Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The story starts in one big city. Sunset Hills. One in which a whole bunch of people coexists one way or another. The type of people varies from normal high school students ending their last period, running thinking of freedom (although they have homework), others of where to go to grab a snack. Others went to their part time jobs. On another side of the city, one could gaze at various types of workers living their day to day lives. From politicians to house wives, from scientists trying to decipher a formula, to bosses of their own small businesses trying to make a living. Yes, one could see all this chaotic commotion known as a city… when looking from a very far hill.

There was standing one lonely huge figure on the edge of a cliff, at least huge in comparison with a normal human, on the outskirts of the city. He was humming a catchy song he heard while driving through the streets while a peculiar insignia in the shape of a squared face was shining all around. No human could’ve known what it meant in the first place.

“Argh!” He groaned while trying to observe with full detail. “I know we need to hide, but what’s the point if your allies can’t find you as well!” The silvered robot exasperated while searching for one of his partners.

How hard could it be to find one giant robot in the middle of a city?

“See you later, Nathan!” A blonde girl yelled from the inside of her car after leaving a young man at his work.

“Thanks, Amanda,” Nathan glanced at his cousin before she pressed the accelerator with violence, disappearing from his view in seconds. “Looks like she’s having another party.”

Nathaniel, 17 years old, not too thin, not too bulky; but he has gained some musculature. His strength was thanks to his job, which he fortunately received a few months ago. And that’s because his uncle is the owner, and the last worker quitted due to “nobody appreciating his talent”.

The teen combed his messy golden hair while grabbing his uniform. He changed from his white polo and buttoned his now blue grayish bust pocket shirt. He checked himself in a broken mirror, trying to see if he still looked attractive for the ladies. Although no woman would ever visit the old “Ethan W. Junkyard”. Name pending. His uncle hasn’t decided an official title yet.  

Well, to be fair. There were quite some ladies that would actually visit the place. Ones to leave their old banger, others to buy a new gift for their sons or daughters, and the rare ones that are actually mechanics and are looking for spare parts or things that can be saved.

So, Nathan never loses hope that he could meet a nice lady. One day might be his lucky day. Only this day wasn’t that day.

“Looking cheerful today, champ. Something good happened today?” His uncle approached him while patting his shoulder.

Nathan wasn’t the only one cheerful. While Ethan is naturally easygoing and jolly, he was extra today. “Look who’s talking, uncle Eth.”

“Was it a girl? Come on, you can tell your uncle.” He was poking Nathan’s ribs with his elbow, the kid had to step away since it tickled him.

“Nah, not at all. I got another A, this time in physics. Four more, and my mother will buy me a car.” He was thinking that maybe a Nissan could be nice, nothing too expensive since he didn’t want to compromise his family’s stability. He could only dream about Porsches or Lambos.

“Hey, not bad. Just, don’t expect too much. Probably it’ll be a second hand one.” His uncle crossed his arms while looking at him. Ethan knows that Nathaniel is a good and humble boy, but sometimes helps seeing how humble he is these days.

“Yeah, I know. But hey, it’ll be my first car.” He optimistically answered while placing his chin in between his thumb and index, looking confident.

“I’m betting my sister will get it from my place. So, why don’t you start working and see if you fancy one of them.” Ethan gave another pat to his shoulder before leaving to his office.

“Ha, ha. Very funny, uncle. Just tell me I need to go to work.” Nathan went towards his locker, grabbed the tool box and put on his gloves.

“Let me know when you find one!” Waved Ethan a goodbye before giving his nephew his back. Instead of going to work immediately, he opened a box filled with fresh donuts he bought this morning.

Nathan just waited patiently, looking at his uncle, until he grabbed the juiciest and biggest donut. 

“Hey, uncle. That cute lady visited the junkyard again?” Nathan then dropped the bomb, smirking like a little prankster.

“Hey! Wha-” Ethan flinched, almost dropping his donut. He squished the poor dessert with such brute force that now could hardly be called a donut.  “How did you know?!” Instead of looking angry, the uncle looked a bit nervous with a pinch of redness on his cheeks.

“It’s written all over your face.” Nathan laughed while grabbing a chocolate frosted donut, gave it a bite, and went outside to start working.

Ethan only pouted while eating his now ice cream filled squished empanada. He didn’t think his nephew would notice his little crush.

After finishing his donut, licking his fingers in the process, Nathan walked towards the main yard. This is the place where new cars were delivered. The first to do in the afternoon is checking the state of each individual piece. Whether they still work, if they can be fixed or if it’s a lost cause. If the first one applied, he drove them towards the garage, his uncle would take care of those and then put them into sale. If the others two applied, that was Nathan’s job.

One of the first he moved was a Corvette, probably a C4 1994 model. Still a good car and could function properly if repaired. The guy couldn’t believe someone would even dump a gem like this. He noticed that the tires needed to be changed, and the transmission required either replacement or fixing. Maybe his uncle could get him a spare part. After checking it, Nathan decided to leave the car at the end, to give its full attention after work.

After covering it with a thick mantle, he moved onto the next one. That’s when things got a bit weird.

“Hey, uncle! Are we legally permitted to dismantle cop cars?!” Nathan shouted while looking at very well-kept police car in front of him.

The teen moved closer and realized there was an unidentified red symbol on the hood. “Strange, I don’t remember any police agency having this mark.” He said, meticulously passing his finger over the red symbol, shaped like a face.

“What?! We didn’t receive any police car!” Ethan looked confused and approached his nephew, confirming that there was in fact a police car in his junkyard.

What they didn’t notice was a shadow looming in between the rest of the scrapped cars all over the place. There was a silent patrol, slowly moving around the area, looking for a crevice big enough for a weapon to fit in cleanly. Slowly, his right front quarter panel began to shift, turning into a canon-like weapon.

Now, with target of sight, it was just too easy getting rid of the enemy. Sure, the two humans would probably lose their lives, but that mattered little. The car closer to both guys knew it had to act, switching on the headlights to make the humans flinch. Afterwards, the engine turned on, and the gas pedal was pushed while on parking mode. The initial roar scared the humans, it made them jump backwards. The blast was now avoidable for the pair. In a second, a charged purple beam was shot from in between two piles of cars, blowing them into pieces. The other police car had enough time to transform into a humanoid figure. While changing, his back arched upwards to avoid the beam, he ended up spinning in mid-air before touching ground. This revealed the iconic red horns on his forehead while landing with his arm already holding his trusty white gun.

“Humans, stand aside.” Claimed Prowl while putting himself between the humans and the already transformed Barricade.

Both patrol cars were already facing each other, Barricade throwing aside the remaining cars that were supposed to be repaired for the day. Nathan saw the moment the Corvette got smashed into pieces and almost screamed in pain. However, fear got him fast the moment the Decepticon jumped against Prowl, who was still protecting the humans. Prowl tried to blast away his enemy, but he was carrying some sort of unknown shield deflecting most of the projectiles.

“Is that new tech?” Said Prowl to himself while covering his face with both arms.

Both humans were smart enough to get away as soon as possible, hiding beside the big scraps of destroyed cars. Rubble and dust were beginning to fly around while the two Transformers intensively fought.

“We have to help him!” Nathan said to his uncle.

“Are you crazy, kid? I have to take you somewhere safe!” His uncle countered his suicidal demand. Ethan began to look for an escape route.

The garage wasn’t far enough, they could sneak amidst the chaos, grab the keys and drive away from this mess as fast as possible. Yet, he was concerned that they could get followed or hunted since they are witnesses. It is the first time they have encountered something like this.

“But he protected us.” Nathan was trying to be a hero. He couldn’t understand how useless he could be against a giant robot.

The kid was scared, sure; but he was always told to help those who helped him. That’s what his father has always repeated. The intention was noble, contrary to his actions since he was only trembling, unable to move. Not even running away was possible for him. And the question remained: how could he even help a 4-5 meters tall robot?

“Just because a huge piece of metal stood between us and a bad guy, doesn’t necessary mean he is saving us!” Ethan grabbed the boy’s arm, realizing Nathan wasn’t going to move on his own.

In that moment, Barricade noticed the older human standing up, trying to carry his nephew. It is unknown why he immediately shot at the human. Maybe he hates organics, maybe he hates creatures that are inferior to him. Who knows, but that doesn’t change the fact he didn’t hesitate to do so.

Prowl, without flinching or thinking twice, jumped in front of the laser that was aimed at both guys. He wasn’t going to save them in time, nor deflect the shot with something else. So, he begrudgingly received the impact. The impact was strong enough to send the whole cybertronian towards the direction of the blast. Prowl had barely enough time to gain control of his body and stop the impact from hitting the humans.

“I’ve told you to stand aside. Move before this gets worse!” Prowl glared at the oldest human, since he assumed Ethan was the one in charge of the younger.

The human looked at Prowl with anger and fear. Angry because someone was bossing him around; scared because this was too real to be a dream. But the old man wasn’t a useless sack and just nodded with his head toward the Autobot. Ethan carried his nephew into the garage without hesitation. He was strong enough to piggyback three people at the same time, so Nathan wasn’t a huge problem. Once the kid was put in a safe place, Ethan got up.

“Stay there, kid. I’ll be back soon.” Said Ethan while giving the back to his nephew.

“Wait, are you going to help him? Let me go with you!” Nathan tried to stand up, but his legs already gave up. He was feeling ashamed of his cowardice.

“Not a fat chance, my sister will kill me if you get hurt.” Answered his uncle without blinking.

The old man was thinking how he could help the huge piece of metal fighting inside his business.

“So, now you’ll help him since he saved us?” Nathan managed to stand up, controlling his nerves and his body tasting for the first time what it meant to receive a huge dose of adrenaline.

“Not at all. But I don’t like pricks, nor owning favors to them.” He groaned similarly in the same fashion Prowl did when jumping to save them. 

Once Ethan got out of his garage, he analyzed what he could do. Prowl and Barricade were fist fighting at this point. The Autobot realized his firepower was useless against that unknown shield deflecting lasers. This meant he had to fight closer now, which left the Decepticon with no other choice but to counter in the same fashion.

“What a waste of scrap,” Barricade spat, “why don’t you go back to solving puny crimes like you used to, Prowl.” The black with purple Decepticon smirked, thinking he got the upper hand.

“The ones you caused? That’s what I’m doing, old friend.” Prowl gave an upper cut to Barricade’s chin, making him fall back momentarily. While his main weapon was the now useless gun, he could still defend himself.

The punch was strong enough, it confused the Decepticon for a few seconds. Then Barricade had to hold his chin, checking if something was broken. It wasn’t. Prowl realized that the shield his enemy had was either effective exclusively to laser projectiles, or only covered the chest area. Probably the first one.

“Friend? And here I though your only friend was the lame justice you say to exert. I’m flattered.” Barricade answered. He sounded a bit cocky, which is not very common in him, he usually doesn’t beat the bush around and aggressively holds the situation.

But Prowl was an exception, he was the only Autobot he wants to savor killing.

Suddenly, a huge swing came flying near Barricade. He barely had time to evade the attack. Prowl was far away, so the enemy looked for the source. At his right was Ethan, driving the crane he uses to carry the old cars. It was small, but with enough energy it could punch someone as big as Barricade. Sadly, he missed.

Ethan lowly cursed, knowing his attack failed and now his position was known to the enemy.

“Human!” Prowl exclaiming before succumbing to the pain. He realized he was pinned down to the floor thanks to a rod stuck in his right leg. Maybe Barricade place it before receiving the previous attack.

Barricade realized his opponent was immobilized, “I’ll deal with you later. For now, this pest.” He said while looking at Ethan, who refused to leave the crane.

The human could do another swing, there was enough power to juice up one more attack, however the enemy was now aware of his intentions. He needed to run, and fast.

“Hey, you dumb cop!” A rock flew high enough to hit Barricade’s chest.

Gaining the enemy’s attention, Nathan knew he had to do something before getting smashed into pieces. Barricade only saw the other human, the smaller one, in middle of the rubble. He was holding a tube, possibly thinking he can use it as a bat.

“Aww, the human thinks he can do something against me? How pathetic. Come on, do your worst.” Barricade’s deep voice pierced through the kid’s ears. He sounded confident; a small single squishy blob wouldn’t be able to even scratch his paint job.

That is… if Nathan’s plan was to hurt him himself.

“Actually, I don’t have to. I just needed to distract you.” Nathan dropped the tube before glancing at his uncle. "now!"

His uncle had no idea what the kid was thinking, since Barricade immediately turned once more towards him. Ethan panicked momentarily since he had no back up plan, nor he had prepared the crane for another attack.

Little he knew, glancing at Ethan was just a mere red herring. Barricade didn’t think Prowl would recover fast enough. Without any tactic, which was very unnatural for the Autobot, he charged against his enemy. At first, the ally was very silent since he realized that the youngest human was creating an opening for attack. Once close however, a loud grunt was heard. The Decepticon immediately realized the trap, but he was slow. Turning towards his enemy was a mistake since Prowl used his gun as a melee weapon, hitting full frontal Barricade’s face.

That was enough time for Ethan to swing completely the crane towards the Decepticon, dealing great damage in the process. Now what? That tactic couldn’t be used a second time, and Nathan had to look for some cover.

Fortunately, they didn’t need a new strategy.

The moment Barricade stood up, enraged and fully committed to get rid of those annoying pests, a second motor was heard not too far from them. From between some pillars made of cars, a second Autobot appeared in vehicle mode. Acceleration at max. The yellow Camaro used an upside-down vehicle as a ramp, tackling Barricade with his whole body. The ally was even able to scrape the enemy’s face with one of his tires once they landed over the floor.

After leaving the wounded body lay there, the Camaro transformed into his humanoid form. It was a same sized Autobot reaching for his comrade, helping him remain on foot by placing Prowl’s arm over his shoulder.

“Bumblebee, I owe you one.” Exclaimed Prowl.

“Don’t mention it, you would’ve done the same!” Bumblebee smirked innocently while carrying his injured buddy.

However, Barricade wasn’t done. He was making a last effort to continue fighting, he could still manage two Autobots and two humans.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Don’t even bother, pal.” A third voice was heard from behind the crane Ethan was using. With a single jump, a third Autobot appeared in the battle. His iconic blue visor was reflecting some of the remaining sunlight.

He didn’t even bother to take a combat stance; he was sure that Barricade would run away from this situation. And he did. Three against one wounded Decepticon was unfair, so he left by entering vehicle mode. They could hear the enraged motor leaving the property as fast as possible.

“Typical of Decepticons, they always scram when they are pinned against a wall.” Said the last Autobot to appear. Then he looked towards the humans. “Ah, we have witnesses. Sorry about your place.” The silvered Autobot looked over the whole mess. Piles of cars crumbled a few seconds after his last words. Not to mention the increasing fire nearby.

“Who are you?” Nathan got closer towards this mysterious figure. Since he seemed like the leader, maybe he could answer what the hell was going on.

“Hey, kid, we don’t know if they are friendly.” Interrupted the uncle, worried that his nephew got closer to this unknown creature.

Ethan distrusted the giant robots, since one similar to them just attacked a few minutes ago. Shortly after this, the three of them noticed the yellow fellow trying his best to put down some of the fire. He was carrying one of the fire extinguishers, sadly the dust sprinkled all over his face while trying to figure out how to use said device. Prowl just sighed since he had to do everything by himself.

“Hey, it’s alright, little one. We don’t like hurting humans. The name’s Jazz. I was looking for my friend over here. Once we found him, we came as soon as possible. But… as you can see, someone got first here. I could… help you put out the fire.” Jazz answered while pointing with his thumb towards his comrades who were managing to put down one flame. Well, it was mostly Prowl. Bumblebee was still wiping his face.

“Thanks… that’s a start.” Ethan answered, not fully convinced but thankful that they were going to help.

“Here, let me help you!” Nathan approached Bumblebee. He handed him a towel he was carrying tucked in his jeans. He uses it mostly to clean off his sweat, but the big guy needed it the most right now. “So, what are you. Are you from Earth? Did you come from space?”

“Kid!” Ethan yelled infuriated. He didn’t know what troubled him the most, either Nathan casually helping the yellow guy or asking possible inappropriate questions that might anger the guests.

“It’s alright. But I believe presentations are in place. My yellow friend here is Bumblebee.” Jazz answered while Bumblebee happily waved at Ethan. “The prick is Prowl.”

“Hey!” Prowl protested upon said accusation, he was the only one putting off the fire while everyone was just chilling.

“As for the questions… let’s just say I’m not the one who can answer that. But we can take you to him.” Jazz continued, ignoring completely the grumpy guy behind him.

“Hey, they can’t just meet Optimus. We would be breaking his rules.” Prowl continued bickering while Jazz rolled his eyes at his answer, althought nobody coould see said gesture since the visor covered his eyes.

“We can and will, Prowl. His first rule was made to hide ourselves. They already know about us. They are already part of this.” Jazz sighed towards Prowl. “So… what are your names, little buddies?” He gazed towards the youngest human, since he was the most approachable. The other one looked like a mini-Prowl.

“That is my uncle Ethan over there. My name is Nathan… Nathan Witwicky.”

Chapter Text

“Ugh, sister will kill me.” Ethan covered his face with both hands while almost curling into a ball.

“Is it a serious threat?” Prowl asked while driving the human towards the hideout. While Ethan was on the driver’s seat, Prowl was moving himself.

“No, not at all. It’s a human expression. But if she discovers what happened at my job or that his son is now coexisting with huge robots… well things won’t look bright for me.” His face got paler just by thinking about it. Even if he is the older brother, her sister would become a living nightmare if anything happened to the kid.

Of course, the uncle loves his nephew; but both his sister and brother-in-law were on another level.

“Sounds like your sister is a menace.” Prowl wasn’t joking, he was pondering whether humans were actually more powerful than he thought. Ethan however, merely chuckled at the seriousness Prowl was showing. He realized that, at least the car he was driving, wasn’t the humorous type.

“Only when her son is in a dangerous situation. Human mothers are like that. And… taking him into meeting another giant robot in the middle of a forest isn’t quite ‘safe’, as I would put it.” Ethan peered through the window, resting his cheek on his left hand. There was a worrying look in his eyes ever since the buildings stopped showing and there were only tall trees surrounding them. There were some faint drops of sweat falling down through his tan skin.

Following the giant robots could be a huge mistake, sadly both he and his nephew are already involved. Ethan can’t guarantee that they won’t be attacked by the other patrol car after this incident.

“Trust us, if there is anyone that can protect you, or your family, is Optimus Prime.” Prowl reassured.

“Sounds like you put a lot of faith in him.” Ethan was looking at the steering wheel, unsure of where to look at, or if the Autobot was looking at him while in vehicle mode. It felt weird for him talking to a car, not that he hasn’t done it before at his work. But this one answered back.

“He never abandoned us on the war.”

“War?!” Ethan almost jumped from his seat, making Prowl flinch. The Autobot suddenly zig zagged for a few seconds before recovering his balance.

“What… what are they doing?” Jazz asked to himself while looking at the wobbly Prowl through his mirror. “I suppose they are becoming best friends.”

While Ethan was getting worried with each new piece of information, Nathan was enthusiastic about the new race they discovered.

“So, your name is Bumblebee. You were the first to arrive here on Earth?” Nathan was innocently asking Bee about his years on Earth, his fists clenching on his knees as a way to control the enthusiasm. It felt like Christmas on summer.

“That is right! I’ve been here since 1984! Or, that’s the year I remember seeing in a newspaper.” Bumblebee answered while completely ignoring Prowl in front of him, not even a strange steering could get his attention. The young and naïve Autobot was happy that he could finally befriend a human.

“That’s 20 something years. Have you like it so far?” Nathan inquired.

“It’s hasn’t always been perfect; some humans have been trying to capture or find me. But, overall, I like it here!” There was a noise within his voice that caught Nathan’s attention, like a buzzing sound. Maybe that’s why his name is Bumblebee.

“Why did you arrive here? On Earth, I mean, not the city.” As much as excited the boy was, he knew that there weren’t many humans that would react so kindly to metallic species like them.

“Optimus Prime wanted a new base for our people. It’s not permanent! We don’t want to invade Earth or anything. But we need a place to hide and regroup. So, I was sent to scout.” Bumblebee answered a bit worried since the humans might think that their stay would be very long.

“And have you built a base yet?” Nathan continued talking with Bee alongside the journey. Both were quite comfortable with each other’s presence.

Prior to this journey, the Autobots spent some time putting out the fire in Ethan’s place, as well as cleaning some of the scraps and now useless cars his business had. At least it wasn’t a complete loss, but he had to close for today. And probably for the rest of the week while trying to figure out how to fix, well… everything.

Ethan also called his sister, Michelle, and lied to her. “I’m taking the kid to dinner, I’ll drive him home, don’t worry about it.” He said thinking this “meeting with the leader” would’ve take them hours. The sun was now setting, so it was a good call. The uncle’s business was also located quite far away from the center of the city, on its borders, one could say; but now they were entering Silver Leaves, the forest found on edges of the city, to the far east. Called like that since the leaves take a white shiny color on winter, and they hardly fall, making it a silvery scenario. But it was middle of summer, so the place was fully green and extra bushy. A perfect place for hiding.

At some point, the three cars exited the road and ventured onto the big tree maze, as if knowing exactly where to go. Once deep inside the forest, the ones who carried the humans had to stop so that they could transform without them inside. Jazz went ahead of them.

The humans took this chance to stretch their legs and arms. Nathan was completely enthusiastic about meeting their leader, Ethan… not so much. It didn’t take long before they heard, and felt, bigger footsteps nearby. The dirt below them slightly crumbled and, without realizing, a tall figure was closer to them. It wasn’t until Nathan looked up that he saw a pair of looming blue shiny eyes above them. The shadows of the growing night didn’t help to give a positive image for this figure.

There and then both humans noticed the 6-meter-tall robot, his iconic red and blue colors shinning dimly with the moonlight. Clearly taller than the rest of the Autobots they’ve already met.

“So, it is true, Jazz. Earthlings have discovered us.” Optimus Prime finally spoke, looking at the pair of guys below him.

The tall figure had to kneel down, placing his hand over the earth, so that he could get a better view of them. By getting closer, both humans finally could gaze properly at his face, he was gently smiling, yet worried.

“I must apologize, we never intended to involve you in our affairs. My name is Optimus Prime. I, just as my fellow comrades, have arrived from planet Cybertron.” He sounded strong, yet gentle at the same time. Even Ethan could sense that he meant no harm to them.  How could someone look imposing and righteous at the same was something humanity wasn’t ready to discover any time soon.

“Hello. I am Nathan, this is my uncle, Ethan.” Spoke the youngest since the uncle was dumbfounded. Nathaniel, however, looked calm.

“It is a pleasure.” Optimus nodded.

“Yeah, a pleasure too. Your friend here told us that you guys are… war refugees?” Ethan finally broke the silence then pointed with his thumb towards Prowl. The Autobot was standing right behind him, as if to cover him from any danger.

“Unfortunately. But we only intend to restore our numbers here on Earth before departing again.” Optimus Prime spoke with respect and cordiality, since cybertronians were the uninvited guests.

“Yeah, about that, Prime. Our dear humans here got involved not because Prowl got careless or something.” Jazz interrupted their exchange, gaining their leader’s attention. Even if the topic was serious, the Autobot sounded as calm and cool as possible. Smirking because he knew that Prowl would get annoyed.

“It offends me you even put my name with careless in the same sentence.” Grumbled an annoyed Prowl in a lower voice while crossing his arms. Ethan did his best to not laugh.

“As I was saying, our little buddies here got caught in this whole mess thanks to some nasty Decepticon. Looks like they’ve followed us.” Jazz continued, acting as a substitute of a second-in-command. It was unnatural to see the Autobot acting so responsible. Or serious at least.

Truth to be told, Jazz didn’t want to say anything out loud; but he wanted to honor the real second-in-command for Optimus, Ultra Magnus. They do not know if he is still alive.

“Is that so?” Optimus Prime looked surprised for a moment, then he returned to his serious self. A part of him knew the Decepticons would follow them, he just didn’t expect they would arrive so soon. “Then is highly probable that he is not alone, and you,” he looked towards the humans once more, “are compromised due to our fault.”

“I kinda see that… so, what happens to us now? We can’t just disappear from the public eye.” Ethan answered, he wouldn’t let the kid answer for him all the time. He needed to be the responsible adult.

“Do not fear, I will assign personal guardians that will accompany you in your daily lives. It will help not only in your security; they will also cover more areas while we look for our lost comrades.” Optimus Prime stood up now that he mentioned the crucial information to his new allies.

“About that,” Nathan spoke, interrupting the adults. Optimus looked at the teen, waiting for him to continue. Yet Nathan got nervous since clearly, he was talking with the big authority, “ehem, sir, exactly what happened to you? How did you end here and… can we help in any way?”

“Your support is appreciated,” Optimus smiled, “but, it is as your companion said here, we can’t make you disappear from the public eye. First, we need to secure a safe place where my team can rest, tend our wounded, if we find some, and recount old stories for the Earthlings.”

“Well, about that…” Ethan once more took the spotlight, raising his hand so that he could be noticed. “I think I know of a place, at least temporary in case we can find something better.”

-------------------------

This time, Ethan was driving Prowl since he was the one who knew where to go. The rest followed the police car through the road, returning once more to Sunset Hills. During the journey, Optimus Prime managed to scan a passing by truck. It was the only vehicle that could match his size. The only thing that the lustrous leader didn’t copy was the original green color, keeping for himself his reddish torso and blue limbs.

“So, I guess we are together, for now.” Ethan said to Prowl.

“Affirmative. Optimus Prime gave me this mission and I’m willing to comply.” He said as if it was fulfilling only his duty. However, the police car was a bit relieved that he got to guard the most reasonable and mature human.

Before departing, both Prowl and Bumblebee were assigned to guard and protect Ethan and Nathaniel respectively. Just by interacting with them within a few minutes, Optimus was able to sense which members of his group have already started to bond with the humans. Jazz was overwhelmingly disappointed since he wanted to protect one of them. Doing so would’ve give him many chances to stroll around the city, knowing more about human culture in the process. Maybe they can get another human into the team, so he can protect that person.

“Well, nice to meet you. I’m Ethan Witwicky.” He presented himself in a courteous manner.

“You already presented yourself.” Said Prowl in the coldest way. Technically speaking, it was Nathan who presented his uncle, and it was to Jazz, not Prowl.

“I’m the owner of my own business, I have two siblings and one nephew.” Ethan didn’t care and continued talking. If he was going to have a robot companion for who knows how long, he needed to know who he was working with.

“… Prowl. I used to serve justice on Cybertron.” Prowl gave up, knowing the human wouldn’t shut up if he didn’t comply.

“Like a cop on Earth?” He immediately felt disappointed of himself by making the obvious and dumb question. He is, after all, driving a police car. The level of obviousness hit his pride very aggressively.

“That depends, do they serve justice without batting an eye?” Prowl continued talking. He knew the human made the silliest question ever, but treated it as if it was an important question. It was imperative for him to know the human juridical system.

“Well… some… I guess…” Now Ethan was in an awkward position, he didn’t want to reveal how bad the system was.

“Then they don’t. I make no exceptions; everyone deserves to feel the weight of justice.” He sounded dead serious. It is a personal topic for Prowl since he just fought an old enemy who betrayed his trust and now fights against justice. He will make sure nobody escapes the punishment they deserve.

“Even someone like Optimus Prime?” Ethan sounded serious. He wanted to know who he was helping now. There was a hint of skepticism in his voice, he couldn’t just easily trust the machines.

“Yes. However, in my time following him, I haven’t seen him do something improper.” Prowl showed no hesitation. He wasn’t angry at the insolence of the man. If humans were the ones arriving at Cybertron, he would’ve been reacting in a similar fashion. He even appreciated that all humans weren’t as naïve as Nathan.

“I see.”

“Have you done improper actions?” Prowl wanted to be impudent as well. A little payback for questioning his leader.

“Well, I would be lying if I say no. I dropped from school years ago, built my own place, protected my close ones. Probably I didn’t pay some taxes here and there. Are you going to arrest me for that?” He wasn’t going to mention that he has dismantled some cars that came from dubious sources. Ethan should be concerned by confessing his crimes to Prowl, but he felt it was necessary to reveal some of them if they are a team now.

“Under normal circumstances, without thinking. But you are helping us, consider it your community service for your crimes.” Prowl answered.

“Well, I’m glad I got to pay for it.” Ethan smirked; he felt his future days were about to get very interesting. And tiring.

----------

After a few minutes driving, the gang arrived at an abandoned place. Located beyond the farthest borders of the city, at twenty kilometers away from Ethan’s workplace, rested an old and abandoned factory complex. There were easily five still standing buildings, from a storehouse to the main facility for building. According to the local citizens, it was an automotive factory of a discontinued brand. It has been unused for more than 30 years.

The place stood abandoned for 5 years, with personnel keeping security and maintenance. Then it got completely deserted. From time to time, a group of youngsters would visit and leave some graffiti here and there. Many people created legends about the place being haunted and similar stories. The real motive for its abandonment, however, was that the company became bankrupt and the CEO escaped with the money he could carry. Not to mention that the location was far away from the city.

“Whoa, uncle, how did you know about this place?” Nathan exited Bumblebee, gazing at the huge facilities surrounding the team.

“Your father and I used to visit this place as teens. We would play here all day long.” Ethan got closer to his nephew, there was a nostalgic look on his face.

He could visualize a younger Ethan playing video games with Johnny, years ago. There was other six guys trying to figure out how to power up the place. Ethan was the one trying to make a homemade console with the spare parts found in the factory. The poor thing lasted a few months before it overloaded. Those were the days.

“Why did you stop reuniting here?” Nathan interrupted his train of thought, making his uncle blink into reality.

“Ah well, he met my sister. The rest is history.” The uncle scratched his cheek, remembering awkward moments, then he changed the topic by looking at the huge robots examining the place. “What do you think, guys? Think this can work as a temporary shelter?”

“It is more than we had hoped for. We are thankful of your help.” Optimus replied while commanding Jazz to scout further into the main factory. “We will try to settle ourselves here in the meantime. But I think is time for you to return to your homes. Tomorrow we can talk about who we are, and why we ended here. Your guardians will take you to your places.” Finally, he glanced both at Bumblebee and Prowl, who still remained in their car forms.

Bumblebee eagerly opened his driver door so that Nathan could hop in once more.

“I think it goes without saying, but my workplace has a whole set of vehicles, as well as spare parts. Feel free to use it as a smaller base, or place to hide. Heck, even to find pieces you might need for anything.” Ethan offered while looking at the rusted parts of the building. While it can hold people, and now robots, it’ll need some repairs.

“We will not forget your kindness, Ethan.” Optimus made a small nod, imitating the humans.

“Well, Prowl, you can take me to my workplace. That’s where I live.” He received a blinking light answer from the cop car, almost blinding poor Ethan in the process. “Argh! Kid, tell your mother that I gave you Bumblebee as a gift.” He massaged his poor eyelids while in pain.

-------------------

Once the humans left, the two remaining Autobots were starting to make some small repairs to the place. While none of them were experts in building or restoration of human architecture, they knew the basics. Optimus was already seeing this place as a temporary home where he could gather the majority of his team before heading back to Cybertron.

“Prime, there is one thing you need to see.” Jazz approached after scanning the whole area. The only threat he could find wasn’t bigger than a rat. No unwanted humans nor Decepticons in the area. He was carrying a small spray can that probably some humans left after portraying their “art”.

Jazz momentarily pressed the tip of the can, releasing a faint blue color into the air. The temporary second-in-commanded was surprised, yet he was fascinated by the human’s invention.

“Decorations can be done later, my friend, once we settle more important foundations to our new base.” Optimus answered while trying to figure out how to build some sort of communication device, as well as scanners and a source of human energy so that their Energon isn’t compromised.

“Wait, no. Hold on, I wasn’t referring to that.” Jazz threw the can backwards, smashing a window in the process.

Sealing mechanisms and windows were now added to Optimus’ mental to-do list. Getting Wheeljack or Perceptor back into the team was becoming a top priority. And if those two couldn’t be reached in an immediate future, Ratchet could help them the most. The medic was still the number one ‘bot to localize.

“I mean this,” Jazz opened a compartment on his right hip. Upon reaching the bottom, he took out a small black gadget, “Barricade was equipped with this weird looking shield. Bee managed to separate the piece from his chest by accident.”

Hours back, in the cleaning hours of Ethan’s place, Jazz removed a smashed Corvette and placed it in the scrap section. Under the carcass was mildly buried said piece. The device itself was shaped like a disk meant to be attached into the chest of any Cybertronian. It had three equally distributed flaps around the border, all of them glowing in a purple neon. Strangely, there was no Decepticon logo in any part of the device. Instead, a weird face of a green human Pharaoh with three spikes above its eyes was placed in the center.

“Prowl mentioned the enemy having some sort of invulnerability to his projectiles. And this doesn’t look Cybertronian.” Optimus Prime took the piece into his hand for further analysis. The unsettling feeling just got worse when holding said device. He isolated the piece within one crystal container found in the storage building. “Until we have the adequate equipment, we shall leave it untouched.”

“It also doesn’t resemble any technology from other planets our people have visited. Do you think is human? It gives me the chills.” Said Jazz trying to imitate the human slang. He likes the two humans that joined their team, but he fears there might be others who have allied with the Decepticons.

“It is a possibility. Or something else on planet Earth. We will need to find more if we’ll stay on this planet for a long time.” Optimus peered through the broken window that Jazz made a few seconds ago. The moon was perfectly fitting the gap. “If the Decepticons are already here, there might be a section trying to find a way to recover Megatron from the rift we sealed him in. We must avoid any more losses.”

While the night covers the city, many events happen at once. Nathan is trying to explain to his mother how could someone dump a pretty good model of a Camaro in his uncle's junkyard. Ethan is preparing himself to confront his sister tomorrow, since she would definitely not believe that such a gorgeous car was a mere gift. Bumblebee is now resting inside a garage, finally living in a cozy place. Prowl is sitting down over a pile of junk, being the only one with the freedom to transform since no one was nearby. Optimus stayed on the base repairing structures while Jazz had to explore looking for their comrades.

Little they knew all of them. Not far from the city there were two huge figures looming around. One was carrying the other over his shoulder. The second figure had been severely wounded, judging by their breathless panting, they were recently attacked. The night helped them to hide and they turned off their lights to get by undetected. Their shadows revealed a pair of horns on one of the heads; the other had a pair of elongated eyebrows that tip upwards.

