Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It starts in the after, when the dust settles and the marks of Cybertron have been removed from the landscapes. It takes a few months, their camps erected against the rolling hills that bask in sun and drown out in rain but, eventually, between the American and British armies, even a few members of state from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, eventually, Stonehenge and its surrounds begins to clear.

With time, the bruised and cracked ribs heal; open wounds are sewn shut; metal casings are welded together, made stronger than before. Even if Santos made a comment or two about siding with the Autobots, there was still a newfound endless supply of medical equipment that Izzy and Cade could use; over time, Optimus and Bumblebee’s modifications came out sleeker, stronger (and, dare Cade say it, sexier than before. He wouldn’t say it aloud, but Optimus heard the low wolf-whistle when Cade saw him transform).

They create a trailer set for Hound, back-up rifles for Crosshairs, new swords for Drift. A second trailer for Optimus, just in case. All fashioned with new weapons, using some of the Talisman’s modifications as a base. Primus, Cade thinks as they work as a unit; this is what being an inventor is all about. Even Vivian gets embroiled in the whole thing and- he knows, he knows- she loves it.

Over the months, the land markings from the battle are as clear as day, but they are told that the grass and stone will, eventually, clear it away. Stonehenge is forever marked by the battle, but, as Hound grouchily remarked, if Unicron had always lived, slept, underneath the surface of the Earth, then this was going to happen. Apocalypse or no.

They have time, but not much of it; Lennox worked tirelessly into every night, calling a guy Cade knew to be General Morshower. He went on to call in favours from smaller pocket groups Cade imagined worked as vigilantes from way back in the Chicago days. Not NEST-mates, but something close to it. G.I.’s.

“You think Christmas and Barney would be up for a little saving the world?” Cade overheard Lennox remark to Santos, who snorted.

“I think Christmas would have a field day working next to an Autobot, never mind an army of them.”

Whatever that meant.

Unicron was still there and they were waiting for the moment when he would surface over the Earth. “We are walking, living, breathing on top of a Transformer- if that doesn’t scream uniting world leaders, then I don’t know what will,” Cade overheard him say to Morshower via video-link at three in the morning. “We need clearance, we need red tape lifted; we need people coming together, not falling apart-“

As Edmund mentioned before his death, it was why they kept coming back, what continued to bring them here. Unicron was their energy source, their lifeline; their God. And it was made from the matter that was their Earth.

With that grizzling realisation, eventually, the Autobots and humans and those who helped to stop the end of the world began to leave in steady, dwindling trickles. To return to their homes, to rest, before another war. Or whatever came next.

The Talisman remains fixed to Cade; as an inventor, an Autobot medic and, now, a Knight from a once-fabled round-table, he carries with him a part of Cybertron and survives as wholly human. When Optimus learns of the Talisman’s properties, he murmurs something about the name Witwicky, but Cade doesn’t think too much of it; he remembers the Witwiccan tome that Cog-man shoved onto the table all those months ago. He doesn’t think he’s made for all this fairy-tale folklore and stuff of science-fiction movies. It baffles him- and it all came way before his time, so it ain’t his business.

He’s just the medic, and the soldier, and whatever he’s needed to be, at any time. Scars, skin, bruises, brains and all.

They return to their respective homes; Hot Rod and Cog-man remain with Vivian. They believe that, as Merlin’s last descendent, she still carries some of the magic from the round-table- and maybe, in a distant future, she will be needed again. Edmund entrusted his home to her; any Autobots that land close to Europe will either head to the Hill of Tara in Ireland, or to her new homestead in the English countryside. Both are connected by Merlin’s magic, Cog-man explained to them. If she remains a part of a puzzle that could resurrect Unicron, Primus forbid, she needs to remain out of harm’s way (even if the lady is very capable of protecting herself).

“There’s a guy, human, coming ‘round to your place,” Lennox explained to them both, but meaning Viv. “His name is Simmons. Before Edmund’s death, he entrusted the brothership to him. He’s a good man, from way back in our Mission City days. Keep him close. We’re going to need him. He has contacts in the strangest of places- not someone you want to make an enemy out of.”

Cade and Izzy leave with Bumblebee and Optimus; the rest of the Autobots return with them. Vivian promises to keep in touch, offers him a kiss on the cheek, and Cade smiles; there will be more, later, when the chaos dies down a little more. If they’re lucky, maybe a few years; if the Decepticons rise again, or if Unicron shows up sooner, maybe a few days, weeks, or months.

Megatron might be out of the picture, and Quintessa, but there are so many others out there, beyond the stars. So many that want Earth and its energon, the pulse that keeps the Earth turning.

They will all meet again.

In those final days before leaving Stonehenge, Lennox remains on the side-lines, continually taking calls from government officials and keeping FBI, the CIA and whatever else stands in capital letters, off their backs. He and Santos do not rest. Lennox doesn’t say much to any of them, preferring to keep to the near-shadows as they salvage the damage over the coming months. Representatives on behalf of Lennox speak with Optimus and it dawns on Cade as they’re leaving that Lennox never once tried to offer a truce to the Autobot leader.

There are shadows between them, shadows that run as dark as the circles under Lennox’s eyes; Cade does not know what happened in the aftermath of the war in Chicago, and wasn’t sure whether it was his business to broach the subject. Between TRF and whatever happened in the crackdown on Transformer activity in the last few years, Cade knew that, again, it wasn’t his business.

The evening before they headed home, Lennox reached out to Cade and grasped his wrist, not firmly, but gently. “Keep them safe,” he said, the plea in his eyes clear. “Make sure Mearing doesn’t come within an inch of the junkyard. TRF is still sniffing around Chicago and Texas isn’t as safe as they’ll have you believe. Even with the government’s pardons, one wrong move on any of their behalf and TRF swoops in. I can’t protect them.”

Cade knows that Chicago remains uninhabitable; that place won’t be open to the public for years to come yet.

He narrowed his eyes at Lennox. “I can’t tell,” he said, “If you just threatened me, or threatened them. Because it’s all the same, and I will not hesitate to kill for them.”

“I’m not begging, Cade. I’m pleading,” Lennox answered. He closed his eyes; Cade almost thought he saw unshed tears in the soldier’s eyes, and that…

Well, that made him stand a little straighter. This wasn’t just Lennox talking; this was Will. Man to man. Soldier to soldier.

“Four years ago, NEST was ambushed, all of us swept off our feet by government jurisdiction and red tape and classified files… everything went dark, and it was completely out of NEST control. Mearing told us that if we didn’t do what they said, people would die. We had a show-down, tried to take a stand. People died. A lot of people died. We still have MIA- Autobot and human alike. It’s not just for the living that we keep fighting,” he added, “It’s for the dead, too. Even if it doesn’t look like we’ve taken a side, trust me, those of us who fought alongside the big guy have always- always- been with him.”

Cade pointed to the skies, made a circle out of a singular finger. Lennox followed it with a grim smile. “And back a few months, up there, when you chased me and Viv? Demanded the staff? Before that, when myself, my daughter and her boyfriend were wanted fugitives for harbouring an alien race? What about then?”

“There’s more going on than meets the eye, Cade,” Lennox murmured, his voice a quiet rasp. “I’m supposed to show allegiance to TRF; I’m only a few days out of containment- they wouldn’t let me out after Chicago and they rained hellfire on anyone who tried to escape. If I don’t continue with TRF, Optimus and the crew are hunted and killed on-site; but, underneath it-“ Lennox opened his collar, and Cade saw dog tags, the glint of the Autobot insignia shining clear as day on them, “-always, always. I can’t make it better between myself and Optimus or the crew, but I’m trying to make sure they don’t go looking.” Lennox’s eyes shone, “I’m trying. Morshower is trying. So please, please, keep them safe; fight for them.”

Cade hardened a little at that. He stepped closer to Lennox. “If that’s the case, then why didn’t you fight harder? They’re family,” he said. A quiet breeze pulled between them, and Lennox breathed in, a shallow breath that made Cade shudder.

“When you’re stuck behind enemy lines, Cade,” he said, his voice near-shot. “You are fighting; because they are your family. Because the other option is war and their blood on yourhands. The other option means no way out, no way home; no way back. I cannot leave TRF; they will kill my daughter if they do.” Lennox swallowed, griping the front of Cade’s wrinkled shirt. “They’ve already killed my wife.”

A hollowness filled Cade’s chest at that quiet admission.

“Christ- who the fuck is calling the shots?” he said.

The moment had passed. Lennox was already stepping back and away. He breathed out, turned and walked away; his gait was steady, but his shoulders were caved, and Cade felt as though what was being said, between the lines, was harder to say than the veil that was used to say them.

“Hang on-“ Cade started, but Lennox was already lost to the shadows of the early morning light.

It happens in the after, a month following their return to the junkyard. The call that changes things.

Cade gets a call from Joshua Joyce. Finally, their homeplace was ready for return. Tessa and Shane would be there to welcome him back; Tessa is finished with junior year and she couldn’t wait to tell her dad all about Harvard. In her words, Shane got a “seriously good job working under one of Joshua’s firms, dad- he’s earning serious bucks!”

Cade knew when he entrusted Tessa and Shane to Joshua that they’d be well taken care of. He knows his daughter has brains to burn and his (possibly) future son-in-law has tyres to push. The pair of them are suited to one another; neither of them would be alone, waiting for him.

Finally, life was returning to a normal, of sorts. Yes, the junkyard was still theirs, located further away from the farmyard, on sacred ground that neither army nor FBI could touch (even if Decepticons and TRF had invaded mere weeks before; the truce remained intact- or so Cade was led to believe).

If Cade wanted, Joshua could reinforce the junkyard with an underground bunker also- he’d been talking with Lennox and knew all the details. Shit was coming, hot and heavy and the human race was in no way prepared. But the junkyard would offer a safe haven for those who didn’t want human contact, an oasis that stretched and stretched into the surrounding mountains. There, any Autobot could travel out of TRF jurisdiction.

But, that was for later. This… this was now.

“Cade,” Joshua says. “There’s something you need to know.”

Cade stops gathering his things just outside his ramshackle granny flat. The sun is beating down his back. Sweat beads his skin. He feels the need for another haircut, a little closer to his hairline, a tighter shave. He wants space to breathe, again. His drawstring rucksack is filled with hammers and wrenches and screwdrivers- he doesn’t need his clothes or anything else; as medic, he repairs and replaces. When the smoke cleared and the warzone in Stonehenge was seen, he was on his back trying to ease the discomforts of his fellow friends. He could do without extra clothes; he simply needed a screwdriver and anything Daytrader could get his grubby hands on.

And another haircut. Christ.

Now, he stands surrounded by Autobots; not a pin-drop to be heard over the dusty breeze of the desert skies. They are as blue as the ocean, the sun coming up over the mountains. By his side, Optimus listens; the big rig and Bumblebee still completely as Joshua speaks. Hound is grumbling in the background, but his complaints lessen as Joshua continues to talk.

“I met with someone from NEST a few days previous,” Joshua says. Cade grunts. Lennox? Optimus’s optics hone in on the word. “They somehow managed to make it through security and find me in my office. He said his name was Epps; he said he’d be waiting at the farmhouse for you all. Someone by the name-Simmons?- vouches for him; he said that the FBI guy would be on standby in Mexico until he sorts out border issues.”

Simmons? Who the fuck was Simmons?

Edmund’s guy, Cade realises. Wasn’t he supposed to be with Viv? What happened?

And Epps?

Cade bristles. “If he touches one hair on my daughter’s head-“

“Epps isn’t against us, Cade. Neither is Simmons, nor Lennox,” Joshua says, his voice hushed. He raises his tone a little; he knows Optimus is listening. “The Allspark is alive; there’s a new wind blowing; Unicron is on the rise and it’s time to come home.”

Cade recalled Optimus’s use of the phrase ‘assemble’ or ‘roll out.’ Whatever he’d mean by that- usually, hopefully, it meant that it was time to move. But this…

“Come… home?” he asks instead. Because they knew about Unicron. But… this is a tentative question, because if it means what he thinks that it means…

“I made some changes to the farmhouse,” Joshua says in answer. “Trust me, I think they’re needed. Your lands have grown, as it seems-” he adds, smiling to the gathered Autobots, “-your family has grown.”

Cade, smartly, grunts again. He looks to Grimlock, who is currently chewing out another police vehicle. Well, if that ain’t the truth.

He then looks to Optimus, who continues to stare right back at him. His expression is unreadable, but Cade knows Autobot body language like the back of his hand. He knows that Optimus is worried; this is not normal, whatever this is. This is worrying.

So. “Home,” he says. Because he thinks that it means an explanation, an ending. Maybe, possibly, a goodbye.

Bumblebee is bouncing on his feet; Hound is murmuring how it couldn’t be possible, and didn’t the Allspark die four years ago?

Optimus looks to Cade, and he knows that he is about to hear the full story, or parts of it, on their drive over.

“I’ll be there, when you hit the yard,” Joshua says. “We have plans to make.”

So, you wanna fill me in? Cade asks in the near-quiet. He is sitting on the passenger side of the big rig. Izzy has been quiet the first hour in, hugging Squeaks so tight to her body that he’s sure the poor thing will literally squeak out its last metaphorical breath in the next half hour or so. Radio silence answers them. Cade breathes deep. The Allspark is a person, yes? Made from the Matrix of Leadership? Bumblebee mentioned him a few times.

I saw him die, Cade. The Allspark is dead; I watched Samuel Witwicky fall and burn under what we believed was NEST fire. It… was the beginning of Cemetery Wind. Sam was trying to get myself, Bumblebee and Ratchet out of harm’s way. A pause passes between them before Optimus speaks again. Cade, there is no way that Samuel Witwicky survived the rain of bulletfire, even with the Allspark in his veins. He and Carly, his intended, were both killed in the crossfire. Not long after, his family and friends were hunted down and killed.

The radio turns abruptly silent; Cade hears the absolute, gut-wrenching agony in the Autobot’s voice. Izzy leans into Cade, who turns his hands over and surveys the grease marks on his palms.

