Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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Part 1: It's the end of the world as we know it
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In the aftermath of the battle they transported everything back from the damaged city; the Autobots, the remains of the Decepticons and everything in-between. The remaining cons; the pair of them were on ice, in the center of the convoy weaving down the road towards Hoover Dam.

The area was by no means secure, but they worked with what they had; their medic getting work on his comrades' injuries. It would have been easier to accomplish if he wasn’t plagued by the native species underfoot.
At least the young humans were in the hands of their own medics. Samuel had gone under protest; he’d wanted to stay with Bumblebee. The scout however, was not going anywhere until his legs were repaired; although he did seem worried about the boy. Ratchet ignored the younger bot’s reservations and set to work.

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In other parts of the Dam, it was business as usual. The remaining agents of Sector Seven and the few uninjured soldiers worked to round up the newest batch of sentient machines, many of which reacted like frightened children. The few that didn’t attacked with a vengeance and were neutralized just as quickly. In the end it was Agent Reggie Simmons that found himself in charge of the little machines and the tow truck being hailed as a hero for helping the boy's Camaro.

Thankfully they’d allowed themselves to be herded away to the recesses of the Dam. Currently six small machines were huddled under the protective stance of a larger robot in the remains of the Iceman chamber. The larger bot had been a Mountain Dew vending machine, until his awakening, some of his team had affectionately dubbed the creature DewBot despite their superior’s misgivings. Also among the collection was the battered white tow truck and a large grey vehicle that had once been an assault craft. They watched the agents warily, protective of the much smaller members of their kind. Simmons shuddered under their gaze and stayed out of their way. He’d had enough angry robots for a lifetime.

“What do we do with them sir?” An agent asked, watching the newborn robots with trepidation. They were nothing like the radiation born monsters they’d had experience with.

To be honest Reggie wasn’t sure what to do with them, but as long as they remained there, away from civilians, it was fine. To be fair they hadn’t done anything, well anything aggressive. They were much like the somewhat peaceful Autobots. The only noticeable difference between the newly spawned robots and their Cybertronian counterparts were their eyes, each new alien had purple eyes. Well, all except for the weird little thing with golden eyes. Reggie would have loved to get a better look at it, but it was holed up on the back of the Tow truck. Reggie didn’t recognize it from there sweep of the Mission city wreckage. They hadn’t grabbed that one had they? He couldn’t remember anymore, too much excitement. He shrugged and turned back to the agent who’d addressed him.

“Just watch them, but do nothing for now; they’re not a threat,” he told them and went to see how their fellow humans were doing. He almost hoped they would do something, anything to show their true colors. After so many years of keeping an eye on the silent NBE-1 and the cube, all of these moving robots gave him the creeps.

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Up in the Dam's medical bay, the humans who’d been dragged into the robotic conflict were being thoroughly examined. The boy’s hands were bandaged heavily as was his torso; Mikaela was talking with him quietly. The soldiers across the room were covered in dust and debris, congratulating their captain on bringing down the thing that had attacked the base in Qatar. Upon Simmons’ entrance however they grew quiet eying him warily. They didn’t know whether to trust him, but then he felt the same, they were good men, but they all had their own agendas.

“Hey, Agent Simmons,” Glen called out, he and Maggie were talking with Secretary Keller as the doctors bandaged his minor wounds.

“How are the others?”

“Good, they're good,” He said with a nod. “Is everyone here okay?”

“We're fine, clean bill of health. In fact only one of us is in any bad shape.”

As he spoke they all spared a glance in Witwicky’s direction. The young man looked pale as a sheet, but then he had not only run from thirty feet of nightmare fuel and fallen off a building; he had shoved the one thing the Autobots had come for into the chest of a monster. No wonder he had bandages all over his chest and arms; from the look of it, his skin was red and angry beneath them.

“I’m fine. Just a few burns,” the boy said simply. “I’m fine.” He insisted as the others scrutinized him incredulously.

“As fine as any young man who faced down the largest, nastiest piece of work the universe has to offer can be I guess.” Mikaela teased him with a smile. He smiled back, still unsure of their relationship.

“So when can I see my parents?” The teen asked. Simmons had to smile. All of this running and fighting and the first things the boy asks about are his parents. He had been expecting him to bother him about the Camaro again, but the boy had to have seen that ambulance dragging that yellow thing off.

“Soon, Tom should be getting them cleared soon.” Secretary Keller told him, looking away from his conversation and his two new employees.

As if summoned by their words, three adults entered the clinic and the woman threw herself at Sam, hugging him close, examining him as any worried mother would. It was not hard to miss the bruises and scratches he'd gotten in the last fight. He just hoped he could talk her into believing it was not as bad as it looked.

"My baby! Are you alright? They told us such fantastic things and- What the hell happened to your hands?"
The bandages looked far worse than the other injuries. He also looked like he hadn’t slept in days and was a mess.

"Hi mom, um, they kinda got burned."

Not a lie, they had been burned, just not by the kind of fire a human could make. "I'm fine, mom. Really, I’m fine."
"Sam what's going on?" his father asked. He looked unimpressed and hardly believed half the things they’d been told while in the holding room.

"It's a long story." he told them, not sure what he was allowed to say. He looked at Agent Banachek as spoke.
"We've already explained about your friends." Tom Banachek told him, nodding slightly to the young man telling him it was fine.

"Oh good. Wait everything?" He asked quietly, unsure whether to be relived or terrified. He really did not want to explain they’d bought an alien as a car.

"Most of it." The man nodded. He knew little about these Autobots as of yet, but he hoped to talk to them as they sounded fascinating.

Sam’s father broke the silence, distracting his son from the so called secret agent. “Sam, is your car really alien?" His tone was one of disbelief and the teen was hardly surprised. He still had trouble believing his car was really an alien robot.

“We really got a deal on that.” He admitted soft, before nodding to his parents. “I mean a giant alien robot should be way more then four thousand dollars. The insurance premiums will never go up, He’s smart, he's got a great sense of humor and he's my friend.” he said quickly.

"You're kidding right?" The man frowned. This whole aliens and robots and intergalactic wars thing was stretching things

"No. I’m serious." He looked around. "We could probably go see him, if Ratchet's done fixing him."

"Ratchet?" his mother asked confused.

"Well, there are five of- I guess, four of them now." He said, suddenly remembering Jazz. Ratchet had said he might be able to fix him on the ride back to the dam, but that seemed like ages ago. "Like a doctor, I think they said he was their chief medical officer."

"I'm not sure if that's wise; their medic seems kinda violent." Simmons began.

Sam shot him a look. As much help as the man had been he still had not forgiven him for what had happened to Bumblebee.

"Actually, I believe I need a word with Optimus Prime, their leader, anyway. Come along son, let's go see your friends," Secretary Keller said, heading for the door.

"Okay." Sam followed him trailed by his parents, Mikaela, Agents Simmons and Mr. Banachek. After a moment Maggie and Glenn behind, their hands linked at their sides.

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Most of the damage was repaired and Ratchet had turned his focus to the unmoving Jazz. Even if he was gone he intended to give their comrade as much dignity as they could. They owed that much to the second in command who had stood by them for so long as an officer and longer as Optimus’ friend. He only hoped he could repair the worst of the damage before any other Autobot landed. He shuddered to think if one in particular arrived any time soon. So involved in his work Ratchet did not see the recent additions to the room, namely the arrival of the humans. The other Autobots did however and the youngest of them perked up immediately.

As soon as he saw Sam, Bumblebee went for the entrance examining him all over. He had been flexing his little doorwings in an unconscious gesture of uneasiness since he had regained enough of himself to realize where they were being repaired. Even with most of the equipment gone, he knew enough to be nervous. He was the room where they had held him and he didn’t like it one bit. As soon as he’d been repaired he’d been trying to get Ratchet to let him go find Sam just so he could leave the room. That boy had gotten him out of there once, he could do it again. Reprieve had come for the medic in the form of the humans. And Bumblebee, despite his location couldn’t have been happier. Sam noticed as well and crossed the space, worried for his friend too.

"Sam, are you alright?" the mech asked, ignoring the others.

He was not trustful of the S7 agents where his human friends were concerned. He knew Mikaela was fine and the other humans looked to be in better shape than his charge that he had been unable to protect in the most critical moments.

"I'm fine Bee. Umm, these are my parents. Mom, Dad, this is Bumblebee. He's kinda my guardian," he introduced as Keller approached Optimus.

Sam noticed the flexing of Bee’s doors, wing like things which might have been a possible clue to the origin of his name. He’d seen it before, and hoped that the bot was okay, they stopped moving as he turned to the two adults and Sam found that he relaxed too. He could ask about the significance later, his car was meeting his parents.

"Hello." Ronald Witwicky stared up at the yellow mech that was his son's friend and car. He had not believed the men when they had told him about the aliens or even the footage he’d seen. Now looking up at one he was sure this was real and that he’d bought his son way more than just a car. He swallowed hard and held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you Bumblebee." He greeted, though he was small among his own kind Bumblebee still towered over the humans.

"My pleasure Mr. Witwicky." The mech answered holding out a hand and the man shook one finger.

"You are really the car?" Judy asked. This little yellow guy seemed nice and certainly cared enough for her son to worry about him. He seemed like such a nice little car/ robot.

"Yes, I could demonstrate," his voice crackled slightly as his vocal processor was only recently repaired.

"No, no. That's okay." she was sure there was more than they were telling them, like about Sam's hands or what happened in Mission City and why Sam had been there in the first place.

"You could go elsewhere to talk." Ratchet grumbled. "You all are functioning."

"Of course, old friend we will go." Optimus said and the others left, splitting off. Sam and Mikaela along with his parents and Bumblebee went off one way. Keller and his new assistants as well as Optimus went another. Ironhide, grumbled about nothing in particular, went to find a quiet place to recharge.

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"Sam, when exactly are they going to let us go home?" Ron asked taking a sip of the soda he was nursing. He didn’t like being in a government facility around all of these alien machines.

"Soon, I’m sure once everything is in place, though you know Bee's coming with us?" the boy pointed out motioning towards the bot.

"Well, he is your car." He said looking back at the yellow mech that followed close behind the small group of humans. Sam sighed aloud.

"And my friend." It might take awhile to convince them he was an intelligent being after all.

"Yes, dear." His mom wasn’t too comfortable either, but he was not about to leave Bee.

"So, what exactly happened to your hands Sam?" his mother asked, changing the subject. There was fear in her voice and she glanced at the mech behind them

Sam railed for an answer and his gaze flickered to Mikeala.

"They got burned.” She announced solemnly.

Sam found his voice with the flicker of blue optics. “There was a fire and it got my hands. That's all. A few days of bandages ointment and I’ll be fine, barely second degree. Nothing to worry about."

He looked back at Mikaela and smiled weakly as she nodded.

"Yeah, he's gonna be fine. I mean it was Bee that got hurt after they separated them." Mikaela jumped in, hoping to get them to not be so leery of the bot in question. She thought he was a nice guy, and he cared for Sam even if he was under orders to protect him.

"He did?" Both adults looked to the Autobot. He seemed so bouncy and yellow, nothing like the hulking machines his companions seemed to be.

"Yeah, but he still there to protect Sam and he was great. Weren't you, Bee?" she asked the small mech, smiling as she patted his leg.

"I do not think Ratchet would agree; he kept grousing the whole time he was repairing myself and Ironhide," the yellow mech told her.

Catching on to her plan he tried to look solemn. His doorwings would have given the game away if the older humans had known how to read them like his companions did. He could simply not keep them still. He really wished he had listened to Prowl more on the subject.

"Well, that's Ratchet. Even though I've only known him for a day, it's clear he's a bit grumpy." Sam told him.

"He is as he has always been," the little mech said.

Ratchet had his reasons for being so grumpy. Bumblebee hoped two of those reasons would be arriving once Optimus called for them like he planned. That should perk the medic up a little so he hoped.

They came to the N.B.E-01 chamber and Sam looked in to see the Earthborn that had been affected by the All Spark. They were all sitting there quietly, still under the protective stance of DewBot and the other two. The Tow truck looked at them, his purple optics shifting slightly blue as he did.

"What are they?" Sam's mother asked. They were like the others yet obviously they were being kept apart from the ones in the medic bay. "Why are they in there?"

"They are young. I do not know if they are stable or not. This must be where they were put when we returned here." Bumblebee said, looking at them.

"Poor things." Mikaela said with a frown. She and Bumblebee owed the tow truck, at least, as he had helped them when Bee had been injured.

"We should find somewhere to talk." Sam's dad said, distracting the trio from their thoughts and they all went to find somewhere more comfortable. The bots watched them go. One of the smaller ones chirped and scrambled onto the towtruck's shoulder and he nodded.

Bumblebee stopped for a moment to watch the Earthborn, they seemed scared. He nodded to them. The tow truck returned his gesture.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

"You are very welcome," the truck said as the Camaro followed the humans away.

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Secretary of Defense John Keller settled onto a bench as his own analyst and hacker found their own seats. The leader of the Autobots watched him, getting comfortable himself on the floor of one of the many large rooms in the dam's interior. Traveling along the hallways was easier to do in his alt mode but sitting and talking he preferred to take his proper form.

"How may I help you, Mr. Secretary?" the Autobot leader asked solemnly.

"Call me John, please," the man told him.

"Very well." He nodded once.

"We need to figure all of this out, Optimus Prime."

"Optimus, and yes, one of my men has already asked to remain with a human," he told the man, looking slightly pleased with that situation
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"The boy and the yellow one right?" Keller asked. Sam seemed like a good kid and that Camaro had certainly been brave from what he had heard.

"Yes, Sam and Bumblebee," Optimus corrected.

"Well, I can’t blame 'em. He's a good kid. Even under all this stress. He's holding up well." The man had to commend the kid as he had done a lot to keep the cube safe.

"They both are," was all Optimus said, seeing no use in letting the humans know just how young that officer was. "Even with Megatron's death, the other Decepticons might return to avenge him or even go after Starscream."

"I understand, but those of you who are here and others who follow would be a shock to the people. It might be best if you remained under the radar for now. I will speak to the president and we can sort this out."

"I understand, I must at least let my men who are still among the stars know what has occurred here."

"Of course, and I’m sure everyone wants to go home," he said simply.

"Yeah, my grandma’s gonna be pissed that I've been gone this long." Glen said suddenly, as if that was the worst problem they had, but then for him it probably was.

"And the whole arrested thing," Maggie reminded him. She knew his grandmother. She almost wondered if they should have sent her up against that Megatron guy. She might have killed him with her yelling.

"Oh, that too." he looked slightly abashed, but not by much.

"Once I have spoken to the president I’m sure everything will be cleared up," Keller told them with a small smile.

"I hope so," the large mech said with a sigh.

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The bodies of the Decepticons were disposed of in the deepest undersea trench, even though the Autobots had wanted to handle the bodies themselves the humans had taken matters into their own hands. Sector 7 was officially disbanded, though most of the agents were instead put in charge of working with the Autobots to train in preparation for any other Cybertronians who came to earth, along with Will’s men who had unanimously volunteered to remain with the bots.

After a week of recovering, the remaining Autobots escorted their young heroes back to Tranquility. As sunset approached, they came to the lookout near the lake and stopped for a while. Optimus stood on the edge while the others sat back in their alt modes. And he sent out a message he had carefully prepared over the last week while working with Secretary Keller and Agent Banachek.

"With the All Spark gone, we cannot return life to our planet. And fate has yielded its reward: a New World to call... home. We live among its people now, hiding in plain sight... but watching over them in secret... waiting... protecting. I have witnessed their capacity for courage, and though we are worlds apart, like us, there's more to them than meets the eye.

I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars: We are here.... we are waiting." He looked up at the sunset and the slowly emerging stars.

They had hope, their world was dead, they were being given a new home, and they had new allies. Perhaps someday they would all be one.

Chapter Text

The horrible laughter would not stop. His friends were dying in front of him and he couldn’t stop it. Horrible red light washed everything in the color of blood. Where was everyone? He could hear the screams that echoed. Bright pieces of metal stained purple blue littered the landscape. The same glowing fluid covered his hands and clothes, mixing with the red of his own blood.

"Sam!" Were they calling for him now? Where was everyone? All he could hear was the screaming.

"Sam, wake up!" His mother’s voice? She hadn’t been there.

Brown eyes blinked open and he looked up into a very worried pair of eyes. The dream became nothing more than fragments. Reality finally drifted in. He gave his mother a shaky smile, no need to worry her beyond how much she already did.

"Sam, are you sure you want to go to school today?" Judy asked. “You should talk to someone about these dreams.”
He had been sleeping badly since they had been allowed to come home only a few days ago. He had barely convinced her to let him go to school today. His dad had said to let him go, he said he was fine.
“I’ve talked to the others who were there and the psyh at Sector Seven.”
“I know you have baby I’m just worried you take care and come home if you feel you have too.”

"Yes, mom, I have other things I have to do," he told her gently. After she left, he sighed, "Though there should be a law against having to go to school after saving the planet from evil aliens," he muttered, watching her leave his room then looking for his clothes.

After a shower and getting dressed Sam grabbed breakfast and went out to the driveway, where the rising sun was just shining on the sleek, yellow Camaro who sat there. As he approached, backpack over one shoulder, the window rolled down and cheery music came from the speakers.

“Goodmorning, Starshine, the earth says hello.” The door popped open, letting Sam slide into the driver's seat.

"Good morning, Bee! Come on, we have to get Mikaela and go to school." he told the car, laughing as he got in and settled into the warm leather of the seat, absently yet lovingly rubbing the center of the steering wheel. Bumblebee revved happily.

"Of course," the Camaro answered cheerfully. His voice still held some static, but it was certainly doing better after his encounter with the AllSpark. The sliver Optimus had pulled from Megatron's chest had been hidden and only the Autobot leader knew it's exact location.
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Now that Sam knew he was not just a pretty car, Bee could do things to make the ride much more comfortable for his human. The seat conformed to his body and the radio played happily. The young Autobot was enjoying this slight freedom even if he didn’t get much time to hang around with Sam because of the boy’s schooling.

They stopped at Mikaela’s house and she came out to join them patting Bumblebee’s hood gently. He loved the physical attention his human friends gave him; touching seemed to be just another part of their nature. Ironhide had mentioned it to him that Will often stroked his hood and patted the steering wheel while he drove him too.

"Hey, guys," she said, smiling brightly. She looked a lot better than she had the last time they’d seen her, wearing one of her normal short skirts with a yellow, spaghetti string top, decorated with brightly colored flowers. Her hair brushed out so it flowed around her shoulders like black silk, she was gorgeous but Sam felt none of the stirrings he would have even a week before. Part of it would be the nearly dying but he had read things that stated some relationships came from that kind of thing.

"Good morning, Mikaela did you sleep well?" Bumblebee asked, opening the door for her.

"As well as I could." she said, sliding into the seat, letting the door close as she buckled herself in. She checked her makeup in the rearview mirror and smiled.

"Dreams again?" Sam asked. They both had been having bad nightmares. No one ever seemed to talk about the dreams themselves but they were bad enough to keep them awake.

"Yeah," she agreed. She had not had nightmares this bad since the first time her dad had been sent to jail.

"Me too."

"They should go away; Will and the others seem to be having the same problem," Bumblebee said, trying to cheer up his friends. He still had nightmares of the battle in Tyger-Pax some nights.

"Really?" Both humans perked up immediately.

"Yes," the car told them, then revved and headed off for the school, “Ironhide told me after my first real battle that it always happens like that.”

“Well, if the veterans can handle it, I guess I can, too.” Sam smiled. And Mikaela nodded a little to vigorously.

“That’s good, Sam. Besides, you have friends there for you,” Bumblebee pointed out.

“I know.” The boy replied patting the wheel lovingly, As Mikaela leaned on his shoulder for a moment.

Mikaela smiled, patting his arm then noticed his hands. He had finally removed the bandages the night before and had not let anyone see the remains of the burns.

"Where'd you get the gloves?" Sam's hands were covered with a pair of black leather fingerless gloves, which covered the areas of his hands that had been burned perfectly. Hiding the remaining scars, even if they looked a little odd.

"They’re work out gloves. The burns are still there and look kinda weird." He explained.

"Oh." She glanced down at them but he didn’t say anything else and Bumblebee started playing a good rock station.

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The reaction of the other students was mixed as they saw Sam get out of the new, sleek, yellow Camaro, followed by Mikaela as he opened the door for her. Miles was the first to respond, after he had run over to look his best friend over after seeing the glares from most of the jocks.

"Sam, dude, where have you been?" he asked. Over a week without any contact had worried him, especially after Sam’s call about the Camaro stalking him. He’d been kicking himself all week for not going over there and checking on him and the one time he had the whole house had been empty and the yard torn up.

"It’s a long story, Miles," he said tiredly. “I swear I’ll tell you.” He really had to come up with something to tell his friend.

"I'm sure it is." He looked over at Mikaela and frowned. Had he been ditched for days so they could have some free time? Then he looked at the car and said, "Man, those are not your wheels."

"Sure they are, I was in Mission City and my car got totaled he's a replacement," Sam lied. Miles knew he was lying; they had been friends for years.

"You have to tell me everything," The blonde demanded, dragging Sam from the girl and car, much to their amusement.

"See you after class, Bee." Mikaela whispered, heading for the school.

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School blasted by and Miles had no other chance to really talk to Sam. The whole school knew he had a hot new car and somehow had grabbed Mikaela away from Trent. Sam drove both Miles and Mikaela home, dropping her off first and then Miles.

"Man, you had better not have ditched me for nearly a week for her," he groused, did the radio just laugh? This car had as bad a radio as the old one.

"No, well, you know what happened in Mission City?" he began.

"You were there?" The blonde stared at him like he was nuts. He had been, of course. He had, after all, dealt with Megatron.

"Yeah, well, my parents dragged me out there," he lied. He couldn’t really tell Miles he had been there with his car and a group of aliens. Not to mention in the middle of a battlefield and running from the harbinger of Death himself.

"You’re lying," the blonde told him simply.

"Damn, Miles, I can’t tell you everything, but I will soon," he promised and the engine revved in agreement.

"You'd better." he got out and waved as Sam took off. He watched the bright yellow car drive off, suspicious of something, but not able to put his finger on it.

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Sam was having his own crisis at the moment and his car was not helping much.
"You want to tell him," came from the radio. How well his guardian knew him after only a few days.

"Yeah," Sam sighed and sat back, letting Bee drive. "He's my best friend, Bee. I hate hiding something this big from him." He caressed the seat beside him gently.

"I will ask Optimus. I’m sure he and the others won't mind. It's your government that has a problem with keeping us a secret," he answered, purring at the contact like a cat rather than a car.

"Yeah." They pulled into his drive and Sam patted the hood as he got out. "I have some homework to do. But we can probably cruise tonight."

"Very well." Bee let Sam go up to his room watching him with his scanners.

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Most of the week passed the same way; Sam was busy hanging with Mikaela and Miles in shifts, wanting to tell his best friend the big secret. Mikaela had already agreed that they should tell him. After all, he was his friend.

Friday at lunch, while Sam sat on Bumblebee’s hood, eating, Miles finally cornered him. He was for once without Mikaela who was at lunch with her friends.

"Man, I haven’t seen you in days and you've spent most of your time with the jock concubine," Miles groused. "We should do something this weekend."

"I have plans," Sam told him then smiled, as bee covertly bumped his leg "Why don’t you come with us?" He patted the car's hood slightly.

"I'm not doing some weird threesome with you and the EJC." He frowned.

"That’s not what I meant. Come on it'll be fun," Sam assured him, trying hard not to kick Bumblebee when the car let out a slight honk.

"Fine, but it better be," He grumbled, wanting to know what Sam was hiding.

After school the three jumped in Bee and headed to their houses to get things and headed out of town.

"So where are we going?" the blonde asked, bouncing in the back seat.

"Hoover Dam," Sam told him, adjusting the rearview mirror.

"A tourist trap? Why?" He really was sure Sam was playing him now. There was no way they should be going there. There was even a sign saying it was closed for renovations at the exit.

"Well, you want to know what happened, right?" Mikaela asked with a smile.

"Yeah," he answered.

"You’ll find out there, I promise," Sam told his friend as they took the exit and the little car took off down the highway.

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Hoover dam looked no different than it had a week before, repair crews were still everywhere and it was closed to the public, but Bumblebee ignored the parking lot and headed for the door to the motor pool. As they rolled in, there was a loud honk and a man who looked a little older then them strode over. He moved like a soldier, he even had the dog tags hanging around his neck. Sam and Mikaela recognized Captain Lennox as one of the soldiers who’d been a major part of Mission City situation immediately. They also recognized Ironhide parked nearby.

"Hey kids," Will greeted smiling. He looked much better than the last time they had seen him. Bee flashed his headlights at the older Cybertronian in greeting while the teens were distracted and got a flash in response.
Ironhide asked the scout knowing he was up to something.
he asked all too innocently in response.
The old warrior said simply, the boy was not in the know as the humans said and though he himself had by accident shown himself to Will’s wife Sarah he knew the scout knew better.
Bumblebee promised.

"Will, I thought they were sending you back to Qatar," Sam said, grabbing the man's hand to shake it.

"They were until Sarah introduced herself to Ironhide and I had to come back.”

“I see.” Sam smiled. “Miles meet Captain Will Lennox. He was part of what happened in Mission City, too.”

“Hi, so who’s Ironhide?” the blonde asked, looking the captain over. ‘Not a bad looking guy.’ Miles thought He certainly seemed friendly with Sam and Mikaela.

“A friend, he’s a lot like an older brother to me. So how much are you going to tell him?” Will asked Sam. He had also been under the stress of the secret until his wife had accidentally met Ironhide. Luckily the two got along pretty well. Ironhide had told Will that Sarah reminded him of his own mate.

“Everything,” Sam said. Turning back to Miles, he smiled. “Miles what would you say if I told you, your alien and government cover up stuff was all true?”

“I would think you were humoring me like you have since we were five,” Miles told him, wondering what Sam was up to.

“What if I had proof?” he asked, seeing Will grin. The older man seemed highly entertained by all of this.

“Like what?” The blonde looked at him like he'd lost his mind.

“Bumblebee, show him,” he said, looking at the Camaro who revved happily, pulling forward a bit to nudge Sam's leg before pulling back to the spot he had been occupying. Miles stared at it for a long moment.

“Bumblebee?” Miles began and turned back to the car as it smoothly went from car to larger yellow mech whose head was almost brushing the roof of the motor pool. Luckily Bumblebee was one of the smaller members of the group of Autobots. Optimus could not even stand up straight in the motor pool and both Ratchet and Ironhide had to duck.

Miles stared at the mech. ‘I was riding around inside that?’ he thought. It made sense. ‘The radio seemed to switch at will and the thing had not seemed to need gas the whole week … the gas gauge was always full. He looked at Sam then at Bumblebee again.

“You’re an alien? And we were riding around all week in an alien robot? Sam, why didn’t you tell me, Dude, that is so awesome!” Miles demanded. He had been right the whole time there were aliens and they were awesome. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t guessed something like that was up, what with all the cover up about the mission city incident.

“Well, that was not quite my wife’s reaction.” Will snickered to Mikaela who smiled. "Or mine for that matter."

“Wouldn’t have been mine either,” the girl said with a shrug. Of course her first meeting with one had been a little violent and dangerous what with Frenzy trying to kill them.

“I believe your first reaction was fear and worry I was going to try and kill you,” Bee answered and she made to swat him.

“What should it have been?” Her eyes glittered as she smiled at the yellow mech.

“I did save the two of you from Barricade,” The mech told her and turned back to Miles. “Hello, yes, you have been riding around in my interior cavity. My designation is Bumblebee. It is a pleasure to finally speak to you. Sam has been agitated he was unable to tell you.”

“But since you are here and know, you should meet everyone else.” Sam smiled. He was happy to show Miles everything and every one of his new friends.

“You are an evil kid, Sam, come on.” Will turned for the door leading out of the motor pool.

Ironhide commed as he slipped off to see Ratchet.
“Thank you, Will. I will see the rest of you later.” The yellow Camaro was back and he drove off.

0000000000000

Instead of joining his comrades, Bumblebee sent a message he was going to talk to them later and went to look in on the Earthborn, as the newborn bots were being called. They were all in their designated spot except for DewBot.

"Bumblebee," the tow truck greeted.
"Long arm, how have things been?"
"We are well, Ratchet and Optimus Prime have been kind to us, as has Ironhide on his few visits." Longarm answered back. His voice was very calm and he seemed like he had spent a long time thinking about things.
"The humans are odd, though," Landmine, an assault buggy that had been brushed by the AllSpark’s power during the battle, answered. "They are," Bumblebee agreed, "but they are also leery of us all.”
"But where's DewBot?"
"He has decided since he is a vending machine, he should vend. He is in the Agent's break room dispensing drink." Landmine smirked, he found it funny that the machine did as he wished, the
"That makes sense." Bee nodded. "As long as he doesn't scare anyone."
"I’m sure it will be fine," Landmine answered.
"And the young ones?"
"They are still adjusting. We have lost a few of them sadly, only four remain,"
“The poor things. Do you know why?”
“Not yet, no, we have not figured it out, but we believe it has something to do with size and Batteries.”
“I see.”

0000000000000

The teens and Will walked along the corridors, nodding to agents and men they passed. Sam pointing things out like a burger king and the paint ball area, the place was an underground city by itself. As they were giving him the tour, Miles saw something small and silver skitter past, He jumped, but the thing simply ignored him and clung to Sam’s leg.

“What is that?” Miles asked, fascinated by the little creature.

“Oh, it’s an X-box,” Sam said, picking it up, “or it was until it was changed by the fight in Mission City.”

“And it likes you?” Miles asked, seeing that the thing freaked Mikaela, too. Maybe there was more to her than the legs and boobs.

“I guess so.” He shrugged as it clicked out something and settled on his shoulder.

The continued the tour and Miles watched the thing. It didn’t seem dangerous. As they continued the tour Miles was amazed by what was hidden in this underground city. They grabbed lunch at the burger king and as they sat there a man came in. He looked mousy and annoyed as he approached the three teens.

“What is going on?” Reggie Simmons asked. He was still one of the higher ups here, but was annoyed the kids could go over his head whenever they felt like it.

“Oh, Simmons this is Miles. He learned about Bee so we brought him with us when we came to visit the others,” Sam said simply.

“Found out?” The man looked at the boy suspiciously.

“Well, come on Sam’s car was acting weird. Besides, one day it’s a wreck and a few days later brand new,” Miles said, catching the look in Sam’s eyes.

“Fine, but tell no one. There are procedures,” He said simply.

“Not anymore really, with sector seven officially disbanded and Sam, myself and Will are considered ambassadors between the Autobots and humans,” Mikaela told him, taking a sip of her soda.

The man stormed off and they exchanged a look.

"Don’t mind Simmons, he's upset that new people are learning, but it will be fine."

"I hope so dude, so when do I meet these other guys?"

"Soon, come on let's go find them." Sam dumped his tray. “Will said level seven.”

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They found Ironhide and Ratchet talking in the chamber where the cube had been, which in the last week had been made slightly more comfortable for the Autobots. With only two of them actually spending much time there it wasn’t going fast since they had no idea when anyone would answer the call. Ironhide was staying with Captain Lennox while Bee of course stayed with Sam, though they did visit and report when they could.

“Hey guys,” Sam greeted as if he spent every day of his life talking with giant alien robots. Which these days he did, since one lived with him.

“Sam, Mikaela, this must be the friend Bumblebee mentioned,” Ironhide greeted. The large black mech sat close to the medic as said medic was fixing up his area.

“Yes, this is Miles. Miles, Ironhide, their weapons specialist, and Ratchet, their Chief Medical Officer.” He introduced the Medic and Weapons specialist.

“Wow, you guys are huge.” Miles said staring up at the large black mech. He looked awesome like some kind of walking weapons turret or something.

“Compared to your own race I suppose we are larger than yourselves.” Ratchet chuckled, that was not the first response they had expected from Sam's friend. Even if the young human had said Miles was a worse geek then himself. Not to mention the fact the young man was an alien conspirist.

“Where’s Optimus?” Sam asked not seeing the Autobot leader.

“He is in Washington speaking with Secretary Keller and the president,” Ironhide told him.

“And Bumblebee wandered off a while ago.” Ratchet looked at Sam. “Were you aware one of the Earthborn is on your shoulder?”

“Yeah, he’s been there for an hour or so. I think I’ll call him Halo,” Sam said, patting the sliver critter.

“You are creepy, Sam,” Mikaela told him, not wanting to be near this little critter.
“He does seem kind of spider like,” Miles agreed.

“Fine, you guys stay here, I’ll put him back with the others,” Sam said, carrying Halo off.

The others exchanged a look then shrugged.

000000000000000

Sam found Bumblebee with the other Earthborn. His Autobot was having a conversation with Longarm. Both looked up at his entrance, Halo chattered it’s greetings to them.

“Hey, Bee, guys,” He greeted as Halo chitterd to the others from Sam’s shoulder.

“Hello, Sam,” Bumblebee greeted, he had been talking to the tow truck quietly. “You remember Sam, Longarm?”

“Yes, it is thanks to you I am no longer a simple car,” The tow truck greeted.

“You’re welcome, I think.” The human replied

“Yes,” Longarm nodded. “You should meet the others; Landmine and DewBot. The rest of the smaller ones have not chosen names yet.”

“Well, this one I’ve named Halo.” He said, putting the X-bot down to join the other small bots; there were three more who skittered around Sam’s feet in an attempt to get his attention.

”I see.” The bot’s odd purple blue eyes focused on the boy. “I think the others want you to name them, too.”

“I’ll have to think about it. I should get back; Miles is meeting the others,” He told them.
The little bots made their own sounds and clung to his legs for a moment more.

“This might be interesting,” Bumblebee nodded to the others. “I should go.”

“We will talk again Bee,” The tow truck said simply and the other two nodded.

They walked slowly back to the others. Meandering down the large hallways to join their friends.

“They seem like an okay group.”

“Yes, though they were created from Earth machines, Ratchet and Optimus have treated them well. They do not feel left out at all.”

“Good.” He smiled. For some reason he was worried for the Earthborn. He figured it was because like him they had been put into the battle with no warning. They still had no idea if the two Decepticons captured here might get out or Starscream return.

000000000000000000

Miles did not mind the over twenty feet robots; they were kind cool actually. The medic had already scanned him and he listened to Ironhide talk. There were others apparently who would come they hoped. That was why their leader was in Washington to try and find a better place for them than the dam. It was well hidden, but not the kind of place they could expand if more arrived. This was also a place, which gave Bumblebee the creeps, as humans would call it since the little yellow mech preferred to not be here unless he had to.

By the time Sam and Bumblebee rejoined them the four were playing cards, well the humans had the cards and the Autobots were helping.

“That looks like fun.” Sam smiled as he joined them.

“Want to play? You and Bee can be a team.”

“Sure.” The rest of the day went by quickly.

Chapter Text

It had been a month since Sam had introduced Miles to the Autobots. He enjoyed the time he spent with them, even Mikaela was not that bad after awhile. She knew alot about cars and the two of them could talk for hours about machinery leaving Sam in the dark since Bumblebee could join these conversations easily. Sam would often wander off when they started talking about that stuff, only to be found later chatting with any other bot in the area.

He was surprised one Thursday morning, to find Mikaela with her little blue Vespa waiting for him instead of Bumblebee’s familiar yellow Camaro. He had missed a call from Sam earlier that morning and had been unable to call him back. He also had not been able to get Bumblebee on the number the bot had given him to text him with. He had no clue how the Autobots had cell numbers but he wasn’t going to ask.

“What’s going on?” He asked grabbing his shoes. His back pack already thrown over his shoulders and a bottle of mountain dew in the elastic strap on the side of it.
“Sam got called away.” She said with a flip of her hair not wanting Mile’s mother to hear about the Autobots. Once they got on she explained with a small smile.
“Optimus needed him, there was a landfall this morning.” She started the engine, which purred smoothly; though both were almost spoiled by Bumblebee’s much smoother engine.
“Landfall?” He had not heard that term yet.
“Some of the others arrived so they took Sam along as the human welcome wagon.” She explained.
“Oh when do we get to meet these new guys?” he asked.
“This weekend I guess; we can bully Sam into taking us.” She said mischievously.
“Sounds like a plan.” He agreed. "So how's he getting out of school?"
"Doctor's note for the burns on his hands." She told him.
"I see." He nodded tightening his helmet.

0000000000000

Sam was enjoying the ride to the landing site, a secluded place just off the old route 66. Bumblebee had the windows down and music playing as they followed Optimus to where his men should have been waiting. He was sure they were close to Vegas as they came to the landing site which was secluded enough to give the two protoforms cover. He watched the two change fluidly from pod to protoform, it was beautiful. A pity Ratchet and Ironhide weren’t there, but the medic had wanted to make sure he was ready for any problems. And the Lennox family was on a trip taking the weapons specialist with them he had reported he would return as soon as he could, but he did not want Will and his family unprotected and seemed to have become quite attached the man.

The Shorter of the two stood stiffly infront of Optimus, even as a proto-form the mech seemed stiff and proper. He clicked out something in Cybertronian. Optimus answered back and the second one quipped something out. Then ducked a blow from the first one.

“What are they saying?” Sam asked Bumblebee from where he stood in the protective shadow of his guardian. The heat was dangerous for a human, so Bumblebee had not let him out of his shadow. But he didn't understand their metallic language even if it fascinated him.

“Second lieutenant Prowl reporting. Optimus welcomed him and Sunstreaker is being an idiot.”
“Second lieutenant he’s the same rank as Jazz?” Sam asked staring at the silvery protoform who was at least twice Jazz’s height. He was nothing like the cool smooth mech Sam had met briefly and who had bravely faced off against Megatron by himself. This mech kind of reminded the boy of Barricade but maybe nicer.
“Yes he’s the next in command after him.” Bumblebee sounded slightly sad, as they were still not sure what was going to happen with Jazz. He really hoped Ratchet could save him they might lose two of their best if he couldn’t. Though he was surprised there wasn’t a third and fourth with them, all squads had five members, their had been Bluestreak and Eject a pair not unlike Frenzy and Barricade.
“Oh and the other one?” He pointed to the one who seemed to be looking around. Fidgeting slightly as if he’d rather be doing something else.
“Sunstreaker, he and his brother Sideswipe are the only twins I know of in our ranks. I hope Sideswipe is okay. “ Bumblebee muttered.
"Twins?" Sam looked at the taller mech
"Yes Ratchet told me once that their spark split in half when they were created so their share a spark if one dies so does the other."
"Wow."
“Yes, they were rare before the war now I believe there are almost none left.”

“The both of you need alt modes.” Optimus ordered while the human and younger mech spoke.
“We’ll. Show them the highway.” Bumblebee volunteered, his doorwings fluttering and Prowl looked at him with a nod.
“Do so.” Optimus agreed.

“Hey mini-bot.” Sunstreaker greeted as if seeing his fellow Autobot for the first time. He had always liked the little yellow mech.
“Stop calling me that.” Bee sputtered. His fans turned on to cool his systems. Sunstreaker had always loved to tease him so had his brother actually but Bee had always liked to hang around them when he had been much younger. They had treated him like a soldier first among the others who had still seen their little sparkling for orns after Bumblebee had become a soldier.
“Can’t stop the truth.” He snickered. It was good to be around friends again. Not to mention bots with a sense of humor.

“Hello Prowl.” Bumblebee turned to the elder Mech trying to hold his doorwings still and strait like Prowl had taught him but failing miserably.
“Bumblebee, you’re looking better.” Prowl greeted him. Amused by the younger mech’s attempts to still his doorwings. They reminded him of Bluestreak at that age.
“Thanks.”

They came to the highway and hid to watch the cars pass. After a few hours they saw a car chase passing, the lead car was bright yellow and the police car following close behind was not familiar. It was a dodge charger, with red edging on the letters unlike Barricade's purple.

Sunstreaker chose to take the yellow car. It was beautiful and fast, just his style. The other car was more Prowl’s type obviously authority. Sunstreaker turned to the others having now been covered with sleek gold armor much deeper in color then Bumblebee’s. He grinned.
“Well?” he asked the scout.
“Shiny.” Bumblebee said with a nod. “certainly your style Sunny.”
“I knew you say that?” He looked down at Sam. “So who is this squishy?”
“My name is Sam. And I’m a human, not a squishy.” Sam told him.
“Sam is my friend and I am his guardian, Sunstreaker.” Bumblebee told him.
“So humans are our friends, fine. Do I get one?” He asked.
“No, because you are nuts.” Bumblebee told him. “And they are not pets.”
“We should rejoin Prime.” Prowl sighed used to this squabbling. Almost glad the others weren’t with them yet, the quartet of the twins Bluestreak and Bumblebee would give him a glitch and once Smokescreen got there, he shook his helm and went to rejoin his old friend and Prime.

They regrouped and Sunstreaker approached Optimus.
“Sir, permission to find my brother. I know he has to be close by.” Sunstreaker said as he approached his leader.
“Denied, we must make sure you and Prowl are well and are introduced to our human allies before we search for our missing comrades.” Optimus said knowing that the young soldier would tear around to find his brother and not listen. But Ratchet would be annoyed with him if he didn’t make sure Sunstreaker was taken care of.
“It’s not just a missing comrade! It’s my brother.” he whined, he knew Ratchet would hit him for losing track of his brother.
“He will be fine. We will find him.” Optimus told him.

The return to the dam was uneventful except for Sunstreaker staying close to Bee and complaining that the older bots would not let him find his brother. Bumblebee listened to him asking questions and getting stories about the three’s own time out in space. As Sunstreaker was telling him about one battle in particular, one where Bluestreak had saved them all with a single shot to a decepticon’s CPU, they saw the dam rising up in the distance.

Prowl had been following along behind Optimus as he was supposed to. He had yet to ask the question he really wanted to. He had not seen the second in command, it could just be he had been left behind to keep an eye on things but Jazz should have been there to greet him. He had a bad feeling in his spark at the idea of the saboteur; only a few orns before he had had a bad dream while in recharge. He had spurred his team forward even before they got Prime’s message, this was possibility the reason Sideswipe and Bluestreak had fallen behind. The sharpshooter had been injured and was moving slower than the rest of them. Sighing he finally opened his com to his leader.

“Prime, sir where is Jazz?” he finally asked.
“Our infirmary he was damaged in the battle for the AllSpark. Ratchet will show you after he checks over you and Sunstreaker.”
“Yes sir.” He had heard the pain and guilt in Prime’s voice.

Their arrival was heralded by a small group gathered in the motor pool. Complete with Ratchet and Ironhide with his humans nearby. The larger Earthborn had also decided to join them apparently. Halo was sitting on Longarm’s shoulder until he saw Sam he then chitterd and ran to climb up onto him.

“Hey Halo.” Sam patted him like a pet. The gold optics blinked and it nuzzled him. The small Earthborn had all but clung to him everytime he came to the dam, which was alot more than his fellow humans knew, lately he had been more comfortable with the Cybertronians than his fellow humans.

Ratchet looked the two over superficially. Hit Sunstreaker on the head, and led them off. Prowl seemed highly entertained by the abuse of the melee warrior.

“Ow, Hatchet what was that for?” he whined.
“Don’t call me that, and you know perfectly well what it was for.” The medic growled. As they walked away. “And where is your brother.” Was the last thing they heard as the pair vanished down the hall.

“Poor Ratchet.” Bumblebee muttered.
“It’s his own fault. “ Ironhide said gruffly. “He did not have to progenate twins.”
“He’s Ratchets?” Sam asked. He had not even thought about them having families, the fact there were twins was odd enough but for them to be Ratchet’s kids?
“Yes, he and his twin.” Bee said smiling. “And technically they are Ironhide’s too.”
“Don't remind me.” Ironhide groaned. He remembered the two's sparkling hood something he would not even curse on Megatron himself.
“That’s good, I suppose, that he’s here then, huh, I mean, you guys families coming together and all.” Sam said sheepishly.
“Well, that part is good. But until we find Sideswipe, he’s going to be a pain in the aft.” Bumblebee sighed. “Not to mention when the others in their squad arrive.”

“We need to locate him soon.” Optimus said and Ironhide nodded.

Sam put Halo down when the little bot started to chitter and it took off. He smiled to himself.

0000000000000

Prowl and Sunstreaker checked out fine and after sending Sunstreaker to bother the others Ratchet led Prowl to the chamber where Jazz was laying in a make shift berth. He was attached to machines which had been modified to keep an eye on him as he recovered. A steady hum filled the air. His spark case was open and the faintly glowing spark was the only thing giving Ratchet the hope he might be able to help his comrade.

“What happened to him?” Prowl asked staring at the silver body.
“He was ripped in half, Megatron did it.” He said as the tactician turned to him. “I stabilized him and repaired the worst of the damage but he is not responding.” He did not add that he was sure he might never respond that was not something to bring up with Prowl.
“But he’s.” the normally impassive mech's vocals seemed to have fritzed as he spoke.
“Still functioning but not on-line.” The medic told him, he wished he could tell him more, but he wasn’t sure he could do anything else for the silver mech.
“I see.” He said this quietly and stepped forward. Ratchet left, it was better to leave him alone to deal with this.

Prowl ignored the medic to look at his old friend and mate. The two had been friends for orns before bonding with one another. He did not want to think of losing Jazz that had been a hard enough thought when they had gone separate ways to find the AllSpark. Touching the plains of Jazz’s face he smiled to himself, he had hoped to see him again as spastic and never standing still as he had always been. Looking at this chest he touched the metal there feeling the faint warmth of his spark, and his own spark ached. As he stood there he thought he heard the door open and turned to see it closed as it had been after Ratchet left. He turned back to the form of Jazz as the warmth increased under his hand. Looking to the machines he frowned something was happening. The spark was already glowing brighter. He went to find Ratchet. Ratchet was in the main room of his medbay looking over the scans of the other two.

Ratchet was in the main infirmary alone. He looked up at the tactician.
“Prowl?” he had never seen that particular look on Prowl’s faceplate before.
“Ratchet you should come see this.” he sounded...hopeful
“What?” the older mech was confused but followed the younger.
“Just come see.”

The room where Jazz was looked just as he had left it, though the machines were getting noisy as they monitored the rebooting functions of the second or at least this is what they said as Ratchet looked over the machines.

“He’s coming back on-line.” Prowl said sounding confused
“He is?” Ratchet stared from the inert body of his comrade to his comrade's mate.
“Yes, though there ‘s no explanation for it.”
“Does it matter?” the normally logical tactician asked touching his mate gently.
“No it doesn’t.” He accessed his com-link “Optimus, everyone down to the medic bay now.”
‘Is there a problem Ratchet?”
“No just the opposite.” He answered.

By the time they had gotten down there, the other Autobots and Sam were concerned about the situation but the sight of the second’s body was not as painful as it had been weeks before. He was in one piece now and his chest was open showing the radiant light of his spark as Ratchet looked over it. Closing the chamber he looked up at the others.

“Ratchet?” Optimus asked.
“He’s rebooting.” He medic reported. “ He is coming back on-line”
“He’s okay?” Sam asked.
“Yes for some reason. I have no idea how.”
“Does it matter?” Prowl asked.
“I guess not just be ready to welcome back our second in command.”

Jazz was surprised to on line his optics and see Ratchet looking over him. He’d heard Prowl hadn’t he? But why would he hear him they were on earth and Prowl’s team was far away.

“Ratchet?”
“Welcome back you’ve got someone who wants to speak to you.” was Ratchet smirking?
“Huh?” he looked over when his hand was grabbed to see Prowl at his side. “Hey Prowler.”
“Jazz.” The tactician sounded calm but he saw the look in his optics.
“Good to see you again.” He smiled.

Everyone else was just as glad to see the saboteur in one piece and obviously doing well.

"Jazz you are okay." Bumblebee said cheerfully.
"Yeah little buddy I'm doing fine." he smiled. One hand reaching out for Prowl who took it. The others exchanged a smile.

"Good to see you back with us Jazz." Optimus said simply.
"Great to be back sir."

Soon everyone else was shooed out to give the pair time to talk and renew their bond after Ratchet did one final checkup on the second in command.

000000000000

Optimus looked up from where he stood watching the water below the dam where he had gone after they had seen Jazz wake up, as the humans would say. Sunstreaker was standing nearby looking oddly nervous.

"Sunstreaker?" he acknowledged his soldier.
"Optimus, please let me go find my brother."
"I understand Sunstreaker, the bond you two share is different than the rest of us but you don’t know enough about earth yet. We will find Sideswipe." he assured his soldier, he'd known the twins along time he had even been at their naming, they were alot like Ratchet though the medic would never admit it.
"But..."
"Sunstreaker...it is important you remain here we will all be on the look out for Sideswipe."
"Yes sir." he knew that tone of voice, nothing would change the Prime's CPU.

0000000000000

Miles was bored, for two days he had heard nothing from Sam and Mikaela was off with her female friends. So alone Miles wandered around the city to find something to do. Near the lake he found the wreck of a car. It was red, or had been, and from the damage it looked like it had crashed into the lake and been dragged out. It was a gorgeous car, or would be soon. He didn’t see any plates or signs of anything else the poor thing had been crashed and left for dead. He would have to find a way to get it somewhere he could work on it. Then an idea hit him he pulled out his cell phone.

"Hey Longarm I need a favor. Down by the lake can you come up here great." he hung up his phone.

A few minutes later a white tow truck with no discernible driver arrived where he was waiting. He smiled to himself, you would think the Earthborn would know it would look weird if they had no drivers.
"Miles." The tow truck greeted.
"Hey Longarm can you help me get this hunk of metal to my house." he smiled patting the hood of the tow truck
"Of course Miles, are you sure it's not someone else’s property?"
"No it's scrapped, someone left it here look at the drag marks they must have had quite a crash."
"Yes, come on we will get it to your home."

Once they got to his house his mom saw the red piece of metal.
"Miles what is this?" she asked.
"Hey mom look what I found, dad sent me the money for it."
"A piece of junk?"
"Well with a little work it'll be fine." he smiled.
"And where are you keeping it?"
"The Garage, please mom this was way cheaper then anything else and with some work it will be an awesome car." he said giddily.
"it's your choice ."
"I love you, you're the best mom in the whole world." he told her and went to mess with his new toy.

She just smiled and shook her head, patting Miles on the head. Some days she just did not understand her son.

000000000000000000000000000

Days later Miles was in his garage after school tinkering when Sam and Mikaela arrived. They both looked with appreciation at the sleek red car.
“So this is the car huh?” Sam asked, it looked like a muscle car like Bee.
“Yep, from my research it’s a Lamborghini.” He told them.
“Okay you lost me.” The other teen said ignoring the look that passed between his friends.
“It’s a really hot car Sam almost hotter as Bee.” Mikaela translated.
“Nothing is as hot as Bee.” He looked at his watch. “I gotta go.”
“So what’s going on now?” Miles asked as they left the garage.
“We still need to find the missing bots. You guys could help.”
“No way I have to work on my baby.” Miles said.
“I have to go see my dad.” Mikaela told him.
“Okay see you guys later.” Sam said taking off in Bumblebee.

“So any new signs?” Sam asked his car.
“Nothing Sam it had been nearly a week.” he answered.
“How is Streaker doing?”
“He has been better the others are not letting him leave since he might do something stupid.”
“Poor thing.”
“Don’t feel to sorry for him Sam he is an expert at getting into trouble.
"I've heard."

