Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

22nd Century Detroit, Michigan

It was just another evening in Detroit.

Bumblebee dodged a blast of ice from Blitzwing as Bulkhead hit the Triple-Changer with one of his wrecking balls. The two youngest members of the team had been sent out to investigate a possible Allspark fragment location in a warehouse on the city outskirts, where they encountered none other than Blitzwing and Lugnut, who Bumblebee guessed were looking for the fragment as well.

“Wow Blitzbrain! For a jet, you're moving at a glacier's pace!” Bumblebee taunted, zipping out of the way of yet another ice blast.

“*chrrrk* Quiet, annoying insect! And it's Blitzwing!” Blitzwing yelled, his faceplate switching from Icy’s blue to Hothead’s red, glaring down at Bumblebee. “Once I crush you, I will take the Allspark fragment once and for all!”

“I don't think so~” Bumblebee said in a sing-song voice.

The Minibot looked around as he now had to dodge Blitzwing’s fire attacks as well, spotting something shiny partially obscured by boxes. Bulkhead and Lugnut were duking it out, getting dangerously close to crushing the boxes.

“The Allspark fragment!” Bumblebee yelled. “Bulkhead, move!”

“Wha-? Oh!” Bulkhead said, likely seeing the fragment as well.

“Autobot scum! I will have your helm on a silver platter for Lord Megatron!” Lugnut yelled, not getting the memo.

“Lugnut, you bumbling idiot! Move!” Blitzwing shouted, seeing the fragment as well.

While the two Decepticons were distracted, Bumblebee quickly transformed, zooming over to the boxes. Transforming his car door into an arm, he snatched the fragment in his servo and began to drive off.

“I got it! I got it!” He yelled.

Bumblebee quickly commed Optimus, who was back at the base along with Ratchet, Prowl, and Sari.

“Hey, Bossbot! Bulk and I got the fragment, but Blitzbrain and Lugnut are here too!”

“Nice job, Bumblebee. Stay there, we're coming to help.” Optimus said. “Autobots, transform and roll out!”

Suddenly, Bumblebee felt the ground beneath his tires become slick and frictionless. He transformed back into his bot mode, sliding across the floor as he dropped the fragment.

“I will be taking that.” Blitzwing said, having switched back to Icy.

While he was speaking, a wrecking ball suddenly hit him square in the chestplate, sending the Triple-Changer flying across the room. Bumblebee looked at where the wrecking ball came from.

“He said we got it.” Bulkhead said, retracting his wrecking ball as he wrestled with Lugnut. “Hurry, Bumblebee! Grab it!”

The yellow Bot got to his pedes quickly, diving for the Allspark fragment. He grabbed it, holding it tightly with one servo.

“I got it!” He waved it in the air.

Then it started to glow.

“Wha?” Bumblebee said in confusion, looking at the fragment. “Bulk, something's up with the fragment! Whenever one of these things starts to glow, it's never good!”

The glow got brighter, causing all four Bots in the room to look at it.

“You idiotic Autobot! What have you done to the Allspark fragment?!” Lugnut yelled.

“Nothing! It just started glowing!” Bumblebee shouted back. “I don't wanna touch it! You take it!”

“What? No! I don't want it!” Bulkhead yelled, catching the fragment thrown at him. He shoved it into Lugnut’s servos. “Here!”

“I don't want it either! You filthy Autobots have done something to it!” Lugnut threw the fragment on the ground, the crystal skittering to a stop in the center of the warehouse.

It started to glow brightly, soon engulfing the entire warehouse.

Meanwhile, Optimus and Prowl were on their way to the warehouse, seeing the bright glow from several miles away. The two Autobots increased their speed, transforming to bot mode in front of the warehouse.

“Bumblebee, Bulkhead, we're here!” Optimus called, opening the warehouse door.

There was nothing inside, except for some old crates covered in cobwebs. There wasn't any trace of the two youngest Autobots, nor the two Decepticons that Bumblebee mentioned.

“There's nothing here.” Prowl said, crouching down beside some of the boxes.

“Where'd they go? I swear, their signals were here a moment ago.”

“I don't know, but we can eliminate them going outside. We would have seen a hole through the wall, or the doors open. And they aren't.”

Optimus knew he was right. There were no signs of any struggle outside, nor any holes in the warehouse. So that begged the question…

Where did they go?