One is running out of time.

Chapter Text

School time was ending, as always. This time on a Friday, which made everyone eager to spend their time either going to theaters or dates. Nathan was just happy of seeing his new car parked and intact.

He was a bit nervous during the whole day, everyone couldn’t help but look at the new Camaro driven by the teen. “Whoa, did you see that?” “Wait, isn’t that the new model?” “No way he managed to afford one” “Yeah, aren’t his parents divorced?” Many similar comments showered on his back. Those who actually dared to ask him about the car were no better.

“Enough, you imbeciles! You say that just because you are jealous!” Yelled a female voice near Nathan. She was wearing her black newsboy hat filled with colorful pins on the sides and the usual black crop top over the long-sleeved light blue shirt.

Compared to the simple yellow polo and baggy pants Nathan wore, she was the flashier of the duo. The curious scattered away after the true accusation was shot. The lady eyed everyone with her almond eyes, scanning the area for more pesky annoying teens. Nathan patted her shoulder as a way to signal everything was ok.

“Hey, thanks, Emma.” Nathan fist bumped his best friend as usual.

“Don’t mention it, I hate those jerks. A few days ago, they would ignore you unless an exam was getting closer.” She crossed her arms, her nose scrunching.

“Which I would deny because I’m no one’s pet.” He wanted to say that they only asked him, but he complied to her version of the story. He also realized that her hair was now dyed yellow with purple tips. Wasn’t it green yesterday? The thought crossed his mind.

“And they’ll go back to ignoring us.” Emma answered, finally relaxing both her body and attitude.

“As always.” Nathan eyed her, skepticism all over his face. “You also want to know how I got my car, right?”

“You think you would hide this from your bestie?” She pouted, looking at his dark brown eyes. She was readying herself to see if his friend would lie to her.

“Well, is not something extraordinary or anything like that.” Of course, he lied, he felt the cold sweat on his back while she judged him. “He was on my uncle’s junkyard, I cleaned It, made some repairs and bam! New car.” Nathan felt more comfortable answering this part since he wasn’t lying, those events happened… with a few extra details.

“Hmm, sure, sure… I’ll get the real story, eventually, Nathaniel Derren Witwicky.” She immediately detected the lie. Emma wasn’t the pushy type, so she let it go; somehow the truth will come out.

The rest of the classes passed relatively slow for the blondie. Once finished everything, he dashed towards his new friend. Nathan was so eager to return to the base and hear about the Autobots.

“Did someone approach you?” Nathan asked once he closed the door of Bumblebee. He placed his backpack on the copilot’s seat.

“I got some eyes here and there. Did I do something wrong?” The radio was blinking yellow with each word Bee said. He sounded a bit nervous.

“Not at all, people just were jealous of my new buddy. So, time to see Optimus?” Like the good kid he is, he immediately put on the seatbelt. Then he proceeded to comb his messy hair.

“That was the deal! Should we wait for your uncle?” Bumblebee began to drive, exiting the high school’s parking lot. Nathan had to fake he controlled the steering wheel, but also not be an obstacle for Bee when he had to make turns.  

“I don’t think so. We can get ahead.” Nathan said while his eyes looked a bit disconcerted at the thought of his uncle.

Once he arrived at his house with Bee, his mother wasn’t very pleased. It was almost midnight, and the Autobot did his best to drive fast through the city, and there was a very much expensive car in possession of his oldest kid. As both uncle and nephew expected, she wouldn’t believe some rich guy just tossed an intact car like Bee. Nathan managed to get away with the crime by tossing the blame to his uncle. Knowing Michelle, probably she was still tormenting her brother. It was pretty reasonable for Nathan to assume that he would arrive late.

“Nathan?” Bumblebee interrupted his train of thought. The human detected some sort of distress in the Autobot’s voice.

“Yup?” Nathan answered casually, trying to share his calmness with his friend.

“Are your parents divorced?” Bumblebee suddenly asked out of the blue. He sounded unsure, stuttering a bit at the beginning on whether inquire about said topic. They just met, after all.

“Wh-what? What makes you ask that?” Nathan flinched, not like his uncle. He couldn’t comprehend how Bee could deduce such a strange theory.

“Some of the people eyeing me kept mentioning that. That ‘a divorced mother couldn’t afford such a car’. You sure I didn’t do anything?” Bee thought that scanning a new model would’ve been a great idea a few days ago, he wanted a new gear for his body. But maybe humans weren’t so receptive about it, even if they designed the car.

“No, no, no,” instead of looking nervous, Nathan calmly dismissed Bee’s claim, if anything he felt a bit awkward, “my parents are very much together. But dad travels through the world a lot. His job takes a lot of his time.” Nathan immediately dismissed the idle gossip Bee manage to hear from his classmates. He even lifted his hands to deny such lie, then panicked immediately when he saw a driver next to him. Fortunately, the other human didn’t see a steering wheel moving by itself, just a teenager talking to himself.

Nathan sighed relieved that only he got to be the weirdo. But immediately quieted himself, looking a bit nostalgic. The last time he saw his father was five or six years ago. Sometimes he sends letters to his mother, but that’s about it. He misses him, and he is definitely not ok with his classmates’ jokes about his father being divorced. His mother has to attend to all the events from his school. His absence has made the others wonder why. That’s something Nathan isn’t ready to tell Bee, and the Autobot noticed that.

“What does he do?” Bumblebee asked, breaking the silence.

“He’s an archeologist. He goes to dig sites and uncover devices of ancient eras. Wait, do robots get married?” Nathan changed drastically the subject. Not because he was feeling uncomfortable talking about his father. He was genuinely surprised that Bumblebee knew the meaning of divorce.

“No?” Bumblebee seemed confused about his question. But, to be fair, he hasn’t seen any Cybertronian couple that has gone through a ceremony similar to a wedding. That’s why he answered unsure.

“How do you know what divorce means? You can’t divorce if you aren’t married.” Nathan lifted his eyebrow.

“I’ve been living here for the past 20 years, Nathan, I’ve learned so many things about human culture.” Bumblebee remembered attending to at least three weddings while driving around Earth, waiting for his comrades to receive his messages.

“Oh? Like what?”

“Hmm, like humans love to make shows about giant robots fighting evil, or tinier robots making a bigger robot with humans inside.” After answering, he tuned his radio to find one of the songs related to a show. Suddenly the car was filled with a solid rock intro, Nathan was brought back to his childhood. He used to dress like the yellow fighter. Bumblebee then turned off the radio. “Do you think humans would accept us?”

“I… maybe one day.” He hopes while smiling.

...

The young duo arrived at the base around 5:30 PM. Both Jazz and Optimus Prime were nowhere to be seen, but the place seemed cleaner than before. They could’ve arrived earlier, but Nathan remembered that he needed to eat. They grabbed a burger alongside the road. “Where could they be?” asked his companion Bumblebee while Nathan ate the last of his fries.

The guys checked first on the storage; Nathan felt flabbergasted. Just a day ago, the place was filled with empty crates and shelves that only carried cobwebs. Now it was completely clean and with bigger containers organized by size. Two of the remaining buildings, meant for human purposes (such as the cafeteria, kitchen, bathrooms, and places to sleep) were kept intact. It made sense since the Autobots couldn’t fully fit there, this job needed human workers. The fourth building had only tower storages meant for water, oils or anything liquid. That would be useful for storing Energon. A task meant for another day, since they remained untouched as well.

Lastly the main facility, which the other smaller buildings were connected to, the biggest by far and the place meant for machinery and automobile construction. Logically, one would look there first, but the scout and human wanted to see how much things have changed since yesterday. The first thing that surprised them were the new bigger doors opening automatically for them.

“Whoa! You did this all by yourselves?” Nathan gasped while seeing the cleaner factory.

The place used to have piles of junk, dust and abandoned pieces all over the place. Some of the machines were kept, but now cleaned and polished; maybe once they get a tech expert these could be used for their aid.

“Not all of it, kiddo. Your old man also helped us!” Jazz greeted the human while wiping away his non-existent sweat. Cybertronians don’t sweat, but he was already mimicking human mannerisms just for funsies.

“My uncle is already here?” Nathan asked.

“Took you long enough, kid. I’ve been here since 10 in the morning helping Jazz and Prowl.” Ethan opened a door not far from their position.

Ethan had a green towel around his shoulders, probably to clean himself or the grease from the machines. His muddy blond hair dripped an unidentified liquid, turning his hair fully brown. Judging by his appearance alone, he has been cleaning non-stop. “Just finished fixing some old pipes here and there. Now we have access to water. Which I could use right now in a shower.”

“Uncle Eth? I thought you would still be being lectured by my mother.”

“Human, for everything that is just in this planet, do not mention you mother!” Prowl intervened, he was carrying some boxes filled with junk, “I swear I can still hear her voice in my radio, or head. I don’t know anymore.” It was the first time the team saw a very emotional Prowl. The desperation and tiredness on his face screamed that Michelle had already visited Ethan’s place.

Jazz tried not to laugh in front of his comrade. Bumblebee seemed confused since he hasn’t seen Nathan’s mother at her worst. The kid spared Bee’s sanity and immediately put him in the garage, then confronted his mother in the kitchen.

“Yeah, about that,” Ethan approached and whispered to his nephew so that Prowl couldn’t listen, “she arrived at 7 in the morning to ask about Bumblebee. Then she saw Prowl as a cop car and things got messy. I still don’t know how I managed to get away with all of it. But, let’s not mention my sister for a while. For Prowl’s sake.”

“I appreciate to see that humans care for their close ones.” All of them heard Optimus Prime’s voice, he was entering through the same giant doors Nathan and Bee entered a few seconds ago.

He had a plate/mask covering his mouth; however, once fully inside the base, the plate automatically opened and retracted to his sides, under the blue helmet. Nathan noticed that Optimus apparently was the only one who had to bend his body a bit lower in order to fit inside the doors.

“Care is one thing, Prime, scolding until we go crazy is completely different.” Answered Prowl.

“Then we must ensure no other human is involved in our own battle.” Optimus answered a bit troubled. He appreciates any help to their cause, but worries that a lifeform so vulnerable could be put in danger because of them.

“Excuse me, how did you make those computers?” Nathan interrupted, amazed by the alien technology in front of him.

On one side of the walls, three computers now filled a few meters of space. The monitors were holographic, showing strange hieroglyphics and symbols unidentified by the humans. The main screen had a map of the city, localizing specific signals, those of their comrades. The keyboards, buttons and ways to operate said devices can’t be seen from where the humans stand. They needed to be Prowl size in order to see them, who was the smallest of the Autobots.

“We didn’t, Nathaniel. Some of us brought in our pods some equipment from Cybertron. Currently we lack someone proficient in technology, but we still managed to make basic constructions.” Optimus answered, gentle as always.

On the back, Jazz and Ethan high fived, proud of themselves. Jazz assembled the majority of the components and Ethan managed to provide an electrical source for them. Both are hiding from Prowl the illegal aspect from their work.

“Speaking of, I think that we need to know what the kid and I might encounter. Now that we are in this problem as well, we should know at least what the problem is in the first place.” Out of nowhere, Ethan took out a can of soda and opened it while wiping more of his sweat. He glanced at Optimus, looking deadly serious.

“This is not something we are proud of, Ethan. But it is true, you deserve an explanation on our situation. Please, take a seat, this will be a long story.” Optimus nodded, looking down towards both humans. He looked conflicted at best; this wasn’t a story easy to tell.

Ethan tried to look for something that resembled any kind of chair. Unable to find a pair, he and his nephew used some old desks as substitutes. Since Optimus would be the one telling the story, Prowl continued to reorganize the place. Jazz, on the other hand, set himself in front of one of the computers and began to key in some commands, at the same time, he looked over a map in the monitor. He patiently looked for any sort of response. Both Autobots kept quiet, knowing the story about to be told would open old wounds. Bumblebee was nowhere to be seen, he exited the building, he thought it would be best to start patrolling around the city now that the humans resided at a safe place.

“We came from our home world, Cybertron. We lived in an era full of peace we were once proud of. At least, that’s what many of us believed.” Optimus Prime looked down, not towards the humans.

“What happened?” Ethan asked.

“We weren’t unaware of the concept of wars. Many millennia ago, my people fought against many lifeforms who threatened our peace. And we also fought between ourselves, our own creators and founders of our society weren’t exempted of wrongdoing. That’s what our archives say. However, we thought… I thought we were long past those days, that we had become better than those before us. Then, we repeated the cycle once more.” Once answering, he looked again at the humans, committed to answer what they should know. He hid some details such as him being the one who looked into the archives when he was Orion.

“Sounds like the coup scenario, not the invasion one.” There was an apathetic tone in the uncle’s voice, he figured out that they couldn’t be that perfect as a society.

“And you are correct, Ethan. A longtime friend, Megatron, decided it was time for Cybertronians to go into arms and fought for what was rightfully ours.” Optimus seconded.

“And what was that?” Nathan asked, he didn’t want to be full specter only.

“I do not know if his intentions were just at first. In the end, the Decepticons became a force that consumed not only our civilization, but wanted more. He wanted not only to conquer our planet, but the galaxy itself. Probably more if he had succeeded.” The smile Optimus was holding vanished long ago. He is uncomfortable thinking about the betrayal of his once time friend.

“Succeeded? You mean you guys won?” Nathaniel asked, a bit surprised since he assumed that they were hiding due to losing.

Optimus remained in silence for a few seconds, unable to answer easily this question. Jazz, who usually looks jolly and smiling, was frowning behind his visor. Prowl was the only one that looked normal; however, his natural face is a serious one.

“We can hardly call it a victory, Nathaniel. Cybertron became unhabitable thanks to the war. As a result, everyone, both Autobots and Decepticons had to flee to other planets to find our only source of energy, Energon.” After thinking how to answer, Optimus continued telling their story, he had to kneel down to get closer to the humans.

“And Earth has this energy you seek?” Ethan was puzzled, it was the first time he had heard of this Energon material. How come nobody on Earth has discovered it?

“More than you and us believed at first. Your planet was very well hidden in the galaxy. I sent Bumblebee years ago to scout the planet. Once he confirmed the existence of Energon, we travelled here in hopes of staying while recovering our numbers.” Optimus opened a small compartment located on the left side of his chest, right under his huge windows. He took out a blueish crystalized energy with a luminous core.

“So, you only want to take Energon and then leave.” Nathan approached Optimus, gazing intensively at the blue crystal. He tried to take it into his hands but the rock was two times bigger than himself. He had to be content with only touching it.

Optimus realized the teen’s intention, so he complied by bring it in closer to the human. The Energon was smooth to the touch, like any gem on Earth, even while in a raw state. Nathan could feel a small wave of electricity flowing through his hand as long as in contact with the crystal. Not a dangerous quantity of energy, just enough to feel a slight tingling sensation.

“Yes. We didn’t consider that the planet would be this populated when we arrived. And we have no intention of invading unlike our old enemies.” Optimus answered, trying to remain serious while looking at young Nathan observing the crystal as if it was a birthday present. He proceeded then to place the crystal on the ground, so that the boy could do as he pleased.

“But why are the Decepticons here?” Ethan added, observing his nephew, then he sipped his soda. The soda is hot; he is very unpleased by it.

“Probably for the same reason as us. Or revenge for the fall of their leader.” Optimus answered.

“How did you defeat Megatron?” Nathan asked, even is his eyes focused entirely on the crystal, his ears still listened the rest of the story.

“I can’t call it a victory.” Optimus looked pained. “We couldn’t defeat Megatron, so we spent centuries creating a device that would seal him into an empty dimension. Once finished, I lead all of our squads into a final attack, succeeding not without many losses.” He clenched both of his hands, slightly shaking in frustration. He remembered the faces of all of those fallen on that battle.

“In the worst-case scenario, we fear that the Decepticons want to find a way to recover their leader. Which is why we are trying to find as soon as possible any existing comrade.” Prowl noticed that his leader was having trouble maintaining the story, so he interrupted by adding comments that could lead to another topic. All looked at the cop robot dismantling some old and unsalvable equipment.

“But… can they really bring him back?” Nathan finally stopped looking at the Energon. The threat of the Decepticon leader captured more his attention than a shiny rock.

“We hope it is not possible. After sealing him, our scientists destroyed the device that opened the portal, as well as all the blueprints and information related to the project. If there is a way, we can only gather our numbers before it happens.” Optimus regained his cool head and continued with the conversation.

“Maybe there is a squad sent to slow you down from that. Trying to keep a low numbered enemy team while they bring their leader back.” Ethan suggested, standing up from his place, a bit of fear lingered in his voice, worried that this could affect his nephew.

“That is also a possibility, Ethan. Whatever their motives may be, we can’t afford to stay put while our brothers and sisters in combat need our help.” Optimus Prime ended their main topic. He omitted some superficial but relevant information about the story. Maybe once Autobots and humans learn to trust each will be the time when said information is revealed.

For now, it is better to only reveal what it is crucial to their survival. The less they know about their situation, the better chances they have of seeing another day.

“I see, that is unfortunate. Optimus, is there a way can help besides giving a base?” Nathan interrupted the leader’s train of thought. The human brimmed with determination all over his eyes.

“Kid, I don’t think that’s a good idea. We can’t in any shape, way or form fight against one of them.” Ethan, as usual, was cold sweating at his nephew’s crazy ideas. Fighting Barricade was more than enough for the older human.

“I am not suggesting fighting, uncle. They are looking for their own people, maybe we can help them scout. Or find more safe zones in case the base is too far from them. And they’ll need guidance on human day-to-day rules.” Nathan thought out loud, he couldn’t just sit around while the big robots did all the work.

“Your suggestions are appreciated, Nathaniel. Under other circumstances, I wouldn’t allow others to endanger themselves in a problem we created ourselves. But our numbers are low now. Only four of us have been found nearby. And while Earth is not as big as Cybertron, finding our allies won’t be simple.” Optimus gently smiled at the help they were receiving. His gesture was warm and polite.

Optimus felt thankful for having made contact with gentle creatures. He wasn’t sure if all humans share this trait; but for being their first allies, he felt lucky. The lustrous leader can only hope that the rest of his team can see the same in them. So far, Jazz, Prowl and Bumblebee have received them with high spirits.

“What Optimus is saying… is that we are more than happy to receive help from the squisshies. I have no issue with that. Earth is fascinating, so cool! I wish I had arrived before, Prime. And I agree. While they couldn’t fight against Barricade, they could help scouting and leading our comrades into the base. We can’t always appear in front of other squisshies.” Jazz interrupted while dancing in synch with a song he reproduced with his own radio, it had an 80s funk style.

Apparently, Jazz exclusively enjoyed the song, the rest of the gang questioned what they were listening to. Humans included.

“Noted, Jazz. It is not easy for me to ask this of you. But we welcome your help.” Optimus looked again at Nathan and Ethan.

“So, what now?” Nathan asked.

“We wait for now. We need to continue working on our base. Once we receive a signal from any of our comrades, we will depart immediately to their aid. But the priority will be repairing.” Optimus stood up; he looked around deciding on where to work with next. Then, he remembered that the container towers needed to be patched, that would be their main storage for Energon.

Optimus transformed once more into his vehicle mode and headed out.

“Too bad, kid. You’ll get your action in the future. For now,” Ethan answered. He placed an unused towel over Nathan’s shoulder, “we need to clean and our friends here can’t reach the smaller pieces.”

Nathaniel sighed, he wished he had gone with Bumblebee.

“Prime, there is a signal!” Prowl reached Optimus, whom he found near the container towers.

Whatever task their leader was attending to, it came to an abrupt stop.

“Is it in the city?” Optimus asked.

“Is the only place our devices have range for now. Is on the farthest side to the south. It is detecting two signals.” Prowl clicked his own feet, finishing the report.

Behind Prowl, the rest of the gang reunited with them, outside of the base.

“Then we must not lose any more time. Jazz, contact Bumblebee and give him the coordinates. He may be closer than us.” 

Jazz nodded to the command and immediately reached the communicator located on the right side of his head. After communicating with Bee, Jazz made a thumbs-up gesture to Optimus. The leader nodded.

“Hey, kiddo. I know Bee is your guardian. But for now, I’ll drive you there.” Jazz looked at Nathan enthusiastically. Even if he had no one to guard, he felt happy to have a temporal buddy. So, he immediately transformed into his car form and opened the door for the kid.

Nathan responded quickly enough by getting inside. Part of him was worried for the allies in peril, part of him was eager to know more about Jazz. Jazz almost forgot that they are in middle of a possible critical situation. Prowl just rolled his eyes at the pair and transformed into his vehicle mode, also opening the door for Ethan. He it did more to save time rather than to please his human.

“Is it safe to take my nephew there?” Ethan asked Optimus before getting into action.

“I do not like it, either, Ethan. But this base has no shields nor protection from the Decepticons. If we leave you here, we would be risking you to encounter them alone.” Optimus patiently answered, even if they had to leave immediately, he wanted to clear any confusion with his allies.

“You got a point there. Then we should get going.” Ethan finally complied and Optimus transformed into his truck form.

“Autobots… roll out!”

…

The Autobots were driving faster than usual, using the roads from the margins of the city since police officers were scarce there, according to Ethan. The four already acknowledged that they would be robots in disguise while living on Earth. Each of the Autobots had a monitor right beside of the steering wheel that showed their destination point. They’re getting closer.

When they arrived at the located mark, they found themselves in a construction site. Not far from there, a hospital shone in the dark. Their current location meant to be a future set of apartments and stores for those medical workers. The structures were almost finished, they just needed a painting job and electricity.

Thanks to the scarce presence of humans, except for Nathan and Ethan, the Autobots had freedom enough to roam with their humanoid forms. All of them turned on their lights in order to search more effectively. Ethan luckily had a lantern with him and helped with the search. Nathan had to use his cellphone, it’s not that effective.

Looming carefully, the team scouted through alleys, buildings and roads. There were no trace of track marks, sounds or even signs of battle. A complete deserted place.

The signal in their radars intensified. Suddenly, a pair of unknown footsteps sounded close, someone was heading towards them. All of the Autobots pointed their guns towards it, Jazz being the only one with a beam hand while Optimus and Prowl had a separated weapon from their bodies. Ethan only managed to place his arm in front of Nathan’s body as a mean to protect him.

“Whoa, whoa, guys. Hold on! It’s me.” It was Bumblebee’s voice who cut the noise when he faced them full frontal after taking a turn from a building. He dead stopped when seeing all the weapons pointing at his innocent face, lifting his arms towards the sky. The poor scout looked nervous.

The rest of the team withdrawn their weapons and Jazz’s hand became normal. “Jeez, Bee, you could’ve let us known you already arrived.” The extrovert robot spoke, “A few more seconds and we would’ve…”

“Guys, there’s no time! Cliffjumper is in a terrible condition!” Bumblebee cut the chat. He was panicked.

The team followed Bumblebee to the farthest place of the construction site, in an alley filled with tools, blocks and machinery meant for construction. Over a pile of cement bags lay Cliffjumper, whom barely hold up to his wounds. His panting was aggressive and quick paced. By the sound of his voice, something inside him was broken. At his side, another figure tried to patch up the damage with no success.

“Ratchet! What is his condition?” Optimus approached his old friend, the rest of the team helped Ratchet by adding lights. He looked at his injured comrade, then at Ratchet. Both were covered in wounds, luckily, Rachet’s only reached superficiality, nothing lethal.

He couldn’t say the same for Cliffjumper. Upon inspecting closer, he could see the severity of his wounds. One of his horns was cut off his head, being held by his owner; a left hand missing; half of his body was badly scratched and his torso received a huge blast. Energon dripped faster than the welding Ratchet applied to him. The doctor had no tools to work with, so he improvised with the machinery he found at the construction site. Still, it wasn’t enough.

The silence from the doctor implied that his priority was solely focused on the patient. A bad sign.

“We… we were ambushed.” Cliffjumper tried to give his report once he realized that his leader finally appeared. It was a faint voice, only Optimus and Ratchet could hear him.

Ethan immediately covered Nathan’s eyes. At first the youngster tried to fight back, but his uncle replied with “this is something no one should see, kid” and he calmed down.

“Do not speak, Cliffjumper. We can talk about once you’ve recovered.” Optimus placed his hand over the shoulder of his comrade. Trying to be as gentle as possible in order to avoid compromising Ratchet’ procedure.

“No… I can feel it. The doc can’t help me… not anymore.” The fallen soldier was smirking, even while completely injured. He didn’t want to be remembered as a piece of scrap. He had trouble maintaining his voice while talking, usually interrupted by coughs with Energon.

“Do not underestimate me, Cliffjumper!” Ratchet finally spoke, or rather, yelled violently while wielding the chest area. His reddish orange eyebrows were frowning almost to the point of covering his light blue eyes.

“Status report… we were ambushed, Prime. The Decepticons… I don’t know how they did it… but they are able to localize us… They have found some of us… Seaspray, Skids, Brainstorm… they got them… they didn’t make it.” Cliffjumper ignored Ratchet’s comments and proceeded to finish his message.

“What about Blaster and Ironhide? They were on the same pod as you.” Optimus knew it was better to let his soldier finish his report. He knew Ratchet wouldn’t be able to save him.

“We were separated… but they managed to escape. They must be here… somewhere. They…” A violent cough interrupted his message, writhing in pain, the soldier tried to finish his message.

“Do not speak, Cliffjumper!” Ratchet tried to stabilize the patient by holding his chest, Optimus helped. Due to the bigger size of the Prime, it became easier to do so.

“Listen… the Decepticons. They are not alone. Somebody is helping them. When they got me…” Cliffjumper’s panting got worse, almost to the point where speaking became troubling and painful. His voice box began to fail, static filled each word.

“Who?” Optimus asked, worriedness all over his face, his eyebrows couldn’t frown anymore.

“Nightbird. And another one, couldn’t see his face. She… after wounding me… talked to somebody. Asking for new coordinates… We cannot stay in the same place for more than two days. They… find… us…” His voice was fading and his eyes began to flicker.

“You have fought bravely. I couldn’t have asked for a better comrade.” Optimus gave his last words.

“It was… pleasure… serving… yo…” Cliffjumper’s spark was gone.

Ratchet was still welding his gone comrade when Optimus placed his hand over his shoulder. The doctor looked at his friend, who closed his eyes in grievance. “… Hour of defunction…” Ratchet dropped his tools in defeat and opened a monitor from his right arm. He began to write the last notes from his patient.

“May your spark find its way home, soldier.” Optimus looked towards the sky, believing that Cliffjumper would return to Cybertron. “Autobots, retreat to the base. We need to change our strategy.”

Chapter Text

After the loss of one of their comrades, the Autobots retreated to their now official base. Until now, they have survived mainly by hiding as vehicles from this planet, being Bumblebee the one guiding them. Every time any Cybertronian arrived at Earth, the scout would give basic rules on how the planet, and its habitants, function. The poor soldier had to learn this by own, but at least now he can teach others.

And now that they have human allies who acknowledge them as sentient living creatures, it will be way easier to achieve this. That is the current situation for Ratchet, whom is talking to Ethan, Nathan and Bumblebee, all of them teaching the basics of human society and biology to the medic Autobot. “Now, humans are very fragile, they are not metallic, so they can’t handle any of us in battle,” Or at least, what little Bumblebee knew.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Autobots created what could resemble a funeral ritual with the scarce materials they could reunite. With little they had, a huge coffin was assembled and they placed the remains of Cliffjumper inside. One of the smaller storages became now the place for his resting. “Is that what cybertronians do with their deceased?” Asked Nathan.

“No, we have a hall for our defeated comrades on Cybertron.” Bumblebee answered, they had a chance to talk between each other since Ethan was explaining about types of cars Ratchet could use as disguise. Apparently, the ambulance will be the one.

“Knowing Cliffjumper, he would’ve liked to be placed there. Once we return, we will take our departed with us. It will be a temporal shelter to them for now.” Optimus joined the conversation.

“Optimus, I know that you choose the smaller room since we don’t want to lose more comrades. But I think we can’t deny that we will lose more of them with this war.” Ratchet crossed his arms while meddling in the conversation as well, Ethan looked at the gang.

“Then we must do everything in our power to reduce such risk. If it comes to that, then we will use a bigger room for our fallen comrades.” Optimus looked at the door leading to the now storage for their lost ones, he remembered that there’s many more robots laying all over Cybertron without their proper resting place. Some being familiar faces. Others, younger recruits whom didn’t make it.

“We need to focus on the important aspects.” Prowl cut the chat, he was inputting commands on one the main computers, “we are in middle of a risky situation.” He was desperately looking for anything the scans may detect.

“That is correct, Prowl. Cliffjumper’s departure confirmed something we feared. The Decepticons are very much living in this planet with us, and they are being helped by an unknown third party.” said Optimus.

“So, now what?” Asked Ethan in a worried tone.

“Our priority will always be finding our comrades. However, we must now consider changing our strategy.” Optimus added while inputting some commands on the holographic panel he activated on his left arm. Suddenly a tridimensional map of Sunset Hills appeared in front of the leader, above Nathan and Ethan.

Both humans had to rub their eyes for a bit before getting used to the light.

The rest of the team reunited in a circle while the new commands were given.

A week has passed since implementing Optimus Prime’s strategy, which so far has proven to be efficient. Or, at least, they haven’t encountered any threat.

“Prowl and Ethan, your task will be scouting the interior zones of the city. Look for any building that may serve as temporal shelters for us. According to Cliffjumper, we must not stay in the same place for two Earth days consecutively. We will use these abandoned sites to hide from our prosecutors.”

So far, the pair has inspected 10% of the city, but they have found two main zones that could be used as hiding spots. The first one being an empty storage and the second an unused underground parking zone. Their main concern on these sites could be unwanted teenagers wanting to graffiti the walls, so the Autobots will stay in vehicle form while hiding from radars. Ethan had to dismantle some cameras found on the parking zone.

“Ratchet, while we need you here preparing and upgrading the base, limited our technology may be, it is imperative to fix our technology while mobilizing yourself in order to find our comrades. You will accompany Jazz, your main focus will be looking for any human devices, salvageable enough to reuse them as components or spare parts.”

Both fulfilled their command during night time. Any salvageable components were delivered to the main base or Ethan’s junkyard. On the day, Ratchet would work on any of these locations, welding Cybertronian tech or repairing any damaged tools. While he is the medic, he knows what he is doing. He could work on his attitude, although. The quirky personality of Jazz sometimes gets into his nerves, prompting several complains. Most of the time Jazz leaves the medic to work alone while he goes to find more tech.

It's a win-win for both parties, Ratchet gets to work alone (sometimes with the help of Ethan if he is at the junkyard), and Jazz gets to explore the city by his own. The Porsche wouldn’t admit it, but sometimes he is looking for any interestingly looking human that could potentially be his companion. It is a naïve daydreaming, if anything, he won’t break Optimus’ command. So, this is more of a pastime while working.

“Lastly, Bumblebee and Nathaniel. Scouting will be your task. You will look for any of our comrades that may have arrived to the planet.” Optimus looked at the young pair, who nodded without hesitation.

“What about you, Optimus?” Ratchet asked, getting ready his gear for the departure.

“I will be the one acting as distraction. I will send false signals to my moving position, if the enemy is behind us, I will encounter them.”

“You can’t possibly think of fighting them alone.” Nathan interrupted, while his word choice may have sounded improper, he was genuinely worried. His eyebrows were furrowing due to the uneasiness.

“We lack the numbers to afford said situation, Nathaniel. If it comes to the worst scenario, I will confront the enemy as best as I can.” He kneeled down, calmly reassuring the boy. There was a faint smile on the Autobot, a rare gesture these days. Maybe the leader had a soft spot for novice volunteers, as he once was one.

Nathan and Bumblebee were scouting mainly on the outskirts of the city. If any Autobot landed on Earth, it would be easy to track them in these places. Bumblebee also left some beacons scattered outside the populated area. One on a grassland terrain, other on a semi deserted cliff and, finally, the forest where Optimus was found.

On the first day, the pair drove ahead to the south. The beacons were distributed on the north, west and east, respectively. They needed to cover a missing area with another of the devices. Now that Ratchet was on the team, he could repair and assemble some cheap imitations that could temporarily handle small signals. But first, the most intact one, was placed near a giant waterfall, called Lady’s tears.

From there on, their schedule consisted on checking those four pinpoints, looking for tempting new beacon locations and scouting. All of these while Nathan had to live a normal teenager life, sometimes he would study inside the driving car. Homework was a bit more challenging, but nothing he couldn’t handle.

Finally, Optimus did as he said, with a little extra work. Since he became a driving bait, he could cover many areas, miles away from the city and even the outskirts. He almost traveled to nearby towns and metropolis, so he also began to look for places that could be Energon deposits. None of the team wanted to admit that they were depleting their reserves, they didn’t want to worry their leader. Of course, Optimus knew, but he decided to keep silence until he could find a source for their sustainability.

On the seventh day, a lot of improvement was shown overall. Optimus found small deposits of Energon (not enough to be a mine, but it was something). Ratchet had implemented reinforcements to the main base, sealing windows and doors, as well as the final cleaning touches. The two temporal shelters found by Ethan and Prowl were effectively being used. So far, it is uncertain on whether it was true they could be easily tracked on the span of two days if they remained on one spot, however the team had encountered cero enemies so far.

And now, Nathan and Bumblebee were exploring the Silver Leaves Forest, even further on. Prowl had led them know in the morning that the scans detected an unknown signal. There was no confirmation on whether it was a friendly or enemy signal, yet they needed to check it out. Once Nathan finished school, they immediately headed towards said location. Taking the human teenager with Bumblebee wasn’t the brightest idea, sadly there weren’t any Autobots available and they couldn’t risk leaving him alone.

Both Nathan and Bumblebee were now exploring on foot, the roots from trees paved the place, making it impossible to drive through them. Nathaniel was walking with his head looking at the floor, a bit silent.  

“Are you worried about Optimus?” Bumblebee inquired. He noticed his usual cheerful companion a bit down.

“Yeah, kinda.” Nathan massaged his neck, ashamed he couldn’t fool his friend. 

The previous day, Optimus returned at the base carrying a couple of Energon crystals. Well, small in comparison to the Autobots, but they were higher than the two humans together. His feet contained dry mud and his paint wore new scratches. He had been thoroughly excavating with probably only his hands due to the lack of precise tools. Nathan didn’t know if cybertronians could look tired, but Optimus could probably be. At least, that’s what the kid thought.