0000000000000

It was warm and comfortable where he was, he couldn't see or hear anything and his scanners were off line but he was sure he was nowhere near the Decepticons. He was alone though and it scared him, he could not feel his brother's spark anywhere close by. Another spark beat close by comfortingly for a moment before fading into the distance.

Chapter Text

Reggie Simmons was not a happy human. He was not happy for one very good reason. His reason being a medium sized Grey mech who stood in front of him. A mech who only a few months ago had been a normal everyday assault buggy and now was a sentient being. It also was willing to stand in his way all morning if it felt it was necessary

"Move." he demanded of the mech.
"Why?" Landmine asked. “I am doing as I was told. Guarding the motor pool.”
"You are in the way." The human told him.
"I was told to stay here." He countered.
“Why?” the human asked. Sometimes he wished they had frozen the bunch of them. Especially the bigger ones who were too much like the aliens.
“In case any of the young Earthborn wish to go outside I must stop them so they do not frighten the humans.” The robot answered as if it was the obvious reason for him being there.
“Oh fine then just be out of the way of humans.” Reggie growled.
“Very well.” The assault buggy mech obviously was not certain of following this order but he finally relented.

Landmine took his alt mode and drove off to the side. Reggie frowned, these Earthborn were annoying; since they knew more about humans they spent more time around them than their counterparts. DewBot had already scared people with his lurking as a pop machine. Who knew he would not like diet or caffeine free Dew and refused to
let the man who filled the vending machines to put them in him. That had taken forever to straiten out. Reggie was still sure the teens had something to do with it since Miles spent s much time with the bot when he was there. The smaller ones were just creepy, slinking around like they did unless Sam was around, then they followed the kid like well-trained pets. The only one he rarely saw was the tow truck Longarm he preferred to be outside and helping people. Not that he had clearance but the perimeter guards never stopped him.

“Do you need anything else Agent Simmons?” Landmine asked.
“No I am going off duty.” he told the stubborn machine
“Enjoy yourself.” The Earthborn said simply staying in his parking space.

As Simmons left, Bumblebee drove in with Sam in his front seat. As soon as they entered the motor pool Sam slid out of the door the Camaro took his robot form and they headed off down the hall. The pair was in such a hurry they did not notice the assault buggy Earthborn or the agent's exit.

They found the others waiting for them in the NBE-1 chamber which was now the briefing room being the only room large enough for all of them. They looked at the map of the area floating in front of them. Sam on Bumblebee’s shoulder in order to see better. He exchanged a wave with Will who was sitting Ironhide’s shoulder similarly.

“Well?” Ratchet asked.
“Nothing, there is no sign of Autobot movement in the city at all; though we did see some Decepticon signs. “ Sam reported. He stifled a yawn; he and Bumblebee had been patrolling most of the night, along with Prowl and Sunstreaker.

“There was an odd signal last night it sounded like Starscream.” Prowl agreed he stood to Optimus’ left while Jazz stood to his right, the two looked so comfortable there, it just looked right. The Autobots that were there felt a lot more better seeing the two with their leader, even Sam could feel the calm rightness of the scene.
“So the seeker’s back.” Ironhide grumbled. At least now they might see some action.
“Possibly, they do have technology to cloak themselves from us. “ Prowl nodded to himself. There was one in particular that could always slide under their radar. He knew Jazz would be keeping an optic open for that particular mech.
“So we be careful, I have to find my brother, and Bluestreak.” Sunstreaker demanded he knew that Sideswipe was out there somewhere, he could feel it.
“We will look, Bumblebee Sam, Sunstreaker look around town again. Ironhide, Will, and Prowl will look along the highway.” Optimus ordered the group.
“Yes sir. “

The groups left charging down the freeway. The two Autobots scanning as they went. They were almost racing as each tried to keep the other behind them.

“So what does Sideswipe look like? Or Bluestreak” Sam asked as he gripped the steering wheel. He was sure they would find the other twin soon.
“Well they might appear as a protoforms at the moment. Though if Sideswipe did find an alt mode it will be a deep red and most likely the same vehicle mode as Sunstreaker.” Bumblebee answered absently.
“Ahh, is he anything like him?” Sam asked concerned about two of them running around from what he had overheard from both Ironhide and Ratchet.
“Well he’s quieter but still trouble.” The Camaro told him somberly.
“I heard that mini-bot.” Sunstreaker’s voice cracked over the radio making Sam smile
“You were supposed to.” He shot back with a honk of his horn. “While Bluestreak will be Grayish and probably a charger like Prowl.”
“And is he anything like him?”
“No he’s talkative but sometimes it is annoying, nut he was caught in the underground of Praxus until the others found him.
“Poor thing.”
“Yes, he is much better, but I believe he still has some trouble.”
“Which is why he’s always with me and Sides.” Sunstreaker broke in. “we are his friends.”
“Yeah his friends.” Be teased.

0000000000000

Miles was ecstatic he was done fixing up his car and got the plates. And everything in order now finally he was going to drive it. Patting the slope of the hood he smiled. This car was far hotter than Sam’s no matter what he said. Sam could ignore him for a car he would ignore Sam for his new one. Though really Sam was helping with the efforts to help find the missing members of Prowl’s team. Not that miles and Mikaela weren’t helping too it just seemed Sam was obsessive with helping them.

The ride was smooth and the engine was quiet. He grinned to himself.

“I bet you could beat Sam’s car in a race huh?” he said patting the dashboard fondly. The engine revved and he let off the gas. He had not realized how sensitive the gas pedal was. This beauty would be great on the drag races. He should see if there was any going on this week. A quick check on his computer told him that he had gotten a
message from his fellow racers. The message told him there was a race that very night. Sam would kill him if he knew he did those but even best friends hid things from one another. Smiling he drove for the strip of road they used to race. Sam would never have to know, it wasn’t like it was that dangerous as long as the cops didn’t show up.

0000000000000

The air was full of the scent of burning rubber and yelling teens. The drag strip was crowded with racers, cars and fans. Here was one of the few places Miles did not feel like an outsider. He wasn’t one of the top racers and had never used his own car before but with his lovely new friend he would get there. Watching one race from the hood of his car he ignored most of the others. He did see a few new faces around and had a couple of friends among them but on the whole racers were an interesting breed, a lot of these young men and women wanted to go pro someday. Finally their turn came, he slid into his car and got in position.

“Okay we’re ready.” He murmured and the engine revved in response. Grinning he took off, the car was wonderful seeming to move flawlessly he had done great getting it fixed up in a week. No one would believe it had been a junker when he found it.

The sleek red car crossed the line before the black corvette that was it’s opponent and everyone cheered. Miles stepped out once he had stopped the sleek machine, grinning as he got out. One of the other guys handed him a water bottle as the other racer got out of his car.

“Not bad kid.” The other racer appreciated his ride. Holding out the cash that was the prize. “Nice first win.”
“Thanks.” He took the money and pocketed it, suddenly a police siren cut through the night and they fled. Everyone was taking off quickly so they would not get caught. Many of them had been before and the fines were horrible.

As he sped for the town the ground around Miles and his new car exploded. Not having a clue as to what was going on he hit the gas running for any cover with his car. Though his car seemed to have other plans. Turning the wheel he sped off across the dessert. He could no longer control it as it headed for an unknown destination,
the boy panicked as he saw a Hulking form following behind them. He really hoped it was not what it looked like.

0000000000000

Sirens and alarms screamed through the dam as something hit it from the outside. The Earthborn along with Optimus and Ratchet sought out the attacker and found three seekers waiting for them.

“It looks like Starscream brought company.” Ratchet growled.
“These are enemies?” Landmine asked. He knew about the seeker but not that there was more than one.
“They are here to free frenzy and Barricade.” Optimus said, “do not let him get to them.”
“Of course.” The buggy nodded and joined the attack. “Should I call back in Longarm?”
“No I do not think its necessary, he is still seeking the others.”
“Of course Prime.” The assault buggy pulled out his gun and fired at the flyers.

Starscream was furious, he had only gotten four answers on his call for Decepticons and though two were his own wing mates Thundercraker and Skywarp. The other two were purely loyalists to Megatron and wanted answers to the location of Frenzy.

As the seekers attacked drawing out the Autobots, Ravage slid into the building easily. No one could stop her from entering after all the heavy firepower was outside fighting off the three seekers. He was stopped short by a silver mech he had not seen in a long time. He really should have expected it of course, one of them would have realized that someone would head for the prisoners, and Ravage was there to rescue his younger co-creation. The second in command of the Autobots stood waiting for him.

“Here kitty, kitty why don’t you play with me.” Jazz said using his magnetic field to throw the cat-like femme against the nearest wall.

Ravage shook it off and leapt at him only to be shot in the air from behind. The pain of the acid pellets tearing through her tail, she landed off her mark and turned to snarl at the larger mech.

“About time you got here Prowler there is a problem.” Jazz said to the black and white mech as he joined him. “Where is Ironhide.”
“Outside helping deal with the seekers. They are trying to free Barricade and Frenzy.”
“Yeah, wonder who else is here.” He shook his head.
“We should go for the lock up then.” They chased after the panther. “The others should be here soon, there was a bleep of an Autobot distress signal close to Tranquility.”
“Hope it’s Sideswipe cause if its not we might have to lock up Sunstreaker till we find him cause the kids getting annoying.” Jazz muttered.
“I agree.” Prowl added as they chased the small Decepticon.

Ravage had done most of her job keeping the others occupied. She was no match for two mechs. She led them strait to lock up and a very familiar navy blue figure that was at the moment carrying Frenzy.

“Soundwave.” Prowl ground out, he had hoped it would be a while before the navy blue mech arrived to join the cons side of the fight.
“Stop right there." Jazz yelled.

Soundwave watched the two mechs with no expression in his red visor. They would shoot him if he moved true. Though they seemed to forget he was not alone here.

"Barricade." the mustang stepped out of the cell still stiff from the cold but ready to fight as ever. Prime had damaged him but he was functional.
"We are leaving here." The dark blue machine ordered.
"Yes sir." the interceptor growled with a glare in the direction of his Autobot counter part.
"Don't." Jazz shot hitting Soundwave in the back as the other retreated. "Come back here coward!"
"Jazz we have to stop them." Prowl told his mate taking off after the Decepticons.
"I know Prowl." They took off after the three. Losing them in the rubble of the motor pool, along with the chaos of battle.

0000000000000

Sam rolled out of Bumblebee's door as soon as they reached the dam and got out of the way as he took his robot mode. The vision before them was so similar to the scene at Mission City except there were three seekers now and the dam was safely in one piece. Though the repairs would have to be redone. He ran for the nearest cover while the soldiers led by Will were joining the fight.

Sunstreaker was already joining the battle ahead of them. He was enjoying trying to shoot down the planes, a pity sideswipe wasn’t there or the pair could do some jet judo on these creeps.

"Did you find the signal?" Ironhide demanded of the twin as he shot at Skywarp.
"No nothing but a blip and it was gone again but it was Sideswipe I know it." He demanded.
“Check again after we scrap these guys.”
“Yes sir.” the gold twin answered.

0000000000000

Miles had no idea what was after him but assumed it was a Decepticon and he headed for the dam. Sam might know what was going on and he was spending most of his time there. As he approached he saw the battle and tried to brake but something was wrong and the car sped right into the thick of it running over an odd metallic panther. It growled and jumped at him only to be shot by one of the others.

He saw the attackers flee and the defenders began to regroup. Only then could he get out of the car and run over to his friend who was helping to move some of the rubble.
"Miles?" Sam called seeing his friend. "What are you doing here?"
"I was attacked while trying out the car." He pointed to the red machine and Sam stared at it for a second. Before turning to the others. There was something about that car; Something oddly familiar. Glancing at Sunstreaker who was complaining abut his paint job being ruined by the fight then back at the red car, which had stopped close to the gold twin.

"Ratchet!" he yelled. Mind adding up things he’d missed somehow in the last week. How could he not have noticed it or put it together before?

The medic trudged over. "Yes Sam?"
"Scan this car would you?"
"Sam what are you doing?" miles asked. "That’s my car not one of these guys."
"Miles you found this car a piece of scrap right?" Sam asked.
"Yeah." The blond answered still slightly puzzled.
"We've been looking for some of these guys remember? One is Sunstreaker’s twin. Sunstreaker’s alt mode is a Lamborghini just like your car is. "
"So my car is the guy you've been looking for?" He stared at the larger yellow mech who was staring at his car with a look of deep concentration.
"Yes it is." Ratchet answered looking at the red car. "He’s in remarkable good condition though he is not responding very well."
"Sideswipe?" Sunstreaker knelt by the car looking concerned but the engine revved slightly.
"You did good work on his alt mode Miles." Ratchet told the human. He was impressed.
"Uh thanks." He looked at the car, his car was also an Autobot but it had not acted like it at all. "Will he be okay?"
"I need to do a full scan in my med bay." The medic informed him.
"Take care of it Ratchet, Sunstreaker assist your brother. Prowl Ironhide with me." Optimus ordered.
"Jazz you Bumblebee and Landmine stay here."
"Yes sir." The bots chorused.

0000000000000

“Is he okay?” Sunstreaker asked for the fifth time in the last fifteen minutes. He had not left the med-bay since helping Sideswipe get there. At the moment Ratchet was wishing the one who knew at least field medic training was the uninjured one.
“I would be able to tell if someone would stop bugging me every few moments.” The medic growled.

Sunstreaker retreated a few steps but did not take his optics off his brother. He was finally there at last, he and Bluestreak had gotten lost from them near earth’s moon but now Sideswipe was back even if he was stuck in his alt mode and they had a scrawny human to thank for it. Up to this point Sunstreaker had dealt with the fact his little bot had a human he was supposed to protect but he wasn’t fond of the squishy little things himself. Now he owed one his brother’s life, if the human, Miles had not found him the Decepticons might have. He looked over at the door to the infirmary where Bumblebee Sam and Miles were standing. Bee was watching him while the humans were arguing. Such an odd species, small and squishy but just as willing to fight the cons as they were. Now the yjsut had to find Bluestreak.

Miles was agitated, yes it was cool hanging around with giant alien robots and the smaller Earthborn ones but to have one of his own seemed kinda weird. Sam might need constant protection but he did not. Though the ride had been very nice and a Lamborghini was an awesome car.

“Sam I can’t have one of these guys around my house what if my mom notices. I already have mom convinced dad got it for me to piss her off.”
“Come on Miles it isn’t so bad and besides you had him as your car for a week and we didn’t even know, maybe they couldn’t get his signal either. “ Sam told him standing with his arms crossed and leaning on the doorway.

Miles stared at his best friend, over the last month or so he had changed. He seemed calmer about the oddest things and the long sleeves and fingerless gloves he had started to wear were odd. Miles knew they hid the burns on his hands and arms, which still had not faded. Ratchet had told them it was nothing. Miles was not sure he believed it. Now he had to deal with an alien robot car of his own either that or get the government to give him a replacement. Finally he walked over to join the other twin.

"Thanks Squishy." Sunstreaker told him.
"It's Miles." The human shot back.
‘I’m gonna call you squishy.’ The gold twin told him, smirking.

“I’m surprised how well his alt mode is in repair. His secondary systems are a wreck though repairing themselves which is why we got his signal when you were attacked in the desert.” Ratchet said as if sense the boy’s presence. “He was trying to reach us or at least trying to reach Sunstreaker.”
“Cool. Is he going to be able to help you guys?” Miles inched towards his car, which was apparently an alien robot and one of the rare twins born to the Autobots.
“No he won’t be on active duty until I can fix his transformation cog, it is wrecked as are his photonic manipulators and vocal processors not as bad as Bumblebee’s were, they will be fixed in only a few days.”
Sunstreaker nodded. “Poor Sides can’t defend himself then huh?”
“No, he can not; Miles it would probably be best if he remains in your care until I can replace the transformation cog.” The medic turned to the human who had taken care of his youngest. He was half tempted to teach the boy a few things about Cybertronian physiology.
“If you’re sure.” He patted the sleek red hood and the engine revved. “I can keep an eye on him.”
“But why can’t he stay here with us?” Sunstreaker asked. His brother nudged forward a little, to gently hit his brother’s leg.

“You know Bee maybe you can teach him the radio trick so we can at least understand him better.”
“I should.” The yellow mech said thoughtfully. “Come on Sideswipe I’ll teach you to talk through the radio it’s easy and you’ll make more sense than your twin.” He led the red car over to the side and transformed in order to show him.

Sideswipe was a fast leaner he always had been and it wasn’t hard to communicate via the radio it was only the choosing of what to use that took time. Bumblebee liked to use older songs mostly because of the reaction of his friends when he did.

000000000000

Sam took everyone’s attention on the found twin to slip out of the room and find the restroom. Once there he slipped off the gloves and his shirt to look over the burns, they had gone form a shiny new skin pink to an almost metallic black. Odd figures traced up his arms and centered on his chest, words he could not read but they looked just
like the marks on the cube. Touching the marks gently he smiled to himself.

00000000000

Longarm stood alone in his alt mode watching the water rush along the river towards the dam. Things were happening and changing in their world he could feel it, his spark pulsed softly as he thought. He heard a sound and Halo joined him.
“Hello little one.” The smaller mech squeaked and sat on his hood. Curling up like a child.
A few moments later he heard footsteps and the boy Sam approached him slowly.
"Longarm" the human greeted sitting on the hood of the truck, one hand stroking Halo absently.
"Sam what brings you out here?" The truck asked.
"I need to talk to someone." he explained
"There are many humans here and fellow machines that are sentient. And would understand your questions better."
“Not his one Longarm, I can't trust most of my fellow humans, except for Miles and Will most of them would experiment on me if they knew.”
He told the truck quietly, “and most of our friends are cleaning up and helping Sideswipe adjust.” He smiled
"I understand Sam, these changes are coming more frequently you should speak with Ratchet." Longarm told him.
"I will"
"No you won't you say you will but you are not going to." The tow truck said quietly.
"How do you know?" the boy asked.
"Because you have agreed to speak with Ratchet on three separate occasions in the last month and not done so."
"Yeah well I have my reasons."
"I am sure you do." the truck trailed off as he sensed an Autobot approaching.

Bumblebee walked up to them looking slightly annoyed. He had been searching for Sam since he had realized the boy was no longer in the med bay with the rest of them

"Sam you vanished, where did you go?" he asked quickly joining the three.
"I just wondered where Halo had vanished off too."
"You are lying Sam." His guardian told him. "And Halo is right next to you."
"Okay I wanted to talk to Longarm about something."
"The burns?" he asked. Bumblebee had been the only one who had seen the burns since they had ‘healed’.
"Yeah, among other things."
"We should talk to Optimus about this."
"Not yet, we can’t tell anything till we know I'm not going to end up in a lab." he demanded.
"We will not let them put you in a lab Sam." Bumblebee and Longarm spoke at once.
"I know bee." he patted the yellow mech. "But I'm still not sure we should tell anyone."
"It is your choice Sam." Longarm agreed. "Though they will find out."
"I know, trust me I know." he sighed, "come on Bee lets get back to the others."
"Right Sam, good day Longarm."
"Good day Bumblebee Sam."

He watched them go quietly, worried about the boy and his people.

Chapter Text

Things were not going well for the Decepticons, their great leader was gone and they had to obey the fool of a second of his who now styled himself the leader. The two seekers Thundercraker and Skywarp would at least do what Starscream wanted them to do. Soundwave and Barricade were loyalists to Megatron and would rather find their leader's corpse and serve it then the fool Starscream. Frenzy was just glad to be free and have both Barricade and Soundwave around because with Soundwave were his brother Rumble, and sisters Ravage and Lazerbeak. Their first attack against the Autobots on Earth since the loss of their leader was only a success in the fact that they had rescued their comrades. The remains of their fellow Decepticons were gone and that annoying second in command was alive and well, which suited Soundwave just fine, he wanted to slag him. He had been annoyed to hear that he might have been gone. Now there were problems among the ranks of the remaining Decepticons, as they split between those loyal to Soundwave and those loyal to Starscream. Not that there were many on earth to be split up, the main problem would be the cons out in space.

Soundwave was watching the recording Lazerbeak had made of the battle, two humans in particular got his attention. The boy who had destroyed their leader and another human child who had been riding in one of the Autobots. An Autobot who did not transform to fight, but he knew was one of those infernal twins. He would know those two anywhere. There was only one reason he would not scrap them, if that fool hadn’t made him promise not to. Most Decepticons would not keep their word but he was not like many Decepticons.

“Frenzy who is the boy?” Soundwave demanded of the small silver menace. His monotone voice seemed to echo in the air. Frenzy didn’t even cringe.
“Witwicky knows about us. St-stupid bug pro-pr-protects him.” Frenzy stuttered out and Rumble hit him to try and calm him down. "Killed L...Lord Megatron."
“He is a weakness, bring him to me.” He ordered
“Ye-Yes sir.” He scrambled away to find Barricade.
"Need to fix that glitch boss." Rumble told his progenitor.
"Both of you are glitches." came the deep purring voice of his elder co-creation that sat at Soundwave's feet.
"Silence, Ravage watch the Autobots; Rumble assist me." Soundwave ordered.
"Yes boss." the smaller mech agreed pouting.
"Of course Soundwave." the Felinoid Decepticon slipped away.

0000000000000

The human teens who were friends with giant alien robots who had a habit of turning into cars were at school in the lunch room eating their supposedly nutritious school lunches when it was obvious there was a problem. Sam had little appetite he had not been eating much lately at all and finally disgusted with trying to eat he stood up to throw away his tray. Suddenly the world tilted around him the light was far to bright and the sounds of everyone seemed to have risen to a loud roar. The last thing he saw as the world blacked out was the floor rising up to meet him.

“Sam!” Mikaela screamed as Miles caught him. Both had jumped up from their seats as soon as they had seen him start to fall.
“Is there a problem?” the teacher monitoring the lunchroom asked coming over.
“It’s Sam he passed out.” Miles told her.
“Take him to the nurse Lancaster.” The teacher said in a bored tone and walked off.
“Yes ma’am.” He carried Sam out carefully with Mikaela’s help.

Once out of the cafeteria they stopped. And Miles looked at Mikaela questioningly.
“We can’t take him to the nurse.” Mikaela hissed.
“Why not?” He asked quietly.
“The burns.” She pointed out motioning to the long sleeves and fingerless gloves on the boy’s arms and hands.
“Oh yeah.” The blonde frowned, what could they do? He asked her and she nodded toward the parking lot.
“WE go to Ratchet, in case there is anything nod.”
“Right.”

They got him out of the cafeteria but did not go to the office. They took him out to Bumblebee and Sideswipe who sat in the parking lot side by side. Bee almost panicked at the sight of his human charge unconscious. He had noticed Sam’s vital dropping but had not been able to do anything about it.
"Is he okay his temperature plummeted only a few minutes ago." The yellow guardian asked once they were closer. Sideswipe made a revving sound beside him. Still unable to communicate normally he was frustrated with the radio and the not being able to do anything.

“Sam fainted Bee we are taking him to Ratchet like he asked us to. I’ll drive you there while Miles takes Sideswipe okay?” Mikaela asked.
“Alright Mikaela.” The Autobot said quietly as she put Sam in the back making him comfortable and left the school with Miles right behind her.

As they got to the ID check point she saw the very familiar forms of the tow truck and the assault buggy waiting for them. The guard waved them in after verifying all IDs. She said nothing as they joined ranks with them. Ratchet was waiting for them in the rebuilt motor pool in his robot mode.

"What happened to him?" The CMO asked, he knew something was up with Sam but he had not found anything on surface scans.
"We don’t know he fainted." Miles said helping Mikaela get him out of the Camaro.

"Take him to the infirmary I’ll do some scans." The medic ordered.
"Shouldn’t we take him to the medical wing?" the teen asked confused by the CMO’s order.
"No I will look him over.” The medic said simply. He didn’t trust the human medics to understand the readings he was getting.

0000000000000

The others watched the medic as he ran scans over the boy. The Earthborn had shown up at some point and he had to keep shooing Halo away as he tried to get a decent scan. Something was odd about the boy's vitals. They were not quite right.

"Mikaela, Miles have you noticed anything odd about Sam the last few days?" Ratchet asked over his shoulder.
"He hasn't had much appetite said his stomach was bothering him or that he wasn’t hungry. I thought it was just that he was upset over the search last week but he was still doing it after we found Sideswipe." Mikaela told him and the large head nodded once. He should have kept a closer eye on the boy the first time he was worried he had not eaten or slept, he would talk to Bumblebee about it later.
"What about the two of you have you felt ill?"
"No." Mikaela said quickly making the medic give her a look.
"I’ve been tired but I’ve spent a lot of time fixing on Swipe." Miles told him.

"Both of you over there so I can scan you thoroughly." He ordered pointing to another metal table that he used for working on the others both could sit on it and be comfortable.

"What's wrong with Sam?" Miles asked, while the medic worked.
"He seems to have been affected by the AllSpark more than we feared, It’s radiation along with the radiation we ourselves give off. Not much certainly not enough to hurt any of you humans who spend time with us unless you could live as long as one of us." he said simply.
“Radiation?” Miles asked that did not sound good. Radiation was bad wasn't it?
“Yes though as I said the small amount we give off is not enough to cause you any real harm.” he assured the humans who both were startled by his comment.
“What about cancer?” The blond sounded panicked. "I don't wanna get cancer."
“You will not get cancer Miles.” He said calmly. “There is no way for you to spend enough time with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker to get that much radiation.”
"So is he going to be okay?" Mikaela asked, Nudging Miles.
"Yes, he will be fine after some rest." He said as he scanned the two teens. Neither of them had anywhere close to the amount of radiation that Sam was giving off, which was too close to Cybertronian energy for Ratchet to feel safe about it.

Both were fine, though Mikaela was slightly undernourished he had learned most females of her age group seemed to be this way and she got mad if he mentioned it. He wisely said nothing but made a note to talk to Bumblebee about his charges.
Miles was slightly touched by the radiation from Sideswipe but not badly affected. He nodded once and returned to check on Sam. In his absence Halo and the other smaller Earthborn had climbed up to sit with Sam. Halo chattering away while the others were silent. They looked up at him purple optics calm except Halo's own gold optics glowed brightly. He seemed to be the calmest of the smaller lot and those optics...something was odd about them. He shook his head and gave them a stern look.

"Alright you little things what do you want?" he asked knowing they had yet to speak. All of them chattered at him like newly sparked protoforms.
"They are worried for Sam." Landmine spoke from the doorway. "They have never seen humans sleep before."
"And you have?" He turned to look at the gray mech, he stood there calm as ever watching Sam.
"No but I have searched the net on the subject, it is similar to our recharge." he seemed like a youngling himself though older than the smaller ones acted. Not as old as Longarm did, you would think that one was as old as Prime. As he thought about that the little things began to chatter amongst themselves and swarmed off the table except for Halo. They swarmed onto Landmine who simply petted them. Halo on the other hand sat by Sam's head still chattering quietly.

"He'll be fine." Ratchet told the little creature. He looked at Bumblebee who stood close by worried as well. Halo chattered and leapt over to sit on Bumblebee’s shoulder. The larger mech patted it absently; he was used to the smaller creature seeking him out as much as it sought out Sam.

“Are you sure Ratchet?” The younger mech asked worried for his charge.
“Of course he is tired and needs rest that is all Bumblebee. All of you out now Sam needs peace.” He ordered and everyone left though Bumblebee stayed by the door until Landmine dragged him off.

Ratchet sighed and called for Optimus, who was busy looking over areas for their base, the leader of the Autobots joined him as soon as he called.

“Is there a problem Ratchet?” He asked looking at the boy who was still unconscious on the large examination table, the one he called Halo sitting on his chest.
“That depends on what you call a problem. Sam has been affected by the AllSpark.”
“You said he wasn’t.” Optimus stared at the boy, there was something odd about the way he had been acting lately.
“Apparently the small amount of the affect at that point made it impossible to sense at the time. It might even be the constant contact with one of us has increased it I am not sure, he seems to be changing though slowly.”
“Do you know what all is happening yet?”
“No it will take time I believe he should be quarantined until we know it is safe.”
It is your decision, though whatever you decide remember to tell his parents.”
“Of course.”

00000000000

Something was wrong, there was pain and someone was suffering a lot though quietly. He wanted to touch them to heal the pain to save them. He reached out his hand felt the warmth and the screaming stopped. The pain faded quickly.

00000000000

Sam woke with a start trying to sit up he was stopped by a weight on his chest. Looking up he saw gold optics watching him. A pair of blue ones from a very familiar metallic yellow face joined the gold ones.

“Bee?” he croaked his throat felt raw and his body hurt but the pain was fading like a bad dream.
“I am here Sam.” His guardian said softly. The blue optics were softly glowing.
“What happened?” He reached out for his guardian feeling one large hand close to him.
“You fainted.”
“I fainted?” He blinked confused, the last ting he remembered was standing up to throw away his lunch.
“You fainted Man.” He heard Mile’s voice and turned his head to see his best friend on the edge of the large metal table he was laying on. “You stood up and nose dived for the floor.”
“Where am I?” He asked confused. He did not recognize the room at all. Not from the angle of it he saw from the table.
“My medbay.” He heard Ratchet’s voice but couldn’t see him at the moment.
“It’s nothing I guess I was just a little tired.”
“It was not nothing Sam. Miles if you would tell Mikaela Sam is awake but resting still.”
“Yes sir.” The blonde left quite sure that he was getting kicked out for a doctor patient confidentiality moment.

Once the blond was gone Ratchet turned to the three. Halo had moved off Sam’s chest and Bumblebee had one hand on the table fingers touching Sam’s back.

“Sam I know you have not been resting well since the battle at Mission City. You have had nightmares and I have said nothing to others about your lack of weight in the last week. . This fainting spell has made them upset and they have told me you lack appetite.”
“Yes I haven’t been hungry and I’ve had weird dreams so what?” the boy shrugged, he had hoped none of the others would have noticed.
“I think you need to be kept under observation and in isolation until I can pinpoint the problem Sam.”
“Isolation? What about school?” he wasn’t sure he wanted Ratchet to even get close to finding out what was “wrong” with him.
“That can be taken care of both Miles and Mikaela have stated they can get your homework and such from your classes. “
“Have you told my parents?” he asked hoping his mom would have argued.
“They will be told you are needed for a few weeks by the group here.” He told the boy simply, having covered all his bases as the humans would say.
“So what am I going to do isolation and where.”
“It depends Sam do you know what is going on?”
“I might know something.” He said with a quick look to Bumblebee.
“You know something Bumblebee?” The medic looked at the younger mech whose doorwings were slightly drooping under his scrutiny.
“I might.” He squeaked, he knew hiding things from his superiors was bad but it had not seemed important up to this point.
“I am going to call Optimus and the both of you are going to explain yourselves fully.” he told them, Sam flinched slightly and Bee's doorwings drooped.
“Yes sir.” They said in unison. Halo chattered from Sam’s chest. The boy raised a hand to pat the little mech absently.

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Optimus prime looked over the three on the exam table then to his CMO who seemed annoyed with the human and Autobot. Sam looked very pale and tired. He had said only a few days ago he was fine, now Optimus was not sure he had meant it. The little Earthborn that was always with the boy sat on Bumblebee’s shoulder watching Optimus with his odd gold optics.

“What is this?” he asked
“Sam and Bumblebee have something they should have told you.” Ratchet said and looked at the three before leaving the room.

“Sam Bumblebee what is going on?” Optimus was concerned for the pair, and Sam had been in serious danger not that long ago.
“Well Optimus sir.” Sam stopped and seemed to be trying to figure out what to say.
“We know some of what is wrong with Sam but it’s not wrong really.” Bumblebee spat out quickly.
“What?” He was infinitely patient but the two were acting like Sparklings caught doing something wrong. The little silver creature was silent as they looked at one another.
“It’s the AllSpark, some of its radiation affected me it’s in the burn marks only they aren’t really burns anymore.” He removed the gloves then his shirt to reveal for the first time to anyone besides Bumblebee, the black metallic markings in Cybertronian along his arms and up to a single mark right above his heart. They were no longer burns but looked like the metal had gotten under his skin. The skin itself was gold in color around the markings just as it had been on the cube.
“What has happened to you?” The larger mech looked the young human over scanning him and finding nothing wrong just different from the first time they had met. He could read the markings, knew only one other who might be able to who was still functioning.
“It’s the AllSpark like I said, it’s changing me I’m not sure how really. When I got dizzy before Halo was there and it passed.”
“Halo?” he looked at the creature. “Has Ratchet scanned the Earthborn?”
“I don’t know.” He answered. “Why?”
“He is always with you here in the dam.” The Autobot leader pointed out.
“Most of the smaller Earthborn are, and the larger listen to him as well.” Bumblebee said quietly.
“Bee.” Sam warned, he wasn’t sure the others should know yet.
‘We should tell Optimus Sam. I told you before and so has Longarm.” The yellow mech told his human.
“Longarm?” Optimus raised one eye ridge he had noticed the Earthborn had seemed to have chosen the tow truck as their leader.
“He told me the other day we should not hide the changes from the rest of you. But Sam insisted we should because he was worried about the Decepticons and the humans here wanting to test on him.”

A look from Bumblebee to Sam confirmed the mech’s words as Sam nodded once.
“I don’t trust them; they hurt Bee, they stupidly brought Megatron to the cube and they are the reason my great grandfather died in a psycho ward.” He spat out.
“And us?” he asked quietly, the human had no real reason to trust the ones who dragged him into their war.
“You I trust Optimus, the Earthborn trust all of you as well. I know you would not do anything to hurt a human but how do we know they have no spies here?”
“No I understand that Sam but I do agree with Ratchet that you should remain in isolation for a short time to ensure you are in no danger.” He told the boy who nodded.
“Bumblebee I know you were doing as Sam asked but for a time you must go to the brig.”
“Yes sir.” He said quietly. Slinking away as Ratchet came in.
“Sam I have contacted your parents they are upset by the situation but will send things for your comfort soon.”
“Fine where do I have to be isolated?” He asked not really wanting to be isolated and alone.
“An area of the barracks has been prepared.”
“Great lead the way.” He let the Medic lead him off not sure what exactly was going to happen.
“Ratchet after you have gotten Sam settled I want you to scan the Earthborn.” Optimus ordered.
“Yes sir.” He wasn’t sure what he hoped to find but the supreme Autobot leader left in the opposite direction of the rooms prepared for Sam.

00000000000

“Does Sam really have to be in isolation?” Mikaela asked after she and Miles had been told.
“Yes until we know he is not in any danger.” The medic assured her.
“But he’s my best bud we’ve been there for each other since pre-k.” Miles whined.
“It will be fine Miles it should not be more than a week.” Ratchet told him. “And you can still be in contact but not physically.”
“It will be fine Miles. Besides its not like it will be that long.” Mikaela said with a sigh. She understood less then Miles why Sam needed to be put in a room alone.
“He will have food brought to him and there is plenty there to entertain himself.”
“What about company?” Miles asked. “He might pine away in loneliness or something.”
“At the moment all of the smaller Earthborn are with him. Bumblebee will also no doubt spend time with him.”
“But no humans.” Miles frowned. “We haven’t spent this much time apart since kindergarten.”
“He’s been very uncomfortable around people lately anyway the only ones he’s been able to stand recently are us and Will.” Mikaela sighed; she had noticed a lot of things lately happening to Sam but had said nothing because he had said he was fine.
“We should head back home then so our parents don’t freak, we’ll bring Sam’s homework tomorrow.”
“Very well.”

The pair left and he went to scan the Earthborn finding all but Halo the little silver x-box was nowhere in sight. He set about to scan them but found nothing odd about most of them except they were not the same as himself and the Cybertronians in materials.

00000000000

Sam was bored; he had been given his own rooms in the barracks complete with a bathroom and bedroom. A small table and chairs were in one corner, there was a desk with a very high level computer, a phone, a bed with very comfortable pillows blankets and sheets. But he was alone, except for Halo; the small Earthborn had shown up at some point and simply sat there. He wished Bumblebee wasn’t in the brig not that his guardian could fit in the small rooms making him wonder how he would get meals would the smaller Earthborn bring them? Not likely besides he probably would not be able to keep the food down anyway he had not been able to eat with out throwing up for the past few days. He had told no one but Bumblebee knew because he was always scanning Sam and had found out Sam had sworn the Camaro to secrecy of his problems. He was thinking now he probably should have gone to Optimus the first time this happened. Too late now though. He fell back on his bed and sighed, he was still bored.

There was a knock on his door and he frowned he was in solitary right no human contact. Opening the door he was surprised to find Jazz in the hall. The smallest of the bots there he could fit tightly into the hall and looked only slightly comfortable.

"Hello?" Sam had really not expected the silver mech at his door since last he had seen him he was with Prowl.
"Hey kid want some company?" The second in command of the Autobot forces asked.
"Sure." He moved out of the way sitting on the bed to give Jazz more room.
Jazz slid in careful not to break the doorway or any furniture, he actually fit in the room as long as he didn't move much.

"So how are ya holding up?" He asked.
"I'm fine though I’m not sure how long I’ll last cooped up in here." Sam flopped back on his bed.
"You'll be fine, it's not like you'll be totally alone." Jazz reminded him.
"But you're the only one who can fit in here with me and no offense but you're not Bee." the young human said with a grin.
"I know. " there was something mischievous in his smile. Sam chose to ignore it. "Besides I wanted to talk to you alone anyway."
"About what?" he asked casually but his body language sharpened, no longer quite lounging.
"To thank you"
"Thank me."
"Don’t play dumb kid, I heard you before, every time I got close to the matrix something pulled me back. I know it was you." The silver mech told him, he did not sound mad about it at all.
"Well yeah it was." he said quietly. "You’re not going to tell the others are you?"
"No though Prime and Prowl should have noticed and Ironhide for that matter." He told the boy.
“Oh.” he hadn't realized they should have noticed the recent changes, maybe he should talk to Optimus.

They talked for awhile longer before Sam started to yawn and Jazz left him to go to bed. As he was drifting off he felt a weight settle next to him. He fell asleep with someone stroking his hair.

Chapter Text

It was not hard for Optimus Prime to find the youngest member of his team. He knew that the yellow mech was close by from the thrum in his own spark. He smiled to himself as he came upon Bumblebee on the edge of the river. The guardian stared into the river as if the fast moving water could answer all of his questions.
"Bumblebee." Optimus called as he approached him.
"Optimus." he turned quickly his doorwings fluttering as he spoke.
"I would have thought you would have gone to see Samuel once you were free from the brig." he said simply joining the younger mech at his perch.
"I was, but...he’s sleeping and I did not want to disturb him he has not slept well the last month or so."
"So Ratchet has said." he sighed and stared out over the water. "I am surprised you kept this from me for as long as you did."
"Sam made me promise." He stuttered.
"You care a great deal for the boy." Optimus observed, smiling behind his battle mask.
"He is my friend." Bumblebee answered quickly and Optimus was glad the battle mask hid his smile. He was sure the young ones would set themselves straight eventually in that respect.
"Of course." the elder mech answered with a simple nod.

The smaller mech looked up at him optics bright.
"Optimus, have I done well?" Bumblebee suddenly asked hoping he had made him proud.
"You are a fine soldier little one, I am proud of you and what you have accomplished, you were the first of us to locate the all spark."
"The humans did take me to it."
"Bumblebee."
"Yes sir."
"Come here." he pulled the smaller mech close feeling the warmth of his creation's spark. "I am proud of you Bumblebee. I could never be prouder of you."
"Thank you." he whispered. “I should get back."
"Go, you have a charge who needs you. When he is ready I wish to speak to him." Optimus released Bumblebee and smiled down at him.
"Yes sir." the yellow mech left quickly wishing to get back to his charge.

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It was warm and comfortable and someone was humming while smoothing his or her hand through his hair. Blinking he looked up into eyes that were an inhuman glowing Blue. He tried to get up but the person shook their head. There was no light in the room making the glowing eyes the only thing he saw.
"You should sleep Sam, it's nearly midnight." They had Bumblebee’s voice, though it sounded slightly younger in this form.
"Bee?" This had to be a dream. There was no way for Bumblebee to be in the room with him, he was too large and was not human.
"Yes Sam." He heard the silky whisper of hair across cloth as the other nodded.
"But how why?" he asked still sleepy.
"This is an external photonic sensor array in homo-sapien simulation." he said simply, well simply for an advanced sentient robot. Sadly his human was less understanding of his manners than normal.
"A what?" his sleep fogged mind could not wrap around the words.
"You would call it an avatar hologram Sam. One made for infiltrating other races where my alt mode would not work."
"You've never done this before." he said quietly settling back into the figure's lap again letting Bumblebee resume threading his fingers through his hair. He still could only see the other's eyes but his fingers felt long and tapered and there was a warm buzzing sensation beneath the other’s ‘skin’.
"I am no Decepticon, I do not like using this form unless necessary it is dishonest." he told the human quietly. He was quite embarrassed.
"It's you isn't it?" Sam asked still half asleep.
"A part of myself yes." He said hesitantly. He was not sure how Sam would react to this ability.
“Then it’s not a big deal.” Sam yawned and settled back to fall asleep again. At least he would not be totally lonely. Jazz was a nice bot but as he had said, Jazz was not his Bee.
“I’m sorry I got you sent to the brig Bee.” He whispered.
“It is okay Sam we should not have hid everything from Optimus and the others but it is understandable you do not want your fellow humans to think of you as a subject to experiment on. Even if the former Sector Seven agents are supposed to now be helping us we do not completely trust them.”
“Which probably sticks in their craws that a handful of kids and a squad of army rangers has more of your trust then them.”
“I was unaware of humans having craws.” Bee sounded startled and the fingers stopped moving for a moment.
“It’s a figure of speech man.” He yawned.
"Ironhide has told me of theses figures of speech, he feels they need to be shot." Sam couldn't tell if Bumblebee was serious or not since his voice remained calm but he had to laugh.
"That’s Ironhide." Sam yawned. He tried to get more comfortable. "Come here Bee."
"What do you mean."
"Stop being my pillow and be a teddy bear okay"
"Very well." he moved to lay beside him and let Sam curl against his chest with his head on Bumblebee’s shoulder. The blonde continued to stroke his hair gently humming softly.

When Sam woke fully he did expect the earlier conversation to have been a dream. But to find laying next to him a young man close to his age with shoulder length black hair the tips were yellow and pale gold skin in a pair of soft black pants with a yellow shirt that had black stripes on the left sleeve and yellow arm warmers. Blue eyes were watching him closely as he shifted. Bumblebee’s Avatar smiled at him.
"Morning Bee." Sam said still leaning against Bumblebee
"Good morning Sam." he said quietly.
"So what's the plan for today?" He asked cuddling against the form of his friend. He was quite comfortable and did not want to move any time soon.
"I do not know, there are a few patrols today, Prowl has scheduled them efficiently between himself, Sunstreaker, and myself since I am here."
"So you'll have to leave?" he tried to not sound upset. He liked having Bumblebee with him.
"Not now, also there are sites to be searched to find us an actual base of our own. I do not know about the others but this place makes me uncomfortable."
"I completely understand." Sam told him sitting up and stretching. Once he was up he stood and grabbed some clothes. "I’m going to take a shower Bee."
"I will wait here for you Sam, Optimus wishes a word with you."
"Okay." The young man agreed.

Once Sam was done with his shower they headed for the motor pool. Where Bumblebee’s car form sat in it's own parking space and the engine roared or life as soon as they stepped off the elevator. The Avatar vanished into the car as Sam approached it.
“So where is the big guy?” Sam asked nodding to Landmine and climbing into Bee’s car form.
“Outside by the lake down where humans are not allowed. He has been spending a lot of time there.” Bumblebee answered pulling out of the motor pool and taking the access road down to the lake.

00000000000000

They found the supreme commander of the Autobot’s forces standing alone on an outcropping near the river. He was unseen from the dam and Sam wondered why he was alone out here but noticed a flash of silver from the trees and saw Jazz for just a moment before the saboteur was once again out of sight. As Sam climbed out of Bumblebee the yellow mech transformed and joined the SIC in the trees. The pair vanished from view.

"Optimus Prime?" He said quietly not wanting to disturb the large blue and red mech.
"Sam I wished to speak with you." Optimus spoke calmly
"I heard from Bee."
"Longarm and I spent most of last night speaking. He fully explained the situation and we have come to an agreement."
"That’s good." he wasn’t sure what that meant.
"You still should not have made Bumblebee keep this from us."
"I know." he looked up at the large mech. "He really did not want to hide it from you."
"He has never been able to hide anything from me Sam." Optimus told him. “Not before this.”
"Yeah."

After a moment Sam sighed. "I have no idea about this whole thing, I know I carry the energy inside me and it can come out at times. I can't really control it."

"It is hard to control." Optimus agreed. "But not impossible."

"Really?" the human asked simply.

They spent a few hours talking about the matrix and controlling the power in the all-spark. Optimus dredged up all of the information he had learned and painstakingly taught his own eldest offspring long ago. I spark clenched with worry over the young mech for a moment hoping he was safe.

"Sam, myself, and Prowl are going to look over a few sites for a possible base, as you are stuck here and not supposed to deal with other humans we wondered if you and Bumblebee would wish to join us."

"It would be interesting but what about Ratchet?" He would love to not be cooped up in the room. Getting out would be good, since he felt like he was already an experiment even if Ratchet only wanted to observe him.

"He has said we can take you as long as we return here within the week and sooner if there's any problem."

"Great, I don’t want to spend the whole week in a room being studied by Ratchet either." He said. "Even if both Jazz and Bee can visit."

"I understand." He could hear the smile in the other's voice.

A moment later Jazz and Bumblebee appeared out of the trees and joined them.

"So what now big bot?" Jazz asked. His cheerful attitude was almost infectious. Sam had to grin.

"We will leave for the first sites as soon as Prowl returns from his patrol."

"Yes sir." both of them saluted and all three transformed to their alt modes. Bumblebee’s driver door popped open and Sam climbed in.

The three drove up to the motor pool to wait for Prowl. Sam climbed out of Bee’s driver’s door.

"I have to go get some stuff for my delicate organic systems I’ll be right back." The human said realizing that if he did go he would need some things.

"All right Sam." Bumblebee told him.

0000000000000

Sam ran off to get his backpack and a couple of things. The only thing he could stomach at the moment was water so he threw a few bottles into the bag along with his cell phone and a few other items he would need, toiletries mostly along with his laptop. Finally he ran to join the others running into one of the expresso machines on his way to the elevator. As soon as it reached the floor for the motor pool he almost slammed into DewBot who was waiting at the doors for him.

"Hey Dew." He greeted touching the warm metal of one of the large arms. He liked to touch the Earthborn as well as the Autobots the smooth metal and warm hum of energy was relaxing.
"Sam." it grumbled he preferred to not speak as most people had a problem with large vending machine monsters. Halo sat on his shoulder along with most of the other small silvery Earthborn.
"Dew, please do me a big favor don’t scare the vending machine guy again." He asked.
"Yes Sam I will do my best not to."
"Good, I have to go for awhile so keep an eye on the little guys okay, Halo stay here."
The large bot nodded and the little one squeaked.

He rejoined the others in the motor pool Jazz was gone but Prowl had arrived. Sam had not seen much of the third in command unless he was with Optimus. He seemed to always hover around the prime the one time he had asked about it he had been told that was just Prowl.

"Hey Prowl." He greeted and the Autobot nodded in greeting. He had little contact with humans since his arrival, finding most of them tedious.
"Sam. Are you ready to go?" the police car asked politely.
"Whenever the rest of you are." He answered rejoining his guardian and throwing the backpack in his back seat.

They took their alt modes and Sam climbed into Bumblebee.

0000000000000

The tourists’ area we still closed for the repairs on the dam. So there was no one but soldiers to see the three vehicles come out of the dam and for a moment only the yellow Camaro had a driver until two more flickered to life in the cab of the semi and the driver's seat of the police cruiser. They were waved through the security checkpoint and went on their way to the first location.

Sam was enjoying the bouncy tune from Bumblebee’s radio and the wind blowing through his hair as they headed down the freeway for the Californian coast. It had been two hours since they had headed out and there were few cars on the road right now.

"Sam are you alright?" Bumblebee’s voice came from the radio.
"Yeah I’m fine but we may need to stop soon."
` "Is there a problem?"
"Yeah my bladder's full." He said quietly. The one problem with water was it filled him up quickly and flushed out just as fast.
"Oh I will inform Optimus we must stop." he clicked on his communication link. "Optimus sir, Sam needs to stop."

"There’s a rest stop a mile ahead of us we will stop there.” The truck answered as he scanned the road ahead.

"Yes sir"

At the rest stop Optimus had to park with the other trucks while Bumblebee went for the normal parking lot, calling up his Avatar in the passenger seat to accompany Sam into the building.

"Where's Prowl?"
"He chose to go a little farther up the road to wait for us as cop cars make humans uncomfortable."
"Oh." he slid out of the car and headed for the restroom.

The place was empty which was nice, he idly wondered if they would have stopped if it weren’t, as he was not supposed to deal with too many other humans. He took care of his business and washed his hands coming out of the room to find Bumblebee studying the map on the wall. The Avatar looked curiously at the faded paper behind the glass his hand tracking the roads absently.

"Bee?"
"This map's out of date." The youth said looking over the lines and dots.
"Yeah it happens come on we don’t want to keep the other two waiting." He said pulling the other along towards his car.
"Of course not." He let himself be pulled. "Why have a map if it is not correct?"
"It's mostly for display these days most cars have GPS installed."
"Oh," he slid into the seat as Sam did and the car stared revving warmly.

They drove out following Optimus finding another vehicle sitting next to Prowl only a mile down the road. He had said noting to the others about finding anyone else.

"Prowl?" Optimus asked as the police cruiser and the SUV joined their convoy.
"This is Stockade he claims to be one of the Earthborn." Prowl reported.
"Well there is always the chance we missed one or two." Sam said watching the black SUV; it reminded him of the vehicles used by sector Seven. "Should we trust him?"
"I do not know." Bumblebee answered, something seemed off about the black vehicle.
"I would like to help you." Stockade said calmly. He sounded like most of the Earthborn did.
"You may come with us." Optimus said.
"Thank you." He fell into the back of the group.

"Bumblebee are you alright?" Prowl asked the younger bot.
"I don’t trust him Prowl."
"The others have told me about what happened."
"This has nothing to do with that Prowl." He demanded.
“Calm Bumblebee if you do not trust him I will keep an optic on him.” Prowl promised.
“Thank you.” The younger Autobot answered.

They moved along the highway Stockade following behind Bumblebee while the others rumbled ahead.

When night fell they stopped for a few hours at another abandoned rest stop. Sam took care of business wondering if this was how Mojo felt on a road trip before he rejoined his comrades. Stockade was off to the side and he skirted the black SUV not quiet knowing why it spooked him and he joined Bumblebee’s Avatar on the hood of the Camaro.

