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TFP: Universal Observations

FIRST UO UPDATE FOR THE YEAAAR! we're back! this is one big chapter but thankfully not the biggest. that... that might happen later on. for now though! i've managed to get this chapter out before february is done!

the ao3 chapter will be out soon, but since i started it here on tumblr, tumblr gets it first :)

word count: 11.5k

[ ----- TP : UO ----- ]

The Nemesis

Let it be said that the last two Earth days or so, have been the most emotionally and intellectually challenging obstacles that Starscream has faced in a long, long while. Not that he would acknowledge it out loud, especially the emotional part.

He's been handed too much information, an alluring scientific mystery, and perspective. He hates perspective. But that aside, it has also been the most entertaining two Earth days that he's had recently. Being able to look into other universes has been immeasurably fascinating, the concept itself? Genius. The execution?

Considerably questionable.

Starscream, for all his pride, would actually admit, out loud that whoever built the Observers were a genius the likes that no one has ever seen. And he was confident that even Shockwave would agree, not that he'd ever want to think about the brutishly large scientist. Yet at the same time, the genius behind the Observers was also incompetently flamboyant. The notes he has over the Observers he knows so far; the one on their ship, the other in the Autobot's base, and finally the one that was owned by that show writer in the actor universe… They clashed and he had a long list of questions about them.

Of course, the most prevalent being who was behind the creation of the Observers? Why were they sent out in such a way, that they could be discovered by others and used by others? Why in Primus' SHINING SPARK was the controls of the Observers so different?

From the writer's Observer (his designation was escaping him for some reason), Starscream had immediately taken note its controls from what he said; being somewhat considerate of the fact he might be lying, however there was always the chance that he wasn't but that just reinforced the question of why the systems were so different.

That Observer apparently required the writer to create models to view worlds related to those models, but the Observer that the Autobots had and thus, their own's (which still begged the question why the Autobots had an Observer that had another module?) requirement merely had a randomization of words picked from three human children.

Because those human children had somehow became the sole controllers of the unknown artifact that could peer into other worlds, other universes, where things differed one way or another in various, varying ways.

One world where personalities were different along with frames, another were their life was a fragging show and finally a third world where Quitnessons existed and were a clear threat.

Yet out of all those worlds.

The Quintesson world is the only world so far, that Starscream has seen a glimpse of them.

[ A semi-familiar seeker walked down a hallway, faceplate tense with thought as he had most of his focus on the datapad in his servos. His helm suddenly looked up as he heard the sound of rapid pedesteps coming from behind him, two sets, one more faster than the other.

"Starscream!" A purple and black seeker exclaimed with a mischievous grin, behind him, a blue and yellow seeker was trailing closely. Amused, relaxed, as he watched the purple seeker attempt to tackle the other, only to fail and nearly stumble over when the red, blue and purple seeker dodged to the side. ]

Starscream stared at the screen, a sizeable lump in his throat cables. The empty part of his spark agonizing at the sight of them. Old wounds reopened as if they were fresh, the reminder of his failures, of Lord Megatron's failures, poignant and clear in front of him.

Skywarp, Thundercracker.

He does not say their names this time, swallows it down painfully. He has already shown weakness when they first appeared yesterday. He will not show weakness again, especially because he knows a certain femme would enjoy the sight all too well. He ignores the seeking look and smirk on said femme's faceplate, ignores the subtle look of concern from the medic and his conjunx as well. Instead, his gaze goes to his so called Lord.

Does he even remember the mission that took their sparks?

That broke his trine?

That broke him?

Megatron coolly meets his gaze, calm, collected. No hint of remorse or regret. Just narrowed optics, a raised ridge that challenged Starscream to say something. Starscream hold his glossa, no matter how much he wants to rage against him aloud. Surprisingly though, or perhaps not, the tyrant looks away first. Resolute in watching the screen.

It's a bitter victory, barely counted as such.

He doesn't bother to think much on it, his own gaze goes back to the screen. A blessing and a curse, this Observer was. Letting him see and hear his trine once more, envying his otherself who did not know the pain of broken bonds and dead sparks hanging on to his.

If Skywarp and Thundercracker were still alive, would they be proud of what you've become?

( "Who're they?" A teenage girl asked, puzzled by the closeness of the two new seekers and to the somewhat familiar seeker on screen. The humans knew that the tri-colored seeker was Starscream, surprised by how he looked— less fragile, no longer a grey toothpick in heels. "They look close to Screamer."

A medic sighed, expression complicated as he looked at the three on screen. "Skywarp and Thundercracker, Starscream's old trine." Quickly realizing that the humans would have no idea what that even meant, he continued. "Essentially, they're Starscream's brothers in all but blood. Close doesn't even begin to describe them."

"Huh, but they're not here on Earth?" A boy asked, puzzled as he thinks over the situation.

A man however, scoffs, "Better not be. We've got enough cons to worry about."

"… I don't think you'll have to worry about them Fowler." A wrecker said quietly, almost regrettably, pityingly. Not at the human of course, but at a seeker who was not present in the base. "They ain't coming." A Prime shook his helm in agreement, a deep sadness in his optics.

A yellow scout whirred something low and quiet, but it was loud enough for a little boy to gasp in shock. A horrified yet sad look on his face, it said it all for the humans who gave the three seekers on screen a somber look. A certain femme scout said nothing, torn between guiltily vindictive satisfaction and an empathic pity that she struggled to even acknowledge or ignore. )

[ "Skywarp." Starscream said with a disgruntled, displeased expression on his faceplate. "Don't be a nuisance." He scolded as Skywarp steadied and stood to his full height, the grin on his face unwavering. "What do you want?"

Skywarp gave a brief pout before the grin returned, "Word's out that some new humans came! Wheeljack's not the only squishy around?" He yelped when Starscream swatted him on the arm, a firm, warning look on his faceplate.

"Don't call him that, or any of the humans that. Most of the other mechs don't know that humans are organics. Just weird, horrifyingly modified technological mechs from a relating species. Or a distant functionist colony. The theory varies." Thundercracker reminded with a small smirk as Skywarp rubbed his arm.

Skywarp snickered, "My favorite so far is the one where they're from an Amalgamous Prime colony and they just look like that, because the colony is a terrifying, horrible death planet."

"That one is good." Thundercracker nodded in agreement, Starscream pressed his digits against his faceplate with an annoyed groan.

"To answer your question Skywarp, yes, there's new humans around. Three of them."

Skywarp perked, wings hiking up as he leaned into Starscream's space. "Three? Are they a trine? Wait, can humans be trine?" He asked, looking over to Thundercracker who shrugged. ]

Hearing those voices after so long was both a balm to his spark, and a shackle around his throat cables. He's heard them plenty before, in old recordings that he dared keep. But these weren't recordings now, were they? He had those memorized by now, these were new. And the broken part of his spark was hungry for it.

He rubbed at his throat, then cleared it. "Seems like that I, along with… Skywarp and Thundercracker, know of the true nature of the humans." He notes aloud, though he had hesitated in saying their names, he didn't fumble or stutter. They deserved more than that.

