War as Old as Time Itself

Transformers Animated - AU

Summary:Three months after The Battle For Earth, a mysterious mech abducts Optimus Prime from Cybertron and so his friends find themselves needing help to find him. A strange group departs their planet for the journey, while Optimus slowly mends gaps between his own people and the gaps with their greatest enemy.

As Haden slowly rose over the great city of Iacon, the very center and jewel of Cybertron's glorious culture and history, the blue optics of Optimus Prime slowly powered up. The young hero stretched his tired frame, once again having spent his recharge cycle in strange dreams he could not remember nor explain. Optimus sighed as he got off his berth and made his way to the washracks adjoined to his room, one of the many perks of being Cybertron's hero.

As he stood under the solvent stream, Optimus couldn't help but snort. Some hero he was! It was Prowl who should be celebrated, not him! It was, after all, the cyber ninja that had saved the Allspark, not him. It was Prowl who had given his life for Cybertron!

Optimus was just a washout, the failed cadet who had gotten one of his greatest and dearest friends killed because he couldn't pull rank on Sentinel to stop his crazy idea and make them both listen to him when he said they were going to leave that accursed organic planet! Then Ultra Magnus gave him a team of other washouts and sent them off to be space bridge technicians and then they found the Allspark and ended up on Earth after the whole Megatron thing and were in stasis for 50 stellar cycles. Then they were called heroes in Detroit and became friends with Sari, but that just put her in more danger when the Decepticons kept coming and then Megatron was revived. Before he could even offline and online his optics properly, one thing led to another, one fight with the Decepticons after another and soon they were fighting for Omega Supreme and a space bridge and then he was flying! Flying! Only Decepticons could fly, and there was Optimus with his little jet-pack, flying! And it was all too easy and all too natural for him to fly like a Con but he didn't care, couldn't care because he felt like he belonged, like he was finally free!

And then he had the Magnus Hammer in his servos and it felt wrong worn wrong, it was not the right weapon, not the right artifact it was just wrong wrong wrong. And then Megatron was there with the Lugnut Supremes and Rachet was on the moon and coming down to Earth with Omega and Arcee and although the Hammer was wrong wrong wrong, Optimus knew how to use it and still couldn't explain that feeling of wrongness! But he could fight, and they were winning! Him! He was winning against Megatron, with Prowl as his only real backup until Ratchet came, and then Starscream revealed he had planted bombs in Megatron's Lugnut Supremes and Prowl and Jazz were doing their processor-over-matter technique and the Allspark was was coming back together and it wasn't enough so Prowl sacrificed himself ad now he's gone gone gone!

And then there was that explosion that would have destroyed Detroit three times over and he and Megatron where in the fray and while Megatron would have survived because of his thick armor, Prowl's soul came and dragged him out of harm's way. And then Optimus was starring at Prowl's dead, gray form and he was so angry angry angry! He would have killed Megatron were he someone else, someone weaker, someone whose very spark hadn't reacted to the Allspark since they found it and who hadn't been brought back by its magnificent life-giving energies, but he hadn't.

He was who he was, he is who he had always been and he will be who he was always meant to be, even if he doesn't know it yet.

So he didn't kill Megatron, said he didn't deserve it and he had wanted to believe it so hard! But he couldn't, not then and not now, when the Decepticon Lord was in Trypticon, waiting a farce trail that will lead to his execution.

Suddenly, not even the scorching heat of the solvent was reaching his sensors as cold dread he couldn't name enveloped him. He couldn't believe he had just thought that of his own government! Maybe it would have been true if the trail was held by Sentinel, but Ultra Magnus had woken up two days ago and he was ten times better than Optimus's old friend ever would be. Yet, he couldn't forget about all those sick projects that he had approved, all the data pads he had read recently that spoke of the time before the Great War. And Megatron's optics had held fear when he said he will be put through trail ...

He was brought out of his musings by the chripping from outside his washracks and Optimus couldn't stop his small smile as he turned off the solvent and stepped out to be greeted by his small partner since he was a mere sparkling, Roller. The white and orange Minicon had picked Optimus out on the streets of Iacon when he was on one of the many excursions while Optimus was still in the nursery care of the military and had refused to leave the building in which the young Prime had been. The only time they had been apart had been that fateful day when Elita One had died and the last 50 or so stellar cycles he had been on Earth. He had been informed that his little companion had searched the whole of Iacon for him until it was explained to him, by whom no one ever told him, that Optimus is MIA and since then he hadn't left Optimus's old room, waiting for him to return. It was only because of him that Optimus still had some possessions and this room to his name and he was forever grateful.