“You should sleep Sam we will be leaving early.” Bumblebee told him as the human leaned against him.
“I know Bee, I just wanted to sit out here for a minute.” He leaned against the Avatar, which leaned back slightly.
“Not long Sam.”
“You know you could always use the photonic thingy to drive like the others do.”
“I could but I would have to listen to you snore,” he smiled at his charge.
“I do not snore.” He demanded.
“But you both are loud.” Prowl spoke from the Camaro’s left. “Recharge both of you.”
“Yes sir.” Bumblebee said as Sam slid off the hood and went into the back of the car. Bee’s Avatar moved to play pillow again.
“You know Prowl sounded more like a dad than a superior officer there.” Sam said settling his head in Bumblebee’s lap.
“Prowl had progeny I do not know where they are, one we’ve been looking for. “ Bumblebee admitted, he knew where another one was but then he was not at liberty to say that even to Sam.
“Wow, he just doesn’t seem the family type.” Sam shook his head “wait this Bluestreak is Prowls?”
“Yes, and neither does Jazz.” Bumblebee had to be smirking.
“Jazz?” Sam looked confused.
“They are mates didn’t you realize it?”
“Nope they both are very private about that you know.”
“Yes, I found out by complete accident then was locked out of their quarters.”
“Eww.” Sam muttered and tried to settle down to sleep. “I don’t want to know.”
“most likely not.”

0000000000000

The group was making good time stopping every few hours to let Sam relive himself or stretch his legs. Once Bee's Avatar went into a store to grab more water bottles for him. He kept an eye on Stockade still not trusting the other mech.

The first spot they found was nothing but an empty airfield and a rundown hangar. Certainly not something they could use for a base even from the first glance.

“This is not a good place Optimus Prime.” Prowl told him.
"No the structural integrity is not good nor the location it is too close to the nearest town.
"We would have visitors," Bumblebee said scanning the area. "There are signs of juvenile humans all over the place."
"Looks like this place is off the list." Sam muttered as they headed off again.
“I believe so Sam.” His guardian sighed.

0000000000000

Days later they were cruising along the coast when they found a spot that looked like it had been crashed into. There was a long strip of land, which had been cut down the cliff face. The road and fence had been repaired, but there were still signs of damage as well as a faint signal. A familiar faint signal.

"What is that?" Sam asked peering into the small crater far below where the group of them stood in the dawn light.
"An Autobot signal there must have been a land fall." Bumblebee told them.
"This is old though we have no idea how long this one might have been here." Prowl commented.
"We should check it out, Bumblebee could you get down there?" Optimus asked.
"Easily." the little yellow mech said. There was no one around so he let Sam out and took his robot mode to climb down easily through the furrow of earth.

"Prowl Stockade, keep an eye on the road in either direction, keep any humans from this area until we are done." Optimus ordered
"Yes sir." Prowl replied.
"Sir."

The two cars went opposite ways to keep an eye open.

"It's Wheeljack." Bumblebee reported from the bottom of the furrow. "It looks like he went into stasis lock as soon as he made landfall."

"Is he still in his pod mode?"

"Yes sir, I’m not sure if his scanners are on line or not,” Bumblebee reported, they could hear him doing something down there but the crater was dark and there was water in it.

"Try and bring him on line.” Optimus ordered the smaller mech.

"So what do we do if he can’t?” Sam asked.

"We are not too far from Ironhide’s location he and I should be able to pull him up." Optimus explained.

"Cool." the human continued to look over the edge where he saw the yellow shape of Bumblebee and a darker shape that must have been the pod.

"I can't get him to come on line." Bumblebee reported

"I'll call for Ironhide’s assistance.”

000000000000000

Ironhide relaxed back on his shocks as Will and his wife were emptying his bed of groceries. They spoke to one another once in a while commenting to the truck. Most people talk to their cars but very few had them answer back, Will was almost glad their nearest neighbors were miles away. Ironhide did not mind the conversation, it was easier then hiding his sentience from the woman who had freaked out the first time she had met him but had let him stay as their family’s protector especially after her daughter had obviously fallen in love with the truck.

He revved as the comlink flashed on.

“Ironhide is there a problem?” Sarah asked hearing the engine.

“I am fine, my comrades seem to need my assistance, one of our kind made landfall and is stuck.”
"Stuck?"
"I have not been told the details though knowing this particular mech I am not surprised.” he said fondly.
"Really?"
"Yes, I should go help my comrades."
"Let me get the last of these bags out of your bed." Will said grabbing them up.

"The car seat too we don't want to have to get a new one." Sarah said removing the seat along with the baby. She was well aware that the bright pink plastic seat would also be embarrassing to the weapons specialist.

"Thank you." Ironhide rumbled away calling up his Avatar to drive himself.

0000000000000000000

The others were waiting, he passed Prowl with only a honk and joined Optimus and Sam at the edge of the road, Bumblebee was still below in the crater almost knee joint deep in salty water.

"Bumblebee are you alright down there?" Ironhide asked seeing the water.
"I'm fine but I think the salt water might have shorted out Wheeljack.
"We’ll lower a cable to you secure him and we'll drag him up."
"Yes sir." The younger mech chirped.

They lowered a cable, which the smaller mech secured and pulled the pod to the road. With carefully handling they got him loaded up into the back of Optimus' truck trailer. Bumblebee scrambled up behind the pod keeping an eye on it as it rose. Sam stayed off to the side keeping out of the way.

"Thank you Ironhide." Optimus said once he was secured.
"Of course sir. "
Ironhide headed back to his humans while they returned to the dam. Stockade joining them on the way.

"Is he alright?" the black vehicle asked.
"He's off-line but otherwise he seems fine." Optimus told him.

"He'll be fine as soon as we get him back to Ratchet." Bumblebee chirped quietly.
"Are you alright Bee?" Sam asked.
"Wheeljack was one of the squad that came with me to earth, the others never caught up to me" Bumblebee said quietly worried for his comrade.
"At least you found him."
"Yes we did." He agreed, wondering what had happened to the other two.

Chapter Text

There were some days Miles was glad they had a two-car garage that his mom didn’t use. Today was one of those days. He had no idea how he had done it but next to his car sat an exact clone of it. The gold Lamborghini sat there looking smug even in car mode as the pair spoke in their own manner.

“How did you get in here?” He asked after opening the garage door and finding the two of them comfortably installed in there together. There was no sign of entry, nothing was disturbed there was no visible way for him to have gotten into the garage without being noticed by someone. He didn’t even see how he could have opened the door.
“Trade secret, I wanted to spend time with my brother.” The gold twin answered. Sideswipe made an affirmative sound.
“Okay I have no problem just don't get caught okay mom would freak and it's bad enough I can't see my best friend right now but I really don’t want to live in New York." The last part was whispered but the twins caught it easily.
"Why would you live in New York?" Sunstreaker asked curious.
"Cause that’s where my dad is." Miles explained.
"Ahh." He almost wanted to pry. But Miles opening the driver’s side door to his brother stopped him.
"I don’t want to talk about it, come on Sideswipe I have to go to school." Miles grumbled, he did not like to think about his parents most of the time.
"Let's go then." The red car chirped. He loved his brother and got bored waiting all night for Miles to wake up but he wanted to move. He couldn’t transform yet but a few of his systems had repaired themselves.
"You can talk?" Miles stared at his "car" glad he could communicate without the radio, he was not sure how Sam had stood it but they seemed to like to use old songs to talk. And it meant his systems were being repaired, meaning he might have to say goodbye to his friend, he couldn’t have an alien car like Sam did.
"Yes my vocal processors are repaired but the rest of my systems are still off." He sounded very sheepish for one of the Autobot’s' best warriors.
"It’s fine lets go we can wash you after school." Miles Promised patting the sleek hood.
"Great, and Wax?" He sounded a lot more cheerful now that he had discovered the joys of a cold bath then a hot wax.
"Yes," the red twin cheered he had no problems with spending time with the human. He knew how to take care of a car.
"Hey me too." The gold car chimed in not wanting to be outdone by his twin.
“Fine, don’t get jealous." Miles told him.
“Me jealous of that slagger never.” Sunstreaker scoffed
“Yeah right.” Sideswipe teased.

Miles climbed into Sideswipe and drove off with Sunstreaker following a short time later to patrol the city.

0000000000000

After school Miles and Mikaela headed for the parking lot. Miles avoided looking at the spot where the bright yellow Camaro should have been parked next to Sideswipe. A spot left empty just to torment him he was sure of it.
"Need a ride Miki?" Miles asked as he hit the button on his keys to make Sideswipe pop the lock. They had decided this was the best way to hide the fact the car could unlock and start it's self since a lot of cars had remote starters these days.
"No I have to get going uncle Cal wants me to work at four." She said with a smile and a pat on the hood for the red car.
"We could drop you off." He offered.
"No you go, enjoy washing the twins you know Sunstreaker will make you clean him too." She smiled at the look he gave her at the mention of the other twin.
"Of course he will." he smiled. "Later."
"Later. Bye Sideswipe." She whispered patting the metal before going and grabbing her Vespa to head off to work.
"That's bad isn't it?" Miles asked sheepishly.
"Only if we are attacked but they are laying low as well so they should not attack in a crowded area." I hope he admitted to himself, he was not that good in a fight right now but his brother was nowhere close by.
"Fine we go for the wash and hope it's okay." Miles said calmly stroking the dashboard to try and soothe his friend.
"Right." The car agreed.

They arrived at the car wash and Miles proceeded to wash the red bot snickering at the muffled sounds he was making. Both were enjoying themselves thoroughly. Neither noticed the police car that cruised past. As Miles waxed him Sideswipe felt that off chill again, he didn't tell Miles this time though enjoying the relaxing feel of the cloth on his fender. Sunstreaker had not shown up yet and he still could not communicate with anyone else. There didn't seem to be anything blocking him his range just would not go out that far. He knew a lot of his systems were still damaged his long range was most likely among them.

They headed home once he was clean and shining. As they cruised, red and blue lights lit up the rearview mirrors. Miles tried to hit the breaks but Sideswipe did not stop.
"What is that?" Sideswipe asked.
"Police, man this is not my day we weren't even going over the limit." Miles groaned.
"Miles I don't believe we should stop." Sideswipe said suddenly as his scanners passed over the car following them.
"What do you mean, that's a cop. we have to pull over." Miles said still trying to step on the brake pedal but Sideswipe would not stop.
"No Miles that is not a cop that is Barricade, he is a Decepticon I should head for the dam." Sideswipe informed his human.
"Okay fine but move." Miles ducked down. That was a Decepticon? The one Sam had told him attacked him and Bumblebee the first time going after the glasses?
"Sideswipe you still can't transform can you?" He asked nervously.
"No Miles I’m stuck like this." Sideswipe confirmed his worst fear.
"Great it's like that stupid show my mom always watched when I was a kid." he muttered. He had never understood how that car had been any good in a fight, but he had lasers. Did Sideswipe have weapons?
"What?" Sideswipe did not have time to check the net as he tried to get away from the evil police cruiser.
"Never mind." The blond muttered. "Do you have any weapons in this form?"
"No, my weapons systems are still broken."
"Well damn."
Sideswipe shared his human charge’s sentiment as they sped towards the exit cars getting out of the way as they zoomed past.

They pulled towards the highway Barricade still in pursuit, luckily most people just figured it was a kid messing with a cop in his dad's car or something. No more cops joined the pursuit though as they turned a corner Sideswipe peeled to a stop before he hit a large dark blue truck of army make he did not recognize. Barricade come up behind them effectively catching them between a rock and a hard place.

"Damn." the human cursed as the seatbelt tightened. The Autobot was not letting him move enough to hurt himself.
"Miles are you alright?" the seatbelt snapped open.
"I am fine but these things are going to kill me aren’t they?" Sam had told him about the police car, Barricade. Not a fun person to have after you. He was so gonna die and he was still a virgin.
"Maybe, they might not." Sideswipe told him trying to calm the human whose heart rate had jumped remarkably in only the last few minutes. He was also starting to sweat so he turned on the air conditioner.
"Thanks a lot." Miles grumbled.

"What's the matter Autobrat? Are you not going to make this hard for us?" Barricade growled taking his robot mode.
"Of course I’ll make it hard for you." Sideswipe shot back. "Miles I’m going to open my door. Once I do, run fast to the fueling station we passed earlier and call the others. Stay there until either I come for you or one of the others."
"Sideswipe what are you going to do?" he demanded not wanting to be left alone out there with the possible other killer robots loose.
"Nothing just go." He popped open the door and Miles flew out running as he hit the ground.
"Ravage stop the human." Soundwave ordered as Sideswipe rammed him head on. Had he been a normal car that would no doubt have caused for more damage to himself than his enemy luckily he was not an ordinary car and he was made for fighting not running.

Ravage jumped from the back of Soundwave's cab her normal robot mode, that of a large panther would be far better than the organic’s legs. She growled once and took off after the human.

Miles ran the large black and purple cat thing right behind him. It was about a mile to the gas station that Sideswipe had told him to reach. He could hear the sounds of the others behind him and hoped that his car would be okay; he could not transform and shoot them after all. The panther jumped for him and he rolled finding himself under the beast in a flash. A single glowing crimson optic and dripping fangs just inches from his face.

"Don’t kill me." He whined. Really glad no one was around to see him on the ground about to be eaten by a giant robot panther.
It growled but said nothing as it grabbed his collar and dragged him back the way he had came. Where was a crowd of people to see him being dragged by a panther when he needed it? Why had no one else joined the chase? He would have to complain to their state representative, if he survived that is.

"Help someone!" he started to yell hoping someone would see or hear the noise. There was a loud growl and a second large metallic cat; this one gold knocked the panther off of him. The two stood there growling and snarling at one another. He stared at them both as he scrambled to his feet. The gold one was as large as the panther. There was no symbol on either of them.

The sound of an engine revving got his attention and he saw a tow truck nearby its door was open and this must have been where the cat came from. He ran for the tow truck, grabbing onto the door. Praying it was his friend.

"Longarm? Bud is that you?" the human asked. Really hoping it was the tow truck he knew.
"Yes Miles," the tow truck Earthborn assured the human. “Where is Sideswipe?" It was odd to see the blonde without one of the twins since he had brought the red one back to the others.
"Back there." He got up slowly dusting himself off. Making sure he was unhurt. "We have to get him."
"Of course." the tow truck agreed. "Wait here; I will get him."
"No way he's my car I’m not waiting here for that cat thing to try and kill me again." Miles demanded still holding the door.
“But you will be damaged if there is a fight.” The tow truck began
“I don’t care Sideswipe is my friend.” He stated.
“Very well but if he is angry it is your own fault.” The tow truck told him as the cat creature jumped into the bed of the truck. The panther had already run back to the others.
“Right I’ll take the blame come on.” He said climbing into the truck's cab.

Sideswipe had been busy trying to keep the other two from grabbing him and had not expected a tow truck to come out of nowhere and knock into Barricade making him roll over. Soundwave went for him and was pounced by the gold cat thing for long enough for them to take off.
"Hoist?" He asked surprised. He really did not recognize the truck but you never knew.
"No it is Longarm" the tow truck said simply. "We should go."
"Going, where's Miles?" The others would kill him if he had lost one of their human allies and Sam would probably key him if he lost Miles.
"In my cab." Longarm replied.
“Let me take him” Sideswipe insisted sounding much calmer now that he knew the location of his human.
“We must hurry.” The Earthborn said calmly.
“I know.” The melee warrior told him.

They stopped long enough for Miles to climb out of Longarm and back into Sideswipe. He breathed a sigh of relief as soon as his butt touched the cool leather seat.

"Mile's are you alright?" Sideswipe asked as soon as his door snapped shut.
"I'm fine Sideswipe just a little scratched and bruised, nothing a good day in gym wouldn't cause." he assured the car. "How about you?"
"I think I scratched my paint.” He said softly.
"We'll fix It." he patted the dashboard gently.
"We should go; the others will be worried if they can't reach the city." Sideswipe said as he saw the police car getting back up.
"That is one reason I came," Longarm replied. “We were unable to reach the city and the little ones were being very loud."
"Loud?"
"They wanted out of the base none of the others realized it until Sunstreaker returned from patrol and was going to join the two of you and could not reach you."
"So you came." Sideswipe said. “With Steeljaw.”
“So who is Steeljaw? He looks a lot like that other cat, but gold.” Miles asked
“Steeljaw is like Ravage the one who attacked you they and frenzy are part of Soundwave and a fellow of ours called Blaster. “ Sideswipe answered. “Where is Sunstreaker have you seen him?”
"I was the only bot in or near the city limits though Sunstreaker is no doubt close by now."
"Great we'll find him and head back to the dam, Soundwave must have been blocking the city from the signals.”
“I would not know.” The tow truck replied.
“The others will. But where did Steeljaw come from?” Sideswipe asked seeing the gold cat in the back of the truck.
“I almost ran him over earlier today; he was on his way to the city.”
“Great, always good to see him though I would be happier to see Blaster too.”

They were at the highway by the time they found Sunstreaker, the yellow twin almost ran his brother over. He was worried about his twin and his twin’s human even if he was just a squishy.

“Sideswipe you’re okay.” Sunstreaker demanded scanning his twin as he fell in beside him.
“Yes brother I’m fine thanks to Miles, Steeljaw and Longarm.” Sideswipe assured his brother nudging him gently.
“I owe you another one squishy.”
“Then stop calling me squishy.” Miles said out the window with a smile.
“But it’s a nickname.” he whined.
“Could you find one that does not make it sound like I am going to be crushed please.”
“No I like squishy.”
“Decide later you two we have to report this.” Longarm told him.
“Fine.”

0000000000000

The dam was relatively quiet as they drove in the guards let him pass after checking his ID and as soon as they were in the main bay they were set upon by the CMO.
“What were you thinking Sideswipe.” He yelled as Miles climbed out of the sheepish red car.
“I was trying to protect Miles.” He said quietly.
“You could have been scrapped.”
“I wasn’t.” he demanded.
Sunstreaker grabbed Miles and held him as the two faced off a slight smile on his features.
“Is he gonna be okay?” Miles asked quietly
“Yeah Hatchet's just mad whenever either of us gets hurt,” Sunstreaker assured him.
“Why?” Miles asked, the CMO seemed to be particularly hard on the twins.
“He’s our progenitor.” Sunstreaker told him.
“What?” Miles stared at the gold twin like he had never seen him before.
“In humans terms I guess he would be our dad.” He told him with a nod.
“Wow.” He patted Steeljaw absently as the large lion like cybercat sat beside him.
“Where’d he come from?” Sunstreaker asked seeing the lion.
“Oh he just attacked Ravage out of nowhere.” Miles said as he stroked him.
“Must have gone ahead of Blaster.” He looked at the cat. “ Optimus should see him.”

"Optimus is not here at the moment." Ratchet said simply.
"Where is he?"
"He Bumblebee, Prowl, and Sam left yesterday to look at some possible base locations."
"Sam's gone too?" Miles asked upset enough that he couldn't see his friend in person.
"Yes, they asked him to go along." Ratchet finished looking over Sideswipe and looked at them. "Are you doing well Miles?"
"I'm fine Ratchet, only a few scratches." He told him. The CMO nodded once and looked at him.

"Sit still." he scanned the boy finding no damage. “Have you been feeling well Miles?”
“Yeah better then in awhile, I even got a good time on the running in gym yesterday.”
“Good, your systems are fully functioning.”
“Great, so when will Sam be back?”
“Within the week, the location they were looking over was close to the Lennox’s residence.”
:”So why didn’t you go? Miss a chance to see Ironhide?” Sunstreaker teased.
“I can contact him anytime I wish to speak with him.” The medic said simply.
“Wait Ironhide’s not like you guys’ mom or something right?”
“No Miles, Ironhide and I are mated to a femme. She would be considered their mother she also threatened to slag me when these two were formatted.”
“Can’t blame her.” Miles smirked and found himself sitting on Sideswipe’s hood very quickly, With Sunstreaker’s large hand holding him down.
“What was that squishy?”
“The thought of you two as little things is kinda scary.” The human told them. “You’re hellions now.”
“I guess so.”
“Can I get up now? I think I need a pop.”
“No.”
“Let him go Streaker.” Ratchet ordered before heading back to his medbay.
"I don’t want to." Sunstreaker said simply.
“If you let me go I’ll wax you again.” Miles bribed.
“Alright.”

0000000000000

Jazz was lounging in the area reserved for the bots to use for their recharge and recreation. He should have been doing something productive. They could not contact the others in town, and Ratchet was angry he could not reach the red twin. He wanted to go and find him but had sent Longarm and Sunstreaker instead. He was not a good leader like Optimus, he was better with his small special ops teams instead. He would be glad when Optimus and Prowl returned or even Ironhide.

As he stared at the ceiling his line of sight was interrupted by blue optics in a gold face one he knew quite well.
“Steeljaw?”
“Jazz it is good to see you again sir, Blaster has sent me on ahead.” The gold cat bot said rubbing his face against Jazz’s
“He’s here?”
“Yes he and his team arrived a few weeks ago in the north we are slowly joining the rest of you here.” He lay on Jazz’s chassis enjoying the feel of Jazz’s spark. It was comforting and warm.

“Where is Prowl?” Steeljaw asked.
“He’s with Prime checking out some new real-estate. They should be back in a few days.” He smiled and stroked the other’s head. “And with all the new arrivals coming we’ll need more room.”
“We will have four more soon.” The cybercat confirmed taking up residence in Jazz’s lap.

000000000000

The highway was quiet, there seemed to be few people on it in the early afternoon. So no one really noticed the semi truck following a police cruiser from another state. With a very yellow Camaro and black SUV taking up the rear. Or the fact that only the driver of the Camaro was actually a human while the others flickered slightly as if made of refracting light.

Sam was feeling drowsy as he acted like he was driving his car. Said car was doing well without any human direction but he liked the human sitting in his driver's seat. It seemed like an idyllic way to spend the rest of their day, until they all heard a very unmistakable sound of jet engines.

Two jets barreled toward the highway and the small convoy. A missile narrowly avoided hitting the road infront of Prowl.

"Seekers!" Bumblebee called out screeching to a stop seconds before hitting Optimus’s rear; as the semi truck pulled to a stop to avoid hitting Prowl.

"Optimus you should get out of here with Wheeljack we can handle the seekers." Prowl told their leader.
“Yes I’ll get him to Ratchet. Don’t get slagged.”
“I won’t sir.”
"Sam get in Optimus' cab please it will be much safer." Bumblebee told his human.
"Right going." Sam scrambled out of Bee and ran along Optimus' side as Prowl and Bumblebee transformed to handle the seekers.
"I will stay with Prime and the boy to cover them." Stockade volunteered.
"Fine go." Prowl barked.

The two vehicles moved fast along the freeway leaving their comrades behind.

“Autobots this is Optimus Prime we are enroute back to the dam and have been caught under seeker fire. Prowl and Bumblebee are engaged with the seekers I am transporting precious cargo and cannot transform. If possible meet me at these coordinates.” Optimus sent out trying to reach his comrades.

“Will they be okay?” Sam asked as they tore down the highway.
“They will be fine both Prowl and Bumblebee have handled seekers.” The truck rumbled.
“I know Optimus, I know.” He sighed.

Chapter Text

A week, a whole lousy week of nothing from his best friend but a few e-mails regarding the possible base locations. He looked at the list he had been sent, they had only hit two from the sound of Sam’s last message. Though the other night he had gotten some info on a pickup, but nothing much more then it had happened. Miles sighed and leaned back against Sideswipe's driver's door as Mikaela tinkered with his insides.

"So anything wrong?" The red car asked.
"Nothing, your alt mode's in great shape." The young woman told the car. "So Miles any word from Sam?"
"Nothing, this isn't like him, he normally E-mails me by now." he said without looking up from the screen of his laptop. Toasters were now flying across the screen on little wings. He smiled a little at them, such a silly image.
“Well they might be busy.” Mikaela wiped grease off her hands with a rag. Miles stared up at her and smirked.
“I hope that wasn’t a favorite shirt.” He pointed out seeing the grease had stained the front of it.
“Not really, well not one of my favorites anyway.” She shrugged.

As they talked Sideswipe shuddered.
“Sides?” Mikaela asked looking at the red car both of them sat on.
“An urgent call from Optimus, there's been a seeker attack he says he’s carrying cargo.” The red car informed the two humans sounding slightly dejected.
“Are you going?” Miles asked. Worried about his car/ friend
“No Jazz ordered me to stay here but Sunny’s going.” He sounded disappointed.
“We'll wait here with you. Won't we Miles?" Mikaela told Sideswipe leaning on his hood.
"Of course." The blonde answered
"Thank you."

0000000000000

Ratchet and Sunstreaker tore out of the dam and towards the highway heading for the coordinates. Jazz and the Earthborn stayed at the dam waiting and watching. Steeljaw vanished into the wilderness around the dam.

"Hurry up Hatchet I don’t want to miss the action." Sunstreaker called from behind the ambulance. Ratchet's lights and sirens were on full force and people fell out of the way if the two vehicles.

"I know kid just shut up and keep up." He growled; moving fast out of the dam with his lights and sirens blaring.
Sunstreaker for once did not talk back as he followed in the older mech’s wake.
.
0000000000000

Starscream took off after Optimus ignoring the other two leaving them to Thundercraker and Skywarp. He had a much more important target. The human who had killed Lord Megatron and apparently was very important to the Autobots. If he could get his claws on the boy he would have to reward him for destroying Megatron. Then maybe let the Autobots have the remains.

Optimus swerved to avoid the strafing run of the F-22 Raptor. Stockade took his robot form and shot at the Seeker, catching him off guard for a moment before he righted himself. Starscream dropped down to take his robot mode and the two fought.

Soon they could hear the sounds of sirens and two vehicles came upon the battlefield fast. Sunstreaker took robot mode while still moving and knocked into Starscream. Joining Stockade in his battle. The black mech was holding his own in the fighting, he had only one large gun on his right arm but his aim was good.

Ratchet came up beside Optimus taking his robot mode with his gun out. He looked at his leader as he tried to shoot the former air commander out of the sky.

“Optimus what is going on?” the CMO demanded. He recognized the trace on Optimus and almost dreaded what they had found.
“We found Wheeljack, we were returning to the Dam when the seekers attacked, Bumblebee and Prowl are further back with the other two. “ Optimus told him.
“Where’s Sam?” he asked when his scans could not pick up the human anywhere nearby.
“In my Cab.” The Autobot leader assured him.
“Good, Sunstreaker can help the other one there keep Starscream busy while we get them to safety.” The medic returned to his ambulance form and turned to head back for the dam.
“Lead the way.” Optimus told him.

The two moved fast out of the battlefield until the sounds of battle receded. They didn’t stop though, they had to reach the dam before someone else decided to join the fight.

“Who is the new guy?” Ratchet asked seeing the unknown black mech fighting.
“Stockade, he is one of the Earthborn.”
“So there are others they missed then?”
“I suppose.”
“What is Wheeljack’s status sir?” he was trying to sound business like but Optimus had known him for too long to be tricked by the medic’s nonchalance.
“Off-line, but functional, he seems to have been damaged by landing in the ocean.”
“Typical, he would do something so reckless and worry everyone.” Ratchet grumbled.
“So who is Wheeljack, I mean I know he was one of Bee’s squad but Ratchet seems to take him being off-line as a personal affront?” Sam asked Optimus.
“They share the same progenitors.”
“Oh I see.” He smiled. “Which one’s older?”
“Wheeljack.”
“Thought so.” The human smirked. Some things were just universal constants.

They rushed for the dam. Only a mile from it they found Jazz, Longarm and Landmine waiting.

“Sir good to see you in one piece.” Jazz called.
“Thank you Jazz wait here for the others.”
“”Yes sir.”

Optimus carried Wheeljack strait to the medbay and Ratchet removed Wheeljack from his trailer, he helped to load the mech onto a table and left to join the others. As they did this Sam got out of Optimus’ cab and climbed up onto the table.

“Can I help?” Sam asked, he had learned a little about the inner workings of the bots.
“If I need anything I’ll tell you.” Ratchet grumbled and got to work on cleaning out the salt from the few rust spots in the pod’s skin.

0000000000000

At the entrance to the dam Optimus found Sideswipe and the two other humans, Miles and Mikaela. They saw him and Mikaela jumped off the red Lamborghini’s hood and ran to him.
“Optimus is everyone okay what happened?” She demanded.
“We found one of our comrades on a cliff face in the ocean we brought him back but the seekers got in the way the others should be arriving shortly.”

As he spoke three cars rushed in “we are the champions!” was blaring from Bumblebee’s radio.

“Sunstreaker,” Sideswipe almost knocked Miles off in his hurry to check on his brother.
“I’m great, you should see Starscream.” The gold twin’s voice was full of his typical boasting
“You should go to the medbay.” Sideswipe told him.
“Fine but help me.”
“Right.”

Miles had already jumped off the hood of his car and gone to greet Bumblebee along with Mikaela.

“How are you doing Bee?” she asked him looking over the yellow vehicle.
“I am fine Mikaela. How are you and Miles doing?” he asked truly concerned for his young human friends.
“I’m doing well but Miles is going crazy.” She told him with a smile.
“I am not, I am merely suffering from lack of my best friend, you’re a great girl Miki and fun to talk to most of the time but you are missing a key bit of equipment to be one of the guys.”
“Well since I am not one of the guys that’s just fine.” She retorted. “So how is Sam doing Bee?”
“He was well the last I saw him he was with Optimus, he must have left him with Ratchet.”
“So when can we see him?”
“When Ratchet gives him an all clear, I should head for the Medbay though I need to talk to Ratchet myself.”
"Aww come on Bee you're supposed to be the innocent naive one that lets us see Sam without Ratchet's permission." Miles Whined as Mikaela hit his arm.
“We'll go with you.” Mikaela said and Miles nodded.

As the others were greeting and talking Prowl stood before Optimus and saluted.
"Prowl report.” Optimus ordered. He was tired and his third in command looked like he was about to fall over any moment but he needed to know.
"The seekers retreated once you and Ratchet were out of sight we returned here thinking they might have followed but there are no signs of seekers in this area. And Steeljaw reported to me that he has found no trace of Decepticon activity anywhere but the town where our human allies live."
"Good, Steeljaw has arrived?" he was relived more of them had arrived if Steeljaw was here Blaster could not be far behind.
"Yes he reports he is only months ahead of Blaster and Eject. They were held up in a meteor shower."
"I see." he nodded. "That will be good news Blaster is one of the few of our men who can handle Soundwave."
"I know sir." Prowl's voice was low and his optics dimmed for a second before he looked back up at his leader.

Optimus laid a comforting hand on his old friend's shoulder. As they stood there the bay doors opened to allow Jazz to enter, he carried Steeljaw in his arms like a giant house cat. The cybercat was purring loudly. Seeing Prowl the cat leapt onto his shoulders.

"Hello Steeljaw it is good to see you again too." The black and white mech greeted patting the animal’s head.
“Hello Prowl it is always good to see you in one piece Blaster will be happy to see you as well.” The cybercat purred.
Once he was done greeting family he leapt to the shoulders of Optimus Prime.

"Greetings Optimus.,"
"Hello Steeljaw." He patted the cat's back. Noticing scratches in the gold paint of the other’s back.
"He took on Ravage a few days ago when he and Soundwave attacked Sideswipe and Miles." Jazz said.
"Ravage and Soundwave attacked?" Prowl looked at his mate surprised he had not reported that sooner.
"They were handled, Sideswipe did well for still being stuck in his alt. mode and Longarm was around because he'd been following a trace that turned out to be Steeljaw here."
"Good" Optimus nodded. "Why don't you three go talk. Longarm and his men can handle patrols." He smiled to himself behind his battle mask, it had been awhile since their family unit had been together even in small numbers.
"Yes sir." Jazz said and dragged Prowl off as Steeljaw followed. “I’ve got ta have a few words with Prowl sir.”
“I see.” The leader chuckled as the pair left.

"Jazz stop pulling my arm." Prowl told his mate once they were out of Optimus’ earshot.
"Aww Prowler, ya've spent barely any time with me since you got here ta earth. I'm completely in one piece and the only thing wrong with me is that it's been orns since I’ve had a good overload and neither have you." He told his sparkbonded.

That shut the tactician up as he was shoved into an unused room and pounced. Steeljaw remained outside the room guarding the door so the two could have some as his creator called it "Quality time."

0000000000000

In the med-bay Ratchet had gotten most of the salt and water out of Wheeljack’s systems and repaired the few rust spots. Sam was assisting him being very careful not to damage himself as he scrambled over the pod's burnt pock marked surface. He had removed the gloves to give himself better manual dexterity and had them carefully tucked away in his jeans pocket. As he was removing a vacuum tube from a hole he slipped and slammed face first onto the hard metal but his hands catching him releasing an odd blue shock of static.

Ratchet was caught off guard by both the trip and the flash, grabbing Sam a second after the energy discharge and scanning him. The radiation seemed to be at a low level and Sam was fine.

Wheeljack seemed to be even better as the skeletal protoform uncurled from the pod. Blue optics flashed online and random sounds came from him until he found English. The odd fins on either side of his face flashed colors as he spoke. It was highly distracting to the human who found it oddly fascinating.

"Ratchet?" Wheeljack asked still slightly disoriented. When had he gotten there?
"Wheeljack you slagger." Ratchet growled.
"What did I do?" the scientist asked still slightly confused. Hadn’t he just been in space? Why was Ratchet here growling at him?
"I don't know yet. I have to finish looking you over. Now lay still." He looked over at Sam.
"Sam are you alright?"
"I'm fine,” the human said. "I just tripped."
"You did it again, Wheeljack’s system are almost completely repaired all damage is mended."
"Wow." he looked from the scientist to the medic. "So did you see anything?"
"A blue electric discharge, I would suggest replacing the gloves.” The medic told him scanning Wheeljack to see if there was any change in the other mech.

As he spoke the twins entered the med bay. Sunstreaker walking beside his still alt mode brother, Sideswipe was doing much better but was still trapped.

"Hay Hatchet how’s Wheel- hey unc you're naked!" Sunstreaker yelled. Seeing the scientist in his protoform still.
"Unc?" Wheeljack looked confused. English was an odd language he hoped to study it a bit more.
"It's a human expression." Sideswipe explained. "Since Hatchet's our progenitor, or at least both Chromia and Ironhide blame him for us, and you two share your creators, you'd be our uncle by human terms. Hello Sam." He said seeing the human for the first time.

"Hi Sideswipe." Sam greeted as Wheeljack looked like he was trying to absorb the twins' words. Sam's hand stroked Sideswipe’s hood as he passed before he pulled his gloves out to put them back on.

"Why do humans always pat my hood?" the red twin asked, curious about the humans’ tactile nature. He liked it, being very tactile himself but only with his twin or their friends normally.
"Because we humans are very tactile." Sam shrugged.
"I noticed."

They were distracted by a sound and looked to see Wheeljack moving to sit up. Sunstreaker Swept Sam up in his hand and showed him to the scientist. Who stared at the small organic creature in the gold warrior’s hand.

"Hey Wheeljack have you met Sam yet?" he asked cheerfully while the human clung to his hand.
"Sam?" he looked confused. "What is this?"
"This is a homo-sapien his name is Sam. He is Bumblebee's human." Sunstreaker explained.
"I do not belong to Bee we are friends." Sam glared at the gold twin. "Hello."
"Hi." Wheeljack was looking at him intensely. Then he looked up at Sunstreaker. "Where is Bumblebee?"
"He should be coming, him and Prowl were right behind Me." he answered.

A few moments later the med bay opened again admitting Bumblebee, the yellow scout took one look at Sam in Sunstreaker’s hand and took him from his friend. Sam was slightly rattled but clung to the familiar and smaller fingers of his guardian.

"Sunstreaker what are you doing?" the scout demanded, trying to calm his human charge.
"Introducing Sam to Wheeljack." he answered with a slight shrug. He did not see what the problem was with picking up the humans.
"You should be more careful humans are easy to hurt."
"You pick him up all the time." He pointed out.
"Bee also warns me when he does." Sam said from Bumblebee's shoulder. "I’m fine Bee." He told his guardian.

"Interesting." Wheeljack muttered looking from his friend to the small human. "Hello Bumblebee."
"Wheeljack. Where have you been?" Bumblebee looked him over quickly worried for his fellow Autobot.
"I'm not sure, I wasn't that far behind you and Arcee." He admitted.
"What about the others?"
"They didn't make it though they did take a few cons out with them.” he said quietly.
"Good, the best way to go." Sunstreaker said.
"I guess." Bumblebee said trying to stay calm.

"Alright those of you not injured out of my med-bay. Sam you're fine you can go see your friends who are sitting by the door."
"Thanks Ratchet." Sam said still sitting on Bumblebee’s shoulder.
"We’ll talk later Wheeljack,” the scout said as he left leaving the twins and Wheeljack to Ratchet's tender mercies.

Once in the hall he set Sam down bedside his friends. As soon as he saw Sam Miles jumped to hug his friend. Sam clapped him on the back glad to be able to contact him again.

"Hey guys." Sam greeted.
"Sam, so he let you out huh?"
"Yes, finally, no offense Bee but I missed other humans."
"None taken Sam."

"So Sam have fun on the pick up?"
"Yeah it was fun until the cons attacked, how about you guys?"
"It was okay but you know how good Mikaela is with cars, she sucks at Tekken." Miles told him in a stage whisper.
"I didn’t do that bad." The young woman said pushing her hair back over her shoulder.
"Man Halo did better then you." The blonde pointed out.
"He is a video game console of course he's good at video games." She retorted.
"You guys played videogames with Halo?" Sam interjected.
"Yeah I figured since he is earthling he should be able to do something most earthlings can do, play videogames."
"We also played with DewBot he's even better." Mikaela told him taking Sam’s arm.
"Yeah he can play two players at once, that was fun with super smash brothers."
"Cool." they wandered down the hall as they spoke. Heading nowhere in particular. As they did so there was a skittering and Halo joined them along with two other Earthborn, a small reddish one and a purple one. Their purple eyes glowed as they swarmed Sam.

"Hello guys." Sam said as they chattered away.

"Hey Polly." Miles greeted the red on which climbed up his leg.
"Polly?" Sam cocked an eyebrow at his friend.
"Yeah she's a PSP,” he said holding the little thing up.
"She started clinging to him the day after you guys left for California." Mikaela explained.
"I see." he smiled as Halo took up his normal place on Sam’s shoulder. "Hey Halo heard you've been playing games huh?"
It chitterd and nodded.

"Well why don't we show you Sam we should head home soon though your parents are really worried."
"I know I talked to them earlier on the phone luckily they called before the attack or they would really be worried." he smiled.
“That’s good."
"Yeah."

Their wandering brought them to the rec lounge where they set up the games and played a few rounds. Finally it was getting late enough that they had to head home. They joined Sideswipe in the motor pool and got ready to go.

"So who get to take the babe home?" Sideswipe asked.
"Sam do you mind if I go with Miles?"
"No problem I’ll see you guys later." he said with a smile. His best friend seemed to have her attention more then Sam had it. Oh well if he couldn't have the girl he at least still had the car.

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"Sam are you okay?" his mom asked as he got out of Bumblebee. He had managed to get sent home with the promise if anything happened he would call Ratchet immediately.
"I’m fine mom, Bee takes great care of me."
"He'd better,” she said with a mock glare at the Camaro.
"Of course Mrs. Witwicky."
"Call me Judy, Bumblebee."
"Yes Judy." He answered settling back into the garage..

"Good, come along Sam you look like you need a nap."
"Yes mom." He said with a smile carrying his backpack into the house.

After begging off dinner Sam went to his room to go to bed. After a shower he leaned out the window to see his car in the driveway.

"Bee?"
The car seemed to light up.
"Yes Sam?" he chirped.
"Can you do the photonic thing again?"
There was a flash and the photonic form of Bumblebee climbed into the window. "Are you okay Sam?"
"I'm fine I just wanted to have you up here with me."
"I can stay for a short time Sam but there has been Decepticon activity."
"I know just for a little while." He said and pulled the image to the bed cuddling up against him Bee sighed and stroked his hair as Sam fell asleep.

It was hours later when a signal got the Camaro’s attention he dismissed his photonic simulation and returned full function to his alt mode. His scanners had picked up no Deception or Autobot signals. There was nothing out of the ordinary that he could find. Were his systems malfunctioning? He tried the Autobot com channel and found nothing but static. Sideswipe was only a few streets away and he couldn't even reach him.

Pulling into the alley he saw a black truck there. He pulled back still not trusting the Escalade.
“Stockade?”
“Bumblebee, I need a word with you.”
“Yes?” he was leery of the black truck, something moved and he knew nothing else.

Sam woke up to an odd sound leaning out his window he saw Stockade in the drive. Grabbing his jacket and shoes he ran out to see the truck. It should not have been there.

“Stockade? Where’s Bee?”
“He had to go Optimus wanted him.”
“Oh okay.” He turned to go back in the house and found himself grabbed. “Hey let go.”
“My apologies Sam but you must come with me.” Stockade’s avatar said quietly.
“Why should I?”
“Because it is not safe here for you with the Decepticons about.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“I insist.” He was pulled into the truck and it drove away quietly leaving no trace of it’s self and leaving the Camaro locked in the Garage.

Chapter Text

The scrap yard looked like any other of it's type. Junk was piled everywhere and large construction machines were working on the piles or simply sitting in the dirt. A few humans moved around doing work and once in a while watching the machines as if expecting them to do something. A single large dog slept by the entrance. Among the industrial parks and almost straddling the train tracks. The only thing even slightly out of place was the black vehicle, which rolled into the yard passing the dog and the working machines. It slid quietly into the garage at the back of the yard; it’s passenger securely belted against the passenger seat. Whether he wanted to be or not.

The inside of the garage looked nothing like the rest of the yard. It was clean and in perfect order. A single large metal slab dominated part of the room. A few machines of no human make sat along the wall close by it. On the slab were twisted metallic remains of something. Working on said remains was a large dark blue mech with a red visor covering his optics. Assisting him in his work was a small spindly mech similar in design to Frenzy with red optics instead of blue. It moved with less jittery movements than the little silver mech he knew.

Both looked up at the sight of the black truck which as soon as it stopped released its human cargo and took mech form standing over him. One foot poised directly behind the human so if he should run he would be easily caught. Not that the human seemed inclined to run right now.

Sam stared up at the dark blue mech, he had no clue which one this was but he saw the burning red visor and knew it was one of the Decepticons. The visor was actually close to Jazz’s in style, only red. His manner seemed more like Prowl’s though and only slightly afraid the human stood strait and stared back at the mech.

“Who are you why am I here?” he demanded trying to sound far braver then he felt as this one was larger than Barricade; But not as big as the helicopter one that had attacked Will’s unit in Qatar. He was almost shaped like Prowl, and now that he thought about it, Barricade, except for the red visor covering his optics..

“Designation Soundwave. Reason for presence, Samuel James Witwicky user name ladiesman217 defeated lord Megatron and destroyed the cube.” The mech said in a voice far more like a machine than he had heard from any of the other mechs he’d met. It was like he was using one of those voice synthesizers rather than a vocal processor.

“Yeah so I stopped your boss. There's nothing else so I can go right.” He said trying to step back only to be stopped by Stockade's foot as the black mech placed himself in the human's way.

“Negative, your human systems are giving off Cybertronian energy.” the dark blue mech told him. It was not hard for him to tell it was not the energy from that little yellow scout of his; the energy was closer to what he would feel from Prime or even his own lord, or the AllSpark itself.

“I spend all my time with the Autobots of course some of their radiation would rub off on me.” He tried to reason it would not be a good idea to let them know about the AllSpark not that he could use it consciously or anything. He was still learning how to access the energy that the AllSpark used; but this deception did not need to know why he was a lot more valuable to them alive then dead.

“Just cut the human open if you’re so interested in him boss.” The Frenzy like robot said simply from Soundwave’s shoulder. He watched the human wanting to hurt the guy who hurt his brother.

“Negative Rumble such data would be useless.” He told the little mech.

"You sure? It might be fun to cut off his head like he did Frenzy's." He grumbled still perched on Soundwave.

"It was the female not this one Rumble, you may do so if you wish." He said dismissively noting the sudden increase in the boy's breathing.
"Hey wait no…don’t hurt her she was defending herself against him." Sam demanded.
"Yeah so what?" Rumble jumped down and faced the human. Like Frenzy he was about four feet tall and spindly.
"She has nothing to do with any of this,” he said angrily.
"Negative." Soundwave interrupted.
"You said the humans would come to no harm Soundwave." Stockade spoke up for the first time. He did not want to allow the humans to come to harm. Soundwave had promised him that much.
"Affirmative, order rescinded, Rumble watch the human; do not allow him to escape." Soundwave ordered.
"Yeah boss." he grumbled, he had wanted to hurt the human who had hurt his brother. Only him and Ravage could beat up on Frenzy, and maybe Lazerbeak possibly Buzzsaw.

Soundwave returned to his work; he would deal with the human later. He knew there was something about the human; the energy was something he had felt only a few times in his long life. He would have to do more scans to find out what it was.

Sam started up at Stockade ignoring the little thing that was supposed to be guarding him.
"What did you do with Bee?" He demanded of the Earthborn.
"The guardian is safe; I did not harm him I only got him out of the way so I could remove you."
"And why bring me here these guys will kill Me." he hissed.
"They will not, Soundwave has promised your life will remain if you do as he asks."
"I'm not working with them!" he glared at the black truck.
“That would not be wise.” Stockade told him.
"Well neither is dropping a human in the middle of a bunch of murderous machines." He grumbled. He had to get out of here. The others were probably looking for him by now and he did not have his cell phone to call them. He had nothing but his pajama bottoms actually. "Bumblebee where are you man?”

About an hour after Sam had been brought to him Soundwave had performed every scan he was capable of to ascertain the oddness of this particular human. The energy was not unlike the AllSpark itself but reports stated the destruction of the cube along with the spark of the Lord Megatron. This was certainly a surprise to the mech. he had never heard of such a thing one would think that the kind of energy would be deadly to an organic but the boy was alive and healthy according to his results. The boy's systems were changed slightly and nanites seemed to float in his bloodstream along with the normal human substances. Perhaps the AllSpark truly could not be destroyed but had transformed itself. The energy of course could not be destroyed therewas enough to make an entire planet like his people’s or had been once.

Now he knew why the Earthborn were so determined to protect the human along with the Autobots. With him they could restore their race if not their home; an organic being would no doubt corrupt the inorganic Matrix of the planet. The energy was already starting to change the boy’s organic systems.

Sam was not comfortable at all sitting on a slab of metal in just his pajama bottoms without even a shirt or the gloves he'd become accustomed to wearing, so the markings on his skin were obvious against the pale flesh. He was also feeling very hot and dehydrated, and like he was covered in static electricity.

A warning distracted Soundwave from his thoughts and he scanned the little human.
"You’re systems are over heating human explain."
"I'm hot and thirsty I haven't had anything to drink since last night." He told him.
"Stockade the human requires nutrients."
The black mech approached and set down a box of the bottled water Sam had been drinking lately he looked up at the mech.
"I brought some of the water from the garage at your home they are untampered with." he was told and Sam simply grabbed one to check the seal then opened it drank it down and grabbed a second. By the time he was on the third the large navy mech was sure the human's systems were cool enough to continue.

He gestured to Rumble who had been working on the pile of scrap on the other end of the table where he had been banished after yet more threats to the human and he looked up.
"Yeah boss?" His hands were still deep in the remains of the other robot.
"Show your work to the human." he ordered.
"Fine." the small Decepticon dragged the human over to the wreckage on the other end of the table.
Sam was shown the machine on the table it looked like it had been some form of robotic bird but had gotten trashed at some point.
"So what is it?" he asked, the obvious answer was that it had been one of them.
"Lazerbeak, she's one of us, got hurt by that stupid cybercat." he grumbled. And Soundwave glared at the smaller mech.
"Oh."
"Human repair the damage." Soundwave told him, “Stupid cybercat is like you.” He told Rumble who just grumbled again.
"For the last time it's Sam and I am not helping you guys."
"Do it or those squishy little humans you care so much about might be a while lot squishier." Rumble muttered glaring at the human. Even if he could do it, it wasn't like a human could know enough about Cybertronians to actually fix Lazerbeak and after all the things Frenzy had told him about these humans he would rather kill the lot and get it over with.

Soundwave was far more interested in the human and his small charge. Lazerbeak had always been a useful creature. He let his CPU wander as the human touched the smooth metal its reddish color had not been his choice but his mate had wanted it. One hand touched Rumble's shoulder and the smaller machine looked up and nodded once climbing up to his shoulder. One thing Soundwave did not condone was the harm of his creations, or his creator; his progenitor could go to the pit for all he cared. His mate as and his youngest co-creation they were important to him for all they were Autobots.

Sam missed the moment between the two 'cons as he was concentrating on what Optimus had told him about the Matrix and using the AllSpark’s energy. He could feel it as he touched the metal and blue sparks flowed to hit the Cybertronian on the table. He could feel its spark very weak in the chamber and watched the metal fix itself. He was startled from his work by the bird standing up and staring at him with blood red optics.

"Lazerbeak." Soundwave spoke and the bird flapped once and jumped up onto his other shoulder. He looked her over and nodded.
"So I did what you wanted. I can go home now right?" Sam asked hoping that was all the large mech wanted.
"Negative, this was merely a test of abilities. You will come with us."
"You can’t just expect me to help you guys you kidnapped me my parents are probably worried by now, not to mention Bee is probably tearing up the city to find me." He hissed, they could not think he would help them.
"Negative, they are all searching, we will be out of the city by the time you are located." he transformed to his alt mode, some kind of military vehicle. Rumble and Lazerbeak disappeared into his cab.
Stockade took his own alt mode and opened his door for Sam who frowned and climbed in, not wanting to endanger his family and he was sure the Autobots would find him even without his cell phone.

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Bumblebee was not a happy mech. He had woken up in the garage with his processors ringing and every joint hurt like he'd been in a fight. His tires even hurt, an odd sensation, not unlike the time he had accidentally run over broken glass that had been left in the middle of the road. He was in alt mode though and locked in the garage. His scanners were off-lined and he was not sure if he could move yet. There was a rattling and the door opened slowly he shuddered as the door finally swung all the way up and he saw Miles. He flashed his headlights at the human.

"Bee you're in here." Miles sounded very relieved to see him here.
"Miles, is Sam okay?" Bumblebee asked not sure about his own condition let alone his charge’s. He would have to pay back Stockade later for this.
"We don’t know man he's gone and we couldn’t find you. It was my idea to look in here since Ron never locks the garage."
"Thank you Miles."
"Is Bee okay?" he heard from Sideswipe seeing the red twin in the drive behind the human.
"He seems okay but maybe we should take him to Mikaela since the garage is way closer then the base." Miles said looking over Bumblebee’s alt mode. The rear tires were also slashed and flat.
"I’m calling Longarm." Miles pulled out his cell phone, “Hey Longarm we need a tow, well Bee needs a tow yeah we found him somehow he was locked in the garage seems kinda stunned we need to get him to Mikaela’s garage. Good see you soon." he put the phone away.

"I have to find Sam." The Camaro insisted.
"Once you are in better condition man calm down." Miles said not that he wasn’t worried but Bumblebee didn’t seem to be in any condition to go tearing off after Sam.

They got him to stay still long enough for Longarm to arrive and tow the Camaro off to the garage where Mikaela worked.

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The garage was a simple little brick building with three-garage style doors all open in the hot Nevada air. Four people in light blue jumpsuits covered with grease and other car fluids worked or relaxed among the parts of cars in the main office of the building. The manager stood at the door of his office and watched it all not doing more than glancing up as a tow truck arrived with cargo of a bright yellow Camaro; one he had seen before a few times. The kid with it was different though, he shrugged it off having seen him with his niece before.

