Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Another successful jump!” Rodimus fist-pumped into the air and held out his servo for a high five from Drift. His amica quickly took him up on this, a sharp metallic clang ringing throughout the ship’s bridge.

“All systems still appear to be functioning. This makes twenty-five jumps with no incident in a row, my compliments to the scientist aboard.” Minimus dutifully looked over the screen with all of the diagnostics for the Lost Light in front of him. For what was apparently the twenty-fifth time in a row, there wasn’t a single part of the screen blaring red warning alarms. Which honestly seemed like a bit of a miracle considering their track record with multiversal jumps before the great split, as Rodimus liked to call it. But this gave Rodimus an idea.

*Hey Swerve, can you-*

*Make a special drink to celebrate these many successful jumps in a row? Already on it, Rewind had been keeping count and knew you would spring for another chance to throw a party.*

*You know me so well, see ya tonight!*

*Your seat’s already been reserved Captain!*

Rodimus smirked on the bridge. This party was gonna be great!

“Don’t tell me you are already plotting something,” Megatron smirked at him from just off to the side. They had both agreed to be on the bridge during any multiversal jump due to the previous tendency for things to go horribly wrong. “We’ve only just gotten here!” He said with mock annoyance. Still with that smirk, and Primus, that smirk was doing something for him.

“Just planning a good time at Swerve’s, that’s all!” He definitely wasn’t shifting under his co-captain’s gaze.

“I suppose I should let you go get ready then, we don’t want to be waiting all night for the real party to start because you forgot to polish a spot.” Megatron put a servo on his shoulder, giving Rodimus a light shove towards the door as he went to take the deserted captain’s chair.

“Thanks!” Rodimus wasn’t sure he had ever left the bridge faster in his haste to keep his blush from showing.

This was just getting ridiculous.

So maybe he had just the tiniest, itty-bittiest, little crush on his co-captain. Maybe he really loved the way they worked together, and he wondered what that would be like in a romantic sense. Maybe he wanted to feel safe in those big arms.

But it would pass.

Hopefully.

--------

The hate was all he really felt anymore.

It bubbled inside of him, and this hate was viscous and thick, strangling any other thoughts that tried to surface. It coursed through his cabling like it had while he was alive.

He knew he wasn’t alive anymore, not truly.

He remembered seeing Primus’s hand in front of him, then nothingness. He had assumed that death would be the next step, but he had woken up instead.

There was a voice whispering venom directly into his processor. It was dark. It held a power that he hadn’t known was possible.

It promised vengeance.

And Getaway couldn’t be happier to destroy that entire ship for refusing his captaincy.

They would all pay.

He couldn’t wait to wipe that annoyingly perfect smirk off the most idiotic Prime to ever live.

--------

Rodimus stood on the bar, slightly against Swerve’s wishes, but the bartender didn’t seem to mind too much. After all, he was getting a huge boost in business tonight due to the special drink he made that would only be served at this party.

Rodimus waved at Blaster, and when the DJ caught his gesture, he played a loud siren sound and shouted,

“LISTEN TO THE CAPTAIN’S SPEECH!” And pointed towards Rodimus.

The mechs that had all packed themselves into Swerve’s looked up at him on the bar, and he heard Drift near the back of the room start chanting,

“Speech! Speech! Speech!”

The rest of the bar joined in until the chant was near deafening. Rodimus did and grand gesture like he had seen music conductors do in human media to silence their band. Somehow it worked and left only a dull ringing in his audio receptors.

“Members of the Lost Light, how are we doing after 25 successful jumps in a row?”

The roar of the crowd was a joyous one.

“I know! It’s hard to believe we would ever make 25 jumps, much less 25 flawless ones in a row. We’ve all been working hard for this. We’ve all put in the effort to better both the ship and ourselves. Take the time to celebrate tonight with the mechs you love. We earned this. CHEERS!” He raised his drink high, and the other mechs in the room followed as they all took one big sip in sync.