Chapter Text

21st Century New York City, New York

“And behold, lady and gentlemen! The new and improved Turtle Tank!” Donnie exclaimed, yanking a purple curtain to the side.

“Eughh… Donnie? I don't notice anything new.” Leo mumbled. “It looks the exact same, except with maybe a bit more purple.”

“Precisely, you can't improve on perfection. And purple is always a great color choice.” Donnie said smugly.

They all groaned.

“You didn't even add another flavor to the ice cream machine?! How could you, Donald?” Mikey wailed dramatically, flopping into Raph’s arms.

“God dammit, you're right, Mikey, I should've done that.”

“Language!” Raph scolded.

“English!” Donnie shouted back.

“Boys, boys, let's settle this appropriately… With a gaming competition!” April said, dragging her brothers to their gaming subway car. “Donatello the Destroyer, vs. Raph the, uh… Raph, what do you want your cool name to be?”

“I'm fine with just Raph.” The snapper said.

“Alright, now we're just gonna do five rounds of Super Smash Brothers, and whoever wins the most wins the argument AND bragging rights! Go!”

The two picked their characters as their brothers and sister cheered them on. The sounds of buttons being clicked filled the subway car as April and Leo both recorded.

“Go Raph! Go Dee!” Leo cheered.

“Yeah, get ‘em Ra-” Mikey's voice trailed off as he heard a loud thud come from the surface. “Did anyone else hear that?”

“Hear what?” April said, almost dropping her phone as a sudden report buzzed on her phone. “Stay indoors, dangerous creatures have appeared in the city…?”

Worried, she checked the news broadcast linked to the report.

“We are live in New York, covering a dangerous battle between four unknown robots! Please stay indoors and safe!” The news reporter said urgently. “It appears that two of the robots are keeping citizens out of harm's way! Going to Dan, who's reporting live at the scene!”

“No way.” April mumbled, before shouting, “GUYS! Stop the battling, we got a problem here!”

Raph and Donnie pause their game, all four turtles making their way over to April.

“What is it, dear sister? I was very close to beating Raph the final time.” Donnie asked.

April showed him her phone.

“Live at the scene, there's currently four robots battling it out right where I'm standing! One almost crushed me on accident!” The reporter said, ducking. “It's quite dangerous here- woah!”

The five teens gaped as one of the robots, a large green one, picked up the reporter and cameraman.

“Human, what are you doing here? You could get hurt!” It said gently, setting the two down in front of a building. “Stay here, plea-”

Another robot, a large purple and green one, tackled it out of the camera's view.

“Donnie…” Raph said, preparing to scold his little brother. “Was that one of yours?”

“Which one?”

“The purple and green one.” Leo finished. “Were you building giant robots without telling us?”

“Well, yes, but that's not mine!” Donnie said, already powering up his battle shell.

"Wait, what do you mean-

“Well, no time to waste pondering, the city needs us!”

“Wait, Dee-! Ugh, you're right, but we're not done talking about this!” Raph yelled, allowing Mikey to climb on his shell.

The five teens hurried into the Turtle Tank, and were on their way.

Chapter Text

Bulkhead didn't really like this city.

It was way too populated. Back in Detroit, when the Autobots were battling the Decepticons, people had enough sense to stick close to the buildings for safety. But these roads were so small! Too small. He was worried he'd step on one of the poor humans underneath his pedes.

That was another thing, all the little humans were so afraid of him. They were screaming and running in every direction, and it was getting hard to keep them out of harm's way.

“What have you done to us, Autobot scum?!” Lugnut yelled, running up to Bulkhead and punching at him.

“Woah, it wasn't our fault!” Bulkhead said, dodging the punches and throwing a few himself.

“Liar!”

Bulkhead ejected his wrecking ball, knocking Lugnut straight in the faceplate, earning a loud groan from the Decepticon.

“You will pay for that!” Lugnut grabbed the wire of the wrecking ball, beginning to swing it around.

“Oh, nooo-woahhh!” Bulkhead yelled as he was swung around by the larger mech, grunting as he was thrown into a nearby building.

“Oh, I'm so sorry!” He quickly apologized as he removed himself from the wall, looking down at the little humans gazing up at him. “Human, what are you doing here? You could get hurt!”

Bulkhead picked up the humans, setting them inside the building he had just crashed into.

“Stay here, plea-” Bulkhead was cut off as Lugnut slammed into him. “Oomph!”

“Bulkhead!” The green mech heard Bumblebee yell, from where he was currently riding on Blitzwing's shoulders and shooting him in the faceplates with his stingers.

