Hello to all my new readers. And hello again to my old ones. I've been gone for a short while, though you probably thought I was gone forever after I deleted all of my stories without warning. Well, that decision was something I regret, though only by 25%.

If you want an explanation, you'll find it on my profile page.

Now, why am I publishing this? Because while I deleted everything, there were some stories which were actually good stories with interesting plots (with the exception of some points where they were rushed or badly planned out). And now that I'm on a better course, I'm bringing back at least this one which was one of my favorites for a long time. However, to ensure that writing this doesn't become to mentally exhausting or frustrating, I will be toning down the complexity of the chapters, making them smaller but with the same amount of action.

This story, All That Remains, was one of my best Transformer stories. When the Omega Lock was discovered, it was diverged from the series when Optimus was delayed in destroying the Lock (Episode Darkest Hour). Earth was virtually 90-something% cyberformed, rendering humanity for all intents and purposes extinct. Jack, Miko and Rafael were the only human left until years later other humans were discovered but they never became relevant. Once I even had to change two whole chapters because the originals turned out to be stupid. So I'm taking this as a fresh start to recreate everything, only better.

Chapter 1: Death of the Future

Geneva, Switzerland. 2nd November 2012.

2 hours AE.

Everywhere he looked, Jack felt his heart weighing down like lead.

Metal. That was all he could see. Except for the gray and cloudy sky.

He stepped forward and looked down. It was too much hard to look front. Down all he saw was the metallic ground, and no one's face.

"Jack…"

He ignored it.

"Jack…"

Silence.

"Jack, please. Say something." Arcee softly laid a servo on his shoulder.

He finally replied. "'Cee, can you make a call from here?"

"Yeah, but…"

"I need to call mom."

Arcee hesitated for a moment, but before she could speak, Ratchet cut her off.

"It's pointless."

"Why?" Jack turned to face him. "She could still be alive back in Nevada. The 'Cons weren't invading the town yet."

"Jackson, there's no point."

"Yes, there is! If…"

"Jack!" the medic raised his voice. "If the cyberforming reached our current location, the heart of central Europe, then everything else between us and Nevada has…has perished." He ended with a heavy sigh.

Jack refuted that vehemently. Said they couldn't be sure. Claimed there was no proof. Had tried to call his mother three times to no avail. Then tried Agent Fowler. Then '911'. There was never any answer. Finally the cold realization crushed the denial. Jack dropped his phone and fell on his knees, hurting them when they hit the cyberformed earth.

Arcee wasted no time trying to console him. Ratchet left the two to their mourning. On his way his foot hit something small. It was a body, a little girl by the looks of it. She had been cyberformed kneeling, hands covering her crying eyes. Frightened and alone. A spark of sorrow struck the old medic. He spared a slow look to his surroundings. Everything was metal. For a cybertronian, it felt actually welcoming. But for a human…it was all dead.

His fist tightened. Until Optimus returned, he was the de facto leader by seniority. He carried on to find some duty to attend, something to keep him busy and distracted from feelings. Perhaps he should assign duties for the children, too…later.

Arcee didn't know or cared how much time passed while Jack sobbed in her hands. Hours maybe, didn't matter. When he finally calmed down, a long, almost contemplative silence followed. Arcee didn't interrupt it.

"How…" when he tried to speak again, his voice was hoarse. He didn't even try to clear his throat. "When Cybertron…how did you move on?"

Arcee narrowed her optics. "I don't think I ever did. Though most of my old home was already in ruins, there had always been a chance of rebuilding if we won the war. But even that chance was taken away from us." She made a short pause, thinking of something better to say. "But Optimus often told me, to carry on after so much loss, we should rejoice with what we have left."

"You have me, Miko, Raf and all of Team Prime. Like Optimus said, we're family now."

He gave no reply and resumed his contemplative silence.

Night fell.

"Say, Miko. You wanna go hit the road?"

"No." came the sobbed answer and another long period of silent mourning followed. This had become a pattern for Bulkhead. He would remain besides his sobbing partner and watch her mourn. After a while he would ask her something to bring her out of that, to which she replied (when she did) negative. Then he would go back to watch over her and quietly mourn with her.

Twice Ratchet had called him to go help him on some chore to which Bulkhead refused to reply. When Bulk was at his lowest, intoxicated in Tox-En and with a missile on his back, courtesy of the pit-spawn Insecticon, Miko never let his side. He was damn sure not leaving hers.

