Chapter Text
"Ughh…"
Frenzy groaned, her systems coming online with great reluctance. She didn't feel too good, like she'd been tanking on that stinkin' old Autobot guy Floptimus Price or something. Had she done that? She hated that! Frenzy tried to remember what was the last thing she did, what had happened that left her feeling so fragging bad.
She and Lazerbeak decided to rejoin the original band with big boss Soundwave and Ravage who finally got out of the GHOST prison or something, and then…
Something, something, Mandroid and this big beaming red light that hit her and the others.
Great, what did that freak of nature do this time? Why did they decided to help those Malto losers again? Blegh, whatever. She just needed to get online and make sure her crew were fine and they can skip town or whatever. She was getting pretty tired coming back to Witwicky, hopefully she can convince Soundwave about that this time.
She knows he hates Megatron, like, who doesn't at this point? But she'd briefly enjoyed the freedom she and Lazerbeak had when… when Megatron let them free and practically ordered them away. And they just, left. Without Ravage because he couldn't leave Soundwave behind.
…
If Soundwave wanted to stay then damn, tough luck.
Anyway, she needed to get up before the Maltos or whoever else showed up.
She forced her optics open, trying to clear her vision as soon as possible. Expecting greenery and the typical Earth plant stuff, except— the air felt… stale? Calm. Dead, actually. There was the smell of rust and decay. The organic stench of dirt and other plants of Earth was just gone, she'd gotten so used to it that smelling the air now was kind of jarring.
What the frag?
Frenzy got on her knees, her systems straining from her forcing herself to sit up like this when she really should have done a slow boot-up. But a slow boot-up could get you hurt or killed out in the open like this. But where exactly was this 'open'?
"Wha…" Her glossa felt tied in her intake as she processed what she was looking what, where she was at.
The sky was dark, gloomy, with murky grey clouds that hung low. All around her was debris and pieces of rebar and concrete mixed with metal. Decrepit old buildings that towered over her, not like human buildings that could still be big for a cassette bot like her, but giant aft buildings that could tower over mechs like her boss and Megatron with no problem! These were cybertronian-made buildings, she realized with a jolt and she immediately scrambled to her pedes.
Standing with a slight wobble as Frenzy looked around with wide optics underneath her visor.
Was she…
On Cybertron?
But how?
The spacebridge was destroyed!
Mandroid had that weird tower sure, but she was pretty sure it wasn't a spacebridge?!
"Holy scrap, how in the—" Frenzy shook her helm, wait! If she was on Cybertron, where was everyone else?! Her crew?! The rest of the Decepticons?! Pit, even the Maltos and the Autobots! Where were they?! "Guys? Hello?! Soundwave?! Lazerbeak?! Ravage!" She called out, first trying to find them visually. But all she could see was the ruins of a cybertronian street with crumbling buildings. Frenzy doesn't recognize the place she was in, where on Cybertron was she?
A familiar high-pitched cry sounded in the air and Frenzy resisted the urge to slump in relief, instead, looking for the source of the cry in the sky. "Lazerbeak! Lazerbeak, yo, over here!" She called out to her fellow cassette that immediately changed its original course to fly towards her. "Man! Am I glad to see you!"
Lazerbeak chirped, kicking up some dust as he landed by her side. Was it just her or did he look different? Sleeker, almost, different shape. More importantly though, "Check it Laze! We're like, back on Cybertron, right?! How the frag did we do that? The spacebridge was wrecked and— why are you looking at me like that?" Lazerbeak was staring intensely at her with his red optics.
"You look different." Was Lazerbeak's reply, deciding to use his voicebox for once. He hadn't used it since they were announcers during those underground fights and slag. Wait, what did he mean by…? Lazerbeak gestured his head towards a semi-reflective metal sheet nearby. It was mostly covered in grime and a bit of rust, but it could still be used as a makeshift mirror.
As far as she could tell, she looked the sa—?! "The scrap?! Where's my nose?! My faceplate's all flat and slag!" Frenzy pressed her digits against her faceplate, feeling the flat surface instead of a raised ridge where her nose should be. "My frame! I'm more— angular??" She puffed up her plating just to be sure, seeing the seams between each plating, she was definitely a bit more angular than before. But also kind of smoother? If you didn't count the fact her paint was actually splotchy and ruined now, aww man!
