Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bulkhead and Bumblebee listened to Ratchet’s explanation of their plan to retrieve a relic very attentively. At least Bumblebee did. Bulkhead tried too, but medic’s droning was so elaborate that trying not to zone out was the best thing he could do. But despite that he still got the main gist: enter the groundbrige, find the right cave segment, smash a wall quietly, take the relic and go back as fast as possible. And so they set off into the swirling vortex before Ratchet could ask if they even listened.

First two steps of their plan were easy. They quietly went through underground corridors in the direction of the relic. Cold and dimly lit caves were nothing new and they were given general direction which was fortunately alined with the tunnels. The complications started when Bumblebee heard a faint rustling coming from behind the wall, that was needed to be destroyed. The scout stopped and strained his audials to try and hear what was behind the wall, even leaning closer and cupping his servos to amplify any sound on the other side. And nothing. Frustration filled Bee’s em field.

“Maybe a rock fell or something.” He tried to reassure Bumblebee. The yellow mech just beeped dismissively and Bulkhead transformed his servo into his mace and - CRUSH -, the wall hiding their relic was no more.

But it wasn’t hiding only the artifact, but also a dozen or two of decepticon drones in a mine with sky above them all.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee stared.

Drones stared.

Whatever they were doing was stoped and no sound was made by anyone.

SHOOooooT!

A single blast above their helms is all it took to break the silence.

A single blast above their helms is also all it took to crush the rock behind them and cut off their escape rout.

And so a fight has started. Most of the deceptions were shooting at autobots, while some fled to Primus-knows-where or hid behind the mining equipment. Before anything could hit them, Bumblebee beeped furiously and shoved Bulkhead behind a big fallen rock. His doorwings twitched in annoyance. Both mechs tried looking out from behind their cover and shooting at their enemies, but the oncoming fire was too great. Not good for the ‘bots. If they don’t comm for help, then their afts won’t come back, with or without the relic. But if they do comm, then Ratchet is gonna throw two- no, five-no, all of his wrenches at them, even if they do have the relic. The rock walls were too steep to climb and the only other exit was behind the ‘cons. No choice then.

Bulkhead opened his comm and spoke, “Hey, Ratchet- “ a tired exvent interrupted him.

“What happened?” Was all Ratchet said.

Bulkhead heard Bumblebee beep angrily at the ‘cons and continued. ”There are ‘cons. Like a dozen and a half, maybe.” A more tired groan was heard on the other side of the comm line.

He peeked out and shot down a ‘con, while ‘Bee already blasted two or three. But the ones that were left got closer.

“Send me the coordinates I’ll send Arcee and Optimus.” Before he could do as Ratchet had said, Bumblebee whistled and hit Bulk’s pauldron, pointing at the sky. Shock and surprise filled both of their em fields when Bulkhead finally looked up.

Bumblebee started beeping into the comm, his doorwings moving erratically and hitting the rock behind him. The ‘cons also noticed, lessening their fire and starting to move more erratically. Bulkhead tore his gaze away from the sky and shot down two more drones.

“Bumblebee, slow down I can’t understand what are you sa- What do you mean it’s getting closer?” The scout finally stopped staring at their next problem and shot at their current problem. The drones started running from side to side, trying to do something on control panels they had around.

Panicking sounds grew in volume.

“Why are they even panicking?” Bulkhead asked with a confused tone. “Isn’t it their reinforcemen- !” A distant shout followed by an audial shattering explosion of blue and white with shockwave strong enough to move their giant rock cover closer to the wall and to send any remnants of ‘cons and equipment flying into the rocky walls.

A wave of electricity followed suit shocking everyone who was left alive. Someone extremely heavy landed in the mine. Each pedestep shook the ground and the mining equipment, that wasn’t obliterated was falling from where it got stuck.

When electricity finally left their frames, Bulkhead quietly exvented, while Bumblebee looked out from behind their cover, his doorwings close to his body. When they got even closer to his back plating, the wrecker decided to look out too.

Carefully peeking out he sees a giant mech, probably taller than Optimus, standing back to them in the middle of crater they created, still having little charges of electricity jump from place to place. Striking white and blue with golden accents. A heavy armor covers each inch of their frame. The cannon, that was still letting out smoke, transformed into something more compact and was quickly put back on their spinal armor between their long white winglets. They didn’t look like a seeker, so maybe it was their jetpack? They seemingly didn’t notice two ‘bots who were left and raised their servo to their audial, quietly comming someone. Bumblebee raised his audial sensitivity to catch what they were talking about, but understood nothing. Not cybertronian, definitely not vosian, that screechy and whistle-like language sounds nothing like what they are hearing now, so probably a human language. Their winglets spread out in surprise, the autobots quickly and quietly hid back behind their rock in fear of being noticed, but the mech made no earth-shaking pedesteps towards them. The giant mech then stopped talking and let out an ex-vent. Loud roar of engines replaced the sound of one sided dialogue, they slightly crouched their knee joints and spread out their long winglets, that let out a blue fire. The mech looked around and WHOOOOSH vanished into the clear blue sky, leaving behind an almost invisible trail of smoke and a blown up mine.

Bumblebee noticed the beeping comm line first and opened it, his em field still tucked close to him.

“-HY ARE YOU NOT ANSWERING?! DID MEGATRON SHOW UP?!?” Ratchet was blowing his voice box into their comm line. “WHY DIDN’T YOU SEND YOUR COORDINATES??” A little ping and an oh-thank-Primus was heard on the other side.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee finally let out an invent they didn’t know they were holding. A ginormous mech equipped with a cannon strong enough to explode twenty or so mechs and leave no survivors (they were behind a rock and thus don’t count), and with an ability to fly without transforming into their root mode. It was very very very bad news. An empty energon mine with no ‘cons and with equipment (the one inside probably worked) isn’t going to cover that.

Before they could even transform their blasters back into servos, a blast of air and a humming noise appeared somewhere in the crater. Bumblebee looked out from behind the rock and immediately jumped out, his doorwings flapping joyously. Bulkhead didn’t wait and jumped out too to see Optimus and Arcee standing, ready to shoot down any ‘con. When they saw no one Prime turned his helm towards the wrecker and the scout, his em field showing his confusion. The ground bridge closed, creating silence that was quickly broken by Optimus.

“Bulkhead, Bumblebee, what happened?”

This would be a very long mission debrief.

Chapter Text

It has been a week since the first meeting with the unnamed mech. Even if they were against ‘cons like the Autobots, it didn’t mean that they could work together. Agent Fowler wasn’t exactly happy when he heard about a heavy armored, very powerful and flying cybertronian. And his mood wasn’t getting any better after the government showed clips of them searing through sky in the middle of nowhere. What if they were planning something? Arcee shook her helm. She needs to focus on her mission. As simple as scouting through a canyon looked, she still had to be cautious. Their new trouble didn’t appear anywhere near to where she is right now.

Arcee looked around, no one and no signs of anyone being here. Jack couldn’t come to the base today, he said something about extracurriculars and a math test, so she had to be alone for now. The two-wheeler turns a corner and looks around again, no one yet again, but rocks seem a little bit more unstable the farther she goes. Tall dusty orange cliffs towered above her, letting the morning sun shine on her frame, making tiniest scratches and dents visible. The marks left behind by war.

