It is the year 2005. The treacherous Decepticons have conquered the Autobots' home planet of Cybertron. But, from secret staging grounds on two of Cybertron's moons, the valiant Autobots prepare to retake their homeland. After a fierce battle, both sides lay in ruins. On Earth, Autobot City stood proud and tall even after the onslaught that ravaged it's corridors and exterior, it is here that our story takes place.

"Hey Skyfire, do you mind swingin' that cable my way?" A rather unremarkable blue and red van robot said as he stood over a gray figure.

"Sure Skids, catch!" The more familiar red and white jet shouted as he cast a large spool of wire to the van. Skids caught it, of course, and began to wire the corpse with it. "How's the specimen?" Skyfire asked

"Dead, just like the rest of them. You ask that every time, not gonna change a thing." Skids snickered as he wheeled the body into the shuttle's morgue for transport. "How many we got left?"

"More than enough." A dark green robot said as he wheeled in yet another set of bodies.

"Hound, no offense, but when did-"

"When was I put in charge? Same point when I asked for your input. Now start IDing, Skyfire you keepin' an eye on those monitors?" Hound said as he started the belt and began transferring the bodies to Skids.

"Aye sir, so far I haven't seen so much as a bli-" He was cut off as the impossible happened, a blip. "That, uh, must be an error there's, no way-"

"H-Help..." A voice rang softly, a gray hand reaching towards Skids.

"It's Windcharger! Skyfire get me a slab and a drone to take him to Perceptor!"

"Perceptor's busy looking over Optimus Prime-"

"I'm not however." First Aid said as he stood in the door. "The other Protectobots are assisting Grapple and the others in repairing Autobot City, I need Wind-"

"D-Don't leave me out..." Another faint voice said, Hound digging through the trays before hefting Wheeljack up.

"Dear god they survived, First Aid we gotta get them back up! Skyfire you and him take these two to the back medical room and get them stabilized, Skids, you're with me on patrol this INSTANT, we need to check if there are any more survivors."

"But sir! These two are nothing more than miracles!"

"Then maybe there's more to find. Now let's MOVE IT people!" Hound barked, watching the two red and white Autobots carry their brethren into the medical facilities. Hound ran outside and transformed into his jeep form, Skids following in his van mode. The two began driving to the main sites where bodies and casualties were seen.

"Poor Huffer... Gears..." Skids sighed as he marked their positions and turned to Hound. "Sir we're never gonna find anyone else."

"Never say that kid, not till you've-" He said, his optics narrowing before he pushed his binoculars to Skids. "You've checked every last crevice..." He said, pointing out to the wrecked shuttle the Decepticons had used to infiltrate the airspace.

"You're joking... Hound?" A cloud of dust was left as the green jeep had already left for the wreck. "You old fool, chasing miracles..." Skids growled to himself before he transformed and followed. When he arrived, Hound was already quick to start disassembling the hull and wrecked walls. "Well... how goes it?"

"I found Ratchet, and what's left of Ironhide..."

"What's left of Ironhide?"

"The black box on the shuttle recorded the final moments before the Cons landed on board, I'll see if I can salvag-"

"-will be vanquished forever!"

"No!"

"Such heroic nonsense." were the last things heard by the two bots before the black box was disabled.

"So that's what happened to him... poor guy." Skids said sorrowfully as he looked around, noticing a trail of Energon leading from the other side. "Hound, look." He said, kneeling down and rubbing the liquid between his fingers. "It's fresh, about a day old or so."

"That means someone's been here... check the logs, who do we have unaccounted for?" Hound asked as he began pulling up the data himself.

"Ironhide, Ratchet, Prowl and... Brawn." Skids said, looking at the bodies. "We have two unaccounted for..."

"Then let's start looking Skids. We have a lot of ground to cover."

 

"Hound, do you really think we'll find Brawn and Prowl? It's been days since the shuttle crashed, if they're even intact-"

"I'm not driving all the way out here, following this trail just for the hell of it Skids. If you want to go back to base, that's fine. But I can't transport someone who's inj-" The two began slowing as they came to a body, black and white. Hound transformed, followed by Skids, who already knew the body.

"It's Prowl. He's missing a lot of internals, some parts from his arm, and some leg joints... someone tried to salvage him Hound. Someone's cannibalized his body." Skids said sadly as he slowly stood up, marking it's location. "We should send First Aid a notice that we have a lot of bodies to pick up." He stated, turning on his comms and radioing the med center. Hound began looking around for any clues, finding yet another much fresher trail of Energon.

"Skids, weapons drawn. We have no clue what this thing could do." Hound said sternly, drawing his blaster and priming his shoulder rocket. As the two pursued the trail and the entity that left it, the forest around them began to thicken. "Damn, I don't know how effective blaster fire will be here Skids, but keep an eye out."

