Ironhide's Story
Your father wants me to tell you a story, Annabelle. Don't know why. Don't imagine you understand, at this age. But I'm going to talk. You should listen.
Before you were born, your people existed. Before your people existed, mine existed. You don't know how long ago, or how far away. The number's too big. Maybe someday. Point is- we lived. And we died. We might not be meat like you, but we're alive, and living things can die. They can always die. And when they do, their sparks- you'd say their souls- they go back to where they began, join with the others. Back to the Allspark, again and again, until all are one.
First time one of us died, ever, we called him the Fallen. And when he fell, the others who were left made a light against the darkness. They each took part of their sparks and put it into a holding matrix. There were twelve. The Allspark lit the thirteenth share, for the one who'd died. He wasn't coming back from that, see. Nobody is mightier than the Fallen. No one is mightier than death.
The Matrix was supposed to let us touch on that little bit of all those sparks. Let us see and understand what those Firstforged knew. Let us reach a little bit of them, maybe. Sometimes it could reach those who'd died, but hadn't joined with the Allspark completely- weren't dead forever yet. Didn't happen often. Then again, we didn't die often, back then.
Point is, we had the Matrix, and the Lord held it, or the Prime did. Or they were supposed to. The Second Lord and the Second Prime fought over it one day, far from Cybertron, deep in space. Their ship was lost in the process. We found them, eventually. And some of the ship. But not the Matrix. That was lost. We thought maybe forever, like the Fallen.
Only it turned out not to be forever. You can't destroy something like that. That's going to last, and last, and last as long as worlds. Maybe longer. It fell through space so long we almost forgot it. Fell right out of history and into legend. Wound up falling onto a planet in the end, though. This one. Earth.
My people stopped fighting then, for a long time. Not forever, though. Always gonna be someone who wants more than what he's got. And one day the one who wanted more got dangerous. That was Lord Megatron. He wanted the Allspark- all the sparks that ever were or would be. Wanted absolute power, life and death, beginning and ending. We couldn't let him take that, some of us, so we fought him. Long fight- longer than your people've lived. In the end we couldn't win. We shot the Allspark into space, got it away from him. We hoped forever. Turned out it wasn't. It came to Earth, too.
Yeah.
Your people found it, and hid it. They found Megatron, too, and hid him when they did. When Bumblebee, and Optimus, and Jazz, and I came to Earth, we went to find it. So did those who followed Megatron. There was... there was a lot of fighting. People died. Yours, and mine. And we lost the Allspark, to end Megatron. We hoped it was forever. It wasn't.
It's never forever.
It was a human who used the Allspark to end Megatron. You might know him. Sam Witwicky. Good kid. Tried to be normal. Couldn't. Your people can't handle all the lives of an entire world, all at once, and not have it leave a mark. Sam got marked, though he didn't know it. Got all kinds of memories in his head. All kinds of things our people knew, all at once. He hid it a while. Tried to keep his head his own. Didn't work too well, but he tried. I can't blame him.
We didn't know, you understand. He didn't tell us. Not even Bumblebee, who loved him. We didn't think to ask. It's not the kind of thing you think of. The Allspark isn't destroyed every day.
Sam wanted to live like a human, so he tried. Went off to school, left us behind. We kept an optic on him anyway. Just in case. Turned out it was a good thing. See, Megatron had followers. Some were traitors and scum. Some were loyal. One was more dangerous than all the rest put together. You don't mess with Shockwave. It's not a good idea.
Shockwave gathered the Decepticons up and brought them to Earth. He knocked all the human satellites out of the skies. Blinded your people to what was coming. Kept them from reaching to each other to find out what was wrong. Attacked them in the chaos. Attacked us.
Attacked Sam.
We were watching Sam, like I said, but- well. Shockwave was attacking the planet, all over, everywhere at once. Some of the humans could handle it. Most of them couldn't. We had to help them, all over, everywhere. We went where we could. Sam... we were almost too late. Bumblebee and Prowl and Arcee found him, with Mikaela and Aymer. They're Autobots. Mikaela and Aymer are human. So did Skywarp, and Thundercracker. They're Decepticons. They fought, and it... didn't go well. Prowl got broken in a lot of places. Arcee got pinned under Prowl. Bumblebee fought like a mech three times his size, and took down Thundercracker... and while he was weak, and staggering, Skywarp pinned him down.
And crushed his- you'd call it his throat. And put out his spark.