She wonders if the unnamed mech came from Cybertron. Bumblebee and Bulkhead didn't see any familiar branding on them so maybe they were neutral? No, no neutral would blown up a decepticon mine without even taking anything. They had to have an ulterior motive. Some kind of a goal. To destroy the decepticons or get a hold of their resources or their drones.

Arcee took a long invent. She needs to focus on scouting right now. A long exvent and she continued walking towards the area she need to look at. Before she could start thinking about their newest trouble again, something shifted. A big shadow flew over her path. A distant sound of engines was heard in the sky.

“Scrap!” Someone was flying above the canyon. Whoever it was, a ‘con or humans, she needed to hide, now.

Arcee quickly ran towards a shallow cave in the rocky wall and jumped inside, her winglets scratching against it. She pressed her frame closer to the wall, when the sound of engine started becoming less distant. Rocks beneath her pedes shifted. Arcee needed to be as quiet as possible, unless she wanted to be spotted.

She waited. The sound finally started quieting down and becoming farther from her. However she looked out only after it became almost inaudible even if she raised her audial sensitivity to max. The sky is clear, no giant mechs flying anywhere. Good, now she should get back to scouting, but more cautiously. Arcee started rising to her full height, hitting the rock wall behind her with her winglets, making them rustle. Tiniest pebbles fell down, causing little rocks to fall down, bigger stones followed suit. The two-wheeler noticed the mass of rocks cascading on her too late to do anything, but widen her optics, brittle orange stones burying blue and pink autobot.

system: rebooting
system status: partially damaged
locating damage…
left pede: heavily damaged
spinal plating: partially damaged.

Her optics onlined, slightly stuttering. Even if they were offline she wouldn’t see much difference from darkness and rocks that she sees now. Everything hurt like slag, her pedes especially, stinging and sending waves of pain to her processor. She needs to comm to the base, but the layers of rock on her are blocking the signal. She can’t feel any rocks on her right servo, so she tried moving it and maybe getting some rock off of her.

But before any meaningful amount of stone could be removed, she felt earth slightly shaking. And it wasn’t just shaking randomly, it had some sort of rhythm. Like… Like pedesteps? Earth shaking pedesteps that were getting closer each klik.

Frag! What that giant war mech is doing here? And her comms aren’t working, so Autobots will know if the giant of a cybertronian shot her with their giant cannon only after her dead frame will be found. A loud thud made little pebbles fall to the sides, but after that ground stopped shaking. Maybe she just can’t hear the cannon charging up. Or maybe they chose a different way of killing her right now. But instead of a devastating blow the rocks atop started shifting. But the weight didn’t become more crushing or more heavy, it was instead getting easier to invent. Were they trying to unbury her? Why would they even do that?

Her commline beeped quietly, letting her know that signal was getting better. She needs to send them a sos message in the hope that it will reach them before the war mech does. Arcee couldn’t do much besides just waiting and listening to their newest trouble remove rocks from above her. When enough rubble was taken off from her upper torso and she could look up, she saw a-

A massive cybertronian, lit up from behind by an already evening sun. Golden accents covered in dust and little scratches, the ones on his helm shined. A giant golden crest on the chest was as wide as her torso was tall. Wide blue pauldrons covering everything behind them. Their optics were hidden behind a pink visor, with battle mask over their intake. They towered above her, even when crouched and on their knees. She couldn’t make out any details because of bright light behind them, maybe also because of the rocks that fell on her helm. Arcee winced trying to calibrate her optic sensitivity and, when she looked up again, there was a very worried looking faceplate and servos hovering, wanting to help, but also scared to worsen the pain. Their pink optics are very expressive and are not helping the intimidating exterior. They were telling her something in a worried tone, but her processor couldn’t comprehend what was said. Arcee reboot her voice box before asking a simple -

“What.” The mech’s optics turned from worried to confused. Arcee’s em field was full of confusion as well.

He then pointed to rocks on her lower torso and made a- thumbs up, thumbs down gesture? She stared at that, even more confused. Was- Was he asking, if it was okay to proceed? Before the wall of a mech could get more of those little sweat drops drawn on his visor, she showed him a thumbs up with her right servo, nodding her helm too. His visor brightened up, quite literally, and he moved a little closer. His optics betrayed his battle mask, with the way his smile was very visible. Arcee carefully observed all of his moves. Others probably weren’t that far and she still could shoot him with her blasters, they weren’t damaged after all, but the heavy armor would protect him, even if she shot him point blank.

A staticky groan of pain escaped her voice box when a rock, that was crushing her left pede, was removed. That was also the last rock that was pining her down, so she sat up and pulled her damaged limb closer, inspecting it. There was a little trail of energon from where she pulled it out. She definitely won’t be able to walk like that. A shocked noise escape the war mech. Arcee turns her optics at him and sees a very worried expression. His long winglets were moving up and down, showing panic.
Yes, her left pede hurt, but it wasn’t a critical injury and it wouldn’t even leave any lasting damage, so she tried to reassure with a thumb up gesture. The mech looked from her injury to her optics and shook his head, he even did the thumbs down gesture a few times to show, that he didn’t think that it was okay.

Blowing up dozens of drones is more okay, than a broken pede to him it seems. But before she could say anything about that strange contradiction a yell was heard from behind the corner.

“ARCEE!!!” It was Ratchet’s voice and the owner of the voice appeared not much later.
The medic stood there with a very angry and worried expression on his faceplate. He just stood there and stared with a- oh, no- wrench in one servo and a medkit in the other. If looks could kill, the enormous mech would be dead in a klik even with his heavy plating. Said mech slowly put his servos in the air surrendering, before slowly moving behind Arcee, almost stammering because of small rocks thrown around. He then points at Ratchet and does a thumbs up, his optics indicating this gesture as a question. Arcee looks at Ratchet, who is now more incredibly confused than angry, then also does a thumbs up.

“Wha- Arcee, what happened?” The medic looks at the enormous mech with suspicion in his optics and starts moving closer to Arcee.

“I got in a cave in and he, “ she pointed behind her “for some reason dug me out and didn’t kill me. He also can’t understand us.” Ratchet looks at the big mech one last time before kneeling next to Arcee and inspecting her pede and her back.

“Nothing too bad, but we’ll need to get you back to base to fix that.” He said, pointing at the crushed metal and a gash on her tire, energon smeared all over it.

A sound of incoming pedesteps was heard from the direction from which the medic had come from. Optimus and Bumblebee peeked out from behind the corner, the rock corridor not wide enough for all of them to fit in. Their gazes fell on the two-wheeler, but quickly left in favor of the giant mech behind her and the medic. The sound of blasters charging up alerted the giant flyer, his expression morphing into one of worry.

“Wait! He is not going to hurt us.” Arcee spoke to her comrades.

They slowly lowered down their blasters. Bumblebee stayed cautious, his doorwings twitching slightly, but Optimus transformed away his weapon. Ratchet quietly said that he’ll pick her up to get to the base, but before he could do that a sound of metal rustle was heard from the giant mech. All autobots quickly got their weapons out and pointed it at the mech, who had a - a terrified expression on his faceplate? The mech started patting him upper armor, as if to prevent it from falling apart. Another rustle of metal came from him and everyone started charging their shots. The war mech slightly crouched, causing the autobots to back away, and activated his engine.