Mikaela looked up from her work when the beat up white truck dragged in the sporting yellow Camaro. She gestured to her uncle and dad she would handle it. She rushed over as soon as he nodded and helped to release Bumblebee from Longarm’s hook. Once the Camaro was free the tow truck simply left letting them know he would search for Sam as well as he could.

"Miles! Bee where's Sam?" she asked quietly.
"We don’t know Miki we are going to look for him but could you look over Bee he was locked in the garage." He said quietly. Though most of the Autobots who stayed in the city used the garage as a kind of base. The owner, Mikaela’s uncle or Mikaela’s dad, who also worked there, knew nothing but the fact that a few guys with hot cars preferred to be looked over by Mikaela. They had to be quiet or he might find out.

"Sure." she started on the tires replacing them with Miles’ help before she took care of anything else, his systems had shorted out and were in the process of restoring themselves still.

"Well he looks a lot better how are you feeling Bee?" She asked patting the smooth leather of the car’s steering wheel.
"Much better Mikaela but we must find Sam." The Camaro insisted.
"Of course." she sighed, the scout had a one-track mind when it came to Sam but then when Bumblebee had been captured he had only thought about freeing his car.

“Miles why don’t you and Sideswipe start looking I’ll take care of Bee.” Mikaela told him.
“Alright.” The blond left Joining up with the red Lambo in front of the shop.

“Hey Cal I’m taking my lunch now.” she called over to the man who was half buried under a ford.
“Fine ‘keala.”

She got her lunch and sat in Bumblebee’s interior.

“Bee are you okay?”
“I will be fine Mikaela but I have to find Sam he is my responsibility.” He said softly.
“Is that all?” the girl asked taking a sip of soda.
“What do you mean?”
“Bee, you and Sam spend a lot of time together. I was just wondering if there might be more than simply friendship there.”
“Sam is my friend Mikaela.” He said a little too defensively.
“I know Bee but the two of you are very close.”
“I know what you are saying Mikaela but I am an automatic robotic organism and he is a human. There is no way for anything to happen between us.”
“But you want something to.” She persisted wanting to see if her intuition was true.
“What I want is irrelevant I am a machine even if he merely lets me stay with him I’ll be happy.”
“But what about Sam?”
“I do not know. I care for Sam. He is dear to me.”
“Then tell him.”
“But I thought you and he were.”
“No we are only friends Bee yes I made out with him but it was more we survived and thanks for saving the world making out.”
“The others of your age group seem to feel differently.” he stated.
“Well yeah only cause I dumped Trent.” She shrugged.” besides I have my eyes on another guy.”
“I have noticed your pheromone level changes around Miles.”
She blushed and the car shook slightly. “Don’t say a word.”
“Of course not.” he said simply.

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While Mikaela was having the heart to heart with Bumblebee, Miles was driving Sideswipe down the streets trying to figure out what to do. They were having a hard time finding the cons and Sam.

“Okay we can't search your way so we'll have to do it the human way?”
“And that would be?” Sideswipe asked as he took a turn a little too fast.
“Detective work.” he told his car.
“Like that Baker street guy?” Sideswipe looked it up on the net and read it in seconds. It was interesting.
“Yeah except without the deerstalker. You guys spend too much time on the net you know that.”
“With the city blocked for our communications Iming is the only way we can communicate right now.” He said defensively,
“Fine but we have to find him within the next two days. His parents think he’s at my house and my mom thinks we are off with friends at the lake.”
"Then we move quickly I don't like this why go after one human?" Sideswipe mused, the Autobots had all been told about the energy in Bumblebee's human.
"They can't know about the AllSpark can they?" Miles asked suddenly worried about his friend.
"I don't think so but even if they did; they would never guess Sam holds its power." he answered, deciding not the voice that he had had the same thought.
"I hope you're right." he muttered

As they cruised the streets they caught sight of as very familiar police cruiser in the parking lot of a Tim Horton's. They passed him nonchalantly Miles did not even look at the evil police car. Though a cold chill did go down his spine at the sight of him sitting there.

"Well that's one stereo type he should be wary of." Miles smirked.
"What a cop at a donut place? If he didn't want to kill me I would bother him."
"But he can transform you can't."
"Right so we are going to see if he even saw us. I’m going to pull into the market there and you get out and head in like you're doing errands. "
"And what will you do?"
"Sit here like a normal car and watch for him."
"Fine but don't get slagged I don't want to explain it to your brother or Ironhide and Ratchet." He was still absorbing the fact his car was the progeny of the medic. It was hard to understand machines having family units. Thinking about this he got out of Sideswipe locked the doors and headed into the store.

Sideswipe waited in the parking space, he had only noticed Barricade by the con markings he had not even sensed him at all. He saw the cruiser go by in the street as if it was any other cop car no one even seemed to realize that the symbols and words on it were not proper for a police car. Not that too many people also didn't pay attention to the fact Sideswipe's own alt was not one you would see everyday but he had been in a hurry to find an alt mode as he crashed. Keeping his scanners on low and mostly focused on his human inside the store the Autobot waited.

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Miles wandered the store making sure he was deep enough in to not be seen unless Frenzy got out and followed him. He pulled out his cell phone and called Mikaela.
“Hey Miki.”
“Miles what is it have you found Sam?”
“Nope found Barricade and he seems to be keeping cover but I’m not sure how safe we are. can you call the others?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Great cause I bet he can lead us to Sam.” He said quietly.
‘I wouldn’t doubt that.” The young woman agreed. “Just stay safe; you and Sideswipe.”
“I will.”

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Barricade noticed the young twin as he patrolled the city in pursuit of any of the Autobots looking for their little human pet. None of them had shown up yet but they might be planning something. The red Lamborghini had his human pet with him at a store. There was the possibility he had not learned about the problem of the one of their friends who was missing. After all most young humans seemed to sleep later on days they were not in their learning institution. Perhaps he was going there now.

He watched the blond human came out of the store hands full of bags and the odd black remote like thing he used to open the doors as if he needed it with the Autobot. He watched the two leave, and followed them to the home of the young human he parked the red car and dragged the bag into the house. A quick scan showed no one but the boy home. He could possibly take care of them both in one sitting after all the red twin seemed to be having problems with his forms as he didn’t change last time they fought.

After a short time the human came out again and got in the red car they both headed off followed by the Decepticon.

“Is he still following us?” Miles asked as he ‘drove’ Sideswipe.
“Yes and the others are waiting for us, nice move using your phone to call them instead of any other manner.”
“It was what I had on hand man. Let’s go."

Halfway to the outlook, a blue dodge charger came out of nowhere and t-boned he police car, the pair spun out into an abandoned parking lot and transformed. The second bot looked a bit like Prowl but lacked the cool aura of command, and had only one shoulder launcher. As soon as both had transformed Frenzy popped from Barricade and a second jumped out of Bluestreak, they looked the same except the blue color of the second small robot. The pair faced off for a second as the larger ones fought but rather then tear at one another as the larger bots did, Frenzy aimed for Sideswipe and his human and the blue one tackled him to the ground.

“Sides? Who’s that?” Miles asked getting ready to run out of Sideswipe’s door if the other had to join the fight.
“Bluestreak…..he’s here wait till Sunny finds out. The other’s Eject she’s like Frenzy kind of but one of us.” He had skidded to a stop to watch the brawl between the pair. Blue was not a bad fighter but he was a better sniper. Barricade was also older and meaner then the little Autobot. He grabbed one doorwing and pulled hard making Blue cry out. Sideswipe growled and let Miles out so he could ram the Decepticon. Half way there he transformed and punched him in the face. Both were shocked by the transformation but Sideswipe wailed on Barricade until he released Bluestreak’s doorwing if only to try and defend himself. Out of nowhere Sunstreaker joined him attacking the Decepticon until a single voice roared across the battle field.

“Stop.” Prowl’s tone was one of complete authority; even Barricade and Frenzy stopped moving for a moment. The twins had Barricade on the ground and Bluestreak was hovering close by gun out and ready in case the con got away from the twins (which seemed like a highly unlikely scenario considering how they had reacted to Blue’s pain.) Prowl looked like an angel of death standing there weapon out and eyes a blazing sapphire. Behind him Jazz, Longarm and Bumblebee stood waiting for orders.

“Sideswipe Sunstreaker let him up but bring him to me, Eject bring Frenzy.”
“Yes sir.”
“On it Prowl.”

“Barricade,”
“Prowl,” the responding growl made Miles shiver where he stood under Bumblebee deciding Sam’s car was the safest place to be at that moment. The yellow scout made a comforting sound and turned back to the situation a hand. The twins had brought the con almost face to face with Prowl, Jazz raised one hand and Barricade’s weapons flew to him and dropped to the ground at his feet. The others stood ready to stop the mech if he did anything.
“Where is the boy?”
“What boy?”
“Samuel Witwicky. Where is he located?”
“And you think I know, I am not Soundwave’s errand boy.” He growled.
“No but you would know Soundwave’s location; or Frenzy would.” Jazz said lifting the smaller con from the ground with his magnetic field.
“Do…don’t…know.” Frenzy clicked out.
“You’re lying Frenzy.” Eject said simply climbing up Bluestreak’s leg to perch on his shoulder, checking on the damaged Doorwing.
“Glitch.” Frenzy muttered glowering at the small blue femme.
“Got to get that stutter fixed.” She teased poking at the wires.
“Behave little lady.” Jazz told the femme watching the smaller mech.
“Yes sir.” She went back to her inspection.
"Answer me Barricade, or I hand you over to them." Prowl stated motioning to the twins.

"You call that a threat?" the Decepticon growled.

"You tell me, I would only scrap you for hurting Bluestreak. I do not want to know what they might do.” He left the threat hanging in the air. The twins were tow of Optimus’ more ferocious warriors, it wasn’t often they were let to do what they please with an enemy and Prowl would never let them terminate Barricade but he would let them hurt him a lot.

“He is at the scrap yard or was. Soundwave’s probably found what he wanted form the boy.”
“You had better hope he has not.” Bumblebee growled back as the group moved to head for the yard.

Their arrival at the scrap yard was anti-climactic, as the place was empty of any Decepticon activity. Most of the machines were gone, as was the large guard dog. Even the humans had fled once the cons had no more need of their presence for subterfuge. Steeljaw wandered the area looking for any sign of the cons and found a large number of tracks leaving together.

“They went east Sir.” He informed Prowl
“Where were they going Barricade?” Prowl demanded of their prisoner.
“I’m not Soundwave’s little errand drone I do not know.” He growled.
“Why don’t we believe you on that?” Sunstreaker asked.
“Soundwave has his own agenda; he doesn’t tell anyone he just does as he pleases as if he were Lord Megatron himself.”
“we had noticed that in the past, but his loyalty is to Megatron……” Prowl shot a glance at Bumblebee who stiffened and made a painful sound.
“He knows Soundwave knows.” Jazz grumbled and they all looked at one another, there was only one reason Soundwave would have gone somewhere and if they were right they were all in great danger.

“Bring Barricade to the dam. Twins he’s yours.” Prowl said turning to leave the yard motioning for Steeljaw to lead the way. Jazz and Bumblebee followed Prowl leaving the twins and Bluestreak to deal with the Decepticon.

Optimus was waiting at the NBE-1 hanger when they arrived, the twins still had Barricade between them and he didn’t look any better than the first time they had put him on ice. This time though he had been worked over by the twins two of the fiercest warriors in the Autobots. It was the first time Miles had seen anything like that. He knew Sideswipe was a warrior as much as Sunstreaker was but the pair was dangerous, they had ripped the Decepticon up and Blue had helped though not as violently. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Sideswipe at the moment, until once the con was disposed of the red twin had turned immediately to make sure he was alright.
“Miles your heart rate hasn’t slowed down at all since blue first went after Barricade” he said kneeling down to look over the human.
“I’m fine Sides just a little startled, I’ve never seen anything like that.” He said leaning on the foot of the bot closest to him.
“Would never hurt you Miles I owe you my life, and you’re too fun a human to mess around with”
“Thanks.”

As the pair talked Optimus gave orders to his men getting ready to head out and save their friend, bee was going of course along with Optimus Prowl and Longarm along with DewBot. The twins and Bluestreak would stay since Ratchet need to look over the younger mech any way, they also sent a call to Ironhide and Will Lennox in case the trouble got worse.

Chapter Text

Sam was not comfortable. Being made to sit in Stockade’s interior for hours and get only a few bottles of water to drink not to mention having to pee under the watchful optics of Rumble did not help any. He had already tried once to escape and ended up under the claws of Ravage for it. The marks had stopped bleeding but he would probably have scars. Though the blue sparks when her claws raked the marks on his arms had been unexpected.
He really wanted to go home but along with not knowing exactly where he was or the way to go home. He was deep in his own thoughts as when Stockade swerved throwing him against the door. An explosion sounded and he looked to see the road behind them in ruins. Three f-22 Raptors were also bearing down on them.

“Stockade what is it?” Sam asked not liking the looks of it.
“Starscream, he seems to want you captive as well.” the truck pointed out.
“Wonder why.” He muttered.

Stockade had to nearly avoid another seeker attack. One of them strafed toward them and Sam shuddered as other cars were thrown off the road by the violence.
“Stop this, look at those people being killed Stockade just stop.” He demanded.
“No Sam I cannot do that.”
“Please I can’t stand this all those people dying because they want Me.” he demanded hitting the door with his shoulder; the SUV finally wrapped him in his seatbelts to restrain him.
“Starscream would kill you he would not care that you have the AllSpark’s power.”
“No he probably just wants to be the one to do what Soundwave has planned.” He grumbled. “But this has to stop.”

The plane was coming in for another shot when the sound of a large cannon firing rang out and it was almost knocked from the sky. Sam struggled with the seat belt to see if they were being followed to see a police cruiser almost ram into one of the vehicles with them at top speed. A yellow car was right behind the police cruiser and a Semi as well following them was a beat up white tow truck with an irate looking green four armed robot hanging onto the tow line so he would not fall off.

“Bee!” he yelled banging on the window.
“I am sorry Sam I cannot stop and let you go we must catch up with Soundwave.” Stockade sped out of the battle zone leaving the seekers and their targets behind.

“Sam!” Bumblebee yelled taking down Skywarp and the seeker turned to get between them and the running Stockade.

“Bumblebee focus on the seekers we will stop the others later.” OPtimus yelled grabbing at Thundercraker as the seeker came at him..

Bumblebee listened and shot at the seeker. Taking his frustrations out on the Decepticons. The others joined in the battle letting the seekers and Barricade distract them.

“Longarm go after Stockade.” Prowl ordered.
“Yes.” The tow truck took off with the vending machine still on his bed. Trying to keep up with the Escalade.

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Soundwave had arrived at a naval base attacking humans right and left along with another large black vehicle. As they did so an aircraft carrier was pulling into the base with its load of twisted scrap metal. Said twisted metal was the remains of three Decepticons. On the carrier were two more Decepticons that Sam had never seen before. Sam had long stopped trying to get away, knowing his friends were after them he hoped Bumblebee was okay.

Stockade dropped him out of his cab and Ravage was on him in a flash. He didn’t even struggle this time when the cat thing grabbed him.

“One move fleshy and I kill you.” The panther growled. Teeth sinking into his collar.
“Then you’ll lose the chance to do what your master wants.” Sam told her.
“The only loss there.” The creature countered.

“Ravage bring the human.” Soundwave ordered as he approached the ship.
Sam soon found himself being carried like a kitten by the large cat creature. Stockade followed behind. Barricade and frenzy were nowhere in sight though they were probably still fighting the others. He found himself under the critical optics of two large mechs as soon as he was set on the cold deck and from the familiar feeling under him as he stood there; the ship was also one of them.

“What is this Soundwave a new toy?” a tall gray mech asked looking the human over.
“Negative, human is property of the Autobots.” Soundwave told the other mech.
“I’m no one’s property!” he shouted and was ignored. They seemed to do that often ignore him if they were not speaking directly at him something the Autobots never did.
“They will come for him yes?” a purple and black mech with an odd echoing tone to his voice asked.
“Affirmative.” He picked up the human and walked over to the twisted remains of their three comrades. The others had separated and repaired what they could of Blackout, Devastator and Bonecrusher. Scorpinoc was even sitting on the remains of her partner looking annoyed at the human. While Megatron sat almost fully repaired on his own away from the other two. It was to the nightmare of cold metal that Soundwave carried Sam and held him over the silvery body.

“You will restore our lord.” Soundwave told him.
“I’m not sure I can I mean that bird had his spark still and his was destroyed.” The human said not looking at the burned chest cavity where the spark chamber had once been.
“Negative you will be able to restore it “ he was told and set down.

There was something still scary about standing there at the side of the monster that had chased him all around the city and had nearly crushed him. Even if the being was inert now he felt he could bring him back and something in him wanted to. It was pulling him towards the twisted silvery metal. The power pulsed around him for a second and everything went blue, then black.

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Longarm almost ran off the road when there was a scream under his seats. Gold optics stared out from under the driver's seat.

“Halo?” He scanned his interior to find the small mech hiding there.
“Hurts.” The little silver creature squeaked.
“What are you doing in here? You should be back at the dam.”
“Had to help” was all he would say staying down under the seat.
“Longarm is there a problem?” Prowl asked seeing the tow truck swerve.
“I have stowaway.” He reported.
“Stowaway?”
“Halo joined us.”
“That is not good keep an eye one him don’t let the Decepticons get him.”
“Of course not.”

They made it to the base finding it totaled, And the Decepticon carrier in dock. Five Decepticons were there and something was glowing bright blue the same kind of energy that seemed to flash when Sam accessed the AllSpark.

“Prowl this is not good.” Bumblebee told him as Stockade and Kickback came down the gangplank to stop the five Autobots.
“No it is not.”

They all took their robot modes and as Prowl and the twins caught Stockade Bumblebee, Longarm, DewBot, and ran for the ship.

“Stop them.” Soundwave ordered the others and they moved to stop the Autobots. As he watched the fight Prowl ran to attack him.
“Soundwave.”
“Prowl, it has been a while.”
“You have to stop this."
"Negative."
"You're a disgrace to your creator Soundwave." Prowl ground out throwing the younger mech to the ground.
They grappled ignoring the battle around them.

The battle was fast and painful to both sides. Longarm managed to get past most of the Decepticons and make it to the human who seemed to hold the hope of their people. DewBot was covering him as he scooped the young unconscious human up in his arms and ran. Ravage went after him to be knocked over by Steeljaw.

“Stop this.” Steeljaw growled at the other cybercat.
“You stop let me get the human brother.” Ravage growled back
“No.” he answered. “I have to stop you.”
“And I you.” The other growled.

Bumblebee took his alt mode at the edge of the battle as Longarm ran to him and slid the human gently into his interior Halo leapt in after him.
“Halo?”
“He snuck into me at some point I never noticed him until what ever Sam did made him react.”
"I see." He closed the door as the little silver mech chitterd over his charge and fled out of their as fast as his tires could carry him.

The others kept the Decepticons at bay as the yellow mech fled.

"Autobots this is Bumblebee I have retrieved Sam and am enroute to the base.” he reported. Driving erratically away from the battle.
"Bee good to hear from you we are enroute to your location." Optimus answered, the seekers and arrival of Ironhide had distracted him.
"Thank Primus. The others are fighting at the naval base." He swerved as one of the seekers fired at him.
“Take care Bumblebee we will be there shortly.” Optimus assured the young scout.
“Yes sir.” He was never gladder to hear their leader’s voice. “Halo how is Sam?”
“Squeak, off-lined still breathing.” He answered.
“Keep an eye on him we have to get him to Ratchet.” He revved.

It took half a day for them to run into the other group Optimus and Ironhide continued on as Ratchet and Jazz joined Bee.

“What’s wrong with him?” Jazz asked.
“I didn’t know.” Ratchet said after a quick scan of the human. “He seems to have fallen into a coma. We have to get him to the base to ensure his health.”

“Then what are we waiting for.” Jazz asked.
"Nothing." was Bumblebee’s answer.

The three mechs rushed back to the base Ratchet’s lights and sirens going full blast. The Camaro behind him and the solstice took the rear.

As they rushed back they were joined at the state border by sector seven vehicles and escorted back to the dam. Bumblebee rushed Sam to Ratchet’s med-bay. The human agents seemed curious about what was going on but they were told nothing.

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Agent Simmons looked at the teenagers near the doorway of the med bay. They were both standing there leaning against the wall; Miles as usual had his lap top out and was typing away on it.
"What is going on?" Reggie asked watching the two.
"We don't know, Ratchet's being Ratchet no one will know a thing till Optimus orders him to tell us." Mikaela smiled looking at her phone as she leaned on the wall. She seemed to be texting or something.
"Typical, everyone is running around like crazy and no one says anything." he grumbled.
"Yeah it's so fun." Miles quipped; he was tired of not knowing what was going on here, he only knew they had found Sam but not how he was doing.
"I'm sure they'll tell us something once they know it or we can get it out of Sideswipe when he gets back." Mikaela smiled at both of them and went back to her phone.

"Man I can't sit here and wait I'm going to go find something to do." Miles snapped shut his laptop and got up leaving the two alone.
"He's right we can’t wait around here." Mikaela followed after him.
Reggie smirked and went one his own way, he might just bother that cop bot when he got back to tell him what was going on.

000000000000

Bumblebee set Sam down gently on a table and stepped back as Ratchet went to work. Jazz pulled him out of the room. Sideswipe moved to help Ratchet.

“Jazz?” he did not want to leave. Sam's side every time he wasn’t around Sam something bad happened.
“Come on Bee let Ratchet work.” Jazz told his subordinate.
“But.” He looked at Ratchet still looking over his human.
“You’re standing over him won’t help.”
“Alright.”

They wandered out to the area normally inhabited by the Earthborn. Bumblebee sat there looking like he was already scrapped. Jazz watched the younger mech knowing he was worried. He sat beside the younger mech

“It’s odd ya know.”
“What?”
“I know at some point the rest of you must have been as worried after Megatron got me but I don’t remember it.”
“We did, well I did and Optimus, you know Ironhide he took his worry out on a few targets.”
“Yeah that’s Ironhide.” He smiled at his subordinate “I’m surprised you had time too with that human of yours.”
“We spent a lot of time here after what happened we were stuck here for nearly an earth week.”

“Ah well guess all we can do now is wait.”
"Yeah I guess so." he answered back sullenly.

000000000000000000

Ratchet glared at his limited equipment as if it would give him an answer. Sideswipe stayed off to the side he had helped to the best of his abilities but he was only a field medic. The boy was still unconscious, it was nothing they knew about from their own kind or that they could find in human medicine. Comas they could but no way to draw one out of it they had to wait and somehow not let anyone know why he was in this condition. His friends and Bumblebee had to be told but what would they tell his parents?

DewBot also stood close having started helping Ratchet as an assistant himself. His multiple arms were making him useful to the medic.

0000000000000000000

After what had occurred it was even more vital for the bots to find a better base then the dam. Besides the need for better security they need to be closer to their allies’ location. Optimus Ironhide and Prowl went to look over the last areas choosing one which would be the best for them all, it was certainly an interesting location and Will who had gone with them to speak to the base commander had to hold back laughter at the choice.

“Is there a problem Will?” Ironhide asked, confused about his human’s reaction.
“Nothing Hide, nothing at all, just the fact that now Area 51 will really be holding aliens.”
“It will seem less likely to the cons that we would chose such an obvious place.” Prowl pointed out.
“Its still funny Prowl.” The human said.
“I will never understand human humor.”
“Nope sorry Prowl, you probably won’t.” he assured the third in command as he climbed in Hide’s cab.

The trip back went by quickly and once they arrived at the dam things could be prepared to move them to their new base.

`

Chapter Text

The last week of school was always stressful with all the finals and such but when you spent it worrying over your best friend too, it was horrible. Miles could barely concentrate on the test in front of him. a few seats over Mikaela was almost as bad, he looked in front of him at Sam’s empty seat and frowned. What were they going to do? The others had said they could help with Sam’s finals if he woke up at all. He shook his head slightly no Sam would wake up he had too. He ignored the people who asked him about Sam or told them he wasn’t sure what was going on. Mikaela had been doing the same and even Trent had not bothered them in awhile.

After class Miles and Mikaela headed for their lockers and then to the parking lot where Sideswipe waited. The red Lambo sat in the afternoon sun shining brightly. Miles ignored the fact that the spot next to it was empty of it's typical Camaro occupant and unlocked the doors.

"So Mikaela we've got a race tonight want to watch?" He asked as he opened the doors.
"Sure I'm off today." She smiled as she slid into the leather seats. She patted the smooth curve of the dashboard, and the engine purred. "Hello Sideswipe."
"Hey babe, gonna cheer me on tonight?" the car asked cheekily.
"You? Hey I’m the one driving." Miles said as the engine started.
"Yeah but I’m the one everyone wants to see, after all I'm a hot car right babe?" the car preened, his recently returned to warrior status making him more egotistical than usual. He was starting to sound like his twin.
"You're amazing Sideswipe, but I like Miles too." She smiled fixing the seatbelt
"See." Miles said smugly.
"You just like seeing her sit on my hood in those little skirts." the car shot back a song with heavy base filling the interior.
"You know no matter how I answer that I might get slapped." Miles quipped and Mikaela laughed.

Sideswipe pulled out of the parking lot and headed off. The track for the races was miles out in the dessert and it would be almost nightfall by the time they got there.

00000000000000000

Once they arrived they saw about two dozen people and a few other cars already there. Sideswipe glided into his normal spot and found himself surrounded. Miles and Mikaela got out and one of the other racers tossed them some beer. Miles opened his and took a drink Mikaela merely held hers not a big fan of beer.

"Hey Miles you should see the new guy." A blonde everyone called Roger said with a smirk. His own car a red Ferrari sat beside Sideswipe and was almost as fast as the Lambo. He was a newer racer himself but had made fast friends among the others.
"Yeah your baby's not the only Lambo anymore." Another driver told him. This one drove a light green viper and a classic mustang.
"What do you mean?" He looked to where they were pointing and saw a deep hunter green Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder sat at the starting line with a guy next to it in black jeans and shirt with dark shades on. He looked at Miles and simply walked over. His strides were sure and cocky. Miles did not like the guy as soon as he saw him.

"You are the racer with the old Lambo huh?" the guy asked. He was sneering at the blonde as if he was trash and this annoyed Miles to no end, he hated that look. He got it all the time from the jocks in school.
"That's classic man who are you?" Miles demanded annoyed that anyone would insult his guardian like that.
"Max, and that's scrap not a classic." He sneered.
"Yeah right well this scrap can beat yours any day!" he growled.
"Doubt it." The guy flicked a look over both driver and car.
"Oh yeah then let's race right now." he growled.
"You’re on." he said simply and walked back to his car. The other racers who were Mile’s friends glared at him as he went.
"Man what a jerk hope you burn his rubber." Roger said with a smirk.
"Yeah I’ll take care of him." He said
"Well here's for luck." Mikaela jumped off the hood and kissed him on the cheek.
"So what happened to guys with big arms?" Miles asked as he opened Sideswipe’s door.
"I think I like geeks with hot cars better." she said and joined Roger and the others.

Miles got in Sideswipe and patted the steering wheel.
"Let's teach the new kid a lesson he'll never forget." Miles told his friend still pissed at the other driver.
"Right, but there's something about that car." Sideswipe said as they came to the starting line.
"It's the new Lambo model personally I hate the scissors doors." Miles smiled. He didn’t like the guy or his car either both were straiten to give him a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"I see." The red car said a he revved his engine.

The cars took off and as they zoomed along the track suddenly the other car knocked into Sideswipe sending him into a spin. Once he recovered he rammed the other car and then froze.

"Sides?" He asked as the engine stalled and started up louder than before.
"That's a con Miles." Sideswipe Revved. How had he missed that in the first place?
"What?" the human asked staring at the dust cloud being thrown up by the green car.
"A Decepticon."
"How? Why?" Miles frowned. How had they not noticed.
"I don't know but we have to get him away from the others before anything happens."
` "Great; man this sucks it's been a week, why the hell would one be here?" he yelled waving his arms completely forgetting he should be holding the wheel.
"I don't know." He swerved around a rock. “To try and take out an Autobot and a human with connections to the Autobots.”
“Well that makes me feel so much better.” Miles groaned. He wished he could call Sam for advice on this kind of situation.

They got off the track heading into the dessert. The audience watched wondering what was going on. Roger frowned from his place on his own car's hood.

"What's your boy doing Miki?" he asked Mikaela who simply shook her head and contemplated calling for help on her cell phone, something was wrong, really wrong.
"I'm not sure maybe something's wrong." she said.
"We've lost sight of them hope they come back," another racer said with a shrug.
"Must have decided it's personal." Ace said simply. "I'm going to go after them." He slid off the hood and into his own car.
"I'm going with you." Mikaela said opening the passenger door. .
"Alright but who knows what's going on."
"I have an idea." she muttered as she slid into the passenger side. Barely catching the odd look in Roger’s eyes.

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As soon as they were out of sight of the racers Sideswipe let Miles out and transformed catching the dark green con as he transformed and charged him. Their faceplates were only inches apart.

"Hello again Autoscum." the other growled. Sideswipe would remember that ugly mug anywhere.
"Breakdown it's been awhile you came all the way to Earth for a thrashing." Sideswipe said throwing him to the ground.
"Actually I came all this way to repay your brother for what he did to Dragstrip." He answered moving to shoot the red twin.
"Oh really?" Sideswipe dodged the shot.

Miles had scrambled to a rock formation close by to watch. His phone rang and he grabbed it.
"Hello mom, no I’m good umm well Miki and I are out together, yeah a date umm listen the reception here is horrible I’ll call you back okay later." He put it away and ducked under the rocks as the two robots fought. "I hope I’ll talk to you later."

Mikaela gasped as they came to the battle zone and looked at Roger who frowned.
"Idiot." he muttered watching the fight. This would not be good.
"You’re not surprised?" Roger looked at her and she gave him a small smile.
"Not really." he smiled and turned to her. "I'm Autobot Mirage Special ops."
"Mikaela Banes. Autobot support" she smiled, she had though there was something odd about this guy.
"I know who you and Miles are, I've been watching for awhile until I got the okay to show myself or until Sideswipe actually noticed me but since a con showed up I should help him out."
"Right I'm going to go find Miles I hope they haven't squished him." she got out and the car changed to a robot a little shorter then Sideswipe it was red and had double blades on .it’s wrists.

She ran for the closest cover as guns went off. Hoping Miles was around somewhere.

"Miki!" Miles yelled from the rocks. Waving her over.
"Miles you would not believe it that Ace guy is one of them.” she said joining him.
"I know they said something about more arrivals but there were no meteors this time."
"He said something about special ops."
"Have no clue."

"Hey Raj never heard you got here?" Sideswipe said cheerfully as the brighter red bot joined the fight.
"Really I’ve been here for a couple of days." He told the other bot simply, his voice sounded a lot more cultured then most of the others.
"How's Hound?" he asked as Mirage shot the Decepticon.
"Here somewhere, he's doing a lot better than he was." Mirage answered back.
"Good." He sat on Breakdown. "Now you are going to tell us what you were doing messing up my fun."
"I told you pay back, a brother for a brother." he growled.
"A stupid reason if you ask me." Mirage said simply, holding his blades at the con’s throat “he has two of them after all."
"It would hurt more to lose him." he made a slight motion towards the red twin, Mirage tightened the blades slightly.
"More like scrap him. Can I kill him now?" Sideswipe asked. He really did not like anyone thrashing either of his brothers but especially his twin.
"No we should take him to the others let Prowl deal with him if he is here."
"How? We also have humans to transport back."
"True, this dessert is not a healthy place for them is it?"
"Nope we should get back to the others."
"Yes we should."

"Soon." a voice said calmly from close by and both bots turned to the green bot that seemed to materialize out of nowhere.
"Hey Hound."
"Hello Sideswipe."
"I told you he was close by."
"Didn’t think you meant right there, annoying special ops."
"Grunt." Hound Replied. "I can take care of this pile of Scrap while you deal with the humans, though I would love to meet them."
"Later Hound for now take care of this aft first, we'll deal with the racers then we'll take him to the base." Sideswipe said with an air of authority; he did outrank his brother after all.
"Right." the older mech said picking up the stasis locked Decepticon. "I’ll wait for you two."

Sideswipe transformed back to his car mode and picked up the humans, Mirage took his own car mode and Hound faded away while Mirage's shape changed slightly as did the color.

"How do they do that?" Miles asked.
"They’re both special ops Mirage can make himself or anything else invisible and Hound can make things look different."
"Cool so that's your and Sunny’s older brother right?" Mikaela asked watching the other car.
"Yes in your terms we do share the same creator but he's Ironhide’s progeny while we are Ratchet's" he explained, though he was glad to see the green mech, he and his twin had been worried about them, they should have arrived a lot closer behind them.
"Ah." the two humans nodded in understanding.

The two cars rejoined the others while another race was in progress.
"Hey Roger, Miles, what happened to the new kid?" one of the others asked as they pulled up.
"Don’t know he took off guess he couldn’t handle the race." Miles told them, "but my tank’s low so I better head back."
"Alright take care man."
"I will." he drove off.
"I’m taking off myself looks like the only real competition's gone anyway." Roger told his friends and followed Miles. No one noticed the giant robot sneaking off carrying another into the dessert.

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Hound met up with them at the freeway. He waited in his alt mode and there was no sign of breakdown.
"Where 's the con?" Sideswipe asked.
"Right here I’ve camouflaged him since he is in stasis lock and would be a little obvious." the older mech explained.
"True, Hound these are humans, this is Miles and Mikaela. This is my brother Hound."
"Hi. Welcome to earth." Miles said
"Hello." Mikaela smiled up at the green mech.
"Hi, thank you this does seem like a beautiful planet."
"Thanks so we should take that guy to Prowl right?"
"Yes." Mirage agreed.
"Let's go, but what took you so long?”
“ it took us awhile to get here because we landed a bit far north.”
“Where exactly?”
“A place called Quebec.” Hound sounded slightly embarrassed.
“Yeah that’s north.” Miles said with a laugh. “though better than say Alaska.”

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The dam was looking like its typical tourist trap self. No one would know that a group of giant alien robots were living under it, not that they would be there much longer. As they entered the motor pool Hound was pounced by Sunstreaker.

“My brother, you’re still functioning.” He said happily. Miles had to stare at the gold warrior who never sounded that happy unless he was fighting Cons.
“Yeah good to see you too Sunstreaker.” Hound stammered out. He had worried for the twins not that he would ever admit it to them.
“You should see Ratchet he’s in the med bay. Hey squishy, babe how are you guys.” Sunstreaker greeted them, he was looking a lot better from the fight a few weeks prior.
“We have names Sunny.” Mikaela told the gold warrior as they got out of Sideswipe.
“Yeah but I like those better.”
“And we have a con to take to Prowl Sunstreaker.” Mirage said holding up Breakdown.
“Oh hi Raj.” The gold warrior greeted his brother’s mate coldly.
“Sunstreaker.” The other mech answered just as cold as his mate’s brother.
“So a con where‘d he come from?” Sunstreaker asked.
“He tried to scrap me cause you scrapped his brother.” Sideswipe shrugged.
“Can I slag him?” the gold warrior's voice had gone dangerous and his brothers exchanged a look.
“No I am taking him to Prowl.” Mirage told him.
“Fine but when he’s done with him. Come on Prowl’s this way. Sides make sure Hound goes to Ratchet.”
“Right Sunny.” His twin replied. “Come on Hound.”
“Lead the way Sideswipe.” He sighed, far to used to this even if it had been forever.
The two humans were content enough to follow Sideswipe and the green tracker.

0000000000000000

Sunstreaker took the con from Mirage and led the way to the brig area. Prowl was waiting for them along with Jazz and Steeljaw.
"Sunstreaker, Mirage." Prowl nodded.
"Hey Raj."
"Sir." Mirage saluted.
"At ease Raj." the silver mech said calmly while Prowl looked over the Decepticon.

"What happened?" the black and white asked.
"Sideswipe got attacked while he and Squishy were out."
"Hound and I gave our assistance and we brought him here. He wished to slag Sideswipe because Sunstreaker slagged his brother." Mirage reported smoothly.
"He deserved it." Sunstreaker said with a shrug.
"They always seem to." Mirage muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing to concern yourself with." he said smoothly and turned back to the others.
“Yeah you're just a soldier like the rest of us now Mirage."
"Both of you drop it." Prowl ordered and helped drag the Decepticon to one of the cells and put the con on ice.

Mirage stayed at the entrance with Jazz.
"You two still hate each other huh?"
"I don’t hate him, he just still resents I bonded to his brother." Mirage shrugged
"Happens I guess." Jazz smiled.

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Sideswipe led Hound and the humans to the medbay. Off to one side he saw Bumblebee and a white mech he did not know hovering over a small bed. The humans went over there as the two mechs approached Ratchet who was working on one of Ironhide’s cannons. The black mech looked up and smiled at the two.

"Hound." he seemed surprised to see the younger mech
"Progenitor, Ratchet." He greeted glad to see more of his family unit, he loved Mirage and enjoyed working with his squad but he really liked to know his progenitor was still okay.
"Hello Hound good to know all of our progeny made it to earth." Ratchet said still wrist deep in Ironhide’s arm.
"I think my brothers did only because of Prowl." Hound said simply and got swatted by Sideswipe.
"Quiet you how long were you hiding there anyway?" The red twin demanded.
"Not long."
"Hiding?" Ironhide raised an optical ridge at the eldest of their progeny.
"This glitch and Mirage were hiding out in the group Miles is always around and I didn't even notice them."
"They are special ops Hound, sit over there I will look over you once I’m done recalibrating this." Ratchet pointed to another table with the tool he was using.

"Why is Bumblebee over there?” he asked.
"He was the first of us with a human charge he got hurt a week ago and won't online so Bee's hovering over him." Sideswipe said simply.
"Oh." he looked over, worried for his young friend. Who’s the other one he's not familiar."
"Longarm he is, as they call themselves an Earthborn we'll explain everything in a bit Hound for now you should hook in to the World Wide Web for information."
"I did, " he said softly.
"Good just don't let the twins talk you into any trouble for awhile."
"I won't sir. Umm where is Prime?"
"Optimus took a small group to look over a new base."
"Oh."
"And the reason it took so long for you to join us?" Ironhide asked him.
“We landed in a northern area of this continent."
"I see." Ratchet finished up Ironhide’s cannons and closed the casing. "Done."
"Thanks Ratchet." He nodded as the medic went to check on the younger mech. Hound's main systems were in fine condition. The secondary and holomatrix were also in good repair.
"Not bad Sideswipe, looks like you took good care of the squad.” Ratchet told the younger twin
“Learned from the best.” He beamed.
"Yeah." Hound looked over at the group across the room.
“Hope the others come soon it would be nice to have Smokescreen here too.”
“it would.” Sideswipe agreed. “Bluestreak is here he went with Prime to the new base for the prep.”
“that’s good.”

Bumblebee looked up as the two humans joined him and Longarm at Sam's side.

"Hey Bee how is he?" Mikaela asked softly touching the mech.
"Hello Mikaela Miles there is no change."
"Bur he has not gotten worse either." Longarm said softly.
"That’s good." Miles sighed looked down at his best friend. "He looks like he's just asleep man.
"Yeah well that's a coma Miles." Mikaela said with a smile. "
"I know." he sighed.
"At least he is in no danger at the moment."
"Yeah but what are we going to do?"
“I have no idea.”

Sunstreaker and Mirage joined the group in the medbay as Ratchet finished up with Hound.
“Go out all of you I have work to do show these two around and find them a place to bunk.”
“Yes sir come on.” Sideswipe dragged them out Sunstreaker in tow.

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A week had passed since the arrival of Mirage and Hound. Miles had not gone out to the racetrack in that time. He and Mikaela spent most of their time at the dam helping them get ready for the move to their new base. Sideswipe was happy enough to spend time on patrols with his brothers. Will’s squad was now working with them in building their new base so Ironhide was there for now along with Bluestreak and Prime. A new bunch of agents were being brought in from Washington to go on to the base or replace some that were joining the bots. Joining the bots were under Simmons’ command. So it fell to Simmons to give them the tour and explain the preparations.

Miles was running back and forth from the med bay to one of the trucks packing up supplies so they could move Sam to the medical facilities in the new base. He passed a group of agents being given the tour by Simmons waving as he ran for another box to carry. On the way back he passed the same group closer to the medbay and almost dropped the carton in his arms as he ran into one of the men.

"Dad? Shit dad!" he said stumbling over a cable he'd just stepped over.
"Milton?"
"It’s Miles dad." He said defensively.
"No it's Milton, you were name after you grandfather... What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing." The boy said as he scrambled to get the box back in order.
"You could but you aren’t the parent in this situation" the man reminded him, that was his son far too much like himself.
"I asked first" the boy replied finally closing the box back up.
"I'm working, what are you doing?"
"Taking supplies to the car port for transfer to the new base" the boy answered gesturing with the packages he was trying to put back in order.
"I see. Why?"
"For the transport of a patient, and because Ratchet seems to think that I can work as hard as one of them." he huffed, not that he couldn’t keep up with the Earthborn, it was the Cybertronians he had some problems with.
"Ratchet?"
"The alien’s chief medical officer."
"Ohh." He stared at the youth for a second surprised he was right in the middle of all of this and he had not heard a thing.
"You’ll meet em soon specially if I don’t get this to Landmine"
"We’ll talk about this Milton."
"Maybe." he said as he walked off. "And it's Miles."

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At the carport Landmine was helping to load the supply truck along with some of the smaller Earthborn. Halo was with Sam as always but the others were trying to be helpful they were also being brought to the new base as they were considered Autobots.

"Miles you are three minutes later then the last three times, was there a problem?" DewBot asked taking the carton and placing it on the truck.
"My dad's here, I knew he worked for the government but I didn’t know he knew about you guys."
"You are transferring to the base with us you might not have to deal with him."
"Unless he goes to my house and sees mom. Who might ask where he got the money to send me a Lambo? At lease he always paid child support and set up money for if I go to college."
"You might not further your education after High school?" Landmine asked him.
"Don’t know." he said securing the last of the cartons in place. "I might but you know I’d almost rather keep working with you guys."
"You can work with us and go to college Sideswipe is officially your guardian as Bumblebee is Sam’s."
"Yeah I know." He sighed.
"Don’t worry Miles he will be fine." Landmine said trying to help the human.
“Thanks Landmine.”

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Walter Lancaster stared after the young man that was his son and frowned. Looking over at Simmons he frowned.
"You never told me my son knew about all this." He told his old friend.
"I never realized he was your son after all I’ve never heard his last name." He shrugged, he should have guessed though with the lanky built and blonde hair not to mention the quirky attitude.
"So he works with the medical team?"
"No well kinda the kids do a lot of work directly with the NBEs."
"Kids?"
"Him and two others a Samuel Witwicky and Mikaela Banes as well as an air force captain and his wife are part of the program to work with them."
"I see, so when do we meet them?"
"This way." He led the way to another area where five large robots stood obviously talking. One that had a paint job like a police car and two who must have been sports cars while the fourth was smaller and silver. The fifth was not much larger then the silver one but bright red, these last two stood off from the other three. The police car one looked at them looked back to the other two nodded and they changed to a pair of Lamborghinis and took off.
"Agent Simmons." Prowl greeted once the twins were gone to escort the shipment to the base.
"Hey pig-bot." Simmons answered, he actually liked this Prowl he knew how to go by the book.
"Prowl." he answered.
"Of course." he smiled and turned back to Alex and the three other agents. "Everyone these are a few of the Autobots as they call themselves."
"I am Prowl, our leaders second Jazz his subordinate, Mirage. The two who just left are Sunstreaker and Sideswipe." Prowl introduced.
"These are agents Lancaster, Davis, Learned, Dutch and Roberts." Reggie introduced the human agents.
"So where is this leader?" agent Roberts asked.
"He is supervising the base construction along with his weapons specialist, and chief science officer and other of our men."
"I see."
"Well you guys look busy I’ll finish the tour," Reggie led them out.

000000000000000

"Interesting humans." Jazz smiled.
"The one is Progenitor to Miles." Mirage said simply.
"Yeah obviously Raj." Jazz snickered. "Pig bot?"
"He keeps calling me that I hope no one else thinks it's funny." His mate threatened.
"Nope never." Jazz hung on his mate for a second before letting go. "Raj and I are goin’ to be part of tha’ escort for the medical unit."
"I know the twins are going as well as the Earthborn."
"So you and Hound are the last ones heading out then?"
"With the human agents and soldiers yes."
"Take care of them then love, Ratchet wants us at the car pool." he embraced Prowl and lead Mirage off
"You too Jazz." he answered back as he went to finish preparations for the personnel move.

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The med staff was preparing the trucks and the few ambulances they were taking with them. Finally Ratchet joined them in the carpool with Longarm who carried a gurney carefully in his arms. The gurney was covered and none of the human personnel knew who was on it. Ratchet transformed and Longarm loaded it carefully.

"Everyone on the medical Evac report to the carpool now or you will be left behind." Ratchet demanded over the com lines.

As Miles was getting into Ratchet's cab his dad came out to the car pool. He saw his son talking to the machines like they were normal people. These were aliens and he was acting completely calm about the whole thing.

"Milton?" he called as he approached.
"Miles dad." he said turning around. The vending machine watched them as a few of the smaller Earthborn climbed all over the Search and rescue vehicle. "What’s up we have to move out soon."
"Are you staying on the base?"
"Maybe. I have been staying here since a couple of weeks ago mom thinks I’m at Sam’s."
"Oh already lying about where you are?"
"I’m not an agent dad I’m a Human Autobot Liaison" he smirked. "Oh yeah dad this is the Autobot CMO Ratchet and that's DewBot."
"Nice to meet you."
"Hello Agent Lancaster." Ratchet grumbled and DewBot merely stared.
One of the little ones made a clicking noise and fell off the SUV to be caught by DewBot.
"We need to go Miles." Ratchet said over his radio as the others including Bumblebee with Mikaela in the passenger seat and his Avatar in the driver's seat got into formation.
"Right, we'll have to talk later dad." He said climbing into the cab.
"We will." the man said as the group started up and drove out the door.

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Mikaela stared at the back of Ratchet as they drove along the road. A hand sat on hers and she looked at Bee's Avatar.
"Are you alright Miki?" he asked his bright blue eyes glowing.
"Yes Bee I’m fine." she said with a small smile "just worried should we move him now?"
"We have to remove Sam from the dam before they realize he is not completely human anymore, the markings and burns from the AllSpark will be harder to hide now."
"I know." she sighed. "Can we keep it a secret on base?"
"Easily he'll just have to spend alot of time with the Autobots anyway."
"Yes he will." she watched out the window a while longer. "Bee you are really worried about him aren’t you?"
"I am his guardian,” The Camaro responded then switched the radio on.

000000000000

The medical personnel and Earthborn arrived at the base a few days later with no mishaps worse than a few doctors having motion sickness and one of the Earthborn being scared by a normal earth scorpion.

The area they had chosen was way out in the dessert, miles from the freeway so there was no way any one could just wander onto the base. There was also enough room for a good number of giant robotic beings to stretch their legs as it were.

The base looked like a normal air force base once they arrived. Guards let them through the gate and all they saw were the buildings and a large blue peter built with red flames on it idling in the command center’s parking lot.

As they entered, the truck changed to its robotic form and Optimus Prime stood towering over the human trucks and the Earthborn.

“Welcome to our base. The medical facilities are in F block Ratchet.”
“Thank you Prime.” The ambulance grumbled and led the way to his new domain. Longarm stopped to speak with Optimus.

“Prime.”
“Longarm.”
“There has been no change in the boy’s condition.”
“I see, was there any trouble?”
“No nothing, except Sender is afraid of scorpions.”
“I see.” He nodded. “Come with me the command center is in order.”
“Lead the way.” The tow truck said simply

00000000000

The medbay was different from the one in the dam as it was made specifically to Ratchet’s needs as well as the needs of the human doctors working with him. At the moment the human CMO an older woman named Diane Mertis was already making sure things were being put away properly leaving Ratchet and Bumblebee to place Sam in a secure room with Miles and Mikaela’s help. Ratchet used his Avatar to hook Sam up to the various machines and the IV drip that was sustaining his body. Bee remained at his side as the others left to continue working.

He sat on the bedside and brushed back a few strands of hair that had fallen in the boy's face.
"Get better Sam we need you." He whispered.
Halo looked up at him and chitterd softly climbing into Bumblebee’s lap.
"I know Halo, it will be fine."

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Miles had been working a few hours when the lights in the storeroom he was at flickered and he looked up to see Will in the doorway.
"Hey Miles Sarah told me to make sure you kids get dinner."
"Sarah's here?" Miles asked as he stood up and dusted off his pants.
"Yeah and Annie along with the families of most of my men we though it would be safer."
"Ah, are Sam's parents being brought here too?"
"If they want to, the government has said they want to relocate them if they won't come here." he shrugged as Mikaela joined them out of the nearby bathroom.
"Great, they have no clue about our parents but they've seen Sam’s.”
"Yeah I know and that scorpion thing showed up again, it went after the farm."
"Ouch no wonder you're here."

They joined everyone else in the mess hall. Thirteen tables sat in rows. Three doors led out to the rest of the base while one led to the kitchen along with a long window for the servers to set the food out in. at one table a group the kids knew was eating along with a few they had not met before.

"Hey guys got the kids."
"Hi."
"Hello."

"You guys know my team, this is Epp's wife Monica and their girls, Carly, Lisa and Alicia, their son Freddy. The kid's Private Teo Figerousa. You know Sarah and Annabelle."
"Good to meet you."
"Figerousa why is that familiar?"
"That scorpion thing killed my dad." the dark skinned young man told them. "I want a chance at it."
"And the team’s just not complete without a Fig." Epps Grinned clapping the kid on the back.
"Thanks Epps." Teo smiled.
"Miles Lancaster and Mikaela Banes Human Autobot Liaisons." Miles said trying out the new tittle and liking it.
"You kids are younger than me."
"Yep but the bots chose who they would talk to, have you met them?" Miles asked taking a seat.
"Only Ironhide cause he's an honorary squad member." he shrugged.
"You'll meet the others soon this is their base."
"Yeah."

After they ate everyone took off for the living quarters, which looked like a neighborhood that had sprung up in the middle of the dessert. Houses stood in rows with cultivated lawns and small trees. A few were already taken and one had a large black Topkick in the driveway.
"Hey Ironhide done recharging?" Will called as the truck rumbled to life.
"Yes I am, I see you are done nourishing yourselves."
"Yeah we're going to unpack and such now."
“I see.”
`”So ‘Hide why are you out here I thought you guys would have your own homes or something.” Miles asked.
“I do I was keeping an optic on the house.”
“I see.” Miles smiled.
“You kids can stay with us or there are plenty of houses but a few are already assigned.
“You know I think I’d rather stay with you.” Miles told them.
“I’ll stay for now but I’ll have to go home sometimes to make sure my dad’s okay.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Will agreed.

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The twins rushed along the highway back towards the dam to play escort to the final group.
"This is boring." Sideswipe whined.
"You just miss your squishy."
"No he's fine you’re not jealous are you?"
"Nope humans don’t live that long anyway."
"Thanks Sunny."
"Don’t call me that."

Their conversation was interrupted by a signal that got their attention and a bright red sports car swerved out of nowhere slipping behind them. Its sleek body was similar to Bumblebee’s but it was not a Camaro.