“Don’t worry. He didn’t say it, but we all know that he has the highest chances of surviving a battle. He is a Prime, after all.” Bumblebee brightly smiled. His antennas moved in synch with his mood, proving that he was indeed not worried but fully trusting his leader.

“What’s a Prime?” Nathan finally lifted his head, curious. He didn’t want to mention the possibility of Optimus being tired the whole motive for his concern. Maybe they really don’t get tired and he would only look like a fool.

“It’s a… uh, is one of the higher ranks from our planet. We used to have some of them, chosen for their abilities in combat, leadership and in general benevolent qualities.” Bumblebee scratched his cheek, trying to remember the official definition.

“Are they also arriving at Earth? The rest of the Primes, I mean.”

“I… no, Optimus is the last of them. For now. Once we manage to survive the war, a new council will probably choose new Primes that will help rebuilding Cybertron.” Bumblebee’s eyelids closed a bit, resembling the human worried expression.

“Someone like you?” Nathan asked.

“Me? Oh, oh no. I’m just a scout. I don’t know what qualifies as a Prime. But I suppose it needs to be someone just as impressive as Optimus.” He was nervously joyful, flattered that someone could considered him as a Prime. However, Bumblebee remained humble with both feet on the ground.

“That’s so sweet of you,” a third voice was heard close to them, “it makes me even wonder how did you survive the war.” It was a female, deadly voice. It had an intentional teasing tone towards Bumblebee.

Both scouts flinched, prompting to immediately search for its origin. At first, Nathan looked up since it sounded above him; but robots wouldn’t be able to stand over tree branches, their weight exceeded the strength of any living plant. Yet sweat crawled under his neck right to his back once he noticed a substantial bulky figure. He detected a pair of yellow eyes glowing while her shape took form as she stood up.

Nathaniel immediately signaled his companion, whom looked upwards. When Bee tried to find something, he saw no one there. In a flash, the female robot already landed on ground. Even if her body was made of cybertronian steel, she made little to no sound when hitting the floor. She had become even stealthier and lighter.

“Nightbird!” Bumblebee said out loud while he got ready his arm cannon, fully opening his eyelids in the process, reflecting his alertness.

Not thinking twice, the Autobout placed himself in between the enemy and his friend. She already took out Cliffjumper, someone who was close him. He wouldn’t allow that a second time.

“You do not seem surprised at all by me. Looks like that little soldier survived after all.” Nightbird sounded raspy, annoyed that her prey got away.

“Why do all of these things, Nightbird? The war is over! You guys lost!” Bumblebee yelled at the enemy.

“Is that what that supposedly leader of yours told you? Sure, what a joke.” She mocked; her cocky eyes closed a bit. She was trying not to laugh.

“It is the truth, Megatron is gone. He is not coming back.” Bumblebee noticed that his enemy looked right behind him, where Nathan was. Instinctively he placed his hand in front of his friend as extra protection.

Nathan was paralyzed, scared by the situation just like the first time. Maybe the encounter with Barricade wasn’t good for the humans, after all he is known for being merciless and savage. It is highly probable that Nathaniel is traumatized by the Decepticons.

“Relax, this has nothing to do with the Decepticons anymore. You could say there are no hard feelings from my part.” She answers calmly, just as the same time she readies the hilt of her sword.

“Then why? Why Cliffjumper and other Autobots?”

“Like I said, scouty-boy, no hard feelings. I’m just doing my job.” She tapped her chest proudly. Bumblebee looked where she signaled, finally grasping the situation.

Centuries ago, when he encountered her by random chance, Nightbird fought alongside the Decepticon army. She wore their iconic insignia right in the middle of her chest. Now, that mark was nowhere to be seen, instead, another one replaced the spot.

“A… mercenary? Who hired you?” Bumblebee asked, readying a gadget he had close to his hip. Of course, Nightbird took this as a warning movement.

“You will have to pay me handsomely for that. But enough talking, they aren’t paying me for revealing information!” Nightbird dashed towards the scout, she knew she wouldn’t manage to even touch the human on the first attack.

“Nathan! Contact anyone from the team, warn them! I’ll try to hold her in the meantime!” Bumblebee had no melee weapon integrated in his body, so he blocked with his forearms.

The beam of her sword pierced through his armor, just barely enough to cause pain in his systems. However, this was nothing compared to the many wounds he has received before.

“She has a laser sword?! Why does she have a laser sword?!” There was a mix between genuine panic and amusement in Nathan’s voice. It was his first time seeing an actual laser weapon, sadly it belonged to the bad side.

Bumblebee managed to bounce back the attack, leaving his arm cannon with the necessary space to leave an impact on Nightbird’s chest. The fembot was sent flying with almost too much ease. “Well, that’s because I have this amazing laser blast,” Bumblebee replied to Nathan, trying to ease the mood.

Nathan chuckled at it, then remembered that they were still at danger. He immediately took out his cellphone and called his uncle, the beeps and silences felt like an eternity. Meanwhile, Nightbird was recovering from the attack.

“Please, pick up the phone, pick up the phone.” Nathan mumbled to himself, waiting for a response, which he got none once his device went silent. “No! There is no signal!”

It couldn’t have been his battery, he charged it in the morning, once he saw the bar signal, he realized his cellphone was just as dead. He still got signal a few moments ago.

“Here! Take this!” Bumblebee threw the small gadget he was holding from his hip. It landed on the floor, very close to Nathaniel.

The kid grabbed it without thinking, it was a human size wrist device that resembled any normal watch.

“Press the yellow button, it will connect you with any of the te-!” The Autobot barely had time to give instructions before he had to dodge flying projectiles, one pierced his left leg. Another almost hit Nathan, fortunately, the kid evaded in time while he figured out where was the darned yellow button.

He found it while lying down on the floor. Immediately after, a yellow screen was projected above the watch. The system was connecting to any other nearby Autobot, Nathan took this opportunity to stand up.

Bumblebee retrieved the small weapon, revealing a four-star blade with an empty center.

“Is that a shuriken?!” Nathaniel asked.

“You know them?”

“Yeah, they a-!” Nathan had to run once he saw Nightbird throwing more projectiles towards Bumblebee.

Why does she have a human weapon? Cybertronians also have Nowanese-style weaponry? There is a Nowa in Cybertron??? Nathaniel asked to himself in the middle of the fight. Bumblebee managed to dodge the majority, however now he had a hard time walking properly since the blade managed to cut his knee servo.

The material from the star he was holding felt different, not something he has seen on Cybertron. The laser sword? She has carried it ever since leaving home world. But these ones were definitely new. Not to mention the obvious upgrade on her body. Whatever metal her body is made of, is lighter than any other Autobot and Decepticon. Sure, she now flies easier if she gets blasted like a few moments ago. Sadly, the amount of damage received was kept to a minimum, scratches only. Light-weighted but sturdy, a terrible combination since now it’s getting harder for Bumblebee to even land a hit.

He has shot multiple times; however, none had hit successfully, he is getting idea how Cliffjumper was defeated. And what he feared the most is that she would use Nathaniel as bait. Nightbird could ambush his friend, then Bumblebee would have to shield him from the attack, receiving all the impacts for himself. That’s why the mercenary was keeping herself at a safety distance, she already knows a winning strategy.

Fortunately, Nathan got a response from the watch.

“Bumblebee, what is the status report?” Optimus Prime was the first one to answer the call. The screen revealed only an image of the leader and a voice visualizer.

“Optimus? This is Nathaniel! Bumblebee is being attacked by an enemy. Nightbird. I think that is her name. He told me to ask for reinforcements.” Nathaniel rested his back against a tree, hiding from the robo-ninja. He could only hear the blasts from his friend not far away from him. One actually hit one of the nearby trees, scaring Nat in the process.

“Nathaniel, please send the coordinates of your position.” Optimus remained calmed through the call.

“How?!” Not so much on Nathan’s side.

“On the screen section where you can see my voice. There is an option to the right with a circular symbol. Press it to send your current location.” Optimus explained slowly the indications since he sensed fear in the human. His serene voice in a way subdued Nathan’s panic.

The circular symbol he referred to was a strange mark, one Nathan has never seen. It resembled a glyph, probably a letter or word in cybertronian. Whatever it is or means, the human didn’t hesitate to do as commanded. He gulped a bit of saliva, trying to control his trembling fingers, if Optimus was able to keep composed with such situation, he needed to at least help somehow.

“There, now what?” Nathaniel whispered closely to the watch since everything became suspiciously quiet. No laser shots not laser sword being swung. Just a worrying silence.

“I will ask you to wait, I’m sending the signal to other comrades. For now, help Bumblebee by staying far as possible from the enemy. We do not know if she may use you as hostage.” Optimus answered.

“Understood.” Nathan ended the call, sighting afterwards.

“Human, where are you, human? I’m getting lonely, you know?” Nightbird’s melodic voice cut the silence, worrying Nathan.

Nathaniel heard her not far away from his position. Luckily, the bushes and trees were thick enough to hide a human being from view. He has to remain quiet, covering his mouth and nose since his breathing could betray him in such crucial time. Where is Bumblebee??? He asked in his mind. He couldn’t have fall down, yet he didn’t want to think the worst scenario.

“Hmm? What is it? I’m the middle of something.” Nightbird suddenly spoke quietly, it was a fast-paced speech as if wanting to end talking quickly.

Nat tried to follow the sound as quiet as possible, taking out his cellphone in case it was needed. He hid in between the leaves of a thick bush, seeing perfectly at the opponent. Nightbird held two fingers pressing against the side of her head. She was communicating with someone else.

“I only found one of them, the yellow annoying one. I found him by coincidence, I haven’t received any new coordinates. No sign of the Prime yet. No, it was just a human. According to Barricade´s report, two humans are helping. Found and can confirm one. Understood, leave no witnesses.” Between each sentence, there were small pauses. The other one on the line must be speaking to her. Once finished, Nightbird ended the call and continued searching for Nathan.

Nathan used this chance and took a picture of the opponent. Good thing he always buys cellphones with good cameras. The bad thing is that he forgot to put it either on silent or vibration mode, revealing his position straight ahead. The kid was cold sweating, thinking of every mistake he has done in life and if anything could compare to this big mess up.

“Well, well. That is no way to treat a lady, kid. That is not even my good angle” Nightbird readied more of her shurikens. The projectiles were taken out from a compartment located on her hips.

“Nightbird!!!” Bumblebee tackled her from behind.

The ninja lady received the impact, dropping the ammo she had on her hands. Bumblebee retrieved the sword impaled in one of his arms and tried to stab his enemy. Nightbird was faster, giving a back headbutt to her opponent. The Aubobot was stunned for a few seconds. Before his optic sensors recovered, the mercenary kicked behind her, creating some distance between her and Bumblebee.

Bumblebee fell once more, and Nightbird made sure he wouldn’t stand up by placing herself on top of him. She squeezed his arms using both feet, one was of her heels stroke the wound made by her sword, increasing the pain on the poor Autobot.

“This time, I’ll make sure the scout doesn’t reveal more secrets.” Since the sword was a few meters away from both, Nightbird placed the blade of a shuriken near Bumblebee’s neck.

“Bee!!!” Nathan screamed, which did nothing since Nightbird wasn’t going to stop from attacking.

Except for overlapping the motor sound of a nearby vehicle incoming. Nightbird withdrew her blade, she wasn’t fast enough to avoid the imminent collision. An unknown vehicle dashed toward her, transformed in mid-air and landed with a kick on the enemy’s face.

Nightbird groaned due to the impact before flying away due to the impact. She crash-landed in between some trees, the branches toppled over her, some hit her extremities. Without she realizing it, a part of her black belt fell into the ground, releasing sparks that were caught by some dry leaves.

The other unknown cybertronian landed unscathed on the ground. She perfectly kept her elegant, yet adamant posture. She readied her knuckles while the hydraulics inside her pink forearms pumped Energon in order to deal heavy blows.

“A-Arcee?” Bumblebee managed to recognize her comrade.

Since Bumblebee knew her, Nathaniel felt safe with another ally found and present in combat.

“Hey, Bee. Let me substitute you on the fight. This one is mine. We have an unfinished business.” Arcee gently smiled at her colleague. She knew he was hurt, but attending him would be difficult unless she dealt with her opponent first.

Said fight, sadly, wouldn’t be concluded today. As Nightbird was standing up, ready for round two, she finally groaned in pain. Surprised by this, she desperately looked down. The mercenary realized one of the devices located on her belt was damaged.

“Well, this is unfortunate. Looks like you are lucky for today, Arcee.” The purple plaque covering her mouth retracted, revealing her cocky smirk, as well as a scar located on her right cheek.

“Do you really think I’ll let you escape?!” Arcee furrowed her eyelids, looking deadly serious at her opponent while readying her arm cannon.

“No, of course not. But you wouldn’t really leave your friend at mercy of the unknown, would you now?” Nightbird changed her speaking tone with Arcee; she was taunting her. This would anger the pink Autobot, which is why the mercenary was enjoying the little victory from retreating.

“I…” Arcee faltered, she heard sparks being released from Bumblebee’s body.

“So long. I’ll be waiting for our rematch.” And she transformed into a dark and purple car, fading from view within seconds.

Arcee closed her eyes in defeat for a second. Frustration would stay short in describing how useless she felt currently. She returned to her senses when she heard Nathan getting closer to Bumblebee.

“Bee, how are you doing? Can you stand on your own?” She kneeled down to check on her friend.

“I can’t, one of my joints was hurt.” Bumblebee tried to sit down by pushing himself from the ground with his healthy arm. Arcee helped him.

“I see, have you called for help?” She asked.

“I did!” Nathan interrupted, showing the screen on his watch.

Arcee didn’t react negatively towards the human. It was her first time encountering one of his species, so the first thing she thought it was logical to do was getting closer to get a better view of the blond teenager. This only intimidated him a bit.

“And who might you be?” Arcee spoke.

“His name is Nathan, I’m protecting him.” Since Nathaniel remained quiet, Bumblebee answered for him.

“Then you made an excellent job, Bee. He seems intact.” Arcee teased, trying to lighten the mood since she noticed that the human was a bit shy.

“It’s the least I could do.” Bumblebee winked before groaning in pain.

In the meantime, Nightbird began talking to someone else. She was still driving through the forest.

“What is your status?” The male voice asked, it was deep, cold and dry.

“The Autobots escaped, reinforcements arrived.” Nightbird answered omitting many details, as to how many allies arrived.

“Couldn’t you take them out?” The voice seemed unimpressed.

“I would’ve, but the tech from your ‘allies’ broke up. That is way above my paycheck.” She still sounded cocky, she needed to if his client doubted her abilities.

“That is a logical course of action.” Fortunately, he didn’t.

“You said that this was top notch technology. It broke so easily.” Now she shifted the blame to the technology she was wearing. Clearly not specifying that she was playing instead of finishing Bumblebee as fast as possible.

“Our benefactors specified that after each battle, the shields need to be taken out for maintenance. I agree with them.” There was no change on the client’s tone.

“Yeah, yeah, and I just went looking for Autobots. Have you received any more coordinates from them?” She dismissed the seriousness of the statement.

“Negative. For now, we will focus on what we have. The Autobots now know that someone is hiring mercenaries. It is logical to assume that we are involved.” The client continued talking.

“So, our cover was blown, now what?” Nightbird took this opportunity hide the fact that the cover was blown long time ago thanks to Cliffjumper. Another mess up from her part.

“You return to the base. I’ll contact another from your team. We need to identify the humans as soon as possible.”

“Distract the Autobots by taking their fragile humans as hostages?” Nightbird sounded menacing, liking the sound of this new game.

“Precisely.” The voice sounded somewhat pleased, if it could be called like that. There was rather an acceptance from him knowing that his employee could make easy deductions.

“Understood.” Nightbird finally exited the forest, heading to the city by taking the long road.

“Keep me informed. Shockwave out.” The call ended.

The Autobot team remained talking before help arrived. In those minutes, Nathaniel gave a brief introduction about Earth and humans. Bumblebee tried to join the conversation, but was overall silenced by the other two since he needed to rest. A small tear fell down from the scout since he felt excluded from the conversation, although he was only being funnily dramatic. Both Arcee and Nathan laughed when they saw him like that, which made Bumblebee smile.

Nathaniel basically covered the essentials. One, she needed to scan a human vehicle. Two, all life on Earth is organic and, by default, fragile. Three, there are two humans on the team plus mentioning which members have been found. And, lastly, Cliffjumper’s death. This last one made her close her eyes in mourning.

A few minutes after this explanation, reinforcements arrived. Optimus Prime and Jazz were the closest to them. Sadly, they arrived a little too late.

An hour later and the team reunited on the main base. Optimus carried Bumblebee on his back as a truck, Nathan and Jazz were the ones who tied Bumblebee with belts. Arcee would leave them as she needed to scan any nearby car. However, Optimus gave her the coordinates of their meeting place. Nathan left with Jazz.

“How long have you been on Earth?” Prowl asked to Arcee once she joined the team. Everyone else greeted her with either a hug, nod or high five. Prowl only stood far away, still looking at a monitor.

“I also missed you, Prowl. I’ve been here for two days. I landed not far from the place where I found Bee.” She pointlessly waved a Prowl who didn’t even look at her.

“Did your tech survived?” Ratchet interrupted.

“Yes, we can retrieve it later, I’ll give the coordinates to Optimus.” Arcee opened a holographic panel from her left arm and typed some commands. Optimus confirmed the arrival of said coordinates with a nod.

“That will help us greatly, Arcee. Welcome back to the team.” Their leader placed his hand over Arcee’s shoulder, which prompted her to smile proudly.

“It is a pleasure, Optimus.” She nodded.

“Autobots, we need to continue with our tactic. According to what Nathaniel heard, this event was a coincidence, not a fracture on our tactic. Bumblebee will rest here in the meantime. Tomorrow, I’ll carry you towards Ethan’s base.” He looked towards the Autobot scout. The rest of the team looked at their leader.

“Understood.” Bumblebee made a thumb up with his healthy arm since Ratchet was repairing the order one.

Since Bumblebee made a lot of movement while making that gesture, the doctor only deathly glared at him. Bumblebee knew he shouldn’t play with fire and remained static for the rest of the repairs.

“It feels so special to have my own base…” Ethan spoke to himself.

“Arcee, you will accompany Nathaniel to his house and school. However, remain at a safe distance. We don’t want to cause suspicion among earthlings.” Optimus commanded. He knew anyone will react suspiciously towards a human that suddenly gained a new vehicle. He didn’t want to compromise Nathan more than it has already happened at the forest.

“Wait, why not me?” Jazz interrupted; disappointment invaded his tone. He signaled himself.

“While it would also be effective, Jazz, Arcee could learn more about human culture and rules if she transports Nathaniel. We need to keep our disguises since the Decepticons may be blending amongst the humans.” Optimus stoically explained, whenever someone will complain about unfairness, he would try to sound as unbiased as possible.

This was effective, since Jazz knew that Optimus decided this taking everything into consideration.

Everyone took their orders and began to scatter, heading outside of the base. The first one was Jazz, since Ratchet would be busy repairing Bee, he would be alone looking for any tech. Then Ethan and Prowl followed, they needed to look for more safe zones as fast as possible. Before the uncle left, he gave the “kid, we need to have a serious talk” to his nephew. Ethan wasn’t going to let go that easily the risky almost lethal situation Nathaniel just had.

“Nathan, was it? Could you wait for me outside? I need to discuss something with Optimus before heading out.” Arcee approached gently at the human since he previously reacted a bit surprised.

“Sure, no problem. Actually, I’ll visit Bee, if there is no issue with that.” The kid still looked a bit nervous around her.

Arcee didn’t know that Nathan is a bit shy with strangers around him. He doesn’t flinch at Optimus since he remains at a considerable distance even when getting closer. Arcee doesn’t invade his personal space, however she has a more direct approach. Something Nathan isn’t used to, human or cybertronian.

“Not at all.” Arcee answered a bit troubled, thinking she scares the little human.

Nathan ran towards the now official Autobot med-bay, Ratchet began to patch Bumblebee’s knee servo. Bee cautiously waved at his friend with his now healthy arm, which immediately was placed down by the annoyed medic. “I told you to keep your arm immobilized!” he scolded at Bumblebee.

“Optimus, I have to share something.” Arcee ignored everything else and approached Optimus very closely. Clearly, she didn’t want anyone to hear said information.

“Speak freely.” Optimus nodded.

“Ah, yes. Thank you.” Arcee answered a bit confused, she is not used talking with Optimus in such casual way. “When you guys arrived and began to carry Bumblebee, I searched the area. Nightbird retreated because a piece of tech went missing. I wanted to see if I could find it.” She reached towards her right lateral.

Arcee took out the piece from Nightbird’s belt and gave it to her leader.

“Hmm.” The Autobot leader analyzed said piece, he detected the same pharaoh face symbol with three spikes above the head.

“Looks familiar?” Arcee asked.

“It troubles me to admit it. A few days ago, the team encountered Barricade. According to Jazz, he was wearing a piece of unknown technology. The structure looks different; however, they coincide on this symbol.” Optimus signaled the face, then closed his hand once there was nothing else to see.

“Any idea what it might be?”

“We fear it could be earthling made.”

“Are they this advanced? Technologically speaking. Do you think they know about it?” Arcee subtlety looked towards Nathan.

“We do not know how advanced humans might be, there seems to be some disparity between their own civilization. For now, I will store this piece. Once we get more allies, we will start searching for this unknown third party. But I can trust both Ethan and Nathan, they don’t seem to harbor ill desires for any of us.” Optimus nodded, gently smiling.

“Understood, I’ll be heading out, then.” Arcee was about to turn around and signal Nathan.

“One more thing. It is imperative for me to ask this…” However, Optimus placed his hand over her shoulder. Arcee froze and closed her eyes since she had a guess what he was going to ask.

“Is it about Elita?” Arcee got ahead of her leader.

“It is.” His eyes were slightly closed, reflecting the worrying tone as well.

“I’m sorry. I got cut off from the rest of the sisters while escaping from Cybertron.” She shook her head in denial. Arcee really wanted to give good news to Optimus.

“I see, understood.” However, Optimus remained calmed and only blinked while he nodded.

“However, I don’t think they have lost their spark. Our separation was a tactical one, not a desperate one.” Arcee reassured him, trusting in her team.

“I appreciate that, Arcee.” He smiled, knowing she wasn’t lying.

“Aww, man. Is it so difficult to get a tiny human companion? I don’t think I’m that untrustworthy.” There was a single Porsche in the middle of a traffic jam, trying not to vent his anger through his vehicle horn.

Since the cars wouldn’t be moving any time soon, he decided to take a shortcut through the alleys. Luckily there were no police cars, nor Prowl, to stop him. Jazz was already familiar with this area. He drove through a series of roads and alleys previously explored. Eventually he reached a dead end where he decided to rest for a few minutes.

He has been here a few days ago, looking for old tech the humans may have tossed. Yet, today the place was empty.

“Strange, I swear I saw this place full of tech a few days ago.” He talked to himself.

He also realized something: the place was suspiciously clean. No trash, no dumped cars and the lampposts were turned off. The closest one had just turned off. The Autobot had to turn on his headlights and exit the place. He made a u turn, that’s when he glimpsed the tall figure now standing right in front of him. Jazz braked abruptly. It was a human figure spreading out both arms, as to signal him to stop.

Jazz needed to leave immediately since he had no hologram of a human driving him. The situation was clearly against him, since he was surrounded by three walls. The human blocked the only escape route. That person was either waiting for him to reach this dead end. However, before Jazz could move the gear level into any level at all, the human placed both hands over his bonnet.

“We need to talk, I know that you are not from this planet, and I need your help.” Spoke the human.

Little could be seen from this mysterious figure. Only it had a feminine voice and it was wearing a long coat with a pair of boots.

Chapter Text

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“Wait, now you are named Bumblebee?” Arcee asked.

It was a normal Saturday, so Nathan could visit the base at an earlier time. The current people residing there were Bumblebee, Ratchet and Arcee; the rest had to follow Optimus’ plan in order to avoid detection.

The hurt scout and medic arrived the day previously from Ethan’s junkyard, hence why recovery has taken longer for Bumblebee. Due to Bee’s absence, Nathan had to be transported by Arcee as a pink Mazda. While the student usually parked Bee in the college’s parking lot, it was ultimately decided that Arcee would stay quite away from the school and Nat’s house. They didn’t want others to think that he miraculously got a new car in record time, whether it was his classmates or his mom. Michelle, on the other hand, was told that Nathan’s Camaro had been staying on Ethan’s junkyard for maintenance and repairs. Technically speaking, it was partially true. 

“Yup! That’s my new name.” Bee answered to Arcee. He was sitting on the medic bay bed, moving back and forth his leg. Ratchet asked him to do some rehabilitation exercises.

“Wait, your name wasn’t Bumblebee?” Both Autobots looked at Nathan, he in response looked at Arcee, “I thought you called him Bee because, you know, Bumble-Bee.” He quoted the Bee part with his fingers.

“Hmm, that does make sense.” Arcee answered, thoughtful.

“Let me explain you, guys. Nathan, my name isn’t originally Bumblebee, we don’t even have bees on Cybertron. Nor similar looking bots like them.” The Autobot scout interrupted the pair, looking mostly at the human.

“What’s a bee?” Arcee curiously asked, her eyes wide open in anticipation to the answer.

“A very tiny living creature that apparently could end the whole planet if it becomes extinct. But I’ll explain more on that later. My name was originally B-127.” Bumblebee momentarily made a hologram of a bee big enough so that Arcee could see it. Then it reduced to the actual size of one of them.

Arcee stood there, shocked by the “end the whole planet” part. Now she was paranoid on how such a tiny creature could condemn Earth. The scout, on the other hand, continued talking, unaware of his friend’s reaction.

“That’s… not what I expected.” Nathan answered a bit dissatisfied and concerned about the poor Arcee behind Bee. She was lost in thought.

“Let me explain, human.” Ratchet interrupted the trio; he had been typing all sorts of commands on one of the big computers. Since the software was loading, he took this time to clarify some cybertronian culture. “Usually, we are born with a series of letters and numbers, just like Bumblebee did. Either somebody gives us a name or we choose it based on what we like or want to dedicate our lives to.”

“So, all of you had a different name before?” Nathan looked at the three Autobots while asking. Arcee nodded.

“Mine was RC-33. As you can see, I didn’t deviate too much from its origin.” She smiled.

“What about you, Ratchet?” Nathan focused on the medic who wasn’t as enthusiastic as the others.

“I decided to remember more relevant data rather than an old name.” Ratchet, unamused, faced the monitor once more, waving his hand in disinterest at the question.

“That’s his way of saying that he is rusty enough to forget it.” Arcee got close to whisper at Nathan with a small wink.

The three younglings quietly laughed at her remark. Ratchet only flinched; his fingers were about to touch the cybertronian keypad before muttering in a loud voice, “my audio receptors work just fine.” He sounded cranky and clearly annoyed, with eyelids semi closed in disapproval.

“So, why Bumblebee, then?” Arcee decided to continue with the initial topic. Angering the only person who could repair them would be a terrible idea.

“I have been in this planet for more than 20 years. Some of the people who used me as a vehicle compared me to bees due to an old model I had before. There was one I remember fondly that specified the name Bumblebee, apparently my motor buzzed similarly to one. Since she was the nicest of them all, I kept it as a memory.” Bumblebee sounded nostalgic, slightly closing his eyelids in sadness, yet smiling at the same time.

Both Nathan and Arcee looked at each other, confused about the reaction of their friend.

“Is that why you also changed these bad boys?” Arcee touched one of Bee’s antennas. She moved it back and forth.

“Ah yes, both got pretty messed a decade ago. So, I thought it was time for a change.” Bee looked upwards. Once Arcee released the antenna, Bee flapped them trying to synch them.

“What did you have prior to your antennas?” Nathan asked, squirting his eyes to see better Bee’s head.

“I had a pair of horns, similar to the ones you saw with Cliffjumper. Although I like these ones better, I managed to make them move with my mood.” Bumblebee smiled, which made the antennas as upward as possible.

The three of them heard a loud beep from the monitor Ratchet was looking at, while typing some commands alongside. From the team, Arcee looked the most interested. “They do give you a charm, Bee. Hold on, I’ll check something with Ratchet.” She replied without looking at her friend. Then she dismissed herself by approaching the medic. Both began to discuss something.

Nathan looked to the floor a bit ashamed while rubbing the back of his neck. He called his friend Bee since Jazz also called him like that. Now he isn’t sure if it’s because of some sort of cute nickname or the official previous name.

“Hey, Nathan. You can call me Bee too. You are a friend.” Bumblebee interrupted his mind, closing his eyes in reassurance.

“Huh? I-I, thanks, Bee.” Nathan flinched in surprise. He didn’t think it was that obvious.

It wasn’t, but Bumblebee had a strong hunch since Arcee and other friends had the same issue centuries years ago.

“Even with my prior name, everyone close called me Bee. Uhh… except Optimus, he calls everyone by their full first name. Also Ratchet… and Prowl. So, it’s nice when people call me by my nickname even when I chose my own personal name.” He never stopped smiling, truly, he felt more at peace while living on Earth.

“Do you think is a trap?” Arcee asked, capturing the attention of both guys.

“Highly probable, I don’t like the look of it. However, we can’t ignore this signal.” Ratchet answered deeply concerned.

“Is something wrong?” The young human asked.

“Nathan, how many humans visit this place?” Arcee turned to him and tilted her head towards the big screen.

The monitor in front of both Autobots showed a location inside Sunset Hills, dangerously close to a crowded area. Usually, humans tend to visit the zone since its close to a popular shopping area, the mall being the center of it.

“A lot stays short…” He answered.

Immediately, Ratchet reached the communicator located on the computer. The face of Optimus appeared on the monitor. It took some worrying seconds before Optimus picked up the call.

“I’m here, Ratchet. What is it, old friend?” The leader sounded calmed while exiting a tunnel.

“Optimus, I managed to track the signal from Nightbird’s device. It has led us to an area within the city. According to the human, there is a high presence of his kind in there.”

“We fear Nightbird might be hiding there.” Arcee continued the message.

After Arcee gave the device to Optimus, days ago, the leader decided it would be best to analyze said piece. Ratchet spent his time not only repairing Bumblebee, but also retrieving any signal from Nightbird’s belt part. Maybe it could lead them to their headquarters, if she is really working with mercenaries now. However, it was easy to locate them, too easy for comfort.

“Understood. Send me the coordinates.” Optimus Prime answered.

Ratchet immediately keyed some commands, “Done.” He replied.

“Calling all Autobots, anyone nearby the following coordinates should head there immediately. However, do not leave the humans, nor the base alone.” He instructed briefly. His vehicle mode made a harsh turn to the opposite way he was heading previously. Luckily, the road was empty.

Optimus Prime thought of the possibility of a trap; so, he chose to prioritize the safety of those vulnerable, in this case, Nathan, Ethan and Bumblebee. It was very naïve to assume that their base isn’t compromised already.

“Prowl here, I’m nearby the location, however, Ethan is heading towards the base alongside Jazz. He should be safe.” Prowl was also in vehicle mode, parked near a museum, right beside a fountain. Once finished talking, he set in motion. He also turned on his siren momentarily to scare some humans in between. They scattered fast enough, allowing him to press forward faster. Had he been in his humanoid form, probably he would’ve smiled in satisfaction.

“Optimus, please let me help on this fight!” Arcee interrupted the communication, she was furrowing her robotic eyelids since she lacked eyebrows.

“I understand your motivations, Arcee, however we cannot compromise giving away our identities. That could be our enemies’ goal. More than two Autobots present could complicate                                         the situation. I’m heading as well to said location. Optimus Prime out.” And he ended the conversation.

“Dang it!” Arcee clenched her fists, she wanted to avenge Bumblebee’s wounds.

“Arcee, it’s alright.” Bee tried to calm her.

Shortly after, Jazz arrived with Ethan. Once the uncle exited the Porsche, Jazz transformed.

“I heard the communication. I think everybody here believes it’s a trap.” Jazz started speaking, placing his hands over his hips.

Everyone nodded.

“But the humans in the city could get hurt. Optimus would never risk innocent lives.” Bumblebee interrupted.

“Isn’t there a way to move all the humans from there?” Arcee asked, she looked at the monitor looking for escape routes. There were plenty.

“We could activate the nearby alarms. Make them evacuate due to some emergency.” Ratchet signaled buildings that could be used as bait.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Ethan interrupted the Autobots. Everyone looked at him. “True, they may evacuate, but eventually authorities could arrive, heading to where Optimus and Prowl are located. And, is not that I want to denigrate my species but… in panic humans tend to do terrible decisions such as running to the complete opposite way. And there’s some who could head towards the dangerous zone due to curiosity.” He massages his temples with a tiring expression, just imagining the worst scenario was too much for him.

“Your race is very troublesome.” Ratchet outspoke what the Autobots thought.

Arcee glared disappointingly at him. The medic did not care for speaking out the inconvenience of humans.

“I know.” However, Ethan agreed.

“Wait, I think I can help.” Nathan inserted himself in the conversation.

“Whoa, no. Kid, no.” Ethan interrupted by placing his hand over Nathaniel’s shoulder. “We’ve discussed this a few days ago. Last time it was either luck or a miracle that you survived while Bumblebee got the business. No offense, Bumblebee.” He sounded stern and strict, then looked at the scout with a softer voice.

Bee shook his head, acknowledging him and his motives. “No offense taken,” he answered.

“You will not put your life in danger, nor get closer to enemy aliens.” Ethan frowned again at his nephew.

“We can ask Emma for help.” Yet, the nephew was just as stubborn and determined like his uncle and mother. He even seemed calmed, smiling even, when he spoke out his idea.

Ethan stood there, open mouth and thinking about that last phrase. Then he began to hum in doubt. “Ok, that might actually work.” He finally answered.

“Really? It was that easy?” Ratchet rose one of his eyebrows, amused by the sudden change in both decision and voice tone from Ethan.

“Don’t get me wrong, Ratchet. I’m still against my nephew wanting to risk his neck; but at least, with what I think he’s planning, he’ll be way far from danger.” Ethan crossed his arms while looking at Nathan, with a skeptic look.

“And here I thought you would forget about your good friend and go with Arcee.” Jazz talked to Nathan, whom was being transported by him.

Only those two were heading towards a suburban area, not so far away from the coordinates Ratchet found. Their speed was faster than usual, keeping a check on the limit signals so that no cops may stop them. Nathan kept seeing his cellphone from time to time, texting messages to his friend. Get ur wig ready!!!!, was the last message he sent to her.