“STOP AND WE WIL NOT HURT YOU!” Optimus shouted, but the war mech didn’t listen, jumping up and flying into the evening sky, sending a strong shockwave and clouds of dust at them. Just in a klik and there was no trace of the enormous mech left.

The Autobots had nothing else to do, but get back to their base, reporting to agent Fowler and listening to what Arcee had to say about their newest trouble.

Chapter Text

Their energon deposits were thinning out. The mine, that was left from their first encounter with the unnamed mech, while it had enough deposits for a few weeks, wasn’t rich. The Autobots have to raid a new discovered decepticon mine. It was in a dense forest far away from any human settlement, supposedly with a little amount of mining drones, almost abandoned. Usual preparations were done and they went through the ground bridge. Kids and Ratchet stayed in the base, Bulkhead triple checked that Miko wasn’t actually with them and they set out.

The mission was going according to their plan. They were moving towards the control panels, taking out any drones that were left, which wasn’t a lot. Optimus and Bumblebee were moving ahead, their blasters ready to shot. Arcee and Bulkhead were going behind. Prime noticed how Bumblebee’s doorwings were held closer to his frame, his em field had spots of uneasiness in it.

“Bumblebee, is everything alright?” The doorwings twitched and the yellow mech let out a series of quiet beeps. Optimus thought about what was said to him for a few kliks before answering. “I don’t think that the mech will appear, nor that he is related to the decepticons. He was eager to help Arcee, so it is highly unlikely.”

A little whirr is all he got from the scout, but his doorwings were moving a bit more freely. Prime let out his em field, laced with comfort and confidence, and gently wrapped it around Bumblebee, lessening his worries. A thank you beep was heard and Optimus smiled behind his battle mask.

They continued onwards, going closer to the command desk, to the centre of this mine, but the amount of mining drones seemed to suspiciously decrease. Something was up. Optimus spoke into the shared comm line.

“Autobots, be careful. We could have been noticed.” Hums of agreement were heard in the comm line. The sound of charged blasters quietly hummed through the cave.

The next turn would lead them to a tunnel, that leads to the surface, thus ending the raid of the mine, that had almost no drones. Something was up. He looks back at Arcee and Bulkhead, both have their weapons out and ready. Everything else was weirdly quiet, only tiny pebbles under their pedes emitting almost unhearable noises. There was the light of the sun in the distance and a lot of mining equipment when they turned to the left. Bumblebee looked around, beeping in confusion, while others murmured something to themselves. The air crackled with tension. They moved towards the command console, Arcee already looking through all the files in it. She furrowed her optic ridges, her winglets dropping lower. A quiet little sound was hidden by noises of the electronics around them.

“Something’s wrong with all of it.” The two-wheeler murmured under her breath. A rhythmic sound was getting a bit more hearable each klik.

Bumblebee wanted to look closer, his doorwings held closer to his back, but fluttering a bit. Bulkhead was looking around for the decepticons. Their leader was guarding over them, his finial slightly twitching. A groan escaped Arcee and just when she wanted to say something, a beeping noise was finally loud enough for all of them to notice. The scouts were franticly looking over the command console, while he and the wrecker were looking everywhere else around to find the source, because that beeping sound was used only in -

“LANDMINE, RUN.” Arcee shouted, she and Bumblebee already in the middle of their transformations, Optimus and Bulkhead followed suit.

The Autobots were speeding off to the exit of the mine, but the landmine exploded sooner than expected, sending a strong shockwave and making the ceiling above it collapse. Massive rocks fell and almost crushed those who were behind, dust clouds blinding them. They all escaped to the above ground, but the sudden shots made them hit the brakes and transform into their rout modes, drawing out their weapons.

This all was a decepticon trap after all, lure autobots in and blow them up, and if something didn’t go as planned wait for them at the exit. Arcee cursed between shooting, Bumblebee covered her back, their combined em fields full of irritation. Bulkhead was smashing the drones’ helms not far away from Optimus, who had his sword out, slashing through plating of the decepticons.

But the amount of enemy mech didn’t seem any smaller even after hours of fighting. The drones, for some reason, focused on Optimus, attacking him from all sides. Bumblebee tried to help, but was also swarmed, beeping loudly in anger. Avoiding the incoming shots was getting harder each klik and when he slipped up a shot tore the pauldron of his sword arm. Shouts of concern left his comrades, but Optimus quickly collected himself and went back to offensive. Energon was slowly leaking from his injury.

The sound of battle drowned out the loud roar of engines up in the skies.

Another shot missed his helm just slightly, but this time it was closer. He was slowly bleeding out, a new wave of pain shot through him, his blade missing the target. Optimus sees a blaster aimed right at his chasis, already charging. He closed his optics, but the shot never came. A set of explosions sent the drones flying, leaving Optimus without the crowd. The roar of engines from the above is heard and another set of explosions, but in a different direction, removes a significant amount of the decepticons. Optimus looks up and sees the giant mech, moving closer to the battle field. Surprised noises were heard from his comrades as the mech landed, making the earth shake.

The Autobots tensed. Could the mech be helping deceptions offline them? Or could he be an ally?

The battlefield seemingly froze in time as the Autobots watched the giant mech reach for his cannon on his back, slowly turning to them. The sun lit him up from behind, making his faceplate not visible. When he finally turned to them, with the cannon folding into an enormous sword, nobody moved, awaiting for the next move of the war mech.

The mech looked at them, golden accents shining brightly in the sun and - waved to them? His pink optics lit up, showing that he smiled at them, and his white winglets fluttered happily. The tension partially left the Autobots, only to be replaced with confusion.

The time unfroze instantly as a shot of plasma flew right next to Optimus. The battle went on, everyone exchanging shots and slashes. Deceptions threatened to crowd Optimus again, but were stopped immediately by a wide swing of a giant sword. Prime looked up to the mech, even if he was tall, the war mech was a head or two taller, and heard.

"I have come to help." The mech had said in a happy, but still focused tone, before destroying more decepticons.

With the unnamed mech the battle didn't last long, drones either fleeting or perishing rather quickly. And when the last 'con was off the entrance of the mine, Autobots came closer to the giant mech. He didn't notice them at first, folding his great sword back to its original form, but a beep from Bumblebee alerted the mech. He got very surprised and almost dropped his weapon, long winglets flaring out on his back. He looked down at Autobots, a questioning look in his optics.

"We greatly appreciate you help, but we would like to talk to you." Optimus started, his own sword transformed back into a servo. His comrades gathered just a tiny bit closer. "My name is Optimus Prime. Could you please tell us your name and where are you from?"

The mech calmed down and nodded.

"My name is Blue Cop," the mech stopped for a klik, thinking about something, "My home planet was destroyed and I had to leave. Earth is my home now."

Surprise filled the em fields of Optimus' team, but grief and sadness quickly mixed in. Bumblebee's doorwings dropped down, as Bulkhead' and Arcee's gazes fell down. Optimus looked back at the mech, his winglets stayed close to his frame and a sad expression in his optics, but no actual em field. It wasn't held close or thinly dispersed, they still would have noticed it either way. Optimus shook his helm slightly, before reseting his voice box and continuing.