Hours went by. Miko's crying had become gradually more silent until it apparently ceased.

"How was it, Bulk?"

"Huh?"

"When Cybertron went out…how did you keep rolling?" her voice was wearily soft, but steady.

Bulkhead was surprised for a moment and sighed: "It wasn't easy. Probably the hardest thing I've done. I was aboard the Ark when it left Cybertron, unlike most other Wreckers. Just as hard to leave home behind was to leave them, too. I caught a glimpse of Cybertron while we were taking off." He frowned. Visiting these memories was not something he liked doing, but perhaps Miko needed to hear it. He kept his optics opened, because he knew if he closed them while bringing this up, the visions would return. "It was black, dark, none of the lights it showed during the night cycle. Dead."

A pause.

"You ask how I kept going? By remembering I hadn't lost everyone. I still had friends and a reason to fight."

Miko looked up at him with watery eyes and hugged his wheel-foot.

The night was chilly and moist, even if it did not rain. Miko opted to go stretch her legs and Bulkhead let her go, albeit a bit hesitantly. She walked alone around the petrified city, vaguely noticing its citizens frozen in panic and confusion. A memory came to mind, of a not-so-boring class about a city and its people frozen in ashes. She recalled a song about it.

We found you hiding we found you lying

Choking on the dirt and sand

Something caught her eye. A spire that towered above all other buildings. It kinda looked like the sole building the Omega Lock rebuilt on Cybertron. A few more stuck out, though not as tall as that one. If the Omega Lock could also build stuff, maybe it had done same on Earth, she figured.

Your former glories and all the stories

Dragged and washed with eager hands

But, oh oh your city lies in dust, my friend

Oh oh your city lies in dust, my friend

Your city lies in dust

The last time she was in a city, it was New York, on the hunt for the Iacon relic. Before, it was always Tokyo. Her home city. With her parents and her two cats, Chi-Chi and Ding-Dong. Her family.

She stopped. Miko wanted to go see her family.

Somewhere in the former Nevada territory.

"Welcome aboard the Jackhammer, boss-bot." Wheeljack greeting sounded welcoming, which contrasted greatly with the frown on his features.

"Wheeljack, take us to the crash site of the Harbinger." Optimus ordered without preamble, referring to the Decepticon warship that crash-landed on Earth millions of years before. During Starscream's days as a rogue, he had made use of the wreck as his base. Optimus hoped the traitorous Commander didn't have the foresight of destroying it before returning to Megatron's ranks.

The journey began quiet, but Wheeljack didn't waste much time asking the question. "What happened?"

Optimus didn't give an immediate answer, but the Wrecker was respectful enough to wait.

"We had discovered the means of restoring life to Cybertron." Optimus proceeded to explain the discovery of the Omega Lock and the Keys, the ultimate creation of the Primes to re-energize their world, should it ever suffer like it did during the war. But after the Autobots acquired all but one of the Omega Keyes, Starscream deceived them and stole them. The rogue Decepticon used all four Omega Keyes to buy his re-entrance into the Decepticons. The Omega Lock was on Cybertron and both factions raced there.

"And you didn't invite me, because?" Wheeljack frowned sternly.

"You were hard to reach and time was short. Also, I do not think your presence would have changed the outcome." Optimus refrained from saying it, but it was implied why Wheeljack's assistance was not asked. Previously, Bulkhead had been mortally wounded by an Insecticon and Wheeljack took it upon himself to offline the grub. Miko, whom had snuck in, was the one who killed the Insecticon. The rest of Team Prime was very upset with Wheeljack for allowing Miko on his revenge trip. He became more of an outcast by the 'Bots since then until he came to their rescue.

Optimus carried on, explaining how the Autobots retrieved the Keyes back through surprise and use of all Relics in their arsenal. But upon reaching the Lock, Megatron and his lieutenants arrived with the children in their captivity and threatened to expose them to Cybertron's toxic air if the Autobots did not hand over the Keyes. Reluctantly, Optimus had agreed.

"After the exchange, Megatron revealed the true depth of his plan. Instead of using the Lock to repair our homeplanet, he unleashed its power on Earth, modifying it into what we see now." The Prime sent a regretful look to the outside.

Wheeljack, though quiet during the entire retelling, had tightened his grip on the controls, threatening to crush them.