"They're a trio, but certainly not a trine." Knock Out answered aloud, and Starscream snorted, giving the medic a nod. 'Humans can't be trine. Not like us. Never like us.' Starscream silently added to the answer of Skywarp's question, what a fool Skywarp was to ask such a thing just because those humans came together. "Though, there is the phenomenon known as 'triplets', where three humans are born at the same time. A triple-split spark instead of two, although, it's unknown if their sparks are split, a lot of humans do not believe in the concept of sparks, or 'souls' as they call theirs."

There were some terrifying similarities, Starscream realized, of humanity to cybertronians. Triplets were a very rare thing on Cybertron, twins were more common than that. But triplets were not trine unless they wanted to be.

"Interesting… Amalgamous Prime colony. Hmph, it'd be a saner theory compared to organics piloting giant mechanical bodies." Starscream muttered, thinking back to the theory that was apparently Skywarp's favorite. Without the knowledge of humans, it was a solid enough theory to assume. Especially with how the mechas looked like.

( "Tch, I don't trust Starscream knowing about the humans." A femme scout muttered darkly, expression tight as she glares at the screen. At the seeker himself on it. "It's bad news."

Her wrecker teammate could only shrug, "Neither do I, but it's not like we can do anything about it 'Cee. But hey, benefit of the doubt; he— well, he, Skywarp and Thundercracker've been keeping Jackie a secret so far?"

"By the order of both Optimus and Megatron, no doubt." Their medic commander commented and they all pulled an expression at the fact he had to say both their names in tandem like that.

Their leader merely shook his helm, "Although our Starscream is clearly… someone who we cannot trust. This Starscream is different than him. Bulkhead has a point, he has not revealed information about Wheeljack, he will keep the children's information secret just as well."

The team could only grumble and reluctantly accept his words, the wrecker's original answer had been right after all. It wasn't as if they could do anything about the situation shown to them. All they could do, was watch and observe. )

[ "Go ask Wheeljack, but I doubt it." Starscream scoffed, looking down to his datapad. "Hmph, Thundercracker, take Skywarp and keep him busy. I need to go, there's a meeting about the humans I must attend to."

Thundercracker snickered as Skywarp made an offended noise, "I am right here Screamer!"

"Go on, shoo." Starscream ignored Skywarp's words, deadpanning as he motioned both seekers away. The blue seeker rolled his optics but went along with it, pulling the lightly protesting purple seeker with him. Starscream watched them go, smirking to himself before turning around to leave himself.

The camera switched towards Skywarp and Thundercracker as they walked through the halls of their current base. "'Shoo Skywarp, shoo. Let Thundercracker be your minder while I go meet the new squishies—'" Skywarp mocked in a horrible impression of his fellow trinemate's voice only to yelp when Thundercracker smacked his helm. "'Cracker!"

"Again, don't call them that 'Warp. And also, did you really wanna accompany Screamer to the meeting just to see the humans up close? You do know Lord Megatron and Optimus Prime would've been there with them right?"

Skywarp pouted at him, "… It would've been kinda boring yeah…" He replied reluctantly then sighing. "Guess we'll just meet 'em later… Can't wait to see 'em in action, everyone else is gonna freak out over the new humans aren't they?" The mischievous grin returned full force to his faceplate as he began snickering over the future reactions of his peers.

"It'll certainly be something." Thundercracker huffed, though his derma were hooked upwards with amusement. "It does make me wonder though, if more humans will eventually show up." ]

"They're a colorful duo, Starscream." Knock Out casually said, optic ridge raising at Thundercracker and Skywarp's personalities on screen. Having never really met them before. He's heard of them certainly, but he hadn't exactly been the main medic of the Decepticons back when they were still around since he was stationed elsewhere with Breakdown. It was only until Earth that he'd been promoted to Head Medic of the Nemesis Warship after all.

Starscream scoffed, "They're a moronic duo." He corrected with a haughty sniff, it concealed affection, longing. Barely. Frag, he missed these two idiots. What was he doing, subjecting himself to this torture? Yet, if he left, he'd be deprived of seeing them alive on the screen. Not recordings, not something he's seen or imagined again and again.

It was torture, to see them alive and well in a world where things were different.

But it was hell to not watch them, to only remember them in recordings and memories.

Curse the Autobots and their discovery of the Observer, of discovering a world where things were not all wrong for Starscream and his trine, curse the Observer for showing up in general and showing him this.

Yet bless it all the same, for giving him a chance to see his trine and another him who did not have to suffer through sparkbreak and loss.

Somewhere, out there. Starscream is… not exactly happy, but he has not lost his trine. And as envious as he is, Starscream is glad for it.

Still, frag him all the same, for having something Starscream didn't. Not anymore.

[ The scene changes to a dark bedroom.

A dark, human bedroom. It was large, with a strange chair right by the right side of the bed. On the left, someone, hidden underneath the blankets, stirred as suddenly a loud blaring noise came from the phone on the bedside table on the left.

A thin but muscled arm reached out, grabbing the phone to take it underneath the blanket. A muffled, raspy but undeniably feminine voice answered. Heavy with sleep and tired annoyance. "What?" ]

"We're back on Earth." Breakdown noted, squinting at the screen with his one good optic. "Who's that?"

Arachnid's optics narrowed, the voice was familiar, but the blanket muffled it enough to be temporarily unrecognizeable. "No idea… Hm, what's that contraption by the bed?" She asked as the camera panned over the strange chair.

Embedded into the chair was a strange contraption, metal protruded at odd angles. Starscream's gaze narrowed, observing the way the structure seemed like the barebones of something— He couldn't exactly tell what it was, but it seemed important.

"… Tch." Starscream's gaze glanced over to the tyrant, who looked both annoyed yet amused. Did he know who this human woman was?

( Elsewhere, a Prime's breath hitched. Optics shining in recognition. "Oh."

"Optimus?" A medic questioned, having seen and heard him clearly. )

[ For a moment, there was silence before out of nowhere, the figure sat up revealing a human woman underneath the blankets. The lights automatically turned on from her abrupt movement, revealing a tan-skinned woman with short curly hair and sharp brown eyes. "He's gone?! THEY'RE GONE?! What do you mean 'gone'?!" She demanded fiercely, one hand fisting the blanket. ]

( The medic gasped, finally recognizing the voice now that it was clearer. "Elita?"

The Prime stayed silent, a complicated expression on his faceplate. )

"Elita-One." Megatron huffed with a dark scowl on his faceplate, "The mighty general, reduced to a mere human."

Starscream rose an optic ridge. Elita-One wasn't the only cybertronian 'reduced to a mere human' in that universe. Shockwave and Knock Out were human as well, why single out the old Autobot General who may or may not be dead?

He was briefly confused by Megatron's hostilities before remembering his reaction to the previous universe's scene of the Autobot's medic and leader having an argument about Elita-One. The Prime's conjunx within that universe, or at least, in that show.

He has a lot of complicated feelings about his other, his actor, to say the least. To see himself so happy, so content with acting and… No, not the time. Ruminate on this later, he had to pay attention.

( "That's Elita-One? Wow! She's so pretty!" A young girl complimented with a starry gaze. "And MUSCULAR! WOW!"

A wrecker laughed, a bit shocked himself. "That's her alright, as a human, anyway? Glad she's around, but Primus, it's weird to see her and Jackie as humans. Don't even mention the cons." He groaned, shaking his helm as he remembered the humanized versions of their enemies. Two so far, but who knows who else was human here.

