Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Denny heard a collective gasp and Henry pointed to something urgently. He followed his finger to what it was and he nearly choked, dropping his phone.

A woman was standing near the rocket door entrance. She was of average height and build with shoulder-length wavy auburn hair and dark brown eyes, dressed in a business suit.

“Hi, Denny,” She said with a small smile, but in her eyes, there was a fire and there was something in her voice that told everyone one thing; she was pissed off.

“Mom?” Russell squeaked.

“Nicole. You look good….” Denny smiled back nervously. “How did you get in here?”

“I still have the passcode. Divorced for 6 years and you still haven't changed it….” She tisked and looked at all the Autobots. "New friends?"

"Listen, I can explain—"

"And you will," She frowned and took out her wallet, revealing a badge and credentials. “Agent Nicole Bishop of the United States government, part of Unit E. And you all got some serious explaining to do.”

“I thought you were a lawyer,” was all Denny could say. He was too stunned to say anything else.

Nicole and he were married for 11 years and he never knew. He had suspicions about what her job really was, but he had no reason to believe she'd lie to him.

What a shock.

Russell, on the other hand, was ecstatic.

“This is so cool!” Russell exclaimed, practically bouncing where he stood. “You're l-l-like a spy or something!? Because WOW I….”

Nicole's face remained stern, her frown deepening, and Russell took that as a cue to stop talking altogether.

There was more silence as they all just stared at her and she stared right back, cold and unwavering.

“It might help if someone starts talking. We might actually get somewhere,” She said, tapping her foot impatiently.

When no one said a word, she groaned. “Fine. I'll go first. My name, again, is Nicole Bishop and for 5 years I've acted as a liaison for the Cybertronian allies after the previous liaison, my mentor William Fowler, retired. You remember him, right, Bumblebee? You were on Team Prime if I'm not mistaken ”

Bumblebee pondered a moment, a familiar phrase suddenly coming to him.

“What the Sam Hill?” He blurted out unintentionally.

“Yeah, that guy. For 16 years, there was no contact from Cybertron or any of the former members of Team Prime….Zugzwang, may please stop hiding in the shadows and continue for me?”

“Of course!” The others jolted in surprise at the new voice and turned towards it, seeing a pitch-black bot with bi-colored optics, one red and one blue, who looked like a shadow himself as he came out of said shadows with a smile. “Greetings, Autobots.”

Robert the Scraplet jumped out of Hank's arms and went to the bot, making happy whirs all the way.

Zugzwang crouched a moment and held out a hand and the scraplet hopped on it, crawling up his arm and settling in the nook between his neck and shoulder.

“Guess we found who he belongs to….” Russell murmured in disappointment.

“Anyway, as I was saying, Sideswipe, I am very sorry for how I scared you that day. I hope we can be better acquaintances from this point on.”

“Can't say that I feel the same,” Sideswipe replied, glowering at him as he nervously rubbed his neck.

“Understandable. Anyways, as Nicole had mentioned, no contact at all. It was like we were forgotten,” Zugzwang frowned. “Someone also came in, from Cybertron, through the spacebridge one night and blew it up on the way out—that was why I took to covert surveillance instead of coming to you directly when we found out you were here, we needed to know we could trust you—and besides that, we've had no activity. Since we essentially had no way back to Cybertron, we decided to integrate ourselves into human society with human identities.”

“Fast forward to 6 months ago,” Nicole continued, “a weak outgoing communication signal was picked up by our satellites, though all we could hear was “Cybertron” and “prison ship the Alchemor” Then right after there was an influx of Cybertronian hostiles from across the globe. We connected the dots and have been catching and imprisoning them since then. But there was one question still in the air: Who could have been trying to send that message? So we decided to pinpoint where the sightings were more prevalent and we found it.”

“Crown City,” Zugzwang confirmed. “So I told the rest of my team, who are based here, to keep a better eye on things. They did and found a pattern from some of the sites where a Deception was seen. Civilians reported seeing a bearded man. He varied from a police officer to an Indiana Jones knock off. He was also sometimes seen with a child, presumably his son. Nicole and I thought to ourselves, ‘Who do we know that could be in the Crown City area that is such a good actor and has a son?’ and it came to us it could be none other than Denny—”

“Wait, how you know me?” Denny broke in.

“You'll find out later, it's not relevant now. Anyway, that day I knocked you out, Bumblebee, I put a tracker on you to see where you'd end up and it just so happened to be here. Then a few days later, I came to Crown City because I heard what happened and I came to pay my respects to those who passed and especially to offer comfort to my friend who lost his daughter. It wasn't ideal but I decided to enact my plan to infiltrate your team,” He said. “I got all my info within a few days, but because Sideswipe was nowhere to be found I had to stay a bit longer until he was. The only good thing out of that was I got to know everyone a lot better, like Denny, Russell, and especially….”

He paused suddenly and his optics narrowed as they focused on the kids and Drift's minicons. He crouched in front of them and began to stare intently at Russell.

“Zugzwang, what's wrong?” Nicole asked.

“Nicole, your son has his face completely hidden in his hoodie with a pair of shades. Looks just about ready to rob a corner store. You probably didn't notice, you usually don't notice everything when you are upset.”

Nicole looked at Russell and her eyes widened. She took them off him, much to the boy's dismay, and she gasped. “Russell, why do you have black eyes! Denny, what happened?”

“That little boy I told about, Diego. The one Russell wouldn't be nice to? He did that,” Denny replied.

Zugzwang looked around frantically. “He's not here. I can't even pick up an extra heat signature. Where is he?”

“Your little shade….Shade. Nightshade. That's what you meant when you told that to Grimlock in the woods, right?” Bumblebee asked suddenly.

Zugzwang quickly nodded. “Yes. But what does my little sister have to do with the boy?”

“Over an hour ago, we were attacked by Steeljaw and his Pack,” Bumblebee explained. “When we were able to drive them out, we found Diego was gone—”

He gaped in horror. “Oh my God—”

“Not like that! We found out Diego was gone because he was never real,” He continued. “He was just a holoform. One that was being used....by Blitz.”

“Then where is he!?”

Zugzwang suddenly heard a pair of vehicles rolling up and a transformation sounds from behind him.

“Guys, I can't find him….I can't, it's too dark now,” A disheartened voice practically sobbed. A very familiar disheartened voice, albeit older and deeper.

Could it be? Zugzwang quickly turned and was face to face with two similarly colored bots, a dark and light blue femme— Ah, the infamous Strongarm, He thought—and a black and blue mech.

“Who are you?” Strongarm asked, already reaching for a blaster but the mech stopped her as he slowly started to smile. “Nitro, why….ohhh!”

Zugzwang nearly tackled Nitrobolt in a tight embrace. As the two laughed and spun each other around in joy, most of the others just watched in silent confusion.

“Uh….can someone tell me what's going on?” Sideswipe asked finally.

“Family reunion,” Strongarm and Bumblebee answered.

“Look at you—you're all grown up!” Zugzwang grinned. “I haven't seen you in since you were a little boy….well, maybe not that little but a boy! Now, look at you. You turned out so handsomely. Bet they all come running, don't they?”

“Yeah, some do….” Nitrobolt nodded, smiling.

“I just heard about Blitzkrieg but what of your creators, Nightshade and Onyx?”  He inquired, deeply concerned. “Where are they?”

“It's….” He hesitated and sighed, “a very long story.”

“Then everyone else should hear it. Nicole,” He looked back down at her. “May we go now? I think it's about time we introduce everyone.”

“Of course,” She agreed and turned to Bumblebee. “Bumblebee, I think it's about time you get reunited with some old friends and I'm not exactly talking about his. How many of you are equipped with holomatter generators?”

The Bee Team and the other two Autobots all nodded but before they could ask why Zugzwang transformed into a sleek sports car and let Nicole in before driving away.

“Guess we're going to find out. C'mon, Russell and Hank, I'll give you a ride,” Strongarm transformed and let them in before driving after Zugzwang, followed shortly by Henry, Denny, Nitrobolt, and everyone else, who were now more confused than ever at the unending revelations the day brought them.

Chapter Text

Voices.

He couldn't see, it was blurry.

He felt dizzy.

He felt pain.

But he could hear.

The Nice One gasped, “Don't take him away! He's still bleeding, I need to fix—”

Another one, the Evil One, groaned, “You care too much.”

“He's just a baby!” Nice One cried out.  “Why would you stab him like that!”

Evil One let out a chuckle that ascended into a sick, twisted laugh. “Do you know who you are talking to….?”

“No one was even supposed to get hurt! You have those two already. They're the ones you wanted, do you have to do it to him, too?”

“Well, no one's going to take care of him now so why not!” Bad wouldn't stop laughing.

“Your son—”

“Out of the question!” They snarled.

“I'll take hi—”

“You know I've had just about enough of you,” Bad shouted angrily. “Get her out of—”

“I've had just about enough of your vendetta against your son. It doesn't even have anything to do with benefitting Cybertron!” Nice shouted back. “You hurt all these people who did nothing wrong, all because you want to get to Nitrobolt—”

“I said GET. HER. OUT!”

He began to scream again. He wanted her to come back. He wanted his creators back.

“Silence!”

Then he felt pain and it was dark.

Wet.

Water. Lots of water.

Smaller.

Why was he so small?

Motorcycle. Little motorcycle.

Small like him.

Was that his body?

No.

Maybe?

No.

Who was he?

Diego. Was that his name?

Trees.

Lots and lots of trees.

Walking.

Cold.

Afraid.

For a very long time.

Tired. He sat down.

He cried.

Who hurt him? Who took away his Mommy and Daddy?

“Hey, little buddy, what's wrong?” A man. Kind man. Denny!

Scrapyard. New home.

Bumblebee, Drift, Sideswipe, Grimlock, Fix-It, Jetstorm, Slipstream….Russell.

Friends. Family?

Adam Worth.

Familiar….Family.

Decepticons.

The Pack.

Steeljaw.

No, the new home. Have to keep it safe!

Bad idea.

Denny….Denny's in danger!

Falling.

Attacking!

Pain.

Blood.

Fading away.

Gone….

….Awake?

Himself.

Blitzkrieg. That's his name.

Bleeding, he's bleeding!

Where is he?

Where's Mommy? Where's Daddy?

Ineritio.

Need to find them.

Running.

Weaker.

Need to fix, need to mend.

Need to hide.

Need shelter.

Refuel. Need to refuel!

Energon!

Tired.

Dark.   

Cold—Wait!

Warm.

So warm.

So safe….

Blitzkrieg woke up right then and there.

He blinked once, then twice, then thrice.

He brought up a hand to his face and dragged it down with a low groan.

Primus, was he dizzy.

Where am I now? He realized, noticing the energon cubes that surrounded him when he drifted into a deep slumber were gone. The floor felt different, too.

He sat up and looked down.

He was on a makeshift berth.

How did I get here?

Wait, he vaguely remembered now, someone had carried him. They felt warm and they made him feel safe. Who were they?

Suddenly, he froze.

Someone was in this room with him

They were talking, no, whispering to themselves.

“You're going to regret this badly….Shut up. You've made your choice, now stick to it.”

What were they talking about?

“What am I going to do when he wakes up?”

Me, they're talking about me. Blitz thought and looked towards the direction of the voice. Some bot….a wolficon….was standing on the other side of the room, stroking his chin in deep thought while muttering to themselves.

They looked and sounded familiar.

Hold on….he had a Decepticon with claw marks over his insignia.

That was familiar….but what was their name….?

Was he an enemy? He was a Decepticon. But he would've hurt him already.

Wait. Steeljaw! He was Steeljaw!

The one who attacked the….the….scrapyard with his team.

“Blitzkrieg,” He suddenly called his name.

Blitz gasped, scrambling off the berth and into a corner. He let out a deep, low growl and brandished his claws.

Feisty little one, ain't he? Steeljaw thought immediately upon seeing his display, holding back a laugh before quickly becoming serious again.

“It's okay,” He managed to say softly. “I'm not going to hurt you.”

Blitz shook his head vigorously and began to bare his fangs.

“I know your big brother Nitrobolt. He and I were friends,” He added next and the youngling stopped immediately and blinked in confusion. “You can trust me, I swear.”

Blitz had officially stopped growling, only to replace that with a cold, hard glare.

Steeljaw pondered a moment. How could he get the youngling to trust him?

Suddenly, he remembered something.

“It's kind of a….vow, sort of,” Nitrobolt said as he worked on re-attaching his hand. “Knowing means you're sort of apart of in a way—can you pass me that—and you can be trusted. Ah, good as new!”

He shook his newly attached appendage vigorously, wiggled his fingers, and transformed it into various medical tools and weapons.

“Anyway, I wanted to tell you.”

“Why?” Steeljaw asked.

“Well….” He began, nervously, “I trust you with my life. And I feel that you should know because you're my partner….right?”

Steeljaw nodded with a smile, “Of course I am. Let's hear it.”

He smiled back. “It goes as follows, repeat after me….”

“Sometimes I wonder what the colors mean when I see them dancing in your eyes,” Steeljaw began.

At once, he got Blitz's attention as his helm shot up and something in him seemed to awaken.

“I watch them shimmer and sparkle. And in the colors, I could see a glimpse of paradise. A waking dream. Just like a beautiful dreamer, I'm hypnotized,”  He continued with a soft smile, holding out a hand to him. “Take my hand. I'll help you understand how much you mean to me. For you are my darling, my dear, my shining star."

Blitz cautiously made his way towards him, curiosity and familiarity peaking in his optics. He hesitantly reached out as he came ever closer.

“Sometimes I still wonder what those colors mean and why I see them dancing. But what I do know is that deep in my heart....”

Blitz's hand took hold of Steeljaw's, letting it envelop around his.

“I love you so,” Blitz finally spoke up as he smiled. “Hello.”

“Hello.”

“My name is Blitzkrieg, not to be confused with Blitzwing.”

“I know. My name is Steeljaw. Come on, let's get a cube of energon. We have lots and lots to discuss.”

“You know my big brother. He told you the poem?” Blitz asked while he sat on the floor next to him with a cube of energon.

“Yes, we were very close. He told me a lot about you and it's quite a pleasure to finally meet you. Now, tell me this, what happened when you disappeared. Nitrobolt told me what happened, but I'd like to hear from you. And how did you wind up here of all places?” Steeljaw asked back.

He huffed. “You have to promise you'll answer my questions if I do. Got it?”

“I promise. I'm sure you do have a lot it's been almost 15 years since you….vanished.”

Blitz took a deep vent and took a moment to finish his cube before he began.

“It was night. Mommy and Daddy—”

Mommy and Daddy? Right….human terms for creators. His carrier and sire, Steeljaw quickly remembered.

“—told me that all of us; Nitrobolt, them, and I; we were all going back here on Earth together. They said they hated it on Cybertron because this wasn't their home anymore, it was still broken and until they could fix it we were all going back to Earth as a family. I was so happy! But then….they came and tried to take us away.”

“Who?”

“The Council. Mommy and Daddy fought back, but then they shot them lots of times! They fell and stopped moving. Then they shot me….and I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was in a strange room and someone was holding me too tight. I saw my creators in stasis pods,” His mouth quivered slightly. “I looked up at who had me and saw Ineritio smiling at me, but in a creepy way. It made me sick. He said to me ‘ I'm going to put you to sleep, just like them you little brat. You're not going to take Nitrobolt away from me.’. There was this pain right in my stomach and he dropped me to the ground. He stabbed me, I was bleeding. I….felt so weak….Can I get another cube?”

Steeljaw nodded and gave him another one. He took a break from his story and took the time to drink from it entirely. Then he set it down and sighed.

“Someone screamed at him and I felt them pick me up and cradle me. She was apart of the Council and she kept telling me she was sorry while she tried to fix me. Ineritio snatched me away before she finished. They argued and he made the others take her away. I started to scream at him and he hit me so hard, everything turned black,” He paused a moment, looking on the brink of tears but he held them back and took another breath. “I woke up on the edge of a river in my holoform, my body was in my alt mode. I couldn't remember who I was, though. I thought I was human. Everything after that is a little...fuzzy. A man found me in front of a store, I think his name was Denny. He had a son, who I didn't really like. He was always mean to, even when I was nice. He owned a scrapyard. I think I saw….other Autobots. Maybe Bumblebee. They were hunting fugitives or something. There was this other man named Adam that came by once, he reminded me of my uncle, and he gave me his special watch. Later on, much later someone invaded the scrapyard….some 'Cons and you,” He glared at him for a moment. “Denny, his kid, and I tried to escape. But Denny was caught and I went to save him! I stabbed the….crab in the optic and he crushed me. My holoform died out and that woke me, the real me, up. I was confused a-and scared, my wound had opened up and I was bleeding again. I ran away until I couldn't anymore. I repaired myself with my frame welder and I ran some more until I found this place. I found the energon and drank as much as I could before I fell asleep, I was just so tired.”

Blitz looked up at him with such confusion in his optics.

“Why were you so gentle with me? How do you know my brother? Why did you scratch your insignia? Are or are you not a Decepticon? It's time for my questions,” He demanded.

“Slow down there. It's a very long and complicated story. Let's start with how I met your brother. It was also after dark when I went into a….” Steeljaw paused, looking for another word, "dance club and I found your brother, he was upset. He told me part of what happened. Simply put, afterward, I decided to help him defeat the Council and we became partners. He told me later on who you all really were and it made me work even harder to help him. You see,  someone, and we bet it was the council, was making everyone forget things. Like, almost forgot all the good things Team Prime had done, they also forgot about you and your creators….even Bumblebee.”

“They did? He did?” The youngling gasped in shock, a little saddened by the news.

“We worked hard for years, tried and failed many times….but we were relentless. No one could defeat us or break us down or even catch us. We were….like heroes.”

“Really?” He said in awe. “Then….what happened? Why aren't you guys a team anymore?”

Steeljaw actually took a moment to think about that. What had happened? Nitrobolt claims he confessed to using him or something along those lines, while he remembers Nitrobolt telling him how much he hates him. That whole day was just one huge….blackout come to think of it. Those two memories couldn't have been real. For one, he never used him. Even when he wanted to he couldn't bring himself to and he told Nitrobolt this a long while before that. He was upset but he forgave him. Secondly, considering what happened between them that day, none of that could've happened. Could it?

“Are you okay?” Blitz asked, breaking his thoughts.

“....Yes, I was thinking. To answer your question, I don't know,” He shrugged his shoulders, shaking his helm. “It just happened, we weren't….friends anymore. Then he went missing and I knew Ineritio had something to do with it. I caused quite a ruckus to get to him, but I was, unfortunately, arrested and they gave me these Decepticon marks before throwing me in stasis. I woke up when we crashed on Earth and destroyed my markings so I couldn't be tracked.”

“....Are you a Decepticon then?” Blitz frowned.

“Well….not in the common sense. I am a revolutionary. I'm fighting for the greater good.”

“Then why do you want to make Earth your Decepticon empire? That doesn't sound good, that sounds bad,” He muttered.