"So, Buckethead just offed an entire planet. Again." The Wrecker's voice was leaking hate.

From then on the journey continued quietly.

Upon arriving at badlands where the remains of the warship were rusting, Optimus informed him they were to quickly dismantle the groundbridge and collect it, plus anything else that might be salvageable. Afterwards, they would unleash the Jackhammer's guns on the wreck to make sure no Decepticon could make use of it, again.

After the groundbridge components were stored aboard, Optimus made his way alone to another part of the ship, in search of something that could be useful. While collecting a box of medical tools, he uncovered a Decepticon logo painted on the wall.

"You didn't pound Megatron into scrap when you had the chance! Many chances, in fact!" the words of Ratchet resonated in his memory. At the time, the synthetic energon was corrupting his old friend's mind…

…And now Optimus couldn't help but fear that there was some truth, much truth, in those words. Megatron, through his power lust, had condemned Cybertron into darkness. Though Optimus was certain that was not his intention, it was still by his actions. Today Megatron had repeated the sin, only this time it was intentional.

But it was not just Megatron, was it? Starscream…it was thanks to the traitorous seeker that the tyrant grasped the Keyes and Earth paid the ultimate price. It was not just Megatron that was the scourged. It was the Decepticons. Even if he killed the messenger, the message would still live. And innocents by the thousands would still die. After Earth, how many more worlds would die? How many were dying right now at the hands of Decepticons scattered through the galaxy?

The stoic, collected Prime let loose his anger and punched a large dent on the evil symbol.

After the scavenging mission was over, the pair flew to where they were supposed to meet the rest of Team Prime. It seemed this voyage would also be spent in bitter silence until:

"Are we able to connect to Earth's still operating satellites?"

"Yeah, sure."

Wheeljack did as told and soon the screen displayed a holographic image of planet Earth, facing the western hemisphere, North and South America. Now the continents were a color of grayish metal. The oceans were brilliant puddles of light blue.

"Is that all energon?" Wheeljack dropped his scowl to almost marvel at the image. Optimus didn't reply. He pushed a button and the image changed to show the eastern hemisphere with Europe, Asia and Africa with the same changes. The Prime sighed:

"It is as I feared; I was too late to stop the Omega Lock. Earth and its native life have been cyberformed entirely."

Wheeljack took a moment to digest that. "Then the kids…" he stopped himself from ending that question. The voyage proceeded without another word.

"Never again." Optimus thought.

Geneva

Ratchet's announcement that Optimus had arrived was the first piece of good news.

The entire Team gathered outside the tallest spire, which had become the temporary base of operations. Fortunately it had a courtyard spacious enough for the Jackhammer to land. The two 'Bots were welcomed, something that pulled Wheeljack out of his previous sour mood. Being taken back into the band felt great.

Pleasantries ended quickly and Optimus began assigning orders, which the 'Bots diligently addressed to. Only the human children were left before him.

Optimus looked down at them with unreadable expression. Miko seemed about to say something but Optimus soundly crumbled on one knee and lowered his head.

"Forgive me, children. I have failed you and Earth."

Jack sighed. "Optimus, seriously, you have this bad habit of pinning too much blame on yourself."

"Yeah, Megatron is the only one to blame." Raf said with a faint but steady voice. Jack gave him a concerned glance. He had found the boy in Bumblebee's company, crying his eyes out. Jack didn't try to talk to him at all. Just laid a hand on his head and let him pour down his grief. Bumblebee had been comforting his pal with silent, also. Amazingly enough, that silence consoled him better than any amount of words.

Jack took a deep breath. He had mentally prepared himself for the question. Now, it seemed he was as ready to ask anything as a new born baby. "Optimus, be honest. How much damage has Megatron done?"

Optimus looked at the stone-faced Jack. Then to Miko who looked nonchalant, or at least tried to. Then to Rafael, whose eyes were downcast and face unreadable. Optimus knew he could not lie; not only it wasn't his nature, if he told them there were more humans out there, they would go on a fruitless endeavor to find them.

"I am sorry, but as far as I understand, the entire Earth has been cyberformed." He refrained from telling the obvious part which it implied.

"We're all that remains." Not voicing those thoughts, Jack lowered his head so that no one could see his eyes moistening up again. Fists clenched, nails digging into his skin. That tiny pain did nothing to attenuate the sorrow. Raf's sobbing threatened to return. Miko, however, surprised everyone by stomping her foot.