“Annoying Autobrats!” Blitzwing hissed, finally managing to grip Bumblebee by his back plating, throwing him off his back.

“Aahh!” Bumblebee yelled as he crashed into Bulkhead, holding his helm as it spun.

“Little buddy, are you okay?”

“I think so, but we won't be in a klik!” Bumblebee’s optics widened as he watched Icy shoot a stream of ice at the two mechs. “Get ready to be really, really cold!”

Bulkhead shivered as he felt the ice hit him, covering his entire frame except for his helm. Bumblebee struggled and tried to escape the ice as both Lugnut and Blitzwing approached them.

“Now, what to do.” Blitzwing said, looking at Lugnut before his faceplates switched to Random. “Ooh, what if we make Auto-pops?!”

“Perfect idea, Blitzwing!” Lugnut laughed, as he began to power up the P.O.K.E.

Bulkhead closed his optics in anticipation. This wasn't how he expected to offline, in a strange city, likely incredibly far away from everything he'd known.

Suddenly, Blitzwing was hit in the back of the helm with a green, glowy bat, causing him to switch to Hothead and turn around. His optics snapped open at the sound.

Glowy? Green?

Lugnut, too distracted by his comrade’s anger at being hit, failed to notice the bright orange, fiery chains that snaked around his servo.

“Woah. Bulky, you see that?” Bumblebee whispered.

Whatever the two were about to say was quickly silenced as a blue, glowing swirl appeared in front of them, and out stepped…

A turtle person? No, two turtle people?

“Hey, listen my robot friends, can you, like, take your big robot fight somewhere else?” The one in blue snarked, complete with a dismissive wave. “Because I don't really appreciate you screwing up New York.”

“What in Megatron’s name?!” Lugnut yelled as his servo was yanked down, almost causing him to lose balance.

“These… new organics are even more annoying than the Autobot's little human pet,” Blitzwing seethed.

“You know, Nardo, I think these two aren't getting the memo.” The purple one deadpanned.

“We cannot keep letting little things get in our way, Blitzwing! The Allspark fragment is obviously not here!” Lugnut said. “Let these organics deal with the Autobots. We shall scour the city for the fragment!”

“Wait, but my Auto-pops!” Blitzwing whined.

“Leave them.”

“Fine.” Blitzwing grumbled, before mixing his ice and fire in his cannons to make a cloud of smoke as he and Lugnut transformed.

“Oh, are you kidding me? Lame exit straight from a magic show?” The blue one said, before turning to face the two iced over Autobots. “Now, who’re you two?”

Bumblebee had his mouth open in shock and awe, his optics practically sparkling. Bulkhead, however, looked incredibly confused. Even more so as two more turtles, along with a human girl, walked over and joined the first two turtles.

“Ohmigosh, they're so colorful!” The one in orange squealed. “I love the yellow!”

“Thanks! I like your orange!” Bumblebee broke out of his stupor to compliment the turtle back.

“Mikey, don't talk to ‘em until we know they're cool.” The turtle in red scolded.

“So, what’re y'all's names?” The human stepped up. “Mine’s April! April O’Neil!”

“Bumblebee! And this is Bulkhead.”

“Bumblebee, don't say too much,” Bulkhead gently warned.

“I'm Mikey! And these are my brothers. Blue is Leo, purple is Donnie, and red is Raph!” He pointed to the turtles as he named them.

“Hm, as much as I'd like to have this little interrogation here instead of our home base, but I hear the EPF vehicles on the way.” Donnie said, before pulling out a very technologically advanced looking staff. “Now stay still, this will melt the ice quite fast.”

He was right; he turned on the flamethrower, and in less than five minutes, both of them were free from the ice.

“Now come; you can probably transform into vehicles, right? Just follow the tank,”

“What tank?”

“This one, built by mi hermanó!” Leo said.

Bulkhead looked at the turtle themed tank in front of him, slightly in awe as he transformed. Bumblebee transformed next, and the turtles and human all piled into the tank.

“Just follow them, Bee.” Bulkhead said, as the three vehicles began to drive.

Chapter Text

21st Century New York City, New York

Location: The Turtle Lair

“Woaaah! This is where you guys live?” Bumblebee exclaimed, transforming as he and Bulkhead parked behind what he now knew as the Turtle Tank.

