Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A space bridge repair crew was being chased by the Nemesis, the command ship of the Decepticons, because they had found the All-Spark.
The ship rattled from sudden movement and the blaster fire from the larger warship. The crew inside all steadied themselves by bracing on the consoles in front of them.

"What is the plan, Optimus?" Blackarachnia asked, turning her head to the blue and red bot behind her. Optimus looked at his team and quickly gave out orders, "Prowl! Steady the ship and keep us heading to the space bridge. Bulkhead and Bumblebee! Go to the cargo hull and guard the All-Spark. Ratchet! You and Blackarachnia stay and-" before he could finish, an explosion went off above them, where Megatron was trying to pry the roof open.

At the same time of the explosion, the All-Spark let out a flare of light and activated the nearby space bridge, sending the ship through to an unknown location. When they made it through, appearing over Earth, Blackarachnia looked over the status readings of the ship. "That explosion, wherever it came from, has damaged our communications and navigation. So the Elite Guard won't be able to find us anytime soon," she announced to Optimus. Before he could answer, Optimus was grabbed from behind by Megatron.

"Give me the All-Spark and you may all live," the warlord said, squeezing Optimus so hard that he left a large dent on his chest. Unbeknownst to Megatron, while he wasn't looking, Optimus shot at the control panel and turned off the artificial gravity. In the ensuing battle that followed, Optimus and Megatron ended up in the cargo hull, where the All-Spark was as well. Blackarachnia followed to help, which turned out to be the right call because Megatron had Optimus trapped.
Blackarachnia slashed her claws at Megatron's optics, making the warlord let go to protect them. Once free, Optimus shot out his grapple at the airlock controls, opening it while anchoring himself down with his axe and Blackarachnia with her webs.

Megatron was being sucked into the airlock when he grabbed hold of Blackarachnia, dragging her along with him. Optimus immediately launched himself at them while also closing the airlock. Blackarachnia could barely keep up with the battle; it all happened so fast. As soon as Optimus had freed her from Megatron's hold, he pulled out his axe and tried to strike him, but Megatron fired his fusion cannon at him, injuring him.

Blackarachnia raised her stingers and stabbed Megatron, injecting her cybervenom. Megatron became paralyzed, and with him taken care of, Blackarachnia turned her attention to her commanding officer.
When she saw Optimus, her Energon ran cold. He was missing a large portion of his torso and a leg.

"Ratchet! Get down here! Optimus is hurt!" Blackarachnia yelled into the crew's comm-link, needing the medic. She was so distracted trying to get Optimus help that she forgot about Megatron.
Ratchet and the others arrived and were horrified by what they saw. "PRIME!" Bumblebee screamed while Ratchet immediately went into full medic mode. Blackarachnia produced more webs to keep them in place, to make it easier for Ratchet to work. "Optimus! Hang on! Ratchet will fix you right up!" Blackarachnia said with a sense of finality, though more to herself than to anyone else.

Optimus looked at her with barely focused optics, but then suddenly they widened, and he leaped between both his crewmates. While the cybervenom had incapacitated Megatron, it didn't last long. With that, Megatron made his way over to the techno-organic, aiming his cannon at her when the red and blue bot lept at him.

Megatron was sent flying again when Optimus threw himself at him. The two of them began to exchange blows, with Megatron having the upper hand even though he was down an arm, and Optimus had both of his. This went on for a very short frame of time when Optimus saw that they were in front of the docking airlock once more.

"Blackarachnia! Anchor everyone but me and Megatron down!" Blackarachnia did just that, even though she didn't understand why.

"Prowl! Open the airlock!"

"No, Prime!" "Optimus!" "No, Boss bot!" Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Blackarachnia cried out at the same time. But Prowl and Ratchet could see the resolve in his optics, and so, with a heavy spark, Prowl threw one of his projectiles, opening the airlock.

As Megatron and Optimus fell and burned in Earth's atmosphere, the warlord pushed Optimus in front, in an attempt to lessen the damage done to himself. They landed in a field on Earth, where a young scientist found them.

Back on the ship, Ratchet struggled to regain control over it while the rest of the crew were trying to console Blackarachnia.
"Why!? Why did he do that!?" Blackarachnia wailed out. Bulkhead gently rubbed her back in sympathy. Ratchet, being the only one who knew those kinds of sacrifices, said, "He did it to save us, so quit doing that strange optic linking thing."

