It was only when the red Autobot took off again that Bumblebee's attention was taken away from me. Roaring filled the air as Underbite came running into the area. I blink before taking off in the direction the red Autobot drove off in. Bumblebee and the other Autobot didn't follow for a few moments, which gave me the chance to catch up to Red. Soon Bumblebee and the other Autobot caught up as well.

"Sideswipe, what did you say to him?" the unfamiliar bot asks. Red, now known as Sideswipe, was quick to reply.

"It wasn't me! It was the flying human!"

I saw some wreckage coming up an saw a small orange robot. The bots transform while I land on the ground. Russell runs up to me. 

"Astraea!" he exclaims. I smile down at him.

"Yes, Russell?" I ask calmly.

"You can fly?" he asks, amazement filling his voice. I nod softly before extending one of my wings for him to see. He runs one of his hand over it gently, before pulling back in shock. "They're made of metal."

I laugh softly. "Not just any metal, Russell." I look up at the bots, my gaze landing on Bee last. "Cybertronian alloy."

I heard three gasps come from the three bots I hadn't met until today. "But you're human!" the small orange robot exclaims.

I look at him. "On the contrary, I am not human. Well, at least not fully. I am known as a techno-organic and have been one for the past five years."

The white and blue Autobot was quick to put things together. "The war ended five years ago! Wait... You don't mean to say... that... there's a whole section of a museum on Cybertron about you!"

I blink. "Wait, what?"

Bumblebee chuckles nervously... "Um..." Unfortunately, before he could continue, Underbite appeared once more. "I'll explain later, Astraea!"

"You better!"

Underbite tries to attack Russell, but Bumblebee was quick to move him out of the way. I draw out my swords. The blue and white Autobot sees this and tries to convince me to join Russell.

"Go join your friend! We can handle this!"

I blink before glaring at her. "I don't back down when I can help!"

"Those swords of yours won't do any damage!" she exclaims. I roll my eyes and fly towards Underbite, stabbing one of his optics.

"Say that again, Autobot", I growl. She wisely stays silent. Sideswipe and Blue-white attack as well, Bumblebee coming to help a few moments later. It was then that I stayed back, knowing I would just get in the way. At least... until the three Autobots were knocked away by Underbite. I was about to attack again, when a new voice spoke up.

"Hey, aren't you Underbite, the con who ate that city?" the voice says. I turn to see a robots head sticking out of this weird container thingy.

Underbite grins. "Finally! What gave me away? The muscles?" He flexes and I blink, mentally puking. What is wrong with this 'con? The robot in the container smiles.

"The smell", he says. I blink before laughing.

"Dude, you just got BURNED!!!" I yell at Underbite who growls at the robot. He attacks the container the robot is in and flings it from side to side, eventually flinging the robot out of the container. 

I ignore what he said, wanting to go and check on the robot that got flung away until I noticed Underbite, who had just seen the scrapyard. He starts bounding away before transforming and driving towards the scrapyard. My eyes widen in fear. Scrap...

I ignore Bumblebee's and the orange robots interaction as I sheath my swords. However, I was drawn back into the conversation at Russell's worried exclamation.

"My dad's in there!" I instantly lock eye contact with Bumblebee before flying towards the scrapyard. I heard Bumblebee call after me but I ignored him. Soon, I got to the scrapyard where I find Denny listening to music, and humming along with it though his humming was not the best.

"Denny!" I exclaim without landing. He doesn't hear me. I see Underbite leap over the gate and watch in fear as he nearly pounces on Denny but let out a breath of relief when something else knocks Underbite out of the way. I ignore the fight going on in the background and instead yank Denny's headphones off his head. He blinks but lets out a startled yelp when he sees me with my wings. 

"Astraea?" He asks in surprise.

"You need to get out of here, now!"

No sooner than had I said that did the robot from before and Underbite go rolling past in a fight. He stares at them in utter shock. 

"What the..." he whispers. I blink before dragging him towards the diner, only to stop when I hear a very familiar voice.

"Dad!" Russell exclaims. I groan. 

"Denny, get to the diner. I'll go get Russell and bring him to you", I say. He nods and goes towards the diner while I go get Russell. Unfortunately, he was in Sideswipe then who dropped him off in front of the diner. I nod before moving towards the fighting bots.

"Hey!" I yell at the two. They stop fighting for a minutes to look at me.

"How bout we settle this the diplomatic way?" I growl. Underbite growls at me.

"Says the one who stabbed me in the optic."

I roll my eyes. "I won't hesitate to do it again if you're so undiplomatic."

Underbite growls and goes to attack me but I was pulled out of the way by a certain yellow and black Autobot who puts me in front of the diner.