Optimus, he says. When we were in Stonehenge, Lennox told me that there was more going on than met the eye-

I refuse to believe that. William Lennox and Robert Epps were both in full control of their faculties when Director Mearing gave the order to commence fire. They began firing directly at Samuel Witwicky when he refused to get out of their way.

Cade stares at his hands, remembers the glint of those dog tags; the Autobot insignia on them. Protect them. Protect the Autobots.

The Talisman slivers down his arm and opens along his wrist.

A message. Protect with one’s last dying breath.

But not just the staff, or the Allspark.

Protect the people you’ve come to call family. Protect the planet you’ve come to call home.

The word ‘protect’ becomes an image in Cade’s mind. Of a black jacket, flapping in the wind, as bulletfire rains overhead. Eyes, sure, serious, as they whisper, “I’ll see you, when a new wind blows through-“

A new wind.

Not Cemetery Wind.

How would he have known otherwise? Unless Sam heard Mearing mention it?

Cade blinks. The image of that black jacket dispels. But, the Talisman folds, opens again. When it opens the third time, Cade sees those eyes again, glinting gold, looking directly at him. He jerks out of his thoughts.

Izzy watches the Talisman move with her eyes; when she stiffens, he knows that the same thought has occurred to her.

What if it was planned? Cade murmurs. What if Sam knew what was going to go down? What if he, Lennox and Epps planned this?

I cannot imagine that that was the case, Optimus replied, tone clipped. We had only touched base when everything went out of control. I cannot-

Optimus, Cade continues, gently, Cemetery Wind.

The radio turns silent.

A new wind, Cade adds.

Optimus does not speak.

The Allspark could have protected its host, Cade says. The same as it protects the survival of your kind. The same as we protect the staff you’ve stowed away on your ship.

And TRF said their weapons don’t kill Decepticons, Izzy says, her voice as soft as his. They do. Humans kill Decepticons.

The radio dropped its frequency altogether.

And Optimus began to speed a little faster, as though home was the only place he wanted to be.

It’s deep, deep down in his spark chamber, but Optimus hopes, just as Cade does. He hopes against all belief, because the sight of his ally, his partner and friend, falling under that hailstorm of bullets… That sight was too much to bear, and the weight of his anger and grief far outweighed the disbelief that he could have, possibly, survived-

“Optimus,” Sam murmured. He rubbed his hands together, on his tattered jeans, against his skin. Nervous. Heart beating a little faster. They all saw Mearing mark her slow descent to ground-level, her eyes on all of them. The black suits followed her, LED’s activated and trained on all of them. Carly watched, her hand reaching out for Sam’s shoulder, squeezing tight. “I’ll see you, when a new wind blows through.”

At that time, they hadn’t hit back at their base an hour. As it had been, NEST was pulling their injured comerades from the backs of ambulances; police were shouting orders and the streets were alive with chaos. But, inside, Lennox was watching Mearing and his eyes, the expression on his face, Optimus remembered, were unreadable. Epps’s mouth was turned down, a grim line of death leering at them all. They’d only just begun to gather the bodies; Ironhide’s disintegrated frame was only just pulled from the streets, as were they all…

Optimus mourned it, to this day. There hadn’t been any time to save Sam, or Carly. The bullets came down, hot, fast and hard. There were screams, an all-out massacre ravaging their base, then the streets, their whole world. Blood and stone mixed through the hellfire. Inside all of it, there was just Sam’s single plea, to run, to save themselves, and then it was the road. Just road. Lennox shouting orders; Epps calling for back-up in that stilted voice over radio transmitter. They disappeared into the dust.

But.

There were only human causalities, then. The fact was not lost on Optimus. Maybe some of the NEST soldiers offered themselves up as sacrifice; maybe they truly were caught in the crossfire. Even if he had seen Sam’s blood coat the stones. Carly’s screams. Their comrades, lost in the rubble and fire.

He could still hear his voice, could still hear himself yell for Sam, to save himself, to run.

The Black man sitting on their porch carried nothing but the clothes on his back, ragged and torn as they were. Like Lennox, Cade noted the shadows underneath his eyes. It had been four years since the war in Chicago and this man looked as though he’d been running ever since. The scars on his arms and hands ran deep; the scar underneath his cheek ran straight down his neck, ran deeper again under his collar.

When they drove up the yard, Epps came to a stand on the porch. He inclined his head as Optimus transformed, followed by Bumblebee. Hound, then Crosshairs, Swideswipe and Drift all followed after, forming a neat semi-circle around the newly-built front porch. In the distance, Cade heard Grimlock’s loud roar, a ‘welcome home’ of sorts. It was followed by Scorn and Strafe’s far-off, twin roars; the forest where all they nestled in was further out. Epps didn’t seem fazed by the low warnings from the distance; Cade wondered if their… guard dog (dogs) approved of the ex-NEST member.

A cool breeze ruffled Cade’s newly-cropped hair, and he admired the new three-storey farmhouse, its wooden panelling and the long, connective wall between one part of the building and the next; he squinted, and knew that the wooden front was deceptive. It was made of metal, probably reinforced to within an inch of its life, too. The gable ends of the house literally looked like battlements. The grounds looked as though they’d been dug up.

Like Edmund’s castle, this place was made for firepower and probably cooked something serious under the earth.

Epps stepped down from the porch and into the circle of gathered Autobots. Izzy came to a stand behind Cade, watching with interest as the man moved toward them.

Joshua opened the porch door and Tessa and Shane ran out with opened arms, embraced Cade, called out happily to Bumblebee and Hound. Tessa introduced herself to Izzy for the first time, and the two women wrapped their arms around one another as Shane gestured with his eyes to Epps, who continued to stand a little bit away.

“He refused to come inside,” Shane explained to Cade. “Said this was your home and didn’t want to intrude.”

Wordless, Optimus watched Epps.

“So, what battles have you seen these past few weeks?” Cade asked as a way of breaking the ice. The Black man sighed. He looked to Cade, then back up to Optimus.

“Too many,” he answered. “I’d say you’ve seen the same.” They shook hands, and Cade felt similar calluses underneath his own. “If we didn’t have Quintessa on our plates a few weeks ago, I would’ve made contact sooner.”

“Robert Epps, you did not deal with Quintessa,” Optimus growled, his tone severe. Izzy flinched and grabbed Cade’s jacket as he spoke. Tessa leaned into Cade.

Epps crossed his arms as he looked to Optimus. Undeterred, he said, “Who do you think sent out the signal for the Talisman way back when? ‘Cause it sure as hell wasn’t you.” The unspoken argument- you weren’t here to help us, Optimus- was there, clear as day. Cade opened his mouth to say something, when Bumblebee’s head popped out from behind Optimus’s back.

“What is going down, Epps?” Bumblebee asked. Cade suppressed a smile; even the scout was in on the tension breaker. A fond smile swept Epps’s features and his arms unfolded.

“Thought I’d never hear that voice of yours again, ‘Bee,” he said. “It’s good to hear it.”

They gathered together under the oak tree; surprisingly, the damn thing was still intact even after the whole fiasco of Cemetery Wind taking out their home. Epps chose to sit on the ground- Cade noticed that he left his body open to attack, even as Optimus continued to stand. Hound and Daytrader decided to scout the grounds as the others leaned in to hear Epps’s news. Grimlock was looking for more junk to eat and Hound wanted to show the ‘old pest’ his new toys.

Bumblebee revved as he sat close to Cade. He wanted to hear what happened and where Sam was, and Cade didn’t envy him; the poor guy was eager to hear about his best friend.

Epps breathed out. “Sam’s calling everyone here,” he started, just as Optimus grunted. “He sent out a warning call two days ago; that’s why you heard from Joyce.” The Black man pointed to the businessman standing just a bit away from them; he was punching buttons on his phone and looked to be paying them no mind. His secretary was looking out to the fields stretched around them. We have a frequency that operates via walkie talkie; these things-” he pulled a small radio transmitter out from a back pocket, “-look archaic as fuck, but Wheelie and Skids found what they could to make a few of these. Lennox has one, Mikaela has one, Sam and Carly, Maggie and Glen and a few NEST-mates. Simmons and Spitz don’t need one; Spitz is reachable by Cog-man, currently. He touched ground with Vivian as of twenty-two hours ago.”

“Vivian knows about all this?” Cade said. Shit, he should’ve rang her. Epps nodded.

“Now, yeah, she does. Don’t worry; Cog-man would’ve clued her in as soon as they came to the castle. Edmund had heard news about this before he died. If he turned a few pages before Vivian’s in that Witwiccan book, you would’ve seen Sam’s face, actually.” Epps smiled. “Edmund was weird as fuck, but a good man nonetheless. God rest his soul.”

“Robert Epps, I watched you and William Lennox shoot to kill. Samuel Witwicky is dead,” Optimus said, bringing the argument right back to its centre.

Epps pointed a finger at the Autobot leader. “Can I explain some more or will I need to offer singular sentences as I go along? No?” he added when Optimus didn’t answer. “Right, let me continue. Currently, we’re waiting to hear back from Maggie and Glen- you remember the specialists who broke the Decepticon code way back in Mission city?” he asked Optimus, who nodded, “Yeah, well, they’ve got friends in high places in the Pentagon- if we can break Lennox, Belle and Morshower out, we got the all-clear for NEST to start back up again. Carly thinks that we need NEST for a few loose ends and with Unicron on the rise, we might be looking at getting everyone together sooner than later. Mearing’s going down in a hail of sunshine and bullets,” he grinned as he spoke. “We’ve been running and squatting in places we ain’t never gonna talk about again when all this blows over,” he added. He looked to Cade and Bumblebee, “Hot Rod knows the drill with Vivian, ‘cause she’s got the power of fairies and shit-“

“Um, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say that,” Cade intervened. “She can wield a weapon that can- possibly- bring Cybertron back to life and, also, completely destroy our planet, yes?”

Joshua stopped pressing buttons on his phone and squared a look in Cade’s direction. “Excuse me, what now?”

Epps stared between them both, then waved his hands. “Right, and trust me, that ain’t the weirdest thing I’ve heard all day today, considering Sam can basically bring dead Autobots back to life.”

“Hah?” Shane said, rather eloquently. He leaned toward Epps as he spoke. “Who’s Sam? Who’s Maggie, and Glen and Simmons and Cog-man- is that a username or something?- and Vivian- and when did this little trio get so-“ he looked over his shoulder in the direction of where Hound and Daytrader disappeared off to, “- get so damn big, Cade? Seriously, we’ve only been gone a couple months, yeah?”

A small, summery breeze ruffled the leaves overhead. The scent of something new and exciting permeated the air. While Optimus began asking questions, the whens and whatnots, Cade tilted his head up and smiled. “Yeah, we got a big family here now. And, apparently-” he added, “- although, not surprisingly- considering our track record going so far- a war is coming.”

“Another war,” Tessa murmured, plucking at the grass underneath her folded legs. Izzy leaned into her.

“Another war,” Epps agreed, bringing them back to their current situation. Unicron. “But,” he said, softly, gently, as he looked to Tessa, “-we have a hell of a lot more reinforcements on our side. Unicron doesn’t stand a damn chance.”

“We aren’t going to talk about a person being able to bring dead Autobots back to life, are we?” Cade said, a little while after.

Epps chuckled. “Nah, we’re gonna wait until Sam and Carly touch base here. Ironhide wanted to get ahead. Y’know, with Lennox and all. Ratchet is a little behind; I think he said something about the Wreckers being in a desert somewhere; they’re unreachable via radio. Sam and Carly should be touching down here soon and-” he said, looking toward the silent Autobot leader, “- all of them are very excited to see you again, Optimus.”

Optimus flinched at the mention of each of their names. Bumblebee clapped his hands in glee. “I knew that Sam was alive,” Bumblebee said. “I knew he’d find his way back- can we get them both? Optimus-“

“No,” Epps started. “No, don’t, ‘Bee. We need to wait. We leave here-“ he pointed down to the ground, meaning their new home. Meaning home base, Cade realised. “- we leave here, we’re fucked. We wait for them here. We need to regroup; it’s been too fucking long without a battleplan. As it is, Lennox’s been pulling heroic bullshit in the Pentagon for far too long; him and Morshower have been trying to keep things on-level for the last four years.” Epps closed his mouth, sighed. “We need everyone in the one place, together, before we move out again.”

Bumblebee quietened down, as Drift and Sideswipe leaned a little closer to Optimus.

“Robert Epps is right,” Optimus sighed, as though weary from the news. Cade wasn’t surprised. This was… a lot to take in, and he didn’t even know any of the people Epps was talking about; he’d need a Wiki page for their names alone. “However,” Optimus amended, “- we will need to begin preparing for anything that follows.”

“Gottcha covered, Optimus,” Joshua said, putting his phone away for the first time since their meet-and-greet started. He gestured to the yard. “Come along with me, everyone.”

That night, after they got the grand tour of the house- or, fortress, considering the three-storey extended into a two-level…. underground bunker replete with weaponry and state of the art facilities for an incoming army- Cade sat underneath the oak tree and watched the stars.

He remembered the look in Lennox’s face on camp. The genuine anguish.

Always. Always.

Ironhide was coming back early. Y’know, with Lennox and all. Cade blinked at that. They must’ve been good friends from way back. He blearily remembered the early days of Mission city, glued to the screen as the city was blasted out of it by an alien shitstorm of a fight. The all-black Topkick. The soldiers walking away from the hail and fire.

He closed his eyes as the Talisman whirled around his body, comforted by the clicking sounds it made.

Lennox wasn’t TRF. Clearly, he had to be something for the Pentagon to release him for battle only a few months back. This last month, it was radio silence; nothing from Lennox. Nothing, even, on the news.