A Prime and medic shared a slight smile, agreeing with Bulkhead's statement of 'being glad she was around', it had been so long since they've heard of her. She was still tentatively labeled as MIA, but one must be ready to expect the worse… The Prime could only hope she was alright, and that if she was indeed, dead…

Then may her death be a swift and painless one. )

[ Growling, she shifted in bed, using her muscular arm to drag herself to the right side of her bed as she barked into her phone. "Calm down my ass! You lost the kids! You lost Raf! Dammit Waltz! At least sound like you're worried for fuck's sake!" She tucked her phone into her neck as she grunted, dragging herself over to the strange contraption-chair right by her bed.

"Give me a minute, I need my legs—" She hissed into the phone, letting it fall to the bed as she sat down, using her hands to arrange her legs properly. They were unresponsive, but the moment she sat down, the screen showed her lower back where a port was. A cable plugged itself into it and she gave a low swear as metal braced itself onto her legs. Her calves visibly twitching along with her toes before she stood up, nearly stumbling for a moment. ]

Ah, so that was the contraption was for.

Arachnid let out a sinister chuckle, optics gleaming with amusement and glee. Only Lord Megatron seemed to share her amusement. "The human Autobot mentioned yesterday that a pilot was left bereft of use of their legs during the experiments of additional ports, no? Seems like we found our pilot!" She proclaimed with malicious satisfaction, enjoying the sight of the Elita-One, human or not, disabled. It was just a shame that the femme was still alive.

Knock Out hummed, recalling the 'flashback' as well, "So it seems. However, it looks like she's managed to find a way to regain her ability to walk. At a cost, clearly. The same procedure that took said ability is now used to give it, it doesn't seem permanent however." If it was, she wouldn't need to get into the chair and equip the walking braces.

"Waltz? She's acquainted with Human Shockwave." Starscream noted with a frown, "That's surprising."

( "Oh." A young boy said softly, "When Wheeljack mentioned a pilot who quit the second port installation thing, she lost her legs. She lost the ability to walk on her own." There's a solemn air as he said so. "She needs a prosthetic, some kind of walking brace?"

"Looks like it's using the same technology that made her lost her legs. That's gotta sting." A man beside the young boy muttered, having heard of the technology being used in the universe. He hasn't seen it himself, but this seemed similar to it even though he hasn't seen 'pilots clock in' yet.

A young woman frowned, "Waltz? Isn't that like, Shockwave?"

"Don't tell me she's part of MECH." A femme scout scowled at the very thought of the great General being part of such a despicable organization. Both in her universe and in that, "Please don't tell me she's part of MECH."

Her fellow scout buzzed back hesitantly, a whirring whine that had her sighing. "She knows Raf, she knows the kids. Frag, she's part of MECH isn't she?"

"She must have her reasons." Her leader consoled, though he too, looked a bit despondent at the sight of the human stumbling and cursing as she adjusted her posture and ensuring she was balancing well. )

[ She grabbed her phone after adjusting herself. "You lost Raf, Waltz?!" She barked into the phone, face dark and angry.

Suddenly the screen split as it showed Shockwave, human and in a laboratory of some kind. The screen only showed his back as he typed into a console that had multiple files and other programs. The most prominent were the MIA labels on the files of Raf, Miko and Jack. "It was an unforeseen circumstance." Shockwave replied neutrally as he kept typing.

The other screen showed Elita putting on a jacket over her sleep-shirt, getting properly dressed. "'Unforeseen circumstance' my ass! What. Happened."

"An XTR appeared near the base, an opportunity was presented to test out my latest invention. The same one that Raf has been assisting me since the beginning of his apprenticeship." Shockwave explained calmly as he pulled up the files of the Cortical Psychic Patch. "It was a device that would help humanity see into the minds of the XTRs and learn critical and crucial information."

"'See into—'" Elita was briefly confused before a dawning look appeared on her face, a slow settling horror. "Waltz, you're still looking for him? After all these years? All this time?" ]

"Who'se he actually looking for?" Breakdown questioned, finding the question absurd even as he asked. Shockwave was looking for someone? For what, an experiment? Information? To finish something?

Starscream scoffed, "They're being vague about it, obviously we don't know."

Megatron hummed, "Soundwave? Perhaps you may have an idea?"

Surprisingly, it took longer than Starscream would have expected for the silent mech to answer. A decisive but seemingly reluctant 'X' appearing on his visor with a shake of his helm, "Pity."

( "I wonder who Doc Shock's trying to find." The girl's words were contemplated deeply by the others, who regarded the question with a disturbed expression. They didn't exactly like the thought of the scientist, human or not, looking for someone. It was distressing to think of what purposes Shockwave have, what his goal was, especially because he clearly roped the alternate version of their youngest human with his scheme.

And yet, a Prime thought back to the brief moment. Barely noticeable, he doesn't think the others remember it. But he does.

A moment where it showed a broken purple mecha staring down a piece of stained metal.

It filled him with doubt, yet there was dread mixed in with it. )

[ "Goddamit Waltz, you don't even know if he's still- was Raf just so you could find him?! He's a kid, he's younger than—" Shockwave interrupted her, tone no longer neutral but frosty instead.

"While your concern is noted, it is unnecessary. Rafael will be fine, not only because he is accompanied with Darby and Nakadai, but because he is strong. Intelligent. If he does not come back, or send word of his survival in time, I will be- disappointed."

Elita looked stunned for a moment before a blazing look of fury bloomed on her face. "Shockwave!" She snarled, appalled and angry at him. Before she could say anything else, Shockwave continued.

"Informing you beforehand is a courtesy that I had no obligation to do, but I knew that you would be even more angry if I withheld the information even under orders. Turn that anger into something useful, MECH has decided to transfer your station as soon as possible as we have lost three of our elite pilots in one blow. Prepare yourself Alexandra."

And just like that, Shockwave ended the call, his side of the screen disappearing. Leaving Elita in disbelief as she stared at her phone. ]

"It was already shocking to see an Autobot and Decepticon working together as humans, but at the very least, it was with myself and that Wheeljack fellow. But Shockwave and Elita-One? Not only that, but did I hear a hint of ice in his tone? Terrifying." Knock Out murmured to his conjunx, who reluctantly nodded. Glancing over to him, Starscream mutely nodded. Fun as it was to see Shockwave as a lowly human, seeing him with emotions, even the tiniest bit was indeed, rather terrifying.

Because that meant that Shockwave would, could, retaliate with feelings. Starscream was fairly sure that Shockwave was dead, and even if he wasn't, he was fairly sure he could defend himself with the excuse of 'I thought you were dead!' to Shockwave with the full possibility of Shockwave dropping whatever plan he had in mind.

Because it was only logical to assume that Shockwave was dead from the groundbridge explosion, logical to abandon Shockwave and not even bother to find his frame because it would waste time and resources, especially when they had coordinates to where Optimus Prime was.

But logic wouldn't matter if someone acted based on feelings.

"Once again, the question of who Shockwave is trying to find remains unanswered." Arachnid huffed, abnormally interested in the scientist's interest in finding someone. It wasn't often someone like Shockwave of all mechs, would be interested in someone, there had to be something more to it. Something big. She can already tell. Oh well. At the very least, Elita-One was a crippled human who could not walk without that admittedly interesting… cybernetic enhancement? Though, she couldn't help but notice something… "Shockwave seems to have full confidence that Senscript is capable of returning, or at least, capable of contacting him."