"Get inside, Astraea", he says. I shake my head to which he replies with a "Now."

"No! I will continue to fight, if not for myself, then for the ones that I love!"

Bumblebee sighs. "Please, Astraea. If not for me, then for Optimus."

My heart stops at the name. Tears well up in my eyes as I think about him. Bumblebee's eyes widen as he realizes that I had not yet gotten over Optimus yet. However, he could not say much due to Underbite attacking. He pushed me into the diner, where Denny took me to the back.

It was there that I sat in a corner, and thought as tears trickled down my face. Oh, Optimus, I miss you so much. What I wouldn't give to see you once more... Please... please come back to me...

Once all my tears were spent, I stood up and went to the front of the diner, where I found the glass window shattered and the white blue robot talking to Denny.

"Are you alright, human Denny?" she asks.

"It's just Denny", Denny says. "And yeah. Thank you." Denny then got distracted by what Underbite had done to his stuff. I sigh softly as I step out of the diner and flew up the roof.

"Is everyone alright?" Bumblebee asks as he runs up to us.

"Everyone's fine, Lieutenant", the blue and white robot says. "Except maybe the fugitive."

Before anyone can say anything else, I speak up. "Okay, can I get introductions? I know Bumblebee, because I met him a year or so before the war ended, and I know Denny and Russell, but the rest of you I don't know."

"This is Strongarm", Bumblebee says as he points to the blue and white Autobot. "She's a cadet at the police academy." I blink before nodding. Before Bumblebee can introduce Sideswipe, Sideswipe himself speaks up.

"I'm Sideswipe", he says. "Basically nobody on Cybertron."

I blink before smiling at him. "And I'm basically nobody on Earth."

Strongarm speaks up. "How is that you can be a nobody here, but everyone knows who you are on Cybertron?"

I chuckle softly. "Two different worlds, Strongarm. That's why. No one here on Earth knows of the Autobots except for a few select people, me being one of them. I'm assuming what I'm known for on Cybertron is due to something I did for the Autobots." 

Strongarm blinks before nodding. I smile before turning to Bumblebee. "You'll have to tell me about that later. Now, in the meantime, I do believe that you have a fugitive to catch."

Bumblebee nods but before they can say or do anything more, the fugitive looking dinosaur that was still here woke up.

"Round two!" he exclaims as he leaps up. Looking around, he was surprised at the destruction around him, as well as Underbite being no where in sight. "What happened?"

"Underbite tossed you like a lob ball", Strongarm says. I blink before remembering Bulkhead and Wheeljack playing that game, Ultra Magnus getting annoyed at them from time to time when they did.

"Anyone get hurt?" the fugitive asks. I blink. He seems to care a lot about others... So, why would he have the Decepticon symbol?

"Nope", Strongarm says. The dinosaur looking fugitive looked surprised.

"That's a first", he murmurs.

"It's strange that Underbite took off", Sideswipe says. "There's still plenty of metal here."

Bumblebee walks over to where he could see Crown City. "He's heading for that city. Those sky scrapers."

I blink before shaking my head. "There's hundreds of thousands of people in those buildings, Bee. If you want to be robots in disguise, you need to catch him fast."

The dinosaur fugitive transformed and spoke up. "I want another shot at that muscle head."

"Sir, you can't let some criminal ride with you!" Strongarm exclaims. 

"I'm not a criminal!" the fugitive pouts. "At least, I don't think I am."

Sideswipe muttered something to Strongarm, but I chose to ignore him.

"I'm not letting-" the fugitive cut Bee off.

"I'm going", he says. "And if you don't like it, you can try and stop me."

Bumblebee glares at the fugitive but was distracted by Denny speaking.

"I'm going to!" Russell let out a shocked exclamation. "I know a shortcut to the bridge."

"Lieutenant, if you're taking those two", Strongarm started.

Bumblebee sighs. "Fine. But no Cybertronian forms. There could be boats on that river, witnesses on the shore. We need to look like something humans would except." He turns to look at Denny. "Do you store any other vehicles around here?"

Denny nods and leads them to all the cars we have stored here. I ignore everything that happens next until they leave, though it was fairly quiet after they left. That is, until Sideswipe found a vehicle mode to his liking. And then he chose to put Russell in danger, who grinned at the idea of helping. He even has the idea of bringing the Billy the Breakfast Beavers to attract Underbite.

I think they forgot I was still here, even as I followed them all the way to the bridge, where  we found all of the others standing on the bridge, guarding Crown City from Underbite. I groan when I see Underbite start to chase Sideswipe and Russell. I quickly follow them all the way to the quarry, where they drive all the way to edge and wait for Underbite to catch up.