“Well, if the plan works… which I hope it does, then Arcee would love to join the fight.” Nathan answered while putting down his phone. His fingers are mildly shaking in expectation for his plan with a pinch of fear in regards of a possible failure.

“Can’t disagree with that. She and Nightbird have a long story… I wouldn’t get near there if I were you.” Jazz added.

“I’m getting the idea. Besides, if the plan really works well, I remember you said time ago you wanted to be the guardian of one of us.” Nathan’s cellphone rumbled two times, which prompted him to check it again. Once finished texting, he looked at Jazz’s steering wheel and winked at him.

“Wait! You’re giving me my own little buddy?” The Autobot’s voice sounded a little bit higher in volume and pitch.

“I really doubt Emma will help us without discovering the truth. I know the plan is to avoid involving more humans but,” Nathan was scratching his cheek while looking at the sides, ashamed that he would need to break Optimus’ rules. Before he could finish his sentence, Jazz pressed his accelerator violently, making Nathan’s body become one with the driver’s seat.

The cellphone flew onto the air for a few seconds before Nathan could barely catch it. The kid got very nervous since it was recently bought. Once in his hands, it rumbled again. It was another message from Emma.

“Aww, Nathan, you are the best, man!” Jazz excitement made him forget that they were on a serious mission. Good thing Prowl wasn’t there to see the chaos.

“Hey, the best for my buddy.” He managed to thumbs up at Jazz, trying to calm his heartbeat at the same time while getting a grasp of the situation. Then he looked once more at the steering wheel. “You… you don’t think Optimus or the gang will get angry for this?”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure Prowl will yell at us. But it’s because he’s all cranky, he hasn’t drunk his favorite hot oil ever since… well, since we left Cybertron.” Jazz continued.

“Wait, so he drinks that and he is in a better mood?” Nathan opened widely his eyes in surprise.

“Nah, of course not. Being a prick is in his programming, spark, chip, whatever you want to call it. But at least he’s occupied drinking rather than loading his gun. As for the rest, some will reject the idea at first, but if this girl helps us as you explained, then they have to accept is for the best.” His answer made Nathan laugh.

“Ha, ha. I suppose this mission will tell. Speaking of which, we arrived at Emma’s house.” Nathan added before leaning towards the window, seeing a pair of arms waving at him in the distance.

“Whoa, whoa. Nathan, you didn’t tell me your friend was one the elite glitterati!” Jazz added very loudly before approaching a private residence.

What was thought initially to be one of the many suburbs in the city turned out to be one big property belonging to Emma and her family. They were heading towards the main door of the house, just passing by the enormous fountain the Thompson family owns.

Meanwhile, Optimus Prime and Prowl crossed paths once close to their objective. It wasn’t easy for Optimus to maneuver in middle of a huge crowd. Saturdays are, after all, the best days to visit the Sundial Mall. Luckily their coordinates weren’t inside the shopping area, but rather a nearby building used for storage. However, there was still the risk of a possible human presence.

“They are all down.” Prowl spoke to Optimus, signaling the cameras used for vigilance.

The truck glanced at the nearby devices, all of them were permanently damaged, pointing towards the floor. Some of them even released sparks due to heavy blows they received.

“They are waiting for us. The damage must be recent if no humans have approached to inspect the malfunctions.” Optimus added while transforming once inside the facility.

“Then we need to finish our business as soon as possible.” Prowl was already loading his gun once fully bipedal.

“We must avoid using our weapons for the time being, Prowl.” Optimus placed his hand over Prowl’s arm, lowering slightly his soldier’s aim. He sounded calm, yet worried.

“Optimus, we are in a situation where it is impossible to avoid combat.” Prowl didn’t even hesitate to answer back, not as a way to reprimand the leader, but to provide the facts given the war they were in.

“That is not the issue here. Any impact done by us could be easily heard by the earthlings. As part of the enemy’s plan.”

“That has never been an issue for me.” Prowl looked uninterested about humans, only determined to end this damned war.

“Perhaps not, but we won’t gain anything by adding more enemies in this war. We will keep a low profile. That is an order.” Now, Optimus had to lay firm, sounding stern to his soldier.

Prowl knew it was for the best to obey his command, so he holstered his weapon. He sighed in silence, not agreeing with the course of action. Optimus, on the other hand, was following the coordinates sent by Ratchet. The building itself lacked windows and most of the entrances were sealed, it was either lucky for them, or deadly. Only the pair traversed through this organized maze filled with unknown stocks.

“What is the possibility that the enemy might be hiding this unknown tech inside of these crates or boxes.” Prowl asked, looking towards the ceiling in case there were any suspects looming around.

“That is unlikely, it must be hidden inside an isolated location. They would risk humans as labor force, but not as a possible threat of their resources.” Optimus answered, always looking straightforward, he wasn’t carrying his usual giant pistol, so he had to rely on his Energon axe.

“And here I thought you would fall for this nonsensical plan.” A masculine, yet robotic voice was heard behind them.

Prowl immediately drew his gun, looking at a blueish figure holding a canon over his right shoulder and a pair of purple wings behind his back. “And here I thought you would run away like the coward you are.” And he pointed his sight at the head of this foe.

“Doubledealer, we have no business with mercenaries.” Optimus intervened as he tapped lightly Prowl’s shoulder.

The police Autobot looked at his leader, who only answered silently by signaling with his eyes to the other side. This meant there was another enemy, hiding and waiting to attack. Prowl immediately received the message and placed himself behind Optimus, covering each other’s back.

“Come on, Prime, you know it’s me. Dealer.” Doubledealer was usually a normal sized bot, around 3-4 meters like Bumblebee or Prowl. However, the wings on his back signaled that Skar was attached with him, or rather that would be if he was on his bird mode. This wasn’t possible since he had his humanoid form, only possible if he was with Knok. And with either both Mini-cons he only reached 4.5 meters. Now he had at least five meters of height.

Cybertronians know very well that combining is still possible for some individuals. However, Doubledealer never had that ability, Knok and Skar attached to him as replacements of one his body components so that he would use the remaining to transform into either a humanoid or a flying cybertronian. The implications of this unsettled Optimus. “It is impossible for Mini-Cons to combine with us. What have you done to your partners?”

“Oh, you mean them?” He answered by tapping his chest. “They were used for deceiving both factions, now that everyone knows my true allegiance, well… it was time for an upgrade. No hard feelings for last time, right?” He grinned.

Optimus briefly closed his optic sensors remembering the betrayal. He only caught a glimpse of Ultra Magnus ordering to retreat from the other side of the comm, Elita was also heard signaling some of her sisters being hurt, before the signal was lost. Then he opened his optics once more, his lenses calibrating, rotating in order to get a better look at the enemy.

“I must say sorry, Doubledealer, but we have no funds to hire your skills. Which leaves us no choice.” Optimus Prime prepared his Energon axe, which shone light blue. His mask was already on ever since he transformed.

“Fine by me!” He said as he lowered kick one the rack’s support legs. This brought down the whole line, with the wares included.

Prowl reacted in time by loading his Autobot shield, which kept him safe from the crates. However, he barely evaded the laser shot that almost impacted his shoulder. He managed to dodge in time, responding in the same fashion towards the direction the first laser was shot. From one of the racks jumped into view a Decepticon wearing a paintjob that could only be described as rusty golden mustard with a purple hood and huge optics.

“Swindle!” Prowl howled at the enemy once spotted.

Swindle, on the other hand, tried to hide himself after shooting, which only ended up with him flinching once he got discovered. “Scrap!” He quietly reacted.

Both Autobots got themselves busy with their respective opponent, unaware that there was a fifth member, observing within the shadows. The pair of eyes only glanced at a nearby door that recently closed a few seconds ago. The mysterious figure walked with its four legs towards the first pair who was fighting, without giving its presence.

Swindle and Prowl decided to take on a distance fight, using only their guns. Swindle, in a way, had the advantage due to the canon attached to his right shoulder, while also firing a small pistol with his left hand. Prowl, due to his smaller size, was able to maneuver amidst the shots. The crates falling all over the place served both as distraction and cover.

The police cop made a precise shot, piercing on the enemy’s leg. While the wound proved to be superficial at best, it landed the hit. This reassured Prowl, meaning the other wasn’t wearing a trinket like Barricade, which protected him from projectiles. This made the fight a bit fair, as to why he wasn’t wearing one, was something to be asked afterwards. Both stood behind crates and racks, shooting at each other when the chance was available.

Optimus, on the other hand, was fighting against a foe with modified tech armor. This resulted pointless for Doubledealer since this shield worked effectively with long ranged weapons. Dealing against an Energon axe? Especially Optimus’ size, that was too much. The mercenary tried to tackle him, which resulted in both grabbing each other’s hands, pushing the other and seeing who would yield first.

The Autobot leader had the advantage since he has greater strength now that the Matrix resided inside him. Doubledealer began to bend one of his knees while his foot dug into the floor, breaking the concrete. Optimus almost seemed like he was bullying Doubledealer since he had at least almost two meters in height difference.

But things would never be fair against the Decepticons, or at least with Swindle on the team. While he is loyal to the Decepticon cause, he is also known to be an arms dealer. He has never done business with the Autobots, but would do anything to get the best deal, just like a mercenary. So, it came to no surprise when he shot Optimus on his leg to give the other some edge. Prowl tried to warn him by screaming his name, which ended futile as the wound already have been inflicted upon the leader.

The injury itself was far from damaging him, but it did cause pain on Optimus and broke his concentration. Doubledealer took this chance to kick the damaged leg, making the leader lose his balance. By using the momentum of his fall, the mercenary grabbed him by the torso and lifted him, throwing the Autobot leader against a wall, crushing it in the process.

Optimus groaned in pain while trying to gain a foothold. That’s when the rest of the entire wall fell down, revealing a small room, used mainly for data capturing, with a human inside it. The Autobot leader reacted silently upon discovering this unknown person in midst the fight. Both optics fully opened and his hand flinched at the sight. Somebody that wasn’t Nathan nor Ethan also knew about their identity.

This poor man in workers clothing was the last one to exit for the day. He just was finishing storing the last cargo and capturing the data when havoc knocked at his door, or rather wall. He was curled in a corner hoping that they wouldn’t notice him. He tried to run away the moment he noticed Optimus glanced at him. The leader tried to stop him, “wait, don’t go there!” he tried to whisper without giving away to the enemy this current situation.

Optimus tried to grab the human, who was already scurrying by the rubbish onwards any nearby exit. Just to deadly stop in front of the five-meter Doubledealer, who was grinning at him. “Well, look what we got here. This little fella wanted to see our spectacle.”

“Is that another one of those squishies? I swear they are everywhere.” Swindle answered after wiping out the dust from his hands. Then he placed his knuckles over his hips.

Prowl was having a hard time removing a pile of stands that fell over him. Swindle was about to deal a fatal blow to him, but he got curious once Doubledealer spoke out sassily. “So, what do we do with…” Swindle was about to ask before the mercenary loaded his shoulder canon.

The human, noticing the weapons sound, tried to make a run for it. At first, his shoe slipped as he tried to sprint as far as he could. He noticed Optimus’ hand, extended for him as a safe location. It was wide spread, almost touching the ground. Sadly, such efforts came to nothing when Doubledealer cold-blooded shot at the human, turning him into a pile of waste scattered along the room. The laser did perfectly its job, eradicating almost all evidence from that poor person, only some clothing, as well as a few droplets of blood remained on the floor.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! That wasn’t necessary!” Swindle reprimanded Doubledealer for his shot, his optics fully opened in surprise. Just like Optimus who was a few centimeters away from the now melted corpse.

“It is. You are also a mercenary, Decepticon. Our client left us clear instructions. Leave no liabilities that could compromise our cover up. We must be in disguise, whether you like it or not.” For the first time in this battle, Doubledealer sounded serious about his job. It was his mercenary professionalism talking, treating everything and everyone like a task, nothing more.

“I wasn’t referring to that. Those squishies live up for their name, even stepping on them is enough to kill them. They just pop and squish, no need to waste my ammo on them. Yes, my ammo, I perfected that canon for you.” Swindle sounded offended. He could even listen his account losing some precious shanix just by that blast. His head fumed.

“Hey, you would expect that they couldn’t be tough, but some are hard to kill, it’s more effect…” Doubledealer was about to argue back, however his body bent backwards when Optimus tackled him from the back.

Swindle was about to curse, only to be stopped by Doubledealer’s whose body slammed against him. Both enemies got carried by the Autobot leader’s weight as he kept running forward. The Decepticon, being just collateral damage of the assault, slid to the side, falling over a couple of stands and rolling to the floor. He coughed in pain, with one eye closed as his vision became blurry. Out of nowhere, Prowl threw over him some of the same stands that covered him. The police car only scoffed at him.

Optimus, on his side, stamped the mercenary against a pile of the already destroyed wares. He was far from angry. Yes, the death of one human that he couldn’t protect made him lose his temper maybe temporarily. Once he tackled the duo, he was already calmed, but focusing entirely on finishing this battle as soon as possible. There mustn’t be any other loss this day. He thought.

Optimus brought out his Energon axe one more, ready to make his attack. “Really, Prime? You would get rid of someone who can’t even counterattack? And here I thought you Autobots considered yourselves better than this.” Doubledealer tried to find a way out of this by attacking his morale, his own code.

“Do not worry then,” Optimus replied before slicing out Doubledealer’s shoulder canon and arm, separating them from the body. This caused the mercenary to react in pain, screaming while grabbing the wounded area. Optimus retrieved the canon with his non-weaponized hand, “We will never fall to that level.” He reassured his foe.

“Scrap, then we have to go with plan B!” Doubledealer, with his still healthy hand, reached out for a remote control on his hip. He groaned in pain with each spark being released and the energon dripping at a fast rate.

The moment he pressed one of the ten buttons, one of the boxes on the floor exploded out of nowhere. The blast hit Optimus’ back, barely. But it did sent Prowl flying towards a pile of crates, and freed Swindle. “We really hoped you would’ve fall for the initial plan. Falling for the obvious crate with our supposed secret cache.” Doubledealer started speaking, pressing the second button which exploded another crate, this one near Optimus’ feet.

“Which I told you, he was Megatron’s pain in the circuit. He wouldn’t have fallen for such a petty trap.” Swindle added, taking out another remote control that looked similar to the other.

“Yeah, well, I least we can bury them here.” Doubledealer pressed the farthest button, exploding one of the beams in the center of the roof.

The place was going down as Swindle continued pressing a couple of the detonators from his side, making fireworks show from the boxes and beams. Optimus didn’t bat an optic and head straight towards Prowl. Still holding Doubledealer’s cut arm, the leader changed his free arm into a normal hand and aided Prowl. Once the cop was on his feet again, both looked at their surroundings, trying to find an escape route.

The mercenary and the Decepticon laughed at their upper hand, rejoicing in their victory that lasted a few minutes before a piece of rubble almost fell on their head. That’s when they decided to retreat. The fifth member, watching from the shadows, rose from the support beam he was resting over, and peacefully exited the scene, his long tail waved along the sides while he was delicately jumping out of danger.

The enemy pair was heading towards the exit. From the other side of the building the big main doors opened mysteriously, rising confusion for both of them. That’s when the pink fembot’s starting motor roared, tackling the pair.

Arcee arrived in time, hitting the enemies hard enough that both dropped the remote controls far away. She saw the devices falling from their hands, which prompted her to fetch them. Optimus Prime approached her, carrying Prowl over his shoulder. Three vs. two, with these numbers, the enemy pair transformed into their vehicle modes and escaped.

“Why spare his life?” Prowl asked, releasing himself from Optimus while he scanned his own body.

“There was no other way.” Optimus showed Doubledealer’s arm, pointing at a purple device that was still blinking, attached to the canon. “This is Shockwave’s technology, the mercenary didn’t know, but had I cut him lethally, this would’ve set off.” Optimus tear out the device and threw it towards the most inside of the building.

The team headed towards the exit. “I believe Optimus told you to stay put, soldier.” Prowl looked at Arcee. She only rolled her eyes, since she just saved their lives.

“This is not the time, Prowl. Thanks to her we gained the upper hand. However, I would like to know if our comrades are safe.” He referred to the humans.

“Completely safe. Actually, as you can see, there is no human activity nearby us, even after the explosions.” Arcee answered, this prompted the other two to look around, confirming that even the streets far away were free of cars. “Nathan thought of a way to evacuate the humans and I gotta say, it worked perfectly.”

“Then let’s retreat before our chance runs out.” Optimus commanded.

“A word of advice,” Prowl interrupted, “even if you suggested avoiding combat, we left many marks inside the human building. There are some marks that can’t be explained by common logic.”

He was saying the truth, the laser shots and axe cuts were all over the place. Doubledealer’s blast,which killed that innocent human, remained as the most suspicious trace. The remains of the unknown male worker could generate distress on the civilians, as well on the human government.

“You are correct. Then…” he thought for a second on how to command the next order, “we must cover our traces.” He looked at Arcee’s hands holding the explosive devices.

She nodded, acknowledging the order.

First, Optimus transformed into his truck mode. Prowl placed Doubledealer’s arm over the rear side of the truck, just above a small platform. Once secured, Optimus began rolling out the area, since he is the slowest of the three, he needed to depart first. Prowl followed. Arcee, who stood behind, looked at the damaged building, her eyes frowning once more.

“We need to get stronger.” She mumbled to herself before detonating the last explosives, ten of them distributed in both controls. Once done, she immediately ran away from the site, transforming after she made a big jump. The accelerator hit hard and she flee away safely.

The building began to crumble with each explosion, each beam falling one after the other and the fire increasing by each second. When a small flame touched the device Optimus removed from Doubledealer’s canon, that’s when the major outburst occurred, blasting the walls through every direction. Arcee had to hit the accelerator even harder once she felt her tires waver after the explosion’s heat energy.

It didn’t take that long before officers and fire fighters arrived at the scene. They found zero culprits, one storage building in shambles and one disappeared human.

Chapter Text

“Honestly, when you told me that your friend, this Emma, was a popular rockstar, I thought you were exaggerating.” Jazz told Nathan, still on car mode.

The couple of guys were meters away from the impromptu stage made on the Sunny National Park. Impromptu is used loosely as Emma had her own staff installing the base, mic and smoke machines. Even if both of them stood far from the crowd, they could still gaze at the professionalism of said concert made out of nowhere.

“Mhmm,” Nathan nodded, “Emma’s father has been the city’s mayor for at least… seven years now, he is trying to be reelected next year.” He continued eating his popcorns quietly since the people blocked the view, sometimes he could barely see Emma’s hands stretching towards the sky. That’s what they get by staying at the parking lot, but Nathan wouldn’t abandon Jazz whom couldn’t just drive through the grass area.

“Remind me, what’s a mayor?” Jazz asked, his monitor and Autobot insignia on his wheel blinked with a sky-blue light with each syllable.

“Uhh… he is basically in charge of our city.” Nathan snapped his empty hand once he answered, the other was grabbing popcorn.

“Oh, so he is like an Emirate.”

“Emirate? That word exists in your world?” The kid raised one of his eyebrows.

“You have it as well?” Jazz sounded confused since “emirate” was a word he didn’t translate from Cybertronian to English.

“Hmm, I believe is used in some parts of the world,” Nathan, once more, scratched his cheek in confusion. He looked up trying to remember from which country he heard the term. Then he looked at the monitor and dismissed the topic, “politics isn’t my strong suit.”

“Neither mine, that’s Optimus’ territory. So, you were saying about your friend?” Jazz was also into changing completely the topic. They were listening to some sick rock pieces in the background, speaking about politics would only sour the mood.

“Ah, yes. Emma had a talent for music since she was a kid. His father took her to singing classes and eventually became a popular celebrity known as Heart Mania. Of course, she helps her dad with some campaigns, but not too many in order to keep her identity a secret.”

“You are saying that she only puts a wig, some makeup, and nobody recognizes her?” Jazz sounded suspicious, it sounded too simple to be effective.

“You wouldn’t believe how everyone falls for it.” Nathan answered, a bit ashamed since he also fell for it when he saw Emma as Heart Mania for the first time.

“Pfft!” Jazz chuckled, “Ratchet would only say again how troublesome your species is.” He wasn’t mocking his friend, he truly believed that would’ve happened.

“Ah, and I would’ve hated to imitate my uncle by agreeing with him!” Nathan spoke exaggerating the drama; he even placed the back of his hand over his forehead. Then he realized that was the hand covered in butter.

“Don’t worry, little pal, the secret is safe with me.” Jazz answered once he was done laughing, he didn’t specify on whether he was referring to Nathan agreeing with Ratchet or the butter incident. Maybe both.

Nathan took out his handkerchief and cleaned his face. “Speaking of secrets, I hope Emma doesn’t overreact once she discovers about… you guys.” He seemed troubled, frowning his brownish eyebrows.

Contrary to Nathan, Jazz was full of confidence ever since the concert turned out to be a success. “Have a little faith in your friend, everything will be fine.” He added.

It wasn’t fine, at all.

Unlike the rest of the team, Jazz and Nathan had to stay late that day since they had to pick up Emma. Besides, for some reason, they were unable to contact Optimus or anyone else during the concert. Everything stopped abruptly after a huge explosion was heard and sensed a few kilometers away from the crowd. At first, they thought it was part of the spectacle, then officers arrived and everything was cancelled in a second.

Jazz parked himself in an alley, waiting for Emma since she had to undo her costume. Thanks to the chaos, the paparazzi and journalists had a bigger priority that day. Some even began to say online that they were saved by Heart Mania since they were walking near the now demolished storage building before the concert had begun. Others began to argue that it was too “coincidental”, since the events happened so close. Nathan was looking at the comments of some online posts through his cellphone. “Overall, looks like nobody got hurt and just a small bunch of people are blaming the government.” He said to Jazz.

Jazz, on his side, was talking with Ratchet. Both were relieved that their comrades weren't captured by any cameras. However, none of the two was able to communicate with the other team. They decided to wait an hour or two before they assumed the worst.

All of those conversations ended abruptly when Emma exited from one of the backdoors leading to that same place the couple were parked. At first, she hastened to enter the car and remained quiet, she as well ended shocked by the explosion. They began to move in silence and, for a while, everything seemed fine before she burst out, “Ok, Nathey, are you going to explain to me what just happened? Or am I going to pretend this was coincidental?” Her voice sounded hysterical at best, criminal at worst.

Nathan tried to calm her down for a few minutes before he acted as if he parked Jazz off the road. They were already in one of the highways outside of the city, and due to the conundrum inside the city, the place resembled an abandoned route.

“No, don’t try to calm me, Nathaniel Jason Witwicky!” Emma took the offensive, lowering the pitch of her voice, but not volume. Strict as she could get.

“Jeez, now you just sound like my mother.” He rolled his eyes without thinking.

“D-don’t…” She flushed for a split second, “don’t try to change the subject! You asked me out of nowhere to make a concert with no explanation. Then the explosion. Now you take me outside of the city? In an unknown Porsche? Not your car? Come on, Nathey, you hate Porsches!” Still with her cheeks a bit reddish, she began to raise the volume in her voice.

“You what?!” Jazz loudly broke his incognito upon the last comment Emma made.

Emma, eye widely open, looked at the wheel, which blinked with each syllable, and then at Nathan, whom began to sweat instantly. “Ah, whoops.” Added Jazz.

What proceeded from this can only be described as utter chaos. Female screams filled the silence, then Nathan followed up unbeknownst of the reason for it. This only ended with Jazz transforming, expelling both teenagers from his body. His logic said that if he transformed into his humanoid form, he could explain better what was happening, instead of only seeing his precious seats getting torn by the wild kicks the lady was throwing. Now, with a 4-meter robot into the scene, things didn’t get better.

---

“So… in the end, we couldn’t hide the truth from Emma.” Nathan finally finished wrapping up the summary of what happened to the trio a few minutes ago.

The whole team was finally reunited at the base. The trio of Jazz, Nathan and Emma were the last ones to arrive.

At first, Nathan thought of fabricating a lie as to why suddenly they brought a human girl into the base. But then he saw Prowl’s face and was afraid he would get busted. Then he saw his uncle’s face and knew Ethan knew his facial expressions too good. Then he saw Optimus and immediately felt guilty about it. This prompted him to confess exactly what happened, omitting some embarrassing details.

Prowl was in a corner of the factory, facepalming to the point of almost breaking one of his horns.

Optimus was listening to every detail. Afterwards, he glanced at the complete scene. Nathan was covered in dirt, probably from his fall after Jazz transformed. He must’ve been worse before. There was also a slight bruise under his eye, he didn’t mention exactly how he got it; the truth is, when Jazz expelled him, he landed with his face embracing Earth. Emma, on her part, was looking at the rest of the huge gang, her eyes showed a bit of shock since they were fully open, as well as her mouth. Ethan approached her with a hot tea. “Ah, thanks, uncle Ethan.” She courteously answered and emptied the cup in one gulp while looking at Arcee cautiously. Then she quietly sat down on a couch Ethan brought to the base not so long ago, she actually was the first one to use it.

Ethan glanced at his nephew, he was way far from danger, yet he returned more injured than when he was being attacked by a giant robot…

Jazz, on the other side, was being attended by Ratchet, apparently his right foot had a huge bump on the frontal side.

“How did you end like this? You weren’t evening fighting.” Ratchet reprimanded him while looking for the right tool.

At the same time, Emma looked to the side, trying to silently whistle. Jazz didn’t answer either.

“Great, so now we have a new human to take care of.” Prowl just sighed.

“It is alright, Prowl, after all, without her help, we would have risked being exposed. Thank you, Emma.” Optimus kneeled down and reached his index finger to her.

Emma grabbed it and both greeted at each other. “I-it’s nothing. Glad to help.” She answered while trying to grab two thirds of the equivalent of the human distal phalanx.

“If we can count with your help in the future, we would appreciate it. Jazz, for the time being, you will be in charge of keeping her safe.” The leader continued speaking with his soft voice.

“No problem, Optimus, I’ll keep the squishie as safe as possible.” Jazz nodded happily, then he almost lost his balance as Ratchet finished restoring his foot, removing the bump.

Ratchet, having finishing the easier task, walked towards the improvised examining table which held Doubledealer’s arm. Optimus Prime, upon listening to Jazz, frowned his eyes and his mouth lost his smile. He put down Emma’s hand and stood up, heading toward Jazz. The temporary second-in-command didn’t expect the shift in his leader’s mood. Was it something he said? Oh, scrap, maybe he’ll think I agreed so easily because I wanted a little buddy? He thought.

Instead, the leader gently placed his hand over Jazz’s shoulder. “It would be wise to call them for what they are, Earthlings. Or, as they call themselves, humans.” Once he began speaking, Optimus forced a serene smile on his face, not revealing why exactly he was offering this suggestion.

“Of course, Optimus.” Jazz, a bit confused as seen with his parted metallic lips, only nodded.

“Nathaniel,” Optimus turned towards his human comrade, without removing his hand from the Autobot shoulder, “I really appreciate your efforts in order to help us.” He reassured the human who was still waiting to get reprimanded by his uncle.

“I wanted to help in any way possible. I don’t know if Emma could help with any upcoming distraction attempt. But if there’s anything you need…” He wanted to add more, but felt a chill in his spine and he gulped in reaction to it. Even if the young teenager was giving the back to his uncle, he couldn’t escape from his deadly glare.

“Then there is something you can aid us with. And, do not worry, Ethan, I would rather ask this to the three of you since us Autobots would have difficulties with this task. This will also keep you in the city while the rest of the team patrols.” Optimus looked at Ethan who was already a bit pale.

The three humans listened carefully.

---

Emma texted Nathan in the morning while he was brushing his teeth. He was half asleep before his cellphone rang. He held his toothbrush with his mouth in order to text back.

“Are we going to try that again today?”

"Yeah, the sooner the better. They might get the things if we don’t mlkkd”

“move”

“Sorry, toothbrush felt out of my mouth”

“Ewwww”

“Are we going to skip classes or…”

“What? No!!!”

“Jeez, what a party pooper, then see u at the entrance? I’ll bring Jazzie, how’s Bee?”

“Still recovering, if I’m lucky, he’ll be ready today”

“Gotchu, oh, Dave’s here, see ya later”

That was Emma’s last message before she went offline. Nathan reassumed his mouth cleaning, although he had to change his shirt for a clean one, one without toothpaste all over the place. He took a black polo he had used on Friday. He smelled it, pretty much it was ok for his standard. 

The weekend had passed by quickly and now it was Monday. Nathan finished his breakfast early and now he headed to the kitchen.

“Morning, mom!” He kissed his mother on the cheek while she was preparing some pancakes.

Michelle already had her uniform on. Her red pants and white shirt with three quarter sleeves looked clean and soft, ready for a lot of stretching and movement. Nathan noticed that her hair roots were beginning to show her real blonde hair, which meant that probably next weekend she would go to dye it black as usual.

“Morning, sweetie, think you can help me preparing Pam’s lunch? Also, thanks for making some extra batter for us.”

“It nothing, mom. You had a rough day yesterday.” He answered while fetching Pam’s pink lunchbox from a cabinet and placed fruit, egg rolls and thumb sized pancakes in it. “Oh, before I leave, at what hour your shift ends?” He was about to eat one egg roll, then remembered he just brushed his teeth.

“I got a call earlier; they won’t let me go until 7:00 pm. Mrs. Sandy is taking longer to recover from her injury. Think you can…” Michelle looked tired, with a couple of eyebags under her tired gaze. Yet, she perfectly placed the dishes, cups and utensils with precision.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get Pam from school. Focus on your work.” Nathan finished packing the lunchbox and placed it over the table. Then he headed towards the living room, just next to the kitchen.

“What about your homework?” Michelle slightly raised her voice so that he could hear her.

“Nothing I can’t handle.” He also raised his voice. “Come on, Pam, breakfast’s ready.” He lifted his younger sister with such ease, making a playful tone with her. She was watching a morning cartoon while laying over the carpet.

Pamela innocently laughed while Nathan made fart noises on her cheek. “That tickles, Nat!” She continued laughing.

Pam is Nathan’s younger sister; she had her fifth birthday two months ago. In less than a year she will finally attend elementary school. So, for now, she is still the baby of the family with her little, thin, side ponytails. She was wearing an orange dress today, but the little mischief maker had taken off her shoes. Nathan sighed after noticing this, he had just barely placed her over the dinner chair.

“I’ll take care of that. You better get going to school.” She kissed the teenager cheek and handed him a paper bag. “I know you are already a big man, but let me pamper you from time to time.”

Nathan chuckled and took his lunch. He patted Pamela’s head since her face was already covered in honeybee. The little sister only grinned, eye closed, while grabbing her chocolate milk. He waved goodbyes and exited his house. Then he ran down a few streets before finding Arcee on a store parking lot.

Arcee told Nathan that, after classes, Jazz will be waiting for him. However, Bumblebee would reunite with him today. He was finally free from the medic bed. But he needed to do some patrol runs just to get in shape. Arcee will exchange places with him and she will be the one scouting while Nathan’s group is fulfilling Optimus’ task.

“Your pod?” Nathan asked.

“Yes, I don’t know if anyone in the team told you. Before leaving Cybertron, some of us took some equipment, materials or blueprints for machinery. Honestly, anything that could help us survive in any foreign planet. Mostly, Ultra Magnus’ team did this, we were the ones who had more time to escape.” She continued explaining.

“Who’s Ultra Magnus?” Nathan asked, it was the first time he heard the name.

“Oh, Ultra Magnus is one of the most respected soldiers out there. And he is the real right hand of Optimus Prime. For quite some time, many of us though he was going to be the next Prime.” She remembered a pre time war, when she was in a bar speaking with Chromia and Moonracer, guessing and betting on would be the next Prime.

“Then, how did Optimus become the Prime?” Nathan cut off her train thought, which did right, since she is driving.

“That… is a good question. I know the two of them consider each other as family and Magnus was present during Optimus’ election as Prime, as for the details, I do not know. We were at war, and suddenly I was tasked to follow orders from our new Prime.” Her voice wavered, trying to remember when Optimus was appointed as the new and last Prime before the council fell.

“Everyone seems to trust him.”

“More than ever, his ascension to the Prime title actually brought a tipping scale to the war. During those times, we feared it was another product of nepotism, like other Primes. Turns out that wasn’t the case. We really had hope back then.” At first, Arcee sounded inspired, her sweet voice almost cheered for her leader. At the end, her voice lowered, it was a melancholic tone, completely opposite to the message she firstly sent.

“What’s wrong?” Nathan asked, of course he noticed this abrupt change.

“I just hope my other sisters are safe.” She had difficulties pronouncing these words, it sounded as if she feared speaking about the prohibited.

“Sisters? You have sisters?” Nathan asked.

“Yes? Almost every citizen from Caminus, one of our colonies, has one. Do you humans also have sisters?”

“Yeah, I have a little sister, Pamela. My mother wanted a daughter so… that’s why.” Nathan lifted his hand to specify how little his sister is. This was inaccurate since he reached towards his chest. He was thinking of where Pamela reaches him if he seats her over him.

“What’s a mother and a daughter?” Arcee was dumbfounded. She knows the meaning of family and sister; but those two words were a mystery.

“… Wait, what’s a sister for you guys?” Now Nathan joined the confused club as well. He lifted both eyebrows, bewildered.

“In Caminus, we all belong to small clans or families. Those in the same group become our sisters, since we are all female cybertronians. Camien citizens choose their clans based on their dedicated path lines. Although, most of us are either warriors or forgers. In the end, sisters are the female cybertronians we train with within the military academies until we graduate. What are sisters for you?” Explaining this distracted Arcee from the grim thoughts regarding the fate of her comrades. She wasn’t happy, but at least she was focused in explaining Camien culture.

Nathan reacted upon the weird word “Forgers”. In his language, that meant a shady business, so he assumed it meant something different for cybertronians. He thought of asking later. For now, he needed to answer to a robotic being what it meant to have a mother or sister. For an unknown reason, these last remaining ten minutes felt eternal for the human.

---

Classes ended. Most of the students were complaining, not because they wanted more classes, of course not; they felt the Monday’s tiredness. Nathan waited at the stairs of the main entrance, glancing at his cellphone. His uncle sent him a message not so long ago saying that he and Bumblebee were heading towards the rendezvous point. Optimus wanted Prowl patrolling while he carried Arcee’s tech to the base.