“Is it that they knew Prime was coming back?” he murmured. No. That didn’t seem right either. He tapped his fingers against his bicep, feeling the ridges of the Talisman against his skin…

When he opened his eyes again, he found darkness and the cool-blue tones of the dash in the big rig. He sat up in the passenger’s seat, the warmth of the cabin making him stretch and yawn into the leather seat.

“You’ve been in recharge for a while, Cade,” Optimus said, voice gentle against the starry night sky beyond. Cade rubbed his eyes; Optimus must have transformed when he was asleep.

“How are you doin’?” he drawled, wincing at the grogginess of his drawling accent; it only ever came out when he was tired.

“I am… perplexed. Angry. Worried,” Optimus listed after a moment. “Epps explained that Sam was alive. I am overjoyed to see that Bumblebee is pleased, but… this is hard to comprehend. My Autobots were ambushed; for Lennox to have no choice but to side with Mearing like that…”

Cade reached out a hand for the dash, as if to console the leader. “They wanted to protect you, Optimus. I think, no matter how long it took for them to get back to you, I think that’s the most important thing. They never made TRF, never tried to hunt you down like that. I think that’s the most important thing.”

His gazed caught the Talisman on his wrist. “Protect, with every last dying breath,” he said.

Protect what was most important. Family. Home. Protect the Earth, he thought, then questioned. No, that wasn’t it, either.

Something bubbled underneath the surface of his skin. He stared at the Talisman.

“The Allspark creates life and destroys it,” he said. “Optimus- what if the Allspark Epps mentioned was code?”

“Cade, what do you mean?”

Cade leaned forward in his seat, imagining those golden, glinting eyes. “Can the Allspark destroy Unicron?”

Optimus didn’t answer, not for a very long time.

Cade was jerked out of his half-asleep state by the time he heard his reply. “Truthfully, Cade Yeager, I do not know. One may hope.”

The following morning, Joshua sat at their breakfast table, and asked about NEST’s exact location. “I might have a friend working in the Pentagon who could help ASAP,” he said. He cast his eyes to Yueming, who stood with her arms crossed in the hallway. She arched an eyebrow, then smiled. Since donning the full-time business, Joshua noticed how much more relaxed she looked. Healthier.

“Back when we ran operations,” Joshua said. Epps watched him. “We had scouts working in… places, for intel purposes. We might be able to make contact with this Maggie and her team a little quicker. If Pentagon is suspicious, we aren’t going to hear from her anytime soon, genius specialist or no.”

Epps put down his coffee and took a long, measured breath. “Can I trust you?” he asked. They were the only two in the kitchen this early in the morning. The sun barely made ground. Joshua shrugged. His secretary, who had been sitting in the living room, taking a call, came to stand next to him when she heard the question.

“I built this house; Cade’s imprints are all over the place. Yours too, if you and whoever is coming needs a safe house,” he said. He put down his own coffee. “You go outside the twenty-acre radius of this place, an alarm sounds. Cade, the Autobots, they know who’s coming and going from here.” He swallowed, bit his lip, and added, “I made some serious fuck-ups. Major, colossal fuck-ups that I cannot ever atone for. There’s blood, so much blood, on my hands, Epps. I’m a millionaire with enough sway in government to actually make a difference on a global scale. And-“ he added, his hands in his pockets, “- I might, also, have a bit of magic in me too.” He winked at Epps. “Give me an hour, two. Let’s see what I can do about Lennox, Annabelle and Morshower. Give me the names of everyone who needs an out from Pentagon and we’ll see how many levers I can pull at the same time.”

Tessa was making another batch of lunch when the glassware began to shake. She dropped the spatula and looked to the windows. Yup, they were shaking, too. The skies were turning a shade of black; thunder? She didn’t hear anything about a storm on radio this morning…

She put the spare glasses sideways in the sink; nothing was going to break in the kitchen, not after that whole fiasco with the monster-sized bullet in the family room. Was it a helicopter? A plane?

“Is it finally the end of the world?” she murmured as she slowly moved from the open-plan kitchen, to the sitting room, to the second sitting room and then, finally, onto the porch. The skies rumbled with thunder, black overhead clouds honing in over their home. The hills swayed with the moving wind, and, if she squinted north, she could see- in the sky-

“Dad!” she screamed. “Dad-!”

Her feet moved over the porch, toward the barn. “There’s incoming!”

Bumblebee’s yellow plating came into view from around the side of the house; Shane followed, his hands covered in black grease. He grabbed Tessa by the shoulders and they looked up, toward the sounds of rumbling thunder-

The two helicopters were black as midnight; she did not need binoculars- it looked Decepticon.

“Is there a spare handgun in that kitchen?” Shane asked.

Optimus came to a stand next to them. “Get behind me,” he said, as Cade stood to Tessa’s left.

“What was Joshua saying about an alarm system? Did he even set the damn thing before he left yesterday?” Shane said as they began moving back toward the barn.

“Is that Blackout at front?” Cade asked.

“No, it is not,” Optimus said. “But they were made from Decepticon plating. Is this Joshua’s doing?”

Epps was standing underneath the oak tree, watching the helicopters mark their slow descent a mile out. He squinted. “That’s Pentagon,” he said. “Fuck, did he actually do it?”

“Do what?” Cade asked, “What’s going on?”

“Joshua said he was gonna try break out the crew in containment,” Epps said, already moving toward the fields. The helicopters landed, and the doors were opening. Crosshairs and Hound stood behind Epps as he walked, then began to run when he shouted Lennox’s name. Cade dropped Excalibur and started moving with them.

“Stay here, Tess,” he said, as Shane followed him.

“I think I’m making more food,” she said as she started making her way back into the house. “Izzy, can you help?”

The young mechanic nodded and pulled Squeaks along with her.

The people pooling from the helicopters made a run from the rotovators. Epps took out a full sprint when he saw the small head of blonde hair. Lennox’s shoulders, dressed in army green, turned toward Epps’s screams, before the two men full-on embraced one another, Annabelle’s head between them.

“Christ, man- don’t go pulling that bullshit ever again,” Optimus heard Epps say as he came to stand close to them. Epps looked down to Annabelle, whispered in her ear. The little girl laughed, fingers curling into her blonde curls. Epps grinned at her.

Joshua jumped from the helicopter close to the front and sprinted to Cade. “We got followers incoming- we dropped the shield as we were moving in, but I couldn’t erect the damn thing before Mearing and her crew made their way in,” he said, looking to Optimus. “We need reinforcements here.”

Cade and Shane started to shout orders- there were at least twelve of them, making a run for the house. Hound and Crosshairs made a run for the perimeter as Optimus asked, “By road or sky?”

“Both,” Joshua said, herding a frazzled, blonde-haired woman and a black man off the second helicopter. “Epps, Lennox, get to the house-“

Lennox pushed Annabelle into Shane’s arms, “Get her into the house. I’m firing at whatever the fuck Mearing’s got coming our way.” His voice was hoarse and Cade had to grab his arm as he stumbled on his feet. “Mikaela-“ he called, just as a tall brunette jumped from the helicopter. “ETA?”

“We got five minutes, tops. We were the last out and she nearly had us by the fucking teeth,” a blonde-haired woman said, her Australian accent thick with rage. “And no,” she added, waving a single finger at Cade’s open mouth, “I’m not hiding- give me a fucking gun.”

Whoa, he was sure he was talking to Vivian there.

A Black man jogged between them. “Suit yourself, I’m making a run for it- you got any computers I can use? I’m sure we designed whatever the fuck they’re flying in.” He looked to Joshua, who nodded and pointed toward the house. Then, he looked to Cade, waved, “I’m Glen, nice to meet you. This is Maggie,” he added, “She’s very angry.”

“That makes at least ten of us,” the brunette said as she pulled something from her back pocket…. Cade stopped and watched the weapon transform into a-

“A long-range rifle?” he asked.

“Mikaela,” she said, as if to introduce herself. “And yes, this thing takes down all my enemies.” She started off in the direction of Crosshairs and Hound. “Bee, you coming with?” she called over her shoulder, just as Bumblebee began to follow her. “Nice to see you again, Optimus,” she added as she continued jogging toward the hills.

Another man, wearing army combats, came to a stand next to Cade and Joshua. “I’ve got NEST incoming from the next state over. We got word out the second Joshua issued evac,” he said, looking toward Optimus. “This is moving fast but we need to move faster. Mearing’s got at least a small army coming.”

Optimus lurched into action just as Cade wolf-whistled. Morshower cocked an eyebrow at him. “You calling a cat?” he asked, pressing a button on his wristwatch; it became a small handgun.

Cade grinned. “We have a very good guard dog,” he said, just as Grimlow bellowed an almighty roar from the faraway hills. “Dogs,” he added when he heard another screech.

Morshower watched the… guard dog as it jogged toward them. Then looked to the skies as… another guard dog took flight from the head of the forest behind the house. “Looks like we’re not even gonna need back-up then,” he said, shooting a look at Cade, who grinned wickedly.

“Autobots,” Optimus said, as Drift and Sideswipe flanked his sides. Grimlow growled from behind him and, in the distance, Hound bellowed something that sounded like ‘incoming-!’

“Roll out.”

Mearing and her… small army… didn’t stand a chance.

The second Hound had her in range from the air, the helicarriers were shot down. TRF never made it by foot to the base; Grimlow chewed their trucks into cubes by the time they hit the ten-mile marker just beyond the forest.   

Mikaela and Maggie were very upset and looked to the Dinobot when he came to stand next to them. “You could’ve left us with something,” she said. Grimlow merely chuckled and spat up the remnants of another truck. Whatever was human inside was clearly long dead, crushed inside its maw.

Mearing made it to the outer perimeter and Cade gave her the chance to step down from the helicarrier before he and Optimus took aim in her direction. He’d swapped out Excalibur for a rifle. Her hair few out around her and she tried to bark out orders, but aside from the crew that made it here with her, she was far-outnumbered. Joshua stood next to Cade as she stumbled close to them.

“I’ve been told you are hiding vigilantes and aliens-“

“This,” Cade said, “- right here,” he added, pointing with the edge of his rifle to the field she stood in, “- is my property. Get off it before I shoot.”

As Mearing ordered to shoot on sight, and Optimus roared, a bullet bore through Mearing’s skull. Her head exploded in gore and blood. Everyone stopped as she dropped. Wheelie grit out a disgusted sound in the near-silence.

Mikaela stood close to Bumblebee, far off to the right. “Told you it shoots all my fucking enemies,” she said, voice dripping with bloodlust, as she took aim for the rotovator above the helicarrier and shot at it. “Not one of them is getting out of here without their blood in the fields.”

“You bitch,” Maggie mock-whispered from where she stood right next to her, “I wanted her bloody head.”

Lennox and Epps pulled up their weapons at the remaining groups of TRF. “Who wants more? We got Dinobots who love to eat,” Lennox added. “You can surrender now or eat bullets.”

Cade noticed that Santos and the crew that went up in the Ospreys with them weren’t there. He scanned the gathered groups until one stupid idiot came forward. “We’ve been orderedto shoot on sight. And trust me-“ he said, looking toward Optimus, “- We aren’t afraid to kill.”

“Hope they aren’t afraid to die,” Lennox mumbled, before shooting out at whatever stood in their way.

Optimus’s sword went down on the helicarrier as Cade launched ahead, Shane appearing out of nowhere behind him. Raising the Talisman above his head, Excalibur came to life and he threw down the blade at the first medley of bullets that fired his way. A stray bullet grazed his hip, but he ignored the pain, swinging the sword out as though it were an extension of his body as he neared the first barrage of soldiers that ran his way.

Maggie and Mikeala shot anything that got past him, and Hound and Crosshairs shot even further out; they could see the second entourage of foot traffic coming their way and while Joshua had managed to raise the electro-magnetic barrier, it trapped whatever was trying to kill them inside.

“You said we got NEST incoming,” Lennox murmured to Morshower between refills. “How long ETA?”

Morshower could hear the ragged breathing of the soldier over the hailstorm of shouts and fire. He glanced in his direction; Epps steadied him when he stumbled again. “When we finished killing these idiots,” Morshower replied, “We’ll talk.”

And so, the fighting continued. 

Cade winced as he stepped down. “Shit,” he grumbled as he felt along his side. The blood was definitely his, but it was just a graze. He breathed deep and continued limping toward the farmhouse. “We really need to get some armour going here.”

Joshua spat out blood. “I’m staying inside the damn car the next time,” he agreed, sporting a nasty purple bruise along his chin. “I think mowing them down makes more fucking sense.”

“Lennox okay?”

Maggie glanced toward the army man. “No,” she replied. Epps had an arm around his shoulders as he stumbled, again. Optimus stooped and reached out with a metal hand to gather Lennox; Optimus continued to carry him toward the house.

Epps fell into line with Cade.

“I think he was carrying injuries before we got away,” Maggie said as Mikaela caught up with them. “A few days ago, he came into diagnostics with burns on his arms. Before that, we heard… screams. I think he was shot with something. When we were running, we were definitely caught in cross-fire. He waited until we all boarded.”

Cade surveyed the group. Assessed the damage. “We need triage; I definitely saw Drift and ‘Bee take a hit or two- that Morshower doesn’t look too peachy, either,” Cade said. Joshua slid down the hill they trekked across as they found ground outside the front yard. Tessa and Izzy came out with plates full of food, but stopped when they saw the blood coming her way.

“We’ve a kit in the kitchen,” she said as Cade stopped them.

 “Could you start gathering supplies? I’ll meet you in the sitting room.”

They wrapped wounds and waited with baited breath. Nothing came. Hours passed. Bodies were buried, or burned. Cade gathered whatever metals he could salvage from the helicopters and carriers. If Pentagon reported a few MIAs, then so be it.

Nothing on the news. Nothing on the radio waves, either. Optimus and Bumblebee frequented the waves but heard nothing.