"It seems like we are in a similar position, then." Optimus didn't notice, but the mec- Blue Cop had a very puzzled look. "Are you an Autobot? "

Blue Cop squinted his right optic, seemingly confused. He brought his servo to his battle mask, pondering about the question and each klik the Autobots got more and more weary. The mech finally nodded uncertainly. Optimus felt his comrades relax, their em fields getting less dense. But the next reply somehow gave them more questions.

"I'm one of the last Star Guardians left." His speech was laced with an unknown accent and mourning, pink optics faded slightly, no longer smiling. A moment of silence lowered upon the mine entrance.

A quiet metal rustle was heard from him, surprising the Autobots. The giant mech looked at his plating with panic in his optics.

"I- I need to go!" His hurrying pedesteps shook the ground, engine already starting as another louder rustle of metal tore through him, making him bent down slightly.

"If you're hurt we can help you!" Optimus shouted, reaching his servo out. The giant mech revived his engines and before flying off, he said something very contradicting to his state.

"No hurt! No hurt! Just need to go." Blue Cop reassured them, but the blue pauldron almost falling off didn't help him sell the lie. "ah-, Goodbye! "

"Just let us help!" Arcee shouted but the mech already flew off, his flying pattern curved when his right winglets shook.

They starred at a little dot in the distance and when it completely disappeared, Optimus activated his commline and heard kids and Ratchet questioning them.

"Ratchet, we have an ally."

The questions and voices on the other side became only louder.

Chapter Text

Something was up with Blue Cop, Ratchet thought. The team was still gathering resources from their newest mine even the day after it was raided. Bulkhead and Optimus were taking heavy crystals of energon to the opening of the mine, while Arcee and Bumblebee were tacking apart the equipment and anything that was left behind by decepticons. The entire plan to blow them up in and bury them under the rocks was badly thought out, dark energon probably getting into Megatron’s processor. Nothing healthy would come from using that stuff. Children were helping with taking apart and tossing things into the pile of useful materials. Ratchet and Raph were staying in the base on the bridge duty.

Was the giant mech truly with them? He couldn’t understand them last time, then how did he do that now? Did he really just learn english? Optimus noted an unfamiliar accent, that didn't sound like any that would be left from any of their languages. Cybertronians can load a language chip into their processor, it can be done even with human's lacking technology, so why learn it manually? Optimus also said he had at least 6 wheels, which absolutely baffled Ratchet. The mech was flying all over the country in his rout mode, so the jetpack was a modification, but those were either illegal or experimental and dangerous. His pondering was cut short when Raph activated the bridge for Bulkhead so he could start bringing materials in.

A whoosh and loud clank of materials indicated the green mech's arrival. Ratchet quietly pointed to an empty spot that he reserved for materials. Bulkhead nodded and emptied his servos, everything fell and made very loud noises.

"Bulkhead..." Medic almost growled, scaring the wrecker.

"Oops." Bulkhead said apologetically and quickly went into a green vortex.

The process repeated three more times, with Bulkhead making a loud noise and quickly retrieving into the bridge. Raph giggled quietly each time, because Ratchet got closer to throwing a wrench. The medic actually looked at the pile of supplies forming on their floor. Everything is unsorted, in a big messy heap. He would sooner or later have to sort it all out, so why not do it now? He could probably set his mind on a useful task instead of thinking about the weird mech.

“Raph, could you please man the bridge while I organize it all?” He looked at the kid the size of the ground bridge lever brighting up.

“Of corse!” Raph answered happily, smiling.

Ratchet smiled at the kid fondly and walked up to their supply pile, sitting down in front of it. The metals go to the left with quiet clank, different useful minerals are inspected, maybe they are not useful at all. He looks at the mauled parts of machinery, some of them could be used to upgrade their own equipment, his servo-made energon distillery could use a patch or two in some spots, especially the filtration tube on the back. An interesting piece with a rare metal was put into his subspace, to higher the chances of it being not lost. Quiet pings of their commline were annoying, but he glanced at them from time to time, seeing nothing important. Even the sound of ground bridge activating didn’t distract him. Bulkhead stomped in loudly, irritating the medic more than last time, and dropped everything next to Ratchet very loudly. The wrench dropped from the medic's subspace, and was sent flying at the lousy wrecker.

"BULKHEAD, STOP DROPPING THE- " When the medic turned he saw the enormous mech with surprised optics and a slightly rotated cap and definitely not Bulkhead "-materials..."

The silence fell over them. Blue Cop had very surprised and shocked optics, his giant servos still bent. Ratchet stares at him, optic ridges high up and baffled. Raph was quietly watching at them from the bridge control panel.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?" Ratchet shouted angrily at the enormous mech, who quickly stepped back and crouched slightly, trying to look smaller.

The medic continued yelling at Blue cop, throwing wrenches from his subspace at the end of every sentence and when he ran out of them, the minerals came in. The big mech was covering behind his arms, his winglets closely tucked to his frame and flinching every now and then, frantic and disjointed words flew from his voice box.

"Optimus-," clank "say it - ,” another clank, "- okay!” another rock hit him.

Ratchet stopped when he reached for rocks but there were none. He looks down shocked, looks at the big mech, already sitting on the floor behind his arms, surrounded by wrenches and minerals. Blue Cop peeked out from behind his servos, a little tear drawn on his optics, that were carefully watching Ratchet’s every move and when he brought his servo up to rub his optic ridges, the big mech flinched.

“Optimus, why is he here?” Ratchet almost growled into the commline.

“Ratchet, he is an autobot, like us.” He said tiredly, sighing at the end. “He wanted to help and we sent him with materials. Please, don’t tell me you did something to him.”

A scared shriek from the mech, who only now noticed Raph when the boy said a quiet ‘hello’, was heard by Prime.

“Ratchet, please, be civil with him.” Ratchet grumbled as an answer, but his friend continued. “And tell him to comeback, please.”

“Fine.” The medic said reluctantly and closed his comms.

He turned back to Blue Cop who was eyeing Raph with curiosity. The boy was also looking at the blue mech, stopping a few times on his golden crest. White winglets finally visible from behind his back, but the tiny tear was still drawn on his faceplate. Interesting, cybertronians couldn’t produce liquids from their optics, but also none had a fragging led screen instead of optics, because the tiny tear drop was the same color as his optics and was seemingly scribbled with a sharpie.

Huh. Ratchet decided to really look at the giant mech. His dermas were hidden behind by a battlemask, like Optimus, but this one had no transformation lines. Battlemasks were a rare retractable piece of armor, usually acquired through a medical procedure and they always had t-lines. Then Ratchet looked for more oddities in the mech. Count the wheels, his processor nagged him. Ratchet let his gaze travel, looking for tires. A pair on servos, shoulders and pedes, six total as Optimus said, but then Blue Cop turns his upper torso to the right to better see Raph, who was now talking to him, and reveals two more pairs of wheels on his torso, one on the tasset an the other hidden under the big chassis, making the number go up to ten. He needs to get him out of the base, now.

“Optimus asked you to some back to the mine.” Ratchet said sternly, wanting the blue mech gone from his view, but trying to hide it.