"I don't buy it, Prime. I wanna go home and see for myself."

"Miko…"

"Don't 'miko' me! I'm going back to Tokyo and see what happened to my parents, even if I gotta walk all the way there!"

Optimus's optics bore into her and she did not back down. So the Prime went for his comm-link. "Ratchet, shift priority to reassembling the groundbridge."

In about an hour, the groundbridge Optimus and Wheelkjack brought from the Harbinger was up and running. Ratchet input the coordinates for Tokyo and Miko crossed over, Bulkhead behind her.

Darkmount, Nevada, USA

Atop the new Decepticon HQ, Darkmount, Megatron watched the sun setting. Behind him was his recently re-instituted second-in-command delivering a report.

"Soundwave's report is conclusive enough, my liege. Human communications and broadcasts have ceased completely. Our heat sensors detect no human or any matter organic activity on the surface of the planet. It would appear the cyberforming was a success…despite its interruption." Starscream wide smirk, which had been present since he began delivering the report, faltered a little. His optics travelled to Megatron's right arm, which was missing from the elbow down. A result of his battle with Optimus while the Prime was desperately attempting to reach the Omega Lock.

"Noted." Megatron did not turn to face him. Starscream was disappointed to see the lack of interest from his master.

"Uh…and the drones are still excavating the remains of the Autobot base." He casually turned his optics to the destroyed missile silo that had been their enemies' refuge. "No Autobot husk has been uncovered yet, but I believe we will find at least one of them…"

"You believe wrong, Starscream. Optimus certainly sent his team to a safe location before escaping with Wheeljack. Whose ship, need I remind you, you failed to shoot down." Despite the accusation, Megatron didn't turn his infamous menacing glare on him. Yet Starscream lost his firmness and quickly spoke to appease his master.

"On the other hand they dug out an old wretched acquaintance, Airachnid. Trapped in a stasis pod."

"Not too surprising. Optimus would be doing a favor to the Universe had he offlined her. Put her in vault until new order."

Starscream transmitted the order and waited for his Lord's reaction but there was none. Finally he mustered the nerve to ask:

"My liege, forgive me for interrupting your thoughts but, I could not help but notice you seem…not quite as joyous as you would normally be after a victory. Especially a victory of this magnitude." He made a gesture with his talooned hand to indicate the cyberformed world around them. "You have conquered a planet, eliminated those organic pests and drove the Autobots on the run. They will never stand up again against you."

"Wrong, Starscream. This victory may be a crushing blow to the Autobots their love for their pets, but Optimus will be more determined than ever to win this war. I can see what the near future has in store for us. The War for Cybertron may have ended long ago, but the war for this world begins now. The victory we had today marks not an end, but a beginning." Megatron finally turned.

"Gather 90% of our worker drones and split them in three units. You, Knock Out and Soundwave will take charge of one and supervise construction of bases and settlements all across the surrounding areas." a holographic map appeared between the Decepticons. Three red dots were marked in states surrounding Nevada. One in the coast of California, the other two eastern of Darkmount. "I want an energon refinery on the coast. A mining complex in this spot, our scanners say it is potentially rich with precious alloys. A listening post even further eastern. And I want them operational at full capacity before the stellar cycle is out."

That was the equivalent of an Earth year. An arduous deadline to keep, especially if the facilities in question were to be as grand as Megatron wanted them. Yet, Starscream (as always) was in no position to argue. He hurriedly flew down from the tower to make the preparations.

Megatron returned to his thoughtful watch of the sunset.

"Optimus, you cost me Cybertron by prolonging the war until it became a tomb. If you a now fully committed to stop me, I will be even more committed to end you. This world and everything on it is MINE! You will not take it from me!"

Geneva, Switzerland. 3rd November 2012.

1 day AE.

It was past midnight when Miko and Bulkhead returned to the new HQ. The girl was received by her two human friends. No tears were shed, they had ran out of them already.

Optimus was there when the children reunited. Again he kneeled to them and proclaimed:

"I vow to you, my friends, my family, the Decepticons will pay for this crime and every other. This I swear with all my Spark."

Jack, Miko and Raf, all holding hands, returned him his steely look.

In case you didn't notice, the song Miko was thinking was 'Cities in Dust' by Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was played during the trailers for the Fall of Cybertron game.