Sideswipe gracefully swung his katana at the target decorated to look like Steeljaw. He roundhouse-kicked another that appeared similar to the bull-former, Terrashock. As he was doing this, his audience sat tiredly on the Alcamore's damaged balcony.
Strongarm just scoffed at the sight while Grimlock was playing with his self-made car cosplay. He happily rolled on the wheels around the Alcamore, smiling sweetly at Bumblebee as he passed the leader who was talking to Russell and Fix-it.
It was one of those days when no Decepticon activity was visible and if there was any, they had no idea of it. They couldn't do much with no lead. Then again, a day off was a welcoming prize for their hard work; it gave them time to bring themselves to peace and prepare for any Decepticon attacks on Crown City.
Suddenly, the alarm blazed from the Alcamore's control center and Fix-it rushed to activate the glowing button. When he pressed it, a signal was present and moving until several more appeared out of thin air. "Guys, we got a cluster of signatures north of here in the forest. It doesn't seem to be Decepticons but it doesn't look like they may be good guys either."
Bumblebee sighed, "Alright, let's see if they're friendlies or not. If they aren't, we attack on my signal."
"And if they are?" Sideswipe remarked.
"Then don't do anything until I say it's okay for you to come out without hostility. Transform and maximize speed!"
All of them stared at him before he let out a groan, "Fine, sorry. Let's...just go."
They nodded and transformed, leaving Fix-it and Russell to man the Alcamore's control panels and keep communication among the group.
When all four Bot reached the destination, the transformed once more, keeping their weapons steadily by their side just in case. A roar made them flinch but they continued on.
Bumblebee perched himself upon a rock face ledge, scouting for any detectable movement among the forest floor. To him, the roar sounded surprisingly familiar and when another type rang out, his curiosity grew. Slowly, he jumped off the rock, silently sprinting to the closest sound made before he opened a row of bushes to see what the creatures who were making those noises were.
Behind him, Sideswipe and Strongarm hid behind trees but Grimlock did not. When he saw the creatures, he sprinted towards them suddenly, making Bumblebee shout his name in panic. It was a mistake.
The Dinobot stumbled backward when a tail slammed into his face and another hit his side painfully. When he heard snarling, he turned to see several four-eyed creatures growling at him with five figures as big as him and two smaller ones in shadow stand among the new threat. He growled back and was about to charge when Bumblebee immediately jumped in front of him. He was confused but angry at this, for why would the yellow mech stop him from taking out an obvious threat?
"Get outta my way, Bumblebee! I'm trying to save our afts here from being shredded meat!" Grimlock snarled.
"No! I know them; they're friendlies!"
All three Bots in front of Bee stared at him like he was insane. Strongarm was the first to comment, "Uh, sir, how are these things friendlies?"
She saw a smile creep up on his face, "Because they are a part of the family I had with Optimus and Raf and the others."
Strongarm gaped in awe as did the other two when he suddenly playfully wrestled one of them.
At first the creature looked stunned, but after sniffing him, it too gave a squeal in delight and licked Bumblebee. The others creatures joined the fun and one of the larger figures emerged from the shadows. The yellow mech smiled before getting up and stroking one of the mysterious figure's face sweetly. The green figure got its helm playfully scratched as the others greeted the warrior without hesitation.
"Strongarm, Grimlock, Sideswipe, meet Tigressa, and her siblings. Oh, and the Metal Heads."
Strongarm stood speechless as Demon walked up to the Dinobot, dwarfing him but curiously subtle. Grimlock didn't retaliate when some of the Metal Heads walked up to him alongside the large black and red dragon.
Suddenly, Bumblebee whistled in an unknown manner. The whistle echoed before a responding roar sounded in return. The brush in a small area rattled before a smaller Metal Head with a blue and silver scheme popped out. "Lyra! Come here, girl!" Its head shot up happily before sprinting into the mech's awaiting arms.
Bumblebee gave a hoarse "umph" as he was hit by the Metal Head and fell to the ground, laughing as his face was smothered in sloppy licks. "O-okay! Down, girl, down! I need...I need...I can't be stuck down here!"
When the animal kissing stopped, he wiped his face off before standing to greet a smirking Tigressa. "Why are you guys here? I thought I'd never see you again. You said you had to return to Kanjis."
The tiger-dragon chuckled, "We did but as it turns out, we weren't need as much as we originally thought. Kronos is still up and down about the whole...you know. Momma's still as cheerful and nearly burst into tears when she saw us. We came back because this place has grown on me, or rather us, since the Metal Heads have now taken a liking to its marvelous views. Oh, and my brothers and sisters also missed it too, missed our animal allies and such."
"It's just so wonderful to see you all again, well except for Kalypso, Ghost, and the other missing siblings because they aren't right here right now. Phantasmos, Eclipse, how are you two? You've grown a bit since I last saw you!"
Both blue twins hugged him at the same time, almost making him topple over once again. He was right though. Phantasmos was bigger than him by four heads and his spikes were much larger than before. Everything on him was sharper, bigger, and more pronounced than the last time they had met. Eclipse was beginning to look like a smaller version of Tigressa now, most definitely and unavoidably, but her cable hair was in one ponytail instead of two side pigtails. She was two heads taller than he was.