Megatron had also noticed it, and noticed the fact that Shockwave didn't have to warn Elita-One about her transfer. Or tell her about the highly classified information of his own invention. Or of the children's disappearance. If anything, telling her was a detriment to him, seeing as she would no doubt bother him about it and that human Silas would be irate about information leaking. Yet he did so anyway. Truly, the differences between being human and cybertronian was clear; Shockwave, for all his resemblance to his emotionless scientist as a human, still had his emotions. The human had an impressive control over them of course, but he could not get rid of them the same way his cybertronian counterpart could and had. "Considering he seemed to have personally raised the child as his assistant, it's not surprising."

Besides, with Senscript and the others with his counterpart on Cybertron. There was a real chance of them capable of returning or sending a message that they were alive.

( A yellow scout's engine growled as he beeped, gesturing to the screen with clearly rude gestures. Both of the human and cybertronian kind. "Bumblebee." His leader sighed, but didn't really make the effort to scold him, knowing his scout was just overprotective over their youngest human charge.

Knowing that his counterpart was connected to Shockwave clearly distressed not only the scout, but everyone else severely. The humans less so, but considering what they were hearing about the scientist from the Autobots, it was very concerning for them as well.

"I hope Elita rips that Shockwave a new one." A teenage girl growled, just as angry as the woman on the screen.

"Rip him a new what?" The medic dared to ask.

"A new assho—" )

[ Elita threw the phone down on her bed with a harsh swear, glaring at it before pressing fingers into her eyelids. "Fucking—" She took in a deep breath, trying to stay calm despite her rising anger. Her eyes strayed to a dresser on the far side of her room, on it, was a picture frame laid face down.

Hesitant, she went over, reaching out to pick up the frame. She purposefully kept the frame face down even as she picked it up, as if afraid to look at the picture itself. Elita closed her eyes and gently put the picture frame back down, this time with the frame standing properly. She gave it glance, frowned then shook her head. "Not the time, Elita. Whoop Shockwave's ass first before you start this shit again." She muttered, reaching out to press the picture frame face down again.

"Feel sad later, after beating Shockwave. And seeing if you can find the kids. They've gotta be okay… God, let them be okay. They're just kids." She whispered miserably, pressing her hands against her face.

"They're even younger than Bee was."

The screen flashed briefly to Elita sitting before a coffin with white and yellow flowers. She was gripping crutches with a hollow look of grief, a shadowed figure sitting besides her, head bowed into the hands that laced together in grief on his knees. ]

The implications of her words were certainly something.

Not only did Shockwave work with humans, both MECH and the children, and Elita-One. He also worked with the Autobot's star scout. The Prime's personal little bug. Starscream wanted to laugh, just a bit. However something about the grim way she said it, and the setting of it all…

Starscream was not oblivious to youngling soldiers, how the war stole the innocence of countless of young sparks. It wasn't something he approved of, but what could he do? Bumblebee was one of the last remaining young sparks before the AllSpark was dislodged and sent away. One of the last newsparks that happened during the war.

The scout was formidable, as was expected from someone who was probably raised by the Prime himself or at least those close to him. The fact that he stood by the Prime's side was notable, something Starscraem would never admit out loud to be impressive, but it was.

It didn't change the fact Bumblebee was a child soldier. Someone who grew up on war, who never experienced the luxuries of a mostly peaceful upbringing.

Starscream shook his helm, what did he care? The scout was an Autobot through and through. He wasn't surprised to hear the mech as a human in this universe, nor at the fact he worked with the human Elita-One. The most surprising thing was that he worked with Shockwave of all mechs, human or not.

Well, perhaps that was the second most shocking thing. If Starscream was reading the underlying subtext correctly, Bumblebee was dead? They've yet to see the human at all. This was his first mention, and it was through Elita's clear grief and sadness and her little flashback.

A certain arachnoid femme let out a delighted and malicious chuckle, "Oh? It seems that the Autobots have lost their scout. A pity that the Autobots of that dimension have no clue, but at the very least, the human Elita is grieving him." What a sadistic femme, she not only enjoyed the grief that was shown, or the thought of the Autobots reacting to such information— she reveled in it.

Her enjoyment smothered any possible reaction from Starscream about it, soured it really. How could he enjoy the death of an alternate human Autobot when she so clearly took joy in it? Bah… At the very least, his counterpart was still alive, was a cybertronian. And still had his trine.

( "Bee?" The youngest human's hesitant and quiet voice was nearly drowned out by the near-horrified murmurings of the Autobot team.

"That's— no, Bee can't be de- gone. There. He can't. If there's someone who could be amazing as a pilot— it's Bumblebee! No!" "Primus…" "Oh Bumblebee…"

The scout whirred hesitantly as he considered the state of his otherself, being human would've been weird but at least a lot more lighter than the possibility of him being human and dead. Still, he managed to hear his human charge's voice, and immediately reassured not only him, and his team, that it was fine! He was fine. Did it suck that his other self was dead? Yeah, but he wasn't going to let anything happen to himself here.

… Still, he felt really bad for his other, for human Elita. It seemed like she cared a lot.

No one but the Prime had an inkling about what happened to the scout's counterpart, nor about the familiar figure that sat besides the human woman. The dreaded feeling from earlier returns eightfold. )

[ "—mmodations will be provided for you three, unfortunately for the moment, you will have to stay with Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus until further notice."

The scene abruptly changed back to somewhere on Cybertron, in a private room with the four humans standing on a tall table so they could properly talk to the taller cybertronians. Said cybertronians were of course, Optimus Prime, Megatron, Ultra Magnus and Starscream.

The seeker didn't look like he wanted to be there but was miraculously quiet all the same, typing into a datapad as Optimus spoke. "Refurbishing and creating accommodations for three more humans will not be easy, Lord Prime. Certainly easier than when Wheeljack first appeared, we know of his needs but to triple the resources they might need in one go, not to mention finding a place for them…" He trailed off, huffing as he looked over to Ultra Magnus. "Your habsuite's complex, who are the other residences?"

"Not a lot of other occupants since the last few attacks, soldiers who either reassigned or perished. Perhaps another this attack or two…" Ultra Magnus admitted with a solemn sigh, but he seemed to be understanding what Starscream was hinting at. "You wish to turn my complex into an exclusive human base of operations?"

Megatron hummed, "It'd certainly be more convenient to group them all together, less worry of being found out and less resource-expensive— better to expand on what Wheeljack already has built than to recreate it elsewhere."

Wheeljack grinned, slinging an arm around Miko and ruffling her short hair. "I wouldn't mind you guys around- plus! I can get that garden expansion I've been thinking of!" The young woman laughed, shoving him off of her while trying to fix her hair with a quick comb of her fingers.

"Never took you to be the gardening type!"

The older man shrugged, "Hey, I grew up on a farm- granted, I always took ranching over gardening. But anyway, seems like you're all staying with me and Maggie here, happy to have ya'll." ]

"Eugh, having to accommodate humans? On Cybertron? I can only imagine the resources needed to ensure those flesh-made creatures can even breathe." Starscream shuddered, feeling pity for his counterpart for having to deal with that. It was bad enough to stay on an a planet of humans but at the very least, Starscream and the rest of the Decepticons had the privilege of staying on the Nemesis instead of mucking about with the humans like the Autobots were doing. Accommodate humans? Hah! Also ew, hearing himself say 'Lord Prime' was very off-putting. Was that a hint of respect he heard? Truly, that universe was an off phenomenon of a universe.