"Look!" Skids said, whispering to Hound as he pointed to a small, very poorly constructed hut made from some walls from the shuttle. "That thing's made from the shuttle, which means-" He was cut off by the sound of a blaster charging up, right behind Skids' head.

"Move an inch, and I blow your module out." A low, gruff voice growled as Hound slowly turned around to see a brown and dark green robot standing behind Skids.

"Brawn...? Is, is that y-" The blaster was now pointed at Hound.

"You Cons think you've got data on all of us don't ya, well not this time, now you two either move alone or I BLOW HIS BRAINS OUT!" Brawn barked as he put the gun to Skids' helm

"Hound just do what he says for Primus' sake!" Hound already launched at Brawn, his blaster set to stun as he fired on the mini-bot, who staggered and fell to the ground.

"What the hell happened to you..." Hound sighed as he picked the small robot up. "Skids turn into alt mode."

"I-I don't-"

"NOW Skids. He needs our help." Hound ordered, to which Skids nodded and assumed his van form. Hound put Brawn inside the back and closed the doors before transforming and following him, but not before marking the position of Brawn's shack. When the two arrived, First Aid was already there with Trailbreaker, the two having gotten the remaining bodies that were at the shuttle. "You boys found Ratchet and Ironhide?"

"Yeah, sad to see them in this state. But at least we can honor them." First Aid stated as he began reading over the list of confirmed dead, adding those two to the list.

"Oh and, we found Prowl... Brawn was using some of him to keep himself going, I marked where his body and where Brawn's shack was so, send Groove out I guess? See if he finds anything."

"Will do boss. Oh.. and there was, a development." First Aid said, looking down sadly.

"What happened?"

"Optimus Prime... died, earlier today... he succumbed to his wounds, there was no way to save him."

"And you're sure."

"Perceptor saw it himself." First Aid said again as he walked inside.

"Optimus... that means, Ultra Magnus is in charge now."

"That'd be correct, sir." Trailbreaker said as he followed First Aid.

"Then I know who I need to report to."

 

Cool! 

 

"Hound, I assume you've heard the news about Optimus' passing." Ultra Magnus asked as he continued to observe the twin shuttles being armed and stocked.

"Yes sir, I heard from First Aid. I hate to cut your silence, but there's been a development. My team and I, we've found three survivors from the shuttle and attack on Autobot City." Hound explained, his hands motioning around.

"And who did you find?"

"We found Wheeljack and Windcharger in critical condition, only... I found Brawn as well, but his mentality was as if we were Decepticons."

"Really... hmm. That's strange. I'm sure plenty of meetings with Skyfire will help clear that up."

"Yes sir. Oh, and we have this." He handed Magnus a datastick.

"What is this?"

"The black box data from the shuttle... I thought you'd like to go over it." Hound said as he walked out and transformed, driving through Autobot City. The city had already made strong strides towards being rebuilt by the team of construction bots like Hoist, Grapple and others. He continued driving until he arrived back at the medical center, where he walked in and looked over Wheeljack and Windcharger, both who were getting repairs done on their chests.

"What's the assessment Skyfire?" He asked as he crossed his arms and continued watching.

"Both have several internal damage to their major circuitry, so repairing them will take a little while, sir." Skyfire said as he handed Hound the datapad with their schematics and medical data.

"Skyfire, Hound! It's Magnus, they're leaving!" Streetwise interjected as he ran into the room.

"What in Primus' name..." Skyfire asked as the two ran outside, seeing the shuttles that had been fully prepared for the departure from Earth.

"Blaster, I'm leaving you in charge of Autobot City. Hound has brought it to my attention that there is the chance, however slim, that there could be surviving Autobots in the area. Make it a priority to patrol the surrounding zones and constantly update me when able to." Magnus said before turning to Skyfire. "Skyfire, you're in charge of flying the skies with the Aerialbots. They take orders from you now, you report to Blaster, same as always." He said before shaking his head. "Alright Autobots, my team and I are leaving to investigate a disturbance coming from Moon Bases 1 and 2. We do not know when we will return, only that we WILL prevail. Autobots! Roll out!" Magnus shouted before he and his crew assembled and boarded the shuttles.

"Let's go check up on Brawn, see if he's alright." Hound said as he began to walk back inside with Skyfire.

"So, Brawn. What do you remember from the crash?" Skids was in a padded room with Brawn, who was more or less stuck in a Cybertronian version of a straight jacket.

"I remember taking a hit from Megatron himself and then watching my comrades die one by one... I saw Ironhide get blasted apart by the big silver bastard." Brawn said, holding himself tighter before he growled. "Prowl's optics turned orange Skids, have you ever seen a fellow Autobot die like that?!"