The blue and black dragon's voice was deeper now, similar to Poltergeist's dark, strained one. "Been busy, Bee? I see you've found a new team. And you have a Dinobot? I thought you were working with the Elite Guard? I don't remember them recruiting Dinobots on Cybertron."
Bumblebee shrugged, "It's a long story but I know you remember Grimlock. He got in trouble with the Guard and was being transported in the Alcamore which, coincidentally, crash landed here on Earth. Fix-it, a Minicon, was part of its crew. Strongarm is my rookie partner who followed me into a ground bridge with Sideswipe cuffed to her. She was supposed to stay on Cybertron, but she didn't listen. The rest I'll explain later."
Eclipse frowned, "A prison ship? Is that the signal we picked up?"
"Nah, it couldn't have been," Phantasmos said. "Prison ships give out B-Class Sereptium signals that can only be detected if something happens to the controls or it's hacked into while sending a call to Cybertron. The signal we came across was emitting a K-Class Tiranium frequency Decepticons used during the Civil War to send information between ranks only. High security and practically impossible coding to hack into in Autobot standards. How we got a hold of it was by accident and it seems the line wasn't secured as usual."
"We know who's making the signal. Steeljaw's probably becoming desperate," Bumblebee scowled. "We should check it out. Would you like to join us?"
Phantasmos bowed, "We'd be honored, brave warrior."
"Don't be a kiss-ass now," the yellow mech smiled.
Grimlock grinned at Demon and Poltergeist as the two told him stories of their adventures with the Cybertronians and how Bumblebee was at that time. He peered to Bumblebee himself and noted how the smaller mech was getting annoyed at the two. His grin only widened.
Strongarm and Blossom were chatting away about military protocols and how certain bots defy them constantly. Eclipse occasionally joined into the conversation since she was sitting on Tigressa's tail, the latter was walking in front of the wolf in the lead. All four girls giggled when Strongarm mentioned something about Sideswipe who turned to look at them angrily afterwards. Whether or not he actually heard it was unknown, but his ride, ElectroHyena, heard plenty and even she couldn't help but chuckle at the comment.
The Metal Heads trailed behind and in between them, sometimes hopping up on one of them to greet their new friends once more. Lyra lay content behind Bumblebee, nudging him when she wanted to be pet.
"So after we check on the signal, what are you guys going to do? I mean, I know the Nest is the most reasonable choice though you need a ground bridge to get there but what do you plan on doing the rest of the time?"
Tigressa snarled, "Probably nothing but rot in a mountain of useless human treasures until stray humans get too close and feed on them. Speaking of which, have you heard the new legend that's been forming about the Nest in human culture?"
"Nope, I've been on Earth for only a month. I haven't had the time to pick up on everything with those criminals running around loose near Crown City"
"Apparently my Nest is now a target for treasure hunters because I left a small trail of gold behind and it ended near my present territory. Humans found it and now a legend of lost gold within the caverns of the jungle land, guarded by monsters, has spread to every continent on this bloody planet. People added the 'monster' part after seeing and photographing my soldiers. Those blasted humans try to bring guns and dozers in my area, but they all die as soon as the light of the sun disappears. Fools, all of them!" She growled.
Bumblebee pinched the bridge of his nose, "You know you're forbidden from killing humans. What if Optimus found out?"
"Optimus is dead, remember? And are you going to stop me? Those humans stick their noses into our business, they get bitten. It's as simple as that."
"So...would you like to stay with us for a bit? You can't eat any humans but you can help us capture a few Decepticons. It'll really help us out."
Tigressa pondered for a moment, "I'll think on it, but for now, let's just see what in Primus' name that 'Steeljaw' is up to."
Bumblebee bent over her back, laying his helm beside one of the thick black spikes that lined her spine. "Sounds great. I'm glad you're back. You'll keep me sane while those three deteriorate my mind every day. But that's the price for being a leader, is it not?"
He felt her rumble beneath him, indicating she was laughing, "You'll learn to live with it, my dear. How Optimus did it, I'll never know."
"He's Optimus! Nobody is better than Optimus! He's survived a war, barely, Unicron, you, teenage humans, us, and everything Primus threw at him. If he was still around, he'd probably outlive us all!"
Tigressa laughed even more as she continued on. Now he had to wonder, would Optimus get jealous of Tigressa helping him? It was a strange question but there it was.
Bumblebee had to admit, he missed her voice as much as he missed Optimus in general. Both helped him through thick and thin, despite issues between the two leaders. He hoped he could reunite with the others from Team Prime as well but at least he had somebody familiar to keep him company, to give him some form of guidance when he needed it. He was still new to being a leader and every bit of advice was more helpful than he could ever imagine.
Reunited with the ones he loved and hopefully, he'll return to the others soon too.
AN: I'd just thought I'd write a "what if" little thing just for the hell of it. Clearly, time has passed greatly since the events and continuity of Prime so other things have happened to other characters as well.