Breakdown hummed in approval at Starscream's counterpart's plan, "Grouping them together's a good idea. Easier to keep an optic on them that way." Though it was weird to see the other version of Lord Megatron and Starscream being so accommodating to the humans there, here, they could care less for a handful of humans, much less one.

( "Heeyyy! We're bunking with Jackie and Maggie!" A certain teenager cheered which made her cybertronian custodian choke at her usage of nicknames, specifically one nickname.

The Wrecker cleared his throat, "Miko, please never use that nickname in front of Ultra Magnus if he ever comes around. Pit, don't even use it around Jackie! He's going to end up using it himself!" He despaired; although funny, the green-plated Wrecker still had a great amount of respect and a healthy amount of— not exactly fear, but an understandable wariness of the ex-Elite Guardsmech. Especially because he was the Leader of the Wreckers. His superior aside from his Prime, and said Prime was actually a bit more laid back!

"No promises!"

She relished at the pained groan her guardian and friend gave while her fellow humans rolled their eyes. )

[ "And we're grateful for it." Jack nodded to him, Ultra Magnus and the other cybertronians. "For all you've done and are willing to do, really we are. However, I'm assuming in exchange for letting us stay with Wheeljack and being given what we need- we'll be helping you guys out in turn?" The looks he got made him huff slightly.

"It only makes sense, Miko, Raf and I can't stay and do nothing. Frankly even if we had to, I would have argued for us to help one way or another. Preferably in what we do best; killing Quintessons. It's what we trained for and what we're best at, for Miko and I at least. Raf's a support class, so he's more flexible— well, he was a support class. Now he's a hacker class which opens up new pathways for him… Either way, we're here now, you can use us if it means we've got a chance to stop the Quintessons from taking over our planet for good."

Miko and Raf nodded in agreement and approval to Jack's words, Miko even continued much to even Jack's surprise as she looked up. Staring at into Optimus' alien eyes with a serious look on her face, "Not to mention, we'd like a way back to our planet. Don't suppose you've got one?" ]

Lord Megatron hummed something akin to approval as he stared at the male human on screen, the older counterpart to the whelp that stayed with the Autobots. "Pragmatic, that one is. I was right in my assumption to him being interesting."

"It's only natural for us- err, them, to use the humans now that they're there. From what we've seen, they are and adequate addition to their forces. Their abilities and experience against the Quintesson is admittedly impressive, it'd be foolish to simply let them laze about while they accomplish everything else." Starscream scoffed, sniffing imperiously at the thought of his counterpart simply allowing such laziness to happen. The human pilots there were useful pawns that must be used, it would be a crime to let them fester and simply do nothing when there was a large enough war that united both the Decepticon and Autobot sides.

All servos on deck or none at all.

Knock Out chuckled, "Bold, that human girl is. To stare into the eyes of the Prime— granted, it's the Prime who is a total pushover but this version of the girl just met him, is in front of him and is much smaller than him. First encounter with a proper sapient species that is ginormous compared to her and she keeps eye contact." His conjunx chuckled with him, brushing a servo against his side from beneath the table they were situated at.

"Her callsign is Wrecker, after all." Breakdown reminded and they both shared an amused look. Though Breakdown was the first to look away, "A way back, huh? Considering that Wheeljack is still with them… Yeah, I don't think they got a way back, kid."

( Meanwhile, elsewhere in an outpost, an older teenager blinked in surprise. "Huh."

"What is it Jack?" His younger friend asked, garnering some attention, mostly from his fellow humans since they were right beside them both.

"It's— well, I'm just surprised that Miko's the one asking for a way back home is all. I would've thought she would've wanted to stay a while longer since she's found Wheeljack, or, y'know, for Raf to be the one to ask that first." Was the answer he got, which stunned those who heard it. Because it made sense, from what they knew of the teenage girl, it was a surprising phrase for her counterpart to say.

Said girl squinted at him for a moment before shrugging, "I dunno man, I'm kinda wondering that too. Like, why would I wanna get back to boring ol' earth if I found someone that's been missing for like- years? No more MECH! No more—" She blinked, thinking over her words for a moment.

Seeing her go quiet, the man besides her gave her a look, "Miko?"

The girl frowned, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Okay, I think I know why other me wants to go back… I'm not fully sure though so let's wait and here her out?" )

[ "A way to find your planet has been in the making though with not a lot of progress considering we had far more important priorities to focus on." Starscream sniffed, ignoring the way Wheeljack flipped him off when Optimus sent him a look. A look that the seeker summarily ignored in favor of typing into his datapad, "However, considering that the Quintessons have found the Apex Armor on your planet… I suppose finding a way back to Earth will be shifted to a higher priority. Not to mention, recalling your arrival here— you. Senscript, was it? You were connected with the Quintesson Commander when it activated its spacebridge?"

Raf, Senscript, jolted in place. A look of realization dawning on him, "I was! I was too focused on the personal files the XT-- the Quintesson Commander had, but I definitely saw a glimpse of coordinates I think. I don't remember them right now, but they should be recorded in my mech, I can go check—" He took one step towards the direction of his mech only for, Jack, Tailbreaker to stop him with a firm hand on his shoulder. "What—"

The young man had a stern expression, "You're not getting back into your mech yet. You need time to recover."

Senscript frowned, knocking away Tailbreaker's hand. "The sooner we get those coordinates, the sooner we have a way back to Earth!" He argued, "Besides, it's already been a few hours. I'm fine."

"Your nose bled, Raf. You got knocked out because you fought off an alien in your own head— you need to rest." Tailbreaker was not budging, eyes narrowing at the youngest pilot among them. "I know what you want to do, you want to clock into your mech to look through all the files, not just open the computer to look for the coordinates of Earth."

Miko, Wrecker, was quick to throw an arm around Senscript's shoulders, tugging him away from the direction of his mech suit. "As much as I wanna know where Earth is Raf, Jack's right. You got knocked down hard from that shitshow of an experiment. Don't think we don't notice your hands are still shaking, you're still experiencing clock out symptoms." The screen showed Senscript's shaking hands that he couldn't control. ]

"They found the Apex Armor on Earth… there is a chance that more relics might be there." Starscream murmured, figuring out why his otherself was willing to prioritize finding Earth with a higher urgency.

Knock Out hummed, "And depending if we find the Apex Armor here on this Earth…" He trailed off, optics making their way to Arachnid who gave the vain racer a smirk. Knock Out scoffed, looking away, "Well, that is if we find it here anyway. What are the chances the Armor or any other relic ended up here on this mudball planet?"

"This 'mudball planet' has one the oldest battlefields of cybertronian origin, has numerous energon deposits, and is— supposedly, Unicron itself." Lord Megatron said with a calm yet dark look, not exactly aimed at Knock Out but a dark thoughtful gleam entered his optics which slowly shifted to toxic purple. "The chances may be low, but I will not put it at zero. If there is ever a planet where there may be a relic… It might as well be Earth."

Nobody could refute his words even if he wasn't right, which, unfortunately he was.