So. Cade took Epps with him to start setting up the barn. Tessa and Shane took Bumblebee and went for a walk along the perimeter as Maggie and Glen began discussing with Joshua the specifics of what they knew about Unicron. Morshower waited until Lennox woke up; they bent heads and started discussing plot points and weaknesses; they rang Santos, who was waiting to hear back from them and gather the ex-TRF members. Simmons, Spitz, Hot Rod, Vivian and Cog-man were en-route. Mikaela remained with Annabelle and played with her.

In the mean-time, Cade watched Lennox as the man rubbed at his chest absent-mindedly, his face tight. The burns on his arms had been wrapped; the scars underneath his shirt sleeves still visible.

“When you said they shot him with something, did you mean a bullet or a needle?” he asked Maggie, who swallowed down her fourth coffee and continued working away at her laptop.

“I don’t know,” she said, shuddering. “I just remember the screams.”

Chapter Text

In a run-down motel just outside Virginia, Sam and Carly watched the news reporter as she discussed the incoming heatwave that belted across the western states. Sam’s knee bounced; he could hear the interference underneath the television. Ever since the Allspark merged with his DNA, he’d been finding it harder and harder to tune out the sounds of technology around him.

He knew it had been a sign, back then, with the Matrix of Leadership. The Primes choosing him. Primus, he practically was a Prime at this stage.

The news report cut to a scene of chaos. Fire emblazoned the walls of the right wall of the Pentagon, the smoke thick and black in the blue skies. Dozens of fire engines and ambulances swarmed the front gates, people were running, smoke-tattered, across the grainy screen of the television. The reporter mentioned a break-in. The CCTV footage was apparently fried.

Sam grinned.

“Looks like they got out okay,” he said. His ears honed in underneath the voice of the female reporter, plugging to the screams and chaos underneath the microphone. He made out what the fireman, with his back turned to the reporter, was saying to one of the ambulancemen just a few yards away from her-

“They escaped,” he said to Carly. “They’re talking about the helicarriers.”

“All of them?”

Her voice was hesitant. They both knew how many of their friends were inside that building. Sam squinted, but he couldn’t make out anymore.

“Unless I can get closer to the site, I won’t know. They mentioned three helicarriers, though. And something following after.” He tuned out. “I think that was Lennox and everyone.”

“Texas?” Carly murmured. She squeezed Sam’s thigh, her long blonde hair falling across his shoulder as she leaned on him. They looked into each other’s eyes. He nodded.

“Texas.”

“Do you think that Ratchet can get us there in less than twenty-four hours?” Carly murmured. “If we don’t stop off?”

Sam nodded. He forced his knee to stop bouncing. “I want to stop hiding, too.” They both shared a calm silence.

“It’s been four long years,” she murmured.

“And if Unicron rises, it could well be the end,” Sam said.

“If this is the end, Sam, then I’m glad that we got to face it together,” she said.

Sam turned to look at her. They were both weathered from the years of being underground. They tried hiding in Chicago for a little while; with TRF all over the damn place, they constantly needed to hide under the rubble. The Allspark was restless. It longed to reunite with the Primes. His body needed to bounce to adjust to the constant hum under his skin.

Throughout it all, tired and beaten as they were, they stuck together with Ratchet.

Underneath his skin, he felt Lennox’s presence, just a bare caress, but there all the same. Waiting for them all to come home.

“You told me to never let you go,” he said to her. She smiled. Rare as they were these last few years, her smiles were beautiful. They joined hands as they sat on the bed together.

“Let’s go home,” she said. Knowing that this last journey might finally bring them together again.

In the early morning hours, Lennox woke with the distinct feeling that something was pulling on his heartstrings. He sat up, confused as to where he was. But the pull of string was ironclad, still as strong as all the years before this. He fumbled in the darkness. Like a pulse underneath his skin, it took him a moment to realise what his bearings were telling him. Annabelle was still asleep when he threw a t-shirt over his head, mindful of the marks and bruises down his spine, across his chest. All of them were in places just out of reach of human sight. Marks and scars and bruises and burns that would never, ever heal.

He limped out and into the hallway, down the stairs to the kitchen. Something was pulling him, tugging him out the door-

When the cool breeze hit his face, he closed his eyes, breathed out a little easier. The air was fresh, crisp, cool. The sounds of the trees rustling in the early-morning hours brought with it the scent of something hopeful-

“Ironhide,” he whispered. A fondness, welcome and warm, filled the empty cavities in his chest.

The big rig pulled up to the front door as Lennox took the wooden steps onto the grass. Lennox could see from out of the corner of his eye the silhouettes of what would be Daytrader and Drift. Somewhere closeby, Crosshairs would be sitting out with Hound. They’d know that a cloud of dust was coming toward them from a distance. Following the path to the farmhouse.

The pull in his chest tugged harder down along the path toward the main road and he knew- Primus, God, whatever was above or below them- he knew that this was his best friend making his way toward them.

“Lennox,” Optimus said as he transformed, as though looking for an explanation. No Captain. No Major. No Colonel. Just his name. God, Primus, whatever, Lennox knew that he didn’t deserve that, the name, the title, nothing. Not from the Autobot leader. But he couldn’t tell Optimus the truth. He had no choice but to stay quiet back then. All those months, years… He couldn’t speak for fear of causing more damage- and would the Autobot leader have trusted him with these secrets in the first place?

No, he reasoned. No, he wouldn’t.

Lennox came to a stop next to him. “It started four years back,” he said, rubbing his chest.

When the black Topkick came fully into view, Lennox smiled. Silent, but awestruck, Optimus looked down to the human soldier, and back toward the weapons specialist he thought long dead. “Mearing caught onto it,” Lennox said. “Wanted to see if she could experiment on the… connection ‘Hide and I shared. Started running these tests. I… don’t think the dark can scare me anymore.”

He stopped. Should he keep talking? Was he allowed to? Was it safe?

Belle was here, now. Sarah wasn’t. But Ironhide was here, too, and here in this moment, Ironhide, he knew, was real. He was here, in front of him. His… friend, his ally, his brother, was here. This was real.

He could tell Optimus the truth. A little of it. Enough.

“She injected me,” he chose to say, not sure if Optimus was truly listening. “I don’t even know what’s in my system. I don’t know if it affects ‘Hide the same as it does me. I feel when he’s close.” He stopped, took a deep breath. “It’s like my heart beats under his, or something.”

“Your blood pressure readings are low,” Optimus murmured. They had been the same yesterday; nothing had changed, even with the sleep he’d gotten.

“The Allspark,” Lennox murmured quietly, as if in explanation. Optimus’s optics honed in on the soldier as he spoke. The Allspark?

Lennox continued as though he hadn’t noticed the stillness between them, the rigid awareness the Autobot leader had. “I don’t know. The burns…” he added, looking down at his bandaged arms, “- I think they wanted to see if it would draw ‘Hide out. None of this makes a whole lot of sense. The bond between ‘Hide and me. He’s Transformer. I’m human. It’s weird. But, somehow, here we are. Ratchet wondered whether it had something to do with Sentinel killing ‘Hide, then.” Lennox’s voice went quiet. “Thought maybe the connection between the Allspark and our bond helped Sam kick-start him back to life. Even if whatever was left was just… dust and metal parts and the memories of who he had been, before.”

Lennox was babbling. Whether from fatigue or pain, Optimus was not sure. The human wasn’t making any sense.

“The Allspark? Four years ago?”

“It was straight after… everything. After rushing you guys out of Chicago. Sam brought ‘Hide back. He did the same to Ratchet. The Matrix brought them back,” Lennox finished. His voice sounded hoarse. Optimus cast another reading over the human’s form. His heart rate dipped before gathering pace, his blood sugars were chronically low and he didn’t like how weak Lennox’s breathing patterns were.

Something was very, very wrong with the human; he suspected blood poisoning, but he wasn’t sure. He needed Ratchet for this. What had they done to Lennox?

The soldier stepped forward as Ironhide transformed. It was quiet, a muted meeting, but Optimus watched as Lennox made his slow way toward Ironhide, who stepped down to his human counterpart. They were talking, quietly, and something about the way they leaned into one another made Optimus turn away.

Sparkbonds weren’t unusual among his kind. This… this was only among his kind, Optimus knew. Only among Transformers. Never, in the last ten or so years, would Optimus imagine that sparkbonds… were to be shared between Transformer and humankind.

Unless this wasn’t an act of sparkbonding.

Maybe, what Optimus was witnessing was… something new. Unheard of. More than that.

And what of the Allspark? Optimus was very confused. Baffled, he watched Lennox. The soldier had shrunk a little in the last few months. His pallor was paler, the grey hairs becoming more prominent.

Their bond….

Optimus could tell that Ironhide’s close proximity calmed the fluctuating pressure in Lennox’s body, as well as the pain radiating from his frame.

“Ratchet wondered whether it had something to do with Sentinel killing ‘Hide, then. Thought maybe the connection between the Allspark and our bond helped Sam kick-start him back to life. Even if whatever was left was just… dust and metal parts and the memories of who he had been, before.”

The bond shared between human and Autobot was so strong that it brought Ironhide back from Primus? When did this begin? How? How… bizarre. Even with Sam’s prowess with the Matrix… all of this was just… the stuff of fairytales.

Of course, Optimus reasoned, Earth had the staff of Merlin. The Last Knight, he added, thinking of Cade. Optimus considered this for one moment. Yes, this was the stuff of magic, myth or legend, he supposed, as he wasn’t even sure where or what or how to explain any of this, as none of it made sense.

Ironhide swept Lennox off his feet and into his palm. The human went quiet; Optimus could see that Lennox was already dozing off into a deeper recharge than before, his energy spent. When they met, Optimus whispered, “It is so good to see you, Ironhide.”

“Optimus, we have much to discuss,” Ironhide replied, his familiar tone deep and reassuring in the semi-bright light of the early morning sunrise. Already, the skies were dappling to a pale-pink and purple. The sounds of birdsong could be heard in the distance.

“We will, soon. When Ratchet, Sam and Carly arrive, we will speak. For now-“ Optimus looked down to the sleeping Lennox, “- I think it might be better to wait out the inevitable. William Lennox has been keeping the team safe for a very long time, it seems.”

A lot had happened in his absence. Optimus continued to look at Lennox’s sleeping face and the newfound peace he found there. He remembered running into the desert winds with him; remembered his endless devotion to the team. Like Cade, there was so much loyalty in his small frame. So much loyalty, he thought, in Epps and Morshower; in the people he once thought of as his brothers and sisters-in-arms. So how… how could Optimus have thought otherwise?

Sam’s words. Those bloodstains all over the stones…

Protect your family. Protect the place you’ve come to call home.

“The first time they hurt Will, Optimus, I was beside myself with anger. He did not want me to interfere, knowing that exposing myself and the rest of us in hiding would cause more needless bloodshed,” Ironhide explained. He looked down to the sleeping human. His voice turned grave as he said, “Ratchet found traces of the Allspark in Will’s blood, Optimus.”

Optimus flinched. What?

“What?”

The disbelief in his voice was strong and clear. He could not believe that. He looked to Lennox, scanned his body and, sure enough, could see the gunmetal purple shades of the Allspark, tiny, infinitesimal specks in his bloodstream, that he could not understand how he didn’t see it in the first place.

All of this was Ratchet’s designation, not his. But he should have known. The Allspark. The Allspark. How in Primus’s word could he have not thought of the Allspark…

Ironhide nodded, once. The temperature in the air dropped. “Unlike Sam, Optimus, Will’s body is rejecting it. Now, what is coursing through his body is poison. Ratchet believes that our bond is all that is keeping him alive, now.”

The gravity of Ironhide’s words hit Optimus.

“The Allspark?” he questioned. How… “A human-” he continued, “-cannot… physically wield the Allspark… inside of their body. They do not carry a core-“

He stopped. Blood poisoning. Lennox was being poisoned by the Allspark.

Four years.

He couldn’t speak. How much had changed. How much…

His own spark throbbed.

He stared down at the curve of Lennox’s spine. How small, fragile, these humans were. And one of them was… here, with the Allspark, the source of their creation, their lifeforce, inside of his own body. A body that was not physically capable of carrying it in the first place.

If this were to happen to Sam, to Cade-

“-sometimes out of those mistakes come the most amazing things-“

Optimus inclined his head, chastised. The meaning was clear in Ironhide’s words; you forsook them, you abandoned them; the fault is as much your own as it is theirs. There were no accusations in the specialist’s voice, but Optimus could still hear them, loud and clear.

He looked down to Lennox, curled up on the metal plating of Ironhide’s fingers.

The memory of Cade’s hand on his dashboard as he spoke not a few nights previous; a new wind and, what if Sam knew what was going to go down? What if he, Lennox and Epps planned this?

How far were they willing to go to protect them all?

Maggie’s quiet admission: “I just remember the screams.”

Optimus found his voice, and Primus knew it was shaking as he replied, “I am so, so very sorry, Ironhide. If I had known… I would have acted differently. My judgement of the human race, of our brothers in arms, has been so clouded with anger, that I could not see the truth, or have faith in the team we were once a part of.”

For Primus’s sake, he almost killed Bumblebee a few months back. Under Quintessa’s control, he would have killed his youngest scout, an Autobot that was more like a son to him than any other; he should have known better, then, too. The guilt clawed through his core, rattled his spark until he could do no more than bow his head in shame.

Ironhide watched, then looked to his… sparkmate. To Will, sleeping so deeply, that no sound would wake him. As though the four years spent running, protecting, keeping them all safe, had finally done his body in. “Optimus,” Ironhide said, “We need to do better. Will is…”

Optimus nodded, but would not meet his specialist’s optics. He refused. All of this was his fault. And he vowed he would rectify it. For Will. For NEST. For Cade and Sam and everyone who’s lives were tainted by his rash and foolish decisions.

“Captain Lennox is important to you,” he affirmed. Ironhide nodded.

“And he is most important to us all. Like Sam. Like all of our comrades. We cannot lose Will. I refuse to let him go,” Ironhide said. The meaning was clear.

When the specialist transformed back into his Topkick form, Lennox encased safely inside, Optimus nodded his head in understanding. Ironhide rolled in the direction of the oak tree and parked close to its base.