“Let’s hope we finish early. I need to get Pamela after this.” He murmured while putting away his cellphone in his jeans.

“Nathey! Sorry for the delay!” Emma ran down the stairs, today she was wearing a red skirt with hearts and a black blouse with a white vest. Nathan was surprised that she didn’t decide to use some long boots with stockings to stand out even more from the rest.

“It’s alright. I already spotted Jazz; he isn’t far from here. We should get going.” He calmly answered and Emma nodded. “By the way, did your dad said anything about him?”

“You mean Jazzie? Nah, probably he hasn’t seen him in between the other five cars.” She casually answered, diminishing the scenario by adding one extra car, they actually had only four cars.

Nathan placed his hand over his chest, clenching his shirt and exhaled momentarily upon hearing her situation. Those words felt like daggers to his modest economy, he sometimes forgets that Emma is super rich.

“Really? Man, I envy you. When mom discovered Bee, she almost interrogated me for hours trying to found out how the heck I got my hands into a fine car like him. You are lucky.” He half closed his eyes and mildly pouted while answering to her.

Emma mischievously answered, grinning from cheek to cheek. A few seconds later, Nathan’s phone rang. This distracted Nathan and made him look away as he fought to grab it. In this interval, Emma’s smile faded instantly and her eyebrows arched upwards.

“Alright, I’m ready. Let’s go.” Nathan gently waved his hand to Emma’s side, patting her on her shoulder. She was already on her normal casual expression.

Both got inside the Porsche and headed towards their mission.

“Distracting?” Nathan asked Optimus two days ago.

The Autobot nodded. “During our fight, one your people got involved. He didn’t survive.” There was a long silence, Nathan and Ethan fully opened their eyes while Emma only listened. “I don’t know who he was, but there is nothing remaining from him, except some of his clothing. We must secure his belongings in case there are remnants of the blast used on the now departed male. And, if luck is our side, any form of identification that could help us track any family members or friends that are unaware of his situation.” From the humans, Ethan was the one most shocked once he realized that the first reason Optimus gave was just an excuse for his real motive. “His close ones should be aware of his departure so that they can mourn properly.”

Nathan remembered these words while Jazz drove the pair towards the now destroyed storage facility. He wanted to tell Emma about how considerate Optimus was being to someone that probably he met maximum for a few hours. He didn’t know it was less than that. What remained stuck in his mind was how the humans were the only ones surprised by this mission, the Autobots looked normal, Arcee at best glanced towards the floor. Nathan then remembered that they’ve just “won” a war. Either they already got used to seeing dead comrades, or this was a common action Optimus commanded. But he couldn’t muster the courage to speak about this in the presence of an Autobot. He was still shy about openly speaking with them, even Bumblebee.

After some minutes, Jazz arrived at the rendezvous point. It was one of the hills outside of the city, a river separated this landform and the urban area. The thick bushes and trees protected perfectly the cybertronians from being seen. And it was tall enough to observe a huge portion of the city, the now destroyed storage facility included. Easily this location was at least ten meters away from their current spot.

Ethan was outside, resting his body on the side of the Camaro, crossing his arms. Bumblebee was so enthusiastic of seeing his partner once more he even transformed without letting Ethan know. The uncle almost fell, but managed to regain balance. Bee got ahead and high fived his little buddy. Nathan presented his two friends between each other. Emma found Bumblebee to be incredibly cute. She couldn’t see him properly when she arrived at the base since he was on a stasis pod recovering.

Once everyone presented themselves and Emma greeted Ethan, they proceeded discuss how to approach their objective.

They’ve tried to infiltrate the day before, but they got nothing. They arrived to find out the whole place was being watched, not by common officers, but militia forces. This actually brought a mild panic on the citizens, not only the ones trying to infiltrate. If the green uniforms were present, it meant something serious.

The team used the whole Sunday to observe the patrolling schedule and routes they walked in order to find any possible blind spot. And by team, it was mostly Jazz doing the job since he had more experience doing this sort of tasks. At dusk, once he fully memorized every position each soldier had, Jazz projected a 3D map of the destroyed building, showing the route everyone should follow.

That’s what happened on their Sunday. Now, it was Monday and the mission started. The humans split into their respective teams. Emma and Nathan used Bumblebee in order to get close. Bee would wait quite far from them, almost near the park where Emma sang. On the other hand, Ethan would be accompanied by Jazz, with a meter of distance from the building. Ethan covered Jazz with a worn-out mantle so that the Porsche could camouflage with the alley they parked on. These are times where I miss Mirage. Jazz thought to himself.

All of them stay in constant contact, with Nathan being on an ongoing call with his uncle. He blocked his cellphone and placed it in his pocket. Ethan had to mute himself. This was made to signal the uncle if the teenagers had intervened a military. Or if they needed to tell him to get the hell out of there as quick as possible. And Ethan would text them if something happened.

The pair kept walking amongst the debris. Emma’s outfit stood out, too much. And yet, there were actually sneaking in quite well. It wasn’t the first time they have trespassed somewhere they shouldn’t be.

“Look, Nathey, the whole ceiling fell down over there. Maybe we could get inside easier from there.” Emma pointed to a pile of beams resting on each other.

“Yeah, I’m impressed the whole thing hasn’t fall down immediately.” He whispered.

Emma took the lead and grabbed Nathan by the arm, dragging him closer to the devastated structure. They were getting in.

Nathan couldn’t help but look at Emma’s feet. It troubled him how could someone walk amongst rubble using platforms. But then, she slipped and Nathan immediately lend some support by grabbing her from the shoulders. This movement caused the debris to fall in all directions, making noise along the way. They got goosebumps, looking at one of the exterior corridors, seeing if any of the soldiers heard this.

No one came running, after a few seconds of silence, the pair managed to sigh in relief and Nathan released Emma.

“So, care to explain your trespassing?” A strong female voice spoke directly on their backs.

The pair jumped, turning to their backs to see a tall figure right beside them. It scared them the most that they heard nothing approaching them. If they have been followed from a while ago, they didn’t notice the silent steps of the lady. Or worse, that this soldier heard them a few seconds ago and rushed immediately with little effort, probably almost walking on air, according to their imagination.

The lady in front of them was tall, taller than Nathan so he had to look upward in order to see her eyes. She wasn’t a giant, probably between 1.79 and 1.82 meters. He stands still at 1.72, so this caught him off guard, his muscles tensed and his mouth felt dry upon seeing this strong Amazonian wearing her uniform. She had short, blond hair and a side bang to her left that only covered her forehead. Her blue eyes and furrowed eyebrows focused solely on Nathan since he seemed the most nervous from the group.

The poor teenager boy was frozen on the spot, unable to speak. The military lady thought he could spill the beans easier. “Are you going to answer or not, boy?” Her tone got menacing, almost challenging.

“Wait, you got it all wrong!” Emma intercepted the woman, placing herself in between the two.

“What do I have wrong? That you are trespassing for unknown reasons?” The female adult skeptically raised one of her eyebrows.

But she didn’t expect Emma’s casual tone. The soldier didn’t know she was dealing with a master liar who has a double life as a singer. This was a normal morning breakfast for her. “Oh no, of course we were trespassing. But my bestie’s reaction is like that for a completely different reason.” She lacked any fear on her voice, not even her heartbeat was pulsing fast, nor there was any trace of sweat on her face.

“And why is he like that?” The military lady tilted her head towards Nathan. Her voice shown genuine confusion when looking at the two teens. One looked he could melt at any second; the other could exudate flowers from her body. She looked fresh, casual and relaxed. The military lady was having a hard time detecting the lies on the female teen.

“That’s simple. My friend here is really into tall lady ladies.” Yet, the military lady could detect zero lies from this. Emma even emphasized the word “really” in such dastardly way.

Nathan’s face got blue. The hamster on his head processed in record time what his friend just said. “Emma!” He fully screamed in panic while looking at her.

“What? There’s nothing wrong with accepting that side of yours, Nathey.” Emma closed her eyes, shaking her head, unconcerned by the events.

“That’s not-!” His voice went high pitch, weak and wavery, then he looked at the military. “Is not that… I… well… excuse me, please.” Now he really looked he could melt at any second, his cheeks got into some cute red levels. Nathan only gave the ladies his back and tried feel how hot his face was.  

“Oh, dear Nathey. You need to accept that you like strong ladies, I’ve seen the magazines under your bed.” Emma continued.

“EMMA!!!” Nathan wished he disappeared at any second.

The soldier only laughed after staying flabbergasted and quiet for a long time. “All right, all right. Give a rest to your friend. At least explain me what you are doing here.” She wiped a tear from her eye.

“I mean, we wanted to see the inside of the building. There has been a rumor circulating online that the place was storing explosives and something went seriously wrong. Here.” She reached for her cellphone and opened a popular social media that had a B in the logo. Emma scrolled down for a few seconds before finding a post with many people debating about what she just said. Then she gave the phone to the soldier.

Emma, prior to the arrival at the storage, prepared her cellphone presenting those posts. She just conveniently scrolled a bit up so that it didn’t look as she already had the evidence at hand.

Both ladies ignored poor Nathan, who was still recovering from such emotional injury. While, he was profoundly breathing, he felt his phone vibrating. He cautiously looked at the screen and saw a message from his uncle. A single checkmark. This meant he already found what they were looking for and exited the dangerous zone.

“Sorry to disappoint you. But we had nothing to do with the incident. If anything, our presence acts only as precaution while we discover what actually happened there. So that mischievous teenagers don’t trespass.”  The soldier scolded them. Both youngsters lowered their heads.

“Aw, man. Then, at least are we free to go? I already lost a bet. Can we at least leave with our remaining dignity?” Emma wanted to pout, but thought that would be too much. So, she only clenched her fists and remained with her face lowered, avoiding eye contact.

“I hope you still have dignity. Be careful on the way back.” The soldier relaxed her pose and signaled with her right hand the exit path. It was the alley to her left.

“Thank you! Let’s go, Nathey!” Emma immediately raised her head and dragged Nathan from his arm.

Nathaniel could barely speak or even react; his face still resembled a fuming tomato. He moved like a puppet with his strings stuck. The female solder gazed at the weird pair. She remained on the same place, crossing her arms and lowering her head. She was meditating with eyes closed. Eventually, she heard some footsteps getting nearby.

“Ah, there you are, sister.” A masculine voice spoke, the female soldier glanced at her brother. “Did something happen?”

The male soldier was taller than his sister, probably around 10 centimeters taller. She has blonde hair, while his is dark brown. Other than that, the pair looked identical, at least in their facial features. Both had the same dark blue eyes and high arched eyebrows.

“Only a couple of teenagers.” The military lady answered, she clapped her hands to remove dust from the debris that fell a few minutes ago.

“I see, I heard a scream from the distance. Thought you were torturing someone.” The brother joked, then froze immediately when his sister deadly glared at him. He stood at attention, with both hands behind him,

“Please, I’m not as merciless as the actual perpetrator.” The sister relaxed, almost laughing at the memory of Emma torturing poor Nathan. Then, her demeanor changed completely. After the slow blink of her eyes and a little sigh, she cunningly asked, “So, tell me. Was the old man related to these kids?”

“Yeap, he walked through the debris in an already calculated route. He never stopped to check the perimeter, nor make sure nobody was around the place. I saw him approaching the site a few minutes ago. But he was only taking pieces of clothing and prying the personnel lockers, nothing particularly special about it.” The brother relaxed once more and placed his hands over his hips.

“Yet, we cannot discard this, brother. Those teenagers were clearly a distraction. So easy, yet effective. I don’t think those three could elaborate such plan that fast, considering they were driving through the area a day ago.” The sister began to mumble loudly, analyzing the situation. At some point she began walking in small circles. She remembered seeing a white car with blue stripes and the blonde teenager inside.

“Should I tell our superior?” The brother asked.

“Nah, let me handle it. I’ll call our expert.” She dismissed the suggestion as she knew her superior would ignore this.

“Really? I don’t think the three of them pose a serious threat.” The brother opened his eyes by the mention of their expert.

“Which is why I’m doing the call. It’s better if we know they aren’t involved with anyone else by checking on their profiles and recent messages. If there’s something, we’ll report it. Besides, this way is faster and efficacious.” She answered. The brother only raised his eyebrows and nodded. He went along with her plan. “For now, let’s return. Our shift is almost over.” The military sister began walking to the opposite side of where Emma and Nathan headed to.

“Ah, wait for me, sis!” The brother ran towards her sister.

Little the four humans knew. A small figure observed from the debris. In his four paws, he stood up, glancing at the scene, almost enticingly. His optics were calibrating, going from huge black lenses to full shiny yellow. Then, he began to send a signal, which was received in a faraway location. A human sized machine received the message and projected three recent photos taken from the scene, a human figure got closer to the monitor. Whomever that person is, was looking meticulously at Nathan’s photo.

Chapter Text

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“Oh, so are we going for little Pamela?” Bumblebee asked while he drove Nathan back again like the little duo they are. 

“Yeah, I’ll drive you there since you haven’t been to her school ever.” Nathan finally had control over the wheel and the rest of the mechanisms. “By the way… you know what a sister is, right?” He shrugs a bit while asking, eyebrows arched upwards. 

“Uhm, the human or the cybertronian meaning?” Bumblebee sounded confused initially. 

“Ah. Our meaning, I guess? Arcee explained to me this morning your version of sister. It was an interesting fact.” Nathan added while making a turn around the corner. 

“Sisters are the female family members that share similar genetic material and that share the same parents.” Bumblebee answered fast without hesitation. Even Nathan jumped at the accuracy of the definition. 

“Wow, you summarized better than what I tried to explain to Arcee. How did you discover it?” Nathan arched his eyebrows, remembering how Arcee wasn’t understanding the term properly. That morning, Nathan realized he wasn’t fit to be a teacher. 

“Well, it wasn’t something I learned immediately. Some humans called others brothers, sisters, mom, dad, uncles, grandma, there are so many names! I never fully understood their meanings until I was the car of the person before you.” Bumblebee added.

“Before me?” Nathan asked.

“Yeah. That was ten years ago, I believe. It was a lady; she had a younger brother and sometimes she would drive him to his school or karate sessions. Sometimes the siblings would leave their backpacks on the back seat. And when I was left alone in the garage, I used the nighttime to learn from their books. That’s when I discovered that you humans have this thing called DNA, which you pass to your descendants.” Bumblebee remembered his days in the family garage.

He used to sit on the floor, legs crossed, while trying to make as little noise as possible. He had to turn the pages with extreme care and used only one of his four headlights on his shoulders to see properly. Sometimes he would hear steps inside the house, which prompted him to transform immediately in case anyone entered the garage. He almost got caught three times. Good thing they had a dog, most of the blame went to him. 

“Ten years? How much time have you been… driverless?” Nathan had to do math. His eyes followed invisible equations in the air.

“Hmmm, approximately four years. But it was for the best. After being left at a junkyard, I received a message that the Autobots were coming to Earth. So, I spent days just driving around the country, waiting to see if anyone was arriving. The cops even got a picture of my old model car for driving at a fast speed. That’s when I changed into this new model!” Bumblebee sounded extremely proud even if he just admitted to breaking the law several times. Good thing Prowl wasn’t listening. 

“I see. This lady, was she the nicest driver you mentioned days ago?” Nathan continued the conversation. He himself wasn’t the best speaker out there, but he enjoyed listening to others. 

“Yeah! That one!” Bumblebee followed the conversation naturally. He was surprised that someone was earnestly listening to him. 

“What’s her name?” Nathan was focused on Bumblebee, he even forgot he was driving. 

“Ah, she’s… did we arrive?” Bumblebee abruptly stopped talking when he hit the brakes. He stopped near a building that was brimming with small kids from two to five years old. 

“Ah! Yes. Hold on, I’ll get little Pam.” Nathan took out his seatbelt and exited fast. There was a line of cars behind him, so he didn’t want them to wait. 

Pamela was playing all alone, making her dolls drink their tea. She was idling with her friends a few minutes ago, but they usually are the first ones to leave. Pamela tends to wait between one or two hours before her mom arrives. This made her used to getting creative with her dolls, creating small stories and scenarios each day. Nathan arrived almost an hour after Pamela’s daycare ended. 

Pamela was surprised, her tea party was interrupted and Ms. Cuddles, her plushie cat, was in the middle of revealing that she bought two new puppies that day. Nevertheless, she hastened to hug Nathan, almost falling in the process as she tripped momentarily. Once she was ready, the big brother had to clean everything. One of the teachers helped the teenager, which he appreciated by bowing his head towards her while Pam was sitting on his arm. 

Both got inside the yellow Camaro after securing Pamela at the backseat, the teacher placed the backpack and toys over the copilot seat and Nathan once again had to pretend Bumblebee was just a normal car. Wait, he didn’t tell me the name! He thought in silence, painfully knowing he wouldn’t get the identity of Bee’s previous driver for that day. Now, he needs to remember to ask again tomorrow.

Evening was beginning and the rest of the team did its part. Nathan had to stay home since Pam would be alone, which meant Bumblebee would stay stationed for the day. Arcee and Prowl recovered blueprints and parts of one of the easiest to use Energon harvesters. The pair, plus Ratchet, would spend the following hours fabricating at least ten of them. They were small in size, which meant less Energon extracted. The bright side of it was that they made little to no sound, as well as small impact to the geographical area. This would help them to harvest their energy support without alerting humans anytime soon.  

Ethan arrived with Jazz at the base after leaving Emma at her house. The uncle delivered the belongings of the deceased man to Optimus Prime. The leader for the moment had no clue on how to locate any family member or friend of this unknown man. However, he wasn’t going to assign this task to Ethan, at least not for today as he detected a grimmer look in the human’s face. Perhaps for the Autobots something like this was now common to witness, but this human? Probably it was his first time risking himself like this, only to find out the scarce remains of someone else. 

Optimus saw Ethan heading towards the team in charge of building the harvesters, he offered his help in whatever he was able to. While this seemed altruistic from his part, Ethan was in a way repaying Ratchet since he rebuilt most of his junkyard alone. 

The Autobot leader and Jazz would spend the rest of the day scouting, they needed to find places where they could detect high Energon spots to start drilling as soon as possible. They were running out of fuel. Optimus covered the north of the city and Jazz the south. 

Little the team knew, before he began scouting, Jazz headed towards a familiar alley. He drove until he reached a small dumpster surrounded by a chain link fence. The place, a few years ago, had a small house, but since no one lived there for decades, it became the place where citizens would throw their trash. The Porsche entered through the dead yard, filled with electronic devices and no trace of organic waste or harmful animals, as it was a few days ago. In the middle of the area were the remains of an old room, sealed with wood planks and black plastic bags. 

Jazz barged into the small building, transforming into his bipedal form, although he had to crouch since the ceiling was low and could fall any second. He then began greeting a human figure, who was hidden behind a huge wing chair. The only constant sound between their conversation was a keyboard being typed at an extreme fast rate. This person was relaxing, having both legs stretched and resting over the desk that had at least ten monitors. All of these devices of different sizes, shapes and models projected different data. Some had an ongoing code being cracked, others had visual monitoring of the outside of the house, the rest had different maps of the city and country. The vintage and modern monitors weren’t an aesthetic choice, but rather what could be built with scraps and old tech fixed. 

“Hmm? Now you are white, Rock?” The female voice asked while typing, the keyboard being over her legs instead of the desk. One of her feet was moving in sync with a small tune that was being played in the background.

“Yeah. Don’t worry, I’ll return to my usual silver color after I finish patrolling. I had to camouflage a bit with all those soldiers watching me constantly. By the by, here you go.” Jazz opened the compartment on his left hip and took out a paper bag. It had the logo of one of the local burger restaurants. He placed it over a table filled with empty cans and different bags. 

The female figure pointed her index to her right side. There was a broken TV that worked as another improvised table, also filled with empty cans. However, this one had a thin rectangular device with a screen shining blue, just like the ten monitors in front of her. This panel looks like a palpable hologram, surrounded by a metallic frame with square corners.  Jazz took it. While it was thin, it was cybertronian size. The Autobot read the map carefully, signaling coordinates near the forest.

“Whoa! This could help us. Thanks, biggie one.” Jazz waved while shutting down the panel, which shrank its size like a human cellphone or smaller. Then he put it away in his compartment and exited the building in his alternate mode. 

The female figure only lifted her hand with a peace out gesture. Then the typing resumed.

---

On the next day, everything happened quite differently to the previous one, with a few similarities. Nathan this time woke up a bit late since he was finishing his homework at 2 am. He found some toasted bread with avocado and eggs over the table, as well as a note from his mother asking him to pick up Pamela once more. The house was empty and quiet now that both ladies went with their routines. 

School as always remained normal. Nathan received deadly glares from some classmates since he was the only one who finished his homework. Another A for the kiddo. He finished the day and was texting Emma, she was already at home since Dave was nearby the area and gave her a ride. Jazz had to leave without her early in the morning, for scouting purposes according to him. 

There were no extra plans for the day as Optimus Prime said in the morning to the duo, which meant he would spend the rest of the day at his home once more. The pair was heading towards Pamela’s school.

Everything went normal, right before the incoming call. 

“Any Autobot nearby? Requesting support!” It was Jazz’s voice, he screamed out of nowhere through the comms channel. 

“Prowl here. Status report.” The police officer joined the call as well. The younger pair just listened closely.

“We have an incoming cybertronian starship descending at a worrying speed! It looks like a battlecruiser! Sending coordinates!” A beep was heard immediately and Bumblebee opened a holographic screen so that Nathan could see a location on the map. Fortunately, it was many klicks away from the city, almost at the heart of Silver Leaves Forest. 

“Jazz, do you have an estimated time for the ship’s landing?” Optimus Prime asked, he was driving at the outskirts of the city, quite on the opposite side.

“An hour if we are lucky, 20 minutes if we aren’t.”

“That doesn’t sound like a very exact calculation.” Nathan said to Bumblebee, they didn’t join the call, only listening. 

“Well, I don’t blame him. Probably its shields aren’t working, or worse, the ship’s propulsion system isn’t going to soften the fall” Bumblebee answered to Nathan, “Bumblebee here, I’m close to the area, I’ll meet you as fast as possible!” The scout joined the call, with a light turning blue on his panel before he spoke. Once he stopped talking, the gearshift moved position on its own, allowing himself to accelerate immediately. Nathan momentarily became one with the soft seat. 

Nathan wanted to argue back. He needed to stay behind as he is just one single weak human, plus he had to pick up little Pamela from the school. But… if the Autobots were in an emergency, and if this took less than two hours… then maybe there wasn’t anything wrong with accompanying them. He could listen to his uncle’s reprimands later. 

Bumblebee was adept enough to exit the city roads and head to the outer ones where he could increase his speed drastically. 

“Scrap, we really need a Ground Bridge here on Earth.” Bumblebee muttered to himself, although even if he tried to be as quiet as possible, it was impossible to isolate his voice from his passenger area. Nathan wanted to ask about said concept his partner mentioned. Thankfully, he was wise enough to read the room and know his friend had a bigger priority at the moment, he could ask after this chaos ended. 

The duo didn’t register how much time it took them to arrive at the coordinates, but it was probably in less than thirty minutes. Jazz was standing still, looking at the sky with his left hand over his visor. Bee transformed after hitting the brakes a few meters away from Jazz, expelling Nathan from the driver’s seat. The duo had been practicing, enough that Bee now catches his partner with both hands, preventing him from falling onto the ground. 

The temporal second in command was in the middle of a wide field, near the lakeshore of one of the biggest lakes in the country.

“Whoa, why did you bring your little human?!” Jazz approached the pair, nervous due to the current state of the situation.

“I couldn’t just leave Nathan in an open space alone. The mercenaries already know his face.” Bumblebee gazed towards his friend, then to an area covered with trees and bushes a few away, maybe he could hide him over there.

Nathan followed his optics and immediately caught on the situation. Then, he thumbs up at Bumblebee and proceeds to hide in case this airship landed or crashed with such force that could harm him. His watch began blinking with a blue light, but he already knew what this meant. Days after the incident with Nightbird at the forest, Bumblebee gave him a few instructions about the type of comms cybertronians possess. Then they practiced for a few minutes; Nathan learned how to make and answer calls, send coordinates to others and it also tells the hour. The only difference was that his fellow Autobot customized this device so that it could pass as any normal human watch. 

Once Nathan hid himself behind a wide tree, he pressed the center of the glass in the watch and a big blue holographic screen appeared over his arm. It had the picture of Optimus Prime, who was calling him. “Nathan here.” He answered the call and greeted the leader, he covered his mouth to avoid giggling as he was imitating how the Autobots communicate amongst themselves. 

“Greetings, Nathan, I’m assuming Bumblebee took you with him to the crash site.” He sounded calm, although the human could hear his motor running at a faster speed. Probably he was heading to his location in his truck mode. 

“Affirmative… uhm… Optimus.” At first hesitated to call him by his name, but Optimus has always stated to be called by his name, without any honorifics. 

“I told Bumblebee that his priority will be your wellbeing, leaving you unprotected and away from any Autobot could compromise your status. Please, understand that we do not intend to harm you, but I ask that you refrain from crossing paths with the possible fights we might engage in.” The Autobot leader sounded firm, but gentle. 

“I… understand.” Nathan frowned his eyebrows, the impotence frustrated him beyond words.

“That doesn’t mean you can’t help us. At this moment I am unable to arrive in time, so I ask you to narrate me the events happening. Has the starship landed yet?” He asked.

“Oh!” Nathan’s eyes sparkled for a second, then he leaned towards the edge of the tree to get a good look at Jazz and Bumblebee. “Both seem to be looking at the sky, so I’m guessing it hasn’t landed. Although, I don’t see anything in the sky.” He squeezed his eyes to see if he could detect any dot in the middle of the clouds. 

“It is no surprise, our ships are programmed with a visual and magnetic shield, a cloaking device that aided us when we landed here on Earth.” Optimus’ words made Nathan realize why there was no news about asteroids or aliens in general crashing on his planet. “The starship could be landing at any…”

And he got interrupted by the violent crash the extraterrestrial vehicle made. The call was still ongoing, although the screen glitched for a bit due to the intense winds caused by this event. Dust entered the poor teenager’s eyes, which blocked his view. Before he could clean the dirt, he flinched at a huge wave of water suddenly enveloping the area. The tree in front of him protected most of his body, but his face got splashed so hard he fell on his butt. 

“Ugh!” He exclaimed while wiping away the water from his face, “alright, it just landed. I can confirm.” The water was now everywhere, wetting his pants, shoes, and worse, his socks. 

“Could you please explain the situation to me?” Optimus asked.

Nathan stood up as fast as possible and leaned again against the tree. He saw that Jazz and Bumblebee got blown away as well, only harder since they had nothing to protect them from the impact. The starship landed exactly at the lake which was found within the heart of the forest. The cybertronian vehicle was huge, at least 10 meters in height and two kilometers in length. It was no surprise such colossal aircraft created such an enormous impact enough to rinse the whole forest. Thankfully, the lake still had enough water. 

Jazz stood up and expelled from his mouth a few liters of water, unamused and a bit humiliated, even though there was no one to laugh at him. Bumblebee opened a compartment on his chest that drained some water as well, with a little frog hopping out of him. All of these details were being explained by Nathan to Optimus.

“What about the starship? Do you see any passengers coming out from it?” Optimus asked, he firstly sighed, relieving him to know that everyone was safe after the impact.

Nathan once more tried to get a view, however, there was now a mild mist covering a bit of the ship due to the artificial rain it created. Not to mention that some of its parts were visible and others projected the rest of the forest, giving away the malfunction in the shields. “I can’t see really well. Jazz and Bee are trying to get close. Wait… I see a silhouette, it’s coming out of the ship, on the lower part.” He squinted his eyes. 

“Can you describe any of its physical traits?” Optimus asked.

“No, it’s a bit far away. I can only tell that it’s tiny, like, very tiny, maybe my size or half the height Jazz and Bee have.” The silhouette walked closer to the pair, “Wait, it’s walking on four legs. It’s… a… cat?” 

There was a moment of silence before the pair of Autobots drew out their weapons and tried to defend themselves from the ravaging surprise attack from the enemy. “Wait, there is another one, no, two more, small ones, but humanoids, one is black and the other is purple.” Nathan tried to follow up the events in which three Mini cons attacked the pair without hesitation. The three, while small, pose a big threat to both Autobots. 

“Do you see anyone that seems taller than Bumblebee and Jazz?” Optimus was worried, he wasn’t yelling, but his tone got serious and desperate. 

“No, I don’t see any-AGH!” 

Communication got cut off immediately. Nathan saw the holographic screen glitching into static while the high pitch sound from it almost blew his eardrums. The young human covered one of his ears since the other hand had the watch, which he moved as far away as possible to diminish in vain said pain. He tried to focus his gaze on the ship, which now had a bigger silhouette, standing firmly over the fuselage. Its blue color got visible to the whole team. With brute force, he kicked himself from the starship, cracking it and jumping far away. 

“Bumblebee, get Nathan out of here! Soundwave has arrived!” Jazz ordered at the scout.

Nathan clearly heard the name of the enemy and he couldn’t avoid looking at the imposing figure who began leading the small pack of Mini cons against his friends after landing over the grass. The teen suddenly felt a shivering sensation all over his body, with each fiber and hair freezing while he saw the emotionless Decepticon landing on the floor flawlessly.

Unlike the rest of Nathan’s friends, who had humanoid faces, capable of expressions, this had none. Instead of eyes, he had one linear visor in the shape of a long V, making it difficult for his enemies to guess which one was his current prey. And he lacked a mouth, instead, and making honor to his name, on his shoulders he had some panels that move in sync with his robotic syllables. “Decepticons, attack” He ordered coldly, so similar to an actual machine. His monotone voice echoed and it reached the three Mini Cons. 

Jazz, who ended up being attacked by Rumble, in a semi circular motion kicked his opponent in the torso, sending him flying. Afterwards, he hastened towards Soundwave. Jazz jumped at him, trying to tackle him against the ground. Bumblebee tried to transform into his vehicle mode and reach Nathan; his plan however, didn’t come into fruition as both Ravage and Frenzy intervened. One kicked him on the legs while the other attacked his face. Amidst this blinding confusion, Bumblebee fell down when Frenzy repeated the same attack. Both were dealing heavy damage against him. 

Jazz failed the first tackle when Soundwave, instead of avoiding the attack, intercepted with a frontal kick right in the torso, breaking both headlights due to the heavy impact. Jazz reacted almost immediately by embracing his enemy’s leg in order to avoid being sent flying. The silver Autobot gritted his metallic teeth with excessive pressure just by holding in this attack; he had seconds to spare before receiving the upcoming blow. Jazz released himself and had barely enough time to cover his face before Soundwave slashed his arm with his unusual claws. 

Nathan noticed that this new enemy also had different hands. The Autobots he has met have humanoid hands with five fingers each. Soundwave had long fingers, all of them sharped into claws. Nathan also realized that the component over his right shoulder was producing the interference on his comm. Not to mention, it also looked like a weapon. If Nathan wanted to continue speaking with Optimus, he had to deal with Soundwave himself. In other words, he could only observe the bullies tearing up his comrades. 

The battle seemed unfair and brutal. Bee was being annihilated by initially two Mini cons, and then three once Rumble got back into his feet and joined his fellow comrades. Jazz, on the other hand, had it worse. The silver Autobot knew Bumblebee had no chance against Soundwave, but neither did he. He only had slightly better odds against him due to his experience. 

But zero plus one is still a low chance in this fight. 

A small figure was slowly walking upon the yellow Autobot. Friend? Foe? Due to the battle, it was hard to tell who this figure was, not to mention the mist still surrounding the area. The only visible aspect was that this unknown Mini-con was limping and seemed hurt on his torso. 

Bumblebee was, at this point, just trying to minimize the damage taken as Ravage scratched his helmet and the humanoid duo tried to seize Bumblebee’s extremities so that the mechanical feline could end his job quickly. As if by luck, at one moment, Bee was able to transform his hand into his cannon, blasting and hurting Frenzy in the chest. While the damage was severe, it was far from being fatal and that didn’t stop his enemy. 

If anything, that only angered Soundwave upon seeing his comrade getting hurt. His anger, only given away by the few seconds he gazed upon Frenzy on the floor and how he harshly clenched his own knuckles, was discharged upon Jazz. That’s when he took out, from the side of his chest, a pair of mechanical tentacles, long enough to capture and snare Jazz as he separated one of his doors. Jazz preferred to groan angrily rather to let the Decepticons feel his pain, yet his arm trembled as an important part of his body was torn off easily. 

Soundwave was brutal enough to leave the door still hanging on Jazz's body, barely attached by a few wires. Rather than this being an act of mercy, it only hindered the Autobot as the constant stretch of the wires created a non-stop ache. The only way to stop it was to completely remove it, however, once done, he would risk losing his Energon if the fight continued prolonging. 

A second figure, unknown if enemy or foe, loomed around the area, cloaking itself from the fight and waiting at the right moment to attack. This cybertronian was also of a small size, similar to the humanoid ones. 

Back again with Bumblebee, Ravage tore away his face plate, leaving him permanently without facial protection. But Ravage wasn’t aiming for his young face. In fact, his attack was a miscalculated one, he planned to tore away the plates protecting his neck, allowing him to slit the main connections from Bee’s brain module to the rest of the body. Ravage lifted his paw, aiming to succeed this time.

And that’s when Nathan threw a rock at his optic. 

The human tried to hit anywhere else, as long as it caught the attention of his opponent and gave a bit of time to his friend. “Nathan… don’t” Bumblebee could barely talk and had difficulty to fully open one of his optical plates. But Nathan couldn’t just stand there seeing how his friend was being massacred. The damage itself was barely superficial, enough to leave a scratch across the optical glass and a bit of his face.

This caught Ravage’s full attention, and began moving his tail to the sides. He found a new prey. Frenzy and Rumble heard the hissings and the growling of their companion, and nodded afterwards. Somehow, they understood perfectly what was being communicated, even if it only was a distorted and electronic version of a pseudo cat speaking and growling. 

The feline jumped from his previous prey and moved slowly to his new one. He didn’t feel as if he needed to hurry up, it was just a small human. Nathan stood frozen, he kept repeating in his mind to run, but his legs wouldn’t respond.

“Ravage, watch… !” Frenzy tried to warn his comrade before being immobilized by one of the unknown figures amidst the mist. Rumble was barely realizing what was happening, dumbfounded, he only watched the attack.