Arachnid scoffed at the screen, "Let the boy do what he wants, the sooner they get the coordinates, the better. It would help confirm whether or not Soundwave's findings are accurate or not." She was completely unimpressed by the concern the humans had for their fellow pilot.

Feeling a bit spiteful, Starscream snorted, "And what happens if Senscript clocks in sooner than he should and something goes wrong? I would think to leave the expertise to those who have clearly had experience with their craft. That is to say; Wrecker and Tailbreaker have been pilots for much longer than Senscript, they know what they are talking about." While it was irritating to defend the humans, it was worth it to see the annoyed look on the femme's faceplate. Hah.

( "He's really hankerin' to get back in the suit." The only human adult in the room muttered with disapproval and concern. He hadn't seen the young boy's counterpart faint, but he's heard all about it and how everyone was up in arms from the kid's situation with the counterpart to some psycho scientist con that he's never heard of until now.

Said kid nodded, a bit confused yet for some reason a bit understanding. "Yeah… He's really determined to find something, or someone? Project Chimera, if I remember correctly."

"Project what now?" A wrecker questioned, wondering where this was coming from.

"Uh, well, remember the dream he had? With the code and stuff? I've been thinking about it since I got home and back, and I filled in the blanks. It's gotta be 'Project Chimera', the thing he nearly translate in the dream. Nothing else seems to really fit otherwise…"

The explanation taken seriously with concern. "I am not liking the sound of that." A yellow scout buzzed his agreement with the wrecker.

"Determined or not, he shouldn't clock in into his mech. Miko and Jack clearly know what they're talking about since they've been at this longer than he has, and even then, it's common sense." The doctor of their group muttered, optics staring hard at the young boy's counterpart in that world. "I hope he sees sense, not only in terms of his health, but in terms of listening to the orders of that damned mech Shockwave. Discard the order, whoever he's finding surely cannot be more important than Rafael's health." )

[ "If you require assistance in searching through files, I can recommend someone to help. Soundwave is Megatron's Third in Command and head of his intelligence. If there is someone who can find specific information as well as parse thoroughly through Quintesson files, it is him." Optimus offered with Megatron smirking and nodding agreement.

Senscript looked up at him, face complicated underneath his shades. "I…"

"Thank you for the offer, Optimus Prime. We'll accept it." The young teen startled and immediately glared at Tailbreaker.

"Jack!"

Tailbreaker leveled a calm look to him, "we're accepting it. From the sound of things, Soundwave has more experience with going through Quintesson information than we do and while I know you're smart and tech-savvy Raf, we should use every advantage we get or offered. Learn from Soundwave if you want, but you're not going through unknown enemy files on your own, even outside of clocking in."

Frustrated, the young pilot growled and said nothing. Crossing his arms but didn't protest any further. "I will have Soundwave stop by in a— ah yes, a few human hours. This will give time for him to finish his own duties as well as more time for you to rest. We will move you all into Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack's habsuite complex within the next two cycles." Megatron told them with Starscream muttering underneath his breath as he tapped into his datapad rapidly. ]

"Hmm, haven't you faced off against this human child before, Soundwave?" Starscream said with a thoughtful expression. "Was he not the one who kept moving the satellites that messed with our coordinates to Cybertron?" Soundwave had mentioned it in a report, if he recalled correctly. The hint of a rare praise and surprise if one could read between Soundwave's precise, professional yet vague lines.

It was actually impressive, that the child had managed to wrestle control from Soundwave. Or humiliating, either, or, both.

"Affirmative." Soundwave played, visor switching to that picture he took when he'd been at the human facility before focusing on the small human boy within the picture. "Boy— advantage— human—system." He stitched the sentence together from multiple voice clips, always keen in speaking in any other voice than his own.

The human child only had the upper hand because they'd been using the human's own systems, it was unfortunately hard to downgrade or convert Cybertronian programming to interact with human programming and even then it was barely something palatable for cybertronians like them. Soundwave had only managed to do it because the mech was their Head Intelligence Officer and was very skilled in things like that. Of course it still took time for them to adjust to human systems, not that they used them often.

Why would they? The human internet rarely ever provided something useful for them, anything else was merely an indulgence and entertainment for those who were actually interested or something. Starscream glanced over to Knock Out and Breakdown.

At any rate, it would be interesting to see the human work with Soundwave of all mechs, especially considering their history in this world.

( "First Shockwave now Soundwave? Raf, Senscript has the worst luck so far." A wrecker commented with a deep frown, not liking the fact that one of the kids, counterpart and older or not, would be working with a con. Especially the silent menace of the Decepticons.

His teammate sighed in agreement, "Yeah, but honestly? I prefer Soundwave to Shockwave, even as a human. At least Soundwave won't experiment on Senscript like Shockwave did." She pointed out, making the wrecker and others frown deeper but nod in reluctant agreement. Between the human scientist and the cybertronian Decepticon- it was surprising but clear on who won out.

"Sorry 'bout making the decision for you Raf, but it sounds like the other me has a point." The older boy said with a semi-apologetic smile that relaxed when the younger boy waved it off.

"Nah, I get it. Other me has a lot of stuff going on for him and he needs help, I can see that but he can't. So it's alright… Still, to work with Soundwave? After knowing he worked with Shockwave? That's going to be, uh, interesting?"

Interesing wouldn't even begin to cover it.)

[ The meeting ended with the large cybertronians leaving the humans alone to do their own duties while they rested, Senscript had retreated to the corner with a grumbling huff. Clearly wanting to be alone for the moment. Tailbreaker sighed but allowed it, keeping an eye on him while he and Wheeljack sat near Wrecker, the man offering another nutritional ration.

"Thanks Jackie." Wrecker beamed, opening the ration and eating it. Barely making a face at the taste of it even though it didn't look that appetizing. "Man, I can't wait to work with you again! It's been so long! What upgrades did you do to your suit? You do have upgrades, right? I'm going to be so disappointed if you didn't."

Wheeljack gave a mock-offended look, scoffing but unable to hold back his grin, "Of course I did upgrades! You think I was gonna let myself stagnate out here when I'm surrounded with high tech shit? I'll show you all the new toys I added to my mecha and the new systems it got! And hey, I'll help out in upgradin' all of your suits!" He exclaimed, glancing between the three younger pilots.

Tailbreaker smiled at the offer while Senscript glanced back with a look of curiousity but still kept to himself. Wrecker cheered, pumping a fist with excited glee. "Aww yeah! Hey! I could finally get a bazooka like I've always wanted!"

"We'd need to file some datawork for that for permission but it'd be easier to get than back home, definitely." Wheeljack retorted, smiling at her excitement.

At the mention of home, Tailbreaker suddenly spoke. "Y'know Miko, I was surprised." She and Wheeljack looked at him and he elaborated, "you asked for a way back to Earth first. I would've thought you'd want to stay here with Wheeljack instead of go back."

They all looked at Wrecker, who blinked in surprise before snorting. "Pft, it's not like we have to go back right away though." She pointed out before going quiet for a moment. Her expression turned flat as she gave Tailbreaker an expectant look. "'Sides, you of all people know exactly why I want to go back Jack." ]

When the meeting on the screen ended, Starscream was disappointed to see that they were staying with the humans. He would've much preferred seeing himself again, and his trine. If only to see how they would function in a world where they had to make nice with the Autobots and work alongside them against a common enemy.