Optimus decided to do another round around the perimeter. He knew that Joshua’s barriers were sound, but his spark was… not. He was in the wrong, for everything; for that, he had much to atone for. Sam, Carly, Mikaela, Lennox and Epps, Maggie, Glen, Joshua, Cade, Vivian, Tessa and Shane, Simmons and Spitz, all of his Autobots.

He looked toward the barn, finding the door partially open and a sleepy head standing there. Cade looked toward the Topkick and nodded in greeting as he started toward him. The Topkick’s lights flared once.

“Will we go together?” Cade whispered to Optimus, making a small circle with a single finger. As though he were an extension of Optimus’s thoughts

“Let us go, Cade Yeager,” he replied.

When they were well on their way and out of earshot of anyone listening in, Cade murmured, “Something’s bothering you.”

“I do not try to be transparent, Cade Yeager,” Optimus replied.

“I know. I can feel it though,” he replied. “Just let me know if you want to talk, Big Guy. I’m all ears.”

After Cade and Optimus made a circuit of the farm and its neighbouring fields, they returned to find Mikaela and Glen standing on the front porch. By now, the sun was already marking its slow ascent over the yard and all of the Autobots were gathered close to the front porch; for once, Hound and Grimlock weren’t barking at one another. Crosshairs and Bumblebee stood worriedly to one side. Everyone’s heads were bent together; Mikaela’s hands went wide and arched over her head, grabbing Cade’s attention as he stumbled out of the rig. Optimus transformed, and the tension thickened.

Bumblebee looked to Optimus. “Tune in to the news- there’s something you need to see, Optimus.”

When Cade came into the sitting room, he found the whole crew gathered around the television, where the image of a set of horns could be seen in the middle of what the news reporter was calling the Sahara Desert. Cade’s heart sank the longer he stared at the image.

“… reported that one of the missing, Theodore Galloway, was most likely apprehended during peace talks-“

The reporter was tuned out to a mix of worried frowns.

“Horns?” was all Cade managed to say. Because fuck… that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Excalibur maneuvered down his arm; the sound of metal re-forming and shifting caught everyone’s attention. The damn thing felt a little like a lightning bolt on his bicep. He looked down to the weapon. “Cut it out,” he said, and the weapon re-shifted and hid under his clothing.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” Joshua said, eyes trained on the weapon that receded up Cade’s sleeve.

“Is that thing what we think it is?” Maggie murmured; her eyes were glued to the television. Morshower inclined his head.

“Before we evacuated, Mearing was talking about something showing up unannounced in the desert. I think-“ he added, “- she wanted to nuke it.”

“You mean tickle it,” Glen grumbled. “Christ, that white woman was mad.”

“What happens now, dad?” Tessa murmured, wrapping her arms around Cade’s waist. Shane was out in the garage when he heard the commotion a few minutes previous; now, he watched as the tension rose in the room. The silence was… there. Full of something strange, charged. Even though the Autobots were outside the room, Shane could feel their presence, their eyes watching them all.

“Our whole planet is made of the… God of Transformers,” Joshua said. “We already know this, but it still blows my mind. I don’t even know whether Yueming can actually round up some of my debtors with this shit.”

“You planning on claling in more favours, Joyce?” Morshower asked, eyes still glued to the screen.

“I’m trying to curry favour with a few people,” Joshua replied. “We’ve got the British on-board, the UN and EU; oddly, we have Japan’s favour, but our American President’s a bit tough on the gills for this alien shit and thinks we should nuke that thing.”

“Why are you negotiating?” Mikaela asked. “Shouldn’t we just be calling in our own?”

“We need firepower for that thing, Mikaela, and we won’t have enough until we have the world on our side,” Joshua said. His phone started ringing and he left the room to take the call.

“Would you call it a God?” Shane asked, eyes still on the screen. Morshower snorted. “This whole set-up screams Journey to the Centre of the Earth or something.”

Cade nodded his head in agreement. Kid had something there.

“I don’t know. If it’s as big as Optimus says it is, there isn’t a bloody world inside of the Earth- just an angry… Transformer-God thing. Nukes wouldn’t do jack-shit to that thing.”

“We’ll face what comes,” Cade murmured. “No matter how big that fucker is, we’ll face it together.”

“Unicron might be peaceful,” Maggie suggested. “If it does awaken-“

“If that thing awakens, it will destroy a part of the planet because it’s body is buried under the Earth,” Shane said. He pointed to the image of the horns.

“No more Sahara Desert, Maggie,” Morshower murmured. He rubbed his hands together. “There isn’t a chance that this won’t cause uproar. Even those in government know the complications of peace should Unicron decide it wants to… separate itself from the Earth.”

“And our American representative wants to bomb it,” Epps groaned. “What the actual fuck. You can’t even pimple pop that shit out of the desert, for fuck’s sake.”

“Sounds about right- you heard his views on overseas missions?” Santos said. He stood with his shoulder leaning against the doorframe. “Fuck him,” he added. “Don’t even like the fucker’s hair.” He shuddered. “I’m pretty sure it comes with a mind of its own.”

Maggie snorted.

“Hypothetically speaking, Unicron makes up part of the Earth’s atmosphere,” Shane said. “It separates from our planet, and we find ourselves wondering if we carry the same oxygen supply, has our planet moved a fraction closer to the sun- will this affect climate change, the species that populate our planet? If we take away a chunk of the planet’s core… what happens to the human population? The wildlife? The vegetation?”

“I thought you said your love language was cars,” Mikaela said. Shane smirked in her direction.

“I think our love languages involve survival now.”

“Like I said, we’ll face what comes, as a team. The world’s counting on us now,” Cade said. He wrapped an arm around his daughter’s shoulder and squeezed hard. He cast his eyes around the room. Maggie and Glen sitting close together. Morshower rubbing hands on the single seater closest to the television. Epps and Joshua with their heads bent close; Mikaela cross-legged on the love seat furthest away. Anyone else that they managed to save were hunkered away above ground. During their last check-in an hour ago, Vivian, Spitz and Simmons were en-route with Cog-man and Hot Rod. Sam and Carly would be here, soon, with Ratchet.

Surely, there would be others. Many, many others.

Tessa, Shane and Izzy.

The Autobots.

Cade tilted his head to them all. “Does anyone here have extended family? If you make the calls, we can get them here. We can make arrangements.”

The silence yawned between them all. “No one?” Cade murmured. Joshua looked all around them. The slow realisation set in.

“When we agreed to stand with Optimus,” Mikaela murmured. “It meant that we abandoned our families. The places we called home.”

Cade swallowed his heartbeat. He hoped that Optimus didn’t hear this, but knew, with a sinking feeling, that the older Autobot would.

“We hoped that, if we forsook them, they wouldn’t be killed,” Morshower said.

“Not that many of us had family left, anyway,” Epps added. He shuffled his feet.

“And any that were left, that wanted to help, are not with us now,” Maggie whispered. She held Glen’s hand as she spoke.

“We’re all that we have left,” Mikaela said. “The last of… us.”

It the evening, Cog-man’s running pelt could be seen from miles away. The sun was setting along the horizon, but the rising dust was unmistakable. Cade wondered if the mechanised robot ever got tired or needed a cog or two put back into place in that noggin of his. Shortly after, Hot Rod followed, with Simmons, Spitz and Vivian inside.

The Twins, Mikaela groaned, were right behind them. “How the fuck did they find them?” she said. “I thought they were in Japan?”

“You don’t have a good history there?” Joshua asked as the green and blue matching cars came into view along the red and purple skies.

“It’s not so much that as they’re a pair of idiots. They never shut the fuck up,” Mikaela said. “Maybe you could try putting some manners on them, Optimus.”

“They’ve…matured, Mikaela,” Bumblebee murmured from where he sat in alt. form underneath one of the trees close to the barn. Mikaela snorted.

“Sure,” she shuddered. “I’m remembering Egypt all over again.”

“Would love to hear those stories, lassie,” Hound said as he came to stand behind her. “Could do something with that long-range you were sporting yesterday, too.” Mikaela smiled at the gunmetal Autobot behind her.

“Sounds cool,” she said.

Cog-man came to a stop ten paces ahead of the red and black Lamborghini. He saluted Cade, who waved back as he got up from the three-seater on the porch. Optimus and Drift approached to greet Hot Rod as he transformed and saluted them. The accent was still there; when Bumblebee commented, Hot Rod swore it was because of something in his electronics.

Cade knew that he secretly liked the modification.

Cade glimpsed the red and copper shine off of Vivian’s long hair as she came out and around Hot Rod’s leg. When she caught sight of him, she ran and hugged him, her eyes bright with excitement. Cade hoped that feeling was reciprocated in his own eyes and in the bear-hug he wrapped her in. He lifted her off the ground, feeling a contentment he’d missed in the last few weeks.

“I think dad has a new girlfriend,” Tessa murmured in the background, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Cade chose to ignore them all; he let his forehead graze Vivian’s, felt the warmth between their bodies and smiled into her smile.

“Hi stranger,” she said.

“Welcome home, Merlin,” he replied.

Electricity- or something akin to it- sparked between them. The ends of Vivian’s hair fluttered with a breeze that wasn’t there. The close-cropped cut of Cade’s hair sparked, the hairs along his bare arms twitching with the feeling of being alive. They shared a knowing look; his eyebrows went up and she smiled. The magic was still there, it seemed, somehow old and ancient but still so very new between them both.

Cade knew Optimus caught that electric spark, but didn’t pass comment when Cade looked to him and shook his head.

With the introductions passed- Simmons and Spitz told stories of being chased into Mexico by Mearing (Simmons) and, weirdly, into Singapore by TRF (Spitz and the Twins)- Cade got them caught up on their channels. The Round Table; the Knights. Unicron and Quintessa. Returning here. Joshua and the Pentagon. Ironhide’s return. The mysterious Sam, who’s mere mention made Simmons and Spitz look to one another and grin manically.

“If anyone’s got an idea about Unicron, it’ll be him and Lennox,” Simmons said. He looked to Cade. “And now, we have you and Vivian.”

“Hah?” Cade bent his head closer.

“Intelligently speaking, we now have the bearer of the Matrix, Merlin’s last descendent and the Last Knight on our team. Alongside all of our comrades, there is a mighty strong chance that we may be able to defeat or, at least, subdue Unicron, together,” Cog-Man said. He raised one single finger. “As all prophecies dictate, our heroes shall rise and our enemies will fall.” Cade rocked back on his heels.

The weight fell on their shoulders now. A lot more to lose, too, if Unicron should win-

It wouldn’t. Unicron wouldn’t win. Cade resolved that, no matter what, no matter what sacrifices he would have to make, his body, his soul, his whole being, he would save them. He looked to the team, to Simmons and Spitz, Optimus and Bumblebee, Drift and Hound and the Wreckers; to Izzy, who came out onto the porch with Squeaks, Tessa and Shane, to Joshua and Epps, who stood with arms folded. To them all. Their losses and sacrifices over the years, to keep them all safe.

He would save them all.

“That’s a lot of people,” Tessa said.

“To whatever end,” Simmons said, rubbing his hands together, nodding at Epps. “As promised.”

Epps nodded once, too. Then smiled. “For Autobots and humanity. For everyone.”

“For peace,” Morshower agreed, his arms crossed.

Cade pulled Vivian and Tessa close to him, held Shane by the shoulder. Izzy nodded at him and grinned at Squeaks.

Optimus caught all of this, but made no reply.

We will win, Optimus, Bumblebee spoke over their private link. With a family like this, we will win.

Family. Strange use of such a word. But as Optimus cast his optics to his surrounds, to Drift and Cross Hairs, who were tipping each other in the shoulder and speaking with Epps and Mikaela, to Hot Rod and Bumblebee, who gathered with Cade and his family. The Wreckers were laughing with Hound; in the distance, Grimlock howled. Wheelie and Brains would be among them, chattering away about something or such nonsense.

Somewhere out there… was Sam and Carly and Ratchet.

And Ironhide and Will. Their… family.

All of them. A homecoming, of sorts, he supposed. A promise.

“Were not alone,” Cade was saying, and Optimus lurched back into the present moment. He was looking directly at Optimus; the meaning was clear. “Were not alone.”

Chapter Text

It was pitch-dark in the desert. The stars were there, sure, but there was no moon out tonight. It was cold. An eerie, strange numbness settled over the cool-blue and white tones of the darkness surrounding him.

Theodore Galloway was petrified.

The sparkling-blue eyes of the space-Transformer-witch were staring right into his soul. He literally pissed his fucking pants when the beautiful, human woman became a tentacled, mechanised… floating thing with very fucking sharp finger-things. Electricity sizzled the air; his bodyguards were fried to shreds and he knew- fuck, fuck, he knew- that an animal with an empty stomach would find them and he was dead. Dead fucking meat-

“Do we have an understanding, Mr Galloway?” Quintessa murmured, her fingertips sizzling, her mouth hovering only a hair away. Her eyes overwhelmed him, swallowed him whole. “The Allspark, or I will ensure a very, very painful death.”

“Yes, yesyes-“ he was babbling. “G-get the Allspark-“

“I will be sure to make my methods very… distasteful, if you do not find me the Allspark,” she said. “And I need him alive, Mr Galloway. Or I will make the last pitiful minutes of your wasteful existence miserable. Do I make myself very clear?”

He knew he was babbling again. His hands were shaking. He was sweating through his suit. He would sort this out, he promised, he swore on his life, because no way in hell was he dying like this, no way-

No-

He screamed when she tore his skin to shreds-

As the day gave way to night, Cade and Izzy left the barn doors open to everyone’s comings and goings. The rag-tag groups of men and women who shook themselves of sleep after their trip in the helicarrier the day before. The Wreckers, who got along a bit too well with Daytrader; Cade was secretly worried they’d end up with another scrap yard if they weren’t careful. Hound, Wheelie and Skids decided between themselves that they’d skirt the edges of the farmyard and coat the damn place in explosives and other fun little things that Joshua decided he wasn’t going to ask any questions about.