"This is not about me Brawn, this entire session is to help you recover. Now, can you tell me what happened to you after the shuttle itself crashed?"

"The Cons got shot at and abandoned the shuttle, what was left came down hard with us in it. Ratchet n Ironhide got stuck, but I managed to get Prowl outta there. But by the time I was somewhat at full strength, he was already startin' to go bad. So I took what I could n got outta there."

The two kept talking and discussing the actions that had transpired until Hound got a comm call from Blaster.

"This is Hound."

"Hey Hound, what's happenin' with Brawn down there?" Blaster asked as he continued monitoring the surveillance

"Well, he's in a state of shock, that's for sure."

"Right right. Listen man, I think we've got a problem. I'm gettin' Con readin's all the way out past the shuttle, I'm sendin' a team to investigate. You mind leadin' it?" He asked. Hound contemplated the idea before nodding.

"Sure Blaster, I'll meet the team first thing in the morning. I think we're all due for a recharge."

 

"Alright you guys. Blaster's given me intel that there are several Decepticon energy signatures just outside of our base perimeters. Our objectives are to investigate and capture any hostiles, if they are in fact there." Hound ordered, pacing in front of his strike team, comprised of Trailbreaker, the Aerialbots, and Skyfire. "Skyfire, you know what to do. Gimme air surveillance while Trailbreaker and I get in close. Trailbreaker I'll need your bubble just in case."

"Can do." He snickered as he chugged down a few drops of Engex, transforming into alt mode and driving ahead of Hound, who followed closely behind.

"Do not worry-"

"Buzzsaw, we'll-

"Get out of here." Three voices said, each adding to the sentence as they stood above a yellow cassette. "You are-"

"Injured, we should-"

"Call for Soundwave. But, where will we-"

"Get a transmitter?" Spectro commented as he cradled the cassette.

"We will most definitely have company soon..." Spyglass added as he surveyed the area closely.

"I think I can hear 'em already...!" Viewfinder pointed out as the jetformers flew above them. "We are compromised!"

"I know this!" Spectro said as he tried changing Buzzsaw into his bird mode manually. "Come on you stupid little bird, work!" He grumbled just as two sets of headlights shone through the dark.

"HALT!" Hound's voice boomed as he stood before them. "You Decepticons are now prisoners of the Autobots. Relinquish your weapons and you will not be harmed!" He barked, holding his gun at the ready as he waited for them to make a move.

".... TRANSFORM!" The trio shouted, turning into camera mode and letting off a giant blast of light, blinding Trailbreaker and Hound for a few moments, enough for them to escape.

"Ach! They don't have real alt modes, we can catch them!" Hound shouted as he transformed and drove after them, catching up to the three robots shortly before hitting them all with a stun rocket. The trio fell down, incapacitated.

"Alright boss, we have Reflector here and Buzzsaw."

"Buzzsaw?" Hound asked

"It's one of Soundwave's cassettes, looks like Laserbeak, his red one, only it's yellow." Trailbreaker explained as he stored the cassette.

"Can Blaster get inside it?"

"I'll talk to him and one of our better computer analysts, see if the two of them can't break through Soundwave's security protocols." Trailbreaker nodded as they returned to base. When he returned, he went to the communications hub and talked it over with Blaster.

"Shoot man, the only bot I know who's got that kinda smarts is Wheeljack! And he's-"

"You called?" Wheeljack said, standing at the doorway with a set of crutches. "Docs gave me an' Windcharger some breathin' room, I assume you need my-" He was cut off by Blaster hugging him. "Easy easy kid, watch the blast wound." He said, patting his chest. "I'll be right as rain in no time."

"Good, then let's get this party started!" Blaster laughed as he transformed into boombox mode and opened his tray, Wheeljack taking Buzzsaw and putting him inside Blaster. "Thing's got some fight left in it!"

"Then fight back Blaster. Your mouth does a bett'a job of fightin' than your gun does!" Wheeljack laughed. When the two had finally broken through the main security details, they were quite shocked by the data stored inside it.

"Is that-"

"No way..." The two were greeted by an equation, or rather, a set of variables and more. The formula for creating gestalts was laying right before them.

 

"Holy-"

"Sweet Primus... do you know what this means?!" Wheeljack shouted, overjoyed almost.

"I uh, I don't really understand, but if ya got an idea why don't'ya lay it on me!" Blaster replied as he transformed into his robot mode and began to observe the data.

"Get Perceptor!" Wheeljack shouted eagerly

"Uuhh... Wheeljack? Perceptor left base with Magnus and the others..." Blaster informed. "Only other big science bot we got here is Skyfire."

"Well go get him! This is big news!" Wheeljack barked, causing Blaster to run out of the room to find him. "This could change the war in our favor, for good..." He pondered, rubbing his chin.

