"Let's hope the others are having similar results," Arcee said as they walked away from Vogul. She and Bumblebee both transformed, allowing Jack and Miko to climb in/on before driving further into the tunnels under New York City. "Now we just need to figure out how to get out of here."
Jack glanced down at the motorcycle beneath him, "Can't we stay for a while? You know… tour the city a bit?"
"No can do, Jack," Arcee replied as they zoomed down the tunnels, heading hopefully away from the more active tracks. "We need to get back so that we can help Optimus and the others."
Jack sighed but understood the necessity of returning to base. He listened idly as Arcee contacted base and tried to explain to Fowler how to operate the groundbridge. He glanced at the dark, adjacent tunnels as they passed and wondered if any of the urban legends that Vogul had spoken of were true. The group came to a stop at a tunnel junction and waited as a subway train passed. Jack glanced behind as he heard the sounds of voices growing louder.
His eyes widened as he saw what looked like four large turtles step out from a small side tunnel behind them, walking on two legs. The four beings froze upon spotting the motorcycle and car, obviously not expecting anyone else to be in the tunnels. Jack and the turtles stared at each other for several moments, the boy's mouth hanging open. The silence was broken as Miko popped her head out of the window.
"Woah!" she exclaimed, pushing Bee's passenger side door open and stepping out of his vehicle form. "Vogul was right!"
Bee and Arcee immediately transformed and drew their blasters, Jack being knocked to the ground in the process. As soon as the bots even began their transformations, the four turtles had already drawn their own weapons, though much more primitive ones than those of the Autobots. Jack sprinted forward towards where Miko was standing between the two bots and the four turtles, holding up his hands between the two groups.
"Arcee, Bee, wait!" he shouted. Miko stood calmly beside him, though she was transfixed by the strange beings.
"No, get behind us now!"
Jack heard the clang of metal and turned to see one turtle, wearing a blue bandana, laying his two swords on the ground. The turtle then stood up and bowed to the humans and bots. His companions stared at him as if he were crazy.
"Leo, what're you doing?" a red-banded turtle growled, his eyes not moving from the large robots before him.
"Trying to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed," the blue-banded one replied before stepping forward. Arcee's and Bumblebee's blasters remained trained on him as he approached. "Please, we mean no harm. You merely surprised us. We don't usually encounter… people down here."
Arcee eyed the strange being suspiciously before stowing her blasters, her servos replacing them. Bumblebee beeped at her and she gave him a stern look, to which he responded by also putting away his weapons. She let out a startled cry when Miko quickly closed the gap between herself and the turtles.
"Hey, are you guys aliens too?" she asked excitedly, bowing at the waist to the blue-banded turtle. "Or are you kappa like from the stories back in Japan?"
"We are neither," he smiled and shook her hand. "We are mutant turtles. My name is Leonardo and these are my brothers: Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael."
Jack stepped forward and offered his hand. "My name is Jack. This is Miko. These two are Arcee and Bumblebee."
"You guys are so cool!" Michelangelo nearly squealed, his orange bandana bouncing as he ran up to inspect Bumblebee. The yellow Bot beeped down at him in response. Michelangelo laughed and held up his three-fingered hand, his fingers spread to form a distinct V-shape. "Live long and prosper, dude!"
The red one, Raphael, promptly smacked his brother on the back of the head. "They aren't that kind of alien, shell-for-brains."
But Bumblebee laughed and held up his servo with his digits displayed in a similar fashion and beeped again. Arcee rolled her own optics and said, "Actually, he's been watching Star Trek with Raf lately. But onto more important matters…"
She paused and looked down at the purple-banded Donatello who was currently inspecting her body at an uncomfortably close distance. He was muttering about their fascinating technology as he went, scribbling notes as he went onto a primitive data pad.
"Anyway," she continued, trying to ignore the turtle, "we seem to be lost. We're trying to get back up to the surface."
"Yeah, and they obviously can't fit through any manholes," Jack pointed out.
Raphael narrowed his eyes at the teenager. "No kidding."
Leonardo shot a look at his hot-headed brother before turning back to Arcee, "We'd be happy to help. Did you need to get anywhere in particular?"
"Actually-," Arcee was cut off has the comlink opened.
"Arcee and Bumblebee, you need to get Miko back to base immediately," Ratchet's voice said urgently. The two Autobots glanced at each other then back at Miko. As if answering their silent question, Ratchet continued in a grave voice, "Bulkhead is in critical condition."
Miko's breath caught in her throat and she stared up at the two Autobots.
Michelangelo, without thinking, asked quite loudly, "Wait, there're more of you?"
"Who's there?" Ratchet asked defensively.
Arcee responded before the turtles could, "We were seen by some more… humans. But we can't find our way to the surface where we first jumped to."
"Agent Fowler!" Ratchet barked to someone on the other side of the comlink. "Take care of this; I need to tend to Bulkhead. Raf, work the groundbridge."
Silence followed for a few moments and Miko started to get anxious. Jack moved over to put a hand supportively on her shoulder. Without warning, a green vortex opened before the group, startling the turtles enough for them to redraw their weapons. Without another word, Miko sprinted into the groundbridge and disappeared from sight. A moment later, an older black man stepped through, looking extremely frazzled and exhausted.
"I'm here. Now who…" Agent Fowler stopped midsentence upon seeing the four turtles. After several moments of uneasy silence, he moaned and massaged his temples. "You know what? I don't have the patience or the time to deal with this right now. Let's just say we'll forget about you and you forget about us. Deal?"
Arcee, Bumblebee, and Jack looked incredulously at the man while the turtles seemed to consider it. Finally, Leonardo, the obvious leader of the four, turned and bowed to the government agent, his brothers following suit.
"We gladly accept your offer," Leonardo smiled. He looked relieved. Agent Fowler turned to look back at the two Autobots and teenage boy, who all nodded back at him in confirmation. Returning his attention back to the turtles, Fowler held out his hand to the blue-banded turtle.
"Well it was nice… Where in Uncle Sam's beard did they go?"