quickly transformed and threw her off to the side, where there were no explosions. She looked up to see where they were coming from and saw a few Cybertronians on the top of a building.
After a few seconds, a direct shot landed on Ironhide. He collapsed instantly. The one named Chromia roared in anger and ran to his side, pulling the limp body to the side of the building opposite of Charlie. She ran over, hands on her medical supplies, but was interrupted by two sharp claws digging into her back, and carrying her up. She screamed in both pain and fear, causing Bee to look her way. He aimed his gun at whatever was grabbing her, but Elita pushed his arms down. “Stop! You could shoot her by accident!”
That was the last thing Charlie heard before being carried out of earshot. She was brought up on top of the building, in front of a blue and white Decepticon with a big red visor. The human woman felt her vision fading, and it soon all went to black. She passed out, and the last thing she heard was a robotic voice saying, “TARGET CAPTURED.”