As they made their way out of his room, Optimus noticed that Roller had something in his little, three-digit servos. It was an old data-pad with his name on it, but the sender was not written on the initial page. ''What do you have there?''

As Roller beeped and chripped, Optimus took the data-pad and began reading. He was quite surprised. It was a request from the master archivist Alpha Trion for him to come by the Great Archives of Iacon for a private session. It would not exactly be the first time he had gone to one of those. The old mech had been trying to talk to him since Elita's death but Ultra Magnus had sent him away before that could happen, and ever since his return from Earth, he had been trying to get a moment free with the young Prime. Sentinel had made sure of that, keeping Optimus busy as a figure-head while sending his team of in different sides of the galaxy. It was almost like he was trying to keep Optimus away from anyone who he held dear. It could be true, Sentinel was that petty. But he was also not that subtle, the modifications he had briefly made on the Steelhaven were proof enough.

It made him think who would spend so much time and effort to keep him away from a mech who had practically been his mentor for the better part of his function. He was not somemech important. If someone were trying to make things difficult for Cybertron and their Council, shouldn't they try and distract Sentinel or stop him from special meetings and not a Prime who, although a hero, has no political power.

But none of that matters as he realizes that he will finally have some time to talk with his almost-but-not-quite-mentor and he couldn't quite keep the excitement out of his gate as he and Roller hurried out of the apartment building and they quickly transformed and drove off. Although Roller was smaller than Optimus, the Minicon could easily keep up with Optimus, but it's not like Optimus could go any faster with the traffic that day and he would never try to out-drive his little partner.

Just as they were arriving at the stairs of the Archives, Optimus was surprised to see Ultra Magnus exiting the building with Alpha Trion going after him, yelling all the while. The injured Autobot Commander was followed by one Sentinel Prime and Jazz, as well as the Jettwins. Jetstorm and Jetfire looked really worried for some reason and Jazz just looked uncomfortable, while Sentinel was jumping in on every third word that came out of the Master Archivist's intake and snapping comments at him. To Alpha Trion's credit, he was ignoring the still Acting Magnus and was instead focusing on destroying the true Magnus's audials off.

''You cannot do that!'' The sheer volume Alpha Trion's usually mellow and soothing voice was so surprising that Optimus hesitated in his greeting of his superiors. Beside him, Roller beeped questioningly, bumping into his shin to try and get his attention. Unfortunately for the Minicon, his spotlight was stolen by the old mech again. ''I will not allow it! No matter what you feed the public, I know that you only plan to deliver an execution! And no matter what that glitch has done during his function, you do not get to just kill a mech in cold energon!''

''Even if that mech is The Slagmaker himself?'' Countered Sentinel snappishly.

''Especially if it's Meagtron! He is the leader of a Galactic Council recognized state and know throughout the Universe as the only true Lord of all Decepticons! If you kill him, we will lose favor of the Galactic Council and become fair game to anyone who has even a half decent army, Primus forbid if they had a decent reason to attack us! And seeing as you have been xenophobes for the past three million stellar cycles, many of them are bound to try and-''

''Exactly!'' The blue and orange Prime jumped in again, cutting the oldest bot on the planet during his righteous rant. ''They will try! And they will fail, cause we're Cybertronians and we will not only outlive them, but we can endure a lot more than they can ever hope to dish out!'' He raised his impressive chin higher. ''Or are you forgetting that we are not only the mightiest force in the Universe, but also the oldest race as well?''

The glare Alpha Trion was giving Sentinel would have sent the Lugnut Supremes running, let alone a fool like Sentinel. But the saying is right: Once a foolish mech, always a foolish mech, and fools are not known of being very good at keeping themselves alive. ''Must I remind you, Sentinel Prime, that we were defeated once and only managed to stop a full-blown invasion only thanks to the warframes and some mechs you will never have the honor of hearing of, since our dear Magnus is trying his hardest to bury their memories as well as their legends. Isn't that right, dear Ultra?'' There was an acid so strong in his tone that Optimus wondered how even Cybertron's strong metal plates - that had survived millions of years of solar storms before any lifeforms but Cybertonian had existed in the Universe - weren't melting.

''Now listen here, you scrap heap-!''

