Autobots, Assemble!
One-Shot: Wake the Dead
Facts were obtained through . This takes place after the finale. The 'Bots are simply visiting to check in on things. Elita and the Femmebots are not here because they are keeping an "eye" on the Dinobots and Predacons.
The sky was ablaze with burning colors as the sun dipped down near the horizon. All across the military compound its personnel were setting up festive orange lanterns near the entrances to the various hangars and stringing orange and purple lights from their eaves and roofs. The few trees that grew around the compound caught the setting sunlight in their fiery colored leaves and scattered it into a flaming rainbow of oranges, yellows, pinky-reds and maroons.
Team Prime's resident "new guys" (even though they couldn't be likened as such anymore), Prowl and Ultra Magnus, were stumped as to the strange decorating hype the compound personnel were under. Even the Avengers were subject to it and were helping the three kids decorate the outside of Hangar E while the other three adults supervised their activity to ensure no accidents.
The members of Ghost Recon were busy entertaining themselves by jump scaring any poor sucker who came close to the hangar, Winter Soldier observing from up on the roof and looking extremely embarrassed at their behavior. Regardless of that embarrassment he would crack up laughing each time one of their victims shrieked like a scared sparkling and bolted to safety.
"Care to explain for me?" Ultra Magnus prompted upon noticing the sparkle of interest in the Prime's optics. Never was there a bigger history buff than Optimus Prime, and from that sparkle alone he could tell the history behind the decorating hype and ghostly jump scares was fascinating to him. "I can see you're dying to."
His one word response left him baffled and curious for more information. "Halloween."
Both mechs looked at him. That was strangest word they'd heard thus far on this planet.
"Well, originally it was the Celtic festival of Samhain."
Okay, second strangest.
"The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the New Year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth." He clarified.
The haunting narrative explanation took on an eerie air as the sun sank below the horizon, it's comforting light extinguished. The darkness seemed to cling to the black asphalt outside like tar, but the orange lanterns and lights helped dispel their sudden uneasiness.
Sensing he had their full attention now, he continued on: "To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins."
"By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The main one that has more meaning to this was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead."
"Now I come to the main point that ties in both cultural celebrations. On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope Gregory III (731–741) later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1. By the 9th century the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted the older Celtic rites. In 1000 A.D., the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It is widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween."
Hawkeye strolled by the hangar entrance just as he finished with Miko in tow, the archer carrying a few canisters of black and purple paint and Miko holding a few spray paint canisters.
They snickered and chorused: "You know what you are? Big. Freaking. Neeerrrd!"
Optimus smiled playfully and cocked a brow ridge at the strange load the archer had.
"Oh these?" Hawkeye guessed, hefting the canisters. "Seems you didn't find with all research that Halloween is the best night ever for pranks. Smoke, Miko and Red are gonna help me with this one. Bye!"
He bade a rather hasty retreat. Miko smiled disarmingly at them and followed him.
"Why do I get the feeling that those three aren't the only culprits in this endeavor?" Ultra Magnus frowned suspiciously.
"I'm beginning to wonder if Sideswipe's somehow possessed that man." Prowl noted.
Ratchet snorted from over at his console: "Frag no! If it were Sideswipe he'd be focusing his antics on me and no one else. Hawkeye is just Sideswipe's evil carbon-based copy who has a bit more common sense than Sideswipe ever had."
"Could've fooled me." June deadpanned. In her opinion, Hawkeye had as much common sense as a golf ball if Jane's stories about his recklessness in combat were true; also the fact that he'd pranked the one mech he shouldn't have and had nearly wound up a smear on the floor because of that spectacular lapse in judgment.
The Avengers and their little helpers finished up their work outside just as the full moon began to rise up in the sun's place, casting faint silver light into the hangar. In conjunction with the flickering orange of the lanterns near the entrance and the deep darkness outside, it produced a very creepy atmosphere.
Ghost Recon followed them in after a moment or two. They were all laughing so hard that they appeared to have trouble breathing and plainly needed a small respite before going back to their mischief.