Steeljaw sighed. “Think of it as a battle situation. Nitrobolt and I tried to beat the council and we failed. I tried and failed. Cybertron is the Council's domain, they have control over anything. Why did we fail?”

“Well, you were outnumbered and outsourced in enemy territory. The best action is to retreat and plan a better strategy, along with gathering more….” He trailed off and nodded. “I see what you're doing. But….”

“Yes, Blitzkrieg?”

“Why not tell the Autobots? I'm sure they'd understand.”

Steeljaw shook his helm. “No, no, no. You don't get it. I'm a fugitive of justice who on more than one occasion I tried to make them into scrap. Even if none of it were true, I'm still labeled as a Decepticon. What's more believable: I'm completing Megatron's work to take over the planet or I'm building an army to fight the corrupted party that rules our world?”

He grimaced, “I see the problem.”

“Not even your brother trusts me—”

“My brother, he's here?” Blitz gasped. “Where is he?”

Dammit…. He swore to himself. What can I—Lie, you fool, lie!

“Yes, I haven't seen him for months though,” He shrugged. “He might've run off with that femme he's best friends with….Strongarm. I'm guessing that the others must have found out he was on the prison ship and when the Autobots tried to arrest him, they ran away.”

“I'm all alone,” The youngling dropped his helm crestfallen and he hugged his knees to his chest to make himself smaller. He looked like he wanted to cry but he kept it inside.

“Look what I have for you, this might help you feel better.”

Blitz looked up and in an instant, his optics lit up and he smiled, “Orion?”

He was referring to the raggedy well-loved stuffed turbofox Steeljaw was holding out to him. He grabbed it and smashed it against his chest and relentlessly nuzzled it. “I thought I'd never ever see you again! Where'd you find him?”

“When your brother went missing, I went to his apartment. I got as much as his belongings as possible so I wouldn't forget him. He had that among everything,” He replied. “He kept that and he always said he was proud of you. You know what else he told me?” He paused for effect before continuing. “That if anything should happen, and I was still online, I had to take care of you. He made me promise. So until he reappears, let's make a deal. Okay?”

Blitz nodded.

“I propose a mutually beneficial arrangement for both of us. While you're with me, I will be your teacher and you will be my student. I'll teach you everything I know. You also have a choice to go back to the Autobots, but would you rather be somewhat forgotten by your peers or have a shot at becoming stronger?” Steeljaw held out his hand for him to shake. “Do you want to become my….protege of sorts?”

Blitz looked back and forth between his hand and his face. He seemed genuine enough. He hadn't given him a reason not to trust him. If he wanted to hurt him, he would've done something by now. All he's been doing is treating with the utmost kindness. If Nitrobolt was his friend once that had to mean something.

“Deal,” He took his hand. “But promise me something; don't kill any of the Autobots, please. I know they're your enemies and I'm not saying you can't fight them, just don't hurt them too much to the point they'd die….okay?”

“That's easy enough, Blitz. Deal,” Steeljaw shook his hand and smiled. “I have a feeling you and I will be very good friends.”

■□■□■□

“Why did we stop by that liquor store?” Bumblebee asked as he pulled up next to Zugzwang. “And how much longer are we going to drive?”

“I promised I'd bring some soda and I needed to restock my cabinet….and quit your whining we're already here,” Zugzwang snapped and Bumblebee noticed that they were pulling into a large lot in the back of a very large house.

He noticed there was an assortment of vehicles already there; a harrier jet, a smaller version of that jet, a heavily armored truck, an MQ-9 Reaper, and a pair of twin cars; and all of them looked vaguely familiar.

“Hey, I know this place. This Adam's house,” Hank said as she stepped out of Strongarm with Russell.

“Adam Worth?” Russell asked and she nodded.

“Yeah, you're right,” Henry let out a quick laugh. “Haven't seen this place in years. I remember you and Butch used to play here all the time....why here....”

“Nicole, what are we doing here?” Bumblebee asked.

“Yeah, I imagined we'd be by an abandoned warehouse or something," Denny added as he got out of Bumblebee.

“I told you, to meet some old friends,” She answered. “Holoforms, remember?” She reminded all of them [the Autobots] and a group of people, holoforms, quickly appeared into thin air, each next to the alt mode they came from.

“Grimlock, where's yours?” asked a dark-skinned man with a black and yellow track jacket, Bumblebee.

“Is it cool to just leave me out here? I'm covered in a tarp but….ya sure no one's gonna ask questions about me? Like neighbors,” The Dinobot said nervously.

“Oh please,” Zugzwang sniggered, “the closest neighbors are 5 miles away. You're fine, Grimlock.”

Grimlock grinned and at once his holoform materialized and joined the others.

Nicole smiled at them all in satisfaction and opened the door, ushering them all in. Bumblebee stopped midway and looked back at Zugzwang. “Are you coming?”

“Yeah, just give me a moment. Need a moment to...gather my thoughts,” He replied and Bumblebee could see a vague silhouette of a man in the driver's seat.

“Okay,” He shrugged and went in, immediately bumping into a man.

“Ow!” He exclaimed as he hit the floor with a thud.

“I'm so sorry!” Bumblebee said, reaching out a hand, “here, let me help you—"

“No, I'm okay, thanks though,” He pushed himself off the floor with a pair of glasses in his hand.

“Still, I'm sorry….” Bumblebee trailed, staring at him as he put his glasses back on. There was something familiar about him.

“You don't have to say anything.”

“....I never did.”

“Raf?”

Chapter Text

“Raf?” Bumblebee uttered so softly, it was almost a whisper. “I-It's really you! It's me….holoform me, b-but me! Do….Do you remember me?”

The spiky brown-haired, bespectacled man that stood before him stared back at him with the same familiarity, a smile growing on his face as he nodded. “I remember you, Bumblebee.”

Bumblebee tensed. “Raf….I'm sorry I didn't call or come back, I didn't mean to but—”

Raf shook his head, laughing softly with tears touching his eyes and he suddenly pulled the other into a tight, warm embrace. “I missed you so much, Bee!”

Bumblebee felt something wet trickle down his holoformed cheeks as he smiled and returned his embrace. “Me, too, Raf. Me, too.”

“Hey, what about us?”

He looked and saw a man with black hair and a short, trimmed beard accompanied by a small woman with short black hair that had a large streak of pink.

“Jack! Miko! Come over here!” He opened his arms again and they almost knocked him down when they ran into him and pulled him into a hug. “You're all a lot bigger than I remember!”

“And you're a lot smaller, Bee. When did you grow hair and get a nose?” Miko joked, play with his hair a bit.

They all laughed for what felt like decades before their laughs died down and the air was tainted with the sense of austerity.

“So, Bee….” Jack began with a sigh, “Zugzwang told us what's going on back on your planet from what he found out while being with your team. The demonizing of Team Prime, the new Council, the blacklisting of bots who chose to stand by Optimus….What happened to Team Prime?” He implored, a little concerned. “Arcee….is she okay?”

“Bulkhead and Wheeljack, are they okay, too?” Miko cut in, equally concerned.

“Is Ratchet alright?” Raf added. “We know what happened to Nightshade, Onyx, and Blitz, Zugzwang called us about it on the way here.”

“Well….for the most part….” Bumblebee hesitated as all eyes trained on him. “I don't know where some are, but I know what happened to all of them. Ultra Magnus is chief of police in Iacon, Smokescreen's a sergeant there, too, last I checked. Arcee, Bulkhead, Ratchet, and Wheeljack were sent off-world to capture war criminals….basically exiled. I talk to Ratchet, Bulk, and Arcee sometimes, so I know they're okay. But I've never been able to get a hold of Wheeljack....”

“What about Optimus? Is….he really gone?”

Bumblebee immediately shook his head. “I don't know. I see his….spirit sometimes, but only I can see him. He's the main reason I came back to Earth, he told me to come here because something was going on here. I thought it was just about recapturing prisoners but now, with everything I'm starting to remember, I think it's so much more than that….”

They were startled by someone suddenly screaming “OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!” off the top of their lungs. They instantly bolted down the small hallway to the parlor where the others were only to see it was only Russell losing it (in a good way) completely.

“So let me get this straight….Aunt Miko, Uncle Jack, Uncle Raf, and Mom, you are all agents that protect the world with other transformers, while keeping their existence a secret!!?” Russell exclaimed, practically hyperventilating.

“Pretty much,” Miko shrugged.

“Really hit the nail on the head with that one,” Jack added.

“Please, Russell, calm down! You're going to faint at this rate,” Nicole said, quickly looking towards them with an apologetic expression.

Russell only nodded before he fell back into the couch next to Denny, still forever fidgeting to contain his excitement.

“Oh, um, let me introduce you to my team,” Bumblebee gestured to their holoforms, who were either sitting or standing.

“I think we can guess who they are from pictures and descriptions Zugzwang sent us. First off our names, I'm Miko Nakadai, Wrecker,” She beamed with pride.

“Jackson Darby, Jack for short,” Jack bowed his head slightly.

“Rafael Jorge Gonzalez-Esquivel. Just call me Raf,” Rafael said.

“Okay now let's see….you're Drift and I bet those two kids with you are your students, Jetstorm and Slipstream,” Miko assumed.

The Eastern Asian man with a small goatee bowed his head, while the two similar-looking boys with him—one with a crew cut and the other with dark curls—grinned.

“You look like a real bruiser, but also a little sweet. Grimlock?”

The large, brawny man with dreadlocks tied up in a ponytail nodded with a toothy smile.

“You're Sideswipe. Don't even have to guess, look at your hair! Real rebel this one, I bet.”

The young man with the spiky red hair clad in a red leather jacket smirked.

“You're definitely Strongarm, you look like you could really kick aft.”

The young Hispanic woman with short curly hair and bright blue eyes smiled.

“Ooh, you're Fix-It. You know, you look cute as a button!”

The short, middle-aged man with short orange hair dressed in mechanic coveralls, with a medic band on his right arm, grinned. “Why thank you, Miko.”

“And you're….Nitrobolt. I know all about you, Nightshade and Onyx talked about you almost all the time, don't even get me started with the rest of your family. They're all proud of you,” Miko smiled, shaking his hand, “personally, it's an honor to meet you. I've heard of all the missions you were on!”

“I can say the same for you, Miko, and your friends,” The man with the dark tan skin and black hair with a few streaks of neon blue smiled. “I guess both our reputations precede us.”

Miko shook his hand again and looked at Henry and Hank eagerly.

“And you two are….are, um,” She edged a little closer and squinted. “Who the heck are they? I thought there were only 8.”

Nicole cleared her throat and muttered, “I texted you, remember? Henry Costin and his daughter, Henrietta.”

Raf's eyes widened. “Henry Cassidy Costin? From high school!?”

“Yup, that's me, Raf. You look good, little buddy,” Henry smiled and held out his hand to him to shake, but instead, he was quickly hugged.

“Man, it's been years!” The younger man exclaimed. “You look the same! It was like only yesterday you moved away and now you have a daughter….she looks just like you but cuter.”

“I get that a lot.”

“Henrietta Cassidy Costin—just call me Hank—nice to meet you all,” Hank said with a tip of her helmet.

“....That's a cool name, kid, and a cool helmet— and is that a blaster?” Miko pointed out gleefully. Indeed, both she and her dad still had their blasters strapped to their belts.

“Yup, Bolts gave it to me. I'm a real sharpshooter, wanna see it?”

“Sure!” She took it and looked it over, and she smiled at her. “You remind me of me when I was younger, I don't know why, but you do,” She grinned. “Can you play, guitar?”

“I know how to play a keytar,” Hank shrugged.

“We could work with that.”

Henry smiled a bit at them before he noticed Jack staring at him intently, his brow arched slightly. He looked at Hank for a moment before he brought back his gaze to him.

“Henry, are you Ecl….I mean, Anita's Henry?” Jack finally asked.

“You know Anita?”

“I'll take that as a yes. Um, I recognize your daughter from what I hear about her from….Butch. He's crazy about her, says she's the sister he never had. And Anita, boy, does she really love you….” Jack chuckled nervously before he became stern. “She hasn't told you her….secret, has she?”

Henry shook his head slowly, becoming confused and concerned.

The other man sighed. “Does she know you're here?”

“Well of course,” Someone else answered. “Why do you think we stayed outside?”

Everyone in the room looked towards them, seeing a bicolor eyed man with slicked-back black hair dressed to the nines and carrying a case of an assortment of liquor.

“Adam? What are you doing here?” Denny asked, dumbfounded.

“I think it was established this is my house, Dennis,” Adam rolled his eyes, setting the case down of a coffee table. “You could be really dense, you know that?”

Denny's mouth twisted in displeasure and he was about to say something before Sideswipe spoke up, excitedly pointing, “Wait….your eyes. They're different just like—!” He gasped, pointing. “You're Zugzwang!”

“Ding, ding, ding! The prize goes to Sideswipe,” Adam, or rather, Zugzwang smiled.

“An actor….that fits you, Uncle Zee,” Nitrobolt noted.

“Thank you, Nitrobolt. Anyway, remember what I said about human identities? Well, this is mine! You already know my family's pretty well.”

Suddenly, the others, mainly the Autobots, Henry, Hank, Russell, and Denny's eyes became wide as saucers when the realization hit them like several tons of metal bricks.

“Anita is….” Henry trailed off and froze as he stared at the vehicles outside, the ones that were so out of place.

“And Butch, too,” Hank added.

Zugzwang nodded. “Everyone's waiting outside. Let's go.”

To accentuate his statement, his holoform flickered out and his alt transformed right outside the window along with most of the other vehicles that were originally in his lot. The Autobots followed his example, leaving the humans to run outside after them.

As soon as they were outside, Henry, Hank, Denny, and Russell were met by 4 new bots; 2 mechs, a femme, and a youngling; whom Nitrobolt was happily chattering with at the moment while they bombarded him with affection.

“Nice to meet you, cousin, I'm Zephyr!” The youngling said enthusiastically to Nitrobolt. Hank and Russell could swear he sounded…..familiar.

“I'm Nitrobolt, Zephyr, and it's nice to meet you, too,” Nitrobolt replied.

Someone cleared their throat (possibly Sideswipe, he looked rather put off by the whole thing) and it all quickly ended when they remembered the situation.

Now that they were still, everyone could see they all varied in shape and size.

The first of the two mechs was visibly the youngest of the older bunch, looking to be around the same age range as Strongarm and Sideswipe, possibly above by only slightly. He was tall and slender, and he looked pretty wild with the mask that covered most of his face and a pair blazing crimson red optics that contrasted his light cobalt blue finish.

The second mech was vastly different from the first. For one, he was much older, secondly, he had an entirely different frame. He was tall, too, but not as much as the former and he was more, for the lack of a better word, huskier and more armored. The only qualities they shared was their optics and their X'ed out Decepticon insignias.

Then there was the femme and the youngling. There was something regal in the way she carried herself, even her wings seemed to present this; they were hung from her back in such a way that they looked like a cape. She looked a queen.
If she was queen, then the youngling who stood next to her would be a prince. He looked so much like her in many ways, that it wasn't crazy to assume that he was her offspring. He looked rather mischievous right off the bat, but at the same time, a little nervous as he partially hid behind his creator and stared at Hank. His creator eyed Henry for a moment with a look of uncertainty before reaffirming her gaze to the Autobots.

“Okay let's—hopefully—do this introduction thing one last time. My name is Zugzwang and I am also Adam Worth, we all know that. But now let's meet my family,” Zugzwang made a grand gesture with his arm to them.

“I'm Firecracker, also known as Mondego “Money” Mercado,” The first mech seemed to smile with his eyes as he happily waved at them.

“Renegade aka Travis “Pippin” Johnson,” The second mech gruffly stated.

“I'm Eclipse, this is my son Zephyr,” The femme gestured to herself and the youngling. “We….We are also—”

“Anita Negasi?” Henry smiled, going up to Eclipse.

“Butch?” Hank grinned, going up to Zephyr.

Eclipse's optics widened. “Wait….you're not upset about it? I thought you'd at least be a little shocked about it.”  

“We've been living with two giant robots for a few months and we just fought Decepticons today, nothing shocks us no more,” Henry laughed and she, in turn, laughed along with him.

“Wait, what about those cars?” Denny pointed at the twin cars.

“Oh, that's just Arson and Anarchy,” Zugzwang answered.

“Then….why haven't they transformed?” Bumblebee asked.

“They're grounded of course. You don't just steal daddy's ship and run away with no word for centuries and expect no consequences,” He frowned. “As punishment, they're stuck in their holoforms until they apologize.”

“Then where are they ?”

“Arrested for vandalism back in the city. They'll be released by morning,” His frown after a moment turned to a smile as he transformed and activated his holoform. “Now, let's get back in! We've got much to celebrate, and I've got enough food and drinks for everybody!”

He quickly ran inside and everyone, who was a bot, followed his example before going inside with everyone else.

Well, almost everyone.

Sideswipe stared at Strongarm, optics hard and cold.

Strongarm stared back, optics nervous and sorrowful.

They uttered no words, they didn't even blink.

Only stared unrelentingly at each other, walking towards one another until they were face to face.

Finally, after what felt like countless lifetimes in just a few moments, Sideswipe let out a heavy sigh.

“Why did you leave us?”

A simple enough question, simple but not easily answered.

“Well?” He asked again, much harsher than before when she didn't answer and looked away from him. “Look at me.”

“I left, Sideswipe,” Strongarm began, looking back at him, “because I needed to protect him—”

“No! You didn't need to, he could have taken care of himself. What's the real reason, huh? You could've stayed! You didn't have to leave! So why? Why!?” He nearly shouted, but kept his voice in check because didn't want to alert the others, throwing his arms up in frustration. “You lied and abandoned all of us over one guy! One guy! Look at my hand—” He held up a single finger to her face, “—one. Why?”

Strongarm frowned. “I lied to protect him because I knew what would happen if you all knew the truth, and in the end I was right. Straight to stasis without any defense!”

“Well excuse us for doing our jobs!”

“He was unconscious! He didn't even get to defend himself! Tell me, what sounds right about that? Nothing, that's what! And why I left? I told you already, but also because I wanted to. It was selfish, it was cowardly, but I wanted to because I didn't want to be there anymore. I didn't want to be with any of you anymore, either!” She snapped.

Sideswipe seemed visibly hurt by this, she could see it in his optics and the way his whole frame began to falter and shudder.

“I'm….sorry, Sideswipe. It's just that all of you turned against me….I just needed to leave, to get away. There wasn't a day that passed that I didn't regret leaving, but I was too scared to come back. I didn't know what you guys would do to us,” She sighed and bit on her lip.

She wished for an escape now more than ever. She wanted to hide, she wanted to run. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry. But it was better to stay than leave, she didn't want to be a coward again. Even if it ended horribly.

“I always missed you, Sideswipe. I thought about you every day. I didn't mean to hurt you,” She admitted quietly to him. “We….didn't get along. We drove each other insane. But, when we didn't, we'd have fun together. I missed that. Then I met Spencer….I met you again.”