Lazerbeak said nothing, now staring into the sheet himself as he noticed his own differences. He was a bit smaller now, sleeker. His paint was the same type of splotchy as Frenzy's. "Not cool dude, my paintjob!" Frenzy complained, rubbing against the spots on her plating. "Grr, what gives?! First we're on Cybertron when I'm pretty fragging sure we were on Earth against Mandroid's shark lackey things, then my frame changes without me knowing and my paint is whacked too! Where's the boss? Do you think he's got an idea?"
If anyone would know what was going on, it'd be Soundwave. Her carrier boss liked knowing stuff, and even if he didn't, he'd know eventually. That was their whole thing after all, knowledge was Soundwave's slag. His oil and gears, but after Megatron turned traitor…
Lazerbeak's cry snapped her out of her thoughts, the avian-like cassette taking to the air. "Right, should probably find them first." It didn't seem like she was going to find them with her optics like this, and as much as she'd like to make a ruckus to gain both Soundwave and Ravage's attention, let them know where she was— she was not liking the vibe of this decrepit area of Cybertron. Who knows what whackos were out there, so she might as well…
Taking in a deep vent, she calmed her thoughts and reached out—
Lazerbeak… right by her, right here…
Ravage… Left, somewhere?
Soundwave… Also left…
Rumb—
"Rumble?" The name slips out of her intake like oil out a tube. Her spark thuds inside her chassis and she stumbles in place, Lazerbeak letting out his own startled cry, dropping from the sky as he too felt—
"No, no nono, that's— that's impossible." She said but before she knows it, she's-- she's running. Towards the fourth tether to her spark, her literal other half. Was it really? Was she dreaming? Was this a cruel trick from- from someone? Please, please, please.
Frenzy didn't even know what she was pleading for, all she knew, was that for some reason. She could feel her. Feel Rumble, when for the last few years, it was nothing but a burnt dead end that haunted her nightmares. She ran through the streets, no longer caring if someone saw her because that didn't matter, what mattered was Rumble.
Rumble.
Rumble.
It was all she thought of, desperately as she climbed over debris, jumped over fissures in the ground. When she tripped and scraped her plating, ruined her paintjob further, bled a little energon, she didn't curse or care, she just got back to her pedes and kept on running. Lazerbeak following above her, not daring to fly forward and leave her behind. She would never forgive him, and he knew it.
Frenzy immersed herself into the bond, feeling the confusion-confusion-hurt-confusion-where-is-everyone?
Rumble.
Rumble.
I-am-here! She pushes back as she collides and claws at a large boulder, "Rumble?!" She shouted, digits digging into stone that blocked her way.
Faintly, from within, she hears; "…frenzy?" in the cracks of the boulder and Frenzy keens, Lazerbeak gave a mournful chirp.
Was it really?
Was it her?
"Rumble! Rumble, hold on! We'll get you, we'll get you! Lazerbeak, help me!" Frenzy demanded, Lazerbeak doesn't even argue, crying out as they both tried to push the boulder out of the way of where Rumble was trapped. It was a small building, crumpled and decrepit like the rest of Cybertron, Lazerbeak took a quick flight around it to check for another way in; there wasn't.
Their best bet was the boulder, and even though Frenzy wanted to scream a toned scream at the boulder to try and take it down, the building seemed fragile and neither Frenzy or Lazerbeak wanted to risk Rumble inside.
It had to be Rumble, it had to be. Her spark led her here, she could hear her beyond the boulder and inside the building. They needed her out of there, needed her safe. How? How how how how how—
Frenzy straightens as she feels—
"Carrier!" Frenzy shrieks, barely registering the liquid that dripped down her face. Or the fact she just called Soundwave 'Carrier', something she hadn't done in a long, long time. Even before Rumble— "Here! HERE! WE'RE HERE! PLEASE HELP! It's Rumble- IT'S RUMBLE! SHE'S HERE!"