“Yep! Our home sweet home!” Mikey exclaimed. “It… It's a bit ransacked right now, but we haven't had much time to clean.”

“Oh, that's okay,” Bulkhead said sweetly. “I mean, you should see me and Bee’s rooms back home. They're really messy.”

“Hey!”

“It's true, little buddy.”

“Hmph.” Bumblebee crossed his arms, before speeding into the main area of the underground subway. “So each of the cars are your rooms? And the main area is broken up into other rooms? That's so awesome! I wish I could live in a subway.”

“Really? Where do you live?” Mikey asked curiously.

“An abandoned warehouse. It's really roomy though, and it has a big place for a living room with a couch my size!”

“Cool!”

“Ahem, if you're finished meeting your new friend, Micheal,” Bumblebee perked at the purple turtle. “We'd like to know some things. From both of you.”

“Uh, okay. Where do we sit?”

“Just over there,” Donnie pointed over to what looked like the kitchen doorway.

Both bots nodded, Bumblebee surprised that Bulkhead even fit in the main subway area enough to sit. Bulkhead sat down with a loud, echoing clang, and Bumblebee sat in his larger friend’s lap.

“So, what are your names?” The red turtle, Raph, said, definitely giving off Bossbot energy with the way he held himself in front of his brothers, ready to jump into action and save them if needed.

“I thought we told you earlier?” Bulkhead said, before being interrupted by Bumblebee.

“Bulkhead and Bumblebee.”

“Well, hello my metal compadres!” The blue one, Leo, said with a flip of his mask tails. “Sooo… Why are you here anyway? Alien invasion? We kinda dealt with one six months ago.”

“Oh, no, no. We don't want to invade. Well, the Decepticons might, but not us. We're just here because we were searching for something called an Allspark fragment and got transported he- mmph!” Bumblebee smacked a servo over Bulkhead's mouth.

“Who's saying too much now? ” Bumblebee teased.

“...oops.”

“No, it's fine! Thanks.” Leo said, before clapping his hands together. “So what are Decepticons?”

“Evil jerks that want to take over Cybertron after we Autobots won the war and kicked their afts off-planet!” Bumblebee said confidently.

“I feel like there's a lot of context we're missing,” April commented idly.

“Yep.”

—

22nd Century Detroit, Michigan

Location: Autobot Base

“What do you mean, they're both just gone?” Ratchet questioned the two returning bots, pausing his organization.

“They're gone, Ratch. We looked everywhere, and they're just… Gone. Nothing was there, not even any remnants of a struggle.” Optimus explained.

“Hmm…” Ratchet hummed in thought. “Strange. If they're… If they were really offline, there should be some remains. Plating, signs of a fight, Energon.”

“There was nothing. I couldn't even sense them.” Prowl said. “Something is amiss.”

“I swear to fragging Primus, if those Decepticons took them…” Ratchet said, balling his servo.

“Then we'll get them back.” Optimus put a servo on Ratchet's shoulder. “We just… Need to keep looking, that's all.”

“I hope so, kid.”

—

Location: Decepticon Base

“What do you mean, they've just disappeared?” Megatron said in a low tone, addressing Starscream as the seeker bowed to him.

“Why, I don't understand how, my liege! I investigated those two bumbling idiots’ last location, and there was nothing! Not even an Allspark fragment!” Starscream said. “Why, if I didn't know any better, I'd say they took it themselves and fled! How unreliable, but at least you have me- GHK!”

Starscream was suddenly slammed against the wall of the mines, a large servo gripping his intake.

“I do not have time for this tomfoolery, Starscream.” Megatron whispered in a lower voice. “Two of my most loyal Decepticons are missing. I can tell when one plans to double cross me. Be aware, Starscream, that even if I am down two soldiers…”

Megatron squeezed Starscream's intake tighter, listening to the Seeker squeak and writhe for a few kliks.

“I can easily fix the power imbalance with a simple swing of my servo.” Megatron warned. “Do not take these disappearances as causing me weakness, Starscream.”

Starscream gasped as Megatron let him drop, watching the warlord sit back down on his throne.

“Go. Do not return to my sight until you find clues.”

“Y-Yes, Lord Megatron!” Starscream rasped, quickly leaving.

Megatron crossed his legs as the seeker left. Surely, Blitzwing and Lugnut would not be so easily defeated in a mere encounter with the two youngest Autobots.

As much as the warlord hated it, he would have to remain patient.

And… euggh… rely on Starscream. For now.