Sideswipe gasped, jaw-dropping. “....You knew it was me? How?”

Strongarm cracked a small smile and pointed to him. “Because it was you, you looked human but you were still the same old Sideswipe. The more we spent time together, the more I knew it had to be you….and it made me very happy to see you.”

“Why….why didn't you tell me then?” He frowned.

“I was scared, Sideswipe. I wanted to tell you so much it drove me insane. But I was scared of what would happen. There was always the chance you were just a regular human guy and also I didn't know what would happen to me or Nitro if I told you. I'm sorry that I was selfish, Sideswipe, and I'm sorry I was a coward, to begin with. I'm sorry….I know that is not enough but I won't stop saying it,” She looked down a moment in shame before she faced him again, with guilt-filled optics. “We're friends Sideswipe. Like you said, we're....we're teammates, we should always have each other's six because we're all we got. I know I can't take back the last 4 months or act like they never happened, but I want us to stay friends. Not enemies.”

She stretched out her hand to him, silently begging for him to take it with a hopeful glint in her cerulean optics.

Sideswipe glared down at it and for once during their exchange, his gaze softened.

Friends.

They're friends.

Good friends.

Great friends.

Friends who didn't always get along, but they were still friends and they cared for one another. They fought together side by side on many occasions.

And when they were pretending to be two different people, they found each other again and became friends again.

And they talked, they laughed, they went out to movies, the carnival once, and sometimes they wouldn't talk at all, just walk together in the park. They had the time of their lives together, they had so much fun!

Why throw that all away now because he was angry at something that, if he'd been put in her situation, done as well?

And what about Nitrobolt? Like Bumblebee told him earlier in the woods earlier that afternoon, Nitrobolt had done nothing wrong. He was actually a stand-up guy, despite Sideswipe's feelings towards him, that was the truth. Nitrobolt and Strongarm were very close, it was obvious they loved each other very much. That night they left, everyone did turn on them. Why wouldn't they have left together?

Take her hand! He told himself. Take it now!

He listened and the world moved in slow motion as he began to reach out.

They could make things better from this point on. Maybe he could at least try to get to know Nitrobolt a little better, stop hating him for almost no reason.

Strongarm had started to smile at him and he felt himself smiling, too, until—

He stopped.

That part of him inside, the one that he could never fully control, had reared its ugly helm. And he felt all the anger, all the hurt, all the fear, and every other horrible feeling rise to the surface, destroying any previous voice of reason he had left.

Strongarm wasn't his friend. She abandoned the team. She abandoned him. She didn't care. She made him want to cry that night she left. If she cared she wouldn't have left! She wouldn't have lied!

And Nitrobolt? He could go frag himself!

Screw it if he wanted to forgive her! Screw it if he missed her!

Sideswipe's hand retreated and he scowled at her. “All of those things we did together when we….when you were pretending to be a human, all the fun we had and how happy we were, that was all just one big fat lie,” He snarled. “That's all it ever was. Along with any “friendship” we had before. Wasn't it?”

“No,” Strongarm tried to defend, “no that isn't—”

“You lied to all of us. You lied to me. You even lied to yourself! So why should I still believe in you?”

He transformed and drove off on her before she could reply….and before he could regret what he had done.

And Strongarm, well, she watched him go until he disappeared from view and she lowered her helm in sorrowful defeat.

She didn't really notice when Nitrobolt came to join her or that he was there till he cradled her in his arms and let her put her helm on his shoulder as she, for the first time in many years, cried.

Chapter Text

You're an idiot, you know that?

Shut up, wimp!

I don't want to hate her….I don't want to hate anyone! I'm tired of hating! 

She left us! 

Shut up, jerk!

I'm the stronger one for us, you just cry!

You push everyone away!

I protect us!

You never make things better!  

It keeps us safe!

You only make things worse!

“Shut up! Just shut up!” Sideswipe screamed at the voices in his helm and fell back against a tree, sliding down until he was seated on the ground. 

He reached into his subspace, pulling out a small pouch and sifting through it until he pulled out a single cygar.

This one was expensive, a whole pack alone cost a fortune! He was lucky to get his hands on one.

He was saving it for a special occasion, like his next sparkday or, hell, maybe finding his family. He didn't know. 

This wasn't a special occasion but at this point, he couldn't give two frags.

He lit it up and took one long drag as he switched on some music in his audials. 

No wonder this was expensive. He could practically taste the quality and it was amazing. Maybe he should have saved this for a happier time, he would have enjoyed it more.

But frag it, who cares! He frowned and continued to smoke, letting the fumes and the music carry him away into a sense of peace for a few minutes. 

He sifted through the pouch again to distract himself after that didn't work. He had 189 shanix, a few energon goodies, some nick-nacks that varied from little toys to just useless scrap he kept for no reason, and a picture of two younglings who looked very familiar; he didn't know who they were or where he got the picture. He was tempted to just throw it out, but it oddly meant so much to him he couldn't bear to just get rid of it. 

He did this several more times before he sighed

He just felt like scrap, worse than before.

“Man,” He chuckled, but there was no amusement as his voice was laced with cynicism, “I really fucked up this time….”

Sideswipe put out his cygar and put it back in the pouch, putting that back in his subspace.

He stood up and stretched. He should get back before the others get worried. And Strongarm….what would he do about her? There was no turning back now, he had burned their bridges and then some. Better to just leave that alone until he could think of something to fix it--

He froze when someone suddenly pressed a blade against his back.

“Don't move. Don't you dare fragging move! Got that?” They warned, panting heavily as they pressed it deeper to the point it almost stung. “I said, got that?”

“Yes! I got it, I got it!” He nodded and pressure lessened. 

“Good. Give me....any supplies you have!"

"I-I don't have anything...."

"Then identify yourself….please….” They ordered voice wavering. “What's your side?”

“Sideswipe. Autobot….” Sideswipe trailed off as he saw a puddle of energon forming at his peddes. It couldn't be his, he'd know if he was bleeding. Then he heard a loud thud and the blade was gone. He quickly turned and saw a winged mostly red femme lying on the ground unconscious with energon pouring from a wound on her abdomen. 

“Oh my God! Miss? Miss?” He shook her slightly. “A-Are you….alive?”

“Ugh….” She moaned and flinched. 

“She's alive!” He sighed in almost relief as he stared at her open wound. “Not for long….what do I do, what do I do, what do I do—the guys!”

He picked her up, ripping out a small bush from the ground and pressing it against the wound to stop the bleeding before running as fast as his legs could carry him back to the house.

Chapter Text

Strongarm and Nitrobolt were still outside looking up at the sky and counting the stars one by one and naming them each. They could've gone back inside, yes, but they preferred being alone together for the moment being. Too much, today was too much. An emotional rollercoaster was the best way to describe it. Even the joy felt was clouded by sorrow.

The silence helped a little.

“You two are so cute, you know that? Like two peas in a pod,” Zugzwang said as he transformed behind them and came up beside them. “What are you both doing out here? Everyone's inside.”

“It's too loud for us inside right now, Zugwang, I hope you can understand,” Strongarm replied.

“Strongarm, chéri, you are practically apart of our family. You can call me uncle if you're comfortable with it or Jig.”

“No, I wouldn't want to impose.”

“Nonsense,” He shook his helm before he looked at the sky with them in silence for a few minutes. “You know, this reminds me of when you two were little ones. You'd always look at the stars….”

They stared at him in complete disbelief. They hadn't known each other for that long, he had to be mistaken.

“You forgot....well, it was nearly a millennia ago, of course, you wouldn't remember,” He chuckled to himself. “Strongarm, when you were very little, your sire Wheeljack needed a safe place for you to stay until he found a way to send you off-planet. He's great friends with Nightshade and Onyx, and he had you stay with them and Nitrobolt. You were like a daughter to them, they loved you so much. Better yet, you and Nitrobolt were inseparable from the moment you met. You did almost everything together. Even slept together, it was so cute. Then Wheeljack came and picked you up, I guess you hadn't seen each other since then. You're still the bestest friends I hope?”

Nitrobolt and Strongarm nodded, continuing to look at the sky while they visibly held onto each other tighter, which made the other bot beam with pleasure.

“And Strongarm, also, give Sideswipe time. I know he's upset and that he may have said some nasty things to you right now, but just give him time. I'm not going to say all of what I saw in his mind because it's not my right, but I will tell you that I saw how he thought of you. You mean a lot to him. He'll come around, but give him time,” Zugzwang assured her, craning his helm back down to see her smiling at him.

“Thanks, Jig,” She said softly. “I can call you that, right?”

He smiled back, “Of course, chéri —”

“HELP!” Someone practically screamed and in the next moment they saw Sideswipe fall to his knees in front of them with an injured femme in his arms. “You go-gotta help! I-I think she's gonna-na-na die!  

“Lay her down now!” Zugzwang ordered and he began looking over her.

“Can you help her? Like surgery or something?”

“She is losing too much energon at this rate….Syringe!”

Nitprobolt quickly pulled one out of his subspace and sunk it into his uncle's arm drawing out a large portion of his energon, which was an odd shade of pink.

“What is that!?” Sideswipe gasped, frantically pointing. “Why does it look like that!”

“Calm down, Sideswipe, calm down! Look at me!” Strongarm got a hold of him and made him look at her. “Just calm down!”

“No! I will not calm down until I get an explanation—”

She whipped out a small wand, flashing a light in his optics and making him fall asleep.

I'm getting tired of using this today…. She thought with a frown as she propped his body up against the fence.

“Thank you, he was giving us anxiety….” Zugzwang muttered before he injected the unknown femme with the pink biochemical cocktail that was his lifeblood down to the last drop. Instantaneously, the femme's frantic vents slowed and became calm as the deep gashes along her abdomen closed up and any other injuries fixed themselves.

“What just happened?” Strongarm asked in wide-opticed wonder.

“As a result of experimentation done on me, I was unwillingly gifted, among other things, the ability to heal very quickly. It's very hard for me to die. When I share my lifeblood with others—either through injection or ingestion—they also get this ability temporarily until they themselves are healed of all physical ailments, even starvation,” He answered. “It can even sober a bot up, though that's just my theory since I can't get wasted anymore....."

Zugzwang trailed off when both he and Strongarm took notice that Nitrobolt was staring at the femme intently. Well, she was a unique looking individual especially with the red markings around her eyes. But they had the feeling that wasn't the case. The way he stared didn't seem out of fascination or curiosity. It had more of a strange sense of familiarity to it, especially when he stroked her forehelm gently while he whispered a song. She let out a groan to this, shifting slightly before her entire frame relaxed and it was like she was just recharging.

“What is it Nitrobolt?” His uncle and friend finally asked.

Nitrobolt took a moment to finish his song before he quietly answered, “I know her.”

“Really?”

He paused before he looked at them.

“That night I pushed you, Strongarm, into the ground bridge, she was why. We fought for a while to a standstill and she flew away. But looking at her now in the light….I know her from before everything. I can't quite remember her name but we were allies, I guess?” He shrugged.

“Let's wait until she wakes up and ask her, I'm sure she'll have plenty to say then,” Strongarm suggested, before looking at both her and Sideswipe. “So….we just leave them out here?”

Nitrobolt shrugged again while his uncle nodded.

“They'll be fine. I have almost no neighbors for a few miles and this place is cloaked from above—”

“Hey, Zee, where'd you put the liquor….” Firecracker's holoform froze halfway out the back door. His eyes trailed from the unconscious femme on the ground in a pool of energon despite no visible wounds to a recharging Sideswipe propped up against the fence covered in energon. He opened his mouth to say something else but promptly shut it and went back in, shutting the door.

The hours following were very thankfully very tame, aside from Sideswipe waking up with a start. Everyone else took the news of this brand new stranger very well. Zugzwang decided to put her somewhere safer, under the house, he had a bunker (exactly like Nitrobolt and Strongarm's) and he put her in the medbay there. Nitrobolt stayed to watch over her for a while, trying to figure out how he knew her. Sideswipe joined him for a little bit, and he could feel the red mech glaring at him occasionally the whole time he was there.

“I'm sorry, Sideswipe,” Nitrobolt apologized out of the blue, not really knowing why he did a moment later.

He knew why, oh, he knew why.

Strongarm clarified— repeatedly— it wasn't his fault she chose to protect him and go with him when things went south, however, he couldn't help feeling it was. No doubt Sideswipe felt the same.

Sideswipe replied by sticking up his middle finger—a gesture he probably learned from Russell—and walking out.

Nitrobolt sighed and gazed down at the stranger one last time before he got up and left to join the others.

Chapter Text

"Shh….just look at them. Ain't they adorable?" Eclipse, back as Anita, pointed at the five children—both holoform and human—who'd all fallen asleep on each other. 

Russell was softly snoozing between the two miniboys Slipstream and Jetstorm, each with a head on his shoulder, while Hank was leaning against the latter. Butch, amusingly, had at some point ended up lying face down across all their laps. 

Henry smiled and nodded as he, Nicole, Denny, and Drift's holoform quietly crept inside the room that acted as a small theater. The young ones had been watching a movie before they'd drifted to deep slumber.

Denny went to shut off the projector while the others approached them. 

Drift's first move was to immediately try to wake his sleeping students before Henry and Anita stopped him, motioning for him to pick them up as the former picked up Hank and the latter picked up Butch. The holoform man was a bit confused by this but he followed, Denny helping him carry the two while Nicole grabbed Russell.

Anita led them through the house and they followed her into a room with a large, king-sized bed. 

Drift watched as Nicole, Henry, and Anita each laid their children down on the bed, taking off their shoes and socks with the utmost care not to wake them; the whole time he wondered why Eclipse, or Anita as she liked to be called in this form, didn't just rouse her son so his holoform and consciousness could retreat to his actual body so he could rest. 

"Drift."

Drift saw Denny tilting his head towards the direction of the bed, silently imploring him to lay his students down, too. He saw no point in doing this, however, he complied, regardless, seeing no harm in it. He and Denny laid down his students alongside the other children and followed the others example.

When they were finished, Anita pulled a large and thick comforter over the sleeping quintet before she leaned down, kissing her son's forehead and he smiled in his sleep. "Sweet dreams, baby."

"Sleep tight, Henrietta," Henry pulled the blanket over his daughter, tucking her deeper beneath the covers and she made a small noise of satisfaction mixed with gratitude. 

"Goodnight, Russell," Nicole whispered with a soft smile, caressing his forehead. 

"Yeah, night, Rusty," Denny added. "You've had a long day."

The boy seemed to relax even more than he already was. 

Drift observed these exchanges with great interest, slowing turning his gaze to the two holoform boys that were his students sleeping peacefully without a care in the universe. He reached out and patted their heads, muttering softly, "Rest well, my students. You've both earned it."

This had the same effect as with the others and they appeared to rest a little easier. 

"Yes, Master Drift," They murmured in their sleep, smiling. Something in him seemed to swell, but in a good way that he couldn't describe, as he tucked them in a little bit more. 

After one more moment of making sure everything would be well, Anita, Henry, Nicole, Denny, and Drift left, softly shutting the door behind them. They walked back towards the dining room where everyone else was essentially dozing off—Grimlock's holoform had already passed out, his head on the table—all except for Miko and Fix-It who were eagerly, almost like small children, listening to Nitrobolt's medical stories from his time as a medics apprentice during the War at her insistence. 

"....and then there was a time we had to reconnect a bots entire lower half back to their torso—"

"Ookay, Nitrobolt, I think I've heard enough of guts and glory for one day," Jack cut him off abruptly with a grimace. "Wasn't really listening but I could still hear you….."

Miko shrugged, yawning, "'Kay, Jackrabbit, besides…..I'm bushed."

Zugzwang offered, opening the doors to the dining room and grandly (there's no other way to say it) gestured out to the rest of the house, "I got more rooms—seriously, this is a big house; big enough to be a hotel, heck, I even have room service—you guys could just sleep over if you want, it’s late enough as it is."

Travis, Mondego, Anita, Henry, Jack, Raf, Miko, Nicole, and Denny nodded eagerly and made their way out.

"The garage is to the right, Dennis, Nicole has said how you used to snore like a foghorn," Zugzwang added, earning a glare from the bearded man. 

Denny grumbled, "Fuck you, Adam—Zugzwang—I don't know anymore—but, still, fuck you."

The holoform man smiled coyly while he waved at him before looking back at the rest that had remained, the Autobot holoforms.

"Bumblebee, you should sleep in my room. I got the best bed this side of the universe and, better yet for you, I won't be in there."

Bumblebee blinked in disbelief the last part, but his mouth formed into a smile nonetheless. "Thank you, Zugzwang. I think we all could use a….good night's rest for once."

"And I also have the rooms with berths in my….Zephyr calls it my ' Zee-Cave' for those who would rather sleep in bot mode."

"Great. What do you say, team?"

Fix-It was the first to answer when he got up and walked out, saying something to the effect of how eating human food was such an enjoyable experience, that going to recharge in a human bed should be the same; commenting on how he should've tried out his holoform ages ago. Sideswipe followed soon after rousing Grimlock, both saying how they'd always wanted room service. Strongarm and Nitrobolt vouched to take the berths in the Zee-Cave to keep an optic on the stranger. Drift, finding it a night for new experiences, decided to sleep in a bed. 

On his way to find a room for himself, he saw Anita and Henry were doing the same, however, no sooner when he looked at them a second time they found one. 

Anita was about to follow Henry in the room, too, when Drift stopped her with a pressing question on his mind. He asked,  "Eclipse….or do you prefer to be called Anita?" 

"Whatever you're comfortable with, Drift."

"Alright then, Anita, why do you and the others, your….family, chose to stay like this," He gestured at himself, making his holoform flicker for a moment to emphasize and convey his meaning. "Even when you don't have to use your holoforms, you live as humans. Renegade and Firecracker's holoforms are teachers at the primary school, Zugzwang moonlights as a human actor, and your son, I noticed, speaks solely in human terms. I don't mean to insult, but why?"

"We've been living on Earth for hundreds of years. Part of the reason is, we knew when we crashed here by chance—us, Nightshade, and Onyx, the latter two have been with us then—we had to learn to adapt. Our ship was damaged along with any stasis pods and we had nothing else to do but try to blend in. And also considering at the time we were running low on energon, it was the best possible choice. So, we donned our holoforms and found being human to be an awesome experience because while human beings are so fragile they live their lives to the extreme, some quieter than others but it's all the same."

"I see, but what are the other parts of the reason?"

"The children, for one. My son was born here, so was my nephew Blitzkrieg. We didn't know when we'd get off this planet and we didn't want to isolate them from the world for their whole lives, so when they got old enough for holoform generators we let them immerse themselves into human culture. Earth is their home— our home— and they've grown up among humans. They have their Cybertronian heritage and know it well, but they are Earthlings more than anything."

Drift nodded along as she continued. 