The mech looked at him, puzzled and thinking. The medic pointed to the still working ground bridge, annoyed. Blue Cop quickly stood up, shaking off all the wrenches and minerals that were thrown at him, and hurried past the medic for the green vortex, trying to make his pedesteps as quiet as possible now. But just before he had disappeared, Ratchet looked at his winglets and saw another pair of wheels. Twelve wheels, with tires and made for ground based alt modes. The amount wasn’t even the main issue, there were cars like that, even though rare, but when the mech hurried past him, he saw a normal sized civilian car bumper on his chassis behind the golden crest, so he can’t transform into something that matches the amount of wheels he has on his frame. Is he a combiner?

He wanted to step closer to the control panel, but the pile of minerals blocked his way. Right, now he needed to organize it all again. He scooped up the rocks and brought them back, sitting down. He should look for more weird things about the mech.

Various members of team prime came and went to bring more materials in, over time some would stay and help with organizing and putting things in their right places. At first it was Arcee who joined him, then it was Bumblebee, but others were still in the mine. The blue mech didn’t appear a lot, but when he did he was trying to go away as fast as possible, flinching when he felt Ratchet looking at him. Arcee had concern seep in her em field whenever that happened.

When enough hours have passed, that children would soon have to go home, Blue Cop was finally shooed into the base by Bulkhead and Optimus. Everyone was covered in dust and little scratches, especially servos, the blue mech was also covered in small dents from wrenches and minerals.

Materials and other scavenged supplies were resting in their base, ready to be used. Right now everyone were quietly talking about today and future plans, Ratchet listened, commenting sometimes. He was also glancing sometimes at Blue Cop, who was just listening with confused faceplate, he probably couldn’t even understand half of what was said. With the way this was going, his english would not get better. Ratchet sighs.

“We should probably just give him a language chip.” Others looked at him and the conversation, that they had, ended instantly.

"Why we didn't do this earlier?" Bulkhead asked in surprise.

Everyone looked at the giant mech, who was even more confused now, and started herding him into the medbay. Blue Cop almost hit his helm on the doorway, looking at others with confusion and fear, his winglets tucked close to his frame and slightly trembling. Arcee was showing him thumbs up, which, honestly, did nothing to calm him down, Bulkhead was saying something reassuring and Optimus was gently pushing him in his pauldrons to guide him into the medbay. They all managed to shove him into a small room and sit him down on a med berth. Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee were staying out with supportive smiles and saying something supposedly comforting, Optimus stood next to the medbay entrance.

Confusion went away and fear settled in when Blue Cop saw Ratchet going for the med computer, typing something in and getting a strange long black cable out. Ratchet made a turn-around gesture still looking at the screen. The blue mech glances at the cable, then at the entrance, only Optimus was still there, others went to drive their kids to their homes, and then at Ratchet, millions of questions running through his head, but he does turn even though very reluctantly. Ratchet walked around the med berth to see the back of their guest's helm, looking for med ports. The usual place for those was under the place where helm and neck connected, maybe above, but there was none. Each time the medic touched something, Blue Cop would try to flinch away with a little terrified noise.

"Where, where..." Ratchet muttered under his breath. Blue Cop had many modifications as he had noticed, so maybe it was in a different spot.

Ratchet put away his servos, thinking. His hat could turn and supposedly be taken off, so maybe the port was hidden under it.

"Hmm..." He swiftly took the hat off, trying to look closer, but was hit with winglets from left and right, a scared high-pitched yelp echoed in the medbay.

Ratchet, as he was now stuck between white winglets, couldn't do much but be squished when Blue Cop quickly turned around and grabbed his hat from the medic's servos. Optimus was shocked and tried asking what's wrong, but it fell in deaf audials. The ginormous mech stood up, Ratchet falling from the grip, and hastily left the medbay accidentally bumping Optimus and the doorway along the way, his pedesteps shaking the floor. As soon as Prime and the medic collected themselves they hurried out of the room to see where was their guest going.

Blue Cop walked up to the ground bridge control panel, looked at it and it's buttons and levers, turning his head around trying to figure out how it works, then giving up, he turned his head to two mechs and said pathetically.

"Home..." He looked like, what Miko would say, a kicked puppy. Sad optics and a tear drawn right below it.

Optimus and Ratchet looked between each other.

"You can stay here if you wan-" Optimus tried to say but was interrupted with another sad -

"Home. Please." The mech's pauldrons drooped, winglets slightly moving up and down.

Ratchet sighed, looks like he won't get any more information from that mech today. He walked up to the control panel opening up the coordinate typing bar.

"Where is it, then?" The medic asked, his servos above the keyboard.

Blue Cop thought about the answer for a few kliks and murmured "Korea."

Okay, he can work with that. Ratchet quickly typed in a set of coordinates far away from any towns in Korea, somewhere in the middle. The flyer could get anywhere he wanted from that point pretty quickly with his jetpack. The activation lever was pulled and green vortex appeared with whoosh of wind.

Blue Cop's winglets fluttered happily and he hurried for the way to his home, but right before he entered he turned around.

"Where is you home?" He asked in broken english, that hurt Ratchet's audials, and waved his servos around, meaning their entire base.

Ratchet looked to Optimus, who now looked less worried, silently asking if they can trust him. Prime smiled, almost invisibly.

"Jasper, Nevada." The mech nodded happily, his winglets flaring out.

He turned back to the ground bridge and went in, almost hitting his helm on the low ceiling.

"Goodbye!" And he disappeared.

Ratchet closed the bridge, he and Optimus still silently looking at it.

"He's definitely not a cybertronian." Ratchet said after a few quiet kliks.

Chapter Text

The next day autobots were waiting for the return of their new ally, looking at the sky more often on patrols. But he wasn’t spotted flying over Jasper. He supposedly lived somewhere in South Korea, so he has a different time zone and maybe he would come back later that day?

He didn’t come back, nor did he came back the next day. Optimus thought that they probably overstepped in some way, leading to Blue Cop seizing all contact with them. But he did ask where their base was and wasn’t sad or angry when he left, perhaps very tired. Maybe he just needed to rest for some time. Arcee and Bumblebee were certain that the mech would come back, and they continued waiting for the loud roar of engines from above.

He didn’t appear for another day, Miko was impatiently asking about him.

He didn’t appear for two more days, Arcee was spotted on the top of their base, looking at the sky.

He didn’t appear for a whole week and the hopes of him coming back were getting smaller after each solar cycle.

Bumblebee was taking Raph to their base on a quiet Sunday. The boy was talking about an assignment in school, a presentation about seahorses for science class. Bumblebee listened attentively, chiming in and asking questions. They were chatting on the way, already leaving the city, houses stayed behind, only dessert and sand around them. Autobot base was already in view and they would arrive in a few kliks. Raph was telling about his presentation, but suddenly stopped and a klik later the car quickly braked to a stop.

Someone was on top of the silo. The sun from behind them made them unrecognizable, but one thing was certain. It was a cybertronian.

Bumblebee immediately put the pedal to the metal, trying to get as fast as possible to the base. The hidden door opened and he stopped, letting Raph out. Others have already noticed the intruder on the top of their base.

Ratchet looked through the cameras, but they didn’t cover that part and all that was seen was a giant shadow looming over Jasper. Arcee volunteered to go to the top and confront the intruder.

“Autobots, be ready to attack.” Optimus said as they stood under the hatch to outside, blasters out and charged.