"Are we theerree yet?" A bright yellow jeep groaned as it drove down one of the larger highways.

"Hey, quite your complaining!" A voice shouted from the other end of a commlink as a dark green tank rolled down beside the road.

"Do I need to stay up here, boss?" A groan rang through the line as a blue and gray helicopter hovered over the highway.

"You're a freakin' helicopter, on a highway, are you tryin'a get us noticed?" A green and blue military truck growled in response.

"Yeah! You're gonna get our cover blown!" A brown and black space shuttle laughed from the other end of the comms.

"Oh sure! Bite my aft you wrecks!" The helicopter barked from the air.

"-epticons, this is Soundwave. I am enacting Operation: Retrieval. Any remaining Decepticon forces are to prioritize finding and escaping the planet Earth while the time is right. Starscream has fallen. We follow Galvatron now." The message ended rather abruptly.

"Well, that was something. Blast-Off, mind doing a planet scan?"

"I look like a satellite to you?!"

"Yeah, you do. But still, just send Swindle up into space with all that hot air of his." This earned a chorus of laughter from the other members.

"You guys just don't appreciate good deals!" Swindle chuckled.

"Alright alright. We need to scan the planet for any fellow Cons."

"Yeah, but who's this Galvatron guy? How do we know he's the real deal?" Brawl asked.

"You think I want to stick around and ask questions to someone who's not here? I'm not gonna argue if we have someone new to follow." Onslaught said as they got closer to a large ridge.

"Besides, something's jamming my signal, I can't scan the planet unless it's removed!" Blast-Off shouted angrily. "I HATE it when these human scumbags jam my stuff up!"

"There's a bunch of satellite dishes outside of the city, we could get in and get the signal using the humans' own tech as a cover." Vortex suggested

"Alright then! Let's get off this fraggin' highway!" Onslaught shouted as he and the others took an off ramp.

((EDITORIAL NOTE: I have changed it from the Stunticons to the Combaticons, as it makes more sense for them to do this.

 

"Okay boss, what's the plan?" Swindle asked, the team of Combaticons all positioned on top of a ridge just looming over the dish farm.

"Well, we could disguise ourselves as normal military vehicles. One of us scopes out the place, while the others hold up the authorities and create a distraction while one of us sneaks around and hacks into their communications system, thus giving us the necessary clearance to use the dishes without attracting attention." Blast-Off suggested.

The whole team stopped, and slowly turned around, everyone facing him with a look of awe or curiosity.

"What, just because I seem down all the time doesn't mean I don't know how to make a plan." He explained as he crossed his arms and leaned back.

"Or, we could just... break in." Brawl offered.

"Oh great, the armored tank gives us his two cents." Vortex cackled as Onslaught continued to survey the area.

"Okay... I think I got it. Bruticus can get us in there, but then they'll know we're coming. We stage a crash, two of you just gotta-"

"We know how crashes work, boss."

"INTERRUPT ME AGAIN AND YOU'LL STAY A CRASH FOR GOOD!" Onslaught barked as he quickly drew his rifle.

"Woah woah Onslaught, calm it, look..." Swindle said, pointing to a military convoy that was on their way into the base.

"That's our ticket in..." The large blue and green robot laughed as he and the others transformed, all of them following. They followed behind the convoy, much to no surprise the humans guarding the entrance didn't bother to check who was supposed to be a part of said convoy. Once the team was in, Vortex and Brawl transformed and took posts to keep watch, while Swindle and Blast-Off began work on hacking the terminal.

"Alright bots, get working while I go and check the dish alignments." Onslaught said

"The what?" Brawl asked quietly.

"I need to make sure these satellite dishes are in position for when we make the call."

"We'll also need more power to boost the signal receiver, this place is abysmal." Swindle groaned as he continued to fiddle and reroute different lines to different ports. "Alright I think I've got it." He said as he gave Onslaught the thumbs up, the large green and blue bot grunting as he shifted and moved one of the dishes out of alignment with the others. "Okay boss we've got it! Direct link to the big boys up there!"

"Onslaught. What is your status." A monotone voice asked.

"Good to see you too, Soundwave. We got your message regarding Retrieval, and were wondering why you engaged the order."

"A valuable piece of intel is somewhere on Earth. Buzzsaw, a small yellow bird who is one of my cassettes, has not reported in. We are also missing Reflector, and several other Decepticons on the planet. If the Autobots find any of them, and manage to interrogate them to get intel, we will be at even more of a disadvantage. You are to find them, return to Decepticon headquarters on Cybertron, and ensure the data is intact. Soundwave, out." The line closed rather quickly and the base's sirens went off.

"Uh, boss I think we've been noticed." Brawl said as he held his rifle.

"No matter. If we want to find our allies, we must first lure out the enemy-

"COMBATICONS! MERGE AND DESTROY!"