Teletraan-1 warned that they were about to crash into a populated area. Ratchet barely managed to make the ship change course, landing in a lake. "Everyone into the stasis pods, now."
With a little urging for Blackarachnia, everyone went into stasis and remained so for the next fifty years.

30 Years Later

Captain Carmine Fanzone of the Detroit Police Department sat in an uncomfortable plastic chair next to his wife's hospital bed, holding his newborn son.
"So, what are we going to name this little guy?" That was the big decision yet to be made. All the names that they had come up with hadn't sounded right, and now, looking at the little head of brown hair, he could only think of how small the new life in his arms truly was.
Looking closer, Carmine noticed that his son had a birthmark on his chest in the shape of a star.

"How about Orion?" Fanzone suggested, thinking of one of the few male names that were related to stars. "Yeah, Orion, I like that. What gave you the idea?"

Fanzone carefully maneuvered Orion from his arms to hers before pointing at the newborn's chest. Once he was sure she had seen the birthmark, he went on to explain why he had chosen Orion. Later, as Orion Fanzone slept, a faint pale blue glow emitted from his birthmark. It pulsed in tandem with his breathing. Down below Lake Erie, the All-Spark shone briefly, showing a speck of light before dimming.

Chapter Text

Orion typed in his security pass code into the door panel as Professor Sumdac explained to the field trip group the purpose of the robots they designed.

"No task or job is too mundane or unpleasant for our automatic friends." The door slid open, and the group continued, "Any questions?"

"Where did ya get the idea for the robots, Mr Sumdac?"

"Oh, it was just something I stumbled upon."

"Hey, mister," Orion looked down to meet a little girl's eyes, "What's your job?"

"Well, I'm an engineer. So I help with designing and manufacturing." The kids didn't understand what manufacturing was, but they still looked at him with awe, especially when Sumdac added, "He's also my personal assistant." Then, suddenly, a robotic dog and a seven-year-old girl ran in, caught up in a game of chase.

"Sprakplug! Get back here!" Orion watched as the duo went around in circles, "My key card isn't a toy." As Sari tugged on her key and managed to get it back, she unfortunately ended up crashing into her Dad as a result.

"Sorry, Dad." She apologized as she helped him to his feet. "Everyone, this is my daughter Sari. What do we say, Sari?"

Sari blew a bubble of gum before it popped and got stuck in her hair. "Anyone got a pair of scissors?" Everyone shook their heads, so she just pulled it off and put it back in her mouth, unaware of the looks of disgust pointed at her

"So what's it like living with all these cool robots?"

"Don't know. What's it like going to school and hanging out with kids your age?"

"Alright, that's enough," Professor Sumdac quickly nudged Sari towards the door. "My daughter needs to return to her studies. Orion, could you go with her?"

Orion nodded, grabbing the little girl's hand, familiar with her habit of ditching her Tutor bot and running off to do her own thing. "Of course, come on, Sari.

Orion and Sari made their way down the hall, with Sparkplug trotting between them. "How did Sparkplug get your key anyway?" Orion asked, looking at the little girl and robot puppy.

"I was just holding him, and he randomly bit down and ran off with it," Sari shrugged her shoulders before changing the subject. "So, what have you and my Dad been working on lately? Anything cool?"

"Ah, well, we've just finished updating the garbage bots, and the Professor has an idea for some suit. And-" Sari's face soon took on a bored expression, with her groaning out, "Never mind," causing Orion to chuckle. That's when Sparkplug jumped up, grabbed Sari's key again, and ran off as soon as he landed.

"SPARKPLUG!"

"Sari! Wait!

Both ran after the canine android, unaware of the chaos going on outside.

Cut Scene

The enhanced bug monster had broken out of Sumdac Systems and was currently absorbing anything it could. Professor Sumdac struggled against the two first responders holding him back, yelling, "Sari! Sari!" Captain Fanzone came up and pulled the distrot sicenist aside. "Calm down, it's too dangerous to get near."

"But my daughter is still inside," and quickly realizing who he was talking to, Sumac immediately added, "And Orion is with her!" Hearing that his son could be in danger, Fanzone called out an order to keep an eye out for the two before pulling out his phone and attempting to call Orion. He couldn't get past the lock screen after a whole minute of fiddling, "This is why I hate machines."

