The Long Road Home

The Long Road Home is a Transformers fic written by Conna Stevenson. It is set in the live-action movie universe taking place after the '07 film and is not ROTF compliant, as most of it was written before the second film.

It tells the story of a lone survivor crashing to Earth and his trials trying to find the other Autobots to deliver a message and a warning, but it may be too late.

Accompanied by side stories in 28 Whiplashes.

Tropes used in The Long Road Home include:

Action Girl: Nic.
Alien Invasion: The Decepticons. The Autobots are shooting for more of an immigrant/refugee angle.
A Boy and His X: A Kansas biker chick and her alien robot. Or an alien robot and his plucky native guide.
Chase Scene: Whiplash, a little gun-shy from ages of running alone from enemies, mistakes the still-mute Bumblebee for Decepticon pursuit. Chase through midday traffic ensues.
Colossus Climb: Whiplash doesn't normally like to engage an enemy directly because most Decepticons are much larger and more powerful. But when he has to, this is his favored tactic.
Daddy's Girl: Nic and her father were very close before he died.
Didn't Think This Through: Nic's first impulse when trying to distract Rumble away from Whiplash? Throw a rock at the evil robot. She does it twice. In her defense, though, it works. Also counts for her suggestion to jump the overpass.
Fire-Forged Friends: Nic and Whiplash.
Fragile Speedster: Whiplash. Only lightly armored as a necessary tradeoff for superior speed and maneuverability.
Humans Through Alien Eyes: Whenever Whiplash (or any other Autobot) has the POV.
I'm Not a Hero, I'm X: When it's pointed out that the damaged and desperate Whiplash wouldn't have gotten as far as he did without her help, Nic turns bashful and says she merely did what needed to be done.
Important Haircut: Rumble snips a section of Nic's waist-length hair with a bladed spinner-rim (he was aiming for her head). Later Nic herself trims the rest to match and doesn't look back.
Jumped At the Call: After only a little hesitation, Nic decides that if she doesn't go with Whiplash, the might-have-beens would haunt her forever.
No OSHA Compliance: The Eyesore, a half-finished office building left to languish as an abandoned construction site in Topeka. The lobby seems like a great place to have a giant robot battle.
Parental Abandonment: Nic again, whose mother died when she was an infant, and her father died only two years before the story starts.
Parental Substitute: Nic's uncle Terry.
Redheaded Hero: Nic again. Not quite with the stereotypical "fiery" personality, though she is rather forthright and strong-willed.
Survivor Guilt: Whiplash, the lone survivor of not one but two separate Decepticon attacks.
Woobie: Whiplash, in spades. Poor guy can't catch a break. Nic also, though to a much lesser degree, and she's much less obvious about it.
"Wake-Up Call" Boss: Ravage. Rumble, though a legitimate threat, is easy to derail with taunting and distraction. Ravage is an utterly implacable foe that is focused exclusively on his target, Whiplash, sparing only enough attention to Nic to absently swat her away.
Wronski Feint: Whiplash uses a handy tornado to get rid of Ravage. By driving straight at it.
You Have Got to Be Kidding Me!: Rumble's word-for-word response to Nic's rock-throwing gambit the first time.