"Second…..love. Zugzwang has had a few husbands, though his last marriage ended nastily. Renegade has always been taking in children and raising them like they're his own blood and circuits….even though every time it breaks him apart to say goodbye to them one day. Jillian's death has been hard on him especially, none of his children had been so viciously torn from him before," She sighed, pausing to wipe away a few stray tears that had fallen from her eyes. "And me, well, I never had anyone till Henry. I was always more focused on my son to have any paramours. Firecracker just loves being human in general, he finds it comforting being so fragile. I think we all do honestly. Does that answer your question, Drift?"

He immediately nodded, however, he suddenly shook his head. "Who is your son's sire?"

"....I found this little spark in a Decepticon lab we raided just before the Fall of Cybertron. All alone and no doubt to be used in a horrible experiment. So I took it and nourished for many years it until it was strong enough to be in the presence of my spark, and then waited around another year or so. My little boy was born in the northern region of Africa one night just as the moon rose to its peak," She laughed at his initial dumbfoundedness from her answer as she disappeared into the room, closing the door behind her. 

"Anita….you know where I can find some pajamas?" Henry timidly implored and she pointed to a set of drawers. 

"Bottom drawer on the right should have ones in your size."

He smiled and immediately grabbed a pair he found suitable and went into the adjoining bathroom to put them on. She watched in amusement when he came out a moment later, gave scrunched up in a small scowl while he tried and failed to button the shirt up. 

"....But then you got big shoulders so maybe not the shirt. Too bad you aren't me, I have two options; get clothes and put them on or…." She laughed softly, her current clothes fading away and being replaced with a nightgown. 

"Okay, now that's just cheating."

She stuck her tongue at him, pulling the covers back and laying down. He joined her a moment later after another futile attempt at put on the shirt, especially after he ended up popping off the buttons he discarded it because he had an undershirt anyway. 

They wrapped their arms around each other and breathed softly, closing their eyes while they let sleep overtake them….

Anita suddenly sat up. "Henry, can I ask you something?" 

….almost. 

"Sure, Anita," Henry replied sleepily, sitting up next to her. "What's up?"

"What, um, were you going to ask me at the diner before you had to go handle your business?"

"Oh….I-I was gonna give you this," He reached over to his clothes—which he folded neatly and put on the nightstand next to the bed—and pulled out something small wrapped in a handkerchief from his jean pockets, giving it to her. She opened it and saw a silver band lined with gold along the edges, with the words 'Grá go Deo|Amo Para Siempre ' engraved inside it. 

"It was my mother's before she died. My dad was Irish-American, she was Cuban, that's where the two different languages come from. They both mean—"

"Love forever, I'm aware. Travis can speak Irish Gaelic and Mondego speaks nothing but Spanish sometimes. It's beautiful," She smiled, holding that smile as she looked at him with an all-knowing gaze. "This isn't just a regular gift, is it?"

Henry sighed and nodded. 

"Henry…."

"Look, I know it seems very rushed but, I meant what I said at the diner. You are the love of my life and I want to marry you—"

"Henry."

"—I thought I knew who she was once because she promised me the world, but I was young, foolish, and didn't know much about anything—"

"Henry."

"—already had a long talk about it to Hank and she gets it. She really likes you, says you're the best thing that's happened to me—"

"Can I get a word in?"

"—I don't care if you're a 22-foot robot from outer space and can outlive me by a few centuries. Don't even have to say yes—"

"Henry!"

He stopped his rambling and saw her looking at him sternly, lifting up her left hand and slipping the ring on her finger with the other. "We could sort out the….outliving stuff later. My only complaint….you beat me to it. I was going to ask you first."

Henry gaped at Anita in complete surprise before they both collapsed back into the bed in a fit of laughter. 

"You know what's funnier?" Henry snickered.

"What?"

"Our kids already planned our wedding for us and Nitrobolt paid for it all."

"Sweet Solus Prime!" Anita giggled. 

■□■□■□

The outside was so far away, it had no reign in this world shared by two. Softly they swayed as they crooned a sweet melody. 

They were still such absolute beginners with so much at stake, yet fear was almost nonexistent. They were risk-takers after all. Building a life, a dream, when all odds were against them. 

Tomorrow who knew just where they'd be or what was in store. In this moment of forever, as the glow around them began to fade, all they did know was no matter what happened one truth would always prevail. 

They would never regret anything.

Nitrobolt jolted awake, spark pulsing and pounding rapidly in his chest. If it was possible he'd be breaking into a cold sweat. 

These dreams, these damned dreams. 

Ever since he awoke in Earth he's had them and they've only grown worse with time. These dreams felt real, but they couldn't be memories they just couldn't! His desires perhaps, but not memories. 

Could they be memories? Memories of a time forgotten or erased?

He didn't know. Did he want to?

He reached into his subspace and pulled out a pack of cygars, lighting one up and taking a few puffs. 

He should stop. Steeljaw was always telling him not to make smoking them a habit whenever he got upset, also warning him not to resort to drinking heavily either—

Steeljaw, Steeljaw, Steeljaw! Stop thinking about the guy! He scolded himself, taking another long drag before putting it out and stuffing the box back in his subspace. He was right though….I need to stop….

He curled up into a ball and stared blankly at the wall. 

He didn't know how long he stared, all he could think about were those dreams. Real. They felt so real and the "memory" (he wasn't sure if he could call it one anymore) he had of Steeljaw telling him he used him, that he didn't truly love him, started to seem less and less real with each new dream. Things didn't add up to him about it, Steeljaw's way of speaking and his mannerisms were so different….

Why was this all so hard?

It was easier when he hated him when he thought he knew. 

Now he wasn't sure of anything anymore. 

Strongarm, he should go talk to her. That always made him feel better—No. He should leave her alone. She's had enough drama to last her a lifetime. She needs rest.

Nitrobolt sighed and sat back up, pulling out his mask. With a finger, he traced the fanged smile painted where his mouth would be. 

He should dismantle it and throw it out, it was a gift from him anyway. But Nitrobolt knew he wouldn't be able to, he was too attached to it.

"Hey there, baby blue."

Nitrobolt stopped his train of thought and saw his uncle, Zugzwang, was sitting next to him, looking at him with hints of worry but keeping a joyful expression. 

"Remember we used to call you that when you were little?" His uncle asked. 

Nitrobolt only nodded. 

"It's hard to see you all grown up with a life of your own, you know. Do you still like my multi-flavored energon goodies?" Zugzwang brought out an entire bag of said goodies and shook it, making it crinkle with each shake. "They always cheered you up. Cure for a broken spark, too."

"It's that obvious, huh?" He said, taking the bag and popping a few in his mouth. 

Zugzwang nodded, "I've been divorced 3 times….I'm still in love with my last husband. Daniel. Wanna hear about him?"

"Sure….wait, what about the thing you have for Bumblebee?"

"That was 16 years ago, now I just love to frag with his mind. Anyway, Daniel was charming, very handsome. Beautiful hair, beautiful eyes. Most beautiful man in existence, I tell you," Zugzwang sighed in satisfaction as he pulled up a holoscreen with the picture of a bespectacled dark-skinned man with a mop of dark hair and chocolate brown eyes, cheeks slight pink with a blush as Zugzwang's holoform kissed him on the cheek. "Also intelligent, witty, and creative; he was a writer. He wrote some scripts for my movies, that's how I met him. We went on a few dates and by the fifth, I was head over heels. He didn't care for my fame and fortune, he just wanted me. Year later, he asked me to marry him. Was with him for 2 years until a few months ago."

The holoscreen shut off and he groaned. 

"I neglected and forgot, it's a mix of both, to tell him I was….Cybertronian. He found out a few months ago when we were attacked during a camping trip by one of those Decepticon convicts. I transformed immediately on instinct and took the bastard down, which was easy. The hard part came explaining why I—Adam—disappeared and my voice was coming out of a giant robot….and he was upset. So we divorced a few days later to take a break from each other. I'm still waiting for him. What's your story?"

Nitrobolt remained silent. 

"Complicated, I understand. May I see that?" Nitrobolt gave him the mask and he looked it over, spending a few minutes taking it apart and putting it back together before giving it back. "This is…. oh mon dieux , a masterpiece of engineering. So much heart was put into it! All these little details and touches, whoever made this meant it to be special. A gift of love, that's what this is."

His nephew's optics widened and he immediately put the mask away, closing his optics and shaking his helm. 

"I see….well, I'll leave you to rest now, Nitrobolt. Sweet dreams," Zugzwang hugged him before he got up to leave, gaze lingering on the sullen mech as the door closed behind him. 

■□■□■□

12 hours. 

Kickback had been bound and gagged to this tree for 12 hours. 

Some bait he was, couldn't even get a nibble. 

Now he was stuck here until who knows when. 

Worst of all, they never came back for him. 

Oh, when he found those guys he'll kick their afts, especially that wolficon. Damn know it all fragger!

"Well now, what do we have here?"

He froze, turning his helm in the direction of this new voice and seeing a maroon bot with an extremely hard to miss horn on his head.

"My good bot, it seems to me that you're stuck! May I lend you—" The stranger whipped out a pair of swords, "—a hand?"

Chapter Text

"NITROBOLT!" Strongarm exclaimed as she shook him awake and practically dragged him off the berth to stand.

"What is it!?" Nitrobolt gasped. "Decepticons!!??"

She shook her helm and began leading him towards the medbay, and it was then he realized.

"She's awake?"

"Yeah. I tried getting her name but she won't stop asking where you are."

"Hm….guess we do know each other. Did you notify the others?"

"No, she's very frantic right now; her spark rates especially high so I gave her a relaxant. I think having too many people around right now might scare her and cause her to faint from too much stress. She needs to be eased into everything….right?"

Nitrobolt smiled, "You've been reading those medical manuals I gave you. Great job, Strongarm."

Strongarm smiled back before she opened the medbay doors, revealing the femme Sideswipe had found sitting on one of the medical berths, drumming her fingers impatiently on her arm.

"Excuse me," Nitrobolt announced,  immediately catching her attention and her helm snapped in his direction as she gasped, coming up to him, "but I believe you were asking for me—"

"Nitrobolt! Finally, in this backward planet, I see a familiar face," She cheered, voice filled with relief as she took one of his hands in a firm hold and gave it an equally firm shake. "My friend, it is so good to see you."

Nitrobolt slowly nodded, letting her hand go. "Don't take offense to this, I've been having a lot of memory loss lately, but who are you? How do I know you?"

Her smile faltered. "Nitrobolt, it's me. Don't you remember?"

He shook his helm, "Tell me your name and such, that may help."

"I'm Windblade, the delegate from Caminus. Remember?"

Nitrobolt's optics suddenly widened, her name echoing in his processor.

"What do you want, Ineritio?" Nitrobolt asked in annoyance, restraining every urge not to strangle the bot that stood before him.

They'd agreed to meet in a specified location, a park that was very public and full of people; neither of them trusted each other alone in a room, Ineritio for fear Nitrobolt would kill him and Nitrobolt for just not trusting Ineritio anywhere near him in general; because the councilmech had something to discuss with him.

"The Council and I will be welcoming a delegate from one of the colony worlds, Caminus I believe, they will be arriving tomorrow morning. As you may have seen in the news, there are efforts being made to reconnect with these worlds because united we are strong and it'll help reach out to those planets in need or whatever the frag Cyberwarp said. Personally, I really don't care and rather we remain this way," Ineritio answered, rolling his optics.

"And this concerns me how, Ineritio?"

"You will be accompanying us to greet them, Nex."

He frowned, "Why would I do that?"

"Merely for public relations and Cyberwarp requested you join us, along with that mutt of yours—"

"His name is Steeljaw and my name isn't Nex," Nitrobolt snarled and Ineritio backed away slightly. "I am Nitrobolt."

"B-Believe me," He stammered for a moment before recovering himself, "if it were up to me, you both wouldn't be there, fraggers like you! You'd ruin it all like you've ruined everything else!"

"I don't know what you're insinuating."

Ineritio scowled, "I know you two were behind that rally against us! We don't have proof but I know it was you! And when I catch you, ooh, I'm going to enjoy making you two scream—Gah!"

Nitrobolt inconspicuously pressed a knife against his abdomen, "You're lucky I'm not keen on traumatizing children or else I would've gutted you right now. Don't you dare threaten us again….now get out of here. See you tomorrow, Axelrod."

The mech nodded, stumbling as he ran away.

"What happened and what did he say?" Steeljaw asked as he came up behind him. Nitrobolt had brought him as a sort of backup in case of anything.

Nitrobolt sheathed his knife and turned to him. "Councilmember Cyberwarp is inviting us to greet a delegate from Caminus."

Steeljaw gave a comprehensive nod, "Ah, she'll introduce us to a new friend?"

"I suppose so," He murmured quite sullenly, but suddenly he smiled. "Who's your little friend down there?"

He was referring to a small youngling to who stood by the wolficon.

"A child who refuses to stop following me," Steeljaw frowned as he looked down at them. "Now what do you want, you little stalker?"

They smiled so sweetly and held up a crudely drawn picture of him.

“Ah. Is this why you were following me?”

They nodded.

“Why didn’t you say anything, are you shy?”

They pointed to their throat, where their voice box should be, and shook their helm.

“Oh….I see. Do you want to give this to me?” Steeljaw nimbly took the picture in his claws at their silent insistence and looked at it, squinting at a name written. "Your name is Clicker?"

They nodded again, a little more eager.

"Then thank you, Clicker, you are….quite an artist. Run along now."

They grinned and ran off to play with a group of younglings.

Nitrobolt chuckled, "I didn't know you were good with kids."

Steeljaw scoffed, "I know how to talk to them, there's a difference."

Next day came very soon and they stood—with a large space between them—by the Council in front of the spacebridge as two femmes came through, one red and black and the other light blue.

The blue one stood protectively at the red one's side.

Both formally introduced themselves to the Council, Steeljaw and Nitrobolt standing off to the side patiently. Soon, though, Cyberwarp brought the two over to meet them once the other council members left.

"Delegates, I'd like to introduce you to Cybertron's most….upstanding and loyal citizens who truly hold the planet's and its people's best interest at spark," Cyberwarp said happily. "You all would do well to get to know each other."

"Hello, I am Nitrobolt, and the handsome one is Steeljaw," Nitrobolt bowed slightly with Steeljaw. "Welcome to Cybertron."

"It is quite a pleasure and honor to make your acquaintance, I'm Windblade and my intimidating partner is Chromia," the red one smiled, returning the bow.

"Nitrobolt? Are you okay??" Strongarm and Windblade asked, breaking him out of his inner trip down memory lane.

"Windblade….Windblade! You were an ally on Cybertron and we told you about the High Council’s corruption so you could warn your planet and possibly the other colony worlds. Then one day, you disappeared. We suspected the worst but there was nothing we could do," Nitrobolt almost fell back as he held his helm but luckily Strongarm caught him. "How could I forget you and Chromia?"

"It’s alright, I wouldn't blame you. Even my mind's a little out of whack. That Council….you and Steeljaw were right. They have full control over everyone's mind, few are free thinkers and even they are slightly manipulated," She frowned, looking around. "Where is Steeljaw? Is he somewhere here, too?"

Nitrobolt shook his helm and sighed, "No….he isn't."

"What happened?"

"To be honest, Windblade, it's a long story and, like everything else lately, it is very complicated"

"Better start now then. From the beginning."

■□■□■□

"Did youse see da look on dat fleshie's face? 'Oh, please' great Kospego! 'ave mercy! Aaaa!' " Thunderhoof snickered as he and the rest of the Pack returned to their new base after a long night spent hitting the town and terrorizing hapless humans.

"Heh, you scared the thing to death!" Fracture laughed. "Literally, he just dropped to the ground!

"Those cars were mighty tasty, too," Underbite added. "Too bad Ah couldn't eat Clampdown, Ah heard crabs good…."

"Oh right, you thought he was just a car!"

They—except Clampdown—burst out laughing like a bunch of younglings.

Their joy was short lived when the telltale sound of footsteps and someone clearing their vocalizer.

"Why are you all back so late? I'd say it's roughly late morning now and you all ran off in the early night," Steeljaw leaned against a wall, taking a moment to examine his claws.

It was a tense minute before Thunderhoof exclaimed with defiance clear in his voice, "We was out having a good time! Wanna say something about it—?"

"Well, I'm glad."

Thunderhoof was instantly taken aback by his response. "W-W'at?"

"I've been pushing you all so much lately. You deserve a break, especially after yesterday's failure," The wolficon said with a smile that still made them uneasy.

"Okay den….good to know," Thunderhoof replied nervously, urging the others to dismiss themselves with him. They barely got a few steps before Steeljaw spoke again.

"Well….maybe not all of you, " His voice took on a harsh tone as his optics burned through them.

They all froze, their sparks stopping.

"Fracture, you deserve a break. You've done nothing but follow my orders, correctly might I add. I give you permission to take a day to yourself when this is over, with the usual rules in place."

Fracture nodded with a small smirk, satisfied he was free from whatever punishment his cohorts had earned.

"Now, let's review why you all—mostly you," He jabbed a claw at Thunderhoof's chest, "—are currently in the doghouse."

Thunderhoof shrugged, a scowl plain on his face, "Beats me."

"Then let me tell you. The night I sent you three off to retrieve those chips for me, I gave you very specific instructions on how to do it. Do you remember them?" He waited for answers but got none, so he continued. "I told you to be inconspicuous as possible and utilize your holoforms, that I wanted no human casualties because that would only draw unnecessary attention. Now, I just learned you did the complete opposite."

The wolficon turned and walked a few steps away, taking a long deep vent.

"Fifteen drivers were severely injured from the fifteen trucks you sacked. Out of those fifteen, five are dead," He took another vent before he struck the wall next to him, facing them with a snarl. "You idiots! Do you know what you've caused!? The Autobots have greater reason to capture us because you all decided not to follow my specific instructions! And tell me why you didn't this time, because believe me, I'd love to know."

Underbite and Clampdown wasted no time, pointing at Thunderhoof.

Steeljaw groaned, "How am I not surprised…."

Thunderhoof frowned, "How do ya expect me to take orders from some fragger like youse? I was an' will always be a boss! An' no two-bit wannabe rebel is gonna take dat away an' tell me what to do!"

Steeljaw, to everyone's surprise, began to laugh. He laughed so hard, tears were in his optics and he held onto his sides. It was rather….off putting, to say the least.

"You think I care? I told you yesterday and I'll say it again; this isn't Cybertron!" He exclaimed. "Or any other world you had power on….this is Earth. You're nothing here, Thunderhoof….not that you were so hot to begin with."

He watched with a snarky grin as the other shook in anger his eyes looking even redder than possible before he shouted a few selected curses.

"EYO, DATS IT, I'M GONNA KILL YA!" Thunderhoof snarled and prepared to do just that, his helm lowered and antlers ready to ram him to the ground.

"You may try, but I'm not good at dying."

That was the final straw for Thunderhoof. The former mob boss barrelled towards him with a roar.  

The others instinctively closed their optics, not wanting to see the end result.