A world where Thundercracker and Skywarp still lived, and their Decepticon overlord was not one step away from insanity and addiction. He actually seemed more sane there, resembling the mech that once caught Starscream and his trine's interest and loyalty at the beginning of this Primus-forsaken war.

The mention of the humans upgrading their own mecha suits was at least interesting. What they had was certainly impressive for such a primitive species, but paired with cybertronian technology and intellect? They already proved to be Quintesson killing experts, if they were to have even more at their disposal… Starscream cringed at the idea of Wrecker having a bazooka however, it was bad enough that girl had the moniker of those blasted Wreckers and was now essentially part of those Wreckers since she was working with the infamous Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus.

"Oh, she's definitely a wrecker at spark." Breakdown chuckled, not-so-subtly won over by the human girl. Although a Decepticon now, Breakdown definitely was a 'wrecker at spark' as well.

Knock Out smirked at his conjunx's amusement but then turned curious at Tailbreaker and Wrecker's conversation. "Oh?"

( "I guess we're learning why Miko wants to go back."

Said teenage girl said nothing, which really caught attention as she looked up at the screen while biting her lip. She looked contemplative, concerned. It was raising some red flags in everyone's minds.

Still, they watched, they listened, they learned. )

[ Tailbreaker stared at her, his expression smoothing out into a blankness but he nodded. "MECH."

Wrecker's flat look twisted into a grin that seemed more like a snarl, a near-brittle thing fueled by restrained fury. "MECH." Senscript tensed from where he sat, looking between Wrecker and Tailbreaker with a look of complication.

"Like hell I'm going to let MECH get away with the shit they've pulled on us. On ME. And it's not just MECH…"

The screen flashed white.

A little girl hid behind a barely open door, peeking in as loud voices came from within. It was Miko, barely five years old, keeping quiet as she listened. Holding on to a plush, green dragon tightly.

"How shameless can you be?! Her parents are gone- MY SON IS DEAD! YOUR SISTER IS DEAD! You're seeking the wealth they left behind to your niece for yourselves?!" An aged, feminine voice screamed with fury, coming from a short old woman who stood before two younger people- a man and a woman. "And here I thought you couldn't sink even further!"

The woman tried to soothe her to no avail, "It's not like that Grandmother—"

"I know what you did!" The grandmother hissed, gripping a folded up fan tightly. "You took my little Miko to be tested— SHE IS FIVE YEARS OLD! FIVE! She has no business to be tested by THOSE people! What were you thinking?!"

The man scowled but tried to reign in his own temper, "She tested highest even among the oldest there, Grandmother. With the money they're offering, we can regain what we lost—"

"WE LOST MY SON, WE LOST YOUR SISTER! MONEY CANNOT BRING THEM BACK! And now you want to condemn their daughter, MY granddaughter- YOUR NIECE! To fight the monsters that took them AWAY?!" Little Miko clutched her dragon plush, hiding her face against the soft spikes on its back, remembering the way she and her grandmother wailed during her parents' funeral. Tears gathered in her eyes but she quickly wiped them away to continue listening.

"The company is barely keeping together as it is! And it would be an honor for one of our family to—"

SLAP

The woman gasped as she was slapped by the old woman and her fan, "You speak of honor yet you keep YOUR SON safe?! Your son, who is ELEVEN YEARS OLDER than Miko?! You did not test him! You just want no competition in inheriting the Nakadai company and its assets! No. No! Get out! OUT!"

There was more arguing, more screaming, but soon enough, Miko was standing right in front of her grandmother who was red in the face, tears streaming from her eyes. "My precious granddaughter." She whispered, scooping Miko into her arms, "Fear not, my sweet child. As long as I am here, you will be safe. Chin up, stand tall, and be fierce."

Miko held up her dragon, "Like a dragon, Baa-chan?"

Her grandmother smiled, "Like a dragon. And remember Miko, to all who wrong you… Destroy them, wreck them—"

Abruptly, Miko was suddenly standing, pale and wide-eyed at a hospital bed as her grandmother laid there with a breathing mask on, unresponsive. Her grandmother's voice faded into a whisper as Miko, only just a little older than before, was dragged away kicking and screaming from her grandmother's side. "— and leave them in ruins." ]

The scene they watched leaves a sour note in nearly all their intakes, something about it is hitting spots in their respective pasts that makes them surprisingly sympathetic to the human girl's predicament.

Being taken away from someone who had promised to keep you safe, to see that someone hurt just to get to you… And the girl was young, far too young.

The Decepticons were all battle-hardened cybertronians, but even they had limits.

Well, at least, most of them did.

Arachnid merely hummed, eyeing the screen with a look of interest. "So her reason to go back to earth is revenge? On not only MECH but on other humans. That's certainly interesting." She chuckled, almost approving of Wrecker's reasons to return to her mudball planet.

( The initial silence in the room was broken by the protective rumbling of a very angry Wrecker, furious to see the state of his charge's past even in another world. "When I get my servos on them—" His optics caught his charge and immediately went over to pick her up, the humans scrambled to let him get to her without problem while the teenage girl yelped from being picked up. He could see why his scout teammate did the same with his own charge yesterday.

"Hey! Hey! Ease up Bulkhead!" His charge exclaimed, patting on his servos roughly to make sure she could breathe properly. "It's fine! It's fine! I'm good!"

"But Wrecker isn't." An agitated femme hissed, more than fed up by what she saw. "I knew it wasn't likely that Miko's situation would've been different than Jack or Raf, but really? Really?! She's— scrap, she was so small! She was five! They tested her when she was five and it doesn't look like she was barely older when they finally took her away!"

It made her look at her own human charge, who winced when he caught it. While a young boy was frowning, typing into his laptop to look something up.

The only human adult in the room was no different, his expression dark and furious. "They did something to her, to Miko's grandma. She was, fuck, she was just trying to protect her grandkid. Her grandkid." As a grandchild himself, who very much loved his grandmother, the scene hit him very hard. He couldn't blame the reactions of the Autobots at all, nor the clear anger the girl's counterpart had against not only MECH but her own relatives. Hell, he even approved, somewhat.

"Miko." The whole room froze at the solemn voice that spoke, the Prime, the leader of their group, whose optics were dark with protective concern and grim vigilance. "I know that your situation is different here in this world, but if you ever feel unsafe with those who you stay with… You are welcome here, among us."

For a moment, the girl was speechless, looking at the Prime with wide eyes from her guardian's servos that kept her close to his chassis. "I— wait, what? Really?"

"If the humans can't take care of you, then obviously it'd be better if you went somewhere safer." The medic muttered mulishly, glaring at the screen. Not even protesting to the thought of bringing kids among them, not if the other option was their own family becoming a danger to them.

"The offer extends to you both, Raf, Jack. June and Fowler as well, the base is welcome to you all."

That stunned the other humans as well, the teenage girl coughed, "Uh, thanks Optimus! Really, but like- my parents are fine and live, my uncle's family is— well, they're okay I guess. I haven't seen them in years and my foster family is alright! So um, appreciate the offer! Will keep that in mind!" She sent him a wide smile and a thumbs up. )

[ "They still have to pay." Wrecker muttered with gritted teeth, clutching the wrapper of the ration tightly in one shaking hand. "I'm not dying until I leave their lives in ruins."