“Ramhorn! Now!” The blue Mini con yelled at the other mysterious figure. In the meantime, he hugged Frenzy from the back, locking his legs on his enemy’s torso and hit his head mercilessly by joining both hands into one downward punch.  

When Ravage turned his back to Nathan and checked on his companions, his optics lost focus as his paws left the ground. It was a side tackle of an Autobot’s horn piercing his chest! Ravage growled in pain while he was sent flying with brute force far away from Bee and Nathan, crashing at a nearby rock, destroying it completely. This ally, the limping one, stood up after attacking Ravage, panting and looking at the human with his yellow optics. 

“You are… a friend of ours?” The Mini con, who possessed the shape of an animal very similar, but not exactly, to a rhino spoke to Nathan. The human could only silently nod. “Then, I will protect you. Stay close. The name's Ramhorn.”

“Nathan, nice to meet you.” But Nathan couldn’t feel reassured by his help, Ramhorn had seen better days and his body showed more injuries than he could resist. Nathan was wondering how it was able for the Mini con to shove Ravage far away while limping or barely standing up. The orange rhino was at his limit. 

Meanwhile, Bumblebee, now that he only had to deal with Rumble, managed to break free by shaking his leg from side to side. Once he regained control of his body, Bee supported his body on one knee to stand up. Before being fully straightened up, still kneeling down, he charged one of his arms into a fist, piercing and slamming Rumble against the ground. As a finishing move, with his knuckles still pressing against the enemy, he changed his hand into his cannon and finished the job. 

Bee had to be careful in how much power he channeled into the blast, since he could risk his Energon life supply. As a result, Rumble ended badly injured, but unconscious. 

“Thanks, Eject. Dang, I can’t believe I was having a hard time against…” but Bee stopped before remembering he was about to insult his comrade indirectly.

“Hey, never underestimate my kind. We kinda know where to hit the bigger enemies.” Eject finger gunned at Bumblebee; but the scout, just like Nathan, could detect the wear and tear on him. Different from Ramhorn, Eject was making an extra effort to look unscathed. 

And, adding to the Autobots team, all of them heard Soundwave scream in pain when another Autobot zapped him from behind with an unknown cybertronian weapon that resembled a lance with a blue energy blade. His characteristic orange color, and a Mini con compartment located on his chest, similar to Soundwave, were recognized by the now injured Jazz. 

“Blaster!” The silver Autobot happily chuckled, sighing in relief to have more allies on his side. His smirk lowered when he saw that, just like Ramhorn and Eject, he was in a similar state. Heck, even a part of his crystal visor was cracked and one of his antennae was long gone. Jazz landed a soft pat on his comrade’s shoulder. “Looks like you had one of the tougher battles.”

“Yeah, I tried to land on Earth as soon as possible before he got out of stasis. Things got…  messy,” Blaster then got serious and clenched his knuckles, taking a fighting posture, “speaking of…”

Then the pair looked at Soundwave, who was just a few centimeters away from them. He removed the lance, still pierced in his body, but without the energy flowing through the blade. Now it was a glorified toothpick. 

“Nathan, are you still there?” Nathan flinched, still behind Ramhorn. His watch recovered functionality and Optimus could be heard once again from the comm.

Nathan hurried to get behind one of the trees that he didn't notice Soundwave's shoulder weapon getting glitched due to the electric discharge he received from the recent attack. Unbeknownst to him, Soundwave could still hear him, but there was no way to interfere with the comm's channel. Momentarily, the blue Decepticon turned his head towards the human, gazing in silence; he decided to ignore the message and focus on the enemies in front of him.

“Optimus! Yes! I'm here.” Nathan answered once he regained his breath. His legs began shaking the moment he saw Jazz’s door hanging and dripping a blue liquid that Nathan tried to deny was similar to human blood. 

“Try to remain as calm as possible. Are you injured?” Optimus detected the fear in his voice and gently replied.

Still panting, Nathan answered. 

“No, I'm ok. But everyone else isn't. Jazz said a name. Soundwave. I believe that's what I've heard.”

“I feared as much. Try to remain out of combat as possible, I'll be arriving shortly. Once I end this transmission, try to run towards another hiding spot. Soundwave is listening to our conversation. Make sure he doesn’t find you.” Optimus ended the call.

Nathan examined the nearby area, seeing if he could follow a trail of hideouts that would lead him to a safe zone. But he could find none, or rather, his fear wouldn’t allow him to rationalize properly. Every tree now seemed thin and apparently every bush had a scarce foliage that could give away his position. The situation escalated further on when something, or rather, someone crashed against the trunk he was hiding behind. 

His body was pushed away by the fierce impact, Nathan almost lost his balance due to the jumpscare. Against all common sense, he decided to inquire who had been the unfortunate one that was now a mere centimeters away from him. Maybe the Autobots had all joined forces and finally secured a fair stance against this ridiculously overpowered being. 

Said delusions came to a stop when the shadow casted by the inert body of the new guy, Blaster, covered the young naïve boy. The rest of the team were no better. As if watching an action movie with drama, Soundwave had the upper hand, even if one of his Mini cons lay unconscious. Bumblebee had both Ramhorn and Eject on his arms in an attempt to protect both of them from Ravage and Frenzy. Jazz was at the mercy of Soundwave with his head being held as a future trophy for the Decepticon; his body was being dragged, motionless and worn-out. Fortunately, his spark was still residing inside his body. 

Nathan saw how Soundwave had just stopped attacking his friends, that meant he was probably the next victim. This was the part of the story where either one of the fallen comrades would stand up by the sheer amount of whatever Deus Ex Machina the film had to offer. Or an ally, such as Optimus Prime or Prowl came to the rescue, arriving just in time to save them. 

Interestingly enough, the miracle did happen, but not in the typical film fashion way Nathan was hoping for. Before Soundwave could land any finishing blow to his trophy that could hardly be considered a hindrance at this point, he immediately ceased all movement. His hand posing as a blade that aimed towards Jazz’s visor, stopped mid air, and the pair of his tentacles released the rest of him. 

Soundwave, out of nowhere, began to look towards the horizon. To be more precise, at a southeastern mountain, even far remote from the city. 

“Frenzy, Ravage, retreat.” Soundwave broke the silence with his cold vicious voice. The pair of Mini cons got surprised by this order, the enemies were just there ready to be served as junk for that forsaken planet. Both of them look between each other before leaving alone those soldiers at death’s door. “Laserbeak, retrieve Rumble.”

At first, Nathan couldn’t understand who he was talking to, since the other two teammates were readying up for leaving, approaching their leader. Then, from the starship another small creature rose towards the sky, spreading his mechanical wings. In the blink of an eye, he already descended into the ground, without touching it, flying parallel over it until he reached his knocked out partner and grabbed him with ease. 

The human couldn’t tell if this other Mini con resembled some sort of bird, a mini type of a jet, or maybe the fusion of those two. That didn’t matter when he saw Soundwave transforming into a vehicle with a design that can only be described as “alien” in Nathan’ eyes. The Decepticon suspended himself from the ground just as he opened the equivalent of a windshield in this other form he had. Rumble was tossed in and Ravage entered into this compartment; the other two attached themselves to the sides of Soundwave after transforming into a pair of rectangular accessories. 

And just like that, the enemy departed from the field, leaving all of his victims with the luck of surviving one more time, maybe with the possibility of having a rematch in the far future, if they survived their wounds.

Nathan stood there, speechless and terrified by a thought that just came flooding into his mind once the threat was out of sight: even if somehow they managed to defeat the other two Mini cons, Soundwave had one last ace up his… arm guard? However it is called , according to the boy. That enemy was prepared in case he had disadvantage, which he didn’t require. Just… just how strong are these enemies? Did the Autobots actually win?

Before the human could do anything to help his friends, he heard a group of vehicles approaching the site. Optimus Prime, Arcee and even Ratchet approached the area, a bit too late. Once transformed they noticed their wounded comrades and Ratchet immediately went into action. Optimus must’ve asked for Ratchet’s assistance once Nathan described Soundwave’s appearance, fearing there could even be casualties. Jazz was close to becoming one. The leader commanded Arcee to help Blaster while he approached Bumblebee. The scout had the luxury of being the least affected, followed by the Mini cons. Blaster and Jazz, especially the latter, suffered the most. Ratchet immediately started sealing Jazz’s injuries.

Optimus began inquiring about the state of affairs prior to the landing. Since Blaster remained unconscious, waiting for treatment, Eject and Ramhorn would fill in the situation. The number of wounded soldiers on the battlefield were too many to be transported to their base, not to mention that said trip would worsen their status. As a result, they decided to board the ship and treat the patients with the equipment they could find. They needed to be fast since this place was compromised to be found by either the Decepticons or the Mercenaries. 

“Arcee, we’ll stay here to treat our injured ones. Take Nathan to a safe place. If Bumblebee recovers fast enough he’ll help you secure our allies. I’ll ask for Prowl’s assistance.” Optimus commanded her, carrying the Mini cons in his arms. 

“Hey, at this point you’ll become more of a partner to Nathan than me. Don’t steal him from me.” Bumblebee joked to alleviate the mood while he thumbed up at her. He wasn’t damaged enough, which allowed him to walk by himself towards the med bay.

Arcee could only smirk before abiding to the order. At first she wanted to complain about not helping her comrades; but it would make more sense if she transported the humans, not the police cop one. 

After picking up the human from his hiding spot, she began driving towards the school. He  still had to remain cool and act as if nothing ever happened in front of his sister. Nathan remained quiet, looking aimlessly at the side road while Arcee drove. There was a sour look in his eyes, he couldn’t get out of his head the image of Soundwave holding Jazz’s body on the field, while his friend was still conscious and so close to death. Whatever stopped Soundwave from finishing his job, only scared Nathan ever more. 

“Hey, Nathan, I’m sorry you had to experience something like that.” Arcee couldn’t even know what to say. “I… I’ve been so used to this war that it’s been so long since I had to comfort someone experiencing our havoc for the first time. I don’t know what to say.”

Arcee remained quiet. Technically speaking, this had been the third encounter he had been involved in. However in those first two, no partner had been so close to death. Now he understood why his uncle covered his eyes when they found the dying Cliffjumper. He could still feel the sensation, the dread of knowing that those guys, their enemies, knew his face. Even if he’s a small bean, he believes the Decepticon won’t have mercy against him. 

“Say, Arcee. Do you guys really win the war?” He asked timidly, the pink Autobot remained speechless. “It's just… after seeing how that guy, Soundwave, effortlessly defeated all of our friends, it makes me wonder how you managed to end victorious.”

“You’re not wrong in assuming that. To be honest, I didn’t think we would’ve won either. Banishing Megatron into a void dimension did happen, which secured our victory. However we had to resort to that strategy out of desperation.”

“What do you mean?” Nathan asked while arching upwards his eyebrows. 

“Do you remember that Soundwave had some… physical differences to us? Traits that made him look more menacing than all of us.”

“Ah yes. He had no face, his sharp claws and those… things that came out of his sides.” He counted each detail with his fingers.

“Yes, although his face has been like that since the beginning. You see, during the last phase of our war, the Decepticons resorted to a scheme that tipped the scales in their favor. For centuries, without us knowing, they began researching for a way to modify their bodies in order to become more effective at… destroying us.” She wanted to say ‘killing’, however she became considerate of the state of mind the teenager had. “We only discovered their plan once their top surgeons had already modified hundreds of them. Not much after that, set in motion our winning move.”

“I see, they decided to alter their appearance for the war?” He wanted to say they made something inhuman, but they aren’t humans in the first place. 

“Yes… it is terrifying to see the lengths our enemy had to resort in order to win. War did… it made them turn themselves into monsters. Probably we even lost ourselves without knowing.” Her voice lowered a bit, almost breaking at the end. Nathan noticed this and decided to end the conversation.

The rest of the ride they remained in silence, but at least Nathan remained restful after knowing that someone like Soundwave probably was far away from him. 

And he wasn’t wrong, while the Autobots remained on the starship, helping their allies and taking from it what could help them, the Decepticon traveled a few kilometers, reaching the end of the forest where a group of humans were waiting for him. All of them stood up in a perfect standing position with arms behind them, circling a dark purple car.

Soundwave stopped immediately and transformed, readying himself to get rid of those pests. 

“Commander Soundwave, we’ve been expecting you.” Initiated one of the humans, the closest one to him. His tone voice was monotone and devoid of life, he also seemed unamused even after the Decepticon was attempting to slash him away. 

“I do not prattle with inferior species.” He answered the human. The Mini cons, after detaching themselves from Soundwave, wanted to eradicate the humans in his stead. Both Rumble and Laserbeak couldn’t avoid feeling that something was wrong with this bunch. And even Soundwave noticed this. 

Unlike the blonde teenager they saw accompanying the Autobots, these suited up gentlemen wearing dark glasses looked at him af if they’re already used to his kind. However, they didn’t look casual, nor friendly, not even afraid. Nothing mattered through their eyes. 

“You have to forgive us, Soundwave, is it Soundwave?” Another voice talked when one of the front doors of the car opened. Out came a business looking guy, with a semblance exhibiting confidence when he approached Soundwave. “We are only receiving indications on picking you up for transportation. Our allies are waiting for you, as well as your new base.” This male figure finishes buttoning his wrists, casually addressing the menace.

“And why should I believe you?” Soundwave didn’t even lower his tentacles that roamed through the human. Even if this individual has shown some sort of emotion when talking, it was the most distressing for all the Decepticons present.

“Oh, you don’t have to believe me. But I’m sure you recognize her,” this unknown man indicated with his hand at the dark purple car, who transformed into Nightbird, an old partner of the Decepticons, “and more importantly, this.” 

This dark brown haired man took out from his suit a small mechanical scorpion, a very familiar creation of an old comrade. This made Soundwave flinch momentarily. 

“He is waiting for you, do you want to leave him waiting? After all, we had to sidetrack you from your fight, the one you would’ve lost if you stood there a few more minutes before the big guy had shown up. Would’ve you been to fight against him? You owe that to us, it is the least you can do.” This man of course referred to Optimus Prime. 

Soundwave, after deliberating for a few minutes with his Mini cons, talking in a language composed mostly of static sounds, decided to follow them, even if the evidence didn’t convince him. But, if all of these was a well elaborated plan, he could get rid of the humans in an instant. 

After driving for a few minutes, they reached a storage facility with a similar green pharaoh logo amidst some hills. They drove inside, sealing the door immediately. Inside resided a whole bunch of humans wearing either scientific, military or suited up uniforms. All of them resembled the other humans that were left behind at the outskirts of the forest: they looked lifeless. Every single one worked in perfect unison, every individual task complemented the other almost systematically, like a huge human body with each cell working at the same time. 

Most of these tasks involved vigilance, assembling gadgets cybertronian size and testing of said equipment. Soundwave looked everywhere, looking for any familiar face aside from Nightbird who walked to his side. Then…

“Your scan was precise enough to find one of our comrades. However, it appears that this won’t be the norm after the hijack attack.” A familiar voice filled the room as the lead-footed steps accompanied the sound. 

Soundwave took gaze at the single amber optic within the shadows. Shockwave arised from a dark hallway, with his usual hand cannon attached to his back through the energy conduit. “Soundwave, it's been a while.” He spoke with his cold voice, giving away that he had no emotional attachment to his partner. 

“You’ll have to forgive us, Shockwave, this… deserter has proven to be quite bothersome. Locating cybertronians will be unavailable until further notice. If you believe we’re incompetent at our work, we highly suggest aiding us in locating this hindrance.” The male business man talked casually to Shockwave, an equal talking to its other partner. Soundwave only observed in silence this transgression specially due to Shockwave speaking to the human as if he were at par with him.

“We’ve already tried and failed.” Shockwave replied, even if he tends to show no emotions while speaking, he was clearly distressed by this.

“Shockwave, why partnering with these inferior beings?” Soundwave cut the idle chit chat, already discontented by the exchange of dialogues, and directly asked what had been bothering him ever since he saw the scorpion over the caucasian man. 

“Not a choice made by me. I'm just following orders from our new leader.” Shockwave answered, the male human only watched in silence. 

“How dare you disrespect Megatron!” Soundwave raised his voice, furious at the casual comment.

“Do not get the wrong idea, Soundwave. My loyalty to Megatron remains intact. And the same goes for the one who substitutes him.”

“Do not tell me it’s Starscream.”

And for the first time in Soundwave’s life, he heard Shockwave laughing, an event that actually made him uncomfortable. “No, that coward immediately left the Decepticons once our leader was banished. He took all of our Seekers and built his own colony. He’s now the ruler of said regime. From those simple-minded soldiers, only one, Slipstream, was able to realize how illogical Starscream was. No, this new leader, he has the intention of restoring Megatron into his rightful power.”

“And how does he plan to do so?” Soundwave asked. 

“That's where these humans come into action. It may sound far-fetched, however there is a logical explanation for it, I’ll explain it to you later, once we meet up with him. And this brings me to the next question,” Shockwave then looked at the human, still listening to their warming reunion, “is your plan already in motion?” 

“Of course, Shockwave, one of the mercenaries has already gone to pick up the… package.” The human air quoted.

The charismatic gentleman guided both Decepticons to one of the corners of the storage facility filled with monitors that showed various zones within the city. One of the screens in particular had the pictures of Nathan, Ethan and Emma alongside the Autobot crew. The monitor located under this one had the images of other Autobots with crosses over their faces such as Cliffjumper, Steeljaw and Powerglide. 

Just as this unknown man explained, he set in motion this idea of his even before Soundwave had arrived at the building. Heck, even before Nathaniel left the battle zone with Arcee, everything was going according to his plan. 

This involved one of the mercenaries, and a very familiar location. 

Just as the group of children had already left school and a few played dispersed over the garden, there was little Pamela. 

While she recreated one of the famous stories involving her dolls, a looming figure walked through the bushes and trees where the light wouldn't reach. Pamela heard the rustling sound of the leaves. This wasn't a careless result of whomever roamed the area without being seen, but rather an intentional call of attention to the little girl. 

Pamela, unbeknownst to the possible danger, stood up from her playing area, hugging her Ms. Cuddles plush. She approached the area cautiously. The teacher in charge of her was looking at the opposite side, taking care of another kid. Just as Nathan’s younger sister got close enough to the shadows, a pair of shiny sharp yellow optics appeared, looking at her. The little girl, far from being scared, at first seemed confused by tilting her head. She even focused her gaze by squeezing her eyes. Afterwards, she beamed happily after taking a better look at the cybertronian, alternating between this mysterious figure and her plushie and into the bushes she went.

It’s been two hours since Pamela had gone missing.

Chapter Text

The Autobot team explored through the damaged battleship. Since Jazz needed immediate attention, Ratchet was occupied sealing his injuries in a temporal med bay. Bumblebee, Ramhorn and Eject helped by scavenging anything that could help their base; Prowl guarded the entrance; Optimus and Blaster were looking for any survivors. But, just as Blaster warned them, they lost their spark ages ago. 

According to Blaster, Soundwave had captured any cybertronian that resembled him, which meant any living mechanical creature with an auditive affinity in their system. This was done as a way to cut off the Autobots from any possible communication port, referring to his own kind as a mere tool. 

Blaster began remembering and retelling his misfortunes that brought him to Earth. Initially, Soundwave was the one who programmed the starship to an unexplored planet within the Corvex system. The orange Autobot saw his own kind, the Db-Hz models, being deactivated one by one. In an act of desperation, another comrade of his, Db-Hz-422, modified Blaster’s body so that he could be perceived as dead in Soundwave's sensors. 

“Where is that Autobot now?” Optimus asked. As they entered an unexplored room, his optics slowly focused on a pile of cold, black soldiers that reflected their sparkless bodies. They weren't even treated with respect once they got deactivated. 

Optimus wanted to at least write a message on the burial shell of the one who helped Blaster, as a reminder of his noble sacrifice. 

“His body didn't abandon Cybertron, sir…” Blaster added, his faceplate darkened the more he kept talking, even his optics diminished their light a bit. “All of this happened even before the starship departed the port. Soundwave wanted to toss us at this abandoned place, leaving only a beacon in case he needed to come back for… spare parts.”

He continued his tale. After infiltrating into the starship, he patiently waited, observing Soundwave, looking for any opening before they landed. But what was this modification done to his body? Optimus wondered and couldn’t avoid asking him about this crucial detail.

Blaster explained that his now deceased ally removed his comms receptor and module. These components were a unique set of parts that the Db-Hz models had and allowed them to feel sound in a different tuning. Not only they had a major sensibility which detects feelings, lies and frequencies used in communication; they also were able to easily transmit messages without being detected as they could send words with their syllables scrambled that would arrive to the receiver unscrambled. 

By removing these components, Blaster now became a mute sentient, but not as being unable to speak. His body now creates a zero-sound field around him. But more importantly, he is completely silent for any other Db-Hz model. Soundwave wouldn't be able to hear him even if he screams at him.

However, as much as this ability would seem perfect to counter Soundwave’s skills, it came with a price. The secondary effect of this modification is that he can no longer work for his primary function: communication. Anyone that stands beside him can perfectly hear him, however if he were to send a signal through his body, or communicate through a radio or any device, only silence or static could be heard. 

The worst part is that since this is a unique part, it is incompatible with other bots, even from the Db-Hz Series.

“Your sacrifice won't be forgotten, Blaster. Not anyone is willing to do this type of modification.” Optimus reassured him by placing his own hand over the rookie’s shoulder. But even with his leader being comprehensive about his situation, Blaster kept pressing tightly his metallic lips together. 

“Thank you, sir,” he sighed, “but I'm unable to help you as a communication officer. My specialty, what we Db-Hz are proud of, is something foreign to me now.”

“That doesn't mean you'll be discarded or be deemed less. You're a warrior just like all of us. Your part in this fight is far from over. And not everyone has an advantage against Soundwave.” Optimus gently smiled at him and his subordinate nodded, just barely as his mood wasn't fully recovered. “Please, continue your story.”

“There's not much left. I waited and waited until Soundwave could be alone in one of the many rooms and his Mini-cons were far away. I stunned him enough to carry his body towards a cryo cell. Ramhorn and Eject helped me with the rest. But, as much as everything was going smoothly, a cryo cell was just a temporary solution. As the Energon began to become scarce in the fuel tanks, some systems began to malfunction.”

“And that's how Soundwave managed to escape.” Optimus added, his metallic plaques over his optics, resembling human eyebrows, furrowed slightly. 

“Correct. He wasn't able to ambush us as we always kept an eye on him through the cameras. But a rookie like me wouldn't be able to stand against Megatron's second-in-command. Luck was in my favor though, he got out of his cell when we were about to enter into this planet's orbit. The landing… uh… well, crashing, helped me to inflict some injuries into him and his Mini-Cons. But Eject, Ramhorn and I  weren't exempted from the same result.” Blaster made circle movements with his left arm, he could feel his shoulder joint working deficiently, something was amiss. But he wouldn’t visit Ratchet until he knew Jazz had been properly checked. 

“I remember you were assigned four Mini-cons before commencing your duty, where's the rest of your team?” Optimus asked Blaster with a stoic look. The injured soldier clenched his fists, with their servos creaking. 

“They're… gone. Dead in action. I'm sorry. Both Rewind and Steeljaw perished in Cybertron before we were captured.” Blaster refused to look at Optimus’ optics while answering. 

“Do you know the details?” Optimus had to ask. He knew this could hurt the rookie, but he feared the fate of Steeljaw had been a consequence of one of his own decisions and commands. He had to confirm his suspicions. 

“Yes. Rewind was crushed by falling debris. He acted as a support that allowed us to escape. We couldn't retrieve his body. The Decepticons probably don't even know he's gone. As for Steeljaw…” Blaster had a hard time answering, he had a feeling Optimus asked specifically for Steeljaw’s fate. He tried to find the correct words that wouldn’t put blame on Optimus Prime.

“It was during the Priority Message Mission for Ultra Magnus?” But Optimus already knew the answer deep down, he just needed the confirmation that he sent Steeljaw into his demise. 

“Yes, sir, after he delivered your message to Ultra Magnus, we lost all contact with him. We thought of the worst, but then the Decepticon Cross List confirmed his assassination.”

The Decepticon Cross List was a psychological torture Shockwave began to implement during the war. At the end of each Solar Cycle, or cybertronian day, screen panels would appear through many cities occupied by the Decepticon in which they showcased the list of confirmed victims taken out. However, they broadcasted this information worldwide as a way to demoralize the enemy. The worst part is that they didn’t have to lie or fabricate fake casualties, the truth hurted the Autobots more when they couldn’t get in touch with their missing comrades. 

“Sir, I would like to add that Steeljaw knew the consequences of this mission and the low percentage of survival. He still went with it knowing this. We had our time to bid farewell in case the worst were to come. Thanks to his noble sacrifice, we rooted out the traitors and Ultra Magnus’ team was able to escape successfully. They reached the escape pods and left Cybertron. As for their current whereabouts, I don't possess said information.” He shook his head to the sides at the end, closing mis metallic eyelids. 

“Thank you, Blaster. Your team has done more than you think to our cause. We're honored to have you on our team.” Optimus gently smiled, not revealing it still weighed on him Steeljaw’s death.

“Thank you, sir!” Blaster felt flattered to be recognized by Optimus, as he had never met him, only heard about him through Jazz’s conversations.  

“Optimus, everyone here calls me without any honorifics, as I would like it.” He rested his hands over his hips, giving a more comfortable air around him. Something not typical from the other Primes Blaster had encountered.

“Thank you, Optimus. If it's not much to ask, I would like to know about this planet and its situation. I believe we're working now with its inhabitants, yes? I remember seeing a soft creature being protected by my comrades.” He referred to Nathan, he barely saw him during the fight, but his Mini-Cons talked about him and how he somehow distracted Ravage from hurting Bumblebee. 

Optimus nodded and began telling him about the humans. Before actually dwelling into their whole situation, he focused on specifying that only a few humans know about their true identities. For the rest, they're still robots in disguise and ordered Blaster to scan an earthling vehicle as soon as possible. 

Before continuing, Prowl interrupted them through a call. 

“Optimus, I see Arcee in the distance. She’s heading toward us while greasing lightning, and she’s still carrying the human teenager. Something must've happened.” 

“Understood, take them to the med bay.” Optimus touched the side of his helmet holding his comm. He gave the order and looked at Blaster, who apparently had no idea what was going on. “Let us go, Blaster, we are needed elsewhere.”

The temporal med bay was located at the cargo station within the starship. Since it was a central room and its gateway connected them with the exterior. Optimus notified everyone else to meet up there and see what Arcee had to say. 

Arcee barged in still in vehicle mode, trying not to run over Prowl, but the cop had to jump backwards as she was indeed hurrying up to see Optimus.

Ratchet and Jazz were the ones to first see her as they were stationed there. Ratchet was briefly checking Jazz's vitals while the latter rested over a med bed, being scanned by two flying devices stolen from the starship. 

The scan was interrupted and Jazz tried to sit down, but he only managed to lay on his back . This allowed him to properly see Arcee transforming before she could hit the brakes. 

With a swift and delicate touch, she carried Nathan in her arms during her transformation. The human had a split second floating in the air before being safely secured and then placed over a metallic crate. He sat down as he tried to regain his breath. Nathan was visibly altered, his face looked paler and that worried Ratchet as he didn't know humans could look like that. The good thing is that, human or cybertronian, both races knew what a troubled expression meant, and Nathan clearly looked like that. 

Optimus entered the med bay, with Blaster following him, before he could even ask the pair anything, Arcee approached him with a fast step.

“Optimus! They got Nathan's sister!” Arcee blurted out once fully transformed into her bipedal form. Hysteria escaped her voice, speaking for herself and Nathan as he was speechless. 

“What?! What happened to little Pamela?!” Bumblebee was barely entering the room, yet he heard the message loud and clear. He hurried towards them, but once he realized Nathan was present, he changed course to support his friend. Bee placed his hand over his buddy’s back, trying to get any immediate response from him. But Nathan was having a hard time processing the event. 

“Arcee, you sound sure about it, recall the events, please.” Optimus gently placed his hands over her shoulders as she was also affected. He didn't want to ask if they got a misunderstanding or anything, so he approached by requesting the information. 

“Right, yes!” Her optics recalibrated as she remembered. Optimus let go of her now that she seemed focused. “Nathan and I had a small chat before arriving at the city. We were already passing through the roads filled with human living buildings connected by tubes,” as she referred to the aquatic park located on the outside of the city, “at the beginning I thought I was just being paranoid, then Nathan told me he thought someone was following us. Not long after that we were surrounded by both Swindle and Barricade.”

“Did they threaten you?” Judging by the kidnapping, Optimus immediately assumed they were the ones who gave the notice about Pamela’s condition. 

The worse scenario would be they actually had Pamela in their control when confronting the Autobots. But it was unlikely, as Arcee and Nathan are here. The enemy wouldn't have let them escape, nor Arcee would've left without fighting and she seemed intact. 

“Affirmative, Optimus, at first I thought they were bluffing. Swindle hinted that we should thread carefully or another human could suffer the same consequences. At first I tried to calm Nathan, but Barricade took out his sister's stuff as evidence.” Arcee continued explaining the events while Optimus gazed at Nathan, who was hugging a small orange backpack. 

Bumblebee also flinched when he realized that was indeed something that belonged to Pamela. Aside from Arcee, Bumblebee was the one who actually knew the lovely little sister. He really appreciates her because she always makes sure to pick up her stuff and garbage when Nathan gives her a ride. And she never places her feet over the cushioned seats. To think that a sweet kid was now in the hands of the Decepticons, Bee actually feared for the worst. 

“What has the enemy requested for Nathaniel's sister?” Prowl asked after joining a bit late to the party, at least he was able to hear Arcee's story. 

“One of us, that's the only thing they always care for. But Optimus, the way they said it, is as if they knew where the rest of his family lives.” Arcee kept looking at her leader, hoping he would have an answer to this conundrum. 

“That is what worries me.” And Optimus never took his eyes from Nathan. He knew the human had more family members, and if their safety became compromised due their war, Optimus felt compelled to amend for his mistake of choosing Earth as their temporal shelter. 

“Optimus, you are not thinking of sacrificing one of us for a human.” Prowl sensed something amiss in Optimus’ eyes. He took a step forward towards his leader. 

“It is more complicated than that, Prowl. Every life is equal, but the chances that the Decepticons will actually stay true to their word are scarce and dim.” Optimus furrowed his eyebrows. Even if his main trait was his optimism, the experience gained in the war made him sure they wouldn't release Pamela. 

“What do you suggest, Optimus?” Ratchet approached the group as well. 

“We must play their game for now, make them believe we're willing to exchange one of us. At the same time, we need to seek the whereabouts of Nathaniel's little sister. Ratchet, prioritize our Mini-con comrades. Their aid will be invaluable as they can sneak and search through the city with less difficulties than us.”

The gang reunited at one of the closest panel screens and uploaded a map of the city. The only ones who didn't stick close were Blaster and Jazz. The orange Autobot approached Nathaniel, who remained pale and trembled. The human's mind swirled around thousands of scenarios where he could lose little Pamela.

“Hi, you must be Nathaniel.” Blaster interrupted the blond teen's turbulent mind before his field of vision began to blur. 

Nathan could only nod and focus his sight on Blaster’s chipped transparent visor. 

“Yes, sorry, I…” Nathan wasn't even sure what he was saying. 

“It's alright. I heard you helped my friends by communicating with Optimus. Helping you is the least I can do,” Blaster felt a bit guilty as he could have communicated with Optimus, but said skill was impossible now. In a weird sense, he felt the need to help the one who fulfilled his previous role, “say… Arcee mentioned this person is your sister. Has she been in your clan for a while?”

Nathan blinked at the question. Thanks to the awkward conversation he had with Arcee a while back, he understood what he was referring to. 

“No… uhm, sisters mean something different on Earth. We are not clans but… we're still family.” Nathan did his best to explain the meaning of the word. 

“I see, that is something I understand very well. We'll find her, don't you worry.” Blaster smiled at him, nodding with his description as he considers both Eject and Ramhorn as his family, even if they were originally from different clans. 

Jazz remained silent, seeing that Blaster managed to calm down Nathan, whereas the rest worked diligently on creating a strategy for exploring the city without being caught by the enemy. Eject and Ramhorn were receiving medical attention. Both couldn't waste time, so they were looking at a catalogue filled with human vehicles that could be adequate for their size. 

The hurt silver Autobot, knowing he would be useless for this mission, sighed while he rested over the med bed. Jazz spotted Prowl eyeing him with a bit of suspicion, then the cop eventually discarded whatever he was thinking and focused on the task ahead of him. Jazz had the advantage thanks to his blue visor, no one could see where he was looking at, not even Prowl. 

Little the team knew, there had been a clash between the two Autobots for quite some days ago. Prowl has been observant of his team since they got together on Earth. Is not that he distrusts everyone, it is just part of who he is. He observes, gets knowledge, assesses the situation and evaluates if something is amiss. 

For example, days ago he reprimanded Arcee as he caught her in flagranti: she left her patrolling area as she went to hear one of Emma's concerts. Prowl was waiting for her outside of the parking lot. The female Autobot had to clean the base for a few days. 

And now Jazz was suffering from these awkward gazes. Prowl began to notice an odd behavior from his comrade. He would always volunteer to patrol in the city, which at first didn't sound as alarming as it is pictured currently. The suspicions started when, by sheer coincidence, he found Jazz patrolling in a different area designated to him. The silver car entered an alley in the middle of a concurred area and didn't leave until it was very late. That's when Prowl decided to keep a keen optic on him. 

What was actually rather odd, something Optimus couldn't even brush aside, was that it was Jazz who located the upcoming starship. The computer within the base detected the signal of the vehicle twenty minutes after he had called the team. How was Jazz able to sense it if he had no device that would be able to do so? The other answer was that he coincidentally was in the forest and saw the falling debris all over the place. An unlikely scenario since he wasn't supposed to be there at the time. 

The leader wanted to speak to him regarding that topic, but there were urgent matters to attend first. He just hoped Prowl wouldn't intimidate Jazz before he discussed said enigma with him. 

The temporal second-in-command waited until there were no prying optics around him. He rolled to his side, giving the back to the team and pulled out a familiar device that expanded until it became a thin blue screen panel. Jazz touched a small button that had the image of a purple speaking globe. The application opened and there was just one single contact available. 

“Hey, biggie one, I need your help, urgently.” And he pressed send after writing the message. The device returned to a smaller size and he hid again in his compartment. 