When Underbite catches up, he leaps at them, but they drive out of the way just in time. Unfortunately, Underbite doesn't go over the edge of the cliff like they thought he would. He nearly does, but he doesn't. When the others catch up to us, they all run into Underbite, trying to shove him off the edge. It doesn't work because Sideswipes goes to join them after letting Russell out. It doesn't work because Sideswipe brought Underbite metal to eat, giving him the strength to push everyone away. Everyone gets shoved pretty far away, except for Denny in his old truck. My eyes widen as Underbite grabs the truck with Denny still in it, and starts to crush it. I watched fearfully as I'm unable to do anything, knowing that if we choose to do something, Underbite would not hesitate to harm Denny.

Bumblebee runs forward to stop Underbite, even with this knowledge in his mind, only to stop as we all see something never thought to see. My breath caught in my throat as a familiar Autobot grabs Underbite's shoulder before tossing him down into the quarry. I watch in fear and hope as the Autobot turns, with the old beaten down truck in his hands.

However, I could care less about the truck and human inside it as I stare at the red and blue frame I had come to love. Bumblebee was the first to run up to him as he smiles in shock and happiness. And it was one word that made tears spill from my eyes.

"Optimus" Bee breathes, shock filling his voice. "You are alive! Are you alive?"

"That is unclear", the deep baritone voice fills the air, and I couldn't handle it anymore as I drift down to the ground, collapsing on my hands and knees as cries wrack my body. "But I do know that I cannot maintain my presence on Earth much longer." I look up just as Optimus' optics run over the other Autobots, his eyes landing on me last. He smiles softly. "You have found an excellent team."

I ignore what is said next as I wipe away the tears that had fallen down my face, before flying up. However, tears still filled my eyes, especially as I flew closer to Optimus.

"Optimus?" I whisper once he and Bee were done speaking. He looks at me and smiles softly and lovingly before it disappears

"Hello, Astraea", he murmurs quietly. I hear Bumblebee lead the others away, as well as hearing some confused murmurs. Tears continue to fall down my face as I fly closer to his face.

"I... I can't believe this... How are you here...? You died... This makes no sense..." I whisper. Optimus smiles softly again.

"I am unsure as to how I am here, but I cannot remain here for much longer. I can however, tell you that I will be back. I do not know when or for how long, but I will be back."

I shake my head, before frowning. "I don't think I could handle that... I still cry at the mention of just your name, and... and..."

Sobs wrack my body again as I feel my wings give out on me. I feel myself start to fall to the ground only to be caught by Optimus. I found myself sitting in his servo. He gently lifts up my face with his digit, allowing our eyes to connect.

"I will always be with you, Astraea. Whether it be in person, or in here", he gently touches my head. 'I will always be with you.'

I let out a small gasp as a familiar presence fills my mind. Tears flow faster down my face as I realize that a certain part of me that I hadn't realized had been missing returned. I had forgotten about our mental connection in the first three years he had been gone.

"Have you always been able to hear my thoughts after you died then?" I whisper. Optimus frowns. 

"No. It was only when you cried out to me that I was able to hear you. And as much as I wanted to respond, to tell you that I would be coming back soon, I was unable", he says. I frown softly.

"Will we be able to communicate once you leave again?" I whisper.

"I do not know" Optimus answers. My frown deepening, I look away, only to look back at his next words. "But know this, Astraea. I will always love you."

I smile sadly at his words. "And I you."

Optimus smiles before looking to the sky. "I must go now, Astraea. I will see you again, I promise."

I smile sadly as I use my wings to lift myself away from his hand. A moment after I do, he fades away. I turn to go back to the scrapyard, only to find Bumblebee waiting for me. I tilt my head.

"How long have you been there?" I ask, my voice sad and tired. 

"Just long enough to see Optimus fade away", Bee answers. I smile softly, before a thought comes to my mind.

"Bee, do you want to see Raf, Jack, Tori, and Miko?" I ask. Bee's eyes widen.

"Do you know where they are?" he exclaims. I shake my head.

"I haven't talked to them since... since Optimus died... But... I think I still have their phone numbers and will be able to contact them", I answer. Bee grins.

"Can we do that now?" Bee asks. I shake my head. 

"I'll call them when we get back to the scrapyard", I say with a small smile. "And then we can see what times work best for all of them."

Bumblebee grins and transforms, opening the door for me. I chuckle softly before climbing inside.

"So... in the five years of you being on Cybertron, you never changed your vehicle form?" I ask. Bee laughs nervously.

"I wanted to keep some aspect of my home away from home", he murmurs. I smile softly.

"I understand", I whisper before pressing the face of my watch, which allowed my swords to disappear. "So... want to tell me what I'm known for on Cybertron?"

Bumblebee chuckles. "Sure thing, Astraea."