"Hey! Since its Halloween, Raf and I were wondering if you have any ghost stories or unsolved mysteries from Cybertron." Jack said.
Mirage grinned. "I think we can satisfy the whole 'ghost stories' bit, Jack. What do you think, Barnes?" He called back over his shoulder as the assassin himself slunk in.
Winter Soldier wordlessly shrugged and made himself comfortable in a corner. Mirage nodded at the subtle body language response for "Go on ahead. It's up to you." He'd heard their individual stories before so this was nothing new to him.
"I am actually quite curious as to what so many of you were doing in Nifelheim." Thor added. "My father's rule regarding the dead plainly states that only those of the Nine Realms are fair game for Hela. Did you meet your ends here long ago?"
"Ah actually no. That's the weird bit." Cliffjumper said, tapping his forefingers together. "Out of all four of us, I'm the only one who died here. Everyone else was killed on Cybertron. Weirder still is that Hela never got her slimy hands on me even though she had a pretty slagging good opportunity to snatch me."
Thor frowned. "Then that means she broke my father's rule. I will need to speak with him about this."
"Thor, let them tell their stories without interruptions." Jane urged. "And I get the feeling that Odin figured this out on his own and she's already in trouble for it. He did see them after all."
"Why didn't she take you?" Raf wondered.
Cliffjumper made an expressively stupefied gesture. "Not a clue, kid. Personally I think it was because the big boss reacted too fast for her and was like 'NOPE! You're not gettin' this one! Nuh-uh!' He's protective like that."
Raf smiled at the specter's theory. It did sound slightly plausible.
"Wait a second." Wheeljack frowned. "If you bunch all offlined on Cybertron, then that means you were there for a really long time, like a long, long time. How come Primus never picked up on the fact that a good portion of you were just flat out missing?"
"Two words: alternate reality." Skywarp replied, ticking off the words on his finger. "Kinda difficult to find something when you have no slagging idea where the frag it went in first place. Plus that place has some sort of dampening field thingie that makes it hard to find stuff. It's like one massive dead zone – erm, no pun intended."
"A dead zone for energy and electronics you mean." Stark said. "It effectively blocked out your spark signals, rendering you invisible to him even if he figured out you were in a parallel dimensional plane, which eventually he did since he showed up there and nearly scared the holy bejebus out of one of the bravest men I know. So how did you guys end up there?"
All four spectral members of Ghost Recon eyed each other before casting their eyes to the ground rather shame-facedly.
Jazz replied rather slowly and uncertainly: "…That's….um….complicated….?" He hazarded, rubbing his neck awkwardly.
Off in his corner, Winter Soldier rolled his eyes. Jazz was the one with all the social skills of the bunch and he was making himself look like an idiot. "Fess up you big wuss." He said teasingly. "Tell 'em what happened."
Jazz groaned in defeat. He looked ready to curl up in a hole and die of embarrassment if he could. The funny thing was that no other member of Ghost Recon looked so embarrassed, just a little sheepish and unsure.
"Okay, okay. Look, what happened was this: I was a saboteur durin' the War, so that involved me sneakin' behind enemy fortifications and messin' around with their stuff so it would backfire on 'em, along with intelligence gathering for the boss mech. I don't mean to brag but I was pretty slagging good at it. I was one o' the few 'Bots that Megatron was dead scared of because of that little talent o' mine."
"You mean screwing with people?" Ms. Marvel grinned slyly.
Jazz managed a thin smile back. "You got it. So that painted a big ol' red target on my back right away. Not that that scared me any. I survived for a pretty long time with that target on me – almost to the very end o' the War on Cybertron."
"So what went wrong? Did you screw up on a mission?" Hulk grunted.
"You could say that. I picked up a distress beacon near Altihex and went to go check it out, thought maybe it might be a neutral or a 'Bot who needed an assist." He snorted derisively. "Shows what I know. I walked right into a 'Con ambush with Dreadwing leadin' the charge. Barely had time to charge my sonic cannon before flyboy took me down with a sword to the spark chamber. I always thought that a little odd – that was a nice, quick, clean termination, unlike what other 'Cons would've done."