Hyperaware of her surroundings, she could feel the faint shaking of the ground from rapid and loud footsteps incoming. More than one set, heavy, was there someone else than her carrier? Than Soundwave?
The answer comes from the corner, where Soundwave comes barreling, nearly colliding against a broken pillar. "Frenzy. Lazerbeak." He sounded rattled, disbelieving, as if he couldn't believe what he was feeling as well. "Rumble?" His frame shakes, visor dim. Behind him, Ravage stayed close to his pedes, silent but Frenzy could feel she was just as shaken as the rest of them.
Frenzy slammed her fist against the boulder, "Here! She's— she's here! Behind this! We need to get her out!" She turned back to the boulder, "Hold on Rumble! We're getting you out of there! Caer— Boss is right here! We're all here!" She hears and feels Soundwave get closer, looks up to see Soundwave pressing his palms against the boulder.
"Rumble?"
Again, faintly from beyond the boulder, through the cracks, came Rumble's voice; "…caer?"
Soundwave's frame shuddered, like lightning struck him and immediately Soundwave's palms glowed, Soundwave's voice wavered with desperation, "Rumble! RUMBLE! We are here! We will get you out!" A wave of light purple light went over the boulder and their surroundings, trying to find a way inside without compromising the building's fragile integrity.
All together, they tried pushing the boulder, but the thing was lodged into the frame and a part of it was buried in the ground to a point that they wouldn't be able to push it. "No, no. Move!" Soundwave snarled, clawing at the boulder before punching it in frustration. The force of it shook dust from above.
Desperate, Soundwave stepped back, his shoulder mounted blaster began to glow, ready to fire. Frenzy stepped back, more than half desperate but also worried about the state of the building. "Boss—" What if Soundwave made it cave in? What if they hurt Rumble?
Frenzy can't lose her again.
They all can't.
None of them would survive.
Out of nowhere, a hand clamps over Soundwave's shoulder and a cybertronian that Frenzy has never met is just there.
Who??
"Soundwave calm down, you might end up collapsing the building." The unknown said, a seeker with fierce orange colored optics. His frame was painted black, red, yellow and white. Like Frenzy's current faceplate, his faceplate had no nasal ridge either. "Let me help, I can get rid of the boulder."
Frenzy watched with wide optics as her boss tensed then slumped, rasping out a quiet, "Please." Before stepping aside. "We cannot lose Rumble again, Starscream."
Starscream???
That mech ain't Starscream! He sounded or looked nothing like the seeker! What was the boss talking about?! And why was he letting this guy help?! What if he made things worse?!
Before Frenzy could even say anything about the not!Starscream, her intake snapped shut when not!Starscream reached behind him in a fluid movement that looked so natural she almost missed the way he fragging detached his own wing! What?? The?? Frag????
"Stand back." Not!Starscream said, motioning them backwards as his detached wing unfolded into an energon?? Sword?? Straight up! An energon sword! From the wing?! It glowed an ominous red, humming lowly in his servo.
"Yo, what?!" She yelps, more than freaked out by what was happening because— because— what?! Frenzy yelped again when she felt servos, smaller than hers, yank her backwards. She whirled around to see four cybertronians smaller than her, which was a first considering that she was a cassette. But these guys were like, a helm smaller than her! "Servos off the frame! W-Who are you guys?!" Because they had to be with the not!Starscream. They certainly weren't with her and her crew!
The bots only tilted their helms at her and started beeping, whatever they were talking in, it wasn't standard Neo Cybex binary talk. Frenzy couldn't even recognize the dialect or patterns of their beeps.
Nobody gave her an answer, and usually it would piss her off but—
SHNK! SHNKSHNKSHINKSHNK!
Frenzy's intake dropped, gaping wide while not!Starscream's wing folded shut. The gigantic aft boulder that was blocking the entryway was loud as stone grated and slid against stone, cut into smaller pieces that not!Starscream kicked away after reattaching his wing. "There—"
Soundwave wasted no time, nearly clipping not!Starscream's pauldron as he rushed inside. Frenzy didn't think about anything else, not!Starscream, the smaller mechs. It could wait. Rumble couldn't. She, Ravage and Lazerbeak immediately followed after him, after their boss, their carrier.