"Cliffjumper." Sideswipe said recognizing the signal immediately.
"Sunstreaker Sideswipe, I’ve been looking for you." The scout leader said sounding more cheerful than he normally did.
"We've been playing escort." Sunstreaker told him still cruising along.
"Where have you been?" Sideswipe asked.
"Around, landed here with the rest of my squad and we split up to find the rest of you." Cliffjumper told them.
"only Steeljaw has shown up Hound, and Mirage are with us already."
"Great where's Prime?"
"Behind us we're going to Prowl now though so you can report to him."
"And help you with your duty huh?"
"Well yeah it's boring just going back and forth all the time."
"This from Mr. I want to be a professional racer."
"Hey that's not the same thing."
"Sure it's not."
"Down guys you haven’t changed." Cliffjumper sighed.
"And you love us for it." Sunstreaker told him nudging his bumper.
"No I just wonder what Bluestreak sees in you guys come on show me this place." he revved.
“He’s never said, but then we are two of the best looking mechs in the army.”
"So where's Bumblebee?"
"Back at the base he's under special orders to watch one of our human allies."
"I see." he had been looking forward to seeing the little yellow scout.

The last group was ready by the time they arrived at the dam many stared at the red car that could have been Bumblebee except for the color.
"So super scout doesn’t have a twin does he?" Reggie asked seeing the other car.
"No that is Cliffjumper he’s another scout yes." Prowl commented as they transformed and Cliffjumper approached.
"Prowl sir, Autobot scout Cliffjumper reporting." Cliffjumper said standing strait in front of the taller mech, his doorwings firmly held up behind him.
"Welcome to Earth Cliffjumper, these humans here are our allies" Prowl told him.
"Yes sir."
"I will expect a full report once we have joined the others at our base."
"Yes sir."

They transformed and the group sorted out the twins playing point while Prowl fell to the rear with Cliffjumper
Good to see you again little brother. Prowl sent over a private channel to Cliffjumper
Good to be back. The sports car answered.

Chapter Text

The aircraft carrier sat alone in the choppy waves of the Atlantic far from shore, but not quite in international waters. The mechs standing on the deck were silent as their blood colored optics took in the scene before them. Three Seekers lay prone on the deck as a single mech towered over them like a being from the pit it's self. His claw-like hands dripped energon as he glared at the trio.
"Starscream you disappoint me. You can not even capture one pitiful human!" he growled and the others cringed inwardly at the malice and anger in the voice. Glad they were not the ones getting the full brunt of their leader's anger. Soundwave stood nearby with Ravage at his side looking as impassive as ever. Frenzy and Rumble sat on their progenitor’s shoulders shaking as they watched the scene before them.

The lead Seeker did not move from his position on the cold steel deck he only lifted his head to speak. The other two remained motionless waiting for their leader's words. Neither were as damaged as their leader and wished to remain that way.
“My apologies my lord.” He growled out. “We will locate and bring you the human boy.”
“Then get out of my sight I do not want to see you until you have him.” Megatron roared and the three seekers transformed and flew off still bleeding from the damage caused by their fearsome leader.

The others watched their leader, waiting for orders and cringing as the large silver mech stalked the deck. They did not pull back beyond his range though and many found themselves splattered with the seeker's energon, which still soaked his claws. Many could not take their optics off his claws, or the energon dripping from them.

“We will wait for a report on the human before we attack them. Let them think they have won for now.” He ordered his men.

“Yes lord Megatron.” The others said still staring at the energon dripping from his claws.

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It was quiet on the Autobot’s base. Everyone was going about his or her duties with a determination to be ready in case of an attack. The Air Force rangers went through drills and looked over their equipment, every vehicle that entered the area was under intense scrutiny by the small security force of humans and bots. Mikaela had at one point over heard Prowl mutter something about someone named Redalert while looking over the security cameras. The Autobot warriors, human agents and military personnel had set up regular patrols around the base perimeter.

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Cliffjumper had been worried about Bumblebee, he’d been worried since he had first arrived in the new Autobot base. He had seen the younger scout’s alt mode sitting in the parking lot of the medical facility. Jazz had informed him about his charge. The boy was still not functioning and no one had seen Bumblebee except when they'd visited Sam. That worried the mech, he was one of those who had watched Bumblebee grow from a little sparkling to a soldier and mourned the fact he had to fight so young. Though he was not the only one. Plenty of troops had joined both sides fresh from the academy before it had been destroyed in one of their many battles.

These thoughts moved through his processors as Cliffjumper sought out Bumblebee. He was almost glad most of the people working here were used to visitors for this Sam boy, they told him exactly where his room was.

He found him dozing in a chair in Sam's room. His hair was messy and his clothes untidy, an odd thing since they could control the looks of their Avatars. He looked up sharply as his friend entered and smiled.

"Cliffjumper welcome to Earth." he greeted looking over his friend's Avatar. Cliffjumper had chosen to have darker skin with a deep red hair color and like the other Autobots bright blue eyes, though his were darker than Bumblebee’s. He wore the same black uniform the other Autobot's used.
"Thanks Bumblebee, Jazz told me you would be here with Sam." he smiled. "You look like slag little bug."
"That's the nicest way anyone's put it. Sunstreaker told me I should be on the scrap pile this morning."
"Can't blame him, you look like you could use some energon and a drive."
"I should stay here."
"Bumblebee, come on Ratchet would scrap you himself if he saw you like this, how long has it been since you had a real recharge."
"A while"
"I see." he grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet. "Robot now, we're going to get you some energon and then some rest." he dragged him off closing the door carefully behind them. There was no real chance the boy would wake up before Bumblebee got some real rest or he would not be worth anything as a guardian.

Once they returned to their alt modes Bumblebee led the way towards the commissary. It was designed with both Autobots and their human allies in mind. Ledges and couches in human size along with one huge couch and a TV the size of a movie screen. There were food and drink dispensers for the humans and a special dispenser for the Energon Wheeljack had refined for them. It was not the same as energon back home being made of fossil fuels but it was better for their systems than the oil and petrol the humans gave their own vehicles, the Earthborn oddly preferred the petrol to the energon though.

When they got there, they saw Will and Epps on one of the human sized couches while Jazz, Hound and Wheeljack were playing with some giant cards and chips that had been made for their use. They looked up at the pair’s entrance.

"Hey Bee good ta see ya're still functioning." Jazz called picking up a new card.
"Yeah," he said as Cliffjumper went to get the energon.
"How are you doing Bee?" Will asked.
"I'm well, though Sam's condition has not changed."
"It’ll be okay kid, the boy's tough let him nap for a bit, and get some sleep yourself." Epps told him dropping a chip in the pile.
"I know."
"Wanna join the game? We could deal ya in next round it looks like Will’s got this one." Hound told them.
"No thanks I’m going to make sure this youngling gets some decent recharge." Cliffjumper told them.
"I'm not a youngling anymore." Bumblebee demanded.
"You’re acting like one."
"Come on you two calm down." Jazz told his two Subordinates. It was nice to see Bumblebee interacting with anyone outside of Sam’s room.
"Yes sir."
"Yes Jazz."

They found the barracks empty and Bumblebee was dragged to Cliffjumper's berth.
"I do have a room." Bumblebee pointed out not that he was sure where it was at the moment.
"Yeah but you won’t rest, I know you Bumblebee you are just like your creator." He settled back in the recharge berth with his friend. "Get some recharge we'll go back to Sam afterwards."
"Yes mom."
"What?" he was confused by Bumblebee’s words.
"It's a human expression." Bumblebee told him shuttering his optics.
"I see." he muttered following his friend into recharge.

Cliffjumper came back on line first and lay there watching the younger scout for a while. He cared for Bumblebee, a lot he had once wondered if he could be his mate. But he had heard from the others that Bee was close to this human of his. He let out a hiss of air; poor Bumblebee had grown up very fast in the war. He should still be in the academy for Primus' sake. Smiling he touched the other's helm. Bumblebee came on line.

"Cliffjumper?"
"Yeah Bumblebee, come on you should check on your charge." He told him reluctantly, he would rather stay there in his berth with Bumblebee.
"I know." he got up from the berth and headed out towards the medical facility. His inner chronometer told him it had been about ten hours since he had went into recharge.

The medical facility had not changed only the vehicles in front of it. The two parked and called up their Avatars to enter the building. Greeting the staff as he went Bumblebee made a beeline for the room where Sam lay.

When they got there they saw Miles sitting in the chair Bumblebee had vacated when Cliffjumper had dragged him off, the boy was playing a hand held game system he smiled at them.

“Hey Bee, came to look in on Sam and saw you’d actually gone to get some rest.”
“Hello Miles.” Bumblebee smiled. “Have you met Cliffjumper yet.”
“Nope, nice to meet you I’m Miles Lancaster sadly I’m teamed up with that jerk Sideswipe instead of a nice guardian like Bee here.” He grinned putting the game down and showing Cliffjumper his hand.

The Autobot stared at his hand for a second before grabbing it and shaking it once.
“Hello Miles, Autobot Scout and surveillance Cliffjumper.” He answered. “Though Sideswipe is usually a lot nicer than his twin.”
“True, well I should get back to work, the storage sheds won’t sort themselves especially since I left DewBot and Sideswipe alone in there. Take care Bee, later Cliff.”
“Goodbye Miles.”
“Goodbye,” once the boy had left he turned to his teammate. “Why did he call me that?”
“Humans like to shorten names like they call me Bee.” He explained

00000000000000000

Miles hummed to himself as he headed back for his job, he had worried about Sam when he saw that Bumblebee was not in his usual spot. After a word with his Autobot friend he had learned that he had been bodily dragged off to rest. A good thing since he had not done it very often the past month. He really hoped Sam snapped out of it soon or the little Camaro might go nuts.

As he walked along thinking deeply someone called his name he looked up to see his father walking down the hall.

“Dad?”
“Miles, I was wondering where you were off to?” he said conversationally.
“Work, I’m supposed to be helping catalogue the Medical storage unit. “He said offhandedly.
“They’ve got you working pretty hard.” The man struggled to actually talk with his son.
“Yeah but it keeps everyone’s mind off things.” He answered. His dad wasn’t so bad when he was just talking.
“I understand doing that." the man agreed. He’d also been going out of his way to avoid his dad but that wasn't really important.

"Squishy there you are where have you been?" Sunstreaker called as they approached the storage unit.
"It’s Miles Sunny, what are you doing here it's supposed to be me Sideswipe and DewBot, you are supposed to be patrolling with Bluestreak.." Not that he wouldn’t welcome the help, but he refused to encourage the twins. Even if their pranks could be fun.
"Yeah but patrol was boring, Blue was babbling and went off to talk to Prowl so I came to help so I could drag my brother off later." he informed the human.
"I see well that should make work faster. Later dad I have to make sure these two actually work." he smiled and followed after the large gold warrior.
"Talk to you later Miles." the man sighed. He had tried to reach out over the last week or so since their arrival but all the work to get things ready did cut back on recreation time for those with the most work to do.

000000000000000

“Absolutely not I refuse to do this.” Agent Reggie Simmons said looking up at the large frame of the Autobot leader and the less impressive frame of his own boss, one Tom Banachek. Bedside him the Autobot’s SIC stood strait his door wings standing out from his back like some kind of angry bug’s wings. He was oddly reminded of the little Camaro and his smaller more expressive doorwings. He had yet to make his own opinion of the situation known.

“You have no real choice Agent Simmons.” Tom told him simply.
“And why do I have to be paired up with Robo-cop here?”
“My designation is Prowl Agent Simmons, and I also do not understand this Prime.” The other said coolly. Only Optimus having known Prowl for as long as he had noticed the annoyance in his tone.
“Prowl, many of our men have started working with human partners. This has proved beneficial to us and them.”
“But is Agent Simmons a good Choice sir?” Jazz spoke up from his spot at their Prime’s left.
“If that was about before I did apologize to the kids.” Reggie told the silver mech. Odd he was not frightened of them; yes they were large machines and could easily be dangerous especially the weapons specialist but only Optimus Prime really intimidated him. That might have had something to do with the fact he could cow bots larger then him so easily and usually with only a word, these guys worshipped their leader.
“Prowl is one of my most trusted men Jazz, and Agent Simmons is essentially in charge of the human agents here putting both in the same position on this base.” Optimus told his second lieutenant without even looking at him. And the only one I would trust to not squish him out of spite, he thought to himself, he knew his men a lot of them were every overprotective of their youngest member and a lot of them had decided they did not like Agent Simmons. Though he and Bumblebee had worked it out for the most part.

“If that is your orders Optimus.” Prowl nodded once ignoring the look in his mate’s visor, he felt the emotions along their bond and knew he would have to listen to him bother him about it. “I have a patrol to cover.”
“Of course,”
“Simmons go with him the two of you need to hammer out this partnership of yours.” Tom told him.

The two saluted and left heading out of the building and once outside Prowl transformed and opened his door. Reggie looked at him, not sure what to do.

“Get in Agent Simmons I am not going to kill you.” He assured the human whose heart rate had increased.
“I have my own car.” Reggie told him.
“You can ‘drive’ me if we are to work together you will have to get used to it as will I.” The patrol car said dryly.
“Fine.” Reggie slid in carefully. The kids often just jumped into the interiors of their partners; he just couldn’t bring himself to do that. Though once inside he had to admit it was the most comfortable seat he’d had, the leather was soft and cool to the touch and everything moved to fit him nicely, a perk to having an intelligent automobile.

“Okay let’s talk.” Reggie settled into the seat and pulled on the seat belt.
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Right first call me Reggie, if we are going to be working together, Agent Simmons sounds too uptight.”
“Only if you refrain from calling me Robo-Cop I am not a cyborg who used to be a police officer. I am a member of the Prime’s guard.” He told him and started up heading for the patrol route.
“I’ll think about it, so aside from being a tactician, you ‘re a body guard huh?” he smirked at the fact the bot had at least looked up the name. maybe he could get him to watch the movie.
“Yes, I was supposed to protect Prime from anything, none of us were prepared for what happened.”
“Hey he’s still on line or alive or whatever you say.”
“Functioning, and yes he is that is thanks to Ironhide more than myself.”
Reggie nodded letting this entire thing sink in as they moved along the dessert.

00000000000000000

A few weeks after the group was settled into the base a helicopter arrived from Washington DC Jazz, Prowl and Reggie went to greet it along with the twins and Miles they also saw Mile’s dad nearby.

“Dad?”
“Miles.”
“Why are you here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Huh, Sideswipe dragged me down here.” He shrugged.

"Miles, Walter." Reggie greeted as they all stood far enough back the helicopter would not hit them. Not that the pilot would miss the four large robots off to the side of the landing site who dwarfed their human charges.

The helicopter it's self was a non-descript gray machine that looked like it had never even gotten off the ground before it's flight from DC. Once it touched down on the ground it's passengers slowly stepped out. First was an older man, who carried himself with an air of authority and wore a crisp business suit, this was secretary of Defense John Keller who was also the only human liaison to the Autobots in Washington at this time.

He helped a young blonde woman step out next; she wore a designer dress suit and high heels in gray and black. Her long hair twisted around her face charmingly, Maggie Madsen Secretary Keller’s assistant. Next came another man this one about the same age as Maggie but twice her size. He was black with short tightly curled black hair and was dressed in a jersey like shirt and shorts, Glen Whitman Maggie's boyfriend and an expert hacker. Next another woman this one obviously of Asian descent with long black hair and tanned skin dressed in a black suit stepped out of the helicopter then turned to help out the final member of their group, a young girl with dark brown hair and blue eyes. The group approached the edge of the landing pad. As soon as they were clear the helicopter took off again.

“Secretary Keller, Ms Madson, Mr. Whitman welcome to Autobot base.” Prowl Greeted them.
“Hey Maggie baby how ya doing?” Jazz asked the blonde leaning down to see her closer.
“Hello Prowl, good to be here this is Agent Monica Lancaster and her daughter Casey.” Keller introduced the two new comers. As his assistant was being flirted with by the special ops leader.
“Hello Jazz.” Maggie greeted the silver mech.
“Welcome to our Base agent Lancaster.”
“Thank you.” She said looking up at the black and white mech and the silver one. A little behind these two and Agent Simmons were two men she was always happy to see. “If you don’t mind Sir, I would like a word with my husband.”
“Of course Monica go ahead Agent Simmons can escort us to Optimus.”
“Right this way.” The man said slightly sullenly as the two Robots took their alt modes, the sleek silver solstice looking odd next to the police cruiser.
“Maggie baby why don’t ya climb in he’a with Glen. Prowler can handle the secretary and his partner.”
“Partner?” the blonde asked as she slid into the driver’s seat while Glen got in on the other side.
“Yep a few of us have gone and paired off with humans to work together Prime and Tom made those two work together.”
“Sounds like a blast.” Glen muttered.
“Oh it is.”
“So do you have a partner yet?” Maggie asked stroking the steering wheel.
“Nope, but I got a few candidates in mind.” He said with a laugh.

00000000000

Miles was in shock at the sight of the woman and child, he knew them both and he was sure his guardian was wondering why his heart rate had suddenly skyrocketed.

The child as soon as she saw them squealed and ran to jump on to Miles.
“Miles! You’re here, do you know about the robots too I wanna meet one! Not the ones that attacked dad’s base the nice ones”
“Casey.” Their father said as the child babbled.
“Hi daddy.” She greeted still clinging to her elder brother.
“Let you brother breath dear” her mother said as she got closer. She had not missed the two larger mechs standing nearby watching all of this with an air of amusement.
“Hi Monica, hello Casey yes I know the Autobot’s a couple of them personally the red guy here is my partner Sideswipe and the other one’s his brother Sunstreaker.” He introduced them. “Guys this is my step mom and my little sister Casey.”
“Hello.” Sideswipe looked down at the little human in Mile’s arms she looked nothing like him though both of them shared their father’s eyes.
“So why is this one not your mother if she’s your dad’s mate?” Sunstreaker asked curiously, both adults looked highly embarrassed.
“That’s personal Sunny, but my parents are divorced, we humans don’t mate for life it’s not in us, well some people like Will can or Sam’s parents. Dad remarried Monica here and they had Casey.” He told the gold warrior.
“So you have two creators?” Sideswipe asked trying to understand all of that.
“No I have my mom and dad then a step mom.”
“Oh.” They still didn’t quite get it.
“Come on guys let’s give em the tour.” He said trying to change the subject.
“We had patrol.” Sunstreaker told him. He wasn’t normally one for duty but there were times he really didn’t want to always hang around with Miles.
“Later, I’m sure Prowl will forgive us if we show around family.”
“Alright.”

The pair transformed and Monica blinked surprised by the type of car these two used as their alt modes, up till now she had only seen two and both of them were military vehicles, one had been an enemy though. And the other pair had been a police cruiser and a sports car as well.

“Miles I know you are a responsible young man but a Lamborghini?”
“I kinda found him, besides Swipe does most of the driving and aside from being a speed demon he’s a good driver.”
“I am, besides Prime would kill me if I let a human die who was entrusted to my care not to mention Bluestreak would never speak to me again, now Ironhide him you have to worry about, he’s big and has big guns.”
“Thanks a lot Sideswipe.” He told him with a sigh, holding the door open for his family.
“Wow. I’ve never been in an alien car before.” Casey said patting the seat as she slid into the passenger side.
“Then have fun sparkling.” Sideswipe told her as he shut the doors and went for a drive.

000000000

The base was not typical of an army base at all. It was more like a miniature city. Everyone on base lived in barracks near the center while the medical facility was a corner stone of its construction. Ratchet certainly seemed proud of the building as his own quarters were there along with his mate Ironhide. The command center towered over everything else in an imitation of the dome of Iacon from the Autobot’s long dead world. The streets were wide enough for a huge truck like Optimus to cruise along them with no trouble so the twins has no problem maneuvering along the shiny pavement. Casey peered out the window enchanted with the place. Mile’s stepmother kept an eye on him more then their surroundings.
“Miles why are you here?” she finally asked.
“Well I kinda fell into this, Ravage that’s one of the bad guys tried to kill me cause I’m Sam’s friend and they have this problem with us humans allying ourselves to the bots.”
“Sam’s here too?”
“Yeah but he’s in the hospital he got in one of the fights, Bee, that’s his guardian bot tried to rescue him but he’s in a coma now.” he told them.

“Can we see him?” Casey asked suddenly. She liked Miles friend he was silly.
“Why not?” The red car answered back
Sideswipe led the way to the medical facility; he had spent a lot of time here recently. Sliding into his parking spot by the hospital. “Hospital folks everybody out, looks like Bee’s in his Avatar.” He said calling up his own and pointing to a yellow and black Camaro nearby. Beside him Sunstreaker parked and a blonde girl stepped out of him.
“Hey Sunny.” Miles said as he looked over the blonde in a gold mini-skirt and black halter top.
“So Sam’s here?” Mile's stepmother asked.
“Yeah in a room all to himself Miki and I visit often so does Will, when he has a chance.”
“And every bot.” Sideswipe said with a smile. “So everyone is worried about him.”
“well he has made himself at home with my family they love him.” Miles told his guardian

The room was quiet aside from the sound of soft breathing. In the single bed a young man slept looking almost peacefully except for the fact he’d been like this for a month. At his side in an uncomfortable looking chair sat a young man with distinctly Asian features with shoulder length black hair with blond tips. He looked towards them and smiled a little his blue eyes looking tired and dim.
“Hello Miles, everyone.” He greeted.
“Bee you look like the pit how long ago did you last recharge?” Sunstreaker asked the younger bot.
“I don’t remember.” He admitted. Bee had barely moved from this spot since they had brought Sam in, Ratchet was constantly threatening him to rest but he did not want to leave his charge's side.
“Go recharge.” The golden warrior told the younger mech gently
“But Sunny.” He looked at Sam still laying there out cold.
“Go, Sam will still be here when you wake up brat.” Sideswipe told him
“Fine but if he wakes.”
“We’ll wake you, go.”
The Avatar faded away and the twins looked at one another.
“Is Bee alright?” Miles asked.
“Well he’s worn himself out worrying over Sam, he seems to blame himself for Sam’s injuries.”
“But he wasn’t there.”
“That’s why, Bee’s young he’s always been the youngest and trying to prove he’s as good a soldier as any of the others. He felt horrible after Megatron hurt him in Tyger-Pax and got away chasing the cube he went alone after it. It was lucky that some of the others caught up with him after wards.” Sideswipe sighed.
“He’s only a kid not much older then yourselves by the way our race ages.” Sunstreaker told them.
“No wonder he’s taking this so hard, protecting us must be a pretty big assignment.” Miles looked at his friend.
“Well yeah, it is. Prime shows serious trust in agreeing to let some of us live among the humans. Bumblebee was the first to be put on that duty.”
“Poor thing." Monica said softly, she had not met most of these beings but the ones she had she liked. And Sam was a good kid she had always liked him since she had first met him.
“Yeah, come on we should head over to the canteen and see if there’s dinner yet.” Miles said leading them back out nodding to the few doctors and nurses they saw. Once outside Sunstreaker took off saying he had a patrol while the others stayed with Sideswipe and headed for the canteen.
TBC……

Chapter Text

A dark blue Hummer cruised down the road, it’s driver enjoying the beat from the radio when police lights suddenly lit up the night. Looking in the rearview mirror the young human saw a black ford Escalade pulling up behind him. Grumbling he pulled over and watched as a man in a black suit got out of the car and approached him.
“Is there a problem officer?” the dark blonde asked as the man flashed his badge, what in the world was sector Seven?
“You attend the educational facility with one Samuel Witwicky?” the man asked his voice oddly monotone and lifeless.
“Yeah, so what no one’s seen him in over a month.” He shrugged, “He even missed finals. Not like I know why you’d have to find Miles he’s his best friend.”
“He is wanted in a matter of national security.” The man said in the same stiff monotone voice, something was seriously wrong here. The man’s eyes and voice were very wrong; almost mechanical.

Before he could say anything else there was horrible shriek of metal on metal and the Escalade crashed into his car, the man flickered and vanished and in seconds there was a blonde girl pulling him out of the ruins of his Hummer. She wore an outfit that was as out of place in a situation like this as you could get, a black halter top and skirt with a gold belt.
“ Come with me if you want to live.” She stopped, ”wow that sounded so much cooler in my head.”

“What did you just do?” Trent asked staring at the remains of his car. The girl was still dragging him towards her own car, which was still behind the patrol vehicle. A golden Lamborghini with only a few scratches in the paint from colliding with the Escape.
“Saved your life,” she smiled and motioned him towards the gold Lambo. “Get in he’ll be after you soon.”
“Why?”
“Cause they want to hurt someone, anyone they can actually.” She got in the car and opened the other door letting the teen slip into the car.

“Classic huh?” he was sure he’d never seen this particular car before but he had seen one very much like it.
“My baby can beat most other cars for speed.” She smiled. “Call me Sunny you?”
“Trent, you don’t go to the Highschool.” He had never seen her around before either.
“Nope kinda new around here.” She said letting go of the brake and the car sped off not far behind was the Escape lights blazing. “He’s not a real cop by the way; he’s a fake so running’s not illegal.”
“Okay.” This felt like one of those Sci-fi movies his cousin always watched. Not that he’d seen his cousin for a few weeks either. It was very weird.

Sunstreaker had no clue what had made him attack Stockade and rescue the human who he’d been talking to. Obviously the cons were back in town or they had not taken Stockade with them. The black car could only barely keep up with him and he was wondering if he should take the human home or just take him in to the others. The choice was made for him when he had to swerve down a side street when he found two more Decepticons ahead of him. Apparently they were back in town.

“What was that?” Trent asked not knowing why the Lambo had swerved down a side street.
“Guess they think you know what’s going on, you don’t know Sam Witwicky do you?” she asked not taking her eyes off the road.
“Yeah have gone to school with him for years he’s my cousin’s best friend.” He admitted.
“Cousin? That wouldn’t be Miles would it?” the blonde asked, as Sunny searched through the school records for this human and his brother’s. Trent Einar DeMarco son of Lawrence DeMarco and Lt. Tanya DeMarco formerly Lancaster sister of Walter Lancaster, Miles’ father.
“Sadly yes.” Trent told her. He had always known his cousin and uncle were on the weird side.
“Damn that’s it they know your related just like with the kid damn.” She sighed and frowned.
“Kid?” he looked art her quizzically not sure what she meant.
“Listen nothing you hear tonight’s going to make much sense just go along with me on it okay.”
“Alright.” He watched her, she was cute, long gold blonde hair and bright blue eyes, a gold halter top with a black skirt and jacket.

Three vehicles were still in pursuit of them and she kept her eyes on the road in front of them. The radio cracked and she sighed.
“What was that?” the humans asked.
“Back up.” She smiled. And pulled out a cell phone one handed.

A strange van came out of a side street and rammed the lead car. Which went spinning into a parking lot as the other two stopped to keep from ramming into it. Sunny kept going and the red and white van catching up to her quickly.

“My house is back that way.” He told her pointing in the opposite direction.
“I’m sorry I don’t think it would be a good idea to take you home unless you want your family in danger.” She told him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“They think you know about what’s going on so they’ll hunt for you and go after your family if you lead them there so it would be best if you just came with me.”
“Not like I can get out of a moving vehicle at this speed.” Trent observed.
“True it would not be safe.” She agreed. Not that Sunstreaker would even let him open the door until he was ready anyway.

The two vehicles raced through the desert night towards the Autobot base, Sunny kept a watch on the human in his central compartment. He was not sure what to do with him he could not take him home, the human would no doubt mention Stockade and the rescue by a weird gold car and its driver. Finally he just decided to take him home, Miles could explain everything to him after the others spoke; besides Blaster would want to speak with Prowl and Bluestreak not to mention see Eject.

“Hold on Trent this might take most of the night.” Sunny told him
“Where are we going exactly?”
“To see Miles, he might be able to tell you what I can’t.”
“He’d better.” The human muttered.

The human dealt with, Sunstreaker turned his attention to the communication’s vehicle following him.
“Hey Blaster.”
“Sunstreaker so good to hear a friendly voice.” He answered back. “Well besides Rewind but she’s been complaining about Frenzy’s signal since we got here.”
“I have not.” Came the small femme’s signal. “I’ve just been worried about our comrades you know."
“Calm down little lady we’re almost home.” Sunstreaker told her.
“Sounds nice huh?” Blaster asked his creation.
“Sounds wonderful creator.” She answered back.

0000000000000000000000000000

The sight of a military base in the center of the dessert seemed like such a normal sight that it took the young man a few moments to realize this particular base looked more like a small city. Vehicles were everywhere not just military but sports cars and the like. He saw a very familiar red car and one person he knew along with a red head who looked a lot like Sunny except being a guy. A grey car had been idling next to the red one a young man in a black uniform sitting on the hood talking to Miles and his friend. Miles just stared as he got out of the car after the blonde who walked over and draped herself on the red head. The Van continued on with its passenger, the grey car followed the van.

“What the hell? Trent?” Miles exclaimed seeing his cousin.
“My sentiments exactly.” The other teen agreed.

000000000000000000000000

Blaster went strait for the location of his leader’s signal. Stopping outside long enough to greet his brother.
“Hey Blue how ya doing?”
“I’m fine its good to see you again.”
“You too got to report in.”
“Yeah.”

He found Optimus in his office speaking to both Prowl and Jazz, which made the younger mech, smile to himself. He patted Eject who sat on his shoulder and knocked.
”Enter.” Optimus ordered and nodded at the orange red mech. “Blaster it is good to see you again.”
“Optimus Prime sir, Communications officer Blaster and communications surveillance specialist Eject reporting.” He reported saluting his leader. Eject made a similar motion from his shoulder.
“Welcome, I suspect the four of you have things to speak of, you are dismissed.” Their leader told them.
“Yes sir, come on Blaster let’s show you around the place.” Jazz said grabbing his creation’s arm as Prowl put an arm around his waist leading the two out of the room.

“We are very proud of you Blaster making it here so quickly.” Prowl told him.
“My squad was following the same route as Prime’s squad when we caught the message. Cliffjumper made us move double time to beat to many of the cons here. Looks like we missed the party though.”
“No there’s still some new arrivals but the AllSpark is not gone.”
`”But Prime’s message?” Eject said questioningly. “Not that the destruction of the AllSpark was a good thing even if it did stop Megatron.”
“It’s in a new vessel it’s organic now sort of.”
“Can we meet this vessel?” she asked curious.
“Not yet.” Prowl told him. “He is recovering from being taken by the Decepticons.”
“I hope they didn’t hurt him these humans seem kind of fragile.” Blaster observed as they passed a small group of soldiers who stared at the new bot, there were so many new arrivals it was hard to tell who had been around for a while and who had just arrived.
“They are.” Jazz nodded. “Soundwave had him and seemed very curious from what we learned from Steeljaw.”
“Good to know he’s been useful, Steeljaw misses Ravage a lot.” Blaster told them sounding wistful.
“He’s the only one, those boys are idiots.” Eject muttered.
“Eject.” Blaster said with a small smile.
“Sorry Boss.” She said quietly.
“but they are.” Rewind agreed.
“I’m sure Soundwave has his reasons for joining Megatron’s side boys.” Jazz told his sons.
“Yeah I wish we knew them.” Prowl said simply.
"Yes." Jazz agreed quietly.

They showed the two around the base in their alt modes. Jazz pointing out the best places while Prowl explained various important details. Finally they brought him to the command center and introduced him to the crew, especially the communications people for the humans who were happy to meet another com guy they meshed right away. The two left their creation and his little one with the group and headed off for their own duties.

“He’s already fitting in well.”
“Blaster always does.” Bluestreak smiled.
“yeah, so do you Blue.”
“not as well.”
“Heh too much like you progenitor sometimes.” Jazz said. “We should get back to Prime.”
“I should go help field the twins.”
“good luck with that.”
.

000000000000000000

"Miles." Trent asked seeing his cousin. Who was staring at him like he was nuts.
"Trent why are you here? Sunny what's going on?" Miles demanded of the gold twin who obviously had not let the jock know he was really an alien robot who was using an Avatar to look human at the moment.
"Well there were a few problems on patrol, one being Stockade, he was kinda going after anyone who might know about Sam and find out his location." the blonde smiled. He grabbed his twin lovingly.
"So you grabbed Trent" Miles said staring at the other blond.
"Better me than Stockade man." The blonde told him nuzzling Sideswipe whose hand wrapped around his twin’s waist in a very intimate embrace.
"Okay I’m standing right here what's going on here." Trent asked, ignoring the twins’ antics and staring at his cousin who was glaring at the twins.
"Guys behave. Well Trent, this might sound weird, but things are not what they seem." Miles said focusing on his cousin, why had Sunny brought him here of all places he could have left the human anywhere in the city after losing Stockade.
"Can the weird talk."
“I’m serious man, I can’t tell you anything yet though. We have to clear things with Reggie and Prowl."
"You’re less sense than usual."
"Wait and see." He said simply.

Reggie was not in the mood to deal with Agent Lancaster’s son, his cars and the jock they dragged into his office, it did not help that Prowl had left a few minutes before to greet the new arrival which was apparently his own son.

“What is this Miles?” he asked.
“This is Trent he’s my cousin Sunny rescued him from Stockade, and brought him here, I’m late in dealing with Ratchet this morning so I’m leaving him to you.” Miles told the man staring to leave the room with his guardian in tow.
“Wait a minute.” Reggie stood trying to stop the teen and the avatar.
“You’re in charge of security, I’m only a med tech and my superior‘s going to weld me to something so I have to go.” He left quickly the twins in tow.
“Well that was out of character.” Reggie muttered as the blonde stormed out, “he’s been spending too much time with the CMO.” He caught Sunny’s nod as ‘her’ brother and his charge left in a hurry. She smirked and followed.
“What is going on?” Trent asked.
“Well kid this is a secret government base for research of sorts, I’m not sure why Sunny brought you here, she’s kind of an agent.”
“Kind of?”
“She’s too young to be a full agent.” He lied.
“Oh so what does Witwicky have to do with it?” He asked remembering all the times both the guy who’d tried to grab him and Sunny had mentioned Sam.

Before Reggie could answer the door to his office opened again and Agent Lancaster entered the office.
“Reggie.”
“Walter, why are you here?”
“I passed my son who was grumbling about Jocks and the twins informed me of the new arrival.” The man smiled slightly. “Hello Trent.”
“Uncle Walter you‘re part of this too?”
“Yes but your aunt doesn’t know anything, how’s your mother?”
“Haven’t seen her in awhile.”
“Ahh yes forgot she’s on DC duty right now.” He smiled
“Yeah she is.”
“I see come on, Reggie I’ll handle this.”
“Thanks-, I have enough to do you know. All this damn security in the middle of a desert in a no fly zone really I doubt anyone would come here since it’s a whole day’s ride from the closest city.” Reggie complained.
“It could be worse Reggie, come on Trent.”
“Yeah okay.” He followed the older blonde out and down the hall Miles had dragged him down earlier.
“Sir what is going on everyone says it’s all top secret.”
“It is really, I’m not sure why Sunny brought you here instead of your house. You should probably call your dad and let him know you’re okay.”
“He won’t care, he probably thinks I’m with the team or out with a girl.” He shrugged.
“I see well, still we’ll see about getting you home, ah Sunny good you’re here.” This last was said to the blonde from earlier who now wore a gold sundress decorated with red birds. She was leaning on the doorframe to outside talking to a uniformed young man with dark skin and odd blue eyes.
“Hello sir, yeah Miles and Patrick are on duty, well…I’d rather shoot someone than fix em up.” She smiled, “right Blue?”
“Yeah, though its better to shoot form a distance.” Blue agreed.
“Yeah I know.” He sighed. “Sunny show Trent around will you. I’ll see about getting him clearance to leave.”
“Yes sir have fun, come on Trent I’ll show you the base, it’s fun we’ve got an arcade, some great places to eat even a rec center with a real pool. I’ll talk to you later blue.”
“Later Sunny have fun I’ll be at the range.” The young man waved and wandered off.
“Okay.” He let himself be dragged at least he was with a hot babe while he was stuck here.

They traversed the parts of base anyone could go too. Sunstreaker made sure that he only showed Trent the designated human areas and stayed far away from his comrades so he would not see the giant robot aliens.

They got close to the medical area and he saw his brother’s alt mode there, he tried to turn them around but as he did a white and blue tow-truck came flying past them and drove into the medical garage. A tow truck driven by a very familiar brunette young woman.

“What was that?” Trent asked. “Was that Mikaela?”
“I’m not sure.”
“You don’t want to check it out?”
“Nah my brother’s the medical expert.”
“But it’s curious that a tow truck would go into a medical facility.”
“I guess.”

Trent was heading that way before Sunny could stop him. They entered the hospital part and Trent wandered around as Sunny showed a faked badge anytime someone tried to stop them. As they moved about they saw Miles run by covered in grease with Sideswipe behind him carrying something in his arms, in an instant they were in the elevator and gone before Trent could say a word.

“What was that?”
“Miles on a call, we should go.” Sunny said supplied trying to drag the young man out of the place; obviously something was up.

Trent was not willing to let it go and tried to follow. The place was large; most of the white halls were far taller than a human needed. Not to mention the odd markings overt most of the signs, they were almost like lettering from some other country. Trent had no clue what was going on in this place but the odd looks he was receiving were annoying. Sunny was already annoyed himself, after all this human was not as easy to manipulate as Miles seemed to be. He cringed when they came to the recovery wing and almost passed the room Sam was in. Trent stopped noticing the name and looked back at his guide.
"Witwicky?"
"Yes, don't go in there."
"Why not?"
"It's not allowed for people to just walk in."
"I know him."
"From the sound of it you bully him." She crossed her arms annoyed, Mikaela had been right about a lot of things she'd said about this human.
"I want to see what this is all about." He said grabbing the doorknob.
"I'm warning you, you won't understand." Sunny warned as the door swung open.

The room was full of machinery designed to keep the occupant of the single hospital bed alive and breathing. The young man looked so pale and small lying there. His arms the only visible thing besides his head, were full of IV's and wires. The other wounds and marks were hidden beneath the starched white sheets. Sunny was glad that at least the single hard chair beside the bed was empty for once, Bee must have still been in recharge. He would not have welcomed this intrusion one bit, the little scout had become more and more possessive and protective of his human as the boy's condition did not change.

“What the hell happened to him?” Trent asked staring at the other youth.
“We’re not sure, he was found like this.” Sunny lied.
“So he’s been here the whole time?”
“Pretty much but you can’t tell anyone okay; this is not something that should get around.”
“Right.” He had no clue why Sam would be so important in any way. “Like I would tell anyone I found Witwicky in a coma in a government facility.”
“Let’s go before we’re found here.” she tried to pull the human out of the room before they were discovered.
“So what’s wrong with that?” Trent asked.
“No one’s supposed to be here cause he’s recovering.”

As they spoke the door opened to admit Ratchet and Bumblebee. Both looked at them confused for a moment.
“Sunny why are you here.” Ratchet asked his progeny looking between him and the young human he had not seen before.
“Trent wanted to see the medical facility and I didn’t stop him.”
“I see.”
“So who are you?”
“Chief medical officer for this base.” Ratchet informed him as he looked over the boy on the bed. The other blond watched both Trent and Ratchet closely Sunny put a hand on his shoulder for a second whispering something to him and the other blond nodded.
"Come on Trent it's time for Ratch to look him over and well you know medical stuff."
"Fine." he let Sunny pull him out. Still not sure about all of this.

"We should go see if your uncle has everything ready to let you go." she reminded him as they trekked back for the command center. This was not good if this human found out about them they would have to tell him a lot and not only that he would probably be mad that Sunny had not told him the whole being an alien car thing.

They found agent Lancaster waiting for them an odd look on his face. He had his cell phone out and closed it putting it away as son as he saw them.
“Sir?”
“Ah Sunny, Trent you can go as long as Trent signs a non disclosure agreement for what he’s seen here.”
“Sure not like anyone’d believe me anyway.”
“Great sign it and we’ll send you on your way.” He said simply handing Trent the form on a clipboard along with a pen, “also you’ll be accompanying Miss Banes home as well.”
“Mikaela is here?”
“Yes she’s been helping out here something about her father I never got the whole thing.” The man said as the young woman joined them; she wore a denim skirt and a dark blue t-shirt her long hair was up in a pony tail.
“Hi Trent.”
“Miki? It’s been a while.”
“It has.”
“Well this seems uncomfortable, come on Miki you can have shot gun and tell me all about it.” Sunny said grabbing her arm.
“Thanks a lot Sunny,” she smiled at the blonde who winked.
“Well I feel outnumbered.”
“You should.” They said in tandem.

They piled into Sunstreaker’s alt mode and left heading for Tranquility. Trent watched the two females talking in the front and found he was not as upset with the fact he and Mikaela were over as he had been. She had chosen a geek yes but she seemed different now that she wasn’t hanging on his arm, not some pretty ornament but like a real person. There also seemed to be something off about Sunny like she was trying to hard to be a beauty. It was odd.

On the outskirts of Tranquility both humans were startled when Sunny swerved and narrowly avoided a strafing run from an F-22 raptor.

“What the hell? Why is a plane attacking us?”
“It’s evil?” Sunny said with a shrug. “Think if I let you out you can run for it?” she asked Mikaela
“We can try.” Mikaela answered.
“Run from a plane?” Trent asked surprised.
“Well if your lucky it will attack me with the flashy gold car and not the two of you.” Sunny told him as she turned the car and the doors flew open letting the two humans run while the car distracted the plane. They managed to find cover in a garage before the plane realized that the car was alone.

“Should we leave Sunny like that?” Trent asked worried about the girl who had been pretty helpful so far.
“Trust me Sunny can take care of ‘herself’ perfectly well.” Mikaela assured him, finding it very funny that the guy had no clue the cute chick was really an alien robot who had been alive longer then the human race had existed.
“You know what’s going on.”
“Of course I do, unlike some guys Sam actually let’s me know what’s going on.” She retorted staying out of his reach as she searched her handbag for the small gun Sarah had shown her how to use.
“You’re not going to use a gun against a plane?”
“No the gun is in case the plane has friends, there’s a lot going on you’d never believe trust me you’re better off not knowing it.”
“Too late now whatever’s going on these guys went after me too.”

Mikaela’s retort was cut short when something silver and dangerous came flying out of nowhere and attacked them. She recognized it as frenzy and shot him with the gun. The silvery monster recoiled only enough for her to scramble away.

“What is that thing?”
“An alien robot that wants to kill us.” She told him.

“Wh…where…. Witwicky?” Frenzy demanded, he recognized the girl.
“I’m not telling you, you ass you hurt him.” she shot again and the thing dodged trying to go for the human male he did not recognize, Stockade had reported that another young human who had some tie to Witwicky had gotten away from him.

Now he was sure he’d been plunged into one of those Sci-fi’s Miles was always watching. why else would Mikaela be shooting a small alien robot that looked like a walking quissinard? Not to mention she was quite good with a gun, he really did not know the girl who’d been his for months. The earth shook and the roof of the garage they were hiding in lost a few tiles as something hit it from above. Peeking outside he saw two robots fighting hard, one gold and one a tan blue. Of the car and plane there was no sign and even a jock could put two and two together. This was nothing he would ever believe if he did not see it for himself. The gold robot had just thrown the one that had been the plane into a power line and resumed the form of a car to pick them up as Mikaela got rid of the other one and pushing him into the car.

“We’re heading back for base.” She informed them both.
“I’ve already contacted them, are either of you injured?” Sunny asked, her clothes had changed a black military uniform.
“Yeah a few scratches.” Mikaela answered.
“Ratchet will look you both over.”
“You’re one of them?”
“Yep welcome to H.A.L. Trent.”

TBC…

Chapter Text

Miles jerked out of a sound sleep to see a pair of glowing gold optics in a silvery spidery face. He almost screamed then stared for a second before remembering exactly where he was and why Halo would be on his chest like this. The little mech was chittering loudly sounding like a swarm of bugs running over metal over and over.

"Halo?" he stared at the odd silvery mech that had glued itself to Sam like a puppy. Who was at the moment sitting on his chest.
"We apologize for intruding Miles." a voice spoke from nearby, the teen looked toward the voice. In his doorway was the Earthborn known affectionately as DewBot. He was an odd shade of green with white and red swishes spelling out the words Mountain Dew when in his alt mode though in robot mode they were hard to read. Of course Miles loved the bot and thought it was the coolest thing ever and wanted it tattooed on his arms just like that; Every time he had mentioned it Sam reminded him about copyright infringement. Though the bot was huge with four arms and a mean visage he was one of the most well spoken of the ones he had met and was Ratchet's personal assistant at the moment.

"Ratchet ordered me to get you, and Halo here started to freak out and, demand to come." The bot told him as the boy pulled up his pants.

"That's okay DewBot come on." the blond human grabbed a shirt and ran his fingers though the tangles of his hair and rushed after the two mechs. He knocked on Sideswipe's hood as he went past the red car.

"Miles?" The red warrior asked seeing his charge in front of him and the other two close by. "What's going on?"
"Something's up come on even if your not needed you should be around." He informed his guardian.
"Fine I'm coming." he let Miles in and drove for the hospital with the other two in pursuit.

The hospital was in chaos, as soon as he stepped inside he saw people rushing around while the lights flickered. Miles ignored all of this and headed straight for the room where Sam lay in his coma, here the lights and machines had gone out completely. The room was lit only by a soft blue crackle of electric current that seemed to be caressing Sam's skin, the young man himself was still out cold and looked like he did not even feel the energy. Both Ratchet and Bumblebee’s Avatars were there but neither seemed able to get past the blue flickers of energy. Not that this was stopping Bumblebee who kept trying to get to the bed and fading out before he got even a few feet into that energy.

"What’s going on?" he asked Ratchet once he managed to get to the two of them. The room kept dimming and brightening with the energy, as did the two Avatars in the room and Sideswipe's outside the door.

“I believe Sam is waking up from his coma, the machines went wild an hour ago and I sent DewBot for you then Bumblebee yelled for me and this was happening, we can't reach the bed, as soon as we do our photonic arrays fade out." A flash of the energy passed through the Avatar and he vanished for a moment, then being restored mid sentence.

"So I should be able to get to him without getting zapped then you think?" He asked watching the light show as it crept along his friend’s skin.

"Possibly, you are human and organic it should have no effect on you." Ratchet pointed out his Avatar going transparent for a moment.

"Great fine I’m going in if I don’t make it tell Casey she can have all my stuff." he told them and did his best to make it to the bed, he was brushed by one lick of energy and felt a warm tingle but that was all. Halo who had decided to tag along on his shoulders, squeaked at the contact but seemed unaffected by the zap. In fact the little bot seemed to enjoy the zaps and did not try to avoid them.

Miles reached the bed and Sam who was still completely oblivious about his surroundings and reached down to slap him. The sound of his palm against Sam's cheek was loud like a clap of thunder and the result instantaneous. Sam's eyes snapped open and the crackles of blue faded out leaving the brunette staring up at his blond friend highly confused. The last thing he remembered were those red optics on him and the cold feeling as if he'd done something horrible.

"Miles?" he asked his green eyes were unfocused and he seemed confused.
"The one and only." Miles told him with a smirk. He had to admit Sam looked better awake than out cold even the blue flickers had stopped. Halo climbed down from Miles’ shoulder to sit on Sam’s pillow and chatter quietly.

The others approached cautiously as the lights were still dim. Ratchet frowned at the lights and turned to Sam. Bumblebee stood beside Miles while Sideswipe entered along with DewBot.

"Samuel are you alright?" Ratchet asked looking his patient over. Sam recognized the voice if not the form of the Autobot medic.
"Ratchet?" he looked in confusion at the man, he was medium height with graying hair and red plastic framed glasses. He wore a doctor's coat over a pair of bright red scrubs covered in green trucks.
"Yes Sam this room is too small for my full body." the Autobot medic pointed out.
"Right." he looked around not recognizing the room. "Where are we?"
"A base, we moved here a month ago while you were still in a coma, a lot of things have changed, and there have been newcomers you'll met them shortly."
"Okay." he muttered still very confused. He jumped when a weight settled on the bed and looked to see Bee's avatar there next to him.
"Bee?" he asked as the blonde stroked a hand through his hair.
"Yes Sam I’m here." the other said calmly sounding like he had not recharged in month himself.
"Miles if you would inform Samuel's family of his recovery." Ratchet said, as he looked his human patient over, the few wounds he had received while in the con’s hands were fully healed, and his vitals were in good order. Except the fact his heart was beating a mile a minute but it was calming with the contact between the boy and his car.
"Right Ratchet see ya Sam, come on Guys let the medic poke and prod our resident hero." Miles told the other mechs dragging them out of the room.
"Aww I want to See Bee and Sam's conversation." Sideswipe whined.
"No." Miles told him as he dragged him away.

"Everything seems fine Sam but you should get some rest." Ratchet told the boy as he looked him over, the machines and lights had not come back on yet and no windows were in this room to light it up so the only light was the two Avatar’s eyes and the golden optics of the small silvery mech halo.
"I need to talk to Optimus Ratchet." the boy insisted. He knew something was wrong and it was nagging at his mind.
"After you have rested." The medic tried to calm him.
"No now it's important." he said earnestly and Bee frowned. He was absently stroking Sam’s hair with one hand in a calming gesture.
“Perhaps we should get Optimus, Ratchet, if Sam is so nervous.”
“Fine I’ll get him you rest.”
“Yes sir.” The scout told him as the older man left the two alone. “Ratchet’s getting Optimus Sam please rest until he arrives.”
“Alright.” He said quietly as Bee stroked his hair softly.

Sam closed his eyes and lay back against the pillows moving slightly to lay his head on Bee’s lap.
“I’m sorry I worried you Bee.” he whispered into the soft hum of the other's leg. It still surprised him even in his tired state that it felt so solid like a human's leg and not the image of light and nanites it was formed of.
“It’s not your fault Sam; I should have trusted my instincts; that Stockade could not be trusted.” Bumblebee told him brushing his fingers through Sam's hair.
“Don’t be mad at yourself Bee.” Sam murmured.

Bumblebee shifted to lay behind Sam and pull him close to his chest. Sam sighed and smiled snuggling back into the embrace.
“I’m here and safe Bee, I’m always safe with you.” The young human sighed.
“Not always Sam.”
“Right now I am.” He whispered.

Their conversation was cut off as the door opened admitting a tall man who had to duck to enter the doorway. He exuded an aura of command. He was slender but built like a martial artist with a healthy tan of one who spent a lot of time outdoors. His hair was so black it was almost blue with large blue eyes that seemed to glow. He wore a uniform similar to most of those worn here but with a red face like brand on the chest over his heart. Other decorations marking his rank sat below it though he ignored them most of the time his men followed him out of loyalty and love not just rank. He closed the door behind himself and looked at the two young men.
“Optimus sir.” Bumblebee said sitting up and saluting his leader who smiled at him slightly.
“Optimus.” Sam nodded shifting as well wishing he as not in a hospital gown.
“Sam Bumblebee it is good to see you are alright.”
“Yes sir I have to tell you something.”
“What is it Sam?”
“It’s Megatron, he had returned that’s what Soundwave wanted with me, to bring him back somehow they got the others up from the trench.”
“I know Sam.” the Autobot leader said calmly, he hated bringing so many others into their war, especially this human and their youngling.
“You do?” Bumblebee asked surprised at this news, not that he had not known of Megatron’s return himself he’d felt it in his young spark.
“Yes I do.” He nodded and placed a hand on Bumblebee’s head comfortingly. “He’ll attack wanting the AllSpark luckily they are unaware of your location at the moment.”
“I don’t want to cause this kind of problem.” Sam said quietly.
“It is my fault Sam for handing you the cube.”
“No Bee.” Sam told his guardian.
“The fault is mine Sam the AllSpark should have been better protected rather than sent out into space.”
“No it was necessary.” The boy told them “the AllSpark had to go or it would have been worse. This time it should be easier after all now the AllSpark can communicate with you better.”
“Sam?” his guardian looked at his questioningly as he smiled slightly.
“I’m fine Bee just tried.” The boy assured him.
“Rest Sam, you as well Bumblebee we will speak later.” Optimus said gently seeing how tired the human avatar of the AllSpark was from just speaking.
“Yes sir.” Bumblebee saluted still prone on the bed and smiled as the older bot left.