Thundercracker got up then, and he and Skywarp got away with Sam. We... had to get Bumblebee back. Couldn't just leave him there. The... humans... they picked him up for us. We couldn't... we'd mourn him later. We... had to find Sam first.
Perceptor found him. The Decepticons took him out to sea, to their base- a big, big 'Con named Tidal Wave. They'd found Megatron's body. Brought him up from the deeps of the sea. They'd found something else, too. Shockwave found the Matrix of Leadership, buried in Earth's mud, under the water off your Maryland coast. Shockwave brought them together, and... well. No Allspark left, right? Nowhere for the sparks to go. Megatron's spark was still out there. And Sam was the closest thing they had to it- Sam knew all the things our people knew, even if he couldn't make sense of it. So. Shockwave killed an Autobot prisoner, Sunstreaker. Used his body to repair Megatron's.
Put Sam's hands on Megatron's.
Forced the Matrix to open, and channeled its power through Sam.
Don't know why Sam's not dead. Allspark energy must've protected him. I don't know. All I know is, Megatron's spark came back to his body, and he and the Decepticons rose up. Prowl, Arcee, Mikaela, Aymer- they were all as good as dead. It was Perceptor saved 'em. Jumped in front of 'em, between them and Megatron, and told him two human words. "Μολὼν λάβε."
Your father says it means, come and claim them.
Perceptor fought Megatron as long as he could. No one's ever seen a fight like that. Perceptor should've been dead in seconds. How he lasted as long as he did, I don't know. All I know is, when he fell, Megatron kicked him off Tidal Wave's deck. And that was when the Decepticons realized Prowl and Arcee and Mikaela and Aymer were all gone, and Sam with them.
Yeah.
Megatron decided he wasn't gonna chase them then. He'd just go to the only place that mattered. Autobase. He'd find all that we had left in this world and destroy it. Force us to come to him. We figured as much. It's why Optimus was waiting for him when he arrived- and why I wasn't there. See, there were a lot more Decepticons on Earth than there were Autobots. We had to get more. Couldn't, though. Not with the Cons in orbit. Had to find another way to get them- and there was.
When you're old enough, I'll tell you about Milliways. All you need to know now is, we had some things at the base that we took apart a while ago that let us open bridges through space. Had to put 'em back together in a hurry. We got help for that. Human help. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. They built with us, and we got it up before Megatron arrived, and I went through. Wasn't like anyone else was tough enough to take the trip, except Prime, and he was busy. He had two things to do. One of 'em was talking to Sam.
Optimus knew as well as anyone that the dead join with the Allspark, but since Megatron'd risen... well. There was a chance that something like that might happen again. And Sam... you know how all you have to do is call, sometimes, and your father or your mother will be there? Because they just- that's just how it is? Yeah. Sam and Bumblebee were like that. He had to try, with Optimus Prime's help. And, Primus help me, it worked. When Prime opened the Matrix, and Sam called, Bumblebee heard him. It wouldn't work with anyone else, not even Sunstreaker, not even with Sunstreaker's twin brother calling- but between Sam and the Matrix and the Allspark, we got Bumblebee back.
And then, well, Optimus had his other thing to do. Someone had to keep Megatron from winning while I was gone. So he did.
Optimus Prime held that line against Megatron and all his hordes with nothing more than a handful of wounded mechs and a unit of bleeding, battered human soldiers. He fought like all the Primes of old were feeding into him, like all the Lords that ever were were whispering in his auds just exactly what to do. It wasn't enough to win- not quite- but it was enough for what mattered.
Because I'll tell you, the look on Megatron's face when he saw me and every. single. Autobot that had left Cybertron to come and find Earth. Ready to throw down with him and all his kind? That was a moment beyond price.
Took a long time for the smoke to clear. When it was all over, Megatron was still alive- gone, though. And Shockwave was dead. Starscream got him, in the end. Should've seen it coming, but for some reason no one ever does. The Decepticons were on the run, and the space bridge was still humming.
And the slagging thing would. Not. Stop.
Optimus saw it was gonna overload, and he did the only thing he could do. He ripped that thing's central core out and ran- fast as he could, faster than I've ever seen him go. Maybe Sideswipe could've caught up with him- I don't know. All i know is Prime got out into the desert with it, alone, and we couldn't see him any more- and then there was bright, white light. And then the air slammed against us all at once, biggest thunder you ever heard.
And when we could all hear again Prime was broadcasting to us to come to him, because there was something we had to see.
That's why you're in this building, while we wait for your father. That's how we got to where we are now. That's how it went- and I'll tell you again someday, when you want to know more, or your father says I should do it again. You should know.
