Given to Fly

"And it was written in the covenant of Primus that when the 47 spheres align, a perpetual conflict will culminate upon a world forged from chaos, and the weak shall perish in the shadow of a rising darkness." Optimus stared at the computer screen, reciting an old prophecy he had read a long time ago.

"No skies raining fire?" Arcee asked.

"Goes without saying," Ratchet added. "It is a doom prophecy, after all."

"I say it's a load of hooey," Bulkhead huffed.

Ratchet turned to look at him. "I'd always assumed the ancients were referring to our home planet, but being that Cybertron has been dark for eons..."

"And considering what has befallen this planet since Megatron's arrival here..." Optimus trailed off, letting his suspicions speak for themselves.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Bulkhead said. "We've known about these superstitions for ages and never gave them a second thought."

Arcee nodded. "Why all the ominous rumblings now?"

"Because the planetary alignment to which the prophecy refers is nearly upon us," Optimus answered.

"And it would seem its end point...Is Earth," Ratchet deduced.

Bulkhead chuckled nervously. "Uh...Crazy coincidence, heh, r-right?"

"How long are we talking?" Arcee asked.

Ratchet hummed. "A few days at most."

Optimus furrowed his brow. "However unsettling this revelation may be, I am more concerned about those who might believe that the prophecy speaks to them alone."

A chill passed through the base. The Autobots knew he was referring to Megatron, the Dark Lord of the Cons.

)()()()()(

"Pass," Jack said as Raf scrolled through a series of photos dedicated to finding aliens. "Kid in a costume. Balloon. Nope. Uh, hold," he stopped short when there was an image of a yellow and black muscle car without a driver.

Marty chuckled as she leaned on the back of the couch behind Raf. "The camera sure loves Bee."

"What can you do?" Miko asked. "When you're a superstar, you're paparazzi bait."

"Wait. Is that Bumblebee?" Ratchet asked worriedly.

Raf adjusted his glasses. "On a conspiracy website where users post evidence of close encounters. But we have it under control, Ratchet."

The boy deleted the image and moved a new file to take its place. "We just scrub and replace Bee with..." He trailed off as a little cat in an astronaut's suit danced.

"Mars cat says, 'take me to your feeder'."

"Ha ha!" A laugh came from the medic's direction.

Shocked stares covered the faces of the kids.

"Ratchet actually laughed?" Miko asked.

The medic in question pressed his lips together as if surprised at them for letting joy escape.

Jack chuckled before turning to the tallest Bot. "Um, Optimus, do you want to see something funny?"

"No," the Prime answered bluntly without looking at them.

Martha chuckled. "Heheh."

"Don't take it personally," Arcee told her ward. "Primes are built that way."