But the Councilmech was no longer listening to Sentinel, instead glaring at the Magnus. ''If you do this, the Decepticons will retaliate the only way they can that will ensure no Autobot ever sees Haden as a free mech ever again and if they do that, the Qu-''

''That will not happen, as even Strika will never deal with them, Alpha Trion.'' There was a warning in his tone, but the Archvist wasn't going to let him try and intimidate him. He had seen far worse than even the Autobot Commander could imagine and he would not allow all that he had lived through to happen again. Never again.

''She is more loyal to her Lord than any Autobot will ever be to even Cybertron, so she will have no reservation in destroying those who had deactivated her commander, even if it involves-''

''We will destroy the Decepticons before they can do that-''

''-there are few things on this or any other plane of existence that can stand up to a Cybertronian warframe-''

''-we defeated them once just fine, and we shall do so again, Alpha Tri-''

''The Allspark has rejected any attempt at entry of the Temple of Primus, even the transfer back into the Well. You will not have it at your disposal like last time-''

''-we still have space bridges-''

''We have only a few truly active space bridges and you know that will not be enough!'' The old mech finally huffed, probably feeling like he was dealing with a newspark. ''We won because we stood a chance with all our scientific achievements, including a fleet of Omega Sentinels, but only one of them is fully operational, or have you forgotten that!?''

There was no answer, only cold, deadly silence.

It only encouraged Alpha Trion to go on. ''We won, last time, yes, but at what a cost! The soldiers you send out now are still practically sparklings, for Primus's sake! The Decepticons could chew through them without any effort! If there was ever a head on confrontation like Tyger Pax had been, we would lose not only our armies, but any hope of ever having new generations of civilianframes after our deaths.''

''Um, not to question ya, sir, but we did jus' fine on Earth. Against Megatron and the Cons and all tha'. Only one casualty, too.'' Jazz actually lifted his servo like a sparkling would to their teacher-bot. The old red and gray bot looked at him, raising an optical ridge of those old, old sea-blue optics. Jazz shrank back, looking even more like a newspark. ''Jus' sayin'.''

The old bot sighed and tubbed his forehelm. ''And just what did you have in your arsenal?'' He looked directly in Jazz's optics. ''Or rather, who was there with you?''

Jazz nodded. ''Yeah, I'll agree with ya on dat.'' The two blue bots looked at him, one with true confusion and one with faked surprise. ''Dog, if we didn't have old OP with us, Megs would have lived up to his famed name and turned us to slag! I wouldn't mess with that bot if you paid me enough energon for me, any friends or life partner I could ever get three times over!'' He actually shivered a bit, hugging himself. ''If he ever turned evil, I'm going to join his side, because the Universe would be fragged if he ever decided to take it over. And I think Megs would be delighted to help him.'' He added the last as a thoughtful afterthought.

There was silence. The Jettwins fidgeted again.

Then Alpha Trion burst out laughing, scaring the nuts and bolts out of them all and Optimus didn't know weather he should be afraid or offended by the cause of laughter. ''Oh, dear Jazz,'' He began and even clapped the cyber ninja on the shoulderguard. ''You have no idea just how right you are.'' He chuckled again, his old frame shaking with his laughter, although it was controlled now. ''I dare say, Cybertron itself would be very glad to help him out if he ever decided to conquer the known existence and beyond.''

Four jaws dropped in front of the Councilmech, as did one behind his back, but he didn't know that Optimus was there, so that didn't count. Ultra Magnus looked grim but was paid no mind. He just shook his helm a little and smiled at the youngsters. ''I can only thank Primus and Unicron that he has no such wishes and only desires freedom for all. Truly, we are blessed.''

Jetfire and Jetstorm perked up at this and immediately smiled. ''Ya! Optimus Prime good! He helps us with flying!''

Sentinel snapped out of it and glared at the twins, making their good mood evaporate faster than Sari's Halloween candy had disappeared. Satisfied, he turned an unimpressed look on Trion. ''Optimus Prime couldn't conquer his way out of a one-way hallway, let alone take over the Universe.''

Optimus almost sneered in indignation, but he had to stop Roller before the Minicon showed Sentinel that size didn't matter with his species. It was Ultra Magnus that interrupted this argument between them before it could even be born. ''That is quite enough, Sentinel Prime. Optimus Prime has handled the situation on Earth rather well and we should be eternally grateful to him for stopping the Decepticons and bringing in Megatron, as well as returning the Allspark and quite a few lost protoforms.''

''Maybe you should show that gratitude.'' Mumbled Jazz, obviously not wanting to be heard, but was so either way. Alpha Trion was looking him with a considering look, but there was a strange glint in Ultra Magnus's optics.