Now go to sleep. It's gonna be a long wait.
Before you were born, your people existed. Before your people existed, mine existed. You don't know how long ago, or how far away. The number's too big. Maybe someday. Point is- we lived. And we died. We might not be meat like you, but we're alive, and living things can die. They can always die. And when they do, their sparks- you'd say their souls- they go back to where they began, join with the others. Back to the Allspark, again and again, until all are one.
First time one of us died, ever, we called him the Fallen. And when he fell, the others who were left made a light against the darkness. They each took part of their sparks and put it into a holding matrix. There were twelve. The Allspark lit the thirteenth share, for the one who'd died. He wasn't coming back from that, see. Nobody is mightier than the Fallen. No one is mightier than death.
The Matrix was supposed to let us touch on that little bit of all those sparks. Let us see and understand what those Firstforged knew. Let us reach a little bit of them, maybe. Sometimes it could reach those who'd died, but hadn't joined with the Allspark completely- weren't dead forever yet. Didn't happen often. Then again, we didn't die often, back then.
Point is, we had the Matrix, and the Lord held it, or the Prime did. Or they were supposed to. The Second Lord and the Second Prime fought over it one day, far from Cybertron, deep in space. Their ship was lost in the process. We found them, eventually. And some of the ship. But not the Matrix. That was lost. We thought maybe forever, like the Fallen.
Only it turned out not to be forever. You can't destroy something like that. That's going to last, and last, and last as long as worlds. Maybe longer. It fell through space so long we almost forgot it. Fell right out of history and into legend. Wound up falling onto a planet in the end, though. This one. Earth.
My people stopped fighting then, for a long time. Not forever, though. Always gonna be someone who wants more than what he's got. And one day the one who wanted more got dangerous. That was Lord Megatron. He wanted the Allspark- all the sparks that ever were or would be. Wanted absolute power, life and death, beginning and ending. We couldn't let him take that, some of us, so we fought him. Long fight- longer than your people've lived. In the end we couldn't win. We shot the Allspark into space, got it away from him. We hoped forever. Turned out it wasn't. It came to Earth, too.
Yeah.
Your people found it, and hid it. They found Megatron, too, and hid him when they did. When Bumblebee, and Optimus, and Jazz, and I came to Earth, we went to find it. So did those who followed Megatron. There was... there was a lot of fighting. People died. Yours, and mine. And we lost the Allspark, to end Megatron. We hoped it was forever. It wasn't.
It's never forever.
It was a human who used the Allspark to end Megatron. You might know him. Sam Witwicky. Good kid. Tried to be normal. Couldn't. Your people can't handle all the lives of an entire world, all at once, and not have it leave a mark. Sam got marked, though he didn't know it. Got all kinds of memories in his head. All kinds of things our people knew, all at once. He hid it a while. Tried to keep his head his own. Didn't work too well, but he tried. I can't blame him.
We didn't know, you understand. He didn't tell us. Not even Bumblebee, who loved him. We didn't think to ask. It's not the kind of thing you think of. The Allspark isn't destroyed every day.
Sam wanted to live like a human, so he tried. Went off to school, left us behind. We kept an optic on him anyway. Just in case. Turned out it was a good thing. See, Megatron had followers. Some were traitors and scum. Some were loyal. One was more dangerous than all the rest put together. You don't mess with Shockwave. It's not a good idea.
Shockwave gathered the Decepticons up and brought them to Earth. He knocked all the human satellites out of the skies. Blinded your people to what was coming. Kept them from reaching to each other to find out what was wrong. Attacked them in the chaos. Attacked us.
Attacked Sam.
We were watching Sam, like I said, but- well. Shockwave was attacking the planet, all over, everywhere at once. Some of the humans could handle it. Most of them couldn't. We had to help them, all over, everywhere. We went where we could. Sam... we were almost too late. Bumblebee and Prowl and Arcee found him, with Mikaela and Aymer. They're Autobots. Mikaela and Aymer are human. So did Skywarp, and Thundercracker. They're Decepticons. They fought, and it... didn't go well. Prowl got broken in a lot of places. Arcee got pinned under Prowl. Bumblebee fought like a mech three times his size, and took down Thundercracker... and while he was weak, and staggering, Skywarp pinned him down.
And crushed his- you'd call it his throat. And put out his spark.
Thundercracker got up then, and he and Skywarp got away with Sam. We... had to get Bumblebee back. Couldn't just leave him there. The... humans... they picked him up for us. We couldn't... we'd mourn him later. We... had to find Sam first.