Suddenly, a small voice shouted "Hey!" and it was followed by a pop and bang. There was a large cry of pain and crash that made the ground shake but only slightly.

They cracked open their optics and nearly did a double take at what they saw.

Thunderhoof was facedown on the ground, groaning, still as a board with a small dart in the side of his neck. But that wasn't the strange thing. What was strange was that Steeljaw was crouched low to the ground, quietly scolding a small blue youngling….who was holding a smoking gun.

"....I'm sorry, but I didn't want him to hurt you."

"I know and that's okay. But, I need you to get him off the floor."

The youngling looked back at Thunderhoof, before reaching down and pulling out the dart.

Thunderhoof bolted upright and stood up, stumbling as he backed away. "W-What was an' who da frag is dat!?"

"That was acupuncture and I'm who you don't want to mess with, unless you want your patellac flexors shattered before you can blink. Play your cards right and that won't happen, capiche?" The youngling threatened before Steeljaw plucked him off the ground.

He chuckled, "Now-now, let's behave and be civil for a moment."

"W'ere the hell did ya fin' a kid!?" Underbite exclaimed.

"Oh, he just dropped by while you were gone, you could say he's my brother," Steeljaw answered and the youngling graced them with a fanged smile, an almost devilishly mischievous glint in his optics. "He already knows who you are, now let me introduce you to him. Let me advise you now that you shall treat him with the utmost respect and dignity, lest you want to deal with me. Meet our newest comrade, Blitzkrieg."

Chapter Text

"....That's the entire story so far. And Steeljaw isn't my….isn't an ally no more. I don't know why anymore, but that has been the case," Nitrobolt murmured sadly, looking down at his hands. Strongarm reached for one of his hands and he looked at her; she offered a comforting smile and it made things a little lighter.

Windblade nodded, wide opticed and looking slightly bewildered by it all as she sat back down. She was silent for a few moments as she processed everything.

"Okay," She finally said. "Who is she again, by the way?"

"Oh, I'm Strongarm," Strongarm introduced herself. "It's good to meet a friend of Nitrobolt, a friend of his is a friend of mine."

Windblade smiled her, "It goes both ways, Strongarm."

Nitrobolt suddenly sighed dramatically in relief, "Thank Primus, imagine if you didn't? It'd be hell for us all!"

Strongarm rolled her optics as he chuckled, punching him lightly on the shoulder, "So, how'd you end up on this side of the universe?"

"My story is thankfully a lot simpler. Crazy, but a lot simpler," She replied. "One day, Chromia and I were just in our suite, shooting the breeze and what not. Next thing we know, we both get shot from behind. It's a blur from then on, but I remember Ineritio speaking. He has a very distinct voice, that's how I knew it was him, he sounds like a…."

"The Earth term is an asshole," Nitrobolt coined the phrase and she nodded.

"Exactly—I don't know what that is but it sounds repulsive—and he went on about how we knew too much and we needed to be dealt with. I remember pain and Chromia screaming," She closed her optics and took a vent. "Then it was over. He spat on me and I heard him leave. Then a hand softly touched my face before someone picked me up and laid me down. Whoever they were said they were sorry and this was the only way to keep us safe before everything just….faded away. I wake up, I'm on this planet and nearly everyone I met had been trying to kill me. Last night, oh, last night was bad. I got attacked by this Decepticon, they nearly gutted me but I got away. I don't even remember what happened after that, except seeing someone red before everything turned black. Next thing I know, I wake up and see Strongarm here checking my vitals. That's my story."

She paused, looking around.

"Any more people in this facility?"

Nitrobolt nodded, "I think it's time we introduce you. Strongarm?"

"I'm on it!"

Soon, the room was filled with the others, eager to meet this new bot.

Windblade almost felt overwhelmed by the new faces, both human and bot. There was one thing for sure, she wasn't short on allies now like the hellish months before when she was forced to fend for herself.

"Okay, everyone," Zugzwang announced,  clapping his hands to grab everyone's attention, "now that we all know each other, had breakfast, and whatnot, it is time to get back to business! We have Decepticons to arrest, things to figure out, and most importantly two missing bots, Blitzkrieg and now Windblade's friend. To the groundbridge—!"

"Wait! What about my yard?" Denny cut in.

"And the Alchemor?" Fix-It added. "The stasis pods?"

"The Alchemor is going to be fine along with the stasis pods and the scrapyard. Me and Renegade added many security precautions while you all were resting," Zugzwang answered. "Dennis, by the way, I also had all your personal belongings moved to a house nearby."

"Wah—you can't do that!" Denny exclaimed.

"Denny, that location is compromised and it is not safe for you….or Russell," Nicole pulled him by his shirt collar, leaning in to snarl in his ear. "Do NOT think for one second I forgot about how you neglected to tell me how your life and, most importantly, our son's life has been on the line constantly these past few months. You didn't even have to tell me about that, you could've sent him to stay with my sister and make an excuse! Denny Clay, you are so lucky that I won't fucking kill you, however, we are gonna have a nice and long talk when all of this is over."

Denny nodded and gulped as she let him go. He wanted to say something back but he decided it would be better to hold his words.

"Zugzwang, it might be best if we leave Fix-It and someone, just in case," Bumblebee suggested.

He nodded, "Right, better to be safe than sorry. Pippin, er, Renegade, want to stay behind with Fix-It here?"

Renegade grunted with a nod, looking at the orange minicon and pointing in the direction of the exit, the both of them walking towards it. Drift followed soon after, leaving his students to observe at their insistence, along with Denny and Russell. Zugzwang lead the others to the main room of the bunker where the groundbridge was already up and running thanks to Firecracker.

"I need to go pick up the twins from jail. Eclipse, you're in charge as usual until I get back," Zugzwang transformed and drove through the bridge. Firecracker typed in the new coordinates and reopened it.

"Let's go, guys and gals," Eclipse said.

One by one, nearly everyone went through, all except two.

"Your name is Sideswipe, right?" Windblade asked, having pulled said bot aside.

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Listen, I wanted to thank you for what you did for me. Your quick thinking not only saved my life, but it also helped reunite me with a good friend," She said happily.

"No problem," He shrugged, feeling a little smug. "It's what I do."

She smiled at him before turning to walk through the bridge and follow the others. "I'll return the favor one of these days!" She added before she faded into the swirling bridge.

Sideswipe was about to follow, but then he froze and took a step back.

An idea was brewing in his processor and a stupid one at that, however, he didn't notice or care as his face took on a horrifyingly devious expression.

If Strongarm can become best buds outta nowhere with some random bot, so can I! He sneered. Teach her a lesson!

I don't think that is a good idea for us. Like, at all— The better side of his consciousness tried to warn him but his mind was made up. And with an equally stupid grin, he sauntered into the groundbridge.

Chapter Text

"….This place hasn't changed," Bumblebee said astounded while he looked around at his former base. "Heck, the couch and stuff are still here, too! Is the racing game….?"

"Yeah," Raf nodded. "We could play it later when we have some free time."

The yellow Autobot smiled, remembering those slow and calm days where nothing was better than to sit back and play a game with little Raf. He sighed a little. What he wouldn't give for those days to come back and for what kept him away to never occur in the first place. He missed so much….

"Oh, don't be alarmed but….Zephyr beat your high score."

"What!?" Bumblebee gasped as his gaze landed on the winged youngling, who stuck his glossa out at him before activating his holoform on the couch before being joined by Hank, Jetstorm, and Slipstream. 

"Let's see who else could beat Bumbler!" He heard him shout maniacally as Nicole led them to the middle of the space, where a large red Autobot symbol, in the center of a large chrome circle, shown proudly against the concrete floor. 

"Place may look the same but we made a few changes," Jack pulled down his sleeve and tapped on his watch. 

There was a large hiss of air followed by a whirring sound as the group slowly descended into the floor. Well, slowly at first, before it shot downward so jarringly most of the newcomers nearly bit off their glossas. One of them may have even screamed, but it could've been the elevator platform. 

It came to a slow halt with another hiss of air. 

"Autobots," Nicole began, walking off the platform, "welcome to the new Unit E."

Jaws were left unhinged at the marvel before them. Lines of light traveling, like blood through the veins, through shimmering chrome walls carrying watt upon watt of endless energy through the whole underground base. This room alone had computer consoles that looked far more advanced than anything they Bumblebee, Sideswipe, and Grimlock had seen back on Fix-It's half of the Alchemor; though, to be fair, it was an old ship dating back to before the Great War. Windblade, like everything else that day, was just glad to have some glimpse of civilization. While this made their jaws drop, the rest of the base nearly made them faint. A training room equipped with virtual reality, along with state of the art training drones; an armory that came with an arsenal of weapons of every caliber, shape, and size; a huge medbay, and an even bigger lab. It wasn't much to Strongarm, Nitrobolt, and Henry as back home the bunker they had was essentially a smaller version, however, it was still impressive. 

One thing was for certain, Fix-It was going to be ticked he missed this. 

"And here is where we keep the stasis pods and the prisoners we've captured. So, any questions?" Eclipse asked, almost everyone raising their hands in unison. "Bumblebee, let's start with you."

"H-H-H…." Bumblebee sputtered. 

"Take your time, Bumblebee."

"How were you able to build all of this!!? Where did all of you find the time to—"

"The years of no activity, we finished construction within 8 years." 

"Okay. What about resources and technology—"

"Before contact with Cybertron was cut off, Nightshade and Onyx sent supplies via spacebridge and we had a lot of things here already."

"And personnel?" 

"Training drones are useful for more than training and we Angels of Sin did a lot of work, too, but we really couldn't have done it without the vehicons—Ep!" She raised her hand and he shut his mouth before he could shout again. "Yes, those vehicons and, before you ask, they are still on Earth because of the cut contact with Cybertron. They are living very peacefully with human guises to blend in, of course. Steve is even a motivational speaker, he's written a few books. I'm sure you've heard of Steve V. Ichon."

Bumblebee only nodded in reply and let her continue to answer everyone else's questions, which included Grimlock begging to use the training room and everything in it and also making here the new Team Bee base. After all questions were answered, they chose to explore a little more on their own.

Grimlock was off to use the training room and hoped Sideswipe would join him, but he was gone by the time he turned to ask. Luckily, Firecracker, who was already nearby, offered to spar with him. Both had become quick friends the night before over food and drink, along with their shared interest involving art. There was a matter of a bet they made that morning over breakfast that needed to be settled; who was stronger, the big and brutish Dinobot or the nearly indestructible, scrawny looking super soldier? It was time to find out and it was almost a small blessing Sideswipe was out of the way. 

Speaking of the red delinquent, he was making good—or bad, since that's what it was—on his (stupid) little plan. Windblade stayed in close proximity to Nitrobolt and Strongarm was almost always with him, so it was perfect. Sideswipe's conscious wouldn't stop berating him, however, he couldn't hear it over his overwhelming stupidity. He knew his idea was stupid—so insanely stupid—but he didn't care as much as he should've.

Nitrobolt and Windblade were in the lab,  the former showing her something called a something-something patch. 

Meanwhile, Strongarm was on the other side of the lab looking at one of the many devices with the human called Raf. 

"....this device along with my abilities may help us figure out what's wrong with our memories, why they're so….fractured. Maybe even why the last Prime gives only Bumblebee visions," He heard Windblade say to Nitrobolt.

"You're free to use the equipment here for your research—"

"Hey, Nitro, check this out," Strongarm called suddenly. 

There's my chance Sideswipe thought as Nitrobolt went to Strongarm. He went up to the red flyer and cleared his vocalizer,  getting her attention. 

Windblade looked back and smiled a bit. "Oh, hey, Sideswipe. Checking out the weapon prototypes? Because they are fascinating."

"Uh, yeah," He nodded in agreement, "'specially that sword-gun thing. What could you even call that? Gord? Swun?"

She chuckled before turning her attention back to the….

"Hey, what's that thing called?" 

"A cortical psychic patch."

"What's it for?"

"Going into people's minds and seeing their memories."

"Oh. Cool."

A few moments of silence passed between them while Windblade continued to look over it, then Sideswipe spoke up again. "How are you adjusting to things, Windblade?"

"Pretty good. I wish Chromia was here with me," She sighed, "but still I'm pretty good."

Again, a bit of silence passed.

"Hey, if ya ever need anything just hit me up, okay?" He began. "Cos that's what friends do."

"Ah, we're friends?"

"Totally!" He grinned, catching a glimpse of Strongarm looking at them—specifically him—a little sadly. 

Give him time. Remember what Jig said, just give him time. Strongarm remembered with a small sigh, deciding to look away and block him out for the moment.

Raf had just described to them something called an exosuit. Now, Strongarm had heard of them before back on Cybertron but these were of a different sort. Not only did they provide a protective suit to organic humanoid lifeforms, but the suit also allowed the wearer to disguise itself as Cybertronian; complete with retractable weapons, the ability to transform, and whatever else; for whatever amount of time while they were in a form of stasis. They did age, but very very slowly and, meanwhile, their consciousness would control what they did. Even better, one size fits all and it was portable. 

"Are they usable for all ages?" She asked.

"I believe so," the man answered. "I've had mine since I was 13. I use it on and off. I take it you want to offer one to Hank as well as Henry?"

Strongarm nodded and before she left to find Henry and Hank he let her take two from the ones there.

"This model is fascinating….who made them?" Nitrobolt asked, quite enthusiastically. 

"Your mom and Eclipse," Raf replied, "right before the former disappeared. She and your dad had big plans before they went missing, they were going to build bridges for Cybertronian and human relations…."

"What happened then?"

"Things just….fell apart. They went missing and all ways to Cybertron were destroyed, so we couldn't go and find them. We lost all our friends….practically our family that day, too. Those plans were eventually lost to the passage of time," He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, his shoulders dropping while he shook his head. Then he stopped, took another breath, and smiled at him. "Now, with all of you, I have a feeling we're on track to fixing it all."

Nitrobolt smiled back. 

Bwah-Eh Bwah-Eh a5n alarm sounded off suddenly.

Nitrobolt already knew what it meant by the look in Raf's eyes: Decepticons!

Moments later everyone found their way to the main room where Nicole and Jack were already waiting to brief them. 

"Bots, we got trouble at the Terrell Airfield just outside Crown City. There are reports of odd activity and a fugitive signal," She announced. 

"Aw fuck, I was just about to beat Grim here into scrap," Firecracker groaned. 

"Um, I think you mean I was about to beat you, Crackers," Grimlock sneered. 

"Don't kid yourself—"

Jack cleared his throat to get their attention back, " Anyway , Raf, pull up the surveillance for the whole airbase and go back a third of an hour, that would be around ten minutes before those reports came in."

Raf immediately displayed it on the large telescreen for all to see. 

"Okay, now fast forward each at about one and a half frames per second. Everybody, keep an eye out for….anything weird."

■□■□■□

While Renegade almost stoically stood by, Fix-It rolled up to him with a shaky smile. 

"Your name is Renegade, right?" He asked. 

"Yah," The large mech replied with a huff.

"As in Renegade the Wild Card?"

"Yah."

"The gladiator!?" The minicon squealed happily. "I-I-I am your biggest fan!!"

Renegade—who was not listening all that much, not that Fix-It noticed—took out a flask of high grade and for a long moment as Fix-It rambled he drank from it. By the time he'd finished nearly the whole thing, the minicon stopped talking. He looked at the flask and then to the expectant much smaller bot. 

Renegade downed what was left of his high grade and tossed it at Fix-It. "Here, gift for a fan."

Fix-It stammered out a thank you as he cradled the thing to his chest, going back to check on the many security upgrades made for the scrapyard. 

Renegade sighed. He wanted to show some amount of enthusiasm, he really did, but his gladiatorial days were not the first thing on his mind—he wasn't exactly fond of those times either but he could usually pretend. It was hard to pretend now, Jillian's death still hung heavy on his mind and given what he heard of his other family members, he wasn't in the mood for anything. Even the joy of getting back his beloved nephew Nitrobolt was dampened by it all.

He heaved another sigh closed his optics, sinking into the ground for a short nap.

' Fix-It, do you read! '

He groaned. Nevermind. 

"Loud and clear, lieutenant!" Fix-It chimed.

'Fix-It, do you have anything on a bee-like Decepticon?'

■□■□■□

Back at Unit E, everyone waited for only a moment before Fix-It called them back. 

'Hmm, global rule would definitely match Zizza's previous M.O.' He sent over a dossier with the convict's information. ' While on Cybertron, she built an army of mind-controlled citizens and tried the same thing. She might have succeeded, but her toxin wore off before she could consolidate her power. '  

"That would explain why all the people look like mindless zombies," Miko surmised. "Do you have more information on this toxin? Is there an antidote?"

' I'm not seeing anything on bile— KZZT —Vile— CLUNK —File! The only cure seems to be time. '  

"Thanks, Fixit. Stand by," Bumblebee looked at the others. "So what's our plan?"

"According to the surveillance, there's a concentration of people around Hangar 5 so it's likely Zizza's in there and we have people flying planes around the perimeter, acting as a sort of guard," Jack pointed out.

"Like bees."

Everyone quickly turned heads/helms to Strongarm, who stood in the corner with open holographic notes. 

"Like what ?" All—save for Nitrobolt, Henry, Hank, and Windblade; the latter with no real idea what was going on—questioned simultaneously. 

"Like. Bees," She repeated with more conviction. "Those planes are flying around that hangar like guard bees around a hive to protect Zizza the queen. Those humans are acting like worker bees, following orders without question."

Sideswipe scoffed. "Seriously? I'm not buying it—!"

She closed her notes with a heavy groan, pinching the bridge between her optics in frustration. "Have any of you noticed, at all, that many of the Alchemor's inmates are analogous to Earth's animals?"

No one answered, save a few murmurs. 

"Guess not. Look, ever since I've been here I've taken notes on all the fugitives that were apprehended. Heck, this isn't the first bee-bot my team faced!" Strongarm almost laughed, to the Bee Team's confusion.

What did she mean? They never faced a Decepticon like this before. Maybe she was confused, mistaken….unless she didn't mean them. But if not them then who? 

They quickly took notice of the Costins and Nitrobolt coming to her side, the humans now donning coverall helmets and bits of armor to protect their vital areas, the same as they had yesterday when they helped drive the Pack out the scrapyard, as they firmly held their blasters and Nitrobolt was pulling out his mask as was Strongarm. 

That's her team?! The Bee Team realized. 

There was a hiss of air as the masks grafted on Nitrobolt and Strongarm's faces and the others took notice that both their masks were identical, the same toothy smile painted on. Even the Costins had similar designs painted on their helmets. 

Altogether it was a frightening sight and it didn't help to imagine how jarring it would be seeing those faces chasing after someone.

"We got this, guys, just sit back" Nitrobolt, whose voice was suddenly much deeper, said, "and watch."

Before there was any protest (from mainly Bumblebee), Raf had opened a groundbridge for the quartet and they went through. 

"W-What!? You just let them go!" Bumblebee blurted out finally. 

"Hey, they said sit back and watch. That's what we're going to do," Miko pointed at the screen and leaned against the console. "….For now—!" 