Tailbreaker looked away, his own dark look on his face. "… Right. We've got unfinished business back on Earth, no way we're not getting back." His own hands clenched as a memory played on the screen after a flash of white.

Jack, just a little older from his dream, stared in disbelief as his father walked away with a large duffel bag. He tried to follow after him, but was stopped by a man in a MECH uniform, he struggled to get around him. "Dad? Dad what's— what's going on? Why- dad! Dad, wait! Where are you going?! Wh—" He was abruptly taken off the ground, being hissed at to 'stop moving!' and 'don't do anything stupid!' "Where are they taking me?! Dad?! Don't leave me! Please! Dad!" ]

"He, too, intends to head back for revenge. Rightfully so." Lord Megatron rumbled in almost approval, smirking at the fire he saw in Tailbreaker's face. Having seen a glimpse of it on the human boy himself back in the cave, shame it was only for a moment, but here? That fire had grown, nurtered by a righteous hatred yet somehow tempered by the boy's own discipline. It was impressive.

Starscream said nothing, frowning at the humans on screen. Was he really going to end up actually pitying and sympathizing with the human children? No, he was going to do so with those children- who were not exactly children. Not with what they've experienced, what they've went to. They were marginally better than the brats that stuck around the Autobots, those were immature fleshlings that could not, currently at least and hopefully never, pilot giant Quintesson killing machine suits.

Those humans on the screen? Fellow soldiers that Starscream could sympathize with, they've experienced more than what any normal person, human or cybertronian, experienced in their normal lifetime and have earned a modicum of respect from the seeker. Just a smidge. The brats with the Autobots on the other hand? Pathetic whelps that needed to stay away from dangerous situations lest they be used as the weaknesses they were.

( "Wow, guess he's an asshole in every universe. Good to know."

The flat comment has everyone looking at the boy who flinched at the sudden attention from his friends. "Jack?" His cybertronian guardian said quietly with an unsettlingly firm look on her faceplate. "Your dad—"

"Is not in my or my mother's life! We're good!" He reassured quickly with a sheepish and strained smile. "L-Look, my dad's- not a good dad! But he's not a bad guy, he's just… not a good father. He knew it, my mom knew it, I knew it, so uh. Yeah, there's a reason it's just me and my mom, y'know? He's got no business with us anymore, left Jaspers a long time ago. He's gone."

The medic exhaled with a rough sound, like something was rattling in him or something. He muttered something underneath his breath not in the human language, something the young boy translated to the man sitting beside him. "'If he knows what's good for him he'll stay gone.'" The Prime stayed silent, but it was noticeable that he was listening in to the mutters to the medic with a solemn nod.

"The bots really care for you kids, huh?" The man noted softly, a look of complicated respect and understanding in his eyes as the boy smiled back.

"Yeah. It's nice, and we care for them too." )

[ Wheeljack had been quiet this entire time, his expression was complicated. Grim, understanding, angry on their behalf but he kept it quiet. His gaze drifted from both Tailbreaker and Wrecker to look at Senscript. It was hard to tell with his shades, but he's pretty sure the youngest pilot was staring at his teammates for some reason. He was sure of it when Senscript suddenly turned his head away, noticing Wheeljack's gaze at him.

Senscript held his knees from where he sat, jaw set and head bowed. "… Unfinished business… Yeah, we can't stay here. We have shit to do, people to see back there." He murmured, too low for anyone but the audience to hear him. "I'll find him Dr. Stein. I can do it."

A younger Raf, older than the dream, but younger than his current teenage self, tentatively poked his head through the door. Seeing a man looming over a desk with an air of gloom. Various papers lines the walls, the only lightsource was a lamp that shaded the man ominously. On the desk was a picture frame, the light of the glossed over the glass which shrouded the picture, but there was a silhouette of a person faintly seen through the light. The man muttered exhaustively, almost ominously underneath his breath as he moved about the desk.

"…ind him, have to. Find him, I will. Dead or alive, I'll find him…"

Raf frowned, glancing away from the man to a nearby paper clipping that had fallen to the ground. He looked at it. It read; 'GMD Star Pilot AND Mecha Missing! Is Bumblebee Really Dead?' ]

"Shockwave is trying to find the Autobot scout?" Starscream blurted out incredulously, connecting the obvious dots that were laid out before him. The question of who the human version of the Decepticon scientist was answered, but it merely added to the still unknown question of WHY? "Why on Cybertron's rust-covered plating is he trying to find him?"

The others were similarly surprised, Soundwave even showing a large and bright exclamation mark '!' on his screen. The screen paused, the Autobots must be shocked just as they were, no doubt they were discussing the subject right now. Knock Out lightly tapped his faceplate in thought, "Perhaps he's looking for the suit? Or is simply trying to figure out where Bumblebee had gone?" He tried to suggest, but it didn't seem to exactly fit.

"That might be it?" Despite Starscream supporting the theory, he too, found that it didn't seem to fit either.

"Either way, we know who he's looking for. But didn't they already have like, a human funeral for Bumblebee? Back when we were watching Elita, she was in a human funeral, pretty sure about that." Breakdown scratched his helm in confusion, thinking back to the scene of the human general grieving over the coffin. "I thought he was like, actually dead."

Knock Out pondered over it before nodding, "They did, but I supposed it was a funeral without a body. Humans have that sometimes." From what he remembered from the human media he and his conjunx liked to consume from time to time anyway.

Their warlord scoffed, "Either way, that human Shockwave is rather determined. He's employed another into his seemingly futile search— Well, perhaps not exactly futile. Senscript has found a possible lead; Project Chimera." He exvented heavily, expression low and dark, "what an ominous sounding project. The Quintessons… just what are they planning? Not only this project, they're trying to find cybertronian relics…"

No one in the room liked the sound of that. Both the project or the Quintessons trying to find powerful old relics. They seemed dangerous enough already, managing to be enough of a threat to force both the Autobots and Decepticons to unite and ally with each other. Perhaps the alliance in that world really was required against those wretches.

( "Bumblebee?!"

In an outpost unknown to the Decpeticons, multiple voices chorused the moment they saw the news clipping, one of the children paused the Observer as they needed a moment to discuss what they just learned.

They thought the human version of their beloved scout was dead, but now they've found out that the human version of a loathed con scientist was trying to find him.

Dead or alive, apparently. )

[ ----- TP : UO ----- ]

HERE WE GOOOO!

not only do we have some starscream angst and elita-one has entered the scene—we also have most of the backstory for the mecha kids! it's... it's not good!

tailbreaker was sold by his father, wrecker was taken away from her grandmother AND sold by her uncle and aunt, meanwhile raf was just... taken in by shockwave. after his whole family died, of course. anyway! yeah! there's more to it, we'll get to it eventually!

and YES! the someone that mecha shockwave has been trying to find is BUMBLEBEE! why? WAIT AND SEE! we're still just starting out and trying to get to a lot of stuff i want to write here!

admittedly i'm a bit torn on which story to focus on next; i'm still going to write uo of course, but considering the chapters of uo tend to be 10k+ it'll be something i'll be working on the side. i also have a few other things on the backburner! they're not exactly transformers but it'll be great i promise you. well, depending on what fandom you enjoy apshdauphdapd-

its demon slayer related though! look forward to it!

in any case! i hope you enjoyed! i'll see you all later!

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Hi I’m Michy!