Once Optimus was gone Sam cuddled back into Bee’s chest again. The soft buzzing of the Avatar’s skin was comforting to him.
“Have you rested at all Bee?” Sam asked knowing that his guardian had the habit of mother henning him and not taking too much care of himself.
“Not much.” He admitted. Sam’s safety and health was his first priority after all, and he had failed to protect him by letting Stockade trick him so he had spent all of his energy watching over his while he was injured.
“Recharge now Bee okay I’m going to sleep.” He informed the scout.
“Yes Sam.” He held the human close as he could; feeling his heart beat through the sensors in the avatar as well as scanning his vitals. Sam was okay and right here with them again with Bumblebee who cared a great deal for him. He stroked Sam’s hair and hummed softly.

Drifting off Sam almost didn’t recognize the song that Bee was humming.

I’d give up forever to touch you and I know that you feel it somehow, you’re the closest to heaven that I’ll ever be and I don’t want to go home right now.

Smiling to himself Sam sighed. “I love you Bee.”

000000000000000

Miles banged on the door to the apartment barracks Sam’s parents had been living in since they had been brought to the base. Finally Ron answered the door scowling, he and his wife had gotten little sleep since it had happened. Now someone was banging on the door at five in the morning.
“Miles what is it?” Ron asked seeing the blond standing there in his pants and a lab coat with the big green mech behind him. He recognized Sam’s best friend Miles.
“Sam’s awake, Ratchet told me to get you and his mom to see him.” the boy reported looking like he was about to fall over on his feet.
“Good it’s about time.” Ron said grabbing his shoes.
“Ron?” Judy looked sat her husband concerned. He had been getting restless here and was blaming a lot of the recent events on the car. If he’d never bought that machine their family would not be in danger he was sure of it.
“Judy come on Sam’s awake.”
“My baby come on what are you waiting for?” she said storming out in her nightgown and robe.

They found Sam half-asleep being held closely by his guardian’s Avatar who was humming quietly. The young man looked up and nodded to them before gently shaking Sam who blinked up at them sleepily.
“Mom, dad?”
“Sammy you’re okay.” His mother leaned down to hug him and he returned the hug sitting up after wards and looked at his dad who was glaring at the blonde beside him.
“It’s good to see you are awake Sam as soon as they let you out of here we are going home.” His dad told him and he had a feeling the man was not including Bee in that we.
“I can’t go dad they need my help. And I’m not leaving Bee.”
“It’s that car’s fault this happened.” The man demanded pointing to the blonde.
“No dad it’s great grandpa’s he’s the one who found Megatron.” Sam told him yawning. “Bee’s been protecting me as much as he can.”
` “Some protection.” He grumbled.
“Ron!” his wife stared at him. “Bee you’ve done well keeping an eye on my boy.”
“Thank you Mrs. Witwicky.” The blonde said smiling.
“Call me Judy dear.”
“Yes M..Judy.” he said quietly. He was not upset by Ron’s words the man was entitled to worry about his son, though he would probably be mad if he knew the two’s feelings for one another.

“Come on dear we should let Sam rest, Sam you get some sleep you too Bumblebee you look like you haven’t rested in days.”
“Yes mom.”
“Yes ma’am.”

She dragged her husband out of the room and back to their place putting him to bed and worrying about the two boys. She had not missed how close they had been sitting together or his Sam’s hand had reached for Bee’s as his father had spoken. She just hoped for the best for both of them.

00000000000000000000000

Miles simply smiled at them as he watched the parents leave.
“You feeling okay Sam?” he asked looking his friend over.
“Yeah, just tired.”
“Then get some sleep and maybe that idiot guardian of yours will too, Bee has barley recharged since you were out.” Miles told him.
“Fine I’ll talk to you in the morning Miles.”
“Night Sam Bee.”
“Good night Miles.” He smiled and settled back against Bee again as the other turned off the light and shut the door making sure there was a sign on the door for no one to disturb them. He shook his head not sure what to do about any of this he just hoped it would turn out all right.

“Don’t leave me Bee.” the boy whispered snuggling into his guardian’s arms
“Never Sam.” the other promised.

000000000000000

Ratchet looked over the results from Sam’s tests confused and only slightly aware of his fellow officer’s presence. The results kept coming up the same no matter how many times he calculated it. Dormant the energy could remain inside an organic vessel but active it could easily over power the boy. Yet it was not, it was as if the energy was being damped enough by another source that it was never high enough to harm Sam.
“You have that look again.” Wheeljack told him.
“What look?”
“Like you’ve found a puzzle you can’t quite solve.”
“I have, the energy of the AllSpark should not be able to remain in an organic vessel like it is, it should be too powerful, as it is it has changed Sam’s physiology slightly to compensate and still is very slowly. But it’s like the energy is being siphoned off somehow and it is not Bumblebee I’ve already checked him over it’s touched him but he’s not the one using it.”
“What about that little Earthborn that is always with Sam, Halo.”
“Impossible, earth materials should not be made to hold that kind of power, we don’t even know what material the AllSpark was made of in the first place.”
“Have you had a chance to look him over?”
“No he always disappears before I can.”
“That might be why. If he is not what he appears to be he might be trying to hide it.” Wheeljack said simply. “He is an odd little thing and his optics are different.”
“He might I should ask Sam to bring him here after he is feeling better I might get a chance to look him over then.”
“Right .”

000000000000000

By noon everyone was aware of Sam’s waking up and Sunstreaker found himself returning in the midst of it. Sideswipe was waiting for him as soon as he arrived with his charge nowhere in sight. He let the two humans go before resuming his robot mode and greeting his brother.
“Should I even ask?”
“Sam’s awake.”
“Good to hear maybe now the kid’ll rest.”
“We can only hope. Oh yeah Babe; Simmons wants to see you and the other guy.”
“Thanks Sideswipe.” She smiled. “Come on Trent this will be an interesting meeting.”
“Does everyone here know about the alien thing?” he asked her.
“Yep, my dad doesn’t know and Miles’ mom has no clue Sam’s parents learned after Mission City.” Mikaela told him as they headed for the command center.
“Wait what was that about Mission City?”
“Just come on Trent, you’ll find out.”

At the command center they found Tom Banachek, Reggie Simmons, Optimus Prime, Prowl, and Jazz along with Will and Ironhide discussing what could only be Decepticon attacks. So the two young humans and Mech who came into the room. Trent found himself staring at the largest machine he had ever seen, ignoring the two humans he had not met before. The group looked at the young mech and his human companions quizzically as they entered Optimus recovered first.

“Sunstreaker I thought you had been told to take Ms. Banes ad Mr. DeMarco home.” The deep voice seemed to reverberate through his very bones as he spoke.
“I did but the Seekers had other plans.” The gold warrior said nonchalantly; ignoring the look his progenitor gave him as he spoke.
“Seekers?” Tom frowned at the name they gave the enemy planes with all of the news of their attack coming closer from the shore it was only a matter of time before they arrived here after all.
“Yes sir.” they attacked us while I was transporting these two humans home, I’m afraid Frenzy made us reveal the alien robot part of the deal.” He reported.
“I see.” The older man and Autobot leader watched the young man as he stared at the group around them. Five mechs and three human men, as well as his ex- girlfriend, all of whom knew about this secret. Apparently so did Sam and Miles along with his uncle and aunt.
“This is why Mr. DeMarco is still with us and acting like a landed fish.” Agent Banachek asked.
“Yes sir.” Mikaela answered.” Trying not to smile as Trent glared at the old man who had spoken. Tom Banachek was the highest ranking human on the base. Mikaela was used to his attitude as well as Reggie’s, but Trent did not know the acidic wit of the two agents, yet.
“Look man I have no clue what is going on here or why those weird things were trying to kill me.” Trent demanded.
“Relax Trent,” Mikaela muttered.
“It’s fine Mikaela, this is quite a shock at first after all.”
“Yeah it is, and you didn’t meet them while being chased by one trying to capture or kill you.” She smiled pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
“To true. Now what shall we do about this?”
“We can’t just send them home again what if they are waiting or followed them here?” Will asked.
“That can be taken care of man.” Jazz said with a shrug, a gesture he’d picked up from the humans he’d been hanging around.
“Jazz have Mirage and Hound look around.” Optimus ordered his second who nodded.
“Already on it Sir though ‘Raj is complaining about it ‘cause he was recharging.” Jazz had to shake his head.
“Too bad he’s the only one who can work with Hound then.” Ironhide told him. Mirage had long ago made it clear he was Hound’s partner as well as mate and he was the only one who could work with the scout. The others respected that but if one was sent on a job the other had to go. He was almost as bad as the twins and their friend Bluestreak.

“So what about us?” Trent asked.
“You two will stay here a bit longer, until we decide how to get you back to the city without you coming to harm. Though Sam has woken up so you might be able to visit him.”
“Sam’s awake. That’s great is he okay?” Mikaela said with a smile, which dazzled even the robotic males in the room.
“As far as Ratchet can tell.”
“So can we see him?”
“Sunstreaker if you would escort them to the medical facility.”
“Yes sir.” The gold warrior would rather have gone out and gotten the cons that had attacked him, but for now he would do what he was told and then go out with his brother and do what he did best.

The hospital was in better shape than it had been that morning, not that the three of them knew what had happened. Miles was nowhere to be seen neither was Ratchet. Mikaela led the way to the room where Sam had been for months. At the door they found a small silvery mech closing it behind it’s self. Seeing Mikaela it chattered and ran up to climb her leg.
“Hey Halo is Sam up?” she asked it and the little creature nodded enthusiastically.
“What is that?” Trent was staring at the little bot.
“Halo he’s an XBox.”
“Oh.”

She knocked on the door and it opened showing the blond that had been in there with Ratchet the first time. He wore the same clothes though they looked rumpled and his bright blue eyes seemed to glow when he saw Mikaela.
“Miki, good to see you again Sam’s just eating come on in.” he stepped back reveling the room and Sam carefully eating what passed as food in the hospital. There was also a water bottle with an odd pinkish liquid he sipped between bites. He put the bottle down and smiled at Mikaela looking startled at the jock following her.

“Hi Trent.”
“Sam.” The guy looked as confused as he felt, he was also in torn and stained clothes with a bruise forming on one cheek and a few cuts on his arms. “I seem to have been kidnapped by Mile’s car’s sibling.”
“Yeah I know the feeling.” He said with a small smile.
“Sam I never kidnapped you.” Bee said defensively from behind the two.
“Almost.” Mikaela smiled.
` “That was a rescue as was Sunny’s actions, we can not help it if it is easier for us to use our alt modes to rescue you humans.” He told his charge as he walked over to the bed and removed the now empty tray.
“It seemed like a kidnapping.” Trent said simply. “You’re one of them too?”
“Yes I am Bumblebee, Sam’s guardian and his Camaro.” The boy shrugged slightly as he set the tray on a table by the door for later removal.
“I see.” He said simply still confused but starting to get it.
“Sam how are you doing?” Mikaela asked interrupting the conversation.
“Better, I can eat food again, as long as I drink this stuff Ratchet gave me.” He said sheepishly holding up the odd bottle.
“What is it?”
“I have no idea.” He shrugged. “It’s not bad though kinda metallic tasting.”
“So what’s this about guardians?” Trent asked the blonde while the other two talked.
“Well some of us humans are partnered off with the Autobots too kinda teach them about our world Bee was originally put with me to protect me from the Decepticons at first but he stuck around after what happened.”
“What did happen this is about that stuff at Mission City isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“So that red guy’s Miles’ guardian then so what about Mikaela?”
“Don’t have one only you boys need someone to watch them.” she smiled. “Though I guess Longarm is kind of my guardian.”
“Longarm?”
“The tow truck that works at the garage with me.” She shrugged. “He’s an Earthborn, this will make a lot more sense once everything has been explained.” She told him seeing the confusion in his eyes.
“Okay.” He was not sure if he wanted it to make sense, at this point he could almost tell himself it was all a weird dream.
“Sam get some rest I’ll see if I can find Miles to help explain some of this stuff.”
“Okay.” He yawned and nodded “I’ll see you later.”
“See you Sam.” Trent was dragged out of the room still not understanding a lot of what was going on.

Bumblebee had followed them with the tray and handed it off to a nurse as they walked along the corridor.
“Miles is probably at the garage with Dew and Sides those three have been busy lately that’s probably where Sunny went to after all the twins haven’t been around each other much lately.”
“Thanks Bee, can you show Trent down there I want to talk to Sam.”
“Of course Mikaela.” He said with a smile and continued down the hall explaining a few things to the new human.

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Sam looked up as Mikaela entered, he smiled softly.
“Hey Miki, I’m sorry.” He said taking another sip from the bottle.
“It’s okay Sam, you still have the car right?” she told him walking over and sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Yeah too bad I couldn’t keep the girl.” He smiled.
“Well we’re still friends.” She patted his hand.
“You know that is the one thing every guys dreads hearing from a girl right?”
“Of course.” She told him. “But then we never actually dated.”
“Yeah I know, and well I…I don’t know.”
“You love Bee he loves you.” She told him simply.
“How do you know?”
“Who do you think Bee talked to? He and I talked about it a lot while you were captured and once we got you back.”
“Oh” he felt sheepish, he should have known bee and Mikaela would talk about things while he was out of it. “That’s good, I should talk to Bee about it I guess.”
“Yes you should, I should let you rest take care Sam.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek before patting Halo on the head and leaving the room turning off the light as she left and leaving Sam to his thoughts.

He did love Bumblebee, which was a certainty, his guardian loved him according to Mikaela who had talked to him about it. He had no idea how the other bots would react to a human and Autobot relationship. His dad he knew would freak but hopefully his mom would help. Miles looked like he knew and approved. He really didn’t care what Trent thought he did not even know why he was here. Would they be able to do anything either, Bee’s Avatar was pretty solid, but how solid could it be? He knew they were far more advanced than any earth machine.

While Sam was mulling Bumblebee returned to the room locking the door behind him in the dark. He smiled seeing Sam laying back against the pillows and walked over to run his fingers through his human’s hair. His human, Sam meant everything to him even beyond being his charge.

He was startled when the hand was grabbed and he was pulled down to the bed almost on top of his charge.
“Hi Bee.”
“Sam, this cannot be comfortable for you.”
“Actually it’s nice, you make a good blanket.”
“Thank you Sam.” His skin felt slightly warm and the bot realized his Avatar was blushing.
“You’re welcome Bee.” He shifted slightly letting the other get comfortable and pull Sam close to his chest. This seemed to be the bot’s favorite way of lying. With Sam’s back to him and snuggled against his front. Bee’s arms around his chest, Sam grabbed Bee’s hand that draped over his side.

“We need to talk Bee.”
“Yes Sam.”
“I love you, but I have no clue what’s going to happen with all of this and I don’t want to lose you.”
“I love you as well Sam and as long as I exist you will not loose me.” Bee swore.
“What about the others? How will they feel?”
“Does it matter, I am a soldier I am old enough to do as I wish, though Prime has spoken to me about this.”
“He has?”
“Yes, he has no problem with it though it’s never happened to his knowledge before. He will support us.”
“He will?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You have the power of the AllSpark Sam he cannot deny you what you want none of our kind really can.”
“That’s not the only reason Bee, he is a lot more lenient to you than the others and it’s not your age though every one says you are the youngest it’s something else.”
“Yes, he’s my creator Sam, my parent.” Bee finally answered after a long pause and the boy looked at him startled.
“And he doesn’t mind?” this was a surprise as his own parents would no doubt ban him from his car if they knew he was in love with him.
“No.” He held Sam closer, “he has never wanted me to fight or to do half the things I have done to try and prove I am a soldier like the others but he has always let me make my own mistakes “
“Sounds like a good parent.” Sam told him simply. “So we agree we love one another now what?”

Bee smiled and pulled Sam’s chin up to kiss him gently on the lips. Sam’s response was quick as he kissed back. Gripping Bee’s hand tighter. He sighed opening his lips at Bee’s insistent tongue’s caress. Squirming a little he turned to press himself fully against Bee feeling the reaction his movements had in the other he blushed slightly.
“Sam are you alright?” Bee asked pulling away from his mouth.
“Yeah I’m fine Bee.” He smiled. “I love you, and I want to be with you.” He said softly against his guardian’s lips.

Chapter Text

The planet looked similar to most organic planets he'd seen where land masses were prominent. He was unimpressed by the large blue ocean. Though a small part of him felt wistful for his home world he would never see again. Hurtling toward the planet he replayed his leaders message again to pinpoint the coordinates so he would not miss the area where his companions were located. The heat built up as he entered the atmosphere and subsided soon after impacting with the ground. His scanners picked up a nearby vehicle which suited his build and design and soon he was waiting for his companions. The authorities saw the vehicle on the side of the road and removed it.

He simply sent a secure message to his fellows hoping his own team was close by to assist him before he fritzed. He would remain calm, there was no danger, even if he could not reach his team. A simple message managed to relax him slightly.

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The dessert was quiet in the afternoon, far too quiet in the opinion of the human sitting inside his Autobot companion as they traveled along the perimeter of the base. They had been worried about a Decepticon attack but so far they had seen nothing. Suddenly the car stopped up and the radio clicked.
“What’s going on Robo-cop?” Reggie asked as the movement startled him.
“You realize even at this speed if I were to open the door and pop the seatbelt you would receive injuries Reggie.” Prowl said evenly, this was how the two got along, Reggie would say something and Prowl could threaten him, the second lieutenant never meant them of course but this was how they did things, the two had been pushed together out of necessity. Reggie still was not completely trustful of the bots and Prowl did not totally trust the humans; so the others thought it was a good match. Though Jazz did it more out of fun than the other officers did.

“I’m aware, so why the sudden course change?” the human asked still not used to talking to the car he was in. not to mention sitting in another sentient being.
“I have just received a message from one of my men. “ he told his partner. “He has achieved landfall not too far away.” Prowl answered as he coasted along the road.
“Okay so shouldn't we report it to the big guy?” Reggie asked.
“No I shall retrieve him myself.” Prowl was matter of fact as he answered.
“Why?”
“A retrieval team will…upset him and he has been shaken up enough as it is.” Did Prowl sound very amused or were Reggie’s ears playing tricks with him?
“Really?” the human asked very curious now about what his partner meant.
“He had been impounded.” Prowl revealed. Waiting for the human’s reaction.
“Impounded?” He started to laugh a bit as the radio let out a sound. It might have been a laugh or it might have been static Reggie could not quite tell.
“Yes he has.” Prowl did not sound amused in any way but continued west toward the signal he had received.

A few miles out of the town known as Sparks, the police cruiser was joined by a second Charger, this one Dark blue with a racing paint job and no driver, it even had a bright white 64 splashed on the door. It also was a two door where Prowl was a four door and a spoiler like Jazz had. After a second, a driver fizzled into existence and the horn honked.

“Please tell me that one is friendly.” Reggie sighed eyeing the machine.
“And if he wasn’t?” did Prowl sound like he was grinning? The radio was also making that staticky noise that sounded like laughter again.
“You can deal with him he’s the same size as you.” Reggie said sure that the other was one of them since Prowl seemed far too amused with his answer.
“Actually he is a bit smaller.” Prowl said this time he was highly amused as the pair of vehicles pulled into an abandoned gas station and parked. Out of the second vehicle stepped a young man who looked to be a few years younger than Prowl with similar features including the bright blue eyes and Autobrand on his racing jumpsuit along with the number on the car on the back of it. He was smiling as Prowl’s Avatar approached him with Reggie behind him.
“Smokescreen it is good to see you again.” Prowl greeted. He was glad to see the younger Autobot and knowing he was alive made him feel much better then he had in many centuries. He was sure the twins would be happy to see the younger bot he couldn’t wait to see their response.
“Prowl Sir, it’s a pleasure to know you are still functioning. I hope the twins are as well and you did not leave them slagged somewhere.” Smokescreen said with a smile holding out a hand to his superior officer and family leader. He had a bet going with Cliffjumper that the twins would not last long under Prowl’s watch but it looked like he owed the red bot some high grade if they had any here.
“Like I could, Bluestreak would never forgive me.” He said taking the other’s hand with a warm smile. Reggie was slightly amused, as he had only seen this kind of emotion from his partner when he was with Jazz or that Blaster guy. “Smokescreen this is my human partner Reggie Simmons, Reggie Smokescreen the progeny of Bluestreak.”
“You’re grandkid.” He said looking the younger bot over. In car form he looked just like Prowl just another color. He wondered how he looked in robot mode.
“Yes you would say it like that.” Smokescreen smiled. “But we have a problem.”
“I am aware of that how did it happen?” Prowl asked. Not sure he really wanted to know how this had happened.
“We got separated during planet fall, and once I found him again he had found an alt mode and was in what is apparently called an impound lot. I can not get him out and you know RedAlert, he refuses to do anything that might break the law even on an alien planet.” He shrugged and Prowl nodded. This one did seem a lot younger.
“And this is what we need me for, “ Reggie smiled. “Do anything and get away with it badge.” He held up his wallet and the badge.
“Yes that is what we need.” Prowl agreed. Smokescreen just smirked as Prowl showed him what the human meant. These humans had already proven to be highly entertaining and he had only met one so far.

The man who ran the impound lot had no clue why an emergency vehicle had been towed to his lot. Or why the man with a government badge wanted to look it over but he asked no questions when the man seemed to be consulting his own car, and a young man who did not look anything like a cop, about the vehicle. He looked more like a race driver actually.

“That him?” he asked pointing to the odd looking fire truck, unlike most it was red with a black top and the words Hazmat on the black part in gold. He had never seen such a thing before. He figured there must be Hazmat ambulances around now that he thought about it but he had a job to do.
“Yes you should go get him before the poor lot owner has a fit.” Smokescreen quipped obviously trying not to laugh.
“Why not one of you?” Reggie asked him.
“You’re the human liaison.” Prowl reminded him.
“Thanks a lot.” He muttered.

He approached the vehicle. Flipping out the badge at it not the one he had shown the lot man but a different one this badge held the autobrand and information for the H.A.L. unit.

RedAlert stayed silent watching the human and keeping his sensors open. This human was odd, and had radiation from his kind all over him. That did not mean he was safe though. He could tell Prowl and Smokescreen were close by and from Prowl’s reassuring message they trusted this human. He was not sure what to think about Prowl trusting anyone not one of their kind.
“Okay RedAlert right? You need to come with me I’ll take you to the other Autobots. Prowl’s right outside waiting with Smokescreen huh come on.” The human said still touching him.
“You claim to be an ally.” He answered cautiously.
“Yeah, the name's Reggie.” He introduced himself.
“Prowl says I should trust you.” He began.
“Only if you want to get out of here kid.” He told him leaning on the hood.
“Fine get in but don’t touch anything and only until we meet up with the others.” He popped open the door and internally cringed as the organic human climbed into his interior, how could the others stand this? He finally drove out of the lot ignoring the other human who this Reggie waved to and joined the others in a parking lot nearby. Reggie climbed out and joined Prowl who's Avatar looked highly amused.
“Good to see you again Redalert.” Prowl greeted leaning his Avatar on the hood of Red-alert.
“Prowl Sir, why must we work with these humans?” Redalert asked.
“Prime's orders you'll get used to them.” Prowl told the ambulance
“Do I have too?” he asked sounding more like a petulant child than an officer.
“It would be a good idea.” The Lieutenant told his subordinate
“Yes sir.” He agreed.
“Alright let's get this show on the road, we have things to do.” Reggie said slipping into the seat of his Autobot partner.

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Redalert thought the security of the base was horribly lax and got to work right away not even reporting to his Prime before doing so. Smokescreen found his own report cut short by the twins who pounced the younger mech and dragged him off to grill him.

Sunstreaker had been surprised when he saw the young mech, only a few Vorns older then Bumblebee he was the last Autobot sparkling sparked during the golden age; well the last surviving one anyway. Though his creator had hidden him for a long time before his progenitor had found out about him. Dark blue in color his shape was similar to Prowl’s but closer to the twins in height. He did not have the bright red chevrons of his creator or Creator's progenitor. He had never had a chance to attend the academy, which had been destroyed while he was still a youngling. He really should have been less surprised when Sideswipe grabbed him from the front and Sunstreaker grabbed him from behind to greet their little warrior.
“Sunstreaker Sideswipe it’s been a long time.” Smokescreen greeted as he was pounced by his progenitors.
“Yeah so how was working with Redalert for centuries?” Sideswipe smiled. The younger mech was one of the patient ones with the security bot. Though his own specialty was Diversionary tactics.
“Not bad, he spent a lot of time missing Inferno when we were not chasing after the AllSpark though.”
“Well they have been bonded forever after all, them and Firestar.” Sideswipe reminded the younger bot,” so why don’t the three of us patrol it’s been forever since I was out of the med bay.”
“Right come on sparkling we should also grab Bluestreak.” Sunstreaker said dragging him off.
“I’m not a sparkling anymore.” Smokescreen huffed a little following the twins.

Optimus Prime was not at all annoyed by the twins dragging off their progeny, neither had actually claimed he was the progenitor and his creator had never admitted which one it was either if he even knew. So he let them drag the other off and went in search of Redalert who was of course in the security room already working on new security systems and protocols. And being watched by the human security people as if he was some new toy.

“Redalert.” He said simply. He should have been used to this; this was the mech who had set up the security around the AllSpark before they were about to send it out to space. And before that had always been a bit off, he was usually better with either Firestar or Inferno around to help him out Optimus hoped one of them would arrive soon..
“Prime Sir this place is a mess there are so many holes I can't believe the Decepticons are not running all over the base.” He said without even looking up.
“We’ve been lucky they have not shown up since the attack a month ago and only recently they have attacked again." Optimus told him watching the other work.
“Lucky you, sir this will take forever to fix. Not to mention the humans.” He muttered.
“This is their world Redalert they are letting us stay here.” Optimus reminded him.
“I understand that sir but I would rather not be partnered up with one myself.” He admitted, the humans seemed so squishy and messy.
“I will remember that.” The Prime sighed as he left the office.

As Optimus left he looked to see the human security chief had followed him out of the room, the young woman was of oriental decent and seemed as amused as he was.

“May I help you Miss Karuma?” he asked amused.
“Please tell me we can keep him.,” she said simply. Even if he was standoffish with the humans, she was sure he was amazing at his job.
“Redalert is security.” Optimus told her amused by the young woman’s reaction to Redalert.
“Oh good, he’s already beefed up security by 25% in only a few minutes.”
“As long as the two of you get along.” He said watching her.
“I’m sure we will Prime or at least I’ll try.” She smiled and turned back to the security room.
`
Redalert could tell his leader was entertained by his actions, as were the humans in the room who were security. It would be so much easier if Inferno was here. He would at least be helpful or one of his progeny though Firstaid would be more helpful to Ratchet than himself. He simply went back to work with the primitive equipment he had to work with. Not paying any attention to the young woman who was watching him like a hawk.

“May I help you?” he asked not even looking at her, though a quick look through the personnel files told him she was the humans’ chief of security.
“Oh no you’re helping just as you are.” She answered, turning back to her own workstation.

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Casey was bored, her big brother was busy, her mom and dad were busy, and she was being left alone in a room with another kid who couldn’t even walk yet, not that Annabelle was not trying to walk. Anything she could get her hands on was used to try and pull herself unsteadily to her feet. Casey got bored playing with her like this after a few hours and wander out of the playroom making sure to close the door behind her so the kid would not get out and get hurt.

The base was a lot bigger then back home but it was also fuller. She knew there were more of the bots like the red guy with her brother. She finally found one alone in a parking lot in his alt mode he was red like her brother’s friend but he was similar in shape to the yellow guy she'd seen before. She walked up and smiled.

“Hello juvenile female I believe we have not met, my designation is Cliffjumper.” He greeted the human child. He had been told to be polite to the humans.
“Hello I’m Casey Mai Lancaster, Miles is my older brother. I’m ten and three months.” She said proudly.
“I see.” This was a lot more information than he was used to receiving from his normal communications with the humans but then this was a juvenile. “I am not sure what the next part of this communicant should be.” He admitted.
“You don’t have to tell me anything.” She giggled. This was fun.
“You should be with one of your guardians or in the proper youth sector should you not?”
“All my guardians are busy and I’m not in school cause of summer.” She said smiling.
“I see though the other young one?” he asked.
“She's napping, and boring cause she's so little.” Casey played with the ties of her sandals.
“I understand that thought pattern my own elder seemed to feel the same until I reached academy age.” He mused.
“Yeah little babies are boring but she's in the nursery and asleep so play with me.” She told him leaning on his hood. This guy was fun.
This last part confused the mech. “play what?”
“I know Hide and seek.” With this the child took off.

Cliffjumper quickly looked up this game and called up his Avatar to chase the child down and return her to the youth area. He had no idea what to do afterward though he had no clue how to deal with younglings even Bumblebee and Smokescreen had been mysteries to him and he had watched them become soldiers.

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The atmosphere in the briefing room was much calmer and much more hopeful as Jazz told his plan to his fellows. He grinned at the end leaning on Prowl slightly in his seat. Looking for all the world like a mech who was very please with himself.
“ See much more than a pretty face aren’t I?” he joked.
“I’ve always thought so Jazz.” Prowl smiled back at his mate. Before turning back to the others for their opinions of the plan.

“Even if you and Sunstreaker do get Mikaela and that boy out of here how are you certain the cons’ll pay attention to the others and not them?” Ironhide asked the younger officer.
“Cause they'll think the other group has the humans not us. We'll have em hidden away while ‘Hide and ‘jumper make it look like they have ‘em in their cabs with their Photonic emitters.”
“Which are not as good as yours Hound, Mirage's or even Bumblebee's”. Ironhide grumbled.
“But it would be better to have one of the toughest Autobot warriors out there fighting then a scout wouldn’t it?” Will asked from where he was lounging on Ironhide’s arm.
“Yes it would especially since Bumblebee will not leave the boy’s side.” Optimus said resignedly.
“And even once he’s well enough Sam is not leaving he has already said as much.” Will nodded to himself.
“What about his parents? His father has already said he wishes to leave.” Reggie frowned not sure what to do about that situation or the loud man. Mr. Witwicky sadly was not making many friends among the base.
“Tranquility is not safe for them.” Prowl informed them.
“We will figure out what to do about that situation once we have gotten Miss Banes and Mr. DeMarco safely back into town.”

As Jazz was about to speak again the door to the room opened and something came running in and his behind Optimus’ chair a few seconds later Cliffjumper’s Avatar entered and stopped as he realized what room the child had run into. The others merely watched the younger mech’s human avatar mildly amused.

“Cliffjumper? What is the meaning of this?” Optimus asked looking more amused than angry.
“My apologies Prime but the youngling came up and spoke to me wanting to play and took off and I went after her to return her to the youth area.” He could see the child had hidden near the Prime’s foot trust the little thing to go for him most young seemed drawn to the older mech.
“This one?” Prime reached down and the child jumped into his hand happily.
“Hello Prime I got bored.” The child smiled up at the large mech.
“I see that.” He sighed having met Miles younger sister after her arrival at the base with her mother. “And tormented my poor warrior.”
“I’m sorry I want to play with him.,” the little girl said looking up at Prime with huge brown eyes.
“Not much luck there kid Cliffjumper’s not the best with younglings once he lost Bluestreak in the crystal garden” Jazz laughed.
“I apologized.” The young scout sighed trust Jazz to bring up such things.
“It’s fine why don’t I take the kid back I’m sure Annie’s up by now.” Will told them.

Any answer from the others was forestalled by the communication clicking on and Blaster’s voice rang out.
“Optimus sir you are need in the medical facility.” The red-orange bot reported.
“Tell Ratchet I’ll be there in a moment Blaster.” He answered.
“Yes sir.” Blaster tuned out.
“This will have to wait, I must go see what Ratchet wants.” He told them and stood to go
“Yes sir.” The others said standing up as he did. Prowl joined him in leaving making sure the others had everything else well in hand. A simple movement from Jazz told him everything was fine.

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Optimus was surprised to see Ratchet working on the twins and Smokescreen who were only slightly damaged.

“Should I even ask what happened here?” Optimus Prime asked as he entered.
“The cons sir they attacked us while we were ra...showing Smokescreen the perimeter.” Sideswipe reported as Ratchet worked on his brother.
“How close are they?” he demanded.
“A few miles away closer to Vegas than here. They seem to be ranging out from Tranquility.”
“Did they follow you this time?”
“I'd like to see them try, we made Stockade wish he hadn't kidnapped the kid. “ Sunstreaker laughed.
“Hold still you idiot.” Ratchet grumbled. “I have to replace the plating here on your arm.”
“Okay but we did teach him a lesson.”
“Good.” Optimus nodded,” but now it’s imperative we get the kids off the base.”
“Right I’ll get Trent out of here but what about the babe?”
“Jazz is going to remove Mikaela.”
“What about Sam, Miles and their parents? Sam has said he’s not leaving and well so has Miles.” Sunstreaker asked wincing as Ratchet continued to repair him.
“We will have to think about something to do with them. But first we get the others out of the way.”
“Yes sir.” Sideswipe agreed.

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Everyone was gathered and Jazz and Sunstreaker left along with Ironhide and Mirage. The humans rode Sunstreaker and Jazz though both of the others also seemed to carry them along with their own Avatars.

“So what are you guys doing again?” Trent asked Sunny who sat in the driver's seat of her alt mode.
“Those two are playing Decoy while we get you two home.”
“What about the others?”
“Miles and Sam are staying here for now Sam's still hurt and Miles is useful.”
“And Mikaela and I aren’t?” he asked not really mad, but he did not like this whole thing.
“Pretty much.” She smiled and shrugged. “You can't change that, you’re in more danger now though obviously they are going after people who know Sam but then since you are related to Miles that makes sense they went after you.”
“So aren’t we safer in the base?” he asked confused.
“Maybe or maybe not we'll have to see. I’ll be sticking with you for a while under Prime's orders.”
“And the excuse for having a car like this?” Trent asked, he had not even told his dad the truck had been totaled yet.
“You’re uncle sent it to you of course.” Sunny said cheerfully.
“This is never going to work.” He groaned.
“You never know.” Sunstreaker retorted.
“Dad's going to demand why my uncle sent me a Lambo you know.”
“You don’t expect me to look like that truck of yours. I am an elite soldier not a grunt.” Sunny retorted. The voice came from the girl driving but he could hear the engine growl at that statement.
“A truck seems just fine for that big guy.” Trent retorted.
“Ironhide’s one of the toughest members of the officers but he is still a lot more rough than myself and Sideswipe.” Sunstreaker answered. He was an elite soldier after all but he’d never call Ironhide rough to his face after all they were family.
“Sure.” The human sighed, this Autobot was more vain than most cheerleaders he knew. He still didn’t even know why he’d been put in under Sunny’s protection. They had not explained only sent him on his way with the gold warrior. He had been told so little supposedly to keep him from saying anything if he did get caught.

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Mikaela smiled as she and Jazz passed the city limits and laughed a bit.
“You okay Babe?”
“I’m fine Jazz just wondering how Trent’s holding up he is kinda cute when he’s confused.”
“I don’t know who to feel sorrier for Sunstreaker or Trent.”
“Yeah they are a perfect match for sure. Turn here my house is down that street.” She told him.
“Right.” He turned and headed down her street pulling to a stop at her house. “Here we are babe.”
“Thanks Jazz are you going to stick around?”
“Yep that’s the orders keep an eye on you for a few days.”
“Okay I’ll see you in the morning then.” She smiled and went into her house.

The house was quiet and looked like a mess.
“Dad?” she called.
“In the garage baby girl.” The man called back she went in and hugged the man as he stood up from his latest project. He was an older man with dark skin and brown hair. Mikaela had his blue eyes.
“Have fun?” he had thought she Sam and Miles had gone for a few weeks trip to Vegas then to visit Sam’s friend Will.
“You have no idea dad.” She told him. “Have you eaten?”
“Yeah there's some take out in the fridge.” He said absently.
“Good,”
“Miki?”
“Yeah dad?”
“Do you know why some people would be asking around about your boyfriend?” he asked her cautiously and the young woman shook her head.
“No, what did they look like?” she asked worried the cons had been sniffing around her home.
“Black suits weird car I could swear it was driving itself.”
“Weird, so what have you got there?” she asked looking at the motor cycle on the tarp it was a lovely bike with such wonderful lines. A pity it looked so trashed.
“An old bike, the chop shop I was helping the police sniff out had her they were tearing her up.”
“Poor thing.” She said looking over the machine it had been a deep pink at one point but now was dirty and looked like they had been using her for parts, as she stroked a hand across the handle bars she saw something that made her stare.
“Is something wrong Miki?” her dad asked.
“Nope dad but this will take a lot of work.” She told him still touching the bike.
“Yeah but it'll be worth it, want her when I’m done I’m not much for purple.” He said with a smile.
“Sure.” She agreed and went to find the take out he’d mentioned before. Once her dad went to bed she went out to talk to Jazz.

“Something wrong babe?”
“No I need you to pull up to the garage Jazz there's something you need to see.” She told her temporary guardian
“Alright open the door for me.”

She did so and he came forward slowly and looked the place over he felt a faint signal and tried to reach the source, the bike on the tarp tried to rev and only coughed.
“I was right wasn’t I?”
“Yeah that’s one of us the signal's really faint though I’m not sure who it is. There's a couple of bots or cons it could, be I should call Ratchet out here.”
“Dad’s trying to fix it...them but I don’t know if he can.”
“I’ll ask Ratchet tonight about it get some sleep we'll see what we get.”
“Okay night Jazz.” She said shutting the garage door.
“Night.” The silver car sat in the rive way and sent a secure signal to the Autobot medic.
“What is it Jazz?” came the reply.
“We have an emergency here Ratchet, a bike that has a Cybertronian signal.”
“Where?”
“Mikaela’s garage; her dad found it.”
“How bad off is it?”
“Can't get an answer and he would notice if it went missing.”
“Fine I’ll see if I can get Sideswipe and Miles out there in the morning.”
“Works for me.” He answered back before shutting down to recharge. He was not sure what this new one meant. He had no clue what would happen next but he would never let anyone else know.

000000000000000

Miles was jerked out of a sound sleep by a loud honking horn only to realize it was his own fault the horn had gone off. He had fallen on it in his sleep. Somehow he had fallen asleep in his car who was also his blessedly annoying robot guardian.

“Welcome back to the world of the living sleeping beauty.” Sideswipe chirped, cheery music playing from the radio.
“Thanks a lot Sides why did you let me sleep in your front seat?” he asked.
“You fell asleep and wouldn’t wake up. I told you, you should not have been working all night on a sugar binge.” Sideswipe told him. “If I told Ratchet he’d lock you up in your room to sleep.”
“Yeah but you won't cause then he'll lock you up too cause you let me.” He told the bot as he stretched and moved to open the door, which swung open at his touch. “How did I get in your interior?”
“I put you inside after you fell asleep, I was going to take you to your room but you needed to sleep so I could not take you inside.”
“I see.” He did not believe Sideswipe’s story but instead of calling out his guardian / friend he went to the bathroom and cleaned up a little before anyone noticed he had slept in his car. He fielded a few questions about rising early from a few techs and went back to his car.

“Ratchet wants us to go into town and help out Jazz he’s found somebody and they are in bad shape.” Sideswipe said suddenly opening his driver’s side door.
“Alright let me say goodbye to Sam first if he’s up.” He told the car.
“He probably is.” The red car answered as the human went to seek out his friend.

Sam had been moved from the infirmary to his room in the barracks. At Mile's knock Sam opened the door.
“Hey man.” Sam greeted looking a lot less tired then he had the last time Miles had seen him and a quick glance around told him that for once Bumblebee was not hovering around.
“Sam good to see you up and about under your own power.” He said as he followed his friend to the beat up couch in the room
“Yeah good to be under my own power though I’m still a little stiff and easily tired.”
“That’s gonna happen.”
“Yeah Ratchet keeps saying the same thing.”
“He is the professional.”
“Yeah.” He smiled “do we know if the others got home safely?”
“They did and then Jazz apparently found somebody I’m guessing one of them; me and Sides are going to check it out.”
“Can’t wait until they let me out of here to help with that stuff.”
“You want to go back out there? Man that’s dedication.”
“Well I can’t let them have all the fun or you guys.” He smiled. He also wanted a shot at the con’s himself but he wasn’t going to tell Miles that part.
“I'd rather stay in the background myself, you and Miki can have all the fun.”
“What about Trent?”
“I don’t think he wants to do any of it he seemed kinda weirded out by the bots”
“I’m sure the cons did not help that.” Sam smiled “I almost feel sorry for him he looked lost when he was here.”
“Well yeah now he can forget about everything he saw here.”
“Yeah.” Miles laughed. “Well I got shift to do later man.”
“Bye Miles.”

000000000000000000000

Mikaela was glad to see Sideswipe pull up in the alley right behind Jazz whose hood she was perched on as he played music. The garage door was open and the bike was set up just under the door. Mikaela’s dad was at his brother’s garage where he and Mikaela worked. He had told her she could look over the bike if she wanted so she was ready to fix it.

Miles climbed out of the car followed by his Avatar.
“Hey babe.”
“Hi Sideswipe Miles come meet the bike we found.” Mikaela called jumping off of Jazz's hood as the horn honked and Jazz called up his own form.

“Hey Miki. So where is the patient?” Miles asked.
“Right there.” She showed them the bike. It was a nice bike or had been before they had been using it for parts. Sideswipe scanned it a couple of times.

“The signal is familiar but it’s so weak I have no clue who it is.” Jazz told him.
“Yeah we'll see what we can do.”

A few hours later they had the bike repaired enough to trace their signal. Once they could the bike let out a weak beep

“Jazz sir.” the voice was soft but slightly feminine with a familiar tone similar to Ironhide’s.
“Arcee?” Jazz recognized the femme automatically. She was one of his best scouts and damn fine shot, she was also Ironhide’s brother's Progeny. And a member of Bumblebee’s scouts.

“Yes sir. “ she shifted slightly in on her kickstand while Miles worked.
“Relax we’ve almost got this fixed, your transformation cog's a wreck they must have tried to remove it wrong and hopefully Ratchet has a spare cause we might need it.” Miles told her as he worked.
“Thank you.” She murmured,” these humans were odd but these two were helping her out and with Sideswipe and Jazz there they must be allies. “What is going on?”
“Right these are Miles my charge and Mikaela she's Bee’s charge's female friend.” Sideswipe said with a smile.
“Bee's still here? Is he okay?” she asked trying not to move as the human worked on her, she had no idea how he knew so much about their insides.
“He’s fine lost his legs for a while but he’s okay.”
“Lost his legs?” she sounded very worried there.
“Would you not bother her until I’m done working please.” Miles frowned.
“Right squishy.“ Sideswipe said cheerfully. "So where have you been Arcee?"
"A place called Colorado, they were using me for spare parts. They completely trashed my com unit so I couldn't even call for help."
"Well it's fixed now." Miles said sitting back. "That’s the best I can do Arcee." Miles informed the femme.
"Thank you…Miles it's better then it has been." she told him.
"You’re welcome, but we should still take you to Ratchet...." his words were interrupted when Sideswipe suddenly fizzled out and his engine started up sending the red car speeding out without a word to anyone.
"Sideswipe?" Jazz asked but got no response.
"It might be Sunstreaker." Arcee said simply she had trained with the twins and knew them well.
"Fine let's go find out." Jazz opened his door for the humans but Mikaela grabbed a helmet from the garage and closed up. "Take Miles Jazz, I’ll ride Arcee after all a bike moving around on it's own is kinda suspicious."
"True." the silver car agreed carrying Miles toward Trent's home.

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They found the remains of the house, and a police barricade along with a large crowd of people.

"This is gonna be bad." Miles said and the others nodded. They had to find Sideswipe.

It took time to find Sideswipe who was parked close by, his Avatar holding a piece of bright gold metal with something carved on it.

"Sideswipe" Miles asked his guardian seeing the look on his face. He could almost swear the red mech was crying.
"They took them, the cons they took them Soundwave left a message." He held up the piece of metal. Odd marks were carved into the bright gold paint. Cybertronian writing.
"What's it say?" Mikaela asked.
"They’ll give them back alive if we give them Sam."

Chapter Text

“They did what?” the Supreme Autobot commander stared at the small group who had burst into his office without a warning. Two humans and three Autobots, one of which was obviously Arcee still in her alt mode. Not that he wasn’t happy to see her again but their bursting into his office was not something that happened everyday. Miles stood on his guardian's shoulder holding on to his armor to keep from falling off as the red warrior stood there agitated.

“They have Trent and Sunstreaker, and the house is totaled I have no clue about his parents cause we got dragged here so fast I’m surprised the state police aren’t banging on the fence.” Miles repeated. He watched the larger mech as he stood on Sideswipe’s shoulder trying to keep his balance. He was scared and worried and feeling very sick at the moment but he was trying really hard not to show it. Throwing up on Sideswipe’s shoulder was not the way to show his resolve infront of the leader of the Autobots.

Arcee, Mikaela and Jazz stood behind the pair saying nothing but watching the whole situation. they had not spoken since arriving at base, Arcee should have gone strait to Ratchet but she was more worried over her, as the humans would say it, cousin; he was family after all she also made a note to report to Ironhide after seeing Ratchet.

The piece of Sunstreaker’s armor, quite obviously the driver’s door, which had been ripped off of him, sat there on the desk between them, the dark words carved into the bright paint. This was horrible, he should never have sent the two humans back home even if they had been in possible danger here, and they had been in real danger in town.

“Optimus they want Sam.” Sideswipe said simply. His voice was cold and he was obviously ready to tear out of there and rescue his brother by himself, only the feeling of his brother's spark alive and safe kept him from doing so, along with the obvious worry from their mate. That and the weight of the human on his shoulder he owed Miles his life and the other human was related to him.

“We can't hand him over.” Mikaela protested.
“Of course not Mikaela.” He assured the young woman.
“They have my brother, sir let me go get him.” Sideswipe demanded. His quick movements almost knocking Mile's onto the desk. The human grabbed his shoulder armor to keep his balance, not even noticing when the sharp metal cut into his palms.
“Not alone Sideswipe, and we are not giving them Samuel either but we will rescue your brother and Mr. DeMarco.” Optimus assured the young warrior.

“We need a plan.” The mech said simply. “Prowl, Ironhide, Cliffjumper, Bluestreak, Hound and Mirage come to my office immediately. Sideswipe Jazz please stay here, Arcee you should go see Ratchet.” He saw the closeness of the humans and the bots they were with. Miles was obviously not leaving Sideswipe’s shoulder anytime soon and Mikaela had kept one hand on Arcee’s handlebars the whole time they had stood there.
“Yes sir.” she agreed and her and Mikaela left.

“Should we tell Sam?” Arcee asked, she did not know the boy but from what the others had told her he sounded like a decent human. Especially if he was Bumblebee’s friend.
“No not now, he would do something dangerous and stupid.” Mikaela sighed, she did care for him but he had shown himself to be one of those guys who could throw himself at danger for his friends and even if him and Trent did not see eye to eye he would still help him for Sunstreaker’s sake at least. It was one of things that she did like about him.
“Come on I’ll show you to the medical facility.” Mikaela offered leading the bike off, not finding it at all odd to be talking to and guiding an electric purple motorcycle.
“Thank you.” The femme said quietly.

They found Ratchet talking with Wheeljack in the lab part of the facility. The two mechs were pouring over something on a high worktable and turned to look as the door slid open. Both seemed surprised at the sight of the young woman and the electric purple motorcycle.

“Arcee?” Wheeljack asked seeing the pair in the doorway. Both mechs stared at the bike not sure it was their femme comrade except the signal was there and Jazz had told him there was a problem. Trust Jazz to call a femme a problem.
“Hello Ratchet, Wheeljack.” The purple motorbike greeted.
“Mikaela shouldn't you be back home?”
“Well we couldn’t leave Arcee driving alone. A motorcycle by itself is kind of obvious.” The young woman smiled.
“True.”

“Come along Arcee let's look you over.” Ratchet said leading the bike off with far more gentleness than he used on anyone else.
“Yes sir.”
“You know there's something familiar about her.” Mikaela said to Wheeljack as the two left for the infirmary. She stood at the door and the inventor remained where he had been.
“There should be she is Ironhide’s niece as you would say.” The scientist told her. “His brother was her progenitor.”
“Really?” she was not surprised, Ratchet had been a lot nicer to her then to his own Progeny. Though he was also nicer to Hound than the twins.
`”Yes.” He shrugged and went back to work. The human left to find her friends.

Arcee sat in bike mode on the table, she was tired of being in this form but her transformation cog was a wreck, and Ratchet had to let it repair itself. Which it would now that no one would be poking at it like the humans who had been holding her had been. He was tempted to deal with this chop shop himself but maybe he would let it slip to Ironhide what had happened to his niece that would be entertaining to watch him take care of the situation without hurting any of them.

“Your assistant did good Work.” She told him, distracting the medic from his thoughts.
“He is a quick learner though he’s not my assistant, more like Sideswipe’s he does know medical work.” Ratchet explained.
“Yeah I guess that was a field job.” She agreed.
“You'll be fine, you should see Ironhide later.” he reminded her, the older mech would be mad if she didn't go see him.
“Of course sir, I think I’ll have Mikaela show me around if she can.” She rolled off the table easily.
“Just don't strain anything.” He warned her.
“I won’t” she promised going to find the young woman.

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Arcee found Mikaela and Bumblebee with Sam; the blonde Avatar pounced on her as soon as he saw her. The two humans sat on his hood talking. Watching the blonde's and bike's obviously happy reunion. Bumblebee had been agitated after hearing she was back and was certainly glad to see her.

“Arcee! You’re okay Mikaela said you had shown up and what happened to you.” Bee let out in a rush as he hugged the handlebars of the bike.
“Breathe Bee you’re sounding like Blurr.” Arcee told him and the blonde stepped back. Crossing his arms like he’d seen humans do, he was also pouting so cutely she had to smile.
“I do not, “he said almost indignant but Arcee started to laugh, and he pouted more much to the amusement of their human friends.
“I’m glad you worried about me Bee.” She told him softly, she did think of him as a younger brother.
“Of course I did, it was my first command.” He smiled brightly; he had almost failed that first mission but had done as he was told.
‘You did well.” She assured him.
“So who's this?” Sam asked Finally. He and Mikaela sat on Bee still, watching the scene of Avatar and bike.
“Arcee she's one of my team as well, Arcee this is Sam.” He said leading the bike over to where he was parked and the humans sat.
“The Sam huh?” She asked.
“What do you mean THE Sam?” the boy asked as Bee and Arcee came to join them.
“Everyone's talking about you at least the Autobots are, and from what I’ve heard so are the Decepticons, need me to help kick their afts?” she asked him. He could almost see the sweet smile like Mikaela’s when she was planning something, these two females were certainly birds of a feather. He worried for the male population on base.
“Umm maybe later, thanks though.” He said a little embarrassed that everyone was talking about him like he was a hero or something when all he had done was shove the cube in Megatron’s chest instead of Optimus’.
“Of course,” she laughed for a moment. “With Bluestreak here we have the best guns in the Autobots here to handle things.”
“I see.” Mikaela laughed. “And the twins said we already did before Blue arrived.”
“Of course they did they forgot they might need a sharp shooter and a sniper around.” She pointed out.
` “Well they do seem a bit egotistical.” Sam mentioned.
“They are good soldiers elite ones even.” Bumblebee pointed out.
“But you are better.” Mikaela asked Arcee.
“ Of course.” The femme told them.