To his luck, the only person that caught him putting away an unknown device that didn't look cybertronian was none other… than Optimus Prime. 

Pamela was sitting in the middle of an abandoned building, looking curiously at the walls, unaware of the threat looming around her. She hugged her favorite cat plushie doll as a pair of steps approached her. She looked backwards and her smile grew intensively. 

“Kitty!” she exclaimed while standing up, dashing as fast as she could towards a big silhouette hidden in the shadows. 

What gave away his presence were his big amber and glowing optics, just as he allured the little girl in his trap. As Pamela rushed in, her little sneaker had its shoelaces off, making her trip with herself. Her body lost balance and falling was ultimately unavoidable. This big figure, but not as huge as any common cybertronian, swiftly moved his head forward, intervening between the human's body and the floor. 

With this gesture, the mysterious figure came into the light. The cybertronian entity turned out to be a Mini-con that resembled an Earthling feline. His dark, matte brown color made him blend perfectly with the night. In this planet, his metallic paint was very ideal for infiltration as many buildings and the ground itself matched him. Unlike Ravage, who's color always worked perfectly in Cybertron as the buildings casted a blue-grayish effect. This unknown Mini-con possessed quite some scratches around his body, giving away his experience during the war. 

“Careful.” The feline spoke, he had a cold voice, even towards a little girl. Yet, he didn't hesitate to protect her from falling. 

Little Pamela only grinned as she hugged him. 

“Hi, Kitty! Where were you?”

“I brought this for you, here.” The Mini-con gently pushed her back and Pamela regained her footing. 

He moved his neck toward his back, nuzzling over as if looking for something. After a few seconds, he pulled out a big plastic bag and placed it over the floor, spilling out a variety of food for Pamela. It resembled a grocery bag perfectly. Some oranges went out rolling, bags of chips had a crunchy sound when hitting against the floor and the bottles fell down. 

Pamela looked at all this stuff, then she peeked inside the plastic bag. She pulled out one small triangular compartment that had sealed inside a set of cut sandwiches. For a few minutes she had a hard time peeling it open since she had no long nails for the job. 

The Mini-con observed thoroughly, wagging his tail from side to side until she successfully opened it and cheered about it. 

Little Pamela looked behind her, she was seeking for her jacket to use it as a blanket. She used to have the bad habit of always placing it on the ground, not caring about the world and bacteria. So, Nathan devised a tactic that worked perfectly: she told her that everytime she ate on the floor, she should think of it as a picnic, and no picnic can't be complete without a blanket. 

Just like that, Pamela fetched her fluffy white jacket and tossed it in between the scattered food. 

“What are you doing?” The mechanical feline asked. 

“We're having picnic!” She gently smiled at him while spreading her arms all gleefully. Then she placed her sandwiches over the jacket while picking up a sealed bag of green grapes. 

“We? What's a picnic?” The confused Mini-con tilted his head. 

“Picnic is what we do when we eat together outside of our houses!” She proceeded to split her food in half, giving the other to her partner. 

“I'm sorry, my kind doesn't eat organic food.” The feline answered and Pamela looked at him, she was visibly confused as she now tilted her head. “... I eat other stuff.”

“But, Kitty, you should eat too. If not you'll be all hungwee.” Pamela answered, but she saw that the feline wouldn't eat. This prompted her to eat all by herself. 

The Mini-con realized she didn't have the best communication skills, although he understood “hungwee” as hungry. 

“My name isn't ‘Kitty’, stop calling me like that.” He sounded a bit annoyed, with his blank optics looking directly at her.

“What's Kitty's name?” Pamela asked him, which got him a bit frustrated. 

He sighed a bit and rationalized the situation. Maybe kitty is the name of a creature that resembles my appearance . He thought before opening his metallic snout. 

“Nightstalker.” He answered, straightening his posture, quite proudly. 

“Nait?” Pamela tried to say this name, but forgot the second part. 

“Nightstalker.” He repeated. 

“Naitaka?” And she tried to pronounce it. 

“No, Night-stal-ker.” He answered very slowly. 

Pamela was at a loss of words, she remained in silence as if trying to understand how say his name. 

“... Kitty!” And she smiled, giving up completely. 

“Ugh, fine. Whatever.” Nightstalker sighed, utterly defeated and thought it would be for the best not spilling more information to the enemy. 

Can she be considered a threat, though? He thought. She barely knows how to defend herself and is way below the average in human size, strength, agility or even intelligence. What did they task me to apprehend her?

As Nightstalker continued mediating, he heard Pamela pulling out a big bottle made of glass. The scraping sound made him unable to continue his train of thought. The human began looking at this liquid container which had a transparent beverage. She read what the bottle said with a furrowed look. 

“Uhm, Kitty, my brother says I'm too young to drink this.” Pamela looked at him while trying to push the bottle towards him. 

Nightstalker leaned in, gazing at the golden letters of the bottle. He remembered seeing a couple of humans drinking from an identical recipient. The pair moved wobbly while one emptied the bottle in one gulp. They looked quite foolish, according to the mechanical feline, even dumber than the little human in front of him. The one who ended up drinking the most even lost consciousness. If that was an after effect of said liquid, it was better to keep it away from Pamela. 

He gently opened his snout, showing his mechanical teeth glistening with the light, yet Pamela didn't seem to be bothered by this. Nightstalker took hold of the bottle with his mouth and placed it over an unused tall crate. 

The little human perused more into the bag until she found a small orange juice. She had a hard time opening it, but she gently drank from it. 

“I'm a bit confused, human,” Nightstalker started, which drew her attention, “you said you're too young to be drinking this stuff. Tell me, how many cycles of life have you been walking over this organic planet?”

But Pamela remained frozen as she couldn't understand quite well the meaning of many of the words he spoke. 

“What's a cycle?” She asked. 

“... I would like to know how old you are.” He tried then to simplify the question since humans are apparently stupider than he thought. 

Nightstalker thought that maybe her uncommon dumb mind had to do with her lack of experience. Maybe she didn’t learn what she should’ve at her first months of being online. He has seen cybertronians who at their 50 years are still getting used to the information settling in their brain modules. Probably this was a similar case. However, what the Mini-con didn’t consider is that this type of organics develop in a different way and time.0

“Ah!” Pamela’s eyes glistened as she raised her left hand, all of her fingers stretching out. “I’m five!”

“What?! Five?!” Nightstalker stood up in his four paws.

Chapter Text

- Entering new profile - 

- Profile saved - 

Nightstalker walked through the storage, a bit distressed and at a steadfast pace upon discovering Pamela's age. Pamela was just following him with her gaze while eating some cookies she found inside the bag. She was completely unaware of what was completely bothering him. 

“Five years? Are you sure?” Nightstalker asked. 

Pamela only nodded as she was still munching her last treat. “Mhmm! That's what mom says!” 

“I see.” Nightstalker began to think about the plausibility of her declaration. 

The humans the feline has encountered had been of a bigger size, similar to his height. However, in that building, where he found Pamela, there were many other mini humans. He just simply thought these were the Mini-Con version of humans. 

Maybe it isn't that this little human isn't dumber, compared to the rest of her people. Nightstalker began to suspect that, unlike cybertronians, humans weren't activated with some sort of common knowledge. 

A cybertronian, once activated, has certain abilities a human doesn't as a recent born. For example, they know how to speak, process with their senses and walk. Sure, they still need training like every living creature for advanced knowledge and techniques. But it is not like humans whose brain is a mushy and very fragile organ, that keeps developing and forming one's identity, and way of seeing the world, even when they're in their 20s.

Nightstalker sat down, waving his tail from one side to the other. He wasn't feeling comfortable with keeping hostage a being this fragile and free of crimes.

When he arrived at Earth, alongside the other mercenaries, he was greeted by the same black suited men they've been working with all these months.

What he saw… What these humans were doing to their own kind… It made Nightstalker believe all of them were as cold hearted as this organization. 

But… what if this little human is actually a deceiving spy? What if this is only a well crafted facade? Nightstalker pondered as a way to cope with this plan. It could make sense Pamela was just the best actress out there, trying to look as the most innocent living creature.

And that's when Pamela approached Nightstalker. She was dragging her not so white jacket through the dusty floor. She was looking weak, with sluggish steps and eyelids blinking slower but more continual.

“What do you want?” Nightstalker stood from his resting position, a bit defensive towards the little girl. 

“I'm sleepy…” Pamela yawned while she wiped one eye. 

Nightstalker lifted his triangular antennas that resembled cat ears. Now, that is a concept he is familiar with as his species also needs to recharge. The little girl gently placed her jacket over the floor, almost gracing the Mini-con's frontal left paw. While the jacket effectively was a perfect substitute for a dirty pillow, part of the torso and legs had to lay over the cold, hardened concrete floor. 

The captor, now acting as a babysitter, waited until the little girl fell into the sweet slumber in which she also wasn't aware of the predicament she’s in. After all, for her, she was being protected by her guardian. One that resembled the black cat plushie she was currently embracing innocently. 

“The floor is covered in dirt. She'll get herself all dusty. I must do something, I can't just leave her like this.” Nightstalker spoke in a careful whisper as he didn't want to interrupt her resting moments. 

He did remember that there were many objects humans used as resting places, especially in that place in the middle of the forest. Humans had these weird houses made of fabric with zippers instead of doors and, according to Nightstalker, they were probably a type of nomadic humans as they would always leave after a few days. 

The metallic cat stood up, making sure to be as swift as possible before exiting the building. He knew he could leave Pamela alone amid the abandoned building due to every entrance and window being sealed. The only way to enter was through the cracks over the ceiling and upper floors. 

He could go and find the same campers from which he stole that huge bag of food. 

Optimus and the rest of the team began to search for the missing sister. The leader had a bit of an issue searching as his size was a bit noticeable, and transforming was out of question. One of the few working were Prowl and Arcee as they were intact. Bumblebee was waiting to be patched up in order to scout as well. 

The main actors of this treasure hunt were none other than Ramhorn and Eject as they now became motorcycles with human holograms riding them. The rhino Mini-con resembled a tuned vehicle, like those seen in those popular kid shows. He was gaining quite the attention as he roamed through the city. Eject had an easier journey as he was a blue Ducati. Though, he wouldn’t admit that he was a bit jealous of Ramhorn’s attention. But, they’re on a serious mission, this was no time to complain. 

Nathan was still on the starship, waiting for Bee’s recovery so that they could look out together for little Pamela. What he couldn't risk was hiding this secret, at least not from his uncle, which meant telling him ASAP. Ethan, already worried sick about his niece, had to calm down his nephew. 

The uncle had now to, somehow, distract his sister from suspecting that Pamela was missing, but that was almost an impossible task. They had until the end of the day, if they were lucky, before she started suspecting her daughter's absence. Currently, the worst scenario was that Michelle discovered the Autobots’ secret and they were unable to rescue little Pamela. 

But, how would they find a little girl in a whole city? 

Cybertronians can detect their own kind within a close proximity. They can distinguish between them and any regular human vehicle. The most common giveaway it's the Autobot or Decepticon insignia, which allows everyone to detect allies or enemies at a longer distance. Other than that, they can feel the energon being radiated from their bodies. It's like a human smelling another human from a close distance. 

Since they lack the tech or resources to do a more complex detection procedure, the Autobots are risking their chassis by roaming inside the city. They're mainly seeking abandoned places, where a mercenary or Decepticon would hide, since they would definitely be avoiding human populated crowded places. Even if they don't care for human lives, it's way inconvenient if small living creatures begin to meddle in their businesses.

They seeked and searched, but no little girl was in sight. Eventually, Nathan and Bee joined the team. The old brother was needed to recognize his sister, it would be terrible if the bots took a random human away from her family thinking it was the real apprehended individual. From time to time, the other Autobots would send him a picture of a random blonde little girl they saw, to confirm their identities. They did this without malice, hoping she was one of them. No one except Nathan really knows how she looks; for cybertronians, many humans looked “too similar between each other”. However, Bee was the only one to notice that Nathan was looking more and more grim whenever a picture of a little girl he had to see wasn’t his sister.  

Hours progressed with no trace or signal from the little girl. They did however have a lead. Arcee had been roaming nearby a park and caught sight of a familiar vehicle, a mustard truck, a Jeep to be precise. And only one mercenary would have such a terrible taste in paintjob. But prejudices aside, the Mercenary emblem shone over his hood, confirming the identity of Swindle. 

Visibly, the enemy apparently didn't notice the pink Mazda and casually drived through a concurred street filled with humans. Arcee followed through the other side of the park, never leaving her headlights off him. 

Once away from the excess of people, Arcee had to be on the same lane as him, but meters away to look just an ordinary vehicle. But the results had proven to be far from ideal. Swindle was calmly moving through the city, “unaware” of Arcee's presence. 

Even if she wasn't an Autobot, any human or cybertronian would suspect, or at least get paranoid from a vehicle following them for quite some time now. Optimus himself warned Arcee about this, it was highly probable Swindle was luring her into an obvious trap.

This recommendation was… cordially rejected or ignored by the pink ‘bot as she hastened towards Swindle. While she had nothing to do with Pamela's capture, Arcee couldn’t shake off from her brain module the fact that this happened while she had been in charge of Nathan. 

Had I been faster…

Had I stayed in the city, maybe I would've noticed the cons moving… 

Thoughts like these roamed through her processors. Arcee was unfairly beating herself and thought it had to be her who had to solve this conundrum. She continued driving until she noticed the enemy entering one of the many electrical plants the city had. The place usually was beaming with many workers making sure the place was running smoothly, this time, no soul roamed the area. 

As Arcee hit the accelerator, she was ready to fight whatever had been in store for her. Recklessness clearly clouded her processors. The tires spun, the motor hummed through the road and the distance between her and the factory shortened with each second. And at the same time, a yellow friendly vehicle approached her from the left. 

Bumblebee went ahead, driving past her and began to burn violently his tires as he made a curve that placed him across the street, stopping Arcee from continuing. As she abruptly had to stop her engine, and ending mere centimeters away from hitting the yellow paint coat, she exhaled. 

“Move aside, Bee, I have no time!” Her headlights shone with each syllable. 

“Wait, Arcee!” Bumblebee interrupted her.

“Please, listen to us!” Nathan followed up as he opened the car and went outside. 

Arcee flinched a bit as guilt ate her inside, with her tires backtracking a bit. She felt like she owed Nathan, after all she “lost Pamela”, so she didn’t want to look at him directly. There was a small sensation of unworthiness on her part. So she listened to whatever the duo had to say.

Nathan and Bee began to explain that indeed the Mercenary entering the electrical plant was indeed a fabricated trap. Before Arcee could even question how they were sure, Nathan added “we have evidence”, and Arcee kept quiet. 

Since almost everyone warned Arcee, she feared Optimus would order her to cease and desist such a chase (which he was going to). Before that could happen, she cut communication with her comrades in order to focus on her “prey”, as she thought Pamela was there, being captive. 

Had she just waited a few more minutes, she would've received an important warning. 

Out of nowhere, everyone received a call from none other than Jazz. 

“Hey, little girl, wake up.” Nightstalker gently tried to move Pamela, but he only managed to get one of his claws stuck in one of the pull tabs from her jacket. 

The Mini-con tried in vain to get free, ultimately pulling all together the jacket from the floor. Pamela rolled over violently a few spins before ending face up, with her eyes fully opened. Her expression collided in between a mix of sleepiness, shock and confusion. 

“Ah, my apologies. Are you alright?” Nightstalker asked, unaware that Pamela was getting teary. 

She was about to begin sniffing.

“Here, I brought you this. So that you may rest a bit better.” Nightstalker pushed with his tail a small sleeping bag, a pink one since she seems to be wearing a similar palette color in her dress. The small roll opened into a big, fluffy square that smelled like flowers and strawberries. 

The poor little girl who got robbed of her possessions was crying in the camping site, surrounded by her family. 

Pamela, still not knowing how to react, emotionally speaking, approached the comfy resting place. Her small hands quickly sunk into the fluffy fabric filled with cotton. From all her feelings and sensations, drowsiness turned out to be strongest competitor as she fell asleep quickly enough. 

Nightstalker only tilted his head, surprised by her ability to get unconscious that easily. Afterwards, he remembered seeing some humans covering themselves with the same sleeping bag they were using for resting. Gently, but carefully, Nightstalker pushed the fabric with his snout. Then he lifted it until it partially covered Pamela. The process itself lasted a few minutes, but for Nightstalker, it felt like an eternity. 

Even if the kid was a target or just “the mission”, he was feeling uneasy about having to take care of an individual so fragile. The girl had dull senses, motor skills quite sluggish and her strength was far from ideal. But, he now comprehended this wasn't like a glitch or a defective human. 

This girl, she can't really be a threat, not to me, nor to my kind. He thought as he watched her sleep. 

As much warmth she was receiving from being inside a sleeping bag, Pamela had a distressing face while resting. Her eyes were squeezing and her golden eyebrows furrowing made Nightstalker know something was wrong. Deducing the problem was an easy ordeal as he could hear the incoming cold breeze of the sunset arriving. The body of the little one began to constantly shake, becoming a small trembling machine. 

The Mini-con looked around, trying to find the source of the cold air. He detected an entrance, a rolling steel door that wasn't fully closed, leaving a small crevice that allowed the airflow to invade and creep all over the place. 

Nightstalker looked around, seeing if there was anything that could perhaps block the inconvenience. He successfully managed to push and accommodate a set of crates and old fabrics to seal the entrance. Then he carefully approached Pamela to see if he woke her up after the series of lousy creaks and wood crumbling. To his surprise, the little girl slept without a fear or care of the world, drooling happily over a sleeping bag that didn’t belong to her. 

This amused the dark brown mechanical feline, tilting his head in confusion. He watched carefully the facial expressions of Pamela, trying to find any other sign of distress. Ultimately, Nightstalker laid down on the floor, carefully surrounding her body in a lunar shape. He was in the way of the remnants of the breeze that he had sealed a few minutes ago. 

What… What am I doing? He thought as he couldn't stop looking at Pamela, observing and analyzing how he could assist her further on. Nightstalker wasn't definitely asking why he was taking extra care of an unknown creature. No, he was questioning this whole mission, the integrity of said ordeal was crumbling in his brain module. 

As he looked at Pamela, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was probably sending an innocent girl to her doom. This went against his programming, or everything he had been taught.

Memories began to overlap in his mind, where there should be a blond little girl sleeping, there was suddenly a very old mech resting over his recharge pod, already dependent on this machinery. 

The war at that point had consumed almost all of Cybertron, and both sides were responsible, culprits of one same catastrophe. Decepticons or Autobots, it mattered little to those that never wanted anything with these blasted chaos. Identical monsters in their optics. That was the view Nightstalker had since he really never wanted to fight for something “important”. His priority was to take care of one single bot. 

His mission was an old Overlord, one of the last original rulers. Before the Council ever appeared, Cybertron used to live in a regime similar to a monarchy, and those who led were referred to as Overlords. This mech, whose name, memory and relevance have been long forgotten, had some Mini-cons taking care of him in his last moments. This was a little service the Council provided for those ancients who once served the bigger good after the true Primes perished. 

During long eras, Nightstalker had to protect and take care of someone closer to Primus than Cybertron, an old relic whose processors have long been damaged. But, that was Nightstalker's mission, one he took seriously and pridefully. Whether it was to serve this Overlord some oil or energon, or getting rid of an assassin trying to barge into his property, he wouldn't fail. 

And, with a memory overstepping reality, Nightstalker saw no difference between watching over this Overlord as he recharged on his stasis pod, and a little and very vulnerable human. 

His mission is to have her as a hostage until the Autobots arrive and never leave her side; if Optimus didn’t do his part of the bargain, he would have to deliver the little kid to the ones he works for. But the Mini-con had already disobeyed the second part of the mission. Whereas to seek for organic supplements or a small fluffy shelter, he already left her side, twice. Heck, he's even acting as a shield against a mild cold breeze because he can't stand seeing her resting uncomfortably. Nightstalker observed, watched… wondering what Pamela would need once her slumber is over. The old habits were slowly returning to him and, with that, a seed of doubt regarding his own moral compass. 

Is… this really what I'll be doing from now on? He pondered. 

Minutes prior to the call, Jazz and Ratchet were the only ones inside the starship. Blaster was outside on guard duty as he hadn't decided on a vehicle mode yet. 

From the pair, it was the doc's job to keep an eye on the scan around the city. It wasn't as precise as it would be, due to the crash frying some systems. Mostly what was possible was getting small signals of energon around a specific area, but not how many were nor who were those cybertronians. 

If Pamela was kidnapped, at least there should be one bot around her. No Decepticon would trust a human for said task, if they were involved at all.

Ratchet communicated and shared any locations that had even the smallest signature of energon. Afterwards, the bots would survey the area, looking for any suspicious activity. That's when he alerted Arcee to roam nearby the park, prompting the already mentioned pursuit. 

It was during said chase that everyone thought it was a definitive trap to get the most emotional bot from the crew. Sadly, Arcee was the most affected by it this time. But the risk of letting go of such an opportunity was big. Maybe they did have Pamela there, surrounded by traps or as a hostage, but presently there. 

Thankfully, it was a badly damaged ‘bot who saved the day. 

“Wait! You gotta stop Arcee!” Jazz sprinted from the med bed, almost falling in the process until he crashed against the main computer. 

Ratchet flinched in surprise upon realizing all the effort his comrade made to communicate with the team. He was about to reprimand and send him back to rest, but Jazz continued. 

“There's in between three mercenaries, plus Barricade waiting there. But most important, Pamela ain't there!”

And that's how Bumblebee ended up speeding up, hoping to stop Arcee before it was too late.

Nathan and Bumblebee had successfully been able to calm down Arcee and explain everything to her. There was an enormous amount of guilt and frustration running through her optics as she realized that not only she wouldn't have found Pamela, but she would've also been a liability for the mission. Despite the unfairly self-loathing from her part, neither Bee nor his partner thought ill of her. 

The team decided to split with both vehicles heading towards different locations. This was a strategy made out of thin air as a police officer had been chasing Bee for a while. When Jazz called out the evident trap, and Arcee became silent, Optimus had ordered Bee to stop her at all costs. The price to pay this time was passing nearby a law enforcer at an elevated speed, way beyond the limit. Nathan even lowered himself until his face wouldn’t be visible from the pilot’s window. For a moment, the pair had managed to lose him for a second, but the prosecutor localized the very distinctive yellow Camaro amongst the street. 

The teen human didn’t think twice and jumped into his mech car the moment a siren was heard in the distance. Both cars began running from the law and the three of them promised neither Prowl nor Optimus should know of this. It was a silent promise. 

The younger ones ran away from the law, whereas the older ones were receiving constant indications from Jazz. 

“Three Cons ambushing.” 

“Two running away.” 

“They don't seem to be safe guarding anything.” 

Jazz would communicate with each team member, sending warnings to everyone with precision. 

“You know that Prowl will question the spark out of you.” Ratchet scolded Jazz. 

The doctor had many reasons to yell at Jazz right now. From spilling oil over the main computer to standing up from the med bed and hurling towards comms, hurting his chassis even further. However, the moment Jazz took out an unknown datapad and connected it to the map, suddenly many cybertronians were located within the city. 

Ratchet knew this was no moment to serve as the grumpy bot that youngsters would ignore. No, he had to be the one warning with truth. 

“And don't even think Optimus will protect you. Everyone will want to know how suddenly you had a tech that could've helped us.”

“I know, Ratchet. I'm aware. But I'm not gonna leave my friends in danger, ya know?” Yet, Jazz had a mix in between of a laid back expression and a mature tone in his voice. 

The doc kept looking frantically at the mysterious datapad, it was clearly human and handmade. There was no brand to be seen and there was a visible mix of alloys for the carcass. But the system programmed, that was top notch quality.

The hours passed and the sun set, with the night making it difficult for the search party. 

“Ah! Kid, I mean, Nathan, Bee, watch out, there's a…” Jazz was about to warn the young human, since he saw a second signal pretty close to them. 

This other bot was passing through an alley. It stopped moving once a certain proximity with Nathan was reached. Meanwhile, Bee remained parked precisely on the corner that led to this enclosed area. He wanted to transform, but there were many humans walking on the opposite side of the road. 

“I know,” Nathan responded as he was on the edge of said alley. “we're looking at it”. 

He was standing a meter or two away from this looming figure who took advantage of the rising night. 

“What are you doing, little one?” Nightstalker looked at Pamela, who was curled into a small ball, shifting and moving occasionally her arms against the floor from left to right, into small circles and sometimes grabbing and leaving some unknown items. 

“Drawing!” she answered so proudly as she lifted a small white sheet of paper.

There was a rough sketch of a little Pamela riding over what could barely resemble Nightstalker. Aside from her drawing qualities fitting for a five year old, in which she's still developing her strength and practicing how to control it for an activity so simple, like making lines, the image was actually pretty good and clear. 

There was Pamela with the spikiest pig tails, one of her eyes was half floating outside of her face and she had a diamond dress, with glitter to emphasize the shiny part. 

She was riding Nightstalker, which was aggressively smiling, with rosy cheeks. They both were peacefully traversing through a park. The Mini-con had needle claws, floating a bit over the floor. “Kitty can fly!” Would argue Pamela to defend her masterpiece. 

“It looks… colorful.” Nightstalker was doing his best effort to find the correct words.

Is not that he disliked the drawing, but he was still figuring out if the capabilities of little Pamela were above or below her age.  He really didn’t know if it was of good or bad quality, it’s just a drawing far from resembling an exact image of reality.  

“Hmm? Who is that one over there?” He asked as he saw the little girl drawing a taller person beside them.

“My brother! He's the best!” Pamela proudly smiled as she answered, before finishing drawing Nathan. 

“Is that so? Why is he the best?” Nightstalker seemed relaxed, he even lay on the floor, his frontal legs crossed, with his head resting over them, carefully watching Pamela’s artcraft.  

“He always buys me my favorite cookies! And he's tall, and strong! He always opens the jars mom can’t!”

“He sounds like a lovely person.” Nightstalker added, surprised by the low standard this ‘brother’ has to accomplish in order to be titled the best person around. 

With that standard, even someone like him or Swindle could hold a title on par with Primus or any other of the Primes. 

Pamela chuckled for a while as she finished drawing her brother. Her hands gently gave slower strokes of crayons against the paper, making sure the golden color stayed inside the lines of Nathan's hair. 

The final picture had her, Nightstalker, Nathan and Michelle, the sibling's mother; all four of them smiled happily, surrounded by a very colorful plantlife. After a while, the eyes of the little girl got a bit lower and her lips didn't show the same smile as before. 

“Mr. Kitty…” Pamela spoke, a bit insecure and with a worried tone. “When will I see my brother ?” 

At this, Nightstalker lowered his metallic ears. “You'll… You’ll see him very soon, don't worry about it, little one.” While he answered very naturally and with ease, the Mini-con actually had to fight hard to dare and lie in the face of an innocent one. 

“Oh! Ok!” Her cheerful sparkle returned to her smile and, without second thought, took another white sheet of paper from her backpack. 

That single act hurt even more the already shaken mindset the Mini-con had to repeat over and over. This is a mission, nothing more… 

As he repressed his guilt, he decided to follow the noise of her crayons melting into the surface of the paper. 

“Is that… me?” Nightstalker asked as he saw a chubby black cat standing on his hind legs. For some reason, he also had a red cape. 

“Yesh! Ms. Cuddles needs a friend!” Pamela lifted this second drawing so that Nightstalker could admire her masterpiece in the process.

“Ms. Cuddles?” He tilted his head again, yet again confused by the intricacies of this little human girl.

“Yes! Ms. Cuddles!” She says proudly as she shows her old cat plushie. 

The plushie was the whole reason Pamella followed Nightstalker in the first place. Even during the first phase of the mission, it was planned to snatch her by force, as swift as possible as she would've screamed or yelled. So, it was even unexpected, even ironic, the moment Pamela rushed happily towards Nightstalker, skipping a bit with her legs. 

“First I saw Ms. Cuddles… But biiiiiiig.” She opened her arms in order to exemplify Nightstalker's size. 

“You thought I was your wobbly object?” He asked. 

“Mhmm! But then I heard Kitty and I said: Kitty sounds like a boy, he is not Ms. Cuddles!”

“And what happened later?” Nightstalker mustered a smile, a small one if anything. 

“You are Kitty! Uh… Nait… Ta…” She was trying to pronounce his name once more. 

“Just call me Kitty, don't worry.” He nodded and his optics closed, acknowledging that Pamela isn’t used to complex words. 

Pamela grinned happily. 

“If Kitty is not Ms. Cuddles, then Kitty is a friend of Ms. Cuddles.” Pamela explained her logic, not very logical in the least. But one plus one seemed just perfect for her. “Ms. Cuddles needs a friend to save the world.” 

“I'm a hero now?” Nightstalker flinched a bit upon the confession, he looked to the side, a darkened expression within his optics as his ears dropped.

“Yes! Look! Is right here!” She pointed towards the red cape on his back and shoulders. 

“Heh.” Nightstalker released what could be described as a dry chuckle. 

Hero . He thought. While he is still getting used to human concepts and its society, the translator everyone is using is doing an excellent job. And the word “Hero” is something spoken in abundance amongst his kind ever since the beginning of war. 

The word by itself has its own meaning, but who wears the title has been in a constant change. First Zeta Prime, Sentinel Prime and the rest in said position wore them just by owning the Prime title. This honorific made them immune. To everyone's optics, their images were a synonym of justice, heroism and leadership. This meant any unjustified act, their crimes and wrongdoings would be forgiven or justified by the people, if they ever came into light in the first place. 

Then Megatron came into power, he took the courage to speak out loud what everyone thought: The Primes are not what they're supposed to be. He became the symbol of rebellion, courage and willpower. That was the new hero Cybertron supposedly craved for. And then… the events that led to the current war begun, with this supposed idol as the head of this destruction.

And now in this fight? This unknown and lower soldier, Optimus, became the pivotal Prime. Because of what? The Matrix of Leadership? It's more than justifiable Nightstalker's skepticism and disbelief. 

The term hero, while its meaning holds on its own, the use of it by its people has danced around more than they're willing to acknowledge. To be called with such a fleeting term, by a little girl, felt like an ironic punch to Nightstalker. But the way he called her, without any malice or second intention, is what bothered him the most. 

He had to do one more test… 

“Little one, if I may ask a question.” Nightstalker had a serene voice, one she had never heard, the seriousness he suddenly brought made her stop drawing and focus only on his optics. 

Nightstalker, on his side, lowered his head until it rested over the concrete. Both were on the same height and level. The full moon shone through some cracks and one of the upper windows, which wasn't fully sealed. 

“What do you think of war? The fact that many people fight for what they believe is correct, the willingness to drop everything aside for a dream that could be entirely futile. A war in which each side has their own heroes, their own tyrants, and they use their believers as cannon fodder for the greater good. 

An act so vile that friends won't know if they're ever seeing each other again. Brothers and sisters torn apart as a result of different ideals. What do you think of it?” Nightstalker looked directly into her eyes, not pretending to pressure her. His tone was gentle, low, and filled with melancholy as memories of peaceful Cybertron were torn by the senseless fight. 

Pamela lowered her gaze towards the floor, a bit nervous and embarrassed for what she was about to say.

“Uhm, Mr. Kitty, what is war?” 

And that destroyed what little resolve Nightstalker still had in his mind. In his brain module, there was no doubt this being was wholly innocent, a pure being that had never tasted the bitterness of death, loss or probably the sound of despair cries.

There was in no way he could deliver this little girl to his boss, not to Shockwave either. 

Nightstalker kept himself in silence after he straightened his posture. He wondered what could be the correct course of action. His judgement was clouded; he feared he could mess up this mission so badly. 

“Uhm, Mr. Kitty?” Pamela interrupted what little he mustered to think as she gently placed her tiny hand over his huge paw. “Can I see my big brother, please? Mom says I must be early in home.” 

“Is that so?” Nightstalker now knew what his new mission was, he just needed a small push to accept what he really wanted to do. “I’m sorry, little one. I didn’t know you had to return early. Of course, your brother must be wondering where you are. Could you please get your stuff ready? We’ll leave shortly.”

Pamela shone like a small sunshine, she hastened towards her backpack and began to fill it with her school stuff. Plus the remaining snacks that she hadn't eaten yet from the plastic bag. She finished in a time record, not even at school she's been this fast.

The little girl stood in front of the giant metallic feline once everything had been gathered. From Nightstalker's chest some clicking sounds began to be heard. Two midsize doors opened, right on his torso. He signaled Pamela to crawl in as he sat so that the entrance could be vertical and of easy access. However, Pamela wasn't as convinced and her eyebrows showed said discontent. 

“But… Why I no ride Kitty?” it is unknown whether she still needs to work on her grammar lessons, or if it’s a type of pouting.

Fortunately, Nightstalker already knew how to speak with her, using an easy to understand dialect. “Kitty is very fast and has to jump to very high places. Little girl could fall, maybe in the future when I only walk.” He gently smiled to reassure her. 

Pamela, while still pouting, accepted Nightstalker’s explanation and went on board. That’s how the feline companion ended up facing Nathan in the middle of the alley. 

At first, he approached cautiously, his amber optics shone in the dark, intentionally letting the big brother know someone was there. When no other human was walking nearby, he gently came out from the shadows, holding Pamela’s backpack in his mouth. The item was easy to identify, not only was it orange like the one he had, it was special. Pamela had a double set backpack, which meant that it could be attached and detached through some zippers. Nathan had the part where Pamela stores her lunch, while Nightstalker possessed the one with school material. There was no doubt in the human’s eyes that this Mini-bot, contrary to those previous that have been trying to lure them, actually knew where his little sister was. 

Nightstalker slowly placed the backpack over the floor, then began to take some steps back, giving space in between him and Nathan. Once the distance seemed safe, Nathan didn’t hesitate to close the gap and retrieve his sister’s belongings. Bumblebee tried to warn him, a whisper that barely could be heard since there were many humans around walking on the other side of the lane. But even if he was able to hear, Nathan would’ve ignored his plea to be careful. 

Nightstalker tilted his head further into the alley, silently asking the teen to follow him. He didn’t wait for his response and his four legs began walking at a fast pace. It wasn’t full running, since Nathan wouldn’t be able to follow him if that was the case. Nathan began pursuing the dark brown Mini-con, no hesitation in his eyes. Bumblebee cursed a small “scrap” and projected a random holo-human on the driver’s seat in order to follow the other two. It actually took some time for the Autobot scout to get moving as he was parked and didn’t want to alert the others by the fierce engine sound. 

