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Transformers #2:

Optimus steps out of the old quarry, though a side-opening in the mountain, and takes in its forest area. Optimus: "This world... What...beauty." He extends his arms, taking it in. "It's unbelievab---" He then immediately hears and feels a large CRNCH beneath his left foot. He looks down, and sees he's just stepped on and killed an innocent deer. "Oh..." He lifts up his foot, and gets down on his knees, cradling the poor thing in his hands. "Oh, no..." He then moves it closer to his face. "I'm... I'm so sorry.." Spike approaches from behind: "It's okay. It was an accident. I saw the whole thing." Optimus turns to him: "No...this... I had no idea. Your home is so...fragile." Spike (standing before Optimus): "I suppose so. I never really thought about it that way. Everything is relative I suppose." Optimus: "Where I am from, everything is metal. The ground doesn't sway when I walk. I don't leave marks where my feet tread. I should have known better." Spike looks up at Optimus for another second, looks down, like momentarily in-thought, then up again: "So...OPTIMUS PRIME? That's your name?" Both Prime and Spike sit down on a large, nearby rock-area, next to each other; Optimus still cradling the fallen deer. Optimus: "Correct." Spike: "Damn that sounds cool. How'd you get a name like that?" Optimus: "The Prime name was passed down to me from the previous leader of our kind. It signifies my role within the Autobot hierarchy. As much as I wish it were so, I did not come up with the name myself." Spike: "Oh." Optimus: "And you. What kind of name is Spike?" Spike uses his hands to press his hair into a kind of spike above his forehead: "Ah...when I was little, my hair would always stick up, like this. My Mom called me 'Spikey'. I guess it stuck." Optimus: "What is 'Mom'?'" Spike: "You know, a Mother? Mom and Dad?" Optimus: "These words are foreign to me." Spike: "Well...my Mom and Dad, they made me...I guess. Hm, this is tough to explain. You know...family?" Optimus: "Family. That is a concept I know well." Spike: "Then you know how much of a pain in the a** they can be." Optimus: "So...your Mom and Dad live with you...here? On...Earth?" Spike: "Well, my Mom, she died a long time ago. And my Dad, he's still here, barely. We live in Farmingham, the valley below the mountain." The back-end of the Ark can be seen in the mountain, in front of the two, in the distance. Optimus: "I see." Spike: "If I didn't know better, I'd say that looks like a spaceship. Where are YOU from?" Above the two, from the front, an imagined pic of Cybertron is shown. Optimus answers: "I am from a place called 'CYBERTRON.' It is beautiful in its own harsh way. For a millenia, before my spark came into being, there was peace. I heard stories of it all throughout my young years, but only knew a short time of prosperity there. Before THE WAR." Spike: "WAR?" Optimus (see flashbacks of Cybertron, with Soundwave and Starscream shooting at, and seemingly taking-out Autobots Beachcomber and Blaster): "Our species was consumed by greed and power. Maybe it was always there, hiding, since the birth of Cybertron. But to me, it seemed to raise its ugly head from nowhere, led by an extremist faction on our planet--The Decepticons." Back on Spike and Optimus again. Spike: "The red and grey one. The plane." Optimus: "Starscream is one of the many we have been fighting for centuries." A slightly-darkened upper-body area flashback of Megatron with glowing red eyes. Optimus: "Among others." The Ark is shown leaving Cybertron. Optimus: "For two centuries, my kind, the Autobots, had been fighting for the old ways of peace, but our casualties were astronomical. Our numbers were dwindling so badly that we had no choice but to abandon our home to our oppressors, to scour the galaxy and find a new way to retake our home. We left in the ship you found us on, The Ark." We now see Megatron trying to down grab Optimus' head. Optimus: "It was during our escape that the most powerful of the Decepticons came to extinguish the spark of my kind forever. During the fight, we lost control of our ship. The last thing I remember was seeing your planet, right before entering its atmosphere." Back to Spike and Optimus again. Spike: "And you crashed into the mountain. Where we found you." Optimus: "Thank you for your help in the midst of battle, Spike. Without you, I'm not sure we would have been able to escape." Spike looks down, thinking, then turns back: "I'm sorry about your friend. The yellow one." Optimus sadly looks down at the dead deer in his hands, then says, "FAMILY." A voice from behind Optimus is heard: "Hey, GREAT LEADER!" Optimus turns around to see Cliffjumper standing there, grinning. Optimus: "Cliffjumper!" Cliffjumper: "The one and only!" Optimus gently places the deer's body on the ground, then greets his revived friend with a fist-grab. Optimus: "I am glad to see you up and about, my friend." Cliffjumper: "Crashing into a mountain can't keep this red demon down for long! Ratchet's been filling me in on everything since he fixed m--" He catches a view of Spike, and gets scared: "YAHHHH!!!" Spike (startled): "AHH!" Optimus: "Have no fear, Cliffjumper. This is Spike. He is a human. They live here, on this planet." Spike tries to extend his hand in a handshake: "Um...hi...hice to meet y--" Cliffjumper: "Ah, we're not there yet, my man. Yeeesh...you're like a turborat--creepy, little--" Carly (from behind him): "Oh, please." Cliffjumper spins around to see her: "YEOW! How many of you ARE there?" Carly: "Geez. I'm not a giant spider! Calm down!" Cliffjumper: "Hey! This is all new for me! I'm used to metal and steel! There's too much--" Moves back and hits his head on a tree branch. "--stuff here." Carly gets serious with Cliffjumper: "New for YOU?? I'm sorry, last I checked, I"M the one who has to deal with the fact that there are apparently GIANT ROBOTS FROM SPACE that now live ON EARTH. Do I look like I can squish YOU? Get a reality check." Cliffjumper stand before her, looking down to her: "...Ok." Carly (extending her right hand for a handshake): "Good. Now. Let's do this again. I'm Carly." Cliffjumper puts his right index finger in her hand: "Cliffjumper." Carly: "Nice to meet you."