While they sat there talking and messing around Sam's parents approached, his dad looked mad. His mother hung back watching them all warily.

“Sam your parent's are here.” Bee warned. Giving the trio time to change the subject before they approached.

“Samuel James Witwicky what is the meaning of this that you are staying here?” his dad demanded as soon as he was in ear shot, Sam's mother followed trying to calm her husband down.
“Dad it would not be safe out there right now, you two can go see my brother and be fine in California for a while.” Sam tired to stay calm and Bee stayed at his side a reassuring presence. Mikaela stayed on the hood watching keeping a hand on Arcee’s handlebars. The pink bike had no clue what was going on but both human's heartbeats had gone up and Bumblebee was nervous not a good sign.

“Safety? We lost that when you wanted that…that machine to stay in my house!” He yelled. They had started it, those machines he was sure of it, this was all their fault.
Bee Stiffened but otherwise did not react. He would have loved to, but he loved Sam, and Sam had not asked him to join this conversation.

Arcee on the other hand did not have such a boundary, these might be Sam's parents and she already liked Bee's human but this man had no right to say something like that. She called up an avatar for herself startling the humans for a moment. She looked like a pale young woman in a purple bike suit and short black hair with purple streaks. The Autobot insignia sat on her chest.

“Excuse me sir, but that is not very respectful to Bumblebee, he’s a soldier and a hero to us.” She said standing next to the car.

“And you are?” he asked he had not seen her before.
“Arcee, Bee's Second in our Squad, progeny of Armorhide and Hardmetal. “ she said simply and to the point. She was the second in command of their squad after all and loved Bumblebee like a little brother.
“Then you’re another one?”
“Yes I just arrived, Prime has given orders for the safety of every human on this base.” She was bluffing but knowing her leader it had to be something he had ordered.

“There is no safety around you…people those things keep attacking this is his fault.” He pointed to the car.

“No dad this is not Bee's or any one of the Autobot’s fault.” Sam told his father. “It was great grandpa's fault; he’s the one who found Megatron.” He was trying to keep calm, he really was but these were his friends.

“You've said that but where's the proof?” the man demanded.
“The glasses.” Sam said still trying hard not to be angry, he would not jump off Bee's hood and act like a child.
“We are still going.”
“No I’m not; I am not leaving Bee or the others.” Sam told him.
“Ron please listen, if he wants to stay let him stay.” Judy said quietly. She knew her son loved his car and these Autobots.
“No, you are still my son and we are leaving this place together.”
“I’m eighteen dad I can stay if I want too.” He slid off Bumblebee’s hood and grabbed Arcee’s arm. Pulling her back slightly.
“It’s fine Arcee, stand down.” Bumblebee ordered.
“Yes sir.” she said quietly and climbed onto his hood beside Mikaela. She had no real clue what was going on here but this man was angry.

Ron was furious of course; his son was so sure he could stay safe among these…these monsters? They were dangerous. Judy was almost as bad, letting him stay so close to these aliens.
“You will not stay here Samuel.” He told the boy not knowing he'd said the monster part out loud and not seeing the flash of pain in his son's eyes at the words.
“Yes I am dad they need me, I need to stay here the Decepticons won't attack you if I’m not there.” He said this last part looking the man in the eyes then turned and walked away.

“Sam?” his mother called after him but he kept going. Mikaela jumped off the hood looked at them both sadly and followed him; the Camaro and bike right behind her. Leaving the two adults shocked by their actions.

Sam headed for the command center and Optimus Prime's office. After a moment they were allowed in. Sam was only slightly surprised to see most of the officers there along with Miles who looked worried.
“Is there a problem Sam?” Optimus asked the young avatar. He could tell the boy was upset and holding himself together by will alone.
“My parents, they want to leave.” He said quietly, all of his will power focused on not reacting how he really wanted to. He would not show any emotion just yet. He would not break down in front of everyone.
“I see we will see what we can do Sam but there have been Decepticons in the area.” Prowl told him sounding very concerned.
“I tried to tell them that, Dad won't listen.”
“We will try to get them safely to your brother's Sam you look tired you should rest.”
“I am, but what’s going on?”
“Just a Meeting Sam.”
“Alright I’m going back to my quarters.” He turned and walked out followed by his guardian.
"Sam?" Mikaela tried to talk to him but he kept going.
After the boy had left they all exchanged a glance.

“Is he okay Miki?” Miles asked her. He climbed down from Sideswipe’s shoulder.
“I don’t known I think his dad really hurt him, he called you guys monsters and well he doesn't know Sam is holding a spark of his own.”
“Ouch.” Miles frowned.
“Is he going to be alright?” Will asked from where he stood by Ironhide.
“Yeah leave him alone for now.” she sighed. “Do we have a plan yet?”
“Not really, we have no clue where they even are.”
“We'll have to find out.”

00000000000000

Sam walked into his quarters and locked the door behind him as Bee entered.
“Sam?” he reached for his charge who suddenly fell back against his chest crying.
“Bee, I..I’m sorry this is all my fault.” He choked out, the feelings of rage and sadness overwhelming him. He couldn't hold it in anymore.
“No Sam nothing's your fault.” He soothed patting Sam's hair with one hand while maneuvering them to sit on the couch Sam curled up in his arms.
"I'm not a monster am I Bee?" he said into the Avatar's chest.
"Of course not Sam you are a wonderful person, the most important human to Me." he murmured into Sam's hair. The boy was still crying, he was not sure exactly what to do here; even his looking it up on the net did not help.

It lasted for about half an hour before the boy fell asleep in his lap. He hummed comfortingly. He wasn't sure what to do about this situation and started when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in?" he called quietly and was surprised to see Will enter the room.
"Hey Bee is Sam okay?" he asked as he approached he had been worried when he had seen the boy’s eyes in the briefing room.
"I’m not sure." The scout admitted, he was still so young and had little knowledge of humans for all his studying them.
"What happened?"
"He had an altercation with his father, the man said something quite hurtful to Sam I do not believe he even realized It." the Autobot sighed.
"The man seems kinda aggravated by this whole thing." Will frowned and looked down at the boy, his face was hidden in Bee's shirt. But the wet spots on the fabric were kinda obvious.
"Maybe I should talk to him." Will muttered.
“I’m not sure.” Bee began but stopped as Sam stirred and he patted his back. Will smiled as the boy looked up.
“Hey Will.” Sam greeted weakly.
“Sam, sorry to intrude I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I don’t know, my dad…” he began.
“Is being unreasonable from what I’ve heard, you should go to bed, you'll feel better after you've slept on it.” Will suggested.
“Are you sure Annie's your first kid?” he smiled a little at the older man’s fatherly tone.
“Yep consider this practice, Bee put him to bed like a good guardian.”
“Alright come on Sam.” He effortlessly stood and carried his human to his bed, there had been something in Will's eyes something he did not want Sam to hear so once he got him settled he went to show the captain out.

“Something's wrong Will.” The blond stated.
“Something is always wrong.” The man sighed. “We have heard something but it’s not good and I don’t want to worry Sam.”
“And Optimus doesn't want us to know?”
“I believe so.”
“So what is it?”
“I can't tell you.” The man insisted, they had not wanted Sam to know or Bumblebee just yet.
“Alright.” The blonde let the man go and turned back to Sam's bed.
“Sam I’m going to find you some food I will be back soon.” Bumblebee told the human cuddled into the blankets.
“Alright Bee I’ll be right here.”
“I won't be long.” He promised.

A few moments after Bumblebee left Sam's cell phone rang, he looked at the number and frowned. Why would Trent be calling him?

“Hello?”
“Sam? Listen I can't talk long they don’t know I still have my phone,” came the hushed whisper, there were sounds behind the voice that were probably best not thought about.
“Trent?”
“Shh, listen don’t do anything stupid.” The phone clicked out with an odd screech and he knew it was a bad thing, something had happened to Sunstreaker and Trent that was what everyone else was up to. They would never let him help but he had to, it was his fault, all of it was.

0000000000000000

Sideswipe was pacing the fence, he wanted to go find his brother and they were not letting him he stopped when he saw Sam approaching the fence and moved it intercept him.
“Where are you going Sam?” the red warrior asked though he had a feeling he knew.
“I have to go, your brother's in danger they'll give him back if I go.” Sam insisted.
“Yeah well I won't stop you…if you let me go with you.” The red warrior told him. Seeing the boy’s startled reaction he edged forward and opened his passenger door.
“You'll let me do this?” the human asked surprised, so far they had all been very protective of him.
“You’re the hero here.” The car responded as the human climbed in.
“I’m not a hero Sideswipe.” He said belting in.
“Sure you’re not.” He responded as they slipped out of the base before anyone caught them.
A signal close by startled him but he knew the signal well.
“Bluestreak, Smokescreen?” he asked over their communication link.
“we are going with you.” Smokescreen told him in a tone far too similar to Prowl’s
“Why?”
“I am not letting them hurt Sunstreaker.” Bluestreak said firmly
“And you might need back up or maybe a plan.” Smokescreen stated.
“Good reasons.” Sam said from the front seat.
“Stay here Sunstreaker would kill me if you get hurt.” he pleaded with the other mechs.
“He’d be mad at me if I let both of you go off alone.” Bluestreak told him.
“I’m not alone I have Sam.”
“Who they want, why are you going Sam?”
“To stop them Smoke, I’m not letting Sunny and Trent get hurt because of me.”
“What about Bumblebee he will worry about you and come after you.”
“He might but I hope he doesn't I left a message for him.”
` “Let's go we have a twin and squishy to save.” Sideswipe said resigned to the fact this was not going to be a solo mission.

00000000000000

Soundwave was getting annoyed at the little squishy creature that was not the human he’d rather have in his possession. Their master had ordered them to bring him one human and Ravage had brought him the wrong one and one of those annoying twins. The human's phone had been easy to hack and use a voice modulator to make the human think it was the one who owned the phone now no doubt the boy was on his way. Humans were very predictable, throwing the phone elsewhere he turned back to the human in Ravage's jaws. At his movement he saw the gold twin try and struggle against his restraints.

“Don’t you dare touch him Soundwave.” Sunstreaker growled. He might be chained down but that did not mean he wouldn’t threaten the older bot. He glared at the visored blue mech.
“Negative Sunstreaker, human is not the one we want. Is expendable.”
“He is not, no life is expendable.” he demanded.
“Negative. “Soundwave looked over the human again; this one was not a useful as the boy. Though most of his use was bringing him the one he wanted.
“Ravage cage the human.” He ordered and the jaguar dragged him to the cell close to his Autobot guardian but out of reach from where he was chained up.
“Trent are you alright?”
“I’m fine Sunny I’m not afraid of a giant boom box.” He growled out, Trent’s clothes were torn and dirty and his hair was a mess, he had no clue what had happened to his home or parents. The last thing he remembered was going to bed then waking up to an explosion. Sunny had tried to help him but had gotten attacked. He sat, as close to the side where Sunstreaker was as he could, they hadn't hurt him yet. All they had done was take his phone. He was probably in for a lot worse from these monsters, both him and Sunstreaker. The big cat -thing Ravage kept an eye on him growling and threatening him. The two things called Frenzy and Rumble had also threatened him a couple of times. He had seen a few others but they came and went. He had yet to see the vehicle that had destroyed his baby but from what he had heard Sunstreaker and Sideswipe along with Smokescreen had deactivated him.

As he thought about what had been going on, he watched the monster Soundwave working on the wounds of one of the plane guys that Sunstreaker had caused. The damage was not much since he had nearly torn off a wing. The guy kept wincing, apparently Soundwave did not care if he caused more pain while he fixed his comrades. Not a good sign for him or Sunstreaker.

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Sideswipe tore across the dessert towards the town of Tranquility and the last known location of a Decepticon base. He kept his radio silent ignoring his comrades, his processor completely fixed on the pulse of his brother's spark. Smokescreen followed close behind him staying silent, the younger mech was obviously worried about this whole situation but would not turn back. Blue streak had fallen further back, but he was better at long range than close up fighting.

There was a shifting in his driver's seat and he remembered the human in his seat not his partner Miles but one Sam Witwicky, the boy had fallen asleep at the wheel, luckily the car was doing the driving not the human. He had to do something about all of this he could not hand the boy over but he had to save his brother and his human. Bumblebee would never forgive him if he let the human get hurt, and he would never forgive himself if his brother or his human charge got hurt either.

“Smokescreen, Bluestreak.” He said over the com-link the first time he had spoken in hours.
“Yes Sideswipe?” the pair of mechs answered quickly.
“We are not far from the last known location of the Decepticon’s base.”
“I understand Sideswipe, what do you want us to do?” Bluestreak asked.
“I’m going in alone with Sam. I want you to hang back and call for back up if needed.”
“But what if you need help immediately?” Smokescreen asked.
“Then move in quickly after calling for backup remember we cannot let them get their claws on Sam, and we cannot let him get killed.”
“Yes sir.” Smokescreen answered. Bluestreak said nothing prepping himself for battle.

00000000000000000

Bumblebee sat alone in the darkness of a warehouse looking at Sam’s phone he had left a message and taken off on his own. His stupid brave human, Bumblebee didn’t know whether to be proud of his courage or mad at him for running off on his own. He heard the others calling for Sideswipe and Smokescreen and knew the two had left, Sam must have gone with them and his spark ached at the thought of Sam in those monster’s claws again. He steeled himself to go and rescue his human before the others would stop him.

On his way to the fence, he saw Jazz approaching.
“Bumblebee?”
“Jazz? What are you doing out here?”
“Looking for my subordinate who I know is about to do somethin’ foolish.” He smiled.
“It’s not foolish to want to help your friends.”
“True, I’d do it for Prowl myself, and I know others who would too after all we’re sure that Sideswipe’s gone to rescue Sunstreaker.” The silver mech said with a shrug. “think Bluestreak and Smokescreen went with them.”
“I think Sam went with them.”
“That might be a problem, we should tell Ironhide, he’s in charge of the rescue.”
“Yes sir.”

000000000

Ron did not know why the air of the base seemed charged and everyone was worried. He had not seen his son since the boy had stalked off. The boy had not been in his room nor had his car been around. He couldn’t find Miles or that girl Mikaela either. He saw the soldiers and that big black truck gathering things together by the command center. Two of the vehicles saluted the truck transformed and left. A white and blue sports car and a dark green SUV. Others were talking around the group of vehicles and human soldiers. The truck was talking to one of the soldiers, that captain guy Sam was always talking to.
He walked over as they continued to talk. A cop car and that Simmons guy joined them.
“We’ve had a perimeter breach”. He heard the man say. "Sideswipe, Bluestreak, and Smokescreen are gone."
"That is not good." the captain said and the large truck nodded.
"They might have gone off to get Sunstreaker." Ironhide growled.
"Typical those young mechs..."Prowl stopped talking as Ron got closer and the four looked at him.
"Can we help you Mr. Witwicky?" agent Simmons asked, the bot behind him was watching the man carefully. Will and Ironhide hung back for now not sure what was going to happen.

"I’m looking for my son." he told the man, he had never forgiven him for the whole kidnapping thing.
"Haven’t seen him, but then we were on patrol." Simmons told him motioning to the large black and white mech behind him. Ron had not seen this one before; he was about the same size as his son's car.
"He was in his room an hour or so ago." Will told him.
"He wasn't there when I looked or that car." The two Autobots closest exchanged a look at the human's words both not sure how to respond to that.
'Bumblebee's not responding but he might be off sulking we aren't letting him go after the Decepticons." Ironhide growled Prowl simply nodded he was trying to get Sideswipe or Smokescreen to respond. He did not like the attitude of this human but then his human didn't seem to like him much either. He would have to question Ironhide later about all of this.

"Sam's no doubt with Bumblebee sulking somewhere, "Agent Simmons shrugged, "Prowl and I should go back to rounds if we can find the kids trail we can get them before Prowl Glitches on me." He smirked and nodded goodbye before getting back in the mech turned patrol car and the two left.

"What's going on Prowl I know the guys insufferable." Reggie asked his partner who was usually not so curt around the other humans he’d dealt with
"I cannot get a hold of Bumblebee and he cannot locate Sam they might have gone off to do something foolish."
"Good thing you didn't say anything around his dad huh?"
"One reason I did not." the tactics officer told his charge.

0000000000000000000000

Will looked at the man who still seemed irritated.
"I'm sure Sam's around here somewhere." he shrugged.
"How do you know for sure?" Ron asked not trusting all of these soldiers.
“Someone would have seen him leave."
"How are you so sure?"
"This is a military base, it has been for years” the man said simply, “but there are lots of places for someone to go if they want to be alone that's probably where the two are." He hoped the man would go and look himself he was not fond of him, he was being unreasonable in all of this.

"So why aren't these guys looking for him if he's so important to them?"
"You have no clue why he is important." Will told him.
"No one will tell me."
"You don't listen, you just assume, these guys are not monsters they are a sentient species who have no place to go. Their world is gone and they helped stop these Decepticons from hurting a lot of people.” Will told him
“My son? Sam’s just a kid you’re talking like he’s a soldier.”
“He is or training to be, he wants to fight alongside his friends or haven’t you noticed?”
“He can’t.”
“Why not it’s his choice he’s legally old enough to make his own choices.”
“He ‘s still my son,”
“Then worry about him but let him make his own choices.”
“Will.” Ironhide rumbled and both men looked up to see the bright yellow and silver forms of Jazz and Bumblebee approaching them. This ended their conversation quickly as the two transformed and looked down at the humans.

"Is there a problem 'Hide?" Jazz asked looking more like a young mech than the commanding officer he was.
"Mr. Witwicky is looking for Samuel and we must get ready to go after a perimeter breach."
"Ahh well last I saw the kid he was going off to sulk."
"You did?" the man looked surprised, the others just looked at the silver mech who was lying through his processors.
"Yeah, but I gotta steal Will and Ironhide I need 'em " he smiled and dragged the others off away from the man who headed off elsewhere to look for his son.

"Thanks Jazz that was starting to look like a fight."
"No problem will we have bigger things to worry about than a civilian’s feelings sadly."
"What is it?"
"Sam's gone I think he went with Sideswipe." Bumblebee informed them.
"You know when we get him back this time I think we might have to lock him up for a while just to keep him out of trouble." Will sighed.
"And Ratchet’s going to be mad, not even a day out of med-bay and he's already out there in trouble again." Ironhide grumbled. He was slightly annoyed at the younger mechs; Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were his as much as Ratchet's after all he would have a word with Sideswipe after this was over. He glared as another bot joined them this one a smaller purple motorcycle.

"Ironhide Sir." she greeted, she was still stuck in her alt mode at the moment.
"Arcee, what are you doing?"
"I’m worried about Sunstreaker."
"We are going to retrieve him now Arcee." he informed her.
"I am aware of that, I’ve also been asked to keep an eye on the young humans via a message I just received from Sideswipe"
"You did?" everyone looked at her.
"Yes sir but I could not trace his signal."
"It will be fine Arcee, we will retrieve them then I’m going to off-line the both of them."
"What about Smokescreen?"
"He’s young and practically worships the twins."
"True." the femme seems to settle back on her tires and the others resumed their atl. modes.
"Bumblebee you are staying here this time."
"But Sam..."
"That’s an order scout, the less bots we have in this the faster it will go. Hopefully as it is we will be playing back up anyway." Jazz looked at his subordinate who nodded sullenly.
"Come on Bumblebee there are still two young humans who have no clue what is going on at this point." Arcee reminded him.
"Right come back safe."
"We will Bee you know 'Hide and I always come back."
"Yeah don’t break your streak."

Will got in Ironhide checked his weapon and the three left. The two watched them go.

"I'm sorry Bumblebee I know you want to save your charge."
"I'm okay Arcee, “ he lied.
“No you’re not but that will change come on Miles and Mikaela need to know what’s happening.”
“Go ahead and tell them I will catch up.”
“You’d better.” She warned him before taking off leaving the yellow scout to watch the other’s dust trail until they were out of sight.

Chapter Text

The noisy darkness was almost as unbearable as seeing what was going on in the scrap building. Sunstreaker had been strapped down to the large table and Soundwave was looking him over now. He had finally stopped the liquid that had been seeping from where the armor had been ripped off of him. It had reminded the human too much of bleeding. All he could see right now was the blood red glow of the Decepticon’s visor while he worked. The others had seemed to vanish but they were probably close by. Most likely outside waiting for the rescue party that was sure to arrive. Or at least these machines seemed sure Sunstreaker had already said they wouldn’t.

"What are you doing to him?" he demanded.
"Repair, his brother will come, the human Samuel will arrive, you will be traded." The large blue machine answered, his metallic tone sending shiver’s down the young man’s spine, at least Sunstreaker sounded like he could pass for human.
"So you’re just gonna let us go?" he did not believe this guy at all.
"Affirmative, you for him you are useless to us, the boy has potential."
No one had ever told him a geek would be more useful than himself, but then he was a jock he didn’t know much about robots though cars he did know kind of.
"What about Sunstreaker?"
"He would be useful to torture his twin and the Autobot CMO, Weapons specialist and gunner Specialist."
Trent had not met any of these people, except the medic. But if this Soundwave wanted to hurt them he was sure that was bad.
"I wouldn’t want to torture that Ratchet guy he might reprogram you into a toaster."
"Unfeasible." Obviously this guy had less of a sense of humor that that Prowl or Agent Simmons.
"Whatever, let me out of here there's no way they're gonna let Sam come here."
"Negative." the Decepticon looked up from his work to focus on the caged human. "The boy will come."
Something about that stare made him shiver. He was glad when the visor turned back to his work on the gold twin.

He wasn’t sure how long later someone entered the building and Soundwave looked up at them. It was one of the flyers the purple one.
“Skywarp.”
“They’re coming looks like just Sideswipe, Bluestreak, and Smokescreen.” The purple and black seeker reported.
“We’ll meet them outside, Blackout, Jolt, Kickback, Frenzy Rumble Ravage, come.” He strode out and the named cons followed him the three Seekers moved inside to guard the prisoners.

0000000000000000

The scrap yard looked quiet in the dusk. It seemed empty of anything other than scrap. Sideswipe's scanners showed nothing out of the ordinary but the static over his communications unit made him uneasy he could not even talk to Smokescreen who was right beside him. Sam was fidgeting in his seat looking around nervously. Hands moving in his lap.

"Are you sure they are still here?" the red car asked his passenger.
"Yeah I think so, it makes sense Soundwave had a lot of equipment here." Sam said still fidgeting, he had something in his hand.
“Sam so you know how to use that?” Sideswipe asked seeing the weapon.
“Yeah Will showed me how.” He assured the Autobot, sadly he knew if it was Bumblebee instead of Sideswipe he would never let him out of his interior with the gun in his hand.
“I’d rather you were not in the fight it’s self Sam.” Sideswipe told him.
“I’ll stay out as much as I can Sideswipe, but they want me you know that.” The human said finishing up on his preparations.
“Yes I know we do this simply, we make them think we’re handing you over.”
“Alright.” The human hid the gun under his shirt and nodded his face grim.

Smokescreen was feeling nervous himself; he had been in plenty of battles since the war had begun while he was a sparkling. The Decepticons were dangerous and it was just the three of them and a human who had he was told killed Megatron himself. But then his progenitor was a captive and he should help a member of his family unit. He was willing to lay odds on the results of their mission. And they were not good ones. He certainly wouldn’t put any high-grade on the results being pleasant. He sighed to himself, he was a diversionary tactician he should know how to handle this kind of situation.

As they entered the yard the scene around them shifted slightly only enough to let them know they had passed some kind of holo-emitter built to make it look like a normal yard. In the yard stood four large robots one larger than Sideswipe’s robot mode and the other three slightly smaller.

The larger one stepped forward all dark blue and a red visor covered his optics, Smokescreen knew why but said nothing. He knew the mech and his spark clenched at the sight.

“Soundwave.” Sideswipe spoke, Smokescreen stayed quiet watching. Blue had stopped at the gate but watched Soundwave.

“Sideswipe, Smokescreen, where is the human?” the large blue mech demanded.
“He’s here, but where’s my brother and the other human?”
“Close.” The Decepticon answered in his usual monotone. “Show me the boy.”
“No bring my brother and Trent out first.” Sideswipe told him.

Soundwave nodded once to Blackout who entered their base and returned with Trent in his hands.
“The human is here and still functioning.” The helicopter growled.

Trent was obviously still alive but not doing well it had been over 24 hours since he had last eaten. His clothing was in tatters and he was dirty and bloody. The Decepticons had decided to keep him alive but did not care for his health, typical of them really. His heart rate was a lot slower than it should have been being held up in the air in the claws of a Decepticon like Blackout. He also looked like he had been trying to sleep when he had been dragged out.

“Trent are you okay?” Sideswipe asked him.
“Sideswipe? What the hell are you doing here?” he had hoped they would have more fire power with them when they attempted rescue.
“Rescuing you and Sunny.” He told him as if it was nothing, and hopefully it would be, he could tell there were six other Decepticons besides the four he could see, three were Soundwave’s smaller drones, three were flyers, Starscream and his trine. He wondered why Soundwave was negotiating and not Starscream. He was second in command of the Deceptions, and higher then Soundwave. Though Soundwave was an intelligence and communications type mech perhaps that was why he might be more diplomatic especially where the twins were involved. Though there was no love lost between them and him he had a slight interest in their, and Smokescreen’s well being.

Soundwave was observing the younger twin and his progeny as well as the human within the red twin’s central compartment. The human Sam Witwicky was holding a primitive human weapon and looked determined to do something, he was watching his fellow human. He noted Smokescreen behind Sideswipe with only a slight bit of interest. He knew the younger mech and would rather not harm him. The twin on the other hand, he was not fond of either of them, but would not scrap them if only for Bluestreak’s sake. He looked towards the gate where the sniper stood weapon at the ready.

Sam watched the Decepticons feeling Soundwave’s optics on him while Blackout simply glared in their general direction. He was scared and not afraid to admit it to himself, at least he would not say it outright. He had come here on his own leaving his guardian again. Now he was wondering of this was the right thing to do. No it had to be, Trent was not involved in this, no one deserved to be pulled into the war. He had been and Mikaela and Miles but no other humans should have been. Megatron had been stopped once he would have to be stopped again.

“Sideswipe let me out.” He told the red twin.
“Sam that’s not safe, there’s a lot of cons out there.” Sideswipe said trying to scan the area around them.
“And you need to transform in case there’s a fight.” he reminded him pulling on the door latch.

Finally the other relented and let Sam out transforming as soon as the human was outside. Smokescreen followed suit. Sam stayed close to their feet hand still on his gun.

“I’m here Soundwave let Trent and Sunstreaker go.” He demanded. Not leaving the shadows of the two warriors.

From his perch in Blackout’s hand Trent regarded Sam thoughtfully, he looked different than the last time he had seen him. Almost taller and more sure of himself, he wore a uniform similar to what the Avatars normally wore but with no insignia. His eyes were also no longer a brown green like that had been now they seemed to glow blue, a serious change from the geeky kid at the lake. Where had all of this come from? And why had he actually come didn’t he know it was a trap? The Decepticons were waiting for Soundwave to say or do something. He doubted these things would let him or Sunstreaker go quietly.

“Approach Samuel Witwicky.”
“Not until Blackout puts Trent down and he comes over here.”
“Negative, approach.”
“No way, humans should be left out of this.” He growled.
“The squishy keeps your friends in line I’m not putting him down.” Blackout told him.
“They won’t attack, yet.”
“Sam?”
“Relax Sideswipe.” He looked up at the warrior and his eyes flashed gold for a second.
“Easy for you to say.” The red warrior grumbled, Sunstreaker was close and not in very good condition. And now Sam was acting weird. The other cons had moved closer during this exchange, Ravage was right behind them and frenzy was close to Barricade while Rumble was closer to Soundwave. The seekers had not moved and remained in the structure where Sunstreaker’s signal was coming from. The other two Decepticons stayed back as well Sideswipe was not quite sure who they were but he thought they might be Kickback and Jolt. He didn’t know Jolt but he had met Kickback before and owed the little insect a few shots.
"Have him put Trent down Soundwave then I’ll come." He told the robot, he would not show fear in any way to these monsters.

Soundwave watched the human, who oddly had their goal somehow in his weak organic systems. He had brought back their master with a touch as he had restored Lazerbeak. He was an odd little human, he seemed unafraid of them unlike his fellow human who had already expelled waste on himself once. This Sam had changed since his last visit to them and he wanted to know how and why. He was about to tell Ravage to jump on the human when the air around them flickered like lighting.
The cons moved fast, Ravage went to jump Sam and was knocked back by Smokescreen who had moved to intercept the cat-bot. A small amount of scrap went flying towards Jolt and Kickback as Jazz used his magnetic pulse generator. Ironhide stood up and pulled out his cannons, Mirage materialized out of nowhere right behind Sam and picked up the human. Hound snuck past everyone else to go for the building where his younger sibling was being held. Bluestreak shot at them making confusion.

“Looks like back up has arrived.” Sam smiled. Glad to see them.
“Yes we have.” Mirage agreed disappearing again.

Sideswipe took the opportunity of the Autobot’s arrival to run for Blackout hoping to cause the Decepticon to drop Trent so he could grab him. Blackout moved to stop him letting Scorpinoc catch the boy.
Scorpinoc was unable to catch the human though, as he seemed to float on the air and the Scorpion like con was shot. Mirage managed to get a good hold on the human. He was not fond of these little things called Humans but he believed Optimus’ words and if his leader wanted him to do this he would do it. He transformed while still invisible and let the humans climb into his interior in the confusion of battle.
“What are you doing?” Trent demanded once both were in Mirage and the red Ferrari was speeding out of the battlefield as quick as he could. “It was a trap that was not me on my phone it was that ass with the visor.”
“I know.” Sam answered. “But it’s my fault all of this is happening.”
“What you decided this was a good place for an intergalactic war with cars and military vehicles?” he demanded.
“No, but I had the coordinates for their goal.” He said staring at the battle raging behind them.
“From what I heard Samuel.” Mirage broke in.
“Sam.” The human interjected.
“Sam, you helped us and saved Optimus not to mention risked your life for Bumblebee at least once. It is not your fault that all of this has come to pass, it is and has always been Megatron’s fault.”
“Thank you Mirage.” He said patting the dashboard. “But it’s also my fault he’s back.”
“What do you mean?” Trent asked, he was still lost on this whole thing and he was tired hungry and in need of a bath and possibly medical attention.
“Megatron was one of our leaders until he betrayed us. He coveted the power that made us what we were and to protect it Optimus sent it away where is landed here on your planet and he followed, but so did Optimus and his squad including Bumblebee the one you know as Sam’s car.”
“Yeah I’ve met him.” the jock sighed. This car’s manner was very snobbish but at least he was talking as he rescued them. “What about Sunny I mean Sunstreaker?”
“He will be fine, the others are rescuing him now, I must get you to the base for medical attention and a meal your systems are slower than they should be and I believe the cons would not care that humans must ingest fuel every few hours.”
“Yeah they didn’t feel I needed to eat or bathe.” He leaned back into the passenger seat.
“We will remedy this.”
“Thanks a lot.”

00000000000000000000000000000000000

The battle was short lived as the seekers took off not long after the Autobots arrived. They did not join the battle but left quickly. Ironhide handled most of the cons.

Hound slipped through the doors of the building looking for Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker was lashed down to a long table off lined but still functional. Hound ripped off the restraints and picked up his brother. As he got out he saw that the other cons were retreating. Ironhide transformed and he put his brother in the black truck's bed, as well as he would fit. They moved fast covering ground towards the base. There was no sign of the seekers still but they were not going to take any chances.

00000000000000000000000000000000000

The sounds of the base were a dull drone in the background as a bright yellow Camaro a hot purple motorcycle and two young humans lounged or paced near the front gate. The security guards there had already asked for their clearance at both shift changes and kept glancing at them as the two humans seemed to not want to leave the hot dessert sun for the shelter of the nearby buildings. The two vehicles, which were not earth vehicles but Cybertronians, seemed as worried for their companions as they scanned the area just past the fence for any activity. The young woman dressed in coveralls with the top part off so her bikini top was visible lounged on a blanket across the Camaro’s hood. While her companion a blonde young man in a pair of ripped jeans and a white sweat soaked tank top paced the fence like a trapped tiger.

“Miles, you should rest or have a drink or something.” Mikaela told him holding her own bottled water to her forehead.
“I can’t, Sam just took off again, the worst best friend ever. He won’t tell me anything!” he exclaimed hitting the fence.
“Miles we are all upset Sam took off but he is with Sideswipe.” Bumblebee started but Miles interrupted him.
“He’s no better, I know it’s his brother and yes I would probably do the same thing for Casey or Sam but he just took off!”
“Is the yelling making you feel better?” Arcee asked, not that the human was not slightly entertaining as he paced and yelled.
“Yes it is Arcee.” He growled at the bike. He should not be taking this out on her or Bumblebee but he was mad. He sighed and kicked at the dirt by the fence his anger melting out. Weird things were going on with Sam these days and it worried and upset him. “Miki is there another water bottle there?”
“Right here Miles come on have a drink.” She smiled, holding out the bottle.
He took the bottle and drank half of it before joining Mikaela on Bee's hood.
"Are they okay Bee" Arcee asked over their coms. Worried about the young humans.
"Both are warmer than they should be but both wish to wait here until the rescue party returns."
"You do as well Bee I know you, you did not fail the first time you know."
"I did, Megatron almost got the cube."

"You two are being very quiet." Mikaela said after a while patting Bee's hood, " are you okay?"
"Yes, the others still are not within sensor range perhaps we should go get some lunch it has been hours since you last refueled." Arcee told them.
"You sure they won’t show up while we’re eating?" Miles asked.
"No but Sideswipe will be upset if we let his charge starve to death."
"I won’t starve to death for two or three days Arcee." he grumbled but slid off the Camaro as Mikaela did and let her start leading them off. Bumblebee moved to follow them then stopped as he saw Cliffjumper cruising their way.
"I'll catch up."
"Okay Bee." The two humans and purple femme left him alone as the red car slid up bedside him.

“Hello Cliffjumper.” He greeted his friend taking his robot form.
“Bumblebee.” Cliffjumper returned also taking his true form.

The two were very similar in design though there were obvious differences, Bumblebee was not in his final upgrade just yet. He had not had a chance to get them and Ratchet had been oddly loath to give them to him anyway. Cliffjumper was in his final body but had opted to stay small as a scout was supposed to be fast. Both of his siblings were larger then him and his progenitor had been closer to Ironhide’s size his creator he didn’t remember.

They stood in companionable silence for a few minutes staring out over the dessert.
“Is there something wrong Cliffjumper?”
“No maybe Bumblebee you know I have cared for you for along time.”
“I know.” The yellow scout said not looking at his friend. “I’m sorry Cliffjumper.”
“I know, you love that human.” There was no anger or venom in the words. He didn’t hate the boy.
“Yes I do.”
“I’m going with the group to Washington DC, Optimus asked me too and I’ve been talking to Glen a lot we’ve decided to partner up.”
“That’s great. Glen’s a wonderful young man, he was one of the ones who helped fight even if it was to talk to the Airforce it was still a great job.” And he was sure the two got along.
“He didn’t lose his legs.”
“None of you are going to stop mentioning that are you?”
“No.” he laughed a little at the way Bee’s doorwings showed his embarrassment. “I will miss you Bumblebee.”
“I will miss you too Cliffjumper. “ he said with a smile.
“Come on Bumblebee you should go to the commissary too.”
“Alright.” They headed the same way the others had gone.

00000000000000000000000000000000000

An hour later found the group once again at the gates to the base as a dust cloud rose in the distance. Everyone had heard the signal and Blaster was practically cheering over the base’s communications that the rescue team was returning home. The group at the gates had expanded from it’s original four to most of the base’s personnel.

The rescue team and the rescued were startled to see everyone waiting for them. Jazz of course simply honked his horn and played cherry music as the gates opened letting them slide into the fence. Ratchet approached them grunted something and Ironhide followed him with Sunstreaker in his bed still. Mirage followed Trent and Sam still in his interior. Bumblebee followed them quickly.

“Hey Prowler good to see me again huh?” Jazz said transforming.
“Always Jazz come along we’re still meeting over the plan.” Prowl told his mate. Sending a burst of his feelings over the bond they shared.
“At least this time we’ll know where each other is.” Jazz told him as they headed back for the command center.

Ratchet dragged Sunstreaker to a table to look him over while Doctor Mertis took care of checking over the boys. He found no real damage and the little he did find had already been patched up quite well.

“At least he had the decency to fix the damage those barbarians did to your armor you slagging glitch.” He muttered as he worked. “Dr. Mertis how are the children?”
“Mr. Witwicky’s fine and Mr. DeMarco will be fine once we get some food in him and get him to bed.” The older woman said simply checking the thermometer she’d placed in Trent’s mouth a moment ago.
“Can I go? Bumblebee’s probably outside worried.” Sam asked.
“Fine go make sure to tell someone to bring Trent food.”
“Yes sir, mam.” He skittered out to face the wrath of his friends and guardian.

The two humans and yellow Camaro were waiting for him outside of the hospital and he got in to Bumblebee as the driver’s door opened. Bee’s Avatar sat in the front seat while Miles and Mikaela sat in the back seat. He waited for them to start. The three exchanged a glance.

“I’m sorry guys. I had to.”
“We know Sam.” Bumblebee told him quietly.
“You do?” he stared at his friends.
“Yes Sam we know, you’re that stupid hero type.” Miles told him.
“You just keep forgetting your sidekicks.” Mikaela smiled.
“Thanks guys.”
“No problem but why did you go? I mean with just Sideswipe and Smokescreen.” Miles asked, that had been kinda dumb but so had Sideswipe heading out anyway he would have words with his partner later.
“I keep feeling like it’s my fault that all of this is happening, the cons wouldn’t have gone after Trent if there wasn’t some connection there and you guys wouldn’t be stuck here either.”
“Well Trent was kind of kidnapped by Sunstreaker and as for us we’re you friends Sam we want to help you and the Autobots so being stuck here’s not that bad.”
“Besides why should we have the same dull summer with me going off to visit dad and Monica in New York? When I can be hanging out with giant alien robots in the middle of the dessert.” Miles grinned.
“Maybe you should just rest Sam.”
“I’m sick of resting, sick of this place.”
“Well how about taking off?” Miles asked.
“Miles?”
“Look the cons’ll look for you here they’ll keep coming here to find you, but what if you and Bee go off somewhere alone for a while. Not long just long enough to get your head together you haven’t had a moment to think about all of this yet you were just pushed into it.” Miles grinned.
“He might be right, you haven’t had time to yourself Sam you and Bee both.” Mikaela agreed.
“But the others.” Bee began.
“They can deal with it for a while.”
“Alright, but I need to talk to my parents.”
“Right you do that, Miles will go with you and Bee and I will make sure you have the stuff to go.”
“Yes mam.” Both boys and the Camaro agreed.

Sam’s parents were finally being allowed to leave but not go back to Tranquility they had to go to Sam’s brother in California. It wasn’t a big deal though the house might suffer from their absence but it would not be long before they returned, they hoped.

Sam found them In the middle of Packing up their belongings.
“Oh Sam there you are.” Judy said hugging him as soon as he was in reach.
“Yeah sorry I was in the warehouse.” He lied, so easily to his parents these days.
“Oh I heard you were somewhere your dad didn’t believe it though.” She said with a smile closing the suitcase she had been packing.
“I couldn’t find him.” Ron groused. “I was looking all over for you they finally gave us clearance to leave.”
“Great.” He smiled. ”Tell my brother hi.”
“Why don’t you come with us Sam even for just the trip.” Judy asked.
“I might mom, if I can convince Bee that Optimus doesn’t need him for a while.” He smiled; his mother smiled back by the saw his dad’s scowl and ignored it. He had other things to worry about.
“Why not Sam, these guys are busy you and Bee should go.” Miles told him.
“What about you Miles?” Ron asked.
“Oh no I’m going with the escort for the SecDef me and Sideswipe along with my dad and Monica, Casey’s probably staying here though Sarah loves her.” The blonde smiled.
“Sounds like fun.” The man said.
“I’m sure it will be, though now we gotta go the rescue team’s back and I want to kick Sunny for getting grabbed, and Sideswipe for going off without orders.” He said with a smile, he looked at his cell phone as if he had a text.
“Alright, later mom, dad.” Sam headed off with Miles.

“Close one,” Miles Laughed.
“Yeah, dad knows I left.” Sam said with a sigh.
“Nah we kept telling him we saw you in various places.” The blonde assured him. They had been sure to keep an eye on Sam’s dad to make sure he did not know Sam had disappeared.
“I’m sure you did, glad he didn’t find out I left he’d have kittens.” Sam sighed, he wished his dad didn’t feel so strongly against the Autobots they were his friends.
“Yeah.” He smirked. “So where are you and Bee going?”
“Don’t know we might follow the escort for a while but not all the way.”
“Cool, come on Miki’s probably gotten everything together.”
“Right, and we still have to tell at least Optimus.”
“Maybe a note would be better.”

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The command center’s main room was full of people and bots. Sideswipe had just learned of his leaving with his human. Along with Smokescreen

“Why are we going?”
“Consider it punishment for disobeying an order.” Prowl told him
“And Miles?”
“His father and stepmother are returning to New York. He is worried about them and wishes to join the escort, the two of you will then be returning here.”
“Yes sir.” the red twin said sullenly.
“We’ll be heading out in an hour.” Jazz told him. “Be ready then.”
“You’re going too?”
“Yes as second lieutenant it’s either me or Prowl and I’m being placed as Maggie’s partner so it’s me this time.” He said cheekily.
“This is certainly going to be interesting.” Maggie said from her place by Secretary Keller.
“Just remember your duty.” Prowl told his mate.
“Always Prowler.” He leaned on the larger mech.
“Everyone dismissed and those going prepare yourselves.” Optimus ordered.
“Yes sir.”

00000000000000000000000000000000000

The dawn came with nothing out of place for once in along time. Two groups had left in opposite directions the night before and both so far were unmolested. Optimus was enjoying the dawn until a call dragged him back to reality.

“Optimus sir?” Arcee’s voice interrupted him.
“Arcee?”
“I can’t find Bumblebee and Sam’s not answering his cell.”
“I’ll be right there.” He sighed.

At the barracks he found the purple bike, and Mikaela waiting for him.
“What is the problem?”
“We found a note.” The girl held up the piece of paper. “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault I have to go for awhile, the cons will attack here looking for me too many people have been hurt.” She read.
“Sam has left?”
“And Bee, they left together.” The girl said simply.
“Should we go after them?”
“No let them go for awhile we’ll keep an eye on them.” he sighed.
“Yes sir.”

Chapter Text

A sporty blue car shot along the highway as fast as was legal along this particular stretch of road. The light of the full moon shone silver against its sleek curves. The only thing to break the peaceful night was the driver's constant looking in the rearview mirror. He was only slightly nervous, hoping that they had lost their pursuers long enough for a decent rest.
“I assure you Raoul they are no where close to us we lost pursuit about three miles ago, you can rest now.” the calm voice came from the radio. It sounded soft and cultured.
“If you’re sure man.” The young human in the seat relaxed only slightly into the leather enjoying the feel of it against his back. He was young in his late teens maybe his early twenty's, with dark shoulder length hair and black eyes. His skin was tanned almost bronze but perfectly natural. He wore a black leather jacket and ripped jeans.
“Of course I am sure, all that is damaged in my systems since my last diagnostic is long distance scanners and communications.” He said haughtily. He knew his own systems, they were in good enough working order, he could even transform if he had to though this earth vehicle was much nicer in his opinion then his normal Cybertronian body.
“All right I know you’re the best car in the state.” He laughed.
“Of course I am.” Tracks agreed.

Tracks was one of the Autobots as he had told Raoul he had been separated from his team upon landfall and had run into trouble in the form of one Scrapper an evil Scoop loader, as far as the young human could tell. He had helped him out of the situation and they had been on the run ever since. These Decepticons were trouble and they were looking for Tracks' team now but so far had found no sign of them.

“A month man, where are these friends of yours anyway?” The young human asked, hand gently stroking the wheel.
“I don’t know, the coordinates don’t make as much sense from the ground like they did in the atmosphere.” He explained.
“I see,” the human yawned. He checked the time on the dashboard it was nearly midnight.
“You are tired we should find a place to stop for the rest of the night so we both can recharge.”
“Alright.” He agreed, it wasn’t often lately they could get a full nights sleep but lately their pursers had been distracted.

Tracks settled in an abandoned parking lot off the highway. He let Raoul into the back seat to sleep and Tracks prepared to recharge. He was going over a short transmission he had caught from Scrapper on their last run in it sounded like the cons were after someone, and were being beaten back by the Autobots that were on earth. He hoped his own long-range communications would come back on line soon or that they would run into another Autobot rather than the constructicons again.

He was just going into recharge when his communicator went off and his scanners picked up an Autobot signal. He kept trying to read the signal and get a clear response. It was one he had not heard in along time, certainly it was not one he expected even if he had known it should be one he would find on earth. It had to be a trap, the cons had to know he would be looking for his comrades and who would be the logical choice for him to try and reach. His leader and commander of course, or the first Autobot to arrive on earth, it seemed too easy, until a chirped response that only that particular mech would make assured him it was safe.

"Tracks are you going to rest anytime soon?" Raoul asked. He was curled under a blanket in the small back seat.
"Soon I was performing one last scan." The Autobot responded.
"Come on Tracks I’m lonely." Raoul smiled stroking the leather of the back seat lazily. The car shuddered and he would have sighed if he had the ability to.

He called up his photonic sensor array; he made it a little taller then Raoul with similar Dark skin and hair but his eyes remained blue. He joined his human in the back seat cuddling the young man close to his chest.
"Sleep Raoul." He said softly. The human obeyed quickly.

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The next morning as they searched for a place to have breakfast. Tracks pulled into a simple out of the way diner in the middle of an empty stretch of road, there were only a few cars in the parking lot and tracks immediately pulled up beside a bright cheerfully yellow Camaro with black racing stripes. He had to admit it was a sweet little car though a little more flashy than tracks, he was wondering whether it was friend or foe. Possibly even one of Tracks’ team?
"So why are we here?" He asked getting out.
"I picked up an Autobot signal here and it is breakfast time." Tracks told him simply heading for the small building. Obviously this was all he was going to get out of his partner right now.
"All right." He said following the avatar of his friend. He was hungry anyway.

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Sam was slightly startled by the smile on Bumblebee's face, the blonde looked a lot more relaxed than he had in the past week of wandering since they had left the Autobot base. They had headed south and west after following the group heading for California for a while. Now they were on their own and aside form dodging one Decepticon they were doing fine. The waitress had yet to arrive to ask them what they wanted. Bee's hand held his under the table and squeezed slightly as the door opened. He dropped Sam's hand to stand and wave to the new comers. Sam looked up half expecting to see Will or one of the others, but he had not seen the two young men who entered now before, though the bright impossibly blue eyes made it clear that one was an Autobot. The other human looked as surprised as he was but the Autobot burst into a bright smile as he hugged Bumblebee.

“Bumblebee how is everyone's favorite little brother?” He said as he let the younger one go. He had to admit the little blonde was cute, not that Bumblebee wasn't an attractive Autobot anyway, but his choice of Avatar was obviously determined by the brunette human sitting in the booth he had just stood up from.
“I am doing fine Tracks, I was surprised to catch you here.” He smiled, and motioned towards Sam with a secretive little smile. “This is Sam my partner.”
"This is Raoul my partner." The warrior smiled back, he knew exactly what the little scout meant. He had a similar feeling for the human beside him. Bumblebee smiled back with the same knowing look.
“Hi.” Sam waved.
“Hello.” Raoul looked at Tracks. “I thought you said you only had one older brother.”
“I do.” Tracks agreed with a smile.
“I’m the youngest in our group so everyone seems to think I’m a kid." Bumblebee explained. "Come join us for breakfast.”
‘Sure.” Raoul shrugged.

Bumblebee sat beside Sam again as the other two took the other side of the table Raoul sliding in first followed by Tracks. Sam looked at tracks knowing where he’d heard that designation before. Being muttered in annoyance by a certain bright red spy. “You’re Mirage's brother then right?” Sam asked Tracks.
“Yes I take it you have met my brother.” He said simply, he would not act like he had actually been worried about his brother or their comrades.
“Yeah he and Hound arrived a few months ago.” He had to smile at the relief that suddenly sparked in the warrior’s eyes.
“How many have arrived? And was Smokescreen one of them?”
“Maybe a dozen or so we're based out of Nevada right now. Yeah we have one whole family group.” He said as the waitress finally came up to them halting their conversation.

“What'll ya have dears?” The woman asked sounding like any other waitress in this part of the world.
“Umm southern omelet and coffee.” Raoul ordered.
“I’m good with water.” Sam said quietly.
“You should really eat something Sam.” Bee told him. “Steak and eggs with orange juice and hash browns.” The blond told her. He smiled at Sam who sighed and shrugged at the look the other two shot him.
“Coffee.” Tracks ordered. “I’ll steal from my cousin.” He motioned to Raoul
“Alright I’ll be back with your drinks.” She told them with a thin smile.

“So if everyone's in Nevada what are you two doing here?” Raoul asked.
“We are supposed to be resting from the latest confrontation with the cons,” Sam smiled.
“Ahh well we are only a state away.” Raoul smirked.
“Yeah I know.”
“So I’m guessing you lost your team.” Bumblebee said with a small smirk.
“Yes and keeps finding the Decepticons.” Raoul agreed shaking his head.
“The constructicons actually.” Tracks sighed. “We found them on landfall and separated in the fight haven't seen them since.”

Their drinks arrived and they stopped talking as she put them out and left quickly to get their food.

“You know it always amazes me that you guys can eat and drink with those avatars.” Raoul observed as Tracks sipped his coffee.
“It’s fuel we just have to convert it to our own use and in these forms it allows us to extend their use by quite a bit.” Tracks explained.
“Right understood some of that.” Raoul said looking blankly at his partner.
“You start to tune out the robot parts after awhile.” Sam grinned at Raoul, who grinned back. “I just thought Bee was being polite when he ate with me.”
“No Sam I was not just being polite." Bumblebee told him still holding his hand under the table. Sam should have realized such things by now but the blonde knew he was still getting his head together as Miles had said they should do on this trip.

