New Adaptions

Trouble, Right from the Start

Silence. For once, it was quiet, allowing even the most troubled mind time to think. Usually, there would be a lot of noise, but this was not true today. Today, a feeling of calm ran over me, the pleasure of getting a few free moments in the day washing over me, putting my mind in a serene state as I reveled all of the things that had happened over the past few years. Decepticon activity had become low, it seemed as though there was little left fighting for, even though Megatron still stood on his own two feet, along with a number of his Decepticon ranks. Now our battles seemed like nothing more than squabbles, simple skirmishes over energon supplies, all of which were easily attained and were too frequently won and lost to say who was doing better. As for the Autobots, we were faring just as well as our enemies.

Our location had been moved, now we were located somewhere in the middle of Death Valley, Nevada, hidden away in a cleverly made base, stationed completely underground and hidden, out of both Decepticon and human view. The only ones that knew of our existence now was the very few number of informed American government officials, and of course the small strike team N.E.S.T. As for the Autobots themselves, our number had changed since our last true fight against our enemies, reduced, and then added to. All that was left of our original team that arrived on Earth was Ratchet, my chief medical officer, Iron Hide, my weapons specialist, Bumblebee, a scout that had proven his worth time and time again, and myself. With us stood Wheeljack, a specialist in technology. So far, he had been able to fix anything that we found broken, from Cybertronian technology to even human technology. And then there was Prowl, a veteran from the War that had decided to join in an attempt to find peace. With him came Jazz, who immediately took a liking to human music and slang, and used it often, and fought just as well as any soldier I have met. We found Drift, a former Decepticon turned Autobot traveling with a younger recruit, Smokescreen, and they, too, joined our ranks. Nine of us, in all.

Here, we stayed, lying in wait for when the humans needed our aid, waiting to fight the Decepticons to the best of our abilities.

I was sitting in alt mode, doing my best to take advantage of the silence of the day. I could hear the Autobots in another part of the room, in a different quarters. I was thinking about joining them to see what the commotion was about, though at the same time, felt opposed entirely to the whole idea. I had a lot more things to plan for, things I would have later relayed to them, had my mind not have been drawn elsewhere.

"Optimus."

The single summons was from one the new heads of the human N.E.S.T. team. There were three of them, not including a young male who hung around them yet was not one of them. Captain Moses Ramsey, Captain Emmett Curdey, and Sargent Harold Baker. Sargent Baker was the one that called my name, and he waited at the edge of the room. I climbed to my feet, transforming as I stood, changing from alt mode to bot mode within seconds. "Is there something you need, Sargent Baker?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Something's come up. We think it might be major Decepticon activity." Captain Ramsey and Captain Curdey nodded, as if to confirm this new piece of information, and I nodded once as well, moving forward as they moved into a part of the base that was made especially for conferences like the one that was about to occur. Before long, I was looking at them at optic-level, folding my hands behind my back as I waited for one of them to continue. There was a small remote in Sargent Baker's hand, and he clicked a single button, making an image appear on a screen that was behind him. I leaned forward a bit, focusing my optics on it in an attempt to get a better view.

"There was an attack on a small township about 70 klicks from here. We're not sure what it was, but by reports, there was damage that was in no way achievable by a human. Some photos were attained; we believe the attacker was Cybertronian." The screen changed behind him as he spoke, going from an infrared image of the town in question to images of a form out of focus, a blur that made it hard to see just what the photograph had snapped a picture of, yet the shape was familiar enough for me to recognize it.

"Decepticons?" I asked, and Captain Ramsey shrugged. "We aren't sure, but we're putting our money on a 'yes'."

"We will leave immediately." I said, turning and walking toward the main chambers of the base, where the rest of the Autobots were. Drift and Iron Hide seemed to be sparring, they exchanged blows, yet it seemed neither of them were gaining the upper hand. Wheeljack and Ratchet seemed to be arguing over something Wheeljack was working on, yet this was normal, as well. Bumblebee, Prowl, Jazz, and Smokescreen seemed to be discussing something else entirely. Yet, when I walked into the room, all debate stopped, and I was met with a line of greetings.

"Autobots . . . roll out!"