''Then perhaps I shall.'' The Commander said with an air of someone preparing to trap a long-hated enemy in a very satisfactory trap. The Master Archivist's back struts were suddenly rigid. ''He shall be invited to Megatron's trail as a guest of honor.''

The old mech exploded. ''THAT I will certainly never allow! I will not let you drag Optimus Prime down with you!''

''It will be a great honor and it will open doors for his further development-''

''He will never develop under you! Not even over my cold, offlined body!'' Dentae were bared.

''-and he will witness justice he has brought about at work.'' Ultra finished as if the almost completely clear threat was never made.

''You still plan to hold that farce trail?!'' It was almost a screech. Optimus wondered how long it will take for his vocalizer to finally give out.

''It will be a fair trail and the accused will have all rights to defend himself, with silence if so chosen.''

Jazz and the Jettwins looked so indignant that they almost dropped dead from shock at the POW's ''rights''.

''How dare yo-!?''

''You're actually going to go through with that!?'' All optics turned to look at Optimus, who could no longer keep quiet at that piece of information. Sentinel scowled. Ultra Magnus looked slightly uneasy, though he hid it well. Alpha Trion looked both delighted to see him and a little embarrassed, probably at being caught fighting like a sparkling. Jazz looked revealed and the Jettwins looked elated to see him, because he seemed to have inspired the impression that he could stop high-ranking officers from fighting. It's not an all that off-mark impressions, considering that ever since he got back he was stopping one Prime or another from turning each other to slag, or making Inelegance agents shut their intakes or be subjected to his by now infamous disappointed glance that made everyone want to crawl out of their plating just so they would stop feeling it on them.

''Ah, Optimus Prime.'' Here Optimus saluted and answered with a crisp 'sir', although there was no longer any intimidation in his optics and he now always looked straight into Ultra Magnus's own, as if they were equals and not Commander and soldier. Learning what had happened during the war and on Earth had beaten out the perfect 'little Autobot' out of him and while he showed respect, there was very little meaning behind it now. Now, an experienced leader who had fought Megatron four times and won stared back and it unnerved many a mecha, especially those who had known him before his disappearance. Jazz had even caught Sentinel letting out a vent he had been holding after Optimus had glared at him because of some stupid decision when the younger Prime had finally turned and left. And Alpha Trion had celebrated in his office in the Archives after he had caught Councilmecha standing to automatically salute the red and blue Prime when he had once barged into the Council chamber, enraged that they had tried to experiment on the Starscream clones. His fury that day had been so palpable that the old mech had almost believed ... but he knew he was being silly and that a lot more would be needed to-

''What brings you here, old buddy, old pal?'' The poison in Sentinel's voice could rival Blackarachnia's, but Optimus didn't even flinch. 'Good mech' thought Trion fondly, despite his previous train of thought being interrupted by Sentinel.

''Actually, I have called him here. I had not anticipated that I would be visited by you, so I had wanted to get Optimus's opinion of Earth, any of its history and culture that he had learned so we could catalog another potential ally.'' He answered, not even reseting his optics at the blatant lie. He just wanted to visit with his little almost-protoge.

''And just why would you need tha-'' Sentinel's comment was stopped in its tracks when Roller came up next to Optimus and the Jettwins actually squeaked in delight.

''A MINICON!''

Roller only reset his yellow optics on them, beeping in greeting.

''So cute!''

''I thought they only in Trypticon-''

''What's his designation-''

''Is it true they lift over seven times their body mass-''

''Is it true that they are walking lie detectors and personality judges?'' The last question came from Jazz as he squatted by the twins, who were fawning all over poor little confused Roller. ''I heard that it's one of the crazy reasons why they can guard Decepticons, cause they can't be deceived. And they are totally neutral.'' He looked up at Optimus, who was smiling at his little partner with obvious fond amusement. ''How'd you get this one to leave all that and stick with ya?''

The young Prime shook his head. ''He just decided he wanted to stay with me and never left. Drove my instructors up the wall; he and his species unnerve Autobots and Decepticons alike.''

''Fascinating,'' was all he got in answer as the attention of the white cyber ninja was brought back to th Minicon. Poor Roller, he never got this much attention. He didn't know what to do!

''I believe it's time for you and yours to leave Ultra Magnus. Optimus and I have quite a bit of talking to do.'' And with that, Alpha Trion picked up Roller, took Optimus by the wrist and dragged him back into the giant library and away from the now solemn faces of the Jettwins and the scowls of Ultra Magnus and his Second in Command.