"Rumble!"
Inside the building was just as ruined as the outside, but at least it was mostly intact. There was debris and dust everywhere, Frenzy didn't give a scrap about anything else, her optics searching, searching—
"G-Guys?"
There!
Laid against a pillar, smooth teal blue on faded colorful floors covered in concrete dust and rusting metal debris. Matching pink visor, spiked metal helm that her sister based off a human hairstyle called a mowhawk with painted purple tips.
Rumble.
Her sister.
Her twin.
Alive.
Frenzy nearly jumped on her, but Soundwave instinctively caught her mid-air to stop her. "No! Let go! IT'S HER! IT'S HER!" She shrieked, immediately struggled against his grip.
"Frenzy; careful, Rumble is weak. May be injured." At that, Frenzy froze and immediately went slack with guilt. Sniffling as he set her down gently, when did she start crying? Doesn't matter. Frenzy took a few shaky steps forwards, collapsing on her knees by her sister's side. Soundwave was right, Rumble looked bad, sick, but she was alive.
Rumble's visor wasn't glowing as bright as it should, she was venting low and raspy, it seemed like she could barely move her frame. Still, her helm lolled to face Frenzy and there was a weak smile on her nose-less faceplate. "Hey…"
"H-Hey." Frenzy choked out, reaching out with shaking servos. Rumble's arm was limp, her servo didn't move when Frenzy threaded their digits together. Lazerbeak landed by Frenzy's side, crooning low while Ravage came over to curl by Rumble's side, quiet, purring, tail curling around Rumble's unmoving leg. "This isn't—" Frenzy could barely see, her vision blurring underneath her visor, feeling something slide down her face and off her chin, "This isn't some fragged up dream. Right? You're here? I feel you. You're here. You're alive."
If this is a dream, don't wake me up. Not again. This is too realistic and cruel to be a dream.
Rumble let out a breathy laugh, it was short. Not like Rumble's usual long wheezing laughter that would take them both out. "I'm here. I'm alive." She confirmed quietly, Rumble's digits finally twitched to give a very weak squeeze to their intertwined digits. "Not a dream, sis. I'm back."
Frenzy took in a few shaky vents, somehow managing to keep it together.
Thump
Frenzy looked over, it was their carrier. On his knees before them, tears going down his faceplate—
Oh.
His mask was off.
When was the last time he'd actually shown his faceplate?
When was the last time she saw his bright yellow optics?
When was the last time anyone saw him cry?
"Rumble." Soundwave's voice glitched, his servos clenched on his knees. "Rumble. Sound— I— I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I—" His servo shook as it went up to his chassis, to his cassette deck and Frenzy flinched.
Remembering the day it all went down.
Starving. Desperation. Need-to-keep-fighting—
Pain, searing pain.
Not her pain.
Their pain as Soundwave's chest exploded—
"RUMBLE!"
"Foolish. I was foolish. I shouldn't have followed them, followed him. We shouldn't have been there, that fight. I tried to- tried everything to save you. I couldn't. I hurt you, I let you die. I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The words tumbled out ungracefully from his intake, Soundwave's usual grace and anger was gone. Replaced by the agonized sorrow of a mech- no, not exactly replaced. He was always there, underneath the anger.
Rumble looked at him and Frenzy watched, holding on to her servos tight. Lazerbeak and Ravage had gone completely silent, both mechanimal cassettes pressed closer against the twins. "… You couldn't have known, caer." Soundwave froze at her words and she smiled again, Frenzy crumpled into her side and cried as Rumble continued. "I forgive you. And I'm back now, aren't I?"
Soundwave let out an agonizing noise as he scraped his knees forward to carefully scoop all of them into his arms. All his cassettes. His cries echoed in the building, cruelly harmonizing with the cries of his cassettes.
Frenzy held on to Rumble, afraid if she let go, Rumble would fade away.
"I'm sorry, so sorry. So sorry. Rumble, bitling. My bitling- Sorry—"
At the doorway of the building, someone stood in silence before walking away to give the grieving family some much needed privacy.