Neither tracks nor Raoul missed the look that passed between the pair and exchanged one of their own.
“We were heading for the Grand Canyon it’s pretty big who knows one of them might have fallen in.”
“That would be just like Volt or Trailbreaker, but he would just wandering seeing all the rock formations. We found Wheeljack in the ocean.” Bumblebee told them.
“That’s our resident engineer, and I bet Ratchet acted like he had done it just to annoy him.” Tracks shook his head.
“It was funny.”
“It always is, when it’s not you he’s threatening.”
“Yeah.” Sam agreed.
“I’ll take your word for it.” Raoul smirked.
“You will meet him soon, I will have to report in eventually and he will demand I go through a checkup.” Tracks told him and Bumblebee nodded. “But first I find my team.”
“Of course after all the twins are there.” Bee smirked at the look that crossed Tracks’ face.
“That it would be better to find Trailbreaker at least.” He scowled.
“So who are these twins that you don’t like them?”
“The bane of my existence and no Bee it is not just because our brothers are bondmates.” He forestalled Bumblebee's interjection. “I still say the only reason they remain on our side is because they are Ratchet's progeny and he would dismantle them if they did join the Decepticons.”
“They really are not that bad.” Bee sighed. “They even both have human charges.”
“That does not seem wise, I mean Sideswipe might be able to be trusted with another's life except for his twins' and that is only because his own survival depends on it"' Tracks said quietly.

'He cares about Bluestreak and Smokescreen too and Hound.” Bumblebee told him.

"I suppose." Tracks agreed he, knew Bumblebee had idolized the twins as he had grown up and since they and Bluestreak had Smokescreen. They were close in age so it made sense that Smokescreen and Bumblebee would be kept together. Tracks himself had not seen much of the scout as he was one of Jazz's best.

“Should we ask?” Sam asked Raoul who simply shrugged.
“Probably not.” The older teen said returning to his omelet.

Both Autobots seemed to realize they had been ignoring their human charges for the last few minutes as they talked and both humans had been eating and whispering back and forth.

“I’m sorry Sam this is old business.” Bumblebee explained.
“It’s okay Bee.” His human told him with a smile.
“Well since we are almost done eating. Want to wander around with us for a while?”
“Sure we have nowhere to be really.”
“Welcome aboard.”

The waitress dropped off their check and Sam went to pay while the others finished up their table. Then they headed for the cars. Sam looked Tracks over as he slid into Bee's interior. It was a fine little car but it had nothing on Bumblebee's sleek lines as far as Sam could tell.

"Were you just checking out Tracks Sam?" Bumblebee asked with mock jealousy.
"Of course not Bee." Sam told him "you're the only car for me."
“I had better be." the yellow Camaro revved, as the seatbelt tightened in an embrace.
"You know you are." he smiled, he loved Bumblebee, he might look at other cars and girls but only Bumblebee was made for him. "So where are we going from here." he asked out the window.
"I was thinking these guys could used a good wash I don't know about you, but we've been in the desert a while now.” Raoul told him sliding into Tracks.
"Sounds like a plan, feel like a bath Bee?" he asked.
"As long as it is a hand wash Sam I hate the automatic ones."
"I know." he smiled.
"Tracks hates them too," Raoul agreed.
"Well they are impersonal." Bumblebee replied. Both humans laughed

The two cars shifted gears and took off racing from the small diner towards the nearest town. It was not too far away and they enjoyed the chance to try out their speed with out running from Decepticons. Music blared as they raced windows down not a care in the world.

Finding a small gas station and car wash was not hard once they found a town. They parked in the wash area and Raoul jumped out of Tracks.
"Hey guys give us a second we need to restock some supplies." Raoul said as Sam stepped out of Bumblebee.

The brunette followed the older youth and as they perused the snacks finding the best unhealthiest ones they could Raoul gave him a rather conspiratorial look.

"So you and Bee?" he asked with a smirk.
"Uhh kind of, "
"I know the feeling, Tracks and I are pretty close ourselves." he grinned.
Sam grinned back glad to know he wasn't alone in his attraction to alien cars.
"So we can you know, with them?"
"Yeah with the Avatars at least, though inside is kinda hot cause the car reacts too.” He said quietly. "Though it's kinda odd, you know before Tracks I never looked at another guy before."

Sam nodded, mulling over the fact that he felt the same about his Bumblebee. He had never even thought about sex with another guy until he'd fallen for the yellow scout. In fact he had never even thought about another person since he had gotten with Bumblebee. Not even Mikaela even though he still liked her it was not the same as being in love with his guardian.

"Me either. I bought him thinking he was a normal car and he would help me get the girl instead the girl hooks me up with my car."
"Sounds fun, I tried to car jack him and got attacked by an evil back hoe."
"Yeah you have to watch out for those."
"I noticed." He laughed.

Both teens laughed getting odd looks from the store's clerk as they dropped their finds on the counter and Raoul dug out his wallet. He gave Sam a look and the other teen nodded.

"You got breakfast man I’ll get this."
"Okay." he shrugged, Raoul was a nice enough guy and Bumblebee seemed to at least know Tracks though the two obviously were not in the same positions as Autobot soldiers. Tracks was a warrior while Bumblebee was a scout and espionage specialist.

They rejoined their cars that were sitting patiently by the vacuums as their Avatars were preparing themselves for a thorough cleaning. Both looked up at their entrance. Neither said a word at the sight of the heavily sugary and salty snacks as well as sodas that their humans carried. Both were to used to their humans' dietary habits.

"Stocked up Sam?" Bee asked with a smirk as the snacks were loaded into his small trunk.
"Yep hope your ready Bee this is going to be a good wash."
"I am ready though it would be a lot better in your backyard by the garage." the car responded.
"I know but this is what we have." He smiled and started to work on his car's floor.

Raoul was amused as he started to work on Tracks. The Autobot sounded like he was purring as the vacuum ran over his floor and seats, his Avatar was carefully helping out. He shivered at the feel of the vacuum across his insides. He loved it, it was such an intimate caress and one he had not felt often, he was very tempted to just forget about his robot mode, as he felt his car mode was far more attractive. He knew Raoul found him attractive.

"Stop preening man or I might forget the wax." Raoul teased seeing the look in his partner’s eyes.
"You would never."
"Wouldn't I?" he teased he would never forget but he loved teasing his car.

Next to the pair Sam was carefully cleaning out Bumblebee. Not that it took long; one of the main reasons Miles had suspected something being up was the fact he kept his car so clean. No Highschool kid kept his or her car so clean. Then backed him into the washing stall and added a few quarters to the machines to soap up his Camaro. He could almost hear the sigh as he scrubbed down his guardian. He carefully cleaned the sleek curves and lines of the Autobot scout. Paying close attention to those places that caused his engine to rev slightly.

After rinsing Bee down and drying him he buffed the dashboard with armor all and sat on the warm hood to check up on the others via his laptop.

“Anything interesting Sam?” Bumblebee asked his Avatar sliding up beside him.
“Not much, “ he answered looking through his emails. “Looks like Miles had some trouble in DC, he’ll fill us in on the details when we get back to base. Mom and dad are safely with my brother in California and they want me to come by sometime. Mom asks how you’re doing and if we snuck off to Vegas yet?”
“Vegas? I don’t understand that question Sam.”
“She’s wondering if we’re going to elope.”
“We are both far to young for such things Sam.” The young Scout pointed out, his spark fluttered slightly in its compartment as he said it though, he would not mind bonding with Sam but he was still mostly human.

“Yeah I know, maybe someday huh?”
“Possibly.” The blonde leaned forward and gave him a quick peck as the other two pulled up next to them.

“Adorable.” Tracks teased his fellow Autobot seeing the slight flush on his avatar.
“Quiet you.” He smiled shooting back. “Or I e-mail a picture of Raoul leaning over you like that to Mirage.”
“You wouldn’t” Tracks shot back.
“Special ops stick together.” He grinned.

0000000000000000

Across from the car wash, idling on the heat sat a large black and silver Cement truck sitting among the vehicles in a parking lot. It seemed like a normal truck except for the odd hood ornament, which was a bulldog with a helmet shaped like an evil robotic face. Anyone who knew them would know the large truck was a Decepticon and one of the gestalt groups called the Constructicons, once they had been artists of architecture before they had joined Megatron. Mixmaster did not care to think about those long forgotten days as he watched the two Autobots and their humans. He would have already attacked if he were not under orders. Only a few days ago their master had found them, they had been pursing a landfall of Autobots. They were still doing so, but now they also knew that they had to capture the yellow scout and his charge. They did not understand why and even a quick scan told him nothing more than the fact that the Autobots were as weak as ever protecting these insects.

“Stupid scout, stupid insect organics we should just kill ‘em.” Muttered the smaller form sitting in Mixmaster’s passenger seat.
“Silence.” The larger con growled. He did not like the little drones whom belonged to Soundwave, let alone carrying them in his inner compartment. He was not a grunt like Barricade who did whatever was needed to do his job, gestalts were a whole different group of Cybertronians.
“We are only here to observe and you are only here to bring us lord Megatron’s orders through his third in command.”

Rumble grumbled more as he watched. He did not like the truck anymore then the truck liked him. He was not a drone as they kept calling him, he and Frenzy were just out of youngling stage they just liked being small to keep up their jobs as espionage and intelligence both agreed that size seemed to diminish intelligence.

“Orders are simple, capture scout and human, kill everyone else.” He repeated. “If we get closer then this the scout will catch us in his scanners.”
“I am aware if that they are moving hold on.”

The quartet kept moving mostly in the south and western direction. Back towards the Autobot base but carefully avoiding the roads that would lead them back into Nevada and heading strait for Colorado.

At one of many motels strung along the highway from Los Angeles to the Grand Canyon, the four stopped for the night. As their companions snored away in their room Sam sat on Bee’s hood staring up at the stars. He had been unable to sleep once again plagued by dreams of a world that was long gone, lost to a war.

“You know Bee there are some days I would love to have a normal life.” Sam sighed laying back against the windshield.
“I understand Sam.” Bumblebee answered keeping his scanners on and alert as he kept his attention on his human.

“But then I think about it that if my life was normal I wouldn’t have you.” He sighed.
“I am flattered Sam. If I could give you a normal life I would.”
“I know Bee you’re the best. I love you.”
“And I love you Sam.” He leaned over and kissed him properly. “Come along you should be in bed.”
“Stay with me?”
“Of course.”

000000000000000

Well this is unexpected.” Raoul muttered seeing the highway full of cars as far as the eye could see. He was used to battles and high speed chases he really had not thought about normal human diversions. Sitting here in the hot sun one of a million cars in a long unmoving ribbon of metal and fumes. In front of him Sam and Bumblebee didn't seem to be in any better shape.

"Man Tracks is there any sign of an end to this?"
"Nothing Raoul. It is like this for miles."
"Damn."
"Please don’t hit my dashboard."
"I'm sorry." The boy said rubbing the place he had hit. “how are the kids doing?”
“Sam has fallen asleep and bubmblebee is just idling, youngligns andstyasing stil lare never a good combanaiton.”
“Youngling?”
“bumblbebee is not quite an adutl by our stnadars, he ois very close but like Sam he is young.”
“So both are not really much more than kids huh?”
“No they are not…..such is the tragedy of our war.”
“Yeah, well you’re not getting rid of me, I said I would help you.”
“Thank you Raoul.” they Autobot replied. “And I would never ask you to at this point. I believe you are stuck with me.”
“Good to know bro. Though at this point it might be stuck in traffic for a while.”
“True.”

Bumblebee played with his radio bored from the traffic jam and Sam was still asleep, Bee didn’t have the heart to wake him up he looked relaxed and his energy was level. He was calm for the first time in a long time. He watched around them wondering if among the throng of machines there were a few others like them. Deceptions could be anywhere and even fool his scanners at times. He was worried that they would run into the constructicons at anytime since there were six of them and only two Autobots and he doubted Raoul could fight a con no matter how tough the boy was, Sam he knew would try but still might get caught again.

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The world around him was gold and glowing, letters of some unknown alphabet covered the walls yet he could read it as easily as English. They spoke volumes to him of things long forgotten and a race far older then his own. Then the voices started up again, those voices that had haunted his dreams for months now, whispers of those who had passed long before wanting him to listen not them to see what had to be seen. The light coalesced into one gold red light, which encompassed his entire vision, and he woke with a cry as a clawed grasp reached for him.

“Sam?” Bumblebee’s concerned voice broke through his nightmare.
“I’m okay Bee, just another nightmare.” He breathes clutching the seat beneath him like a lifeline.
“If you are sure Sam you know I am right here all around you.”
“I know Bee, trust me I’ve never felt safer.” His heart was slowing to a more reasonable speed as he said this. The comforting feel of Bumblebee’s spark close enough to touch if he wanted to helped.

Bumblebee was getting worried about Sam’s nightmares, they always left his energy and heart rate higher then was necessarily safe. At least while Bee held him in his central compartment he could siphon enough of the energy off to be safe, Optimus had shown him how to do so, though he has seemed oddly sad and lost in memories when he did. He had not told Sam of this as he had not told Optimus more then they already had about the marks and the energy surges. But now was thinking they should say something if these nightmares were getting so bad.

“We should talk to Optimus when we return Sam.”
“We should, I guess it’s time it tell him everything huh?”
“Yes Sam everything.”
“And not just about us you mean.”
“He already knows about us Sam, you are aware of what I mean.”
“Yes Bee yes I am.” The teen sighed.

Chapter Text

Road trips even to escort people across the country were boring. The landscape didn’t even change enough for him to be interested in it, he was sure Hound would love this but he was just bored. Sideswipe was sure that it would get better they might even get attacked then they could have some fun. He was an elite warrior after all not a limo even if he was a nice flashy car. He loved Miles like a little brother; he was a decent partner and certainly could be trusted to keep an eye on him as much as he was supposed to keep an eye on Miles. Casey wasn’t too bad either the kid kept her hands to herself and spent most of the time watching the scenery change outside his window. As they went farther east the land changed almost dramatically. He was recording the trip for his brothers as he cruised along.

“Hey Sides when’s the next stop I gotta go.” Miles asked suddenly. He had been acting like he was driving but had also been quiet and from his breathing pattern napping.
“I’m not sure I’ll ask Jazz.” He said simply and opened communications to the solstice. “Jazz when’s the next stop? My humans are doing the pee-pee dance here.”
“Soon another mile or so and we should be at the next rest stop.” The silver car answered. Jazz led the group while Sideswipe had been placed in the rear. Cliffjumper had the middle while two normal military Hummers sat between them. Jazz carried Maggie and Miles and Casey’s parents while Cliffjumper carried Glen. Sideswipe only carried Miles and Casey. Secretary Keller sat in one of the Hummers with a pair of soldiers while the other Hummer held four more soldiers. Smokescreen followed far behind playing rear guard and watching everything with his scanners.

“Good because if not, I’m going to have to have my interior steam cleaned.” He joked.
“Yeah I’m sure the humans are house trained kid.” Jazz snickered.
“But are you sure?” He asked.

When the group arrived at the rest stop the kids took off for the restroom as soon as Sideswipe had parked followed not long after by Sideswipe’s avatar. The adults also went for the restrooms first but not in the hurry the kids were in. Maggie had to stop Casey from following Miles into the men’s side.

“You know if you didn’t drink so much Mountain Dew you would not have to rush to the toilet everytime.” Sideswipe told Miles as he leaned on the wall across from the urinal.
“You just want me to drink less in your baby.” Was Miles’ only answer.
“That would be nice too.” The red head agreed as Miles washed his hands.

After the potty break, the group scattered, stretching their legs and grabbing something to eat. Keller and the soldiers kept a low profile but the older man did go over to talk to Jazz.

Sideswipe followed Miles to the small gift shop and watched the teen as he looked over things grabbing a couple of key chains and other knickknacks. One of the things in his hands was a bright yellow sun plush with shades.

“Why?” He asked curious.
“Stuff for the others and I like key chains.” He shrugged. He had been picking up something from each stop they had made and a lot of small bags filled Sideswipe’s trunk.

“Interesting.” He joined Miles in browsing the shop. Picking out silly things to give their comrades back home.

0000000000000

The adults were already gathered up to go as the teen and his car’s avatar rejoined them, holding small plastic bags and grinning like idiots.

“I hope that is not all junk food Miles.” His stepmother said from where she and Maggie sat on Jazz’s hood talking.
“Nope just souvenirs.” They put the bags in Sideswipe’s trunk with the rest of the stuff.
“You bought Souvenirs?” Jazz asked.
“Yep just some things for the others back home.” Miles answered.
“Makes sense kind of.” Maggie smiled.
“We’d better get going though we have a lot of ground to cover.” Keller told them.
“Right we’re out boys and girls.” Jazz called and everyone headed for their vehicles.

It was at this point that someone realized they were missing someone.
“Miles where is your sister?” Monica asked just before stepping into Jazz’s back seat.
“She said something about asking to ride in Cliffjumper.”
“Haven’t seen her.” Glenn said when everyone looked at him.
“One missing kid how hard can she be to find?” Jazz asked.
“You’d be surprised,” miles began “the vending machines.” He said suddenly.
“What makes you say that?”
“She’s my sister.” He shrugged and wandered towards the machines on the other side of the rest area.
“He has a point there.” Walter shrugged.

Jazz and Sideswipe had followed the teen to the small alcove on the trucks side of the Rest area where the four vending machines sat huddled together under a small shelter like a group of transients. Behind the one for salty and sweet snacks was Casey trying to open it with a hair pin.

“And what are you doing little lady?” Jazz asked shaking his head.
“Getting Pretzels” the kid said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Ever heard of money?” Miles asked elbowing Sideswipe who snickered.
“Don’t have any.” She shrugged and went back to the screw she was fiddling with.
“Casey go to the car.” Miles told her.
“But my pretzels.”
“I’ll get them go parents are worried.”
“Fine going.” She sighed not arguing with his tone.

Once the girl had left with Jazz Miles sighed and shook his head buying a pack of pretzels.
“You okay Miles?”
“I’m fine Sides just worried about the boys once she hits her teens.” He let out a half smile and headed back for the cars.

Casey walked up to her mother and smiled brightly, still holding Jazz’s hand. She looked like a smaller version of her mother but had alot of her father's way of looking at the world, which remarkably was like Miles' though he would never admit it.
“Casey where were you?”
“The vending machines I wanted pretzels.” The child said brightly.
“Dear you should have asked.” She said with a sigh. She looked up as Miles and Sideswipe joined them and Miles dropped a bag in Casey’s other hand.
“Thanks Miles.”
“Anytime kid, come on.”
“Ask him if it’s alright then sure if not its back with your brother.” the woman told her with a smile.
“Yes mom.” the little girl dropped Jazz’s hand and skipped over towards the red sports car.

The ten-year-old approached the red dodge and his charge that was checking something as they waited for the others to form ranks. He looked up as the child came up to them. Glen closed the laptop he was holding and not being dumb Casey was quite aware this was the universal signal that there was something there she was not supposed to see. It happened with her dad all the time.

"Hey sprout." Glenn greeted still leaning on the hood of the car.
“Hello Casey.” Cliffjumper greeted her still wary of the ten-year-old after the chase around the base.
“Cliffjumper, Glen can I ride with you to the next rest stop?” she asked politely as she could. Casey was completely enthralled by the bots almost as bad as her brother but she was more enchanted by the fact that they were really amazing then the fact they were aliens.

“Trying to ride in all the bots kid?” Glen asked her with a smile. She had started in Jazz with her parents and Maggie then had moved to Sideswipe.
“Yes.” The girl replied. “All of them are different Jazz is smoother than Sideswipe who’s a lot more fast, the Hummers are boring normal cars.”
“Okay but please don’t touch anything.”
“Right.” she smiled sincerely putting her hands behind her back. "I won't I promise."

They climbed in and the group lined up to head out again the states seemed to fly past. Outside of Pennsylvania they stopped to rest again letting people stretch their legs and go to the bathroom. At the maps Miles and Casey were giggling along with Sideswipe. After the trio wandered off Walter looked at it and shook his head. On the map was a bright yellow post it note saying you are not here miles form the dot on the map saying you are here. He pulled the sticker down and walked back towards Jazz’s alt mode, behind him Jazz smirked and put another one up before returning to the others laughing.

Within a few more hours they arrived at New York city. Sideswipe collected Miles and Casey’s mom and dad and continued while the others headed for Washington DC.

“Once you drop em off Sideswipe meet us at DC.” Jazz ordered as he Smokescreen and, Cliffjumper left.
“Yes Jazz I will.” He agreed heading into the city proper. It was bright and loud and reminded Sideswipe alot of at least one city back on Cybertron.

“You’re going to have to go for the tunnel this time of day Sideswipe.” Miles dad said.
“Nope I’ve found a quicker way.” The red car said cheekily, missing the turn the human had pointed out.
“But.” The man said he had driven in this city for years.
“Don’t argue with the car dad he’s better at this driving than us humans.” Miles told him as he patted the car with one hand grinning.
“Thanks Miles, I also have government plates which allow me to do things most of these people can’t legally.”
“Try not to abuse that privilege.”
“I’ll try really.” The car said sounding quite childish and Miles laughed.
“Don’t give him any ideas dad now he will.” His hands caressed the steering wheel.
“I do not know what you are talking about Miles.” Sideswipe said innocently, bouncing alittle on his tires.
“Sure you don’t.” Miles sighed.

They arrived at the apartment building a lot faster then if they had taken the route Walter had wanted to take but Sideswipe said nothing as he let them out on the street in front of the building.

“So Miles want to come up for a while you haven’t been here in years.” His father asked him.
“Sure come on Sideswipe.” He said stepping out of the car.
“Okay I’ve been curious about this apartment in New York you don’t want to live in.” Sideswipe smirked and Casey giggled.
“Shut up.” Miles told him.
“Oh we know you don’t want to live here Miles but you could visit more often.” Monica told him with a smile as they headed for the elevator.

“Well I was thinking of going to Harvard for college I would be a lot closer.”
“You would be."
Sideswipe found the sensation of his avatar on the elevator kinda fun he’d have to play with that later. Casey grabbed his hand to drag him around the apartment as soon as they arrived. Pointing out everything including a few embarrassing pictures of his charge he would have to tease him about later.

While his sister kept his guardian busy Miles looked around on his own. The place had not changed much in four years. He went to join his dad and stepmom in the kitchen.

After the tour the five of them sat to the table talking and eating a quick meal. As they ate Sideswipe stiffened.
“Sides?”
“Have a incoming message, looks like there’s a few friends in town.” He smiled that smile that always worried Miles.
“Looks like we better go then huh?” Miles asked standing as Sideswipe did.
“Can I go?” Casey asked.
“Not this time.” Miles told her.
“Aww I want to help.” She whined.
“When you’re older maybe.” Monica told her.
“Take care Miles don’t get hurt.” His dad told him.
“I’ll do my best.” He smiled hugs them and left with his partner to find these friends

“So actual friends are Decepticons?” he asked as he slid into the passenger seat and the belt slid over his shoulder.
“Friends, one I know very well.” Sideswipe promised.
“Oh good.” Miles sighed.

They made their way to Brooklyn Bridge and in a small parking lot surrounded by abandoned cars they found who they were looking for. A pair of vehicles that looked like they did not belong there. A rose pink motorcycle about twice the size of Arcee’s alt mode and a bright blue Hummer three.
At their approach two women seemed to appear out of nowhere. One was slender and willowy with long deep pink red hair and the other was taller a little bulkier but still lovely with long blonde hair. Both watched them carefully and the blonde approached first.

“Chromia, Elita-1 welcome to earth.” Sideswipe greeted hugging the blonde woman.
“Sideswipe where’s you worse half?” Chromia asked and Miles snickered at the term for Sunstreaker.
“At base I’m on a mission.” He smiled.
“Of course.”
“This is Miles my Human I’m supposed to be guarding him.”
“I’m usually in more danger with him.” Miles said with a smile.
“A pleasure to meet you Miles. I am Elita-1 Optimus Prime’s mate, my Second Chromia Sideswipe’s Creator.” The pink haired woman said; her voice was calm and cool certainly a leader.
“Nice to meet both of you if you come with us we’ll finish up this mission and take you home.”
“Of course.”
“So where is this home?”
“Nevada a couple of days drive from here we’re supposed to go to the human capital and meet up with Jazz then head back.” Sideswipe told them.
“Then lead the way Soldier.”
“Yes mam.”

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Their arrival in Washington DC was uneventful until they found their group they were in an area they could take their robot forms and as soon as he saw then Jazz hugged Elita-1 and swung her around.
“’Lita looking good as ever, you sure you wanna go back and see Prime you could always stay with me.” Jazz flirted and Elita-1 laughed.
“Good to see you as well Jazz and you have a mate of your own you know.” She reminded him once he put her down. She had always liked Jazz.
“True but you’re prettier than Prowl.” He said. Then turned to Chromia who looked very amused by all of this.
“Darlin’ it’s good to see you again.” The blue femme hugged him.
It’s always good to see a healthy femme certainly a sight to see.” Jazz smiled.

Miles was watching this highly amused by the obvious affection. Sideswipe looked just as amused standing there watching.
“So that’s your creator and Hound’s too right?” he asked admiring the bright blue and silver femme.
“Yes, that’s her.” Sideswipe agreed.
“Wow, she looks good for having three kids.”
“Miles you do realize Cybertronians do not have kids the way humans do right?”
“Yeah but I thought it fit.” He grinned.
"Idiot." Sideswipe said fondly as the others moved off to talk. "Come on I should get you where you’re spending the night."
"You're no fun sometimes." Miles told his guardian.
"No I’m fun most of the time." he told him. "I'm taking Miles to Maggie’s." he told the others.
"Right come right back "
"I will."
"Later Jazz, Cliff, ladies." Miles waved.
"Good bye Miles."

Maggie had already set up the couch in her livingroom for Miles to sleep on for the night. She was waiting for them when they arrived.
"Miles,"
"Hey Maggie hope I’m not a bother." he said pulling his backpack out of Sideswipe’s back seat.
"None at all now if Sideswipe was staying.' she smiled.
"Hey I’m not that bad," the red Lambo said defensively and she smiled at him.
"Sure you’re not." Miles told him.
"Uhuh you remember that, see you in the morning."
"Right night, Sideswipe." Miles told him as he followed Maggie inside and the red car roared off.

"Thanks for putting me up for the night Maggie."
"You’re welcome it's alittle cramped but it's home." she told him.

The apartment was small but it was only her and on occasion Glen or their friends from their game group, and rarely did any of them sleep over.

"Are you hungry I could warm up something or order out."
"Asking that because your hungry or do you want an excuse to order out?" Miles asked her.
"An excuse." she shook her head, "you kids are too smart for your own good."
“Yeah but its fun." he told her. "Ordering out would be great though."
“Alright.” She laughed.

A lot of Chinese later and they were both ready for bed Maggie turned of the lights and went for her room as Miles crashed on the couch. Before falling asleep he pulled out his laptop and his headphones and played on his computer till he fell asleep.

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Sideswipe rejoined the others in their new base in a building labeled for health and human resources. He pulled up next to Chromia nudging her wheel with his own.
“It’s good to see you in one piece baby.” she told him privately.
“Good to see you too creator.” He agreed, “Our entire family group is here now.”
“So I see.” She sounded very please to know all of her mech’s were safe.
“and we are all glad to see any of ours who arrive here.”
“yes it should be good to gather our forces even if the human don’t seem to get the threat the cons pose.”
“Alright boys power down we should recharge.” Elita-1 told them quietly.
“Yes mam.” Jazz, Smokescreen and Sideswipe chorused.

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Sideswipe picked up Miles the next morning after a breakfast of left over Chinese food and the two left to join the femmes to head home. Jazz and Cliffjumper watched them go before heading back to do their jobs.

Chapter Text

A tug at his spark woke Optimus Prime from recharge. It was so gentle to be almost non existent but it was also very persistent and he sat up as his own spark pulsed at the contact.

“Prime to Blaster.” He called.
“Blaster here boss-bot.” Came the ever-cheerful reply.
“Status.” The order was softly spoken.
“All’s quiet down here. Sideswipe just called in though he’s returning with two more Autobots a pair of lovely femmes he said.”
“Did he say who?” he tried to sound like the dignified leader he was but his hope leaked into the words making Blaster smile on his end of the communication.
“Yes sir, Elita-1 and Chromia they landed in New York harbor.” He laughed alittle. “Should I tell Ironhide and Ratchet?”
“Just tell them, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Ratchet, Hound, Bluestreak and Sunstreaker to meet me at the gates.”
“Yes sir.” the connection cut off as the communications officer turned his attention to the bots in question.

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Will looked up expectantly as Ironhide cut off In the middle of a word, there was that odd buzzing sound that seemed to accompany their private communications then he nodded.
“Is something up Ironhide?”
“Prime wants me to meet him at the gate.” He sounded slightly confused by the Prime’s orders.
“Didn’t give a reason?” the human asked curious.
“No and he sent it through Blaster, maybe the kids are back.” He turned to head for the gate.

Sunstreaker and Bluestreak were already at the gates along with Hound and Mirage, the four were in the middle of some kind of game while being observed by Trent. They looked up at the pair’s arrival.

“Hey Hide.”
“Sunstreaker, does anyone know what is going on?”
“No idea Prime called us to the gate that’s all any one knows.”
“Blaster has reported that new arrivals are following Sideswipe and Miles.” Optimus Prime told them as he strode up to join the group
“Friendlies?” Will asked.
“Yes they are Autobots.” Will looked up at the Prime. Optimus sounded very amused by this situation.

As they spoke dust clouds grew in the distance and after only a few minutes three vehicles arrived at the gate, which slid, open and let them enter. All eyes and optics were on the two vehicles that entered behind Sideswipe who stopped to let Miles out and transform to his robot mode. They still stared as the two transformed into a very fine pair of femmes. The smaller of the two went only up to Optimus’ chest plate she was a deep rose pink with lighter pink accents in her armor. Bright blue eyes glowed warmly as she saw the mechs waiting for them. Her fellow femme was the same size as Ironhide though her armor was more sleek and light blue with silver accents.

Right behind them were Bumblebee and a blue thunderbird with an orange decal across the hood carrying a young man none of them knew. Like Sideswipe the pair waited for their humans to disembark before taking their robot modes.

“Hey guys.” Miles called in greeting seeing the group gathered around them. “Quite a party good thing we brought babes.” He joked

“Funny man.” Sam said coming up to his best friend while the Autobots greeted their companions.
“I try bro.” He grinned “Who’s the new guy?”
“Miles this is Raoul he’s tracks partner, Raoul my best friend Miles.”
“Hey man.”
“Nice to meet you.”

Elita-1 smiled behind her battle mask and chose to ignore propriety and pounced her mate throwing herself into his arms. Optimus' arms closed around her warm safe and loving, their sparks pulsed in answer to one another.
“Elita.” He whispered embracing her.
“Optimus, I’ve missed you.” Elita-1 said softly.
“I missed you too.” She stepped back and smiled at Bumblebee who had moved to join them. “My little Bee.”
“Hello Elita.” He leaned close to her, she hugged him. “I have missed you.”
“And I you my sweet spark.”

While her commander greeted her mate and offspring, Chromia joined her own.
“Chromia good to see you.” Ironhide told her pulling the blue femme to himself.
“Hey Darlin’ looking fine as ever.” She told Ironhide hugging him.
“You don’t look bad yourself.”
“Come here Hound.” She hugged her eldest son. Then Sunstreaker as the gold twin was pounced by his brother.
“Where’s Ratchet?”
“Med bay, Jack blew something up again.”
“Optimus I’m going to go check on my mate and his vic-I mean patient.” Chromia told the Prime who nodded optics still on his mate.
“Go ahead Chromia it’s good to see you back with us.” He answered.
“I will brief him Chromia.” Elita smiled.
“I’ll show you the way. Coming Miles?” Sideswipe offered.
“Nah go ahead I’m dying from lack of human contact have fun.” his human said grinning.
“Right.” He took off followed by his family unit.

“So I really need some junk food lets go to the commissary.” Miles told his fellow humans. "And Dew I seriously need a Dew.
“Right you kids have fun with that. I have soldiers to drill.” Will said waving as he headed off.
“Okay come on Sam.”
“I’ll be right with you Miles.”
“Right gotta greet Bee’s mom.”
“It would be polite.” He grinned at his friend.
Sam joined the three Bots still at the gate and Bumblebee picked him up as soon as he was in reach letting Sam sit on his hand as he held him up to meet Elita-1.
“Elita-1 this is Sam; Sam Elita-1 Optimus’ Mate.”
“Nice to meet you Elita-1.”
“Sam a pleasure Miles told me some things on our journey here about you.”
“Good I hope or at least true.”
“He said you and Bumblebee were the first partners in between humans and us Autobots.”
“We are Bee’s great to have at your back.” He patted the metallic fingers that held him.
“Just like Optimus. He is a lot like you beloved.”
“At times,” he said fondly and Bumblebee’s doorwings fluttered.
“I should go Miles needs some human contact nice meeting you Elita-1.”
“The same Sam.”

Bumblebee put his human down Sam pressed a hug and quick kiss to his fingers and ran off with Miles and Raoul to find some food and maybe a few games. The other three moved off to talk in Optimus’ office.

Mirage and Tracks exchanged a look and nodded to one another neither were as big on emotional moments.
“Good to see you in one piece Mirage.”
“Same her Tracks and I see you picked up your own human.”
“It seems like everyone else is getting one.”
“They are not pets.”
“I know that, Raoul is my friend.”
“Alright.”

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Chromia found Ratchet working on one of Wheeljack’s arms when she walked into his med bay. The rest of the engineer was no where to be seen though. She smiled and shook her head approaching the medic.

“Hello Ratchet.” Chromia smiled at him.
“Chromia when did you get here?” he blinked at the femme, he had felt something but had not even realized it was her arrival as he worked.
“Just now.” She told him.
“Wonderful.” Her hugged her. “Come on I’ll look you over.”
“Sounds good Darlin’ “she followed him into the hospital.

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Reggie Simmons was doing paper work in his office when the door opened with no knock and he looked up to see Sam Miles and another human he had not seen before entering his office. The two he knew were as usual not in any kind of uniform but the third human was in ragged jeans and a vest he looked Latino and Reggie just put his pen down and steepled his hands to wait for what they wanted.
“What is it?” he finally asked.
“Reggie this is Raoul he’s Tracks partner and he needs the usual forms and stuff.” Sam told him with a shrug.
“Though you still haven’t explained why.” Raoul said, and Miles just snickered.
“You’ll need em to move around base or to leave and come back. No one ever tells anyone this stuff.” The blonde sighed.
“It’s procedure in most things you should know.” He told the teen.
“I do not everyone’s a military or FBI brat you know.” Miles reminded him.

While they talked Reggie pulled out the forms and handed them across the desk.
“Fill this out completely you’ll want a badge too.” He informed the boy,
“Okay.” So what is most of this stuff for?”
“Information, and a tally of those who are in on the secret.”
“Guess that makes sense.”
“Considering the new security measures we have now it’s necessary I think that Redalert guy would know if a flea crossed the fence right now.”
“Well he is the best.”
“Obviously.”

Raoul handed back the papers, which Reggie filed away, then handed back the badge.
“This will let you into and out of the base and through most of the restricted areas though anywhere your partner doesn’t have clearance neither do you.”
“Got it thanks.” He said as the three left.

“So you’re really taking off already?” Miles asked.
“Yeah me and Tracks an keep an eye on things out there for everyone we don’t really fit well here, and we’ve already discussed it with Prowl.”
“It’ll be good to have a pair of eyes outside the base everyone seems to think staying here is safer.” The blonde agreed.
“It might be but danger can be fun. I have to find my partner now later.”
“Later man.”
“Later.”
“See ya.”

Raoul located Tracks with his brother at the shooting range it was mostly empty with only a couple of soldiers on the other end. He found a crate to sit on while the two finished off their rounds. The two were impressive though Mirage was a scout he was not a bad shot, Tracks had told him that Bluestreak was a sniper and could probably beat both of them in a good match. Tracks was not bad, but his skill was with a pair of rocket launchers not his smaller gun.

“Hell Raoul.”
“Hey guys having fun?”
“We are making sure our aim is perfect on the target should that be fun?” Mirage asked.
“Don’t know I’ve never tired always preferred knives myself.” He shrugged.
“You could learn.” Tracks offered.
“Maybe later.”

“All members of the H.A.L. Unit please report to the labs.” Came Eject’s voice over the intercom and they exchanged a glance.
“Wonder what’s up.”
“We should go see.”
“Want to come Mirage?”
“This might be interesting.”

0000000000000000

Wheeljack was very pleased with himself he had been working on something for the last couple of days and it had not exploded once. It was a simple electrical device but that didn’t mean his luck wouldn’t be it’s usual level.
The others arrived slowly in small groups. Reggie and Prowl were the first to arrive followed by the kids and their partners. Once everyone had arrived Wheeljack showed off his new toys.

"So what are they?" Trent questioned..
"Communication devices, to make it easier for our human allies to communicate with us." the scientist said proudly. They resembled blue tooth headsets though they did appear to have Cybertronian symbols on them.
"Sounds good, they won’t explode right?" Miles asked.
"No they will not." he assured the human.
"Great." Sam picked one up and looked it over. "So how do they work?"
"These devices tap into our communication network each is calibrated to a certain Autobot though you will be able to reach only of us it will first connect to your partner."
"Great, so which is which?"

They passed them out pointed out the markings which indicated the names of each partner.
"The human names were the hard part of all of you only Miles' had a name we could easily translate to Cybertronian." Wheeljack informed them.
"Great my name sounds like one of yours." Miles told Sideswipe as he connected the device.
"You say that like it's a bad thing squishy." The red bot joked.
"I supposed it isn’t."
"What about Jazz's team?" Prowl asked.
"I will send theirs to them." he assured the group.

0000000000000000
Ratchet cornered Optimus Prime in his office.
"Optimus I need a word with you." The Autobot CMO said as he entered the office.
"Of course Ratchet what is the problem?"
"I think there is more to Halo than meets the eye."
"What makes you think this?" The Prime had been sure something was up with the little bot for a while but had been unable to find him to ask and Longarm had told him he didn’t know where he had gone.
“I was looking at the readings for the Earthborn and found his to be more like ours, not like the other Earthborn at all.”
"Did you ever get the chance to look him over?"
"No I did not."
"I believe it is time for another conversation with Sam and Bumblebee." The Autobot leader decided out loud.
"I agree."
Optimus was about to call for the three when the door to his office opened revealing the subjects of their conversation.
"Optimus sir." Sam said simply, he was carrying Halo on his shoulder like usual.
"You three I was about to call for you we need to talk or you three need to explain something to us."
"I'm sorry sir but." The yellow scout began.
"It is alright Guardian." Halo interrupted Bumblebee and all optics turned on the little mech who slid from Sam’s arms and stood on the desk.
"You can talk?" Ratchet asked. He ran his scanners over the little mech finding odd readings and energy spikes.
"Yes I can speak. I have been regaining my strength." Halo told them calmly.
"What do you mean Halo who are you?" Optimus asked, he had a guess but it was impossible.
"You know who I am Prime you have been putting the pieces together on your own quite well." the gold optics flickered.
"The AllSpark?"
"Yes Prime I have regained a physical form"
"But how? we thought..."
"What I desired you to think, there were other fragments besides the one you have and bits of armor from the battle."
"So you rebuilt your body."
"Yes."
"What about you Sam?"
"I'm an Avatar I can use the power and channel it but it' not mine. I had to change enough to handle all of that power." the boy explained.
"Bumblebee did you know all of this?"
"No sir not all of it I knew about Halo." The yellow mech replied keeping one hand behind Sam.
"I see." he could not really punish them for keeping this secret if the cons had found out.
"Neither knew Prime it was not safe for any of us." Halo explained.
"What about letting Sam get caught and the Decepticons thinking he's you?"
"That was unfortunate, though they can not find me at this time, I have fully severed the Guardian Bond to the Lord High Protector I am linked only to my Avatar at this point."
"So that why they think that then?"
"A necessary diversion." Sam muttered.
"Sam please don’t tell me you let them think that." Bumblebee pleaded.
"No Soundwave just assumed that and I didn’t tell him otherwise." he assured his autobot.
"But what about the Guardian Bond?" Optimus asked.
"Tradition dictates it is established along with the Prime Bond and your successor is still not here though close."
"There are times even tradition must be ignored." He stated no sure how to respond to the last half of that.
"I have chosen the new Guardian Prime, I chose a long time ago before I was sent to this world."
"Who?"
"Isn’t it obvious, I chose Bumblebee."

TBC.

AN:: a side note on Arcee and Chromia I decided I liked Chromia as a Hummer like my sis Yuuzai did, I also decided to have Arcee be one bike unlike the ROTF where she was three. Maybe the other two parts were totaled in the Chop shop she was in before? Hope you liked the chapter more to be reveled soon.

Chapter Text

The night was quiet; the full moon silvered the landscape stretched out before him. Turning it into a cold crystallized sea, much like his home. A coyote howled breaking the illusion and returning his thoughts to the present. Alone on a rocky outcropping close by the animal let out another howl, which became a yelp as two of his followers tore the beast apart. He watched Scorpinoc and Ravage fight over the corpse splattering the area with gore.

Ten others stood in the silvery sand waiting for orders, their blood red optics firmly on their lord. Starscream stood on his right while Soundwave stood to his left. Without even looking at them he growled.

"Report."
"One Autobot and one human left their base two days ago all other personnel still on base. Autobot second Jazz and Autobot Cliffjumper still absent sent to the human capitol. Twenty Autobot units and fifty five humans including the boy." Soundwave's monotone voice reported.

"Our other units?" the Decepticon leader demanded.
"Mixmaster and his brothers are in positions; Kickback and Payload are now in position." Starscream reported. "We should attack now Lord Megatron while they are not expecting us."

"Patience Starscream we will attack, on my orders only.” He warned his second in command; he had not yet forgiven him his previous failures. “Scorpinoc recon." he barked.

The scorpion Decepticon disengaged from the skirmish with the panther, and dove into the sand heading for the Autobot base ten miles away.

00000000000000000

The base seemed like a nest of ants to her as Scorpinoc watched them. The security grid stopped only a few feet from the fence line. Tire tracks marked where it was safe to tread near the fence, she found evidence of land mines and other traps set up for the unwary. The larger mechs would be fine, but the smaller ones like her and Ravage might have problems with a few of them.

Scorpinoc’s scanners were all on the front of her and she was not expecting a growl as Steeljaw leapt onto her back pinning her to the ground. Growling the feline mech watched the pronged tail as he tried to keep her from getting away. Setting off the perimeter alarm to let the others know something was wrong.

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On the base the perimeter alarm went off wildly. The soldiers and Autobots on base reacted to the alarms quickly leaving the civilians to follow procedure and head for the nearest safe locations in case it was an attack.

“Redalert Report.” Optimus Prime ordered. The security bot and his team were working non stop to find the source. Finally he comed his leader.
“We have an intruder on the perimeter sir, Steeljaw reports its Scorpinoc, and she was skulking about the fence.” The security director replied from his office optics glued on the multiple security feeds from all over the base. As his fellow security people ran about checking the few he could not see from his location. “No other intrusions reported.”
“Sunstreaker, Sideswipe assist Steeljaw.” Optimus ordered the two melee warriors.
“Yes sir.” Sideswipe quipped.
“We’re on it Prime.” The gold twin answered, already on his way.

“Blaster alert notices, I want scout teams out to look over any other activity.” he didn’t even look over at his com officer who was working furiously to get his job done. Optimus knew the orange mech would be grinning as he did what made him such a good member of the team.
“Yes Prime.” The communications officer replied already sending out the orders.
“They are out now Sir.” Prowl reported.
“All non combat personnel report to the security bunker, all medical personnel report to CMOs Ratchet and Mertis, front line report to Ironhide and Prowl for duties.” Blaster ordered over the base intercom system.

The personnel did as they were told, Miles rushed to join the others in the medical building as Sam and DewBot helped the noncombatants and Bumblebee ran to join his fellow scouts. Trent watched the work not sure where he should go until Sam grabbed his arm. He stared at the other boy like he had never seen him before. The younger teen’s eyes were strange.

“Come on you have no battle training help me get people to the bunkers.” He told the other teen.
“You’re not fighting?” this was a surprise as Sam seemed to always be in the thick of things.
“No way Bee’d kill me, come on Halo.” He grabbed the little silvery bot as it climbed his leg.
“Fine.” The other teen let himself be dragged off to help. “What about Mikaela?”
“She and Miles are both on the med team She’s support.” He told him as blonde woman joined them. “Hey Sarah.”
“Sam, here take Anne I’ve got Epps’ daughters with me too, Monique's got their son.” Three young girls followed the woman. She handed the infant to the young avatar.
“Hey girls, come on the bunker’s ready. There’s only a few noncoms.” Sam greeted them.
“Hi Sam.” The oldest girl smiled brightly, the other two clung to their sister.
“They are mostly army wives and their kids, I hope this isn’t as bad as Quatar.” Sarah sighed.
“No it won’t be I’m sure.” He assured her. “Will and the others will be fine Ironhide can keep an eye on him.”
“I know thank you Sam.” Sarah sighed, she was as worried about the large mech as she was about her husband at least his mate was fighting with them.
“You’re welcome Sarah.” He smiled. “Have you met Trent?”
“No, she turned to look at the teen.” Hello.”
“Hi. Trent DeMarco.”
“Sarah Lennox, this little bundle is Annabelle.” She told him and the child waved.
"So the bunkers?" Trent asked.
"This way they are under the barracks and storage sheds." Sam led the way as Halo watched the fighting begin from his shoulder.

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The medics were busy. Miles and Mikaela split up as soon as they entered the hospital with a quick kiss. Miles was off to see about supplies while Mikaela headed for Long arm to see what else had to be done. It was oddly comforting to hear Ratchet giving orders to everyone. Miles had this odd feeling that as long as the CMO was here yelling at his men everything would be fine.

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Mirage stopped only meters from the pair of Decepticons who waited just off the turn from the highway to the dirt road leading to the base. He was glad for his emitter, which cloaked him from their sight. Hound waited close by shielded by his holo-emitter that allowed him to blend in with the landscape. The pair had no clue why they were there but it could not be a good thing that they were. Both scouts knew that they could be in big trouble if caught. After watching the pair the two Autobots moved to return to base. As Mirage turned he tripped falling flat in the sand, both cons turned at the noise and to cover his mate Hound dropped his own disguise and shot off a couple of missiles at the much larger Decepticons.

“Looks like we found a petrorat.” Payload growled seeing the scout.
“More like I found a few rats.” Hound called back.

As Hound fought the pair Mirage tore back towards base. He was sending out a distress signal as he went reporting into the base what they had found. As he arrived at the base he found Ironhide and Chromia at the gates.

“Sir, ma’am Hound is fighting a pair of Decepticons alone, Payload and Kickback.” He told them.
“We heard your message Mirage, I’m going to go handle the cons you’re reporting to Prowl,” Ironhide ordered him.
“Yes sir.”
“Take care darlin we’ll bring Hound back in one piece.”
“I know you will Chromia.” He nodded going to find the Autobot’s third.

Ironhide and Chromia found their offspring holding his own quite well against the two Decepticons, he had Kickback down but Payload was larger then the green mech and though he was slower he was a good shot. Ironhide waited for an opening and let loose on the Decepticon. The other mech shot back giving Hound a chance to scramble out of the way and fire himself. Under their cover fire he joined his progenitor and creator.
“Hound you okay darlin’?”
“I am fine creator.” He answered as the trio fought their opponents.
“Then let’s handle these Slag heaps and return to the others.”

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Megatron growled as he received the report that the Autobots had caught Kickback and Payload as well as Scorpinoc around their base, no doubt they would assume that there were more Decepticons around and prepare for an attack. He thought for a moment to pull back and confuse them, but he wanted Prime and his men gone and the AllSpark under his control. It was there, his AllSpark; he would have it in his grasp soon. He could not trust his men with this, even the oh so loyal Soundwave would betray him if the conditions were right. Finally he growled an order at his second in command.
“Attack.”
“With pleasure Megatron.” The seeker ordered the Decepticons forward and the soldiers surged towards the base. The seekers swooped into the sky to strafe the fighters swarming out of the base. Even with out their big canons in Ironhide the other bots could hold their own very well, the twins waded into the cons with weapons out and ready gleefully. Bluestreak and Arcee fired up at the seeker trine as Prowl lead a charge to disrupt the line of cons. As their troops fought Megatron sighted Optimus Prime fighting among his men as he always so foolishly did.

"Prime!" he bellowed across the field, his opponent's head snapped up and blue optics met blood red in an instant. The pair charge one another their men rushing out of the way as the titans clashed.

"Just you and me Megatron!" Optimus demanded
"No just me Prime!" Megatron roared back.

The pair battled flattening the area around them with the fierceness of their battle. Buildings fell and both Autobots and Deceptions got out of the way as they fought. Megatron forced Optimus to his knees with one blow and raised his fusion canon; the Autobots tried to surge forward to save their leader as the cons blocked their way. One Deception stood back from the others and raised his little used cannon and aimed taking fire in the confusion.

The entire battle seemed to freeze as the silver giant known as Megatron buckled forward falling on his opponent who caught him as he struggled to his feet. All optics and eyes focused on the navy blue and silver figure standing alone on the edge of the battlefield.

'Soundwave?" Starscream landed transforming and glaring at the taller mech. "You traitor."
"Negative, the continuation of this fight is illogical, all tactical data states this war must end if our race is to survive." his monotone answer seemed to echo in the cool night air.
“You…” Megatron’s optics were dimming. All optics were torn between the fallen titans and the solitary figure of Soundwave.
“Soundwave, even if Megatron has fallen again I am then leader.” The seeker demanded.
“Negative, Megatron has sons two heirs, youngest’s location unknown eldest would follow.”
“Megatron’s heir?” the others were confused both Autobots and Decepticons had no idea what Soundwave meant.
“Surrender Starscream, you are outnumbered and one of your own people has shot your leader.” Prowl demanded of the seeker as the two groups of Cybertronians still faced off.
“This is not over, “ the seeker growled, then stopped as he saw Ironhide and the gun aimed on him. “We surrender.”
“It is over, drop your weapons.” Ironhide growled from behind him. The four had returned in the confusion, their opponents had fled.

Seeing the black mech who himself was basically a walking cannon the last of the cons dropped their hand held weapons and dropped to the ground, there was no way they were going to survive at this rate unless they did.

Optimus struggled to his feet still holding the Decepticon leader.

The humans who had been silent suddenly burst out in cheering. The metallic beings looked at them surprised.
“Ratchet your team will take care of the damaged bots, Decepticons unless you wish to be offlined you will go to the brig until it is decided what to do with you.” Optimus Prime ordered.
“What about his heir?” Redalert asked.
“We don’t have to worry about this heir; he will not help the Decepticons.” Elita-1 spoke up quietly.
“Are you sure?” One of the others asked.
“Yes I am.” She said looking at the Autobots who were surrounding the captured Decepticons.

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Later after the cleanup had been done and most of those who had fought were resting. Optimus was not resting yet; he was at work in his office he was still worrying on what to do now.

The door opened to admit Bumblebee, the young mech looked at him.
“Bumblebee?” he was a little surprised to see the scout who should have been with his human.
“Sir, Optimus what Soundwave said….”
“I know Bumblebee out of all of our people I know,” the elder mech assured him.
“Yes, maybe he’ll be one of the next arrivals.” He tried to assure his leader.
“Maybe.”
“Elita wants you to go recharge by the way.” He told him optics shining
“I will.”