In small groups, over time, everyone gathered close with their hands wrapped around all-black coffees and teas. Joshua and Yueming perched a little away from Epps and Morshower; both were neck-deep in reaching out for sources in the UN, NATO and other, ramshackle groups that could help them with their mission. Morshower managed to make contact with a group that Cade had heard about months ago- the G.I.’s- and Santos said something about making contact with someone called Christmas, from the Expendables?

“He’s a big fan,” he said to Bumblebee. “He was bummed he didn’t get to help out back in the Mission City days.”

“What stopped him?” Cade couldn’t help his curiosity from showing. “And how do you personally know someone who liked the Autobots when you hunted them down?”

Also, who the fuck was Christmas?

Santos smirked. “Mission in North Korea; then, another mission in Moscow; then, another mission in Brazil- that one was a fuck-fest,” he added, pointing to Cade. “They were asked by a ‘concerned’ ambassador to transfer nuke codes and ended up bamboozled by a Nigerian war-crime mogul that made them take an alternate route via Antarctica- Barney had to tweezer his way out of prison using a set of pliers and got chased by a polar bear on the way out.”

Cade looked to Bumblebee. The Autobot looked as confused as he was. “Right. Glad I asked?”

Santos smirked. “Yup, glad you asked.”

Mikaela and Maggie sat with Glen in the rafters above, close to Optimus and Bumblebee. Drift and Crosshairs stood with Hot Rod, while some of ex-TRF made a small circle around a fire pit by the entrance of the barn. Cog-man and Izzy worked together with Squeaks, Brains, Wheelie, Skids and Mudflap; their constant flow of chirpy banter filled the spaces in-between.

Now, Daytrader and Grimlock could be heard beyond the barn, the former making idle chatter with the latter, who, Cade guessed by the crunching sounds, was still munching away at his newest find, a police car marking the perimeter of the farmyard a couple hours back. Joshua’s alarm system was a pretty handy piece of equipment, but he wondered how long they had until more authorities came in search of this bright-red X-marks-the-spot situation they had going on here. Grimlock could only eat so much before he got fat, he guessed, and he knew it was the same line of thinking that Optimus had, because the Big Guy’s optics were lasered on the open doors and the sounds going on out beyond there.

The Wreckers were having a heated discussion with Izzy, who was soon joined by Tessa and Shane, about a hydraulics system in something involving a six-wheel drive (he wasn’t going to ask), when he felt Vivian come sit right next to him. He turned and smiled at her, then noticed Simmons and Spitz, who were sitting directly across from them, both staring them down with wiggling eyebrows.

He rolled his eyes.

Simmons sobered the whole floor when he asked, “How is Lennox? It’s been a long time since I touched base with him.” He looked up to Mikaela, who shook her head.

“The Allspark…” she replied, voice subdued. She shook her head. Her chipped nails tapped into the rim of her cup and Maggie nodded her head slowly. Silence descended upon them all.

Since Ironhide appeared a few hours ago, the Topkick remained in place underneath the oak tree. Cade could only guess how much sleep they both needed in the aftermath of it all. While he wasn’t sure what was going on, he knew enough from the purple bruises underneath Will’s eyes to guess what had been happening in the run-up to their prison-break.

Vivian stiffened. She sat up, pulled to attention. “Pardon me, but who is… Lennox? And the… Allspark?”

Cade returned to the conversation. Right. What the fuck was an Allspark?

Epps came to stand next to her. “You haven’t met Will yet, Vivian.” He nodded toward the walls of the barn behind them, where the oak tree would be. “Colonel William Lennox is the reason why we had to scatter while you guys were out saving us all a couple months back. If we didn’t, there’d be no more Autobots. Or any of the team in the Chicago days.”

“He carries a fragment of the Allspark- the life-force used to create Transformers- in his veins,” Morshower said, tapping his booted heels into the floor. “It happened directly after the Chicago days, just before we were… confined.”

“Oh,” Vivian said. Like the staff, she supposed. She fingered the chain around her neck. A new addition, considering she managed- somehow- to condense the wieldy weapon into a small, easily carried form.

“There is another… weapon, I guess you could call it? It’s called the Matrix,” Epps told Vivian. “When used, it can revive the dead- Sam, the guy we’re waiting for- carries that in his veins, like Lennox. Couple years back, Sam accidentally touched a fragment of the Allspark and went batshit crazy deciphering Transformer code in college.”

Mikaela snickered at the memories that brought back.

“Soon after, there was a whole showdown- I’m not getting into it- but Sam was chosen by Optimus Prime’s ancestors to wield the Matrix,” Morshower said. Vivian nodded along as the story unravelled. “Somehow, the Matrix absorbed itself into his system; after he revived Optimus, the kid developed a natural affinity for electronics.”

Vivian nodded. Was this magic, too? When she met Simmons after returning home, when he explained to her about how she would need to pack up another part of her life, her home, and come to America, she genuinely believed that she would never have a normal life again- not that she wanted one. Her mother was adamant about coming here and ‘nabbing that dapper, chiselled man who escorted her into and out of the house not a few months previous.’ Vivian didn’t blame her; she wanted to do the same. But, with time. There were more important things happening. Soon, when all of this was over.

As they travelled here, she remembered the strangeness of it all; how her palms opened and a small… wisp of something would pass over her skin. Like electricity, or something more. Since touching the staff, things were changing around her.

Like this Sam. Like this Will.

And Cade.

With Cade, that feeling, that spark, felt sharper, clearer.

The past, returning to their present. Merlin and one of the Knights, Lancelot perhaps, returning for one last journey. She cast a glance to Cade, his broad shoulders tightening as Epps and Morshower continued to explain everything. Maybe there was more from Merlin’s story that she didn’t yet know…

Epps sobered up. “Sam was accepted by the Ancient Primes as one of their own; now, he carries the Matrix inside of his body and uses it to bring back our fallen Autobot brothers and sisters. He brought back one of our own a few years ago; he’s name’s Ironhide- that’s the black Topkick under the oak tree.”

Vivian considered this.

She looked to Cade, who shrugged his shoulders.

Well.

She’s Merlin’s descendent.

Weirder shit has happened.

“Straight after we made Optimus and the guys scatter,” Epps continued, “Lennox was infused with a part of the Allspark and it rejected his body. For some strange reason, we think that the bond between Lennox and ‘Hide’s what keeping him alive.” He considered his next words carefully as Vivian leaned closer to the conversation.

“Bond?” she asked. “Like a friendship?”

“Sort of,” Mikaela said. “More like a lifeline between two beings. If Ironhide died, Will wouldn’t be here right now. Maybe, possibly, vice versa.”

Vivian nodded. She considered her thoughts, then dismissed them. An alien and a human; but, weirder shit has happened. She would ruminate on it later.

“The Allspark isn’t made for humans to… carry,” Morshower explained. “A part of what was inside the Allspark imprinted itself into Sam, but he didn’t have the physical entity inside his veins or anything. We think that the Matrix was accepted into his body only after the Primes accepted him to wield it.” He looked to Optimus, who nodded an affirmation.

“As I have not met with Samuel since that fateful day four years ago, I would surmise that this must be the case,” Optimus said. He leaned against the wall of the barn, his arms folded. Morshower nodded.

“But Will carries it in his bloodstream and it’s …” Epps licked his lips. His voice near-went as he whispered, “It’s killing him.”

In the quiet, Tessa whispered, “Is there any way of taking it out?”

“It’s in his bloodstream, Tessa,” Maggie murmured. Her eyes looked haunted. Tessa shivered. “We can’t extract it. Mearing… she had a…” she stopped. Silence descended over them all.

“Do you mean to tell me that Mearing carried a fragment of the Allspark? How?” Optimus asked. Everyone jumped and looked to Optimus as he leaned down to them.

Mikaela nodded. “Apparently she did.” Her tone implied that he should’ve known this. He was annoyed that he did not.

Maggie whispered, “I swear that we didn’t know, Optimus.”

“Some fuckwit came up behind Lennox and shot it straight into his neck. We didn’t know until it was too late,” Glen said. “Mearing experimented for shits and giggles for days afterwards.”

“I don’t think the dark can scare me anymore.”

Optimus recalled the fragility in his voice when Will whispered that. Primus. What-

“His screams are something I will never shake from my memory,” Morshower murmured. Epps swallowed and looked away, sickened.

A flare of electric anger sparked Optimus’s core. Mearing knew what she was doing. She knew what suffering infusing a human body would do to the physical coding in the Allspark fragment… and she done it anyway. Why?

“I don’t even know what’s in my system. I don’t know if it affects ‘Hide the same as it does me. I feel when he’s close. It’s like my heart beats under his, or something.”

Lennox’s body would eventually crumble under the weight of the Allspark’s code. He would have no choice. He would die from blood poisoning, or his heart – that delicate human organ – would give in from pain.

And what would happen to Ironhide then? Would they die together? Would Ironhide lose his spark altogether in the rubble and aftermath?

Optimus was not sure at whom, or where, to look. He decided that the cement floor would be most appropriate.

How could he not have forseen this? The two of them were inseparable during the aftermath of the Mission City days. Ironhide accompanied Will everywhere. How on earth, on Cybertron’s lifeforce, did he not notice this? Did they keep it so close a guarded secret that they were sure not to arose any kind of suspicion?

We have weeks, Optimus, Ironhide confessed through the communal link shared between all of the Autobots. His voice was grave. Bumblebee’s optics flared and he blinked up to his leader in shock. If we’re lucky, we have weeks. If not…

Optimus turned toward the open doors of the barn, where he knew Ironhide would be with Colonel Lennox. Unbeknownst to him, Will was now sitting outside of the Topkick, just under that oak tree. Ironhide remained in alt. mode, his driver door open. Will was looking up to the Topkick, was speaking to him, but Optimus chose not to pry into their conversation.

This is even worse than I thought, Optimus communicated through his private comm link with Bumblebee. How could I have let myself think that our soldiers, our brothers, would turn their backs on us?

He had already said as much a few hours ago, to Ironhide. But this just…

Cade cast an eye to the Autobot leader, as if able to read his thoughts. He watched the emotions register, then change and warp, on the Autobot’s face.

The gravity- of how much had happened in the four years since Chicago- truly hit Optimus. He should have done better, worked harder, to help them all. They spoke the truth. Although he had been sceptical, he truly believed them now. They sacrificed their families, forsook everything, just for them, for their survival. And they- he- had let the humans down so, sobadly.

He remembered the darkness, remembered being out in space, so willing to restore his home planet, or whatever had been left of it, that he almost destroyed theirs. Their home, all of their homes.

Through their private comm link, Bumblebee reached out, a tentative voice in the darkness. Optimus, please stop beating yourself up over this. It’s time to move on, to help Will and our friends and family. We cannot keep living in the past; we are here now. We have to work together, now.

You forget that I almost killed you too, Bumblebee. The shame was so strong in his core, Optimus was sure that it could be felt between himself and the younger scout. If I had done that, and I would have, under Quintessa’s power-

You were not yourself, Optimus. The hand on his shoulder-plate was firm and Bumblebee shook it, once. What happened, happened months ago. You have apologised profusely over time; but we are now working to rebuild this planet. Please, Optimus, I beseech you also to grant yourself peace. I do not blame you. I follow you, as my commander, and as my friend.

Bumblebee’s optics lasered on his when the leader looked to them. Please, realise that we will all follow you, Optimus, every single one of us, because we trust and admire you. You are our leader. You are ours.

Optimus could feel the weight of Bumblebee’s words in his spark. He wondered whether this was what Cade felt, a few hours ago. The resolve that this would probably be their final fight. Their end. Now, Optimus looked to Cade again, who was now standing with his back bent over a long table situated close to the centre of the room. His hands were gesturing to a sheet of paper on the table; a quick scan suggested a sketch of Unicron’s head.

Their final fight.

He considered this. He looked to his Autobot comrades.

Their final war.

Over the next few hours, the conversation bloomed. The late-night hours gave way to yawns and early-morning discussions. When they finally decided to call it quits for the morning, Santos emerged from the barn with bleary eyes and a sense of achievement. He tapped shoulders with a few of his crew-mates and left off for his bunk underground. The fresh air cooled his cheeks and he breathed out into the first rays of sunshine.

Texas was beautiful, he reasoned. This place, he thought, casting his eyes toward the breeze and the trees that swayed with it, the peace and birdsong, so remote from anywhere he lived his entire life… this place was beautiful.

If they made it through this, he hoped to settle somewhere like this. Buy the cowboy hat; set up the small ranch, build the house from scratch, find himself a soulmate and rear horses. Nice. That would be wonderful. He closed his eyes and breathed in again.

That would be wonderful.

He imagined what life would have been like, if he decided to go rogue all those years before; if he partnered up with Lennox way back when, decided to take a stand. Life would be different. If TRF never formed, they might have had a better shot at peace, working in co. with the Autobots again.

No Galloway calling the shots, or Mearing, or a President who couldn’t do jack-shit except make people laugh on TikTok.

He looked to the oak tree and realised it wasn’t there.

Ironhide might have gone for a drive, he thought.

God, he hoped that Lennox was okay. He prayed his… friend would be okay.

He should have taken a stand, then. Maybe, if he did, Lennox would have had a fighting chance.

The worry and guilt clawed at his chest. But he had to let that go. They were facing war. The pain had to be forgotten in order to face what came next; the emotions- and they wouldcome, he knew- would have to be dealt with later, when the fires and the rainstorm of bullets, were a distant memory. Hopefully, with all of them surviving and intact. Hopefully.

“I’m sorry, Will,” he whispered to the breeze. He walked toward the house.

He had a lot to atone for. For the Autobots he killed and for the people whose lives he destroyed.

With that grim thought, Santos went to bed.