There was a near blinding flash of white light that rapidly spread through all the surveillance feed. 

"What the—"

"My eyes!"

"Wow."

"Yeah, wow."

"Primus!"

"I think I'm officially blind….scrap."

"What the frag did they do!"

"We can't see anything!" Nicole exclaimed. "Raf, can you—"

"I can't do anything, those cameras are fine, it's that light!" Raf replied in frustration. "We need to wait for it to go away."

It took a minute, but the light began to fade.

"See?" He sighed in relief. "Now we can finally— ME CAGO EN DIOS!" 

They watched the surveillance, stunned beyond belief as the people who were up and about previously were now lying on the ground unconscious. Henry and Hank were in the middle of it all, blasters out with wisps of smoke coming from the barrels and aimed at whoever was inside Hangar 5. Father and daughter stood as still as possible, even as Zizza staggered out and loomed over them menacingly. She appeared to laugh and raised her staff to swat them away. Still, they didn't move

"What are they doing?" someone asked. "Why won't they move?"

"They're going to get themselves killed!" cried another. 

Suddenly, right as the Decepticons was about to strike Nitrobolt and Strongarm materialized out of thin air and struck her; the former from above and the latter head-on! Henry and Hank sprung into action, firing at her as their metal friends pinned her down. Seconds later, Zizza was in cuffs and being dragged through the bridge back to base to be put into stasis, where everyone immediately ambushed them with shock, confusion, and everything in between; they naturally had questions about what happened, especially when that light filled the screen; that blank was filled when it was revealed each of the S.Q.A.U.D.D. (Super Quartet [of the] Awesome Ultimate Decepticon Damagers—A name Hank had come up with for their little team, because what else can you call a warrior, a rogue cadet, a mechanical engineer, and a junior athlete but a squad?) had little cameras in their helmets that documented their missions. 

So everyone was able to see, with first-person clarity, how they were able to accomplish their feat flawlessly with nearly no hassle. 

How did Strongarm and Nitrobolt come in and out of thin air? When did Henry and  Hank become such 'badasses' and sharpshooters? When and where did they all get the skills to pull it off in less than 4 minutes?

Nitrobolt, Strongarm, Henry, and Hank answered very simply: Practice—except for the disappearing and reappearing, that was attributed to the cloaking devices Nitrobolt had cobbled together for them based on diagrams Nightshade had left lying around the lab back home.

That's when the endless praise began. From their strategy to their teamwork, nothing was left unlauded and unapplauded, even Sideswipe had a few good things to say. 

"Okay, guys, I'm here with the twins, did I miss any--" Zugzwang frowned, seeing Zizza in a stasis pod, the footage from the mission playing on the monitor, and the Costins in some armor. He groaned. "I'm gone for 30 minutes and I miss all the action."

Chapter Text

"Okay, wiggle your fingers. Good. Does it hurt when I do this—?"

"Ah!"

"I guess it does," Nitrobolt chuckled nervously before he straightened his posture and cleared his vocalizer. "Earning a weapon can mean a lot of things. It is often viewed as a first step in the long journey to becoming a warrior. Sometimes they are acts of love, such as within my family in a tradition spurred by my carrier and sire when they gave one another weapon they forged as Acts of Profference during their Conjunx Ritus. This, right here right now, is both the former and the latter. As a warrior myself, I'm welcoming you into our fold—you have shown great promise and though you aren't quite there yet, you are ready to make the journey," He paused, smiling softly and fondly. "As someone who loves you, Strongarm, I'm proud to give you these….ready to test them out?"

Strongarm, mirroring his expression and eagerly nodding, stood up with a snap. "Yes! Most definitely! I was BORN ready!"

"Then let's show 'em off. Fire when ready, blue eyes!" 

He watched with great pride as she raised her arm, pointing straight ahead at a target on the wall; metal rearranged before his optics, and very quickly her hand was gone, replaced by a blaster. The world went by slowly as he watched the charge leave the barrel and hit the target at the wall with accurate precision. 

Strongarm bounced with glee like a child, laughing as she made a few other direct hits on the other targets in the room.

"She's Jackie's girl alright!" Firecracker chuckled, leaning on the edge of Nitrobolt's work table enjoying a cygarette. "Reminds me of Miko when we finally let her have a blaster, too. 'Cept she nearly wrecked half the room, this is a lot more controlled."

"That's Strongarm for you. Controlled chaos," Nitrobolt continued to watch her proudly. 

However, he couldn't help but feel strange. 

This immense joy he felt.

He thought back on what he'd said to Strongarm.

It reminded him of something.

A moment.

An act of love.

He was floating, that’s the only way he could describe it; he was floating in an ocean of warmth while still standing on stable ground.

Is this what it felt like?

He wasn’t alone in this, he could feel the other's emotions, too.

Nothing would tear them apart now, they would always come back to each other one way or another.

"Nitrobolt! Nitrobolt, snap out it," Firecracker shook him vigorously, concern evident in his tone. Nitrobolt blinked and was met by the sight of Firecracker crouched over him. Somehow he'd ended up on the floor.

"What happened?" He asked as he helped him sit up.

"Man, you just blacked out and collapsed! You started talking, too, but we couldn't understand what you were saying," the frantic mech explained just as Strongarm came into view with Windblade in tow. 

"It happened again?" Windblade asked and the others nodded. "What did you remember, Nitrobolt?"

He managed to stammer, "I....I don't—I don't know. Dancing....singing....safety."

The femme furrowed her brows, the edges of her mouth turning down in displeasure as she led him away to use the patch on him.

"This is the fifth episode this week," She could be heard muttering as they disappeared around the corner. 

Strongarm and Firecracker turned at each other, sharing looks of worry. Their friend had been having these blackouts almost every day now this past month and it wasn't looking better. It would help if he could remember any of his flashbacks, however, he hardly did. Windblade would try and look in his mind, but so far she only reached dead ends; even Zugzwang gave it a go without much luck. The only conclusion she could reach was that somehow by external means, his memories were made to be repressed.

This, combined with the stress of finding Blitzkrieg, Nitrobolt hadn't gotten much rest at all. Not that he wanted to when his mind, he described, was plagued with vivid dreams he couldn't distinguish as memory or pure fantasy. He had said how he felt he was losing his mind. Nowadays he tended to isolate himself unless there was an assignment, today had been the rare few he'd been sociable. 

"You know, me and Grim were planning on going to Crown City to catch a bite. Wanna tag along? It's blueberry pie and milkshake day, a little birdie told me that's your favorite," Firecracker offered Strongarm in an attempt to lighten the mood, though she didn't seem to be listening to him at all. She looked a little shaken, more so than earlier, even a little ashamed. "Heya, sweetspark, you okay?" 

She snapped out of it in an instant and smiled softly at him apologetically, "What, Cracker? I was spacing out."

"Wanna get a milkshake at O'Malley's Diner? We could go to the park, too, while we're at it," He added, knowing how she liked the park.

To his disappointment, she shook her helm and patted his back while she gave sentiment on how she hoped he had a good time. Defeated, he left her to herself with Grimlock already happily waiting for him outside the door. He looked back at her one last time and she smiled at him again and this time he smiled back, even waving at her before he left.

As soon as he did, the young femme sighed and reached into her subspace, pulling out a datadisk.

"I need to talk to Henry."

■□■□■□

"Steeljaw, did you hear me?"

The wolficon opened his optics, craning his head down to the youngling staring up at him, a concerned look in his bright, wide optics.

"No, I don't believe I did. What is it?"

"You were thinking again, but this time you were talking. You should see a doctor...." He replied. "Like me! I'm good at that stuff. I can scan your cranial unit and--"

Steeljaw chuckled, gently patting his helm, "No, it's alright, Blitz. I am perfectly fine. Did you finish reading like you were supposed to?"

He nodded eagerly. 

"Good. Let's review."

For the past month and a half, since he'd had Blitz, he had proven himself a great pupil. He was highly analytical, logical, observant, deductive, and intelligent, not to mention creative; the other day, when given a particularly hard puzzle he found an alternate, much quicker solution. Yet, just like that, he could switch back to a happy-go-lucky child who you wouldn't suspect was an absolute genius. He had a devious streak in him, too, he was a cunning little trickster when he wanted to be.

Most of the Pack couldn't stand the little bot who Steeljaw treated almost— almost —as an equal, holding his opinion in such high regard. Not to mention, disturbingly so, how gentle he was with him; he wouldn't even raise his voice at him when he messed up, it was like he was a different person. Nearly everywhere he went, his pupil could be found following close behind. 

Shockingly, Thunderhoof was the only one who seemed to like him, 'De kids got spunk' he often said. The feeling, so far, wasn't entirely mutual; however, Blitz enjoyed sitting on his shoulders and listening to him tell stories about his former criminal empire on Cybertron. And, to some extent, Fracture tolerated him because he was impressed by the youngling's basic combat skills; he'd make his minicons spar with him and on occasion, whenever Blitz allowed him, he'd help him keep up his training. 

"Did I do good? Did I pass?" Blitz asked hopefully when they finished and Steeljaw nodded, feeling some pride and a strange warmth in his spark watching him grin.

"As promised, you may be rewarded with anything you wish. What will it be?"

The youngling pondered for a moment, right before letting out a long yawn and realizing just how tired he was. Earlier that day at his request, Steeljaw had taken him along into the next town on a supply run for whatever he was building and some fresh air. They spent the entire day gathering things, making a few stops whenever something caught his eye. Then upon returning, he sparred with the minicons (he won). He knew just what he wanted to help him rest. 

"Tell me a story," He smiled softly, his bright eyes full of wonder; a quality he shared with his older brother. 

My bright eyes.... The wolficon remembered suddenly before he refocused on Blitz. "A story?"

"Yes. A story," He crawled onto his lap and stared up at him patiently. "I like your stories, better than Thunderhoof's—he brags too much."

He chuckled at him. A story? Perhaps he should indulge his pupil. But what story? Something original. Something to inspire. He paused to think.

"Let me tell you the story of....two bots—”

"Two bots?"

"Yes. Two bots who tried to.....change the world."

■□■□■□

CRASH!!!

"Henry? Are you okay!?" Strongarm burst into the training room and saw Eclipse standing on the other side, somehow wincing while at the same time looking smug while her son and an adolescent femme; with a scarlet and yellow paint job and a pair of baby blue optics; stood to the side cheered. In the opposite corner, a mech; with a solid dark orange paint job and a shade-like visor; was on the floor groaning, having been tossed.

"Oh hey, Strongarm, I'm fine....just....damn my neck. You got me good, honey," the mech let out an almost pained laugh while he looked at Eclipse with a small glare.

She laughed, going over and helping him up before she quickly kissed him, "Oh shut up, you baby."

That mech was Henry and that young femme was Hank. Both were in their exosuits, only a week of training from Jack and Miko and they became pros. They'd been using them constantly for the past month and they even went on missions; to be honest they hardly ever took them off, they enjoyed their newfound strength, ability, and the closeness they felt with their metallic friends. Russel wanted one, he begged his mother and father, but neither Nicole nor Denny ever allowed it; they said 'Henry may do what he wants with his kid, but you're ours and we say no.'

"Strongarm, dear, do you want to join our little spar? You could give Henry a fighting chance!" Eclipse laughed.

"Oh, uh, no thanks. I thought I should let you know Nitro had another blackout," She replied and as soon as the last word slipped out, in the blink of an eye, most everyone had left to check on him. All except for Henry, who stayed behind a moment to quickly clean up the mess made. When he finished and was about to join the others, he finally noticed Strongarm standing to the side, looking deeply ashamed about something.

"Strongarm," He called to her and she snapped out of her stupor, looking at him with a forced smile; something was most definitely wrong.

"Y-Yeah?"

He went up to her and she tensed, looking away from him. He let out a long, heavy sigh and put his hands on her shoulders, "Strongarm, you know you can tell me anything? Right?"

She made an uncertain noise, but at least she looked at him—not entirely. She was facing him but her optics were staring at the floor.

He smiled and assured her with a gentle tone, "I'm your fake uncle, but you're still family—and I love you, kid. Nothing you'll say will change that."

She finally brought her gaze to meet his warm one and she smiled back, "Thanks, Henry....I was coming to talk to you anyway."

"I'm all ears."

Strongarm hesitated at first and bit her lip before taking a deep vent. She'd been hiding this for too long and she couldn't live with herself anymore! It was time to tell someone.

"Henry, I stole something," She began.

Henry nearly gasped, "Y-You what? What did you steal?"

She reached into her subspace taking out the datadisk before handing it to him. "I took this from a shrine I stumbled on....in Steeljaw's original hideout."

"A shrine to who?"

"To Nitro. He-He thought he was dead! What I didn't understand was why he would go through trouble for someone he shouldn't even care about! So, I picked that up and what I saw there....it gave me an answer—for a lot of things."

Henry suddenly touched the center of the disk and a video flickered to life, projecting itself in front of them. It was choppy and at times blurry, but one could tell with the utmost certainty that the bots in it were Nitrobolt, Steeljaw, and a few others who appeared on occasion; two vehicons, a red and orange bot with a pretty face, a moderately sized bot that almost looked ancient while youthful, and a small youngling. The main focus of the video was the first two. They danced, laughed, and held hands together. They even sang—the audio was as choppy as the video but Henry could tell just how happy they were.

Then the video ended and the disk shut off.

It was quiet before Strongarm spoke up.

"There are more videos but the files are still damaged. I've been working to fix this to get more answers for the past month...." She sighed. "They were together like as in together-together. That's why Nitrobolt is so sad and angry when it comes to him. I understand now....but what I don't understand is how that all changed," She put the disk away. "I don't like it one bit."

"Don't you think you should show this to him?" He stared at her quizzically. "It could be a real help with his memory issues."

She shook her helm, replying, "I can't give him fragments."

"Why not?"

"Henry, I've been starting to remember things that never happened, too, just like Nitro," She stared at the disk in her hand. "There's something on here, I can feel it in my spark! And that something has answers to a lot of questions."

Chapter Text

Fix-It was at the computer console with Raf, searching the readings for any new Decepticon activity and keeping track of bots out in the field. 

The separate teams, for the most part, usually kept to their bases—Unit E and Zugwang’s team, the Angels of Sin, in the army base; the Bee Team in the scrapyard; and the S.Q.U.A.D.D. in their bunker.

Considering their proximity to Crown City, Bumblebee and Nitrobolt decided their teams would work hand in hand when it came to capturing fugitives in the surrounding area while Unit E and part of Angel's of Sin—a couple remained behind—for the time being focused on capturing fugitives globally. 

One thing they all worked on together was finding the Pack. 

The teams, even with their own established status quo, mended well together; between missions they often hung out. Despite obvious tensions between certain bots, it all ran like a well oiled machine. 

Quite frankly, he wished that Unit E made an effort to reach out much earlier, it was a breath of fresh air having an entire unit to depend on instead of just a small team with a threat this severe.

The new accommodations were especially welcome, it was no small pleasure to be surrounded by up to par tech and it made him feel much safer in the scrapyard. 

Raf had even volunteered to assist him; he and the man got along and worked well together, he appreciated his knowledge of Cybertronian science, technology, and culture. Raf told him, when asked about it, that he had learned a lot from Team Prime's medic and even Nitrobolt’s carrier. After the lost contact, the bots that were left stepped up to continue teaching him. 

The lieutenant especially enjoyed having his old friend around, the pair did what they could between shifts to make up for lost time; going for drives, playing video games, and whatnot. 

“Scrapyard to Sideswipe and Windblade. Any luck finding the Decepticon?” Fix-It asked.

《No luck yet!》Windblade sighed.《Though, Sideswipe managed to upset a family of squirrels.》

Sideswipe could be heard in the background shuffling and cursing to himself.

《We did find some tracks. I think they can't be too far ahead.》

“Alright, keep us posted,” Raf replied, ending the transmission before switching channels to contact Drift and Grimlock about their pursuit. They had nothing to report either.

“Rafael, anything new concerning the whereabouts of the Pack?”

“Mm-mm. But I have been tracking reports of stolen construction materials and electrical equipment in Crown City, it may be related. There was another batch of thefts just yesterday. See?”

Fix-It peered at the list of items puzzled. It looked like components of a bridge of sorts, but whether it was a space or ground bridge couldn't be determined. In fact, he wasn't entirely sure if it was a bridge at all but if Steeljaw and his Pack were involved it couldn't be anything good.

“We have to tell the lieutenant when he returns from his patrol of Crown City. Oh! And send your findings to the others.”

“Already done!”

“On another note, have you been able to find any trace of Blitz?”

The man sighed and shook his head, “Not even a blip on the screen, he's just gone.”

“I-I-I—I guess that's a relief in itself. Primus forbid, if he was offline we would have found his remains by now with how hard we've been searching….”

“Don't let Nitrobolt hear you say that," someone suddenly cut in and they both looked to see Strongarm.

“Strongarm! Please don't mention what I said to Nitrobolt,” The orange minicon chuckled nervously and continued. “Anything to report?”

“Nothing new. Nitrobolt and Firecracker are currently scoping out potential Pack hideouts.” 

“And how are Nitrobolt’s blackouts doing? Any improvements since the last time Windblade dove into his mind?”

“A bit, he's not passing out anymore. He just gets this blank expression doing things now,” She replied. “How's Grim since that whole deal with Scowl? I know he took that hard. He was really looking forward to mentoring him.”

“He’s doing pretty good, he's actually in the field right now with Drift,” answered Raf.

“Sideswipe's with Windblade tracking a fugitive. You could wait for him if you want,” Fix-It added, hopeful the pair could finally make up.

“Ah, no. Actually, I got another reason for being here, too,” She replied nervously. “I need a….favor.”

“Oh?” 

“You see, I found this datadisk with a bunch of video logs and many of them are corrupted. The datadisk itself is a bit damaged,” She explained as she took it out of her subspace to give it to them. “I fixed what I could but I'm no expert. Could you guys help me?”

“Of course, Strongarm!” Fix-It rolled up to her and reached to take the disk—then he paused. “O-Out of curiosity, why didn't you ask Nitrobolt?”

“....He's got enough on his mind right now. There's things on there that might stress him out.”

That answer satisfied him so he took the disk before rolling back up to the console.

“I have a program that'll do the trick, but, depending on how many files and how corrupted they are, it may take a few days—maybe even a little more than a week. Is that okay?” Raf asked.

“It's fine! Just as long as it's done—”

“Wait!” Fix-It exclaimed. “Can you please tell Nitrobolt to come see me as soon as possible.”

“Why?”

“I've been trying to give him a proper follow up on his surgery. I never got to considering all that….occured,” The minicon’s guilt slipped out his vocalizer and he was silent for a second before he continued. “He keeps avoiding me about it. I know it seems to have healed well, but there was something about his spark I found odd but couldn't delve into because of the surgery. I want to run further tests to determine if the anomaly corrected itself.”

“I will! Again, thank you both so much,” She transformed and drove away, saying a quick “hi-bye” to Denny as she passed him.