Rodimus signaled Blaster to start up the music again, which the DJ looked more than happy to do. The bass of the music shook him to his protoform, and he happily watched mechs mingle together and move with the beat.

Drift was dragging Ratchet behind him towards the floor, Skids wrapped his arm around Nautica, Chromedome picked up Rewind, and he could see Whirl throwing Tailgate in the air with Cyclonus standing just off to the side in case the helicopter dropped him.

“You should get out there! Enjoy the moment like you were just saying!” Swerve was giving a shooing movement with his servo after passing Rodimus another drink.

“I will! I will!” He downed half the drink in one sip. “I just need to loosen up a bit, you know?”

How did Swerve always manage to look so judgmental beneath the visor?

“Is it cause the mech you want to dance with isn’t here?” Rodimus sank his face into his own servos.

“...is it that obvious?”

“Honestly? Kinda.”

“Frag.”

Swerve just laughed. The jerk.

--------

The bridge was now mostly empty, save for two mechs.

Minimus and Megatron sat at their respective stations. They were quietly going over each ship system individually to ensure there was nothing wrong that the first overview had missed. The security cam in Swerve’s was on a screen to the left of the captain’s chair.

Megatron watched Rodimus give his grand speech. The speedster’s constant motion was always enticing to watch. Not like that. Well, maybe like that.

Minimus coughed, causing Megatron to jolt upwards.

The loadbearer’s amused glance made him want to run out of the room.

“So how’s that going?”

“It’s going great, Minimus, I’m sure he’s smart enough to pick up on the signs.”

Minimus had the audacity to laugh.

“You know he would probably prefer the upfront approach.”

“I don’t want to make him feel pressured to accept, but if he makes the first move, I will accept.”

“Sure.”

They lapsed into silence again.

Then something shook the ship.

All of the screens on the bridge turned red.

Minimus rushed to push the emergency button.

---------

Everyone scattered out of Swerve’s to their stations. It was pure chaos. After Ratchet peeled off to prep the medbay in case some mech had been hurt, he and Rodimus locked optics and ran in unison to the bridge.

“What do you think it is?” Rodimus hazarded to ask once they had separated from the main group.

“I have no idea, but I have a really, really bad feeling about it.” The aura in the air after the hit was one of the foulest he had ever felt. Drift was hoping the drinks he had had were just skewing his readings.

They burst onto the bridge.

“What is that?” Rodimus pointed at the ship blocking their path.

What could only technically be a ship sat directly in front of the Lost Light. It was dark purple with yellow glass for its windows, but there were so many points in nonsensical places that the inside of the ship couldn’t make much sense at all. It was like someone had the idea of what a ship should look like, then horribly malformed an existing one.

“Unknown,” Minimus was running multiple scans on the vessel, but nothing seemed to be coming back from them. “It’s like the ship isn’t there at all!”

“What hit us?” Drift ran up to be alongside Minimus to see the overview of their ship.

“Also unknown, it hit the left side of the ship. I’m assuming it was a torpedo of some kind.”

“I’ll go check it out.” Megatron stood from his chair. “Get us as far as you can from this ship as soon as you can, just to be safe.” Drift nodded and quickly took the controls. He knew Rodimus too well.

“I’ll come with!” Rodimus took off behind Megatron as they exited the bridge.

Drift cranked the speed to the max and quickly turned to try and get distance. After the ship disappeared from view, he looked down at Minimus, who looked back up at him and asked,

“If there’s nothing there, what are the odds they end up confessing to each other since they’ll be alone?”

“I’ll give you fifty shanix if they don’t.”

“You don’t want them to confess to each other?”

“Firstly, this is the most flustered I’ve ever seen Megatron. Secondly, Rodimus teased me about my crush on Ratchet for so long before I confessed; it’s only fair I should do the same to him.”

---------

The elevator seemed to move the slowest it ever had.

Being in such an enclosed space with Megatron was both a blessing and a curse. The two drinks he had downed earlier weren’t helping with where his processor was heading with this situation.

The elevator could break down, and then they could be stuck there for a long time. Then who knows what could happen.

