if I'm not too late for the ask game: Rodgalv + Decepticon!Hot Rod?
You arenāt too late to the ask game, itās open ātil the end of May :) Now, without further ado ā
1. The thing about time travel is that it, uh, can go a bit⦠awry. Rodimus Prime cracks open the Matrix in his hands ā ignoring the shouts of his mecha behind him, because this is the only way left ā and throws his spark back into the hurricane, urging it to go, go, go, thereās gotta be a better path to take, and thatās how he ends up here.
He blinks at Springer. Springer blinks at him. The gleaming gold lights of Vector Sigma spin around them like an Earth disco ball (Kup would have had his head if heād ever said that out loud, but whatever, heās not here. Heās not here, and that thought is painful.) Then Springer aims a blaster at him, and Rodimus ā no, Hot Rod ā ducks to the side on instinct. āāCon!ā
(So ā thatās different. Hot Rod came out of Vector Sigma an Autobot, in another time, built and taken down to be sparked by his cell. But this is not that time, by Hot Rodās own design, and this time he comes out of the planetary supercomputer with red optics and a purple sigil on his front. He still looks the same otherwise, all magenta and orange, yellow and white, racer alt like an Autobot but in-built weaponry like a Decepticon.)
Springer looks betrayed, by Hot Rod or by Vector Sigma is up for grabs, and Hot Rod ā he just ā no, no, no. Not Springer, not his old friend. He refuses. He grabs for Springerās blaster, wrests it from his hands with the advantage of surprise and of knowing Springerās hand-to-hand combat style by spark, and flees. Heās not a coward, but he canāt afford to fight and die here, or, worse, fight and kill here. Heās got a job to do.
2. That job is stopping Unicron before he ever touches Cybertron, because it turns out that Unicron leaks out so much corrosive spiritual miasma that the astro-second his fingers brushed Cybertronās surface, he doomed the planet to a slow death as it rusted away, the necrosis unable to be stopped. And since Cybertron is, itself, the source of life for the Cybertronians, thatās⦠something to be avoided entirely, this time.
In another time, as the spreading necrotic virus spread to attack the sparks of those fighting in other galaxies, Autobot and Decepticon alike, from the lowest soldier up to the Prime himself, even Galvatron had ceased to laugh.
3. Hot Rod joins up with a patrolling group of Decepticons. Heās got the badge, heās got the optics, and when they get him to the med-bay under armed supervision, heās even got the coding. Shockwave seems mutedly amused at the idea of the Autobots trying to boost their numbers and getting a āCon for their efforts instead, and as a whole the Decepticons arenāt in a position to turn away any reinforcements. Besides, Hot Rodās a new-spark ā whatās he gonna do? Betray them for a group that tried to kill him the second he came into existence?
And thatās how Hot Rod spends the next few centuries: scout and saboteur for a side he still doesnāt agree with regarding their overall aims, but at this point, down on the ground with the long stalemate dragging on as it has been for millions of years, life isnāt so different. Survival is top priority, and the minutiae of life is much the same from this side as it was from the other. Theyāre all people, all Cybertronians, in the end.
4. Fast forward a little: even though he knows itās coming, Hot Rod doesnāt step in to save Megatron (as would be demanded of his new side) or Optimus (because⦠how? Guy decided that Autobot City would be his last stand, taking both leaders down together, and thereās not much Hot Rod can do to change that.)
There is one thing he does do: he steals the Matrix. With his āCon coding, it canāt choose him to become an Autobot Prime, and thatās⦠a greater relief than it should be. He tries not to feel guilty, but canāt quite manage it. Even so, he hides it in his subspace as the doomed coronation of Starscream begins. He feels Soundwave squint at the back of his head, but ignores it.
5. Galvatron. Heās here, and Hot Rod freezes at the feeling that flows over him, suffusing through his spark as much as it does his circuitry. He sees Cyclonusā head turn, as though scanning the room, but his optics are glued to Galvatron, and the way he crushes the crown beneath his pede, and stands up before them, power-power-power leaking from him in every way. His Decepticon coding shivers at it, awed. It feels like Galvatronās optics burn into his when they briefly meet.
It doesnāt stop him from sneaking away the first chance he gets. Doesnāt stop him from stealing a small ship and taking it out, far out, and hovering it close to where Unicron is floating in space, disguised as nothing more than a metal planet drifting with no orbit, inexorably closer and closer to Cybertron. The lion does not bother with a gnat, after all. Too much energy expenditure for so little a prey.
It doesnāt stop him from aiming one of Shockwaveās stolen cannons right at Unicron, the thing loaded up with a fractured Matrix ready to break and spill its light everywhere. Unicron screams, the sound echoing in a way that the vacuum of space should prohibit, and dies without ever knowing who killed him.
āSoldier!ā barks a deep voice that Hot Rod knows all too well from his comm panel. He turns, spies Galvatron inside Cyclonusā alt outside the small shipās viewport, and swallows as he opens the door for them to land inside. Galvatron is huge, imposing, and ā Hot Rod stares up, and feels something unfurl in his spark.
āThey tell me you are called Hot Rod,ā says Galvatron.
āYes, my lord,ā Hot Rod says, nearly stammers.
Galvatron steps closer, curls his huge hand over Hot Rodās arm, and pulls him forward. Itās not an embrace, but it could almost be. Something moves in Hot Rodās spark again. āYou set me ā us ā free. You⦠who is mine, ours. Spark to spark. Mine.ā
Cyclonus nods behind him, and ah. Thatās what that feeling was. āYours,ā Hot Rod replies. āAlways.ā