#vortex tf

THIS CAN'T LAST FOREVER; TIME WON'T MAKE THINGS BETTER

Inspired by @keferon 's Mech Pilot Jazz AU and all the other fics shared here and on ao3, plus some really good ideas and fanart!

I was really inspired after reading the Hot Rod and Lost Light posts, where he's a titan and Roddy is just... this tiny speck of a human next to the titan, yet they somehow connect! So I wrote this! These are just rough drafts and ideas I have in my head for now. Will see if I write more on them.

-Richie Torres or Hot Rod, as he preferred to be called, was a hyperactive kid from the very beginning. He always seemed to be running at 110% to the dismay of his parents whenever they had to get him to bed. Before the invasion, he dreamed to be an athlete, then a doctor like in those medical dramas, then a fighter jet pilot, then to be a pirate or a sailor, then an astronaut, basically every profession that seemed to be action-packed and interesting. When the aliens arrived and the mech program started, it was like something in his mind clicked “This it what I want to do! This is the right thing for me!” and he knew what he wanted to work as. He became a volunteer at 21, then became an official pilot at 23 after 2 years of training and prep for a Neurolink implant. His first connection was overwhelming and he got a serious nosebleed after he was done but for the first time he felt like he found somewhere where he fits. His second time is much better and he’s a natural pilot. Then he gets to an actual battlefield after the test period he had to do to see if his brain would not turn to mush, and he somehow makes his mech catch on fire, the next time it repeats, again and again but he always gets out fine. Everyone is baffled because there shouldn’t even be anything to combust like that in a robot that was mostly metal. They can’t deny his results though, so they start building a custom mech, covered with as much fire-resistant material, then they start adding multiple exhaust pipes and vents to deal with the overheating, then metal rods and ports to expel even more of the heat. Eventually being on fire becomes Hot Rod’s thing, hence how he got the nickname, because his mech was fire and literally the only mech in the US force that used superheated air and fire to roast the aliens on the battlefield.

-He and Jazz become bffs as they both are natural at driving their mechs like it is a second skin, they both like music and sports, they both hate and fear Shockwave and are just bros that like vibing together. When Jazz is lost in space, Hot Rod is pissed and makes in HR’s problem, so he’s put on a short leave to ‘cool off’, like he could ever cool off! He takes out his frustration through training, fighting aliens even more aggressively and going out on extreme climbing.

-After a really bad week, troubles with the superiors, reports, pr stunts, photoshoots, seeing First Aid pulled out panicked and bleeding out of Vortex after the las surprise invasion where the haunted mech was almost smashed and forced to retreat, Hot Rod had to let off all the steam or he felt like his mech would spontaneously combust when he links again. He takes a few days off with permission and a note from Ratchet. Despite being retired, the old doc was still on call in emergencies and in Hot Rod’s phone, so he really owed one to the grumpy medic. Roddy goes hiking alone in the mountains, since he just needed time away from people. He likes things extreme, so after setting up camp, he goes climbing up the cliffs – it is steep, it is dangerous and he’s all alone, so he’s screwed if something happens to him but he doesn’t care, he just needed to let all the pent-up energy out. He’s pretty high up and away from any of the hiking trails or usual climbing spots when he slips and his handhold breaks off. He falls down a crevice and the only reason he’s not dead is the safety rope that was holding by literally the very last pin after he plummeted down. He’s scratched and a bit banged up but alive. He tries to get back up but the friction against the sharp rocks caused his rope to start breaking, so Hot Rod is forced to quickly find a stable place to stand, so he doesn’t fall and die. He’s all alone, in a crevasse between the rocks, sitting on a small ledge, barely big enough to hold him. He has to get out but his phone doesn’t have signal and he barely had any food or water to last him until someone might find him, if he was ever found.

-He decides to risk it and using his surviving gear and rock-climbing skills, he continues on, looking for a way out of this giant crack in the rocky mountain. As he goes further, he notices the crevasse actually has a flat bottom and it leads to some cave. It was too steep and risky to climb up, hence why he got low enough to see the bottom, but when he touches the ground with his feet, he feels a shiver/shock and almost like a breeze. He doesn’t know what but something from further in is calling him, he’s compelled to go further. He ends up in a large cave system, hidden until now from humans, and then, lodged within the rocks and dirt is an absolutely massive alien ship, the biggest Hot Rod has ever seen, (since until then aliens just opened portals or at most sent drones) bigger than the mech hangar at base, probably! He was scared but also awed by the sight. He was in wonder how such a ship was hidden from humanity for so long, how many millennia was this ship buried there? He approached the odd, slightly blocky, white alien ship, he notices some odd, faded letters he didn’t recognize on the side, done with red paint along with a face-shaped symbol that had to be some emblem. The ship was a bit of a wreck and obviously no one had been there in a long time, hence why he strode in so confidently, everything was dark and he had to use a flashlight. The halls, the doors, the items inside were all massive, it was big enough for mechs to casually walk through. “Are all aliens just giants?! Why did we get the short stick?!” – he says to himself.