No Rodimus. Stop. Get your processor out of the gutter.

Megatron was looking at him strangely, slag had he been staring?

“Are you up for this? I know you were at Swerve’s, and I can grab-”

“No! No, I’m fine!”

Megatron only nodded, but looked slightly skeptical. Thankfully, the doors slid open on the level where the impact apparently happened.

The lights were off, making the hall in front of them pitch black.

“It’s a good thing I know how to light up a room, right?” Frag, that’s such a dumb joke. Why was he like this?

Rodimus summoned a flame to his servo and held it out in front of him. It revealed nothing yet, but the two captains proceeded down the hall anyway. Since he had the light source, Rodimus was in the front while Megatron followed close behind.

It wasn’t long before they found what had hit the ship. It was another smaller ship that had embedded itself in the wall and was wide open. There was someone else on the ship.

That was the last thought Rodimus had before the world went dark.

---------

Watching Rodimus plummet right in front of him with no warning sent a bolt of fear straight to his spark. Megatron was able to catch the prime before he hit the ground and got a comm off to Minimus for medical assistance and general backup the first instant he could.

Looking over Rodimus’s frame, Megatron didn’t see anything that looked out of place with the initial scan. So why did he-

He was then thrown against the wall by a shot to his chest.

When he tried to get back up, he found himself unable to move at all. All of his joints had locked down entirely. He heard steps from the direction they had been heading towards, the darkness seemed to shift around the figure, continuing to hide it from sight, even as the steps grew louder and louder.

“Who is there? Show yourself!” He felt so weak saying that in this state.

“Honestly, I’m a little hurt. I thought I’d made more of an impact than that.” The mech finally emerged from the shadows.

“Getaway?!” He looked almost the same as he had when Megatron had last seen him, before the whole ‘eaten by Whirl’s scraplets’ thing that had apparently happened. The only differences were that all of the colors of his plating had simplified into either black or purple. Save for the mask, which was still a garish yellow.

“Thought I was gone for good, huh? It’s just like you to be so over-confident.”

“When you hear that a mech was consumed alive by scraplets, assuming they are dead is a normal reaction.” He needed to stall until backup got here, and he knew how much this mech loved to talk.

“You would think that, wouldn’t you? But nope! I got a…bit of a redesign from a god that actually appreciated me.”

“What?” Megatron had forgotten how insane his rambling was.

“Unicron, of course! He took me in and brought me back better than ever before! Now, I’m gonna get a bit of well-deserved revenge.” He began walking towards Rodimus’s prone form. “And it’s also a bonus that he’s a Prime, believe it or not, but Unicron really hates those.”

Megatron’s processor scrambled to find anything to say to that, but he couldn’t just let this happen!

“This is insane, you are insane. What god would ever choose you?”

Getaway spun directly around and slapped Megatron across the face.

“I WAS CHOSEN, NOT YOU!!!” He then paused, as if to regain some composure before continuing. “I’m going to take Rodimus, and I’m going to kill him incredibly slowly, and by the time you find me, he will be completely grey. Then I will let Unicron consume the rest of this ship. I just want every mech onboard to know that the worst mistake they ever made was denying my leadership.”

Getaway then shot him again, and everything went black.

---------

This was too easy.

He considered killing Megatron right then and there, but it would be so much better to see the despair in his optics when he saw Rodimus’s corpse, then execute him.

Getaway scooped Rodimus up bridal style to carry him into his ship, and he almost laughed at the irony, considering how their positions had been swapped after their last encounter.

Once the Prime was secured, he summoned back his warship. Heavy pedefalls echoed from around the corner.

Perfect timing.

Drift was leading the pack, but hesitated for a moment when he saw him.

That moment was all he needed to launch back out into space.

Now the real fun could begin.

Chapter Text

Dirft heard the wiz of something through the air and watched it latch onto the ship carrying Rodimus away. The ship that also had Getaway on it. Primus, how was this possible?