Arcee quietly opened it and peeked outside to see the mech standing on the edge, seemingly admiring the view. He was still shadowed and she couldn’t recognize who that was. She gently got out without making any loud noises and quietly transformed her servo into her blaster.

“What are you doing here?” She said, the sound of the charged up blaster followed.

Her aim wavered when she saw the giant mech turning around. They were blocky with wide shoulders with big blue pauldrons and golden elements that shined in the sun. A pink visor covered their optics and a battlemask hid their derma. Something white and long was on their back just like-

“Blue Cop?” She asked surprised, lowering her blaster. The mech quickly fully turned around.

It truly was Blue Cop, finally getting back after being missing for a week. When he recognized Arcee, his optics smiled and his winglets flared out happily.

“Arcee!” He waved to her, making her transform away her blaster. “I am sorry for leave for too long. My English got better.”

His final words made her snort quietly. Yep, truly him. She opened her comms and said.

“Lower your guns, it’s just Blue.” The other side of the comm line was a mess of surprised noises that could be heard through the hatch.

The hatch opened so fast that it scared the big mech, who jumped in surprise. Bulkhead and Bumblebee wanted to see their newest friend, but the trapdoor was too small for both of them to fit through, leaving only their helms sticking out, Optimus and Ratchet squeezed somewhere behind them. Blue Cop recognized them and waved to them too.

“Did Ratchet scared you too much? Or did something happened in your home?” Bulkhead asked, trying to get a better look from the hatch. Bumblebee beeped something curiously.

The blue mech thought, trying to process the questions thrown at him. A klik passed and then he answered.

“I wanted to go home. Family were worried. Very late and tired.” He said slowly, like he was choosing each word before saying it. His winglets got closer to his frame when he mentioned his family.

That surprised the Autobots. By family he meant other cybertronians, or others of his kind? Or did he mean humans? Agent Fowler wouldn’t be happy with either options if he heard them. Bulkhead winced slightly. He retreated back into the base, Optimus’ helm taking his place, making Blue Cop let out a tiny surprised noise.

“We were worried about you, but knowing that you simply went home is good.” Optimus said calmly, giving the big mech a few kliks to process the words. “Could you, perhaps, tell us about your family?"

Blue Cop fluttered his winglets happily. Bumblebee ducked down into the hatch, letting Optimus crawl out, then he crawled out himself. Arcee stood next to the giant mech, her servos crossed.

"Jun is kind and happy. He is human, like Raph, Miko and Jack. He has blue -" He stopped, his servos hovering over his helm, and mimicked sweeping hair.

"Hair?" Arcee suggested and Blue Cop nodded in agreement.

They listened, smiles slowly creeping onto their faceplates. Ratchet hid in the hatch, his optics peeking out. It was their chance to get more information about Blue Cop. They had to be careful, if they don’t want to scare the mech away again.

“There are other ca- autobots, like us.” He vaguely gestured at the autobots, who were surprised by his statement.

There were other Autobots? Did they not know about team Prime? Were they fighting decepticons on their own all this time? Why didn’t Blue Cop tell them earlier? Said mech noticed shock on his friends’ faceplates and his happiness was replaced with confusion. He looked at them trying to figure out if he had said something wrong, but they hid their shock as best as they could. Optimus and Ratchet exchanged a few glances and then Prime spoke.

“Are you from Cybertron?”

Blue Cop flared out his winglets with a baffled expression on his optics. The Autobots were tense. They did discuss the oddities of the giant mech, coming up with a few theories, that maybe he was just from a very far away colony or one of the few combiners that were left. But Ratchet was very sure that he wasn’t a cybertronian at all. Yes, their anatomy varied a bit, but not that much. The medic squinted his optics at Blue Cop, who finally came to his senses, even though still confused, and answered.

“No?” He said firmly, but it still sounded like a question. Their theories were proven right, there was a far off colony were he had lived- “I am from planet Machina.” Their theories were proven wrong instantly.

The top of their base was covered entirely in confusion. Planet Machina is real? Isn’t it on the other side of the universe in the middle of the nowhere? The Autobots glanced between each other, silently trying to figure out what to say next.

Seeing his friends’ expressions, Blue Cop was perplexed. They were opening and closing their dermas for a few more kliks before the source of their confusion asked.

“Are- are you not???” He took a step back, shaking tiny pebbles on the ground. His optics got more serious, winglets pressing closer to his frame.

Autobots nodded. Blue Cop lowered his helm, thinking about something, then he started saying “Why- ,“ but quickly stoped, remembering something, his optics dimming slightly after a klik. His pauldrons and winglets lowered. He fidgeted with his servos, but then he asked again, but quieter, with sadness laced through each word.

“You lost your home too?” No one dared to make optic contact, except Optimus, who looked up at the blue mech and quietly nodded, optics full of melancholy. A quiet surprised noise escaped him, but heavy silence settled on the top of the Autobot base.

No one said anything for what felt like eternity. Memories of their respective homes stinging. Pain only intensified when the war sneaked into their thoughts. The never-ending conflict that ruined millions of lives and almost wiped out them all, that has destroyed their home and their families. Autobots stepped a bit closer to each other, finding a tiny speck of comfort in knowing that they are still together.

Why the universe decided to destroy their homes? To leave them wandering and killing each other off?

Quiet words broke the silence. They were gentle and uncertain, slightly shaking at the end.

“We can make home here…” Blue Cop said, averting his optics. His winglets shook worriedly. “Help, support, together…” He trailed off, his fidgeting increased.

That surprised them, but unpleasant thoughts vanished pretty quickly. Arcee smiled, everyone else followed suit. Melancholy in their em fields was mostly gone, but still present in some places. When Blue Cop noticed how the tension went away, he smiled with his optics, his winglets relaxed.

“That would be very nice, thank you.” Optimus said, words filled with gratitude.

Blue Cop fluttered his winglets, his optics brightened up.

They have moved to the inside of their base. The Autobots went through the hatch, but Blue Cop had to use the main entrance, due to his massive size. The tall dusty walls, still with marks from the scraplet infestation, were comforting. They have settled in a circle with Raph sitting on the mezzanine and started talking about what their homes were like, about Blue Cop’s friends and how they have been living on Earth. This time the giant mech contributed to the conversation, not confused as last time or simply listening, but enthusiastically telling them about his family.

He had lived in South Korea for a few years now. He had met Jun and befriended him. They were looking for other cardbots that managed to flee to Earth. That was the name of their species and as they had found out, Blue Cop thought that autobot was just a slightly different name.

“Do you want to visit my family?” He had asked after a bit, hesitantly. Others at Edo’s would be happy to finally see who Blue was talking about for the past month.

“I think that’s a good idea.” Are said smiling, Bumblebee beeped in agreement.

Blue cop smiled yet again, his optics brighter than ever, winglets fluttering happily.

Chapter Text

Right before Blue Cop left, he gave them a set of coordinates, saying that his friend will meet them if they come at a certain time, and then he was gone, again. The Autobots had a few days before the meeting with the cardbots and they decided to use it for something useful, such as downloading a Korean language chip, so they could finally communicate without any misunderstandings. Miko had complained that it was unfair, how cybertronians could just learn a language in a day, while Bulkhead waited for his turn in the medbay. Others were discussing something.