Soon, things escalated even more. The monster was shot with four powerful bazookas, which caused it to explode; however, it unfortunately regenerated. Latching onto a boat, it began to absorb the vessel, and unknown to all, a piece of it fell into the water and sank to the bottom of Lake Erie.

Cut Scene

Blackarachnia woke up from stasis with a fog in her head and a frown on her lips. 'Optimus is gone. How long were we in stasis? Will we be able to find his body?' These thoughts and more flooded her mind once the fog cleared. "What is that thing?" Bumblebee exclaimed, breaking her train of thought. Looking over to where the rest of the crew had gathered, Blcakarachnia saw that Ratchet had his magnets activated and had trapped some sentient goo. "Whatever it is, it definitely has circuity and something similar to Blackarachnia's, er, condition."

At that, Blackarachnia made her way over and examined the specimen as it squirmed in midair. "It's not techno-organic, more likely it's an organic lifeform that has been enhanced with nanotech." Ratchet nodded in agreement before turning to the controls and typing in commands. "Let's see where exactly we are." The screen was soon filled with footage of the monster attack.
"Looks like those bots could use some help," Bumblebee stated the obvious. Taking command, Ratchet barked out, "Alright! Everybot, get ready for some new forms!" He pointed to the tall chamber that rose from the floor. Soon, all but Blackarachina loaded in and emerged with Earth-based alt-modes. "Yeah!" Bumblebee cheered as he tested his new wheels.
"Pretty roomy." Bulkhead gave an experimental shake.
"Sutiable." Prowl stated.
"If there's nothing else," Ratchet grumbled before addressing the crew, "Blackarachnia, you stay and see what else you can learn about our little specimen." Blackarachnia just rolled her eyes and nonchalantly walked to her work station, thinking bitterly, 'Sure, leave the freak on the ship.' She watched as the others departed before getting to work.

Arriving on the surface, the Autobots immediately drove into the fray, not noticing the two humans running out of the Sumdac tower. "Sari! Wait!" Orion yelled as he continued to chase after the little girl, almost colliding with her when she and Sparkplug came to a stop and started up another session of tug-of-war. As he stood there, panting, Orion heard an unfortunately familiar sound: sirens. But this time they were accompanied by .... Raors? That's when he saw all the emergency vehicles surrounding Sumac Tower. And just before he could fully grasp the situation, an olive-green SWAT van pulled up in front of him and Sari, and...Spoke!?

"Hello, little creatures. Are you both lost?" a voice that spoke like one would to a toddler asked. Sari instantly blotted, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Not again." Orion sighed before running after her once more. "Sari."

Next thing he knew, Orion and Sari were trapped in one of the monsters' tentacles and suspended in the air. And as if to make things worse, Sari's shrieks were now right next to his ear. "Calm down!" Almost instantly, she did, because something caught her attention. "Cool."
Looking down, Orion saw four giant robots. 'I didn't know we had bots that big. Or maybe they're one of Mr.Sumdac's personal projects?' He thought as he watched the one with a black and bronze paint job throw something, severing the arm that trapped them.

Before they plummeted to the ground, the smallest of the robots caught them in its hands and jetted towards the parking garage nearby. "Hi, name's Bumblebee." A young adult male introduced himself.

"Sari."

"You don't have to be. I like my name."

"No, my name is Sari," she explained as Bumblebee lowered them to the ground. "And he's Orion," Sari said, pointing at the man as he awkwardly waved. "Funny, the name of our ship is Orion," Bumblebee noted with a small laugh.

"Yeah, funny," Orion nervously walked closer to Sari, "Not to sound rude, but what are you?"

"Oh, I'm an Autobot. Well, I'm actually a Cybertronian. The name of the faction-."
Their conversation was cut short by a swarm of police drones firing at Bee, leading to him activating his stingers and destroying them. "Sorry, I can't stay and chat, but it looks like they could use my help." He said before running off.

Cut Scene

Blackarachnia typed away at the console, going through what she had gathered so far about the nanotech when her comm came online. "Arachnia, have you made any progress?" Ratchet's voice broke through the silence.

"Yeah. It looks like the nanobots are programmed to attack any foreign presence they see as a threat."