"Drift, Megatron's down." Perceptor made his way to Drift. He looked over towards the wall to see Megatron crumpled to the side. 

"Is he..?" 

"No, just unconscious. We're transporting him to medbay now. I shot a tracker at the retreating vessel. What's the plan?" The wreckers locked optics. 

"Send the tracker's location to Minimus on the bridge, we gotta get our captain back."

----------

Being chained to the ceiling where he could barely touch the ground fragging sucked. The addition of it being the ceiling in an odd room full of glowing machinery didn't help the vibe. 

Rodimus didn't even remember how he got here! He tried focusing on what he remembered as he pulled at his restraints.

He'd been in the hallway with Megatron, saw the spacecraft and- Primus dammit, he'd been captured!!!

"I'm getting really sick of being captured and imprisoned! So how about you do us all a favor and let me out before I slip away like I always do and ruin whatever grand evil plan you're cooking up." If Rodimus had a shanix for every time that exact scenario happened, he would have…definitely enough to buy a couple drinks at Swerve's.

"Yes, but you usually have some help, heh, getting away, right?"

There's no way it could be, yep, that was Getaway stepping out of the shadows. An ugly off-color version of Getaway, but it was the bastard nonetheless.

"You gotta be shitting me."

Getaway just laughed that stupid 'I know better than you' laugh.

"Surprise! Guess you didn't see this coming, Hot Rod?"

"Rodimus." Could this fucker get hit with a bolt of divine lightning or something?

"Sure, you having fun out there? Traveling around with your merry band of murderers, causing chaos throughout the multiverse?"

"Firstly, yes, I was having literally such a great time before your ugly mug showed back up. Secondly, you're being just a little bit of a hypocrite calling out murderers, Mr. 'I let Sunder steal life cords out of my crew and then let a false god turn the rest of them into sparkeaters.' Thirdly-"

Getaway punched him in the throat, knocking his voice offline and leaving him spitting static.

"Always trying to make some grand point with a speech. I can't wait to ensure you never give another one of those speeches again." That didn't sound good. Trying to make a retort only resulted in more static. "Unicron has given me the strength to come back and end your pathetic existence once and for all, no divine intervention or friends to help you this time."

Getaway grabbed one of the points on his helm and ripped it clean off.

Rodimus didn't have the time to stop the gasp of pain. But he did have his voice back enough to throw out another barb.

"Really? You couldn't get Primus's love, so you're settling for second place?"

The machinery around the room glowed an ominous red and buzzed angrily. No, wait, this wasn't-

"He's not really too thrilled about being ignored, we're kinda similar like that. I now follow a god that actually communicates with me. Yours never did that, did he?" Getaway stabbed a dagger into his knee.

He was able to hold in a noise this time, but he definitely wasn't a fan of the energon now freely running onto the floor beneath him. 

"Primus never made any sense to me. Why did he choose you? You blew up Nyon! How could Primus be okay with choosing a mech who's killed thousands with the push of a button?"

Getaway drew a second blade and slashed one of his side biolights open. Rodimus screamed as he dug the blade further in. He tried to keep himself distracted, letting his processor wander and wondering how mad Ratchet would be when he saw him again, if he saw him again.

"Is that why you surround yourself with murderers? Because you know they're the only ones who come close to your kill count?" 

Rodimus desperately blocked out the comment as his optics darted around the room, looking for a way out.

"In fact, you're willing to hitch yourself to one, right? Megatron looked so scared when I said I was taking you away to kill you."

Rodimus froze. Both the fact that Megatron apparently cared so much about him, and that Getaway was planning to kill him.

"Don't worry, though, it's gonna take a while before we get to the you being dead part." Getaway walked out of his sight. Rodimus only heard the shuffling of metal to his right. 

Look, Rodimus knows what tourtre is, and he had been trained to resist it, but this wasn't tourtre for information; this was tourtre for the sake of revenge and causing him as much pain as possible. 

He really wasn't gonna make it out of here, was he?

He screamed when Getaway pressed hot metal into his side.