-Hot Rod wanders for a long time, the ship was that massive, when he stumbles into a circular room after deciding to crawl through a vent, he was also a bit lost, it is mostly empty with some chairs and odd devices but he felt something different inside. It was like the air itself was charged with some energy. (It is the Lost Light’s control room but he doesn’t know that, yet!) He feels his hair stand up, like with static electricity and the feeling kept getting stronger as he got closer to the platform in the middle. He is curious and decides to climb up on the platform and walk around, maybe touch something. It is then that he places two hands on the metal below and he feels like a shock has run through his system. Suddenly the humm in the air becomes louder, lights start to flicker and slowly come to life, the whole ship seems to almost be groaning as the systems boot up. There’s almost a *thrum-thrumm* sound just ECHOING through the whole place. Hot Rod’s reaction is panic and “OH SHIT!” and he just jumps off and runs back. [sjnha…HHJsaonxc nc?] some gibberish sounds from somewhere above and Hot Rod just books it out of there as fast as he can, and he actually finds his way out too easily. Somehow, in his panic, he also found a way out of the cave, which was narrow and well-hidden in the forest between a few trees. He goes back to his camp and goes back to his home right after that. But even days later he can’t stop but think of the strange alien ship, there’s also this… warm, buzzing feeling in his chest, somewhere and he realized that it just FEELS RIGHT!

-Lost Light was a titan and a ship, its crew was part of the Autobots and helped fight for the cause but after an incident, it went MIA, thought to have been destroyed, along with its crew and previous captain and Cityspeaker – Rodimus Prime. But it actually was not destroyed, it crashed on Earth a few million years ago and was simply dormant after the shock caused by Rodimus’ offlining. BUT! The Lost Light woke up! He felt the connection! His processor was booting up and even if all his systems were not yet online and he was damaged and his nanites would need a while to repair him to a completely functional state, he was alive and woke up! His processor was jumpstarted when he felt that old connection light up with energy and life, just like when Rodimus connected with him! It felt like a dream or was this just his imagination? Was the captain really alive?! His systems were still booting up when he felt that small, bright, blazing spot in his control room jolt and run off somewhere [Captain… is that you?]  he asked but the spark didn’t stop, it continued moving, the Lost Light just opened a few doors to one of his entrances. He couldn’t do much more but to observe as his Cityspeaker left in a hurry, he wanted to follow but he was damaged and couldn’t move, even if he desperately wanted the captain back. The only thing that assured him it was not a dream or a glitch was the fact he still felt the connection with his captain with his spark and knew that wherever the captain was, he was alright.

-Hot Rod can now dream of the Lost Light and sometimes communicates with him in his sleep through their connection, playing off some ‘human technically have EM fields’ and a bit of reincarnation stuff, but thinks it is a dream, until Jazz comes back and/or he finds out Ratchet has alien robot roommate? He tells them he found an alien ship and that maybe they can use it to get back home when the government goes after them after Jazz saves Prowl.

-Shockwave makes deal with the Quintessons, since he’s crazy and has no morals, only science and their offer was better than the army’s. He takes control over the mechs and pilots through the link. Vortex and First Aid try and escape the dream together. Ratchet and Drift along with the rest of the staff organize a rescue. Jazz and Prowl manage to save themselves and go help. Eventually, First Aid and Vortex bruteforce their way out but Vortex will miss having hand after waking up. Hot Rod is trapped and panicking, the Lost Light feels it and the titan has had enough, so the Lost Light flies out of the cave with the grace of a giant alien ship and goes to save his Cityspeaker, because he just found the Captain and he was not losing him again! Needless to say, everyone is shocked, including the bots when the ship flies in and slams into one of the Quintesson ships flying overhead, then transforms into a giant robot. “There were still titans out there?!” – one of the bots asks in shock, since they all thought all titans were gone. Hot Rod is saved and the other pilots are freed from Shockwave’s control. Hot Rod finally sees the Lost Light in person while in his robot mode and Hot Rod is just… this tiny speck on the titan’s finger, but he immediately knows what to do, goes in and with the help of the Lost Light, they fight off the invading Quint fleet.