Back inside the quarry. Spike, Carly, Optimus, Cliffjumper and Ratchet stand there before Optimus' open trailer, which, with help from Roller, is repairing Wheeljack's body. Other deactivated Autobot bodies are nearby. Those that can be made out: Jazz, Brawn, and Prowl. Ratchet (to Optimus): "Thankfully, when Jetfire gave us new forms for this planet, he kept our Cybertronian technology intact. Your tactical trailer, along with the leftover metals in this quarry, has allowed me to start bringing our warriors back." Optimus: "How long until we're at full strength?" Carly starts running some kind of small generator in the back of her van nearby. Ratchet: "That's the bad news. I used the last bit of our stored energon to fix Cliff. There's not enough for anyone else." Spike: "Energon?" Carly (painting Optimus Prime's face on the side of her van with the D&D paintings on it): "It's gotta be like---food for us, right?" Ratchet: "Correct. It is gathered from natural resources and keeps us alive. But I need a massive amount of it to bring back our brothers and sisters." Optimus: "What if we pool what is left in your and Cliff's bodies?" Ratchet: "Maybe one of us could be activated for an hour. But any more and neither would be able to function." Optimus (opening his chest to reveal the matrix): "Then we must--" Ratchet (holding up his hands in caution): "Optimus, no. Not yet. That power is directly connected with your life force. The risk is too great. If we lose you, we lose everything." Cliffjumper: "Well...if we're running out of energon... Hopefully, the Decepticons have the same problem as us."

Back at the electrical plant from the end of last issue. Starscream is gone, and Sparky's co-worker is trying to explain to a cop how the damage was done, Sparky standing nearby. Cop (writing stuff down): "Ok, so you said a "flying plane'." Co-worker: "No, no, a flying ROBOT that LOOKED like a plane!" Cop (pointing at him): "A robit? Causing all this? You been skipping safety drills again, Jordie?" Sparky: "He's not lying, officer. That plane..." They turn to see Davey's body being covered and carried away. "Did THAT to Davey." Cop: "Ok, we'll call it in. Get some detectives here." Sparky (pointing to wreckage): "Detectives?! Do you see this place???! We need a godd*** ARMY!" Cop: "Sparky, easy! This is just protocol!" Sparky: "Screw protocol! Get your commanding officer on the horn and---" Then, all of a sudden, Skywarp lands his feet on top of the cop car next to them, with a loud cop car siren then going off, and giving ground vibrations. Skywarp: "Watch out, weaklings!" Soundwave and Starscream land next, Soundwave carrying some kind of large, mechanical device. Soundwave: "You were correct Starscream. The energy potential of this place is most excellent.." Starscream: "Didn't believe me when I brought back enough for all of you, huh?" Soundwave ejects a blue tape: "Rumble, begin construction of energy transfer module." Soundwave meddles with the device he brought. Starscream: "We don't need more toys, Soundwave! What IS this?" Soundwave: "This converter was aboard the Ark. The Autobots were planning to use it for their intergalactic travels. We can use the mechanism to capture what these creatures are harvesting. We will have near limitless--" The Cop is shooting at Soundwave endlessly: "---this isn't working--!" Sparky (from behind the cop car): "They're too powerful! Get back--!" Starscream steps onto the Cop, crushing him. Sparky watches in terror. Starscream then pulls the switch on the device, and it begins sucking up the plant's electricity into it. Skywarp: "Ha! It's working! Chug! Chug! Chug!"