“You fellas need any help?” Denny inquired as he came to sit next to Raf.

After forcing Denny to live in a house for the time being for safety, it was determined it was safe (after even more security was added) to let him come and run his business to keep up appearances. Additionally, to keep an eye on him and be close to Russell, Nicole lived with him, too.

“What about work?” Fix-It asked without turning away from the monitor. 

“Eh, I closed up early. Business is slow today.”

“Oh, then you could help us keep track of the bots in the field,” Raf replied. “And, uh, you look good.”

“Want anything to drink? I brought up a cooler.” 

Raf nodded and took the water bottle that was offered to him.

“What about you, Fix-It? I got some of Firecracker’s homemade energon punch.”

He perked up and turned to him, “Oh! Thank you, Den—What is wrong with your face?”

Denny's beard was shaved clean off and his hair had been trimmed. 

“Nicole?” Fix-It rightly surmised. 

“Yep.”

“I guess Bee told her about that time you trashed his interior,” Raf couldn't help but snicker. “She was gonna make you clean up one way or another while living with you.”

“Oh haha, that's not the reason….” Denny paused as both stared at him in disbelief. He sighed. “Fine, it's part of it. But, I also got gum in my beard!”

The minicon looked at him with narrowed optics deep in concentration for a moment before his eyes lit up.

“What?”

“Without your beard, you are a dead ringer for that actor Danny Cray!”

“That's because I am—was—Danny Cray, Fix-It. Someone got my name wrong my first gig and it stuck,” He shrugged, disinterested about delving into it. “It's how I met Adam….who introduced me to Nicole. The rest is history.”

“It explains why you're such a master of disguise!” Fix-It grinned, not catching his disinterest and eager to know more. “How come Russell doesn't talk about it?”

“Eh, I stopped when he was little, he probably doesn’t remember—besides, no one could tell who I was once I grew out my beard.”

“But why? Your last motion picture 6 years ago did very well! Might I say, I found it quite humorous.”

 “I wasn't doing it for the money—I had this place up and running already—and I wanted to be there for my family more,” He frowned. “But I was too late.”

Fix-It took that as a cue to drop the subject and put his focus back on his current tasks; he felt a bit guilty he had unintentionally brought the man down a road of unpleasant memories. 

“Denny?”

“Yeah, Raf?”

“Nicole still thinks you're funny.”

At that, Denny smiled. 

■□■□■□

“....so you really are 12 years old?” said Russell as he and Butch (Or Zephyr, though it was noted he much preferred to be called by his human name) with other students, poured into the halls as the bell rang to signal the end of the school day. 

“Yeah,” Butch scoffed, throwing his school books in his locker and getting his backpack. “How else have I been going to this school every year for the past 8 years since me and Hank were 4?”

The blue shirted boy shrugged, “I thought Cybertronians aged slower than humans. Sideswipe told me he's 19 but that in human years he's 25….so how are you 12 in human years, too?”

“I'm still a kid, dude. I'll age like you until I'm a teenager.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, so starting next year, every two years I'll age one human year until I'm an adult, then after that even slower,” Butch explained further. “It's how we live so long compared to you.”

When they ended up outside, they sat on the steps of the school while they waited for Hank. 

Nearby, the guard detail assigned to watch them stood inconspicuously under the guise of civilians—one was a crossing guard, another was a jogger, and so on.

“So, this applies to everyone?”

“Pretty much, though it's different for a lot of bots in terms of human years. Not everyone is born the way me or Sideswipe were, some just rise out the Allspark as full grown adults or kids, others get harvested and put into protoforms. There's way more to explain when it comes to the different forms of creation, but you get my point, right?” He asked, a bit of an edge to his voice near the end implying he'd be upset if, after all his explaining, Russell still didn't understand. 

Luckily, Russell nodded.

“Yeah! So, like, a week ago a dude could rise out being the equivalent of 20 and an adult, but in human time he's just a week old.”

“Exactly!” Butch exclaimed and let out a sigh of relief that he understood.

“....So now can you explain exactly how holoforms work again?”

Butch immediately scowled, a long groan intermingled with a snarl spilling out, “I’ve told you THREE times already. That should be enough—Why are you laughing?!”

Russell snickered, “I'm messing with you! I get it….you're just fragging hilarious when you're mad. Your voice squeaks!”

“No, it doesn't!” Butch cried. His voice indeed squeaked to his chagrin and Russell's snickers erupted into a fit of laughter; immediately, the boy saw red.

By the time Hank came out, Butch had Russell in a headlock while he gave him a noogie on the top of his head. However, the latter still laughed.

“Take it back!”

“In your dreams, Squeaky—Ow!”

She reached out to separate them, chiding the instigator, “Russell, stop teasing my future little brother.”

Butch immediately let Russell go and glared at her, “I am a month older than you—!”

“But, right now, I'm taller than you by half an inch,” She teased, sticking her tongue out at him.

“Only cos you're wearing those boots!”

While they continued to playfully bicker, Russell straightened himself out and sat on the steps to be on a look out for his mother, who was picking them up today.

That's when he spotted him.

At first, Russell tried telling himself it wasn't real, just another hallucination brought on by guilt. The therapist he was set up with gave him breathing exercises and affirmations to help make them go away. 

He would've done that now, but something about this felt different. 

There was no blood, no damage of any sort.

Blitz's holoform was there in front of him, standing right across the street. 

He got up to get a closer look, eventually coming to stand on the curb; he instantly had little doubt in his mind that it was him. 

Blitz was wearing the exact same clothes as the day his dad had brought him to the scrapyard.

“Diego! Blitz!!” Russell called out to the boy and the look of shock as he registered him confirmed his suspicions. He was real! 

Russell couldn't measure the joy and relief at finding him; he'd finally get to apologize for treating him so badly and Nitrobolt would finally have his brother back!

He waved Blitz over happily, however, to his immediate horror he slowly backed away before darting in the other direction.

“Wait! Come back!” He immediately ran after him, neglecting to notice the stoplight had flicked to green.

Chapter Text

“This week's staff meeting is being held at the Vintage Depot for the Discriminating Nostalgist. My name is SSA Nicole Bishop of Unit: E. Joining me, by video call and in person, are the AOS, the Bee Team, the SQAUDD, and my fellow agents. On the docket, progress on the capture and containment of fugitives followed by discussion of the thefts which may be connected to The Pack. Other business may be addressed when brought up in conversation.”

Nicole was seated in the command console with Fix-It and Raf overlooking the others. She had an even sterner disposition than usual, she had been like that since Russell almost got run over when he thought he saw Blitz—no one believed him about it but Nitrobolt. 

Were it not for Butch's quick thinking, the human boy would have been horribly injured if not dead. Butch had phased out his holoform and rematerialized it in front of the car in time to push him out of the way. Fortunately, no one had noticed but unfortunately, his holoform was hit. The “injuries” it sustained looked realistic enough to save face, however, for the time being, Butch—the human boy—would have to stay out of public view. Butch didn't mind much, it meant he didn't have to go to school, though, he was disappointed he wouldn't be able to play football with the team until a reasonable “healing time” had been met. Thankfully, he could still play with the minicons, Hank, and Russell. 

Anyway, since that day Nicole and Denny kept a closer eye on their son. 

“It is 0930 on a Saturday, the meeting begins now,” She said as she set the recorder down. “Jack, start us off—Jack, your mic is off!”

“Sorry!” He stammered initially in embarrassment. “Anyway, on our end, we captured a total of five this week near Egypt—”

“All Insecticons, too, it wasn't easy,” Miko cut in. “Those dirty bugs were trying to build something. Looked like a bridge.”

“And it was as if all were in a trance…off-putting to say the least,” added Zugzwang, who was also with them along with Renegade and the twins.

Nicole nodded, “Yes, I read your report. We'll go more into that later. Bee?”

“We were able to apprehend two this week from within the city,” Bumblebee replied. “And one more just outside the county—their partner is still at large”.

“Woulda got ‘em if Nitro-bolts for brains didn't space out,” Sideswipe murmured under his breath; or so he thought, as Windblade nudged him and at her look of displeasure he shrunk back in shame.

“I see. And…” She hesitated, “any human casualties?”

All answered “no”.

“Very well. According to the manifest, 45% of the escaped convicts have now been caught. You should be proud of yourselves,” the stern woman managed to smile in encouragement before her frown reappeared. “Moving on. Who wants to start first?”

It was mostly silent for a moment before Raf cleared his throat.

“For the past week, Fix-It and I have been tracking a series of thefts in Crown City and the surrounding counties,” He began while Fix-It pulled up a map marked with areas he mentioned and also the list of items stolen. “It's all electrical components and construction material—and just bits of it here and there. The missing items aren't initially noticed and the incidents are so spread out no one would make a connection at first. Fix-It has an idea of what this material may be used for.”

He looked at the minicon and it took a moment for him to gather that was his cue to speak.

“Oh! Yes! In citation—relation! Ahem, sorry,” Fix-It cleared his vocalizer. “Concerning the list of items retrieved by the others, I compared them to the list of items stolen from around here. They are very similar, in fact, they'd be identical if ours was as complete as theirs.”

He brought up the list of items retrieved and put it next to the list of items stolen in the area. He was right, they were almost copies of each other. 

“Miko had a good guess! It is a bridge of some kind; it has the general components you'd see in something as powerful as a space bridge. However, this one even more so.”

“Noted, but, Fix-It, what does it mean?” Drift asked.

“That's where I come in,” Eclipse spoke up and stepped forward. “Rafael and Fix-It contacted me with their findings for a second opinion. I reviewed the lists and I realized that the essential components looked very….familiar.”

With a flick of her wrist, she opened a holographic screen and enlarged it for all to see, revealing blueprints.

“Before the war, I was a scientist and an engineer. I still have several of the blueprints from the projects I participated in. Now, I didn't work on this specific project personally, but I offered feedback,” She explained. “It involved unspace. Now we all use it for different things, such as mass displacement—like with the exosuits or the Apex Armor—or for personal storage with our subspace pockets. This was the same concept as the latter but on a much grander scale! It would've been used to store excess material, preservation of almost anything from literature to flora, to even large weapon caches—such as warships, heavy artillery cannons, shield generators.”

She frowned.

“It was commissioned by the High Council at the time. I learned much later that it was part of a plan to entrap bots they considered undesirable without having to kill them, instead putting them in an endless loop with no death or decay. In theory, one could starve, feel the pains of hunger, but never die….go completely mad,” She said quietly. “The lab was destroyed in an explosion—a fuel line was leaking, someone unknowingly lit a cygar, end of story. Nearly everything was wiped out in an instant, all our backups, too. Any of the salvageable projects were discontinued and replaced with weapons development, for by then it was plain to see war was on the horizon. Until this week, I hadn't looked at these schematics in over a millennia.” 

Eclipse shut off the holograms and, though she tried to come off as calm as possible, her entire form was rigid.

“No one, and I mean no one, who didn't work at the lab should have any knowledge of this—Hell, as far as I know, all of my colleagues died in the war!”

“We combed through the manifest for any prisoners who may have worked in that lab at the time and got no leads,” Fix-It sighed.

“What makes it more frustrating is even knowing who could've won't help us with why,” Raf added in frustration. “Why are more than one group trying to build it? Why here? Why now? Why at all? And, finally, who exactly is behind this?”

■□■□■□

“What’s going on, Steeljaw?” Blitz whispered, quite curious as to why his mentor suddenly was using one hand to gently guide him behind him.

Since the day Russell spotted him, he was kept close by—there would be no more trips to Crown City but he was told if he kept up with his lessons and helped with whatever was being built, he could go in the next supply run outside the county. A moment before, he was teaching him the basics of subsonics and its uses. In the next, his optics widened and he motioned for him to be quiet. Blitz thought he looked frightened.

He watched as the wolficon turned away from him to stare intently at the wall.

“I am alone,” Steeljaw replied to whomever he could see.

“What's going on—?” Blitz whispered again but Steeljaw’s tail moved to cover his mouth. He received a gentle pat on the helm, encouraging him to stay silent.

“We need more time. The components required for the construction are not easy to acquire and we must be discreet lest the Autobots catch wind of what's going on.”

There was a long period of deafening silence. The youngling tried his hardest to try and hear whatever his mentor could, but all he could pick up was a low hum.

“I am working as hard as possible!” He snarled. “As that is the case, may I have a show of good faith? I am not working for nothing. Can you guarantee me your end of this bargain?”

Yet another moment of quiet.

Then, suddenly, Steeljaw clutched his chest with a loud, pained moan.

■□■□■□

Denny spoke up, “Wait a minute. You said that it can be used for storage or, at worst, trapping people, right, Eclipse?” 

She nodded.

“Then….what if it's being built to let something out?”

The realization took a moment to hit everyone and when it did it was like a lightbulb had flickered to life. Soon most of them were pitching in their ideas of what it meant before Bumblebee raised a hand and they went quiet to allow him to speak.

“You think this is the great evil Optimus spoke of?” Bumblebee held his chin in deep thought. “I used to think it was something to do with the escapees and Steeljaw….but now, with everything we've been through, I think it's even more than that.”

Drift replied, “The night we met our new allies, you spoke of Cybertron and how being there made you almost forget your time on Earth.”

“Yeah, Bee, and you're still struggling to really remember everything, too. You told me the other day sometimes things still feel hazy,” Grimlock pointed out with a certain level of inquisitiveness that hit him on occasion. “Miko talked about those bug bots being under some mind control. Maybe it's related to that, too, and it's all connected back to Cybertron.”

“Makes sense. What can be let out if it wasn't put in first? The original bridge must be on Cybertron,” Zugzwang surmised. 

Things were starting to make a bit more sense and it felt reassuring to feel closer to unraveling the mystery. But with this revelation came a realization.

“If that bridge is being built to let something out onto Earth then….” The team leader trailed off, daring not to finish the thought.

It didn't matter, they all had reached the same conclusion.

The crash wasn't an accident.

Suddenly, without warning, Nitrobolt—who had been silent the whole meeting—clutched his chest, frame wracked with trembles as out his vocalizer a pained cry pelted out. 

■□■□■□

Through the whole ordeal, Steeljaw was steadfast and stood tall, even as he staggered backward. He did not waiver and he kept Blitz behind him, not wanting the being who spoke to him to see the youngling. He didn't know why, but he felt the need to protect him from this thing that plagued his every waking moment. Blitz had never been nearby whenever he was contacted before. He felt the youngling try to move but with the weight of his tail he kept him in place; the youngling proceeded to embrace it in his attempt at offering comfort to him.

“My show of “good faith”,” the entity began, slowly releasing whatever grip he had on Steeljaw, “is that I let you live after your outburst. Do not seek to test the limits of my forgiveness any further.”

In the blink of an eye, he was gone.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Steeljaw turned to his pupil.

“Blitz, you can speak now. It's….” He trailed off at the sight of the youngling crying, obviously frightened. He crouched to his level and offered his hand to him for comfort, but instead his pupil went and embraced him. Steeljaw didn't push him away, he knew he should expect that reaction from someone so young.

He found himself pulling him closer against his better judgment; this reminded him of something and Blitz reminded him of someone besides Nitrobolt. He searched his memory for something that wasn't there—or, rather, it may have been out of reach.

Little stalker

 “Now, now….” He began, jarred by the sudden thought that felt familiar yet so unknown, “dry your optics. You mustn't let the others catch you shedding lubricant, it's unbecoming. I'm really alright.”

Blitz sniffled, pulling back to look at him as he wiped away his tears, “Can I do a scan to make sure?”

“Later, I promise.”

He looked at the lesson he had planned out for him. It all seemed pointless now, he wanted to be alone and forcing the youngling to focus again after something so jarring seemed wrong. 

The thoughts made the wolficon pause.

When had he become so compassionate?

“Let's take a break from this lesson, hm? Why don't you find Thunderhoof, I'm sure he'd love to regale you with those fascinating stories of his criminal empire,” Steeljaw suggested while gently nudging him toward the exit. “Better yet, ask him to take you to that drive-in you saw in the next town.”

“But you said not to go out unless there's a supply run.”

“I'm making an exception. Now run along!”

The youngling smiled up at him, his fear obviously a distant memory by now and he quickly left. The wolficon felt a small smile touch his lips temporarily he heard his pupil excitedly tell Thunderhoof they were going out.

It was quick to leave him as he closed the doors behind him to be even more alone with the ever-growing uncertainty and unpredictability of his thoughts.

Chapter Text

Fracture and Underbite watched in silent amusement as the “little prince”, Steeljaw’s “soft spot” (not that they'd say that out loud) eagerly held onto Thunderhoof’s antlers as they both began leaving. They all still wondered exactly where the kid came from and how he knew Steeljaw, though Thunderhoof seemed to be more up to speed than the rest of them on his origins. However, he didn't tell them anything more than what little they already knew.

The kid was helpful enough and contributed his fair share—the little that was since he was so young and, additionally, Steeljaw’s plans surrounding him concerned educating him, not putting him to work—but they all still found him to be a pest. 

“Eyo, bots, we’s gonna grab some more supplies,” Thunderhoof announced as he began passing them.

Well, all except Thunderhoof.

“Didn't we get a bunch of scrap last night?” Fracture pointed out, trying to call their bluff.

He shrugged. “Eh, well youse all know Steeljaw with dis ting we buildin’. Always needin’ more. Right, Little Bit?”

“Yup,” Blitz chimed eagerly in reply to the nickname Thunderhoof had given to him a while back.

The others began to burst out laughing.

Oddly enough, the same day the brat showed up, Steeljaw told them about how he made contact with a benefactor who offered to expedite the acquisition of Earth for the, as Steeljaw put it, “ dawn of the next Decepticon empire to overthrow Cybertron”. All they needed to do was build a gateway for them to arrive. 

Based on the schematics provided, it appeared to be similar to a spacebridge.

When it came to gathering materials, Steeljaw became more stringent on the need to blend in and be inconspicuous. He cited that if humans were harmed the Autobots would pursue them all the more. It was more of a hassle now than before to get what they needed. 

However, there was little complaint about it. Especially so when, while doing recon on the Autobots’ base, they discovered that more bots had entered the mix. Though a few of them wore the Decepticon brand, it was obvious they were allies to the enemy. 

“Eyo, what’s so fragging funny?”

“Oh, nuthin! Just about how the “ Big Bad Mob Boss ”,” Clampdown began, feeling emboldened with how everyone else was laughing, “became a babysitter—AH!”

The crabcon was immediately grabbed by his optic stalks and hoisted off the ground. Thunderhoof snarled, optics ablaze and he looked ready to tear off Clampdown’s only working optic. The ruminacon glanced at the other two, who wisely chose to pipe down. All was quiet, only the sounds of Clampdown's trembling frame were heard as he awaited his fate at the hands of Thunderhoof.

To his surprise and his horror, Thunderhoof looked at the youngling on his shoulders and asked, “Little Bit, what should we do ta him?”