Fortunately, Nathan didn’t have to run that much to catch on with Nightstalker, for he had taken a turn into an abandoned building. Abandoned is a stretch, but it’s one of those big empty areas used as storage when the main one is filled. There was no guard for this shift, since there wasn’t a single thing to take care of. 

Pamela was sitting under one single lightbulb on, she was finishing the last drawing from before as she waited. She lifted her head when she heard footsteps nearby, eyes locking on the figure she’s used to seeing everyday. She was about to lift her hands and call his name, but Nathan just grabbed her in an intense hug. Lifting her into his arms. He placed his sister’s head over his shoulder and remained silent for a while. “Thank goodness you’re ok”, he mustered to say this, with a trembling voice. 

“Forgive me,” Nightstalker called out to him, still remaining at a safe distance, not to disturb the scene, Nathan lifted his gaze with his reddish eyes, “had I known my target was an innocent person, I would’ve never taken her.” He lowered his gaze and dropped his mechanical ears to the side. A truthful tone in his deep voice could be heard.

“Thank you,” Nathan replied, “for bringing her back.”

The tender and sweet moment between the two caretakers ended with a nod and smile from both sides. But, such a wholesome scene came to an interruption when Bumblebee’s engine was heard close by as he made a turn and entered the building. The poor yellow Autobot will need a change of tires after this day. 

He dashed inside, not even hitting the brake before transforming into his bipedal form. He rolled one time to stop a bit his speed and had already his arm cannon ready for anything. Little happened when the other three remained in silence while looking at Bee. 

“Whoa!! Brother! Your car is also a robot!” Pamela straightened her posture as she lifted her face and neck, looking upwards towards Bumblebee. She was screaming all amazed and wowing at the Autobot. 

The other three older people in the room remained silent as the little girl marveled upon the amazing discovery. But the scene made Bee realize that this wasn’t a trap, and the mercenary wasn’t a threat to the siblings. 

“Excuse me, Autobot.” Nighstalker approached Bumblebee, just a few steps closer before getting into a sitting position. He remained calm and serene even if there was a jumpy small bean trying to break free from Nathan’s arms just to hug the biggest guy in the room. “I would like to speak to your Prime. I want to tell him everything I know.”

Chapter Text

Per Optimus' instruction, the team decided to take Nightstalker to the starship where Jazz, Ratchet and Blaster were stationed. It was too soon to trust a mercenary and led him into their main base. Plus it was better if everyone in the team was gathered in case the ‘cons planned to attack soon. 

Many initially doubted Nightstalker's intention of speaking with Optimus, it could be yet another trap from the enemy. Luckily they had Jazz with this unknown device that confirmed there was no enemy nearby. The Mini-con intentionally took Nathan and Bee towards a part of the city where there weren't any Decepticons nor Mercenaries patrolling. 

“So at 12 AM they wanted to make the trade?” Bee asked Nightstalker as they hit the road. 

“If you want to call it a trade. The plan was to lure anyone who wanted to recover the little girl at the port. However, during the whole ordeal, they wanted to separate each Autobot as you would've been searching without resting”. Nightstalker managed to answer, even while running at great speed, although Bee was driving a bit slower to be on the same level as the other. Plus, he wanted to avoid being persecuted by another cop.

“The more separated, the more likely to be ambushed.” The scout added, there was an eerie tone within his voice module, thinking that Arcee might’ve been the first one. 

“Precisely, I'm amazed nobody was captured.”

“We got... I don't know if lucky is the correct word.”

Everyone wanted to ask Jazz how in the name of Primus he helped exactly when they needed so. They all saw the starship and the damage it received, either Ratchet patched up the system or Jazz had something else no else had. And even in Cybertron it was hard to get hands on a very precise tracking system that even revealed identities of the energon signals. Either it was something humans had, or another method was used. 

While Bee and Nightstalker talked outside, Nathan was hugging his sister in the backseat. 

“Listen, Pam, I know Bee and… Kitty are amazing robots. But you just must promise to never tell anyone. Not even mom.” He gently soothed his sister by patting her back.

“What?! Why?” She flinched abruptly, taken aback by her brother’s petition. She looked into him, trying to make the biggest puppy eyes ever, sadly, it wouldn’t work this time on Nathan.

“Please, Pam, it's something they asked me as well. It's important for them, or they'll have to leave Earth.” Nathan didn’t change his tone, he remained calmed while patting his sister’s head.

Pamela gasped loudly, it may have seemed that she was exaggerating, but she was pretty serious in her expression. She was utterly devastated by thinking of saying goodbye to Nightstalker and now Bee who she just met.

“No! I won't tell anyone, brother!” And to demonstrate she was pretty committed to guarding this secret, she raised her left pinkie finger. 

Nathan smiled and wrapped his pinkie with hers. “It's a promise then.”

When Bee's team arrived, pretty much everyone else was already gathered there, waiting. Even Emma was sitting over a pile of crates. Minutes earlier, she received a call from Arcee, asking to wait for her outside of her house. While in the driver's seat, the pink bot explained everything, from the kidnapping to the already recovered Pamela. 

To everyone’s disappointment, Jazz had entered a stasis state per Ratchet’s rather forceful suggestion. After damaging his body even further by helping the other bots, the doc had no other choice than to gently carry him away from comms once Pamela was safe, then place him inside a stasis pod. Emma sat very close to Jazz, since he was her guardian, she felt inclined to watch over him this time, even if they hadn't interacted much yet. The rest had to think how to approach Jazz and ask how he was able to help them, without sounding aggressive, nor intimidating, and making sure Prowl wasn’t the one doing the interrogation.

The only ones that were really missing were both Prowl and Ethan. The cop had told Optimus hours ago that his human requested help for transport. However, none of them have sent any message or contacted anyone else. 

The team turned their optics or eyes towards the shuttle entrance when another engine was heard approaching. They got a bit startled upon seeing the feline Mercenary entering the temporary base after a long run, not captured nor restrained. 

Capture it or try to attack him? Arcee and Blaster thought it was the best course of action as they already had a defensive stand. 

“What is your name, Mini-con?” But it was Optimus who cut the silence by walking towards the mechanical feline. He didn't look threatening nor like planning to attack him. He spoke rather calmly and patiently as he lowered his body, kneeling with one leg to see better their invited guest. 

Meanwhile, Nathan exited with Pamela in his arms from his yellow Camaro buddy. Emma silently waved at him, reuniting the two friends. Even if they saw each other just the same morning during class, for Nathan it felt as if days had passed. It took a few seconds before Pamela squealed, her eyes fully sparkling as she feasted on the sight of, not one, nor two, but a total of eight bots around her. Technically speaking, there were a total of nine bots, but Ramhorn had patrolling duty outside. 

“Nightstalker, and no presentations are necessary from your part. Everyone knows who the famous Optimus Prime is.” His tone was quite sarcastic, uninterested in the imposing figure in front of him. Even with a little girl running like a small bean on caffeine, laughing and wowing at each bot, Nightstalker remained professional and focused on Optimus. 

“That is why earthlings are a welcome surprise. I can finally present myself to someone new I meet.” He closed his optics with a warm smile over his faceplate. 

Nightstalker tilted his head, a bit confused as he has never heard of a Prime joking lightheartedly. 

After some minutes, Nightstalker explained what happened throughout the day. How he captured Pamela and how he released her. As to why this later action, he would only dismiss the question with a “just accept that I basically betrayed my employers.”

He was a bit salty on opening up and confessing how a little girl managed to melt his spark. But, judging by the way Nightstalker would occasionally glance at Pamela, especially when she tripped or even sneezed, Optimus got a clear idea of the situation. The leader respected his wish to remain secretive about it. 

“Then, perhaps you could share with us who these employers are.” Optimus requested, hopeful of knowing who the enemy was. 

“Don't misunderstand me, Prime. I may have abandoned the Mercenaries, but that doesn't mean I'm planning to join the Autobots. I care little about your nonsensical war.” Nightstalker stood up on his four mechanical legs, ready to take a defensive and evasive stance, should they try to force him out said intel. 

Yet, Optimus wouldn't give up, but without using brutal strength, he lifted his arm to his side, ready to stop Ratchet. The doc was about to jump defensively, a bit exasperated regarding Nightstalker's cocky nature. When he saw Optimus’ arm raising, he was deterred from saying a thing. 

“That may be true, Nightstalker. However, your support doesn't obligate you to belong in our team. But, as someone who worked with our enemy, it is undeniable of their crude methods after locating us on this planet. I'm asking you, not to help us destroy our enemies, but to save us from annihilation.” Optimus looked straight up at Nightstalker, a firm voice rumbling from his spark. 

Nightstalker looked at the floor, thinking. He would occasionally look towards the humans. Emma was playing with Pamela, trying her best to distract the little one from looking at the giant robots talking about war. The one who didn't take his eyes off the Mini-con was Nathan, his brown eyes had a mix of distress, uncertainty, yet thankfulness. But his lips weren't curved up smiling. 

The Mercenary, while still new to humans, could interpret the situation perfectly, after all he was the captor and liberator of Pamela at the same time. It is logical that the big brother was still unsure on whether to trust Nightstalker. However, he could see the bigger humans being protective of the little one, meaning they were also not evil. Perhaps not fully good, but their intentions were to protect the weakest of them all. 

Defeated, just by the feelings of protecting a weaker species, Nightstalker sighed, frowning his metallic optical ridges. His full, blank amber eyes looked at Optimus. Silently, he tilted his snout to a faraway room in the temporal base. 

Optimus nodded and tasked the others to keep check on the perimeter and fulfill the rest of their duties. 

Once alone in an isolated room, making sure nobody was listening, Optimus sat over a nearby giant tube they moved to clean the area. Nightstalker sat on his hind legs. 

“Look, Prime, is not that I don't trust your comrades, but I'm afraid my answer will be found rather inconvenient.”

“I understand, I'll make sure to deliver this intel to my team.” The leader nodded, understanding.

Nightstalker closed his optics for a moment, thinking on where to begin with.

“To be perfectly honest. I’m not entirely sure who are all those behind these attacks. All I know are some familiar faces I saw when I arrived and worked for the Decepticons. Shockwave is apparently here, as well as Slipstream and Barricade.” As a Mercenary, Nightstalker isn’t familiarized with every member he has seen on the Decepticon base, but the names mentioned were soldiers known all over Cybertron. And not for the good reasons anymore.

“I see, Shockwave is in charge of this operation.” Optimus intertwined his own fingers, resting his elbows over his stabilizing servos. 

They already knew the Decepticons were on Earth, but with Shockwave here, it changed everything. It would’ve been very reasonable that the enemy persecuted them all the way to Earth for a simple vengeance, a gesture to take out every possible Autobot. After all, Megatron was now gone, maybe not dead, but gone. But with the merciless scientist in the team, it changed everything, it wasn’t just an act to get rid of an enemy in a fit of rage. Now there was a hidden motive as well. A more cold calculated plan. 

“Negative, Prime. It’s someone else.” Optimus flinched upon hearing this, with his optics widely opening as he let Nightstalker continue. “I’m afraid I don’t have the name nor description of this person, but Shockwave is working under this Decepticon. As to why or how, it is the same, I really don’t possess this information.” But Nightstalker moved his head from left to right, denying with a calm voice.

“It is rather troublesome that the Mercenaries are kept in this level of blindness.” Optimus added.

“There used to be more communication with them, but once we arrived on this planet, things changed.” Nightstalker continued with this exchange.

He began to remember some of the old debriefings their team used to have before any mission, extra details from their quest, anything. Of course, neither the Autobots nor the Decepticons were revealing the whole plan to them, in fear of being exposed to the other faction. Currently? Most of their missions were like “go there, kill what’s there” as if they were mindless drones.

“Care to elaborate?” Optimus asked, seeing if he could at least see the pattern behavior.

“Well, it must be the human team they’ve decided to ally with. They prefer to keep the intel to those higher ups, either Shockwave or this unknown leader.”

“Then at least we’ve confirmed our main suspicion, there is a human team working for the Decepticons.” He crossed his arms, uneasy by this collaboration. 

“I do not know, Prime, they have allies, but I'm not sure if they're the same as the humans you have partnered with.” Nightstalker furrowed his optical ridges, his limbs tensed as he made his point. 

“I would like to ask for some clarification.” Optimus frowned, confused by the word choice of the robotic feline.  

“They're different. Not physically speaking, they resemble the young male one. The one the little girl refers to as ‘brother’,” he of course referred to Nathan, since he seemed the closest to the body type, size and height these humans had, “but… they made us Mercenaries very uncomfortable.”

“Did it have to do with their customs?” Optimus wasn’t understanding what he was referring to. Then again, he has been so little on Earth, and he hasn’t been particularly researching human nature or culture. He should do it, maybe ask Nathan or Bumblebee about it; however, he hasn’t really clicked with any human to ask any questions that may actually be sensitive without him knowing.  

“Quite the contrary, it is as if they didn't have anything at all. It was like walking in between a bunch of drones. No, even drones feel more alive compared to them. They can communicate and work efficiently, yes, but there is no personality at all. There was only one who spoke with mannerisms similar to the rest of Earth's inhabitants. And even then, his speech and conduct felt fabricated, fake.” He remembered walking past what seemed to be a perfect hivemind made of humans, working in sync to build machinery for the human market. 

It was no different from walking through a fully automated factory. 

“I see, then your knowledge extends to what this earthling team allowed you to see.” Optimus was amazed by the level of professionalism this unknown group had. Not that he underestimated humanity, but it felt as if they already had a protocol for this sort of situation. And not many would say they had a protocol for an invading species of giant mechanical beings. 

“Precisely, other than that, the only one who might have extra intel would be Soundblaster, our leader.” Nightstalker did remember seeing his boss alongside Buzzsaw. Both were directly having a conversation with this human with personality. 

“Soundblaster is also here? That will complicate matters, now that Soundwave arrived this evening.” Optimus got a bit worried of having two models of the Db-Hz units as enemies, especially since Blaster could feel pressured to withstand them. 

With Soundwave having his four Mini-cons intact, plus the possible teammates Soundblaster might have, Blaster is at a great disadvantage by having only Ramhorn and Eject. He needs at least two more in his team, and that’s without even considering training their teamwork strategy, should they recruit unknown soldiers to his team. The enemy potentially has eight Mini-cons. The odds aren’t in their favor.

“Soundwave arrived on Earth? Scrap, that means Ravage is here as well.” Nightstalker actually got worried this time, standing up completely. 

“You were associated with Ravage?” Optimus tilted his head to his side. 

“Not exactly. All of our units lived in the same area for ages before we were deployed to our respective Db-Hz units or missions. But, his fame is well known amongst our fellow comrades.”

Being the Mini-con companion of Soundwave, one of the Elite Guard soldiers for the Primes and Cybertron's militia, it meant a huge deal. Ravage's dedication to Soundwave goes beyond normal as he altered his voice box, speaking in a frequency only Soundwave, Rumble, Laserbeak and Frenzy know and understand. 

“We can discuss on that later on. Are these humans responsible for locating the rest of the Autobots?” Optimus wanted to grab as much intel he could before Nightstalker felt threatened by answering too many questions.

“Yes, that I can verify. Shockwave usually requests this human leader for coordinates in which the Autobots reside. Wherever your base is located…” Nightstalker looked around, wondering if the human scans are already over this area, “I believe it's outside the range of their satellites or whatever device they're using. They've been focusing inside the city.” 

“Then it was a fortune we were introduced to our base by one of those same earthling allies.” Optimus thought of Ethan, thinking of thanking him once he arrived at their temporal base. 

Optimus was about to stand up from his improvised cushion, but Nightstalker lifted his mechanical ears. He assumed Optimus didn't have any more questions for now. In a way, it offended Nightstalker that he had nothing more to inquire about, that wasn't a good quality for any team leader. 

“Wait, there is something else.” Nightstalker was startled, as if desperate. 

Optimus looked at him and sat down back again. Nightstalker immediately opened a plaque in one of his legs, from there he took a small device with his mouth. Optimus leaned closer, with his servo opening, very close to the floor. The Mini-con released what seemed to be a damaged small black disk. Upon further exploration, the Prime's scans detected the same sigil seen in other devices taken from other Mercenaries or Decepticons. It took a bit of time to make sense of the image, since it seems Nightstalker squashed the device with one of his paws, probably to make it unusable. Or to destroy any tracking device. 

“This tech, I've seen it before, on others of our kind. But, we fear it might be alien tech. Are we making the correct assumption?” Optimus looked at Nightstalker, a bit more serious than usual. 

“You're correct. We've seen these humans create, test and install said devices on us. The first models were just an extra shielding coat for blasters. Currently they're working on other features. I'm afraid that, from this point on, I'll be unable to ever get a glimpse of said tech.” Now that he was a deserter, he would be targeted as well. He was now thinking where he would head once he exited this ship. 

“This intel has been more than valuable, Nightstalker. It has done more than you may believe so.” Optimus closed his fist, securing the disk. 

“I don't understand. I gave almost nothing on intel.” The mechanical feline thought Optimus would inquire more, maybe the location of said human base or which Mercenaries were on Earth. 

“Perhaps, but you have confirmed many speculations. Shockwave’s presence has stated that it is an organized team. But, the most valuable resource is perhaps the identity of the earthlings as the engineers of these devices.” He didn't want to involve outsiders into their own war, but this group of humans either chose to, or were forced to. But by the way Nightstalker referred to them, they weren't unwillingly allied. 

“How? True, it confirmed its origins, but not how it was made nor who created them specifically, or where.”

“Correct. We may be unable to figure out the forces behind it. But, within our group there's those who certainly could find out or have a clue.” Optimus closed his optics as he stood up from his seat. “Thank you for your help, Nightstalker. You've done more for the Autobots than many have done.”

Nightstalker flinched as he realized he said more than he wanted to. Unbeknownst to him, somehow Prime had managed to scoop out every detail he had. Was the previous dismissing a way to provoke him or mere casualty? Optimus smiling certainly didn't help the situation either. 

As the pair exited the room, with Nightstalker following behind him with a fast step to interrogate him, they were greeted with a very… intense scenery.

“What were you thinking?! Are you out of your mind, you could've gotten yourself hurt or even worse!” A smaller unknown woman was standing in front of Nathan, screaming with the force of her lungs. Emma was behind him, also with her head down as her friend. “And you, little girl, what's with supporting this sort of behavior? You're supposed to help him be safe, not throw him into the pits of fire!!” 

The lady continued screaming in the middle of many cybertronians and frankly, the majority were actually terrified of this small menace. 

“Forgive me, sir.” Prowl approached, he had a defeated expression in his face, accompanied with a dent on the right side of his helm. Optimus couldn't avoid looking at the small injury in his comrade, even Nightstalker was gazing upon it. “Ah… this… female human has a good shot… and a good arm at it. Ethan and I couldn't prevent the mother's kid from finding out.”

The woman was none other than Michelle Witwicky, mother of both Nathan and Pamela. Ethan was standing up right next to his sister with a defeated face, massaging a portion of his head with utter pain. His sister would never hit him, as it would have severe consequences to his brain, but his hair didn't follow this rule. 

Prowl didn't want to enter into too much detail of what happened, only that he had to reveal himself to Michelle in his true form… for Ethan's wellbeing. 

“You!” Michelle yelled from the distance while looking at none other than the Prime. “How could you let my son and daughter get involved in this mess?!”

She menacingly got closer to him, not caring if the leader of this species was almost six times her own size. The other Autobots got stupefied by her sheer audacity but were too intimidated to even do something. Per Optimus’ order, none of them could harm a human, since their bodies’ composition was too different, any sort of damage to any human could result in instantly lethal or severely permanent. 

Nathan was trying to deter her mother from reprimanding the Prime like a child. But his “Mom, please, stop. Don't.” were motherly ignored and dismissed. Ethan didn't even bother, he already knew his sister quite well. If anything, he only prayed that Optimus had the ultimate wild card that could cease her anger. 

Optimus, yet again, had to kneel down to confront a tiny-sized person. He had a pained face, true, he didn't want to put Nathan, much less Pamela, in this perilous situation. 

“Forgive me, madam,” yet, there were things he could control, such as previously rehearsing the words he could tell to anyone in this situation, “meeting with your son and brother was out of our servos. If we kept them close, it was not for the purpose of sending them into peril, but rather to guard them from any threats.”

“And do you think that makes it any better?! My daughter was held captive for who knows how much and the captor for all I know is still free!” Michelle yelled from the deepness of her diaphragm. 

Nightstalker, who was just behind Optimus, lowered his audials, utterly ashamed as he retreated a few steps back. He looked like a reprimanded cat that spilled his milk bowl all over the carpet. 

“And that is something that pains every one of us. We did not believe our enemies would resort to a low tactic, involving innocent related people to your family. In all honesty, I can not guarantee they will cease from this form of attack. But we will not let anyone place another servo…er, hand, to your family again.”

Michelle wanted to say anything, but her mouth remained empty. 

“The enemy knows who your family is. Is there anyone else in your home that needs protection?” Optimus asked. 

“N-no… my husband is… ok.” Her voice trembled as the realization of the threat to her family wouldn't stop. 

“Then I will assign one of my comrades to take care of both your daughter and yourself, madame, just as my friend Bumblebee has been protecting Nathan. It may not seem as much, but the Autobots aren't interested in hurting your kind. Far from it.”

Optimus stood firm, he accepted the blame of putting her family in danger, but he and Michelle knew this was something bigger that couldn’t be solved with a simple apology.

“W-why? Why is this happening to us?” Michelle was still angry, not wanting to calm down, but she didn't know who to blame. The question wasn't even directed at Optimus, she glanced at the floor, trembling in anger. 

But Optimus was able to hear her. 

“I may not know the answer. But if I may say anything about your family,” Michelle lifted her face to look at his optics, “is that I'm thankful we found Nathan and Ethan. Before arriving on Earth, only Bumblebee was familiar with human nature. We weren't sure if your kind would welcome beings like us. And it was a pleasant surprise we found two of them, gentle and willing to help us. That alone speaks to the levels of both of them. Thank you for educating a young one to be a noble and altruistic person.”

At the end, he referred to Nathan only. Bumblebee explained on the first days that mothers and fathers were the ones responsible for educating the growing humans, so he'd assumed Michelle was the one who taught Nathan to be the man he is right now. 

At this, Michelle broke into tears, her mind and heart had a mix of anxiety, fear, yet gratefulness to see both of her children safe and sound. 

“I did my best… I really tried…” She whispered while sobbing. 

Optimus stood up and looked at Ethan, signaling with his helm to take Michelle to a more private setting. Personally, the leader couldn't understand the reaction in the woman's body, especially the liquid flowing through her eyes. But he understood quite well that it must require a secluded area to think about what will happen from now on. 

The Autobots received the instructions of getting ready for departure. They've been in the battleship for too long, risking getting ambushed by the enemy at any second. Ratchet was in charge of fixing Jazz, securing a transportation device that would carry the latter to their base. There he would receive the remaining treatment. The others were either packing what could be still useful or loading them to crates. 

Afterwards, Optimus called everyone to gather with the humans, he needed to consult something of vital importance. He revealed to the team that he didn't ask this to the humans before, not because he didn't trust them, but because in this it was better to be completely sure about their alliance. After the events with Pamela, the storage facility incident and the intel Nightstalker revealed, Optimus could reveal more intel to these small creatures. They would be in danger, yes, but that scenario is already a reality.

“I know we've been asking more than enough, but,” Optimus approached Emma, Ethan and Nathan, the rest of the Autobots were gazing at the scene nearby, “I would like to inquire about something. The enemies we've encountered have been wearing these devices.”

Instead of showing the physical disk Nightstalker gave him, Optimus projected a holographic image of it, plus the ones they retrieved from Nightbird and Barricade. 

“All of them had on one of their sides this specific symbol. I would like to know if there's any association or group that bears this mark.” The image was blurred, erasing the unnecessary details, leaving in the green faced pharaoh. 

Both of the teenagers had both eyes squeezing, not because they couldn't see the image, they were having a hard time thinking. The symbol bore no resemblance to anything they've seen before. Nathan, for example, was very familiarized with tech logos, as well as cars. Emma, on the other hand, knew every cosmetic and clothing brand. 

“Yeah… I recognize it very well.” Ethan spoke with a preoccupied look, combing his beard with his hand as he thought. “That's Q-Tech's logo, no doubt about it.”

Both teenagers flinched, a bit perplexed at the old man's answer. 

“Wait, Q-Tech? You sure, uncle?” Nathan asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Yeah, it's logo has nothing to do with an ugly face, uncle Eth.” Emma complemented Nathan, her face sliding a bit to the side so that Ethan could see her. 

“That's because that's an old one. Q-Tech is older than you, kids. Heck, is older than my grandpa. But, when I was a kid, I used to visit his house frequently. He liked to collect ancient devices, and many bore that symbol. Hey, Chelly!” Ethan turned to his back, screaming at his sister. 

“What!?” Michelle answered even louder, already grumpy. 

“Come here! This is Q-Tech's logo, right?!” And the brother didn’t even lower his voice while talking to her, and he also sounded mad, or at least annoyed.

While they were barely some meters of distance in between the two brothers, they yelled at each other with such force and disdainful tone. The Autobots didn't know how to react to such behavior; for the two teenagers, well, that was a typical Monday for them. 

Michelle came by, carrying a sleeping Pamela in her arms. How the little one was able to rest after such screams was beyond the Autobots knowledge. After looking at the glowy logo on Optimus’ arm projector, her eyebrows went upwards. 

“Yeah, that's an old one. Our grandpa used to collect old devices, there were many with that symbol. We're talking about seventy years old or more.” She patted Pamela on her back, cuddling her slowly.

“Wait, are those the ones helping the Decepticons?” Bumblebee asked, seeing from behind all the talk. 

“Evidence suggests so, Bumblebee. Or there's another association wearing an old mark from this Q-Tech.” Optimus looked at his yellowy friend, a firm tone in his voice synthesizer. Then, he looked back at the humans. “Perhaps knowing more about this group could give us a better insight.”

Ethan nodded, but allowed the younger ones to speak first.

“Q-Tech is one the biggest corporations regarding technological devices. And we're talking about… big! They produce many devices around the planet.” Nathan began explaining.

“Yeah, most of the devices we use are made by one of Q-Tech's many branches. My cellphone, for example, is made by Movi, a group working for Q-Tech.” Emma added, showing her cellphone to her mechanical friends.

The Autobots had to recalibrate the optics to get a good look at the tiny device. It looked like they were squinting them. Eventually, their scans detected an M logo on the back of the cellphone. 

“Q-Tech may be known for mass producing tech, however, they're also an innovator company. What they produce it's created by them. In the market, they're the leaders in terms of designing their own tech. Each main factory has a building dedicated for experimenting with avant-garde prototypes. And once approved, they get mass produced and sold to the citizens.” It was Ethan who added the most on the intel. Even Nathan was surprised, seeing how much his uncle knew. 

“Whoa, that sounds like serious business, Optimus.” Bumblebee added. 

“And if there's anyone more fitting to create those devices…” Ethan pointed at the holographic image. 

“It would be them…” Optimus finished Ethan's sentence, closing the projected image. “But, it is too soon to assume this company you speak of is the identity of those allied with the Decepticons.”

“Agreed. It doesn't make sense they used an old image of their brand. Either they thought no one would remember it. Or there's… I don't know, like a rogue faction or something that split away from Q-Tech.”

“But why would they try to give a bad image to Q-Tech using an old logo? It's not like they're using it to fight other humans.” Michelle added, not liking the fact that the company that sells most of the domestic electronic devices she owns is scheming with giant evil robots. 

“Wait. Ethan, you said every main factory has a facility built for creating tech. Does this city have one of them?” Prowl asked his partner. 

“Negative, Prowl. Our city is big but it isn't the capital of our Providence. But we aren't so far away from it, it's our neighbor's.” Ethan answered, but he didn't include that said city was tons of clicks away. 

“But… is there something in this city that belongs to Q-Tech? Maybe a small… factory?” Arcee also included herself in the conversation. 

“Well… there's the shops and all but…” Emma wanted to say anything, however, neither her nor Nathan knew much about it. 

“Well, every company has their own storage in any city. Especially huge ones. But there must be only the merchandise that's meant for public consumption.” Ethan looked at Arcee with a skeptic look, he didn't think that building could have anything important. 

“Perhaps, but it's for the best to discard Q-Tech as a possible threat.” Optimus spoke again, making everyone look at him due to his answer.

“What are you suggesting, Optimus?” Ratchet got a bit closer to his leader and friend, he recognized his pensive expression.

“We could inspect the contents of this location. If there's any device that runs on Energon, we would detect it immediately.” The leader looked at his old friend, a bit decisive on this operation.

“I don't know, Optimus, it sounds risky, most human places have small cameras. If we're not careful, we're exposing ourselves.” Ratchet had to be the one to ground him back into the ground, since Ultra Magnus nor Elita were here to do it. 

“Then use my brother.” Michelle pointed to Ethan, with no concern in her face. 

“Wha- Chelly!” Ethan flinched, full eyes opened as her sister just threw him as a sacrifice. What's more insulting is that hours ago she was reprimanding Nathan for helping the Autobots, but has zero care for his younger brother. 

“What? The sooner we can discover if they're a threat or not, the sooner I can empty my house from their tech. I don't want to discover later on that they're watching us from my TV.” She then again looked at her daughter, patting her in the back.

Ethan sighed, knowing that she wouldn't risk her children. However, her paranoia wasn't too far fetched, if Q-Tech was behind this mess, it wouldn't be crazy to assume that's how they located Pamela in the first place. 

“It's not easy, sister,” he began, “unlike many other facilities, Q-Tech tends to have high security systems. One can’t just enter right away. Sure, our big friends here can lockpick doors with their guns, but that would just cause the alarms to go off and their sealing compartments would isolate any tech. And entering via hacking or tampering with their systems is almost impossible, only people that work there know how to use their systems since they have walls of encrypted codes.”

“Uncle… you sure know about them.” Nathan raised his eyebrow, surprised. 

“I once tried to enter Endpoint, kiddo, but that was a long time ago.” Ethan's brows furrowed, a sour look as he gazed upon the floor.

“Endpoint? What's that?” Bumblebee asked, interrupting the family so that the bots would still understand what the humans were talking about.

“Endpoint is… like… Q-Tech's personal university, er, academy, sort of.” Ethan answered, since he didn't know if cybertronians knew the concept of a university, he used something more general. “Most of Q-Tech workers studied there before being hired. It's almost a guaranteed ticket to get a job.”

The team thought in silence, they had to do something in order to figure out if said corporation was indeed allied with the Decepticons. 

“It is a long shot to figure out if Q-Tech is against us, but,” Optimus gazed at Ethan, “is there any way to receive help from one of their students to enter and explore this storage facility you mentioned?” 

“In theory… just like in theory there's humans willing to help us or announce your presence to the world. Honestly, a worker could have more chances in hijacking the system, but I doubt there's anyone willing to do so. Losing a job in Q-Tech is almost guaranteeing losing credibility, something they value. A student could be persuaded or tricked, if you're willing to resort to such a low tactic.”

“The ideal scenario would be resolving this issue with our current team. But, if the situation requires the aid from another earthling, we must prepare to accept one more member in our team.” Optimus spoke, signaling to both species. 

Ethan didn't want another human to risk their rears for this secret war, while Prowl didn't want another pesky trouble to guard and protect. 

“But, that is an issue for another day.” Optimus continued, as a way to ease the ambience,  “We don't have our warriors in good shape to even consider this surveying mission, and our earthling comrades just survived a stressful situation. Not to mention…” he gazed towards Michelle and little Pamela. The mother had a worried expression with both eyebrows furrowed. “We must not let you leave this place without a guardian that will protect you and your descendants, madame.”

Optimus glanced at every available Autobot that could take on this mission. Ratchet and Arcee were trying so hard in hiding their presences. The doc tried to bury his faceplate on a datapad he was thoroughly reading, whereas Arcee was looking at anywhere else except Optimus, slowly hiding behind Ratchet. Prowl sighed, thanking Ethan's presence which made him unavailable. He was still caressing the dent on his cheek. 

“Optimus, if I may…” Everyone suddenly turned to the speaking voice, lowering their gaze as Nightstalker approached the meeting, getting closer to both mother and daughter, “I would like to volunteer.”

Some of them flinched at his proposition, as they didn't expect at all this strange solidarity from Nightstalker. Michelle was confused as to why suddenly everyone got quiet. Then there was Optimus, who gently smiled at him and released a small chuckle. 

“I'm afraid we don't have any shanix at all to hire your services, Nightstalker.” He answered with a soft smile. 

Nightstalker sighed, irritated by the Prime's faint humor. “Then I request permission to join your ranks.”

“Why the change of mind? I believe you didn't want to become an Autobot.” Optimus asked what everyone was thinking, judging by their expressions.

“That is true, but…” The feline hesitated, his optics looming over Michelle, especially at the little girl sleeping in her arms, “if Soundwave and his Mini-cons are already on Earth, then the humans might have an event similar to today's. I am rather familiarized with Ravage's way of fighting and sneaking.”

In truth, he was deeply worried that Pamela would yet again follow a giant mechanical cat, becoming a hostage without knowing. The difference now would be that Ravage is a merciless being with his enemies or targets. This time there wouldn't be a second chance. 

“Very well, Nightstalker.” Optimus accepted his new member, and before anyone, such as Ratchet or Prowl, could even begin to complain as they were getting ready to, the leader continued, “however, you will accomplish this task accompanied by another Autobot. From now on, it is your duty to protect both Michelle and Pamela from the Decepticons alongside Blaster, Eject and Ramhorn.”

“Eh? Me?!” Blaster pointed himself, incredulously pointing himself with his optics wide open. Minutes before he was watching the whole situation unfold, it was when he distracted himself by looking over a blinking light that his name was called. 

He momentarily looked upon Michelle, the moment they both crossed gazes, the bot flinched. A single human had giant bots cowering in seconds. 

“Soundwave and Soundblaster are here on Earth, Blaster. You will need to train with a complete team of Mini-Cons. And Nightstalker has his own share of experience in combat.” Optimus started before Blaster could even try to plead for mercy. 

Blaster and Eject silently nodded, thinking on how to approach Ramhorn regarding their delicate assignment now. Meanwhile, Nightstalker greeted Michelle, very politely. 

This was one special way to start their adventures on Earth with their human protégé.