What other cardbots would look like? Would they all be tall like Blue Cop? Or would they be similarly sized to cybertronians? The giant mech said nothing about how his family looked like, he mainly focused on their personalities, probably because he didn't have enough vocabulary to describe them, considering he doesn’t know any basic colors besides blue and white. There could be a lot of things that are individual to Blue Cop or native to all cardbots. Maybe they all have a bright pink visor or built-in blasters in their limbs, who knows. Optimus noted a complete absence of an em field, Arcee agreed, saying that there was absolutely nothing even when they were right next to each other.

As the time for their meeting came closer it was decided to expect everything, from 15 meters tall mechs to similar to cybertronian mechs, maybe Blue Cop is the only freakishly tall one. Ratchet would stay at their base and man the ground bridge, children would stay at their homes, because of the big time difference between the time zones.

Ratchet was looking at the clock, impatiently tapping the ground bridge controls. Optimus stood next to him, thinking about something. A tired sigh escaped the medic.

“You should go now.” Optimus looked at Ratchet, who was already entering the coordinates, nodded and then turned his gaze towards the rest of his team.

The Autobots gathered around the ground bridge that appeared with a gust of wind and a green light. Hesitation hung in the air. They exchanged glances, waiting for the others to step in to the green vortex first, but no one dared to. A klik later and Arcee walked up to the ground bridge, stopping right in front go it.

“Come on guys, we shouldn’t keep them waiting.” She turned her helm to them with a smirk.

The Autobots were going through the green vortex. Optimus was behind and right before he left he waved to Ratchet, the medic’s optics softened. Then Prime went into the portal, getting swallowed by the ground bridge.

On the other side of the ground bridge was a sunny clearing in a forest with an unused dirt road on the left. Tall trees surrounded them, quiet chirps of birds could be heard from the green foliage. The gust of wind from the ground bridge stopped a klik after the Autobots stepped out. Bumblebee and Bulkhead were curiously looking around, the scout’s doorwings fluttering. Arcee heard a faint noise of a highway somewhere in the distance, Optimus stood next to her.

Shhnk

A sound of metal alerted the Autobots who quickly turned. A small white and violet mech stood in the shadow from the trees, hiding away his sword in his violet shield with golden details. He was Arcee's height, minus the weird violet mohawk on his helm. His cautious yellow optics locked on the group in front go him and his dermas were hidden behind a battle mask just like Blue Cop’s. He walked out into the light, clearing his voice box.

“Name is Wild Guardy, I’m here to escort you to our home.” The white mech said with a thick accent, but he definitely sounded better than Blue Cop. “Follow me.” Each word was laced with distrust.

Optimus exchanged a few glances with his team, his em field held a question. Arcee looked up at him, her own em field felt like ‘are you sure?’, but Bumblebee already let out an encouraging beep from the other side of their leader, his doorwings fluttering. And so before Wild Guardy could go any closer to the dirt road, Optimus spoke.

“It is nice to meet one of Blue Cop’s friends. My name’s Optimus Prime. “ His voice was kind, a small smile appeared on his faceplate. The cardbot turned around instantly as he heard the words spoken in Korean, his golden finials shot up.

"Wha-" Wild Guardy stuttered in english, but quickly switched to Korean. "Blue Cop said you couldn't understand him last time and you couldn’t have learnt korean so quickly, explain yourself."

The white mech tightened his hold on the violet shield, his optics showed caution. The collective em field of the Autobots pulled in.

“We posses an ability to download a language chip into our processor.” Arcee decided to answer.

The tension in the cardbot lessened and he exvented, slightly shaking his helm. His shield then disappears in a mass of violet particles, Bumblebee and Bulkhead let out surprised noises, and he transformed into his altmode, same yellow optics were on his windshield. Arcee raised an optic ridge because of giant optics.

“Transform, we should be at the base in about half an hour if we go now.” A klik later and there were 4 different vehicles, one of which was a motorcycle. Wild Guardy furrowed when he saw an empty and very noticeable driver’s seat.

But before he could comment on that a human appeared out of nowhere. She turned her face hidden behind a protective glass to Wild Guardy, who was already questioning if his optics worked correctly.

“That’s called a holoavatar,” the arm of said ‘holoavatar’ swooshed right through the motorcycle, showing that it was in a no way a real person, “Now lead the way.”

Wild Guardy signed (it was weird how expressive his altmode was) and pulled onto the dirt road, others following suit.

It was early enough that there were still people going into the city, but not as much like when Wild Guardy was making his way to the lonely spot in the forest. The Autobots were going behind the white and violet car. They entered the city and stayed close. Different familiar buildings swooshed past them. At first it were offices and glass skyscrapers full of businessmen and office clerks, then it were tall residential complexes, which at this point were almost empty because everyone went to work. After some time they started passing smaller homes with driveways and green lawns. Few people that were still in their homes and that noticed the weird convoy of bright cars were confused, but quickly forgot about it and got back to what they were doing before.

Skyscrapers became farther and a big sign of a car shop became visible once they took a turn. It had a tall mesh fence, a lot of parking space and stacks of broken cars hidden behind it. Arcee swerved closer to Wild Guardy, looking at him through her wing mirror. He had drove through the gate and the Autobots slowly followed the white car, who had stopped in front of a tall garage door. There was a little rose bush next to it and a simple pet house with a bowl rot the right of it.

HONK HONK

After Wild Guardy honked, the door started slowly opening, but he drove inside right when there was enough space for him to pass. A yellow mech bent down to the left of the entrance was making a 'come-in' gesture, hurrying the Autobots that were still outside.

Arcee drove in and quickly transformers beside Wild Guardy who was already standing with his servos crossed. Bumblebee followed her, but Optimus and Bulkhead had to wait to pass which seemingly annoyed the yellow mech.

As soon as they all were inside the door started closing and all Autobots had transformed into their rout mods. The yellow mech stood up and went to the other side of a giant hangar with even more unfamiliar mechs standing there. Some had a suspicious look in their optics, some looked curious and some were cautious. But they all were murmuring and whispering something to each other, except for a giant red and blue mech who stood the farthest from anyone.

The Autobots were exchanging glances, they all had a similar thought. Blue Cop wasn't there. There wasn't any ginormous blue and white mechs standing in the hangar. A tiny speck of concern got into their em fields. But before Optimus could voice his concern about the giant mech, another set of honks was heard from the outside, surprising the ones who were inside.

A small violet mech jumped down from the rafters and sped to the entrance, quickly hitting the open button. The ascend surprised the Autobots because no one had noticed the mech. The cardbots looked a bit happier when a police car drove in. The violet mech quickly pressed the close button, the car stopped in the middle of the hangar, a child got out the car and it transformed into a tiny mech with big pauldrons. He looked at the cardbots, waving to them, but before he could greet anyone Wild Guardy said.

"They speak Korean now." The words surprised the cardbots and the child, who quickly spun around to look at the other robots.

"Wait, really?" Blue haired kid asked, looking up at Optimus, his eyes shocked but not angry, maybe a bit disappointed. "We've been learning english for you!"

"Thank you for your consideration." Optimus said, giving him a faint smile. Then he bent down to be closer to the eye level of the kid. "You must be Jun, right? Blue Cop told us about you."

"And you're Optimus!" He said excitedly. Jun reached his arm as if he wanted to shake hands with the big mech. “It’s so cool seeing you here!”