Back on the surface, Ratchet dodged a chunk of rubble that fell from a nearby building. "Meaning that anything that gets too close, this thing will eliminate." Just as he finished saying that, Bulkhead tossed his wrecking ball at the beast. Only for it to be swallowed by said beast, with Ratchet having to impromptu cut the cable connected to Bulkhead. And before he can even get a warning out, Prowl appears out of nowhere and tries to cut it down. But he is only absorbed in it, and injured in the process.

Ratchet, in vain, tried to save him with his magnets, while Blackarachnia explains over the comms, "I've made an override code, but I'll need time to get up there."

Because of her organic half, Blackarachnia couldn't travel in environments without air as safely or easily. "Just get here as fast as you can!"

Orion watched as the big mech lost its? His? Wrecking Ball hand, the red and white one, had no choice but to cut the cable before the monster trapped him, too. Then one of the others from earlier is ensnared and disappears within the thing. With all that was going on, Orion didn't think that anything else could surprise him. That was until an enormous splash sounded from the bay, and standing there was a ...Giant spider-like robot?!
A shiver ran down his spine. Ever since he was little, Orion has had a fear of spiders. The new bot, the design of which suggested female, ran over to the others and, without warning, spat out a line of purple webbing onto Bumblebee's waist before the red one gave the signal, and he was flung into the monster's mouth.

Orion was shocked, but then the monster slowly turned into gray dust and disappeared, freeing its two prisoners. With the danger gone, Orion began to scan the crowd, looking for Sumdac and his Father. But Sari grabbed his hand and pulled him along as she ran over to Bumblebee just as he and the others transformed.

"Bumblebee! Quick, let us in."

"What?" Both voiced at the same time in confusion. She just used puppy-dog eyes on the alien robot and knew that Orion would follow her, without question. Because what adult would let a child go off with any stranger?

As soon as they were inside, Bumblebee drove to the dock and into the water. The duo inside watched as they dove deeper through the window. "Will we be able to breathe in there?" he asked when the ship came into view.

"Yeah, sure. I mean, Blackarachnia can, so why not?"

When the Autobots were once more aboard, Ratchet immediately took Prowl away to the medbay. "Hey, Bee, why are you still in your alt-mode?"

"Oh, uh, um," panicking, Bumblebee quickly tossed his two passengers as gently as possible into the vent behind him. Orion pulled Sari close as they tumbled down the vent, colliding with the walls as they went before landing in a room a level down. "Are you okay?" Sari nodded before a light flooded the room. Both humans looked to see the All-Spark shining in its container. It then directed a beam of light at Sari, sharing information about Cybertron with her and learning about Earth in return.
Suddenly, the beam found its way onto Orion, lingering on him as moments of his life were passed to the All-Spark. "Okay, did we just have a conversation with a glowing rock?" Sari asked when a piece of metal flew through the air, barely missing Orion's head. Two new rays of light formed from the All-Spark, altering Sari's key and morphing the scrap metal into a band that latched itself on Orion's becep.

"What?!" Orion's hand shot up to his arm and tried to pry the brace off, but to no avail. "This better be something awesome, or you owe me my security deposit." Sari huffed, putting her hands on her hips. The two suddenly found themselves being picked up by the scruffs of their clothes. Blackarachnia, having taken note of Bumblebee's odd behavior earlier, went to investigate and found the two humans standing in front of the All-Spark. What are you doing in here?" she hissed.

Orion froze up in fear, and Sari was too busy staring in awe to answer. Luckily, Bumblebee appeared behind Arachnia, explaining, "They followed me home. Caaan I keep them?"

"Hey, we're not pets." Orion managed to voice out, followed by a protest by Sari, "Yeah. And we're not 'its' either, I'm a 'she' and he's a 'he'."

Before any more arguing could happen, Ratchet ordered everyone into the medbay. When they entered, they were met with the sight of Prowl on a medical berth, barely holding on. "I've done everything I could." Ratchet soloming announced. As the Autobots gathered to say goodbye, Sari's key lit up and seemed to want to go to Prowl. Seeing this, Orion gave the little girl a boost before climbing up himself. Once on top of the berth, he watched as a keyhole opened on Prowl's chest and the key shifted to match it. Next thing anyone knew, Prowl was sitting up, completely healed and mumbling, "That is some cure," when a nearby screen came online. It showed a swarm of police cars driving throughout the city, led by two figures who caused the preasest humans to groan "Daaad."