"There! That should hold in your internal systems for a bit. Now, where were we?" He pulled a cart of various tools to the edge of Rodimus's vision. "Right, we were discussing how you ruined everything." Getaway dug his dagger into where he had just cauterized the wound.

Rodimus's scream tore out of his vocalizer and echoed throughout Unicron.

----------
Megatron awoke to Ratchet standing near him in the medbay. Why was he in the- Rodimus. What happened with Rodimus? He quickly sat up and turned to Ratchet.

"Rodimus?" The doctor shook his head.

"Taken by Getaway if Drift's optics weren't deceiving him."

"Unfortunately, they weren't. Unicron brought him back." Ratchet's optic blew wide open.

"I'm sorry, did you say Unicron?!?"

Megatron had no time for this. Rodimus was in danger. He stood up and began walking towards the bridge. 

"Now hang on a klik! I still need to-"

"Whatever it is will have to wait; we need to locate Rodimus as soon as possible."

"We're already following a tracker that Perceptor managed to get on to the ship that took him, now hold still-" A servo gripped his arm before he ripped it away.

"If Drift was the one taken to Unicron to be tortured to death, would you be able to sit still?" Oh, slag, he didn't mean to say that, but it did cause Ratchet to freeze completely in place and allow Megatron to get to the elevator to the bridge.

They had a tracker. They could find Rodimus.

---------

All the warning Drift got was a comm from Ratchet.

*Hurricane coming your way. He's not doing well.*

Before Drift could figure out what that meant, Megatron burst through the door to the bridge. His aura was heavy and angry, he hadn't felt it like this since Tarn killed Ravage. Minimus jumped from where he had been standing on the captain's chair.

"Captain on the bridge!" The loadbearer shouted as he displayed the tracker location on the monitor so Megatron could see it as he sat in the captain's chair. The ex-warlord's optics held a deep intensity as he stared at the screen.

"How far out are we?"

"Only a few kliks." Drift had to catch himself from adding a 'my lord' on the end.

--------

It was never quiet on the Lost Light.

Minimus had accepted this a long time ago.

But it was quiet now.

Minimus hated it.

The tension on the bridge was so thick he could cut it with a knife. He had almost forgotten what Megatron was like at his full anger. Drift had too considering how the swordsmech's servos were shaking slightly. 

Then the tracker beeped with a proximity alert, and something came into view.

It was a planet, but it had a mouth? No, it was 

"Unicron." Drift looked like he was going to purge his tanks. The rest of the mechs on the bridge weren't looking much better. Minimus had no better news to give when he looked at the tracker's exact location.

"The tracker is showing that it's inside."

Megatron stood from the chair.

"Assemble the crew."

---------

Megatron looked over the sea of mechs who had gathered to hear him speak, it brought back many memories, mostly bad, but this would be quick. 

"Crew of the Lost Light, I'm sure the rumors have already reached you all, so I will be brief. Rodimus has been kidnapped by Getaway, who was brought back to life by Unicron."

"WHAT!" Whirl shouted. "THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO WAY ANY OF THAT IS TRUE!"

"It is." Drift spoke up from the right of him. "I saw it, and Unicron is now in front of our ship." He pulled up a live feed from the front of the ship, and the crew gasped in horror. Megatron pushed forward in his announcement.

"I will take a team of no more than five into Unicron's depths to find Rodimus and safely extract him. I will not order anyone to come along; this mission is strictly volunteer-only." He paused to give the crew a moment to think over his words. "Do I have any volunteers?"

Every mech in the room raised their servos high in the air.

Some were trembling, but all were determined.

"The ones going will be Myself, Drift, Cyclonus, Whirl, and Perceptor. We will be leaving immediately." He needed to leave the crew in a stable place for Minimus to lead. What would Rodimus say? Oh, he knew what the Prime would say.

"Rodimus would be proud of all of you. We will return with him in tow. Till all are one!"

"Till all are one!" The crew echoed back

They were going to save Rodimus.

Hopefully, it wouldn't be too late.