Blitz may not have been on the best of terms with most of the others, however, he absolutely despised Clampdown. No one really knew why, the youngling just harbored a special kind of venom towards him from the moment they met—that was probably another reason Thunderhoof had such a fondness for him.

Thunderhoof, at Blitz's request, had tangled up Clampdown's stalks and spun him around, leaving him to stagger around in a dizzy haze for likely the next hour. 

Considering it was still day when they arrived, even if it did take a couple of hours to drive there, they decided to kill time while they waited for sunset by just wandering through the town in their holoforms—they even snagged a few things to help build what they needed to keep up the illusion they were out for supplies. 

Thunderhoof enjoyed doing this with Blitz, it was a kind of escapism for him. 

First time he used his avatar, he loathed it, finding it demeaning to bring himself to be at such a level of a lesser species. However, through using them during some of his excursions with the youngling, it gradually grew on him and he didn't mind it as much. Blitz’s enthusiasm rubbed off on him. He could almost see why the Autobots valued humanity so much— almost .

They were still very much below him, but he could see the appeal. The organic creatures did make some entertaining movies as well.

They both were at the drive-in now seated on some plastic chairs that were set up near the back since Thunderhoof's alt was too big to be parked with the other vehicles. 

“Youse a real gangster, kid,” Thunderhoof chuckled quietly, thinking of earlier, as the movie began—Thunderhoof had seen it on his own before by chance and enjoyed it. The underdog story intrigued him and his holoform even happened to look a bit like the title character. “Heh, maybe when yer all grown up, ya can work for me?”

Blitz shrugged and sighed softly, absentmindedly kicking his legs, looking a bit somber.

“Ey, what's da matter?”

“I don't know.…” 

“C'mon, you can tell yer buddy Thunderhoof.”

The youngling stayed silent for a moment and Thunderhoof was going to let it be until he spoke.

“My daddy really likes this movie. I miss him, I miss my family….”

Thunderhoof felt for the kid, he really did. Blitz's hadn't told him much about how he ended up with Steeljaw, but from what he did know, Blitz and his creators were thrown into stasis by a member of the High Council. Any other family he had was missing or probably offline given how the bot who did this yapped about “ taking care of them ”. 

“I bet dey miss ya, too, Little Bit,” He said.

“If they ain't dead….” Blitz sadly murmured in reply.

Feeling a bit defeated, the older bot took a different approach.

“Show me yer family. You gotta picture?”

It seemed to work, as Blitz perked up and nodded.

“I got one.”

Blitz left for a moment, returning with a large printed photograph that he kept in his subspace and handing it to him. 

Thunderhoof saw it was a family portrait with Blitz in the forefront and three other bots in the back. The two bots (who he assumed were his creators) each had a hand on his shoulder while the third (the brother most likely) had a hand on top of his helm. They looked very content.

“That's my daddy,”—Blitz pointed to a buff looking dark green bot with green optics—“my mommy,”—he pointed to the purple one, who had a slim frame and her bluish purple optics shone brightly—“and my big brother,”—he pointed to a white bot with electric blue highlights and a frame that was a mix between the creators, though leaning more towards the femme’s—“and me!” Blitz happily exclaimed as he pointed himself out. 

Thunderhoof couldn't help but feel like he knew the brother. Just something about him, not exactly his face (though it did look familiar), but his paint job. 

It reminded him of someone he knew back on Cybertron, they were in business together. However, the exact nature of it was lost to him. It troubled him, for when it came down to it he was a businessman and he had a sharp memory when it came to his business. He wondered how he could recall it all in a microsecond, all but that.

Before he could dwell on it more, Blitz spoke up. 

“Thunderhoof?”

“Yeah?” 

“You think I'll find them?”

“Yeah,” He answered, adding quietly, “an’ if ya don't, when we take this planet and get back to Cybertron, you an’ me are gonna beat dat Council bot into scrap.” 

Blitz smiled softly and looked back at the screen.

A few minutes later, he spoke up again, “No human people will be hurt, will they? When we take the planet?”

Thunderhoof glanced at him, caught a bit off guard by the question, and shrugged. A few minutes later, he glanced again and saw the boy's holoform face set in a frown. 

He sighed and muttered, “I'll try ta be careful, m'kay?”

Blitz beamed. “Promise?”

“Spark's honor. Now shh! Watch da movie.”

Chapter Text

Bumblebee's processor was sent reeling from sheer pain and agony as he was tossed to the ground below. 

He was trying to scream but all that came out was garbled static. 

He clutched his throat.

It's gone, that was all he could register as his lifeblood streamed through the gaps of his fingers from the wound. 

He desperately tried to remain online, though with every microsecond that task became harder and harder to keep up. He doubted he would survive long enough to be rescued given his beaten and battered state, he didn't even know if his distress signal made it to base.

At the very least, if he were to die, he would do so having completed his mission.

Megatron was distracted long enough and the Allspark was long gone, jettisoned out into deep space safe from his grasp.

He could go in peace knowing that.

Suddenly, from the ledge up above where he'd been tossed, he heard someone shout his name and a scuffle. Soon he saw a new bot had taken his place being dangled over it.

To his horror, he quickly realized who it was.

‘ Let me come, Bee, let me be your back up. I can do it!’

Nitrobolt, ever eager to prove himself and test his mettle, had followed him somehow without him noticing. Were it any other time and place, he'd be proud of the young one for managing to be so stealthy. Perhaps even recommend that when he came of age that he be made a scout instead of a doctor—not that Nightshade or Onyx would ever allow it. They trained him to fight, yes, but only if he ever needed to defend himself. 

'He's meant for so much more than the life of a soldier,' they'd always say. They already tried sending him to a youngling stasis center off world years before, but those were filled to capacity. The next best thing was keeping him close to them and off the field. 

What good was that now?

Bumblebee weakly reached up towards him, as if with the sheer will of thought alone, the youngling would be transported back to base where he belonged, studying medical journals like he was supposed to. He failed his friends, he should've been more aware of his surroundings. Maybe he would've caught Nitrobolt sooner and gotten someone to take him back to safety. It was too late now. For both of them.

The world around Bumblebee began fading to black while he heard Nitrobolt scream in pain, as most likely the warlord's grip on his neck had tightened.

Then, just before he lost consciousness, he saw Megatron fall to his knees.

Bumblebee onlined with a start, clutching his chest as his spark hammered within it. He reached up to his neck and felt it over more than once until he was convinced that he had his voice box and that it had only been a recollection of a time long past. It did little to ease him as, upon noting his surroundings, he realized he was no longer in the scrapyard but an unfamiliar medbay. 

At the very least, he wasn't alone. A few of the others were there with him, too, in their own medical berths looking worse for wear.

“Hey, Bee,” Grimlock smiled weakly at him, a metal drum on his lap. He quickly figured out what it was for as the dinobot began to dry heave into it. “Ugh…. Hey, guys, Bee's awake!”

Drift hissed at Grimlock not to be so loud as he appeared to be nursing a migraine (His students sat obediently at his side ready to get anything their master needed), Firecracker was slumped over his own metal drum and groaning in pain, and Sideswipe was chewing on pieces of dry ice with a frown (from the glimpse at the monitor next to the teen, Bumblebee figured he had a fever).

He frantically wondered how they got here and where they were, what exactly happened to them. His last recollection before his trip down memory lane was hearing Nitrobolt scream and an unbearable pain—

His fuel tank churned and, before he could properly process what was going on, he was leaning over the side of the berth and purging into the metal drum on the floor next to it.

Chapter Text

“Optics wide… follow the light.”

Bumblebee squinted against the flashlight's glare and did his best to do as asked, flicking his optics from side to side. He grimaced at the lingering taste of his purge in his mouth, and he couldn't help but gag. His attending physician presented him quickly with some energon to help wash it out.

Shortly after Bumblebee had woken up and purged, Henry (in his exosuit) had come in and helped him walk to a more private room within the medbay to perform a basic checkup. He was surprised at how adept the human was as a medic—though he supposed that being a mechanic helped. Henry even had such a way about him that he made him pipe down despite how many questions he had—Where were they? Where was everyone else? Was Nitrobolt alright?—with nothing but a look and strong reassurances to explain everything when the exam was over. It nearly felt like, for a moment, he was watching an old friend at work; it helped that the exosuit’s appearance even bore a resemblance. Even Henry’s bedside manner was almost fatherly towards him. 

That itself was amusing. 

If Henry were a Cybertronian—when taking physical maturity and other factors into account—he’d be just a tad older than him.   

Bumblebee couldn’t help the chuckle that bubbled out of him.

“What?” Henry looked up from his datapad and asked.

“Nothing, just…. never mind. What's the diagnosis?”

“You'll be fine with plenty of rest—”

Bumblebee cut him off as he retched into the metal drum he brought.

“—and relaxation,” He finished as he patted the yellow bot’s back and gently encouraged him to let it all out. After a few minutes, he was through and Henry gave him some energon to wash out the acidic taste left over from the purge.

Things were quiet again momentarily as Henry reviewed his findings and added more to his notes on Bumblebee. The bot patiently waited, but the silence began to wear on him with each passing second. 

The exam was over and yet all his eager questions had reigned themselves in. 

During the examination, they were all he could think about—however, he also dwelled on the memory that drove him back to consciousness. Now that was all he could entertain. 

However, Bumblebee had relived losing his voice box countless times before—in the aftermath, he recalled, there were many times when he woke up with a shrill stream of tones and beeps. It was all he could do back then since he couldn't scream. He learned to cope with the loss. Hell, getting his voice back helped alleviate him enough he didn't dream about it as much anymore.

No, remembering the loss of his voice wasn't what bothered him.

It was the fact that he forgot Nitrobolt was there when it happened. 

“....you understand, Bee? Bee?”

“Huh?”

“Don't hold this against Nitrobolt. He couldn't control it.”

“I-I wasn't—I'm not holding this against him,” He stammered, a bit embarrassed. How long had Henry been talking to him? He shook his helm to get his thoughts in order, pushing the memories of Nitrobolt in the back of his mind for now. He had more urgent matters to deal with. “What happened to him? What made him hurt so bad that he screamed like that?”

“We don't know—he won't let anyone scan him. Not even me.”

“Where is he now?”

“Finishing up repairs to the scrapyard. He did a real number on everything.”

“Where is everyone else?”

“Oh, they're fine! A bit dizzy but way better off than the rest of you,” He assured him. “On the bright side, no ‘con activity since you guys were in stasis. It's been an easy week!”

“Frag, that's how long we were out!?”

Henry nodded, his features shifting into a light grimace for a moment.

“Sweet Solus Prime.…” Bumblebee uttered softly in disbelief as he stood up and, with Henry's help, went to rejoin the others.

It was only after he laid back down, and Henry left the medbay to attend to something else, that he realized he hadn't asked an important question. 

“Hey, guys, where are we?” He asked, directing his question towards Drift’s students.

They hadn't been present that day—Drift, as a reward for their good behavior, allowed them to spend time with Russell and the other kids in the former's safe house to play video games—however, they probably were better informed. Besides, everyone else had fallen back into stasis for now. 

The solemn pair perked up at the question and immediately replied, voices soft to not disturb their master.

They elaborated to him—from what they were told—that the whole harrowing ordeal that disabled lasted a mere second; the only reason it didn't get worse was that Nitrobolt managed to fight through the pain to silence himself.

In that second, those closest to Nitrobolt were incapacitated and knocked into stasis immediately, while the rest either keeled over or lost balance including the humans; those abroad on the video call were also affected, but thankfully only suffered migraines (the transmission shut off before any real damage could happen). Anyway, the only ones who were mostly unaffected by the event were Strongarm and Henry. Seeing as emergency care was needed and—at the time—they weren't able to get in contact with Unit E, they brought everyone to their base. They'd all been staying ever since. 

“This is their base?” Bumblebee interrupted.

The minicons nodded. 

“Nitrobolt and Strongarm made this? Where did they get the material—”

Slipstream shook his helm.

“Strongarm told us this used to be Nitrobolt's family’s home,” He replied.

“It's very peaceful. No one knows where it is!” added Jetstorm. 

Bumblebee just nodded along to their excited description of the cabin by the lake and the facility they were currently in that was underneath it. It was obvious they hadn't left their master's side since arriving given how happy they were to have someone to talk to. He felt bad he didn't have half a mind to catch everything or contribute to the conversation.

Eventually, their voices became distant and his optics heavy with fatigue as his thoughts drifted back to the staff meeting. 

He mulled over the conclusion he was sure everyone had met before things went dark.

The Alchemor’s crash hadn't been an accident, rather it was just a step in an elaborate plan whose end goal was uncertain.

What was certain was that it all led back to Cybertron. 

And, personally, Bumblebee was convinced that Nitrobolt someway, somehow—conciously or not—was connected to it all.

Chapter Text

Over….

||If that bridge is being built to let something out onto Earth then….||

||AA—KZZT||

….and over….

||If that bridge is being built to let something out onto Earth then….||

||AA—KZZT||

….and over again.

Nicole rewound the tape and gave the section yet another listen. Her original tape recorder had only caught a fragment of the sound before it was broken by the intensity of whatever Nitrobolt unleashed on them. Almost obsessively, she kept listening to it, even as it made her feel ill.

She needed to understand it. Understand him. Who was he really? What was he?

Nicole hadn't gotten to know the transformers of the original Team Prime. She had barely been inducted into Unit: E just days before the “Darkmount, NV” incident. Even then, her duties had been relegated to tasks surrounding but not directly involving them. Who she really ended up being involved with, by the time her predecessor had begun mentoring her, were those who ended up left behind—Zugzwang and his crew. That being the case, she still read up on Team Prime and learned what she could from word of mouth. 

She made it her business to be well-informed. The less she knew, the closer she felt to a clueless fool. Sure, she had her secrets—as far as anyone else knew, she was a paralegal and eventually a lawyer who practiced international corporate law and sometimes needed to travel for work—but woe be damned if she wasn't in the know. 

She had a decent gauge on the new set of bots. Certainly, they could be trusted. 

However, when it came to him….

To Hell if she didn't see herself as the biggest damned imbecile. Something tied him to all of this, she just knew it.

“Nicole?”

She finally registered Denny offering her a cup of coffee with a worried look on his face.

“What's wrong? Is it Russell—?” She stopped as a coppery taste hit her mouth. She reached up to touch her face, realizing her nose had been bleeding. It'd been going on long enough that blood had even managed to drip all over her notes. She hadn't even noticed.

“Jesus Christ, Nicole, your fever came back!” Denny hissed when he brought a hand to her forehead and immediately took away her recorder and earbuds. “Why were you listening to it?”

“How did you….”

“You know what it could do. Why?”

Nicole looked away instead of replying, looking out the window at Russell as he was at the edge of the dock, throwing stones at the water while his friends were visibly daring one another to take a flying leap off it. She was grateful they weren't there. Especially her son.

“Where's Nitrobolt? Still at the depot?”

Denny replied, displeased at her hesitancy to answer his question but he didn't push it, “No. Those weird twins took over watching for him.”

“So where is he now??” 

Denny shrugged. “He's probably in the field.”

“I see.” 

She paused to take a sip of coffee and, for a moment, was stunned. It was just how she liked it—two creams, five sugars; Denny hadn't forgotten—then she continued. 

“Get everyone up here for an emergency meeting. Now. I need to call Zugzwang.”

“Nicole, you know some of the bots are still in recovery,” He tried to point out, but she rolled her eyes at him. 

“Fine! Just get Henry, Bumblebee, and Windblade. I want those two in holoforms and in the dining room in the next 15 minutes.”

“What about your fever?”

“Forget about it.”

“Your damn nose was bleeding—”

“Forget about it, Denny, just do it!” She snapped at him.

Denny didn't say anything at first. He stared at her blankly as his lips curled downward in a frown. He briskly took the mug back, muttering, “I think that's enough coffee.”

Watching him turn to leave, she instantly felt regret wash over her and she sighed.

“Denny, I'm sorry. Thank you for….looking out for me.”

He glanced back at her in surprise, taking a moment to process having gotten an apology from her. 

Meanwhile, downstairs Henry was continuing to tend to the others with the diligence and care of a trained medical professional. This time, he had the assistance of Eclipse. She was not a doctor, but she had enough knowledge to make herself useful so in her free time she decided to help.

“Raf and I thought up what we're going to call you when you're suited up like this, Henry—Ah!” Bumblebee winced as he was given a shot to the arm by the exosuited man and he was soon rewarded with the warm relief from the pain medication that coursed through him.

“Better?”

“Yes….Doc.”

“Doc?”

He nodded. 

“Huh. Doc. Eclipse, what do you think?” Henry looked back at Eclipse, who was checking on Drift's vitals.

“Doc….Doc….” She repeated the name, rolling it around in her mouth. She smiled and looked at Drift’s students, who were still stationed dutifully at their master's side. “What do you two think?”

“Well….he has been a good doctor to our master and friends,” Jetstorm reasoned. “I'd say Doc is a great name.”

“An excellent name,” Slipstream emphasized. 

“Well then….I guess, in this suit, I'm Doc,” Doc beamed proudly.  

“We must give Hank a name, as well, right, Jetstorm?” Slipstream reasoned.

“Yes,” Jetstorm agreed, adding, “and one for Russell when he's allowed a suit, too”

“Heh, that'll be the day….”

Those conscious in the medbay simultaneously turned towards the entrance where Denny stood, having entered unnoticed during their discussion. Although he'd been to the bunker a few times, he looked so fascinated by it.

Still, he cleared his throat and straightened his posture. No time for awe, he had a job to do. 

“Nicole wants to see you in the dining room, Bee. You, too, Henry—erm, Doc,” He corrected himself awkwardly. “It's urgent….and, between us, I think it's about you know who.” He finished off vaguely when he noticed Sideswipe begin to stir. Unsurprisingly, the teen had taken to expressing his ardent dislike of Nitrobolt with even greater vitriol. And where previously he would still talk to Strongarm, if even a little, he was now completely giving her the silent treatment for her defense of Nitrobolt. The mere mention of his name would upset him. It was shocking that he didn't bear the same ill will towards the Costins; however, it was fair to assume that it was because Doc/Henry had been caring for him.

“....What about Strongarm? She knows him a bit better,” Bumblebee whispered quietly, eyeing the red bot for any reaction.

“I don't know. She didn't ask for her.”

Bumblebee, though confused, resolved to just do as requested. His frame visibly became more lax as he lay back, and his optics dimmed slightly, a sign his holoform had been activated. Doc left the medbay soon after with Denny.

Things were quiet once more in the medbay. Slipstream and Jetstorm each let out a sigh, drumming their hands on their laps in boredom.

“Why don't you two take a break?” Eclipse suggested. “The others have been asking for you.”

“No, we must stay in case our master needs us,” Slipstream replied. “It is our honor to do so.”

She smiled, “Oh, well, it would be my honor to take over for you.”

At first, they looked hesitant, and even as they eagerly eyed the door, they looked back at their master. But with further reassurance from Eclipse, they felt comfortable enough to go.