After he and Optimus made another turn of the perimeter together, Cade decided to call it a night- day?- whatever. Crosshairs and Bumblebee agreed to keep watch; Maggie and Glen were holed up with Joshua, running diagnostics on the outer barrier of the farmyard from what Joshua called ‘The Brain Room.’ All of them were tired, but if Sam was going to be coming at any stage, Simmons stated it would be today and, hopefully, they’d catch sight of an emergency services vehicle in the distance by noon.

It was when he opened the door to the kitchen that he jumped out of his skin at the sight of Will Lennox drinking coffee, arms full of his kid as she babbled away over a bowl of cereal. Cade smiled at Will, who nodded at him. His eyes still looked tired, but the shadows weren’t as prominent. The bandages were still all over his otherwise-bare arms, but that was to be expected. He looked like he had a shower and a vitamin shot of some kind. Cade felt a little hopeful. Just a little.

Tessa and Shane had already gone off to bed (Cade made sure Shane knew where his bed was, of course; he also knew what those two were like and had decided long, long ago that Shane was more or less a son anyways), and he could see Izzy’s head peeking out from the armrest of the couch in the open-plan sitting room across from him. Probably, hopefully, asleep.

“Long night?” Will said. Cade nodded.

The Colonel offered him a coffee. Cade shrugged and accepted it. Why not; he might get some shut-eye later.

“Some people arrived yesterday around midday. Vivian and Hot Rod wanna meet you,” Cade said. Will nodded, turning to his daughter. “Where’s Ironhide?” He looked out the window facing the imminent sunrise. He couldn’t see any of the Autobots out there.

“Gone for a drive to clear his head. Said he needed time to think,” Will replied. Cade stilled, watching the man’s back as it bent over his daughter’s blonde head. Annabelle laughed and said something to her dad, and the gentleness in Will’s sloped shoulders made something soften inside Cade.

Time to think about what?

He could only guess.

“Any word on Sam?” Will asked, turning back to Cade as Annabelle played with her colours on the kitchen island.

“Not yet. Simmons reckons it might be around noon today.”

Will nodded. A moment’s silence passed between them.

“There’s something we need to talk about, Cade,” the soldier murmured as Cade took his first sip. Cade licked his lips and pulled a face.

“How many coffees does it take for this stuff to actually taste like death warmed over? Pretty sure I’ve just passed my limit.”

Will snorted at the diversion. “Wait until you have to go a couple days without sleep and the nausea kicks in- that’s brutal. I can’t stomach any more than three cups a day, unless it’s watered down with milk. Ratchet’s orders after a mission in North Korea went to crap.”

Cade watched Will, who’s eyes were solely on his daughter. “You wanna talk about it?” he asked, soft.

“You served?” Will asked.

“Twice- had to stop when Tessa came along and there was no one there for her.”

Will nodded. He leaned across the island, eyes serious. He looked to Belle. Then back to Cade. The meaning was clear, but the pain of it bowled Cade over completely. He sat the cup on the island.

Cade whispered, “I can take care of her. If I need to. But-” he added, pointing at Will, “-you will be making it out of this alive. We all will.”

“It’s not the war, Cade,” Will replied. The effort it took the man to keep a straight face as he spoke, told Cade everything he needed to know. “Belle won’t have me for much longer. I can’t risk leaving her behind knowing that she might be given up for care.”

How much longer? Cade wanted to ask.  

“Like they said,” Will explained, “It’s just ‘Hide keeping me going.”

So, he heard that conversation, too.

“It’s nothing more than that. As it is, I’m going on three-quarter lung capacity and I’ve got this shitty Allspark exposure going through my bloodstream- it’s affecting everything from brain function, to my nerves, all the way down to whether my line of vision wants to stay straight, Cade. Eventually, I’m going to just… not be able to move. I need someone there for my kid. I need someone there for ‘Hide.”

It was semi-dark in the kitchen. Cade hadn’t noticed how, suddenly, it felt even darker. How the shadows clung to them both. Will’s voice was whisper-thin. Pleading.

Cade watched him. Remembered being in Stonehenge, a set of dog tags glinting in the dark.

Always.

“Weeks, Cade. I’ve got weeks,” Will whispered. “After that,” he shrugged. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“Does it hurt, right now?” Cade murmured, coffee forgotten, stomach about ready to drop. Jesus, this was not where he hoped this conversation was going. This was not what he wanted to talk about.

“Always,” Will said, closing his eyes. “Always.”

They were talking man-to-man, but Cade felt as though it were Will sharing this from one leader to another.

What would Epps do, if he heard Will speak like this? Or Morshower? Maggie and the team?

Cade swallowed. Why come to him? Why tell him?

“Mearing thought that by exposing me to the Allspark, it would trigger something- I don’t know what,” Will added. “Maybe she thought that by doing this, I’d automatically turn into a fucking mechanised soldier, I don’t know. I really don’t know what her game plan was-“

“Punishment,” Cade said, simply. “She just wanted to punish you. That was it.” He put his coffee down. He watched Belle continue to play away. Remembered Tess at that age. Christ, what would he have done? If he were Will? He wondered whether Izzy could hear this conversation. If the house had ears. If anyone outside these walls were listening- considering the fact that Will knew what was said in the barn lastnight, he was sure that someone could hear. “Mearing was a greedy bitch who thought she could have her way with you guys and thought you’d all do her bidding.”

Will shook his head. “But the tests,” he said. His voice turned hoarse again. There were tears in his eyes. “Those tests weren’t just because she wanted to punish me, Cade. She thought the bits of whatever the fuck was in that needle would fuck enough with my system that it would either kill me or make me into something else. Like Sam.” Will sat back. “Christ, she shoved me into a bullet-proof box and shot me with so much electricity I should’ve fucking died, Cade. And it went on, and on, and on.”

Cade sat back. “What?”

He snapped to attention when he realised how loud he was being. Even Will flinched.

Cade cut a glance to Belle, who continued to work away on her colouring, and Izzy, who didn’t seem to have moved.

Will clasped both of his shaking hands together. “The Primes chose Sam. That’s why he survived bearing the Matrix; it’s their power to give. They never chose me. Hence-” he added, gesturing up and down his body, “-I’m dying. Mearing wanted to make a lab experiment out of me, and here we are.” He shook his head, drawing himself out of whatever headspace he had been in. The dark thoughts clouded his eyes, and he rubbed the unshed tears away. He took a breath. “Just promise me, whatever happens, however it happens, that you keep Belle safe. She’s young,” he said, shaking his head. He tapped his fingers into the island.

“If-” he started, looking to his beautiful, happy, carefree daughter. He closed his mouth. Her head of blonde curls. Her giggles. Her first words. Her first steps. Being with her, when Sarah was gone…

“There’ll come a time when she’ll forget about me,” Will whispered. “She’s so young that there’s a strong chance she won’t remember me at all. What my voice sounds like. What type of person I was. I’m okay with that. I’ve done a shit-tonne of bad things in my life; she needs someone good, someone kind- someone decent to look up to.” He looked to Cade, the resolution in his eyes steadfast. “When she sees you as a father, I’m okay with that. That’s okay-“

Cade snapped. He leaned close to Will, stared right into those hazel eyes. Will leaned back a little, but the conviction in Cade’s voice was strong, thick with an anger that had nothing to do with Will or the powerlessness in his voice, his shoulders, his whole body.

“That’s not fucking going to happen. She’s your daughter-“ he started.

Will leaned in. Soft, gentle; every inch unlike the stoic soldier Cade remembered him being so many months ago. A time when he had no choice but to keep going, to keep pushing through. He leaned in close enough to Cade that not a pin-drop could be heard in the silence.

“She will always be my daughter. Mine and Sarah’s. But someday, Cade,” Will said, soft, “Someday, she will be someone else’s daughter. And I want her… I need to know she will always, always be safe here. With you. I need to know that her and ‘Hide will go on without me. The team will survive, my friends will survive, Optimus will survive, but I need to know that Belle will be okay.”

Cade sat back; his coffee forgotten. Sleep forgotten. He looked to Annabelle, the beautiful little girl that she was, as she turned back to her dad and babbled something to him. Her dad, who leaned away from Cade and started chuckling under his breath at the nonsensical drawings she’d done.

He watched this father. He looked to the window again and saw the all-black Topkick underneath that oak tree. He stilled.

Cade would want this, if their positions were reversed. If he had no one else for Tess, he would trust someone like Will. Because here was someone steadfast, loyal to a fault. Someone who would plan ahead and be ready to change anything at the drop of a pin.

“I promise,” he said to Will, as he looked to Ironhide. He turned back to those hazel eyes. “But you have to promise to fight that shit inside you. My wife fought with every fibre of her being until the cancer killed her. You have to do the same. For her,” he said, tilting his head to that adorable little girl in her daddy’s arms, “-and for him.” He pointed to the window. “I’ve a feeling if you die, Ironhide might also lose his shit and I heard he’s a nightmare to deal with when pissed.”

Will smiled, soft, gentle. “Were about to fight a war, Cade Yeager,” he said, quietly. He bounced Belle in his arms as she leaned her head down onto his shoulder, tucking her head into his shoulder. “Not a chance I’m missing out on some of the action, even if ‘Hide completely disagrees,” he chuckled as he looked to the window. “I know you can hear me,” he said.

The Topkick’s headlights flared. Will watched the Topkick a moment longer.

“I know, ‘Hide,” Will whispered. “Me too.”

“What about these two sections?” Mikaela asked Bumblebee as they came to a stop near a dip in the ditch between a tiny ravine and an exit-point to the forest north-west of their marked perimeter. “Does that look solid to you?”

Solid meant that the fencing was intact. This part of the fence was not intact. It looked as though someone, a long time ago, had snuck through the forest to get into Cade’s place, with all of its open fields; there was a giant hole left in the fence and there was a corresponding exit point left in the spaces between the branches of the trees in the forest. She considered whether this was how Tessa and Shane used to sneak in and out of the farmyard so long ago.

“I’d imagine that if the perimeter wasn’t fully operational, Joshua would know,” ‘Bee replied through the radio. Mikaela tilted her head into the window on the driver’s side of the Camaro.

“Don’t you guys have radio signal for Ratchet?”

“Ratchet’s off-line. Hence why none of us have communicated with him in as many years, Mikaela,” the scout answered patiently.

Mikaela sighed. “I’m just looking forward to the end of this ‘Bee, that’s all.”

“Will you re-open your shop?” ‘Bee asked cheerfully. Mikaela smiled.

“Maybe,” she said, her hands on the steering wheel. Bumblebee revved the engine as they turned another corner. “Would you come visit?”

“Definitely! We’re family, Mikaela,” ‘Bee replied and Mikaela smiled.

“Sure thing, ‘Bee. That we definitely are.”

She thought about Sam. Wondered what he would make of all of this; it had been so long since she’d seen him that she almost couldn’t believe how much had happened in between. She took a deep breath and let ‘Bee take her along the dirt road toward where Optimus would be.

“Bond?” Vivian found herself asking Cog-man as she settled into her room. Her suitcases- one for clothes, another with books she thought might be needed for research while here- sat unopened on the small love seat at the end of the bed. Joshua clearly thought they’d need so many rooms; the house itself stretched further back than she thought, and everything was so spacious. Even the adjoining bathroom she was told was hers. The room also had a balcony; the first rays of the sun were already peeking along the horizon. It was beautiful out here, she thought. The sights were breath-taking; so peaceful, and warmer than the wet and cold of the English countryside and what she was so used to.

Cog-man looked to her. “My lady?”

“The relationship between the Colonel and… Ironhide?” she asked. She looked to Cog-man. “How is that possible? What does that mean?”

“I do believe that Optimus and Cade share something similar,” Cog-man answered her. She perked at that. That wasn’t something she was expecting at all. “The swords,” Cog-man explained. “They are the same. And they are both leaders. I’m sure that, soon, there will be tell-tale signs, even if one of them is not aware of it at all.”

“Cade,” Vivian said, looking to the floorboards. He wouldn’t know- surely, Optimus would have guessed.

“Cade is aware of it; Optimus, however, is not,” Cog-man said. “Their sparks are similar. But it is not… Sparkbonds are very unusual, Lady Vivian. Even moreso between humans and Transformers.”

“Yeah, alien and human,” she said. “I never thought that such a thing could exist-“

“Underneath the mechanised weaponry of our bodies, there are more similarities between our races than you might think,” Cog-man said. “We do not age like humans do, but we do feel and process emotions; we think and act like humans, too. Our coding permits us to strategize and consider all outcomes in various situations, but we still have the capabilities to act now and think later. I do believe-” he added, folding his arms as he considered the scenery beyond the doors of the balcony, “- that, had we developed alongside your race over so many hundreds of years, in peace, we might have evolutionised into your cultures. Or, your race might have developed right into ours. Either way-“ he said, “-sometimes, Sparkbonds- or what you might call ‘soulmates’- find each other. It does not have to be romantic love, nor companionship, nor a sort of brothership, fellowship or any kind of ‘ship.’ Sometimes, it simply is just one soul meeting the eye of another soul and being able to read it as though it were their own.”

Vivian considered Cog-man’s explanation. She sighed. “More than meets the eye,” she said, smiling at Cog-man, who inclined his head.

“More than meets the eye,” he agreed.

“What happens then, if one of them were to die?” she whispered. Because she knew, she could guess how serious this might be. If Will or Ironhide were to pass; if, Heavens forbid, Optimus or Cade were to pass. She shuddered. The room felt cold with foreboding loss.

“If one sparkbond left this Earth before the other, I would imagine that they also would die. Or they would simply lose their spark, Lady Vivian,” Cog-man answered softly. “And that is a horrible, horrible way to die.”

Far out, high above the skies, so high that only a telescope could pick up on the shimmering in space, a space sorceress with electric-blue eyes honed in on the location of the reinforced farmyard in the Texan countryside.

Finally.

At least the babbling human proved useful in the end.

She turned her attention to the blackness of space surrounding her. The remains of the Bounty Hunter had been scattered here following his demise four years ago.