Perceptor found him. The Decepticons took him out to sea, to their base- a big, big 'Con named Tidal Wave. They'd found Megatron's body. Brought him up from the deeps of the sea. They'd found something else, too. Shockwave found the Matrix of Leadership, buried in Earth's mud, under the water off your Maryland coast. Shockwave brought them together, and... well. No Allspark left, right? Nowhere for the sparks to go. Megatron's spark was still out there. And Sam was the closest thing they had to it- Sam knew all the things our people knew, even if he couldn't make sense of it. So. Shockwave killed an Autobot prisoner, Sunstreaker. Used his body to repair Megatron's.
Put Sam's hands on Megatron's.
Forced the Matrix to open, and channeled its power through Sam.
Don't know why Sam's not dead. Allspark energy must've protected him. I don't know. All I know is, Megatron's spark came back to his body, and he and the Decepticons rose up. Prowl, Arcee, Mikaela, Aymer- they were all as good as dead. It was Perceptor saved 'em. Jumped in front of 'em, between them and Megatron, and told him two human words. "Μολὼν λάβε."
Your father says it means, come and claim them.
Perceptor fought Megatron as long as he could. No one's ever seen a fight like that. Perceptor should've been dead in seconds. How he lasted as long as he did, I don't know. All I know is, when he fell, Megatron kicked him off Tidal Wave's deck. And that was when the Decepticons realized Prowl and Arcee and Mikaela and Aymer were all gone, and Sam with them.
Yeah.
Megatron decided he wasn't gonna chase them then. He'd just go to the only place that mattered. Autobase. He'd find all that we had left in this world and destroy it. Force us to come to him. We figured as much. It's why Optimus was waiting for him when he arrived- and why I wasn't there. See, there were a lot more Decepticons on Earth than there were Autobots. We had to get more. Couldn't, though. Not with the Cons in orbit. Had to find another way to get them- and there was.
When you're old enough, I'll tell you about Milliways. All you need to know now is, we had some things at the base that we took apart a while ago that let us open bridges through space. Had to put 'em back together in a hurry. We got help for that. Human help. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. They built with us, and we got it up before Megatron arrived, and I went through. Wasn't like anyone else was tough enough to take the trip, except Prime, and he was busy. He had two things to do. One of 'em was talking to Sam.
Optimus knew as well as anyone that the dead join with the Allspark, but since Megatron'd risen... well. There was a chance that something like that might happen again. And Sam... you know how all you have to do is call, sometimes, and your father or your mother will be there? Because they just- that's just how it is? Yeah. Sam and Bumblebee were like that. He had to try, with Optimus Prime's help. And, Primus help me, it worked. When Prime opened the Matrix, and Sam called, Bumblebee heard him. It wouldn't work with anyone else, not even Sunstreaker, not even with Sunstreaker's twin brother calling- but between Sam and the Matrix and the Allspark, we got Bumblebee back.
And then, well, Optimus had his other thing to do. Someone had to keep Megatron from winning while I was gone. So he did.
Optimus Prime held that line against Megatron and all his hordes with nothing more than a handful of wounded mechs and a unit of bleeding, battered human soldiers. He fought like all the Primes of old were feeding into him, like all the Lords that ever were were whispering in his auds just exactly what to do. It wasn't enough to win- not quite- but it was enough for what mattered.
Because I'll tell you, the look on Megatron's face when he saw me and every. single. Autobot that had left Cybertron to come and find Earth. Ready to throw down with him and all his kind? That was a moment beyond price.
Took a long time for the smoke to clear. When it was all over, Megatron was still alive- gone, though. And Shockwave was dead. Starscream got him, in the end. Should've seen it coming, but for some reason no one ever does. The Decepticons were on the run, and the space bridge was still humming.
And the slagging thing would. Not. Stop.
Optimus saw it was gonna overload, and he did the only thing he could do. He ripped that thing's central core out and ran- fast as he could, faster than I've ever seen him go. Maybe Sideswipe could've caught up with him- I don't know. All i know is Prime got out into the desert with it, alone, and we couldn't see him any more- and then there was bright, white light. And then the air slammed against us all at once, biggest thunder you ever heard.
And when we could all hear again Prime was broadcasting to us to come to him, because there was something we had to see.
That's why you're in this building, while we wait for your father. That's how we got to where we are now. That's how it went- and I'll tell you again someday, when you want to know more, or your father says I should do it again. You should know.
Now go to sleep. It's gonna be a long wait.