Optimus thought for a klik and extended his finger, Jun took it and they shook hands.

Jun lit up. The tiny mech behind him was hiding behind his cap for some reason, an orange mech was giggling when he saw that. The mood in the garage was a bit better.

But the Autobots still couldn't really understand where is Blue Cop. He told about his friends like he fought with them in great battles, he over came many challenges with them and yet he was not here and the cardbots didn’t seem to notice that. More concern was mixed into Arcee's em field.

So when her leader and Jun let go, she cleared her voice box and asked.

"Speaking of Big guy, why isn't he here?" Bumblebee beeped something, agreeing with her, while she and Bulkhead were trying to look for the giant mech, looking up. He definitely would have hit his head with rafters being so low.

Silence fell over the garage, the cardbots were shocked at first but then it quickly turned into confusion. Jun raised his eyebrow and was fidgeting with his strange bracelet on his left hand, furrowing. The tiny mech was hiding behind his cap even more now, his fans turning on for some unknown reason. The giant red and blue mech in the back was trying to annihilate the Autobots with his gaze, while the other tall mech next to him was looking around in confusion, a smaller pink mech also incredibly confused.

Did- did they forget about him? Did they realize that he isn't here just know?

Arcee's em field was sharp, anger swirling in it. Bulkhead was exchanging looks with Bumblebee who was also weirded out by the confused faceplates of the cardbots. They simply looked at the Autobots like they couldn't even understand the question. Before Arcee could say anything a giggle broke the silence.

The violet mech appeared out of of thin air and threw his servo over the big pauldron of the tiny bot, laughing like he had just heard the funniest joke in the universe. Now it was time for Arcee to be confused. The orange mech finally understood something too and also came up next to the police bot clapping the blue pauldron and giggling. The tiny mech was desperately trying to hide his faceplate behind his cap. The light shone on a small golden crest on the accessory. It looked suspiciously like the one on the Blue's chest.

More mechs in the back were getting something, starting to quietly giggle too. When a stronger clap on the pauldron almost knocked off the hat, a pair of bright pink optics appeared.

"Wait wha- Blue is that you?" Arcee squinted at the tiny mech, who was trying to hide behind his orange friend. "Why are you so-"

She didn’t finish the thought, trying to think of something that wouldn't sound rude, but Bulkhead continued.

"Tiny..." He trailed off, making the violet mech laugh louder. While some found that funny, others were displeased with the wording.

Between laughs the violet mech managed to croak out a very weird and concerning question.

"You've never fell apart in front them???" Another giggle broke out and he continued laughing as if he had never asked the weirdest question.

Now it was time for the Autobots to be confused. What he could possibly mean by that? Was that what was happening to Blue Cop all the time? Was Blue Cop’s armor falling off to make him stronger and bigger? Or was that just how all cardbots worked? Optimus was the only one with a more stoic faceplate which wasn’t showing strong confusion, so he was the only one who finally asked for an explanation, others sending grateful em signals to him.

“Could you please elaborate on that?” The tiny mec- Blue Cop tried shaking off of himself the violet mech so he could answer properly, but not succeeding he simply sighed and started explaining.

“I posses an ability to combine with 2 other cardbots, Blue Loader and Blue Commander,-” He was interrupted by someone from the back of the garage.

“We still don’t know anything about them, they’re probably not even sentient.” A white and red mech remarked with a a smug faceplate and a servo next to his mouth to seemingly make his voice sound louder. Blue Cop sighed again and continued.

“But as soon as the danger or a battle ends they flee, thus leaving me with no great strength and no ability to fly. So to not get stuck on another continent I had to leave as soon as possible.” Blue Cop stated. He then tried to hide behind his cap again. “I apologize if I have made you worried earlier.”

The police bot bowed slightly in apology. When Optimus started speaking he hid behind his cap even more but quickly looked out from it as the Prime spoke.

“You don’t need to apologize. But, please, know that we would help you get home anytime.” Optimus spoke gently with a soft smile on his faceplate making Blue Cop look away shyly. He then finally looked up and nodded.

“Thank you, that means a lot to me.” Even though he didn’t have a mouth, his smile was very bright.

Optimus returned him the smile, while other Autobots made various noises of agreement. The tension on the other side of the garage eased. The orange bot clapped Blue Cop’s pauldron, while the violet one was still hanging on his other pauldron, squinting at Autobots.

“Wait, how did you even mistook them for cardbots?” He looked at Blue Cop with suspicion. “Are your optics that bad? They have mouths!” He exclaimed pointing at Autobots’ intakes. They looked rather confused by that statement and were exchanging questioning em signals with each other.

His servo got quickly moved away by Blue, who looked rather annoyed.

“It’s rude to point, Shadow X-“ Blue Cop was interrupted again by the orange mech.

“Wait, really how did you do that? They have weird optics too.” The mech almost took off Blue Cop’s visor but was swatted away. The police bot looked even more annoyed now.

“Mega Trucker, please.“ Blue Cop added while Shadow X was poking him in his visor.

For Optimus it felt like watching young bots squabble before the war. Friendly fights and teases exchanged between each other. Better put a stop before it could escalate into something a bit more serious.

“How long have you been on Earth?” Optimus carefully asked. Blue Cop have somehow made Shadow X and Mega Trucker stop, who were trying to wrangle out of his hold.

“While we all landed here at different times, together we’ve been here for around a year I think.” Blue Cop said, looking down at Jun for confirmation. He was still not that versed in human time. The kid smiled as he answered.

“One and a half! It’s been already 5 months since we’ve been at Porcaca.” Jun answered while fidgeting with his bracelet, a small web of scars was under it.

Optimus hummed, noting something. "We have never heard of you being found, security is your priority it seems." When he finished Jun seemed to lit up with pride and stopped fidgeting with his bracelet.

"We are just so good at hiding and covering up our tracks!" He confidently locked his arms behind his head smiling, general feeling of pride somehow spread through the other side of the garage, like they all are intertwined with a faint mental link. Even the death stare lightened up after a few kills. "And people who do know are really good at keeping us all a secret."

The last addition sent a small drop of concern into the calm mind of Optimus. Arcee frowned when she heard it, her stance shifting into one more serious and less loose.

"And how many people is that? I hope it's less than this town at least." She crossed her servos, looking down at the kid who's internal gears started shifting really hard to produce an answer.

"So it's me, Theo and Anna, my mom and dad, sadly Vera and the cameraman," to keep track he was folding fingers, each time he would fold one the sourness on Autobots' faceplates was increasing, " and also ms. Mona..."

"Her class also visits us often and the mayor too, he still doesn't like our presence in the city." Blue Cop supplied from the side. "Also people saw us in the Porcaca village when we were stopping Flame Nova from destroying."

Each new addition to the list worsened the state of Autobot faction's morale by points of increasing size. The last point of the list hit especially hard. When the awful state was noticed by cardbots, confusion swept through them like if one single domino piece was falling in the direction of hundred others.

"Is- is everything okay?" Blue asked, looking very concerned while Jun looked a bit panicked, fidgeting with his bracelet again.

Questions of concern and worry were directed at Autobots, whose faction morale was not getting any better.

And some time later on the Autobot base, when they all have came back from their visit to Blue's family, one single person was not happy with all the paperwork he had to do after all of the news from Autobots' new friends.