Now, she gathered them to her and repaired all the broken parts until he reassembled. Green optics blinked awake. He growled as his face came close to hers. She smirked, unafraid. She could control him, now. Unlike Joshua Joyce, this Bounty Hunter had no choice but to follow her chain.

She would get her Allspark. She knew where the human- well, the once-human, was. And his bonded. How funny, she thought.

How painful their ends would be. And her God would return- and make her his Queen.

Maggie and Glen slumped over their desks an hour after Joshua showed them what he called ‘The Brain Room.’ It was located underground, a whole spiral staircase down just under the floorboards of the open-plan kitchen above them. When they landed three floors below ground, Glen swore and whistled. The room was massive, stretching a near-twenty-five feet across and twice as deep. It was filled to the brim with monitors. Off to their right was a separate, glass room that showed the hard drive (drives?) that powered the whole thing.

“This is bigger than what we worked with before, Mags,” Glen had whispered as their eyes went wide around the place.

“Usually,” Joshua surmised, “I’d get a team in here to work this room. But-“ he had added, looking to them both, “-I figure that you know people who can help out. People from college, maybe?”

Maggie shook her head. “Just us,” she said. “It’s safer if it’s just us.”

Shane had offered to help. And Tessa; even Izzy stepped forward, saying she knew her way around any electronic equipment like the back of her hand. Maggie knew the young girl would make a fine engineer someday- when they made it through this hellhole.

Joshua nodded, smiling. “This is yours, then.”

They tapped away at two separate monitors, logging weaknesses as they saw them, cataloguing issues that might need to be dealt with at a later time. She wasn’t too sure about Daytrader and Hound’s explosives along a weaker part of the perimeter- if those blew, would that affect the alarm system?

Morshower joined them, then Epps, both unable to sleep, as they all were. They’d left Hound and the Wreckers to do their own thing a while ago. Surely they’d be in alt. mode now, resting for the inevitable arrival later on today.

Together, they pulled up a diagnostic on Unicron that Cade and the rest of them went through earlier. Tried to surmise what they could from that.

Neither of them clocked the silent warning signal on the monitor off to their right.

Twenty miles out, flying in hot and fast.

It wasn’t until Glen reached for his third cup that he saw something blink red on the monitor; when he did, he realised it was too late. He punched the alarm anyway, the red and yellow lights hosed their room, filled the house-

After leaving Lady Vivian to sleep, Cog-man took a walk.

It was a short walk, considering the fact that he merely made it to the front porch before being forced to stand to full-attention.

“Optimus,” he said, radioing into all of the Autobot’s comm links. “I’m usually not one to fret so, but I think that we have a visitor and they are not of the friendly kind.”

Standing at the front gate of the farmyard was… a Transformer that Cog-man never met but knew of.

It was… most unusual to find something resurrected like that. Of course, Cade and the team had a weapon that could bring back the dead; but, Cog-man reasoned, surely Sam Witwickywould not be so stupid as to bring back Lockdown?

As Cog-man transmitted the visual he had of the massive… fucker, for want of a better descriptor, to the shared network between Optimus and the Autobots, he could hear the far-off sounds of Grimlock’s screech from the forest, of the alarm signals underground, of the screeching of tyres in the distance. The green and gunmetal colours of the Bounty Hunter came into focus as he walked, slowly, toward the farmyard, his steps reverberating through the gravel and dirt.

“How in Primus’s name did that bastard get in?” Hound’s voice dripped down the comm link. “Why didn’t the damn alarm sound-“

“I do not care; he dies where he stands,” Drift replied.

“Not until I get my share for the lady!” Hot Rod thrilled down the link.

“What in damn hell- you weren’t even around for Lockdown, punk-“

If Cog-man had human eyes, he would’ve rolled them.

“Instead of arguing among yourselves, perhaps protecting the homestead might be more important, gentlemen?” Cog-man asked. “Our company is moving in, hot and heavy, and it apparently has a… human visitor with it?”

Cog-man noticed the human walking alongside Lockdown. He leaned forward. “Is that-“

“Senior US National Secretary advisor Theodore Galloway,” Epps said as he came to stand next to Cog-man. Sporting a three-barrel, long-range rifle that was adapted to take down… much bigger enemies, Cog-man noted. He tilted his head. Right so. Onward and upward.

“He used to be the advisor,” Santos said to Cog-man’s left. “Now he’s just working for the UN. And clearly working for the wrong side of the UN, if Lockdown’s involved.”

“I thought Lockdown was in space, scattered to the fucking debris,” Morshower said.

“Sam?” Santos asked.

“No, not Sam,” Epps replied. The clicking sound reassured Cog-man that the safety was off.

“And why can we not send forth the Autobots to do this job?” Cog-man found himself asking. Sir Edmund would have had a damn field day with this.

“Because we all have beef with Galloway and Lockdown,” Epps growled. “Fuck, Lockdown’s the damn reason Ratchet was KIA’d in the first place.”

“And who the fuck kills the medic,” Morshower stated rather than questioned. He snapped the safety off of his gun.

Sweet Primus, Cog-man thought. The testosterone on this porch would jam a microwave.

He considered Lockdown’s steady approach and then re-considered. Lockdown’s body disintegrated at the same time that Optimus appeared from around the corner of the farmhouse. Just as Epps took aim at Galloway, whose raised, waving hands were of no indication as to whether he wanted to surrender or engage. Lockdown re-materialised, his arm re-formed to a canon that fired straight into Optimus’s face.

As it did, Epps and Morshower took aim at Galloway. Their shots missed when Galloway disappeared and re-appeared right next to Cog-man, who done a double-take and backhanded him right across the porch and onto the lawn.

As he did so, Cog-man registered the blue orbs in the human’s eyes and realised that Theodore Galloway was not, in fact, human.

Not-human Galloway was Quintessa, and the appearance of this space sorceress meant very, very bad things indeed.

The raining hail of bulletfire tore at the farmyard. Debris went flying and somewhere in the melee, Cog-man spotted yellow and red and green melding into an array of movement in between the nano technology that was the Bounty Hunter and the colours of the Autobots. Dust rose from the ground; the earth was ripped to shreds underneath the brawl of bulletfire and screams.

Santos was caught between Quintessa and Lockdown, shooting at both from the porch using a triple-barrel assault rifle.

Epps shouted across the yard, dropping his gun in favour of another firearm that was three times the length of his arm, all sleek, brand-new and black. He settled the thick barrel of it on the fence surrounding the porch and started firing at Quintessa as she zipped in and out of range.

What had once been Galloway’s eyes now shone a vivid, bright-blue. The veins along his temples turned electric, pulsing with energy as his human skin rippled and tore, becoming silver, sharp-

“Stop that crazy-ass bitch!” Epps shouted, as Quintessa’s body tore from Galloway’s skin, his suit landing in shreds across the grass and gravel.

“That is, quite frankly, fucking disgusting,” Cog-man said. His hand became a pistol-shaped gun, and he started to fire at the hovering witch as she moved in and out of all of their attacks. He was aware of Mikaela and some of NEST appearing from the porch and balcony of the farmhouse. Like water, she slipped between them all, outmanoeuvring all of them. She cackled. Like a damn witch. Cog-man grew more disgusted. The lack of originality in her character was just… illegal.

Above, Lockdown went head-to-head with Hound after shooting Optimus to the ground; Bumblebee’s arm became a canon as he shot away; Hot Rod jumped in for a kill-shot but was dodged as easily. They threw down close to the barn; the oak tree swayed.

“Get out of my way-“ Ironhide bellowed as he bulled right into Lockdown, ripping the arm right off the Bounty Hunter, whose growl reverberated against the windows of the farmhouse.

Quintessa cackled just as Lockdown landed on the ground again.

Cog-man realised that she was controlling him; this was all a ploy, and they were falling right into it.

“I’m here for the Allspark,” she was saying, “And I will have my way-“

She’s looking for Will, Optimus said through their private comm link. Cog-man didn’t realise he was in on their shared radio waves. Interesting. He looked to the kitchen door. There was no movement, not yet-

Quintessa fired out at all of them, the electricity from her tentacled palms reaching out and sparking fire along the porch, the veranda, the three-seater and the oak tree to Cog-man’s right. Someone was screaming; Morshower was barking out orders as Quintessa launched into another attack-

After shooting another magazine at her, Cog-man then heard the front door swing open-

He knew whose footprints those were on the ground. Soft, but sure and strong.

Quintessa stopped, her optics flaring wide at the prize presented to her.

“Looking for me?” Lennox said. The wind flared at his sleeveless black jacket. Cog-man could hear his heartbeat, fluttering like the wings of a bird. His steady sure-as-steel eyes. In his arm, he carried a hybrid form of the double-barrel assault rifle, the thick barrel carrying the insignia of the Autobots. His dog-tags shone clearly along his neck.

Ironhide had glimpsed them, earlier. When they spoke. Will had shown them to him.

“Always,” Will had said, not a few hours ago. “Always.”

Quintessa stilled, leaned close, her smile turning vicious. “Yes,” she breathed. Her voice turned into a sneer. “You are what I want-“

“Get the fuck out of here, Will-“ Ironhide warned as he pushed against Lockdown. Optimus fired into the Bounty Hunter’s chest cavity, causing sparks and fire to shoot across the fields. Lockdown was thrown out further afield as Grimlock appeared, belting a mighty roar for his pre-noon lunch. Ironhide turned his attention to the sorceress, but already the humans were lurching into action as Will hefted the gun up his arm and took aim.

Another set of footsteps could be heard behind the Colonel, and Cog-man saw Cade, then Vivian, appear. She tapped the necklace around her throat, and Merlin’s staff appeared. Electricity surged the air around her and the lady’s courage flared in the anger of her eyes. Cog-man was entrusted to protect her at all costs. As was Hot Rod. He also knew that Cade would protect her, too; he saw the arm that swung down, preventing Vivian from advancing, even as Quintessa dared to inch closer to the three of them.

Excalibur materialised down along that arm and Cade, the knight, the protector, came to stand in front of Lennox.

“Try me, you fucking witch,” Cade growled. Quintessa hovered, as if considering her options.

“You could not graze me, human-“ she started, before Cade shot Excalibur in her direction. The witch swung to the left, avoiding the sword Cade used as a javelin, but she didn’t realise that the weapon would turn back for its master, and the ensuing hit shoved her to the ground. Epps fired at the rising dust just as she landed in a mound of dirt and gravel; Lockdown’s ensuing howls in the chaos above them all brought Cog-man right back down to the reality they all faced-

Quintessa surged up from the dust and she lashed out-

“Cade-“ Optimus started, throwing his own sword in the human’s direction. Already catching on, Cade took the leap.

Excalibur landed back in Cade’s hand as he jumped, brazenly, toward her; he stepped onto the swinging handle of Optimus’s sword, the Autobot leader reaching out for the weapon as it boomeranged back toward him.

Cade reached up, his body flying through the air. The reckless abandon of the human as he was about to attack Quintessa was not lost on Cog-man.

This was courage. This was strength and honour and valour.

This was Lancelot. And he was not afraid.

Quintessa’s electricity tunnelled toward Cade, tore at his clothes, his skin-

Still, Cade swung, and the resulting shockwave erupted the earth around her as she was pushed, forced, down to the ground, again-

Cog-man leaped into action. He shot at her, knowing that she couldn’t protect herself and continue to attack Cade. When she retreated, Lennox took aim and fired again, his feet steady and sure; Vivian shot Merlin’s staff into the ground, her whole body turning blue-

The distraction didn’t work.

It happened so fast-

One second, the Colonel was shooting.

The next, the nanobytes that made up Lockdown’s superfluous form, struck the Colonel from behind-

Blood sprayed the air.

The sudden, quick assault on the Colonel caused his body to snap at the entry point of the attack- his shoulder; he was thrown to the ground like a rag-doll, the weapon he was holding flung to one side.

Cog-man could not see his face.

It was turned toward the hill of grass and dirt behind him. But the shoulder was bare, the clothes ripped to shreds, and it was covered in blood, close enough to the placement of his heart that it was clearly meant to kill-

Epps shouted for the Colonel, for Will. He shouted for cover fire.

Quintessa was faster.

She launched toward the still form of the human. Cade turned, swinging Excalibur toward her, catching the end of her mechanised dress; she swivelled mid-air, giving Morshower enough time to aim directly for her shoulder. The sound of bullet shredding steel echoed in the air; she screamed in fury and twisted, her body landing on the ground not ten feet from the Colonel, whose body still hadn’t moved.

A breath of a breeze ruffled Will Lennox’s hair. His still hands.

Cog-man could hear Ironhide’s feral yell. It echoed in the earth. It sounded hollow, full of pain. Memories. Cog-man could feel the visceral agony in it; the endlessness of its depths.

The bulletfire gave way to shouts and screams. Santos firing again and again at Quintessa. Optimus throwing his sword down on the re-materialising Lockdown. The Wreckers went berserk and tore at everything within grabbing reach; arms and legs went flying, burned by the sounds of Bumblebee’s canon fire. Drift shot Lockdown through the chest and Cross Hairs’s final shot blew him apart. He didn’t re-form, he simply fell apart.

But the damage was already done.

Quintessa knew this-

Ironhide’s bellow was feral. If the Colonel were to die-

They would not win against her; Ironhide would kill her, but the damage was done.

She wanted Lennox. She wanted him; why? Why-

Quintessa dove again for the Colonel’s prone form, her hands hovering over the Colonel’s head as though it were something to be prized-

“Get away from him, you fucking bitch!” Ironhide howled, firing one shot after another at her. Her shields went up, completely blocking his attacks. Her hands extended, went under the Colonel’s body, pulling him up off of the ground.

Cog-man saw the blood dripping down along the bandages on his arms. Dimly, dismally, he realised that the Colonel’s heart rate was fluttering slowly-

“Lennox!” Cade shouted into the din. “Open your fucking eyes-“

"Will!" Ironhide screeched. "Will-!"