Optimus nodded. "When Dreadwing came here, we too noticed his strangely honorable behavior. Twice I offered him the chance to change sides, but both times he declined."
Jane cast a look at him that instantly made him zip his mouth and allow Jazz to continue.
"So long story short, what happened is that Creepy Lady decided ta be a colossal fragging moron ta me and trick me with a fake Allspark. Yeah, ya heard me right – fake Allspark."
"Uh….wouldn't you know the difference between a fake one and the real deal?" Bulkhead wondered in a tone that plainly revealed he was mentally scratching his head.
Jazz cast a flat look at him. "I don't think even Optimus would've been able ta tell the difference. That's how good th' fake was, Bulk – flawless in every way. There was no way for me ta know. That's how she tricked so many into her place."
The saboteur stood down, finished with his narrative. Jazz then cast a shrewd glance at Mirage.
"Absolutely not. I am not going second." Mirage glowered, indignantly planting his hands on his hips.
Jazz's shrewd glance quickly evolved into one of the most adorable puppy dog looks anyone in the room had ever seen. That look could've melted even the most iron-sparked Cybertronian in a flash, and Mirage was no exception.
Mirage capitulated. "Oh, fine you bleeding heart extortionist."
Everyone swore afterwards they heard him mumble: "Freaking Bluestreak…"
He sighed and began: "As you probably all guessed or knew by now, I was a spy for the Autobot forces on Cybertron for fairly obvious reasons. My cloaking ability made me a priority target and a valuable asset almost from day one, but it is extremely difficult to kill something when you can't see it. However, Shockwave managed to invent his way around it with a device called a stealth cracker. Any Decepticon outfitted with this device would be able to detect the light and atmospheric disturbances that a cloaker caused, rendering my ability next to useless."
"I was sent on a reconnaissance mission to investigate one of Shockwave's abandoned labs near the Sea of Rust, to see if he had found anything that might benefit the Autobot cause. Of course, where Shockwave is involved, none of his labs could be considered 'abandoned'. He always left sentries or created fail safes to protect his research. I was unlucky enough to awaken three of these Insecticon sentries and well…."
"Anyway, the same thing that happened to Jazz happened to me. I had the idea that she was collecting us for our abilities, but seeing others there without such talents made me rethink that."
"I'll go next, I guess." Skywarp said.
Before he could begin, Jack whipped around to stare out of the hangar and into the dark night sky. Arcee followed his line of sight but could see nothing. There was a cloud bank covering the moon and despite her much better night vision she couldn't detect any movement. Whatever her partner may have seen had vanished.
"Thought I heard something out there." He clarified. "Never mind."
But now the previously intrigued audience was uneasy despite the warm amber glow of the lanterns. T'Challa drew out a vibranium spear and bounded outside to investigate. If there was something out there, he'd find it.
He privately had the sneaking suspicion that this was Clint's prank in the process of being played out. And he had to admit that the timing on this one was damn near perfect. It was even making him skittish as he bounded around outside in the moonlit compound.
"Jack, what did you hear?" Raf pressed his friend for answers.
The older boy shrugged. "Sounded like wing beats. Could've been just a bat going by, or maybe a crow. Weird thing is that they sounded pretty loud for something that size."
Wasp and Jane shared an indescribable look. Skywarp tapped his foot impatiently in an effort to look braver than he felt. However this façade was soon broken when a low moan was heard outside, followed by a second a moment later.
"Terrorcons!" The teleporter shrieked. He vanished in a flash of violet light and reappeared on the Prime's wide shoulders, purple eyes wide in fright.
Everyone automatically assumed that Skywarp was simply overreacting to things due to the tense, spooky atmosphere of the darker-than-normal night combined with a full moon and wispy clouds. So it came as a massive shock to everyone when three purple-ish brown-ish black-ish mechs shambled into the hangar.
Bumblebee snatched Raf and Jack off the ground while everyone else brought out their weapons or activated their abilities.
"Energon…." One of them hissed. The voice was garbled but it was also strangely familiar in a way. It lurched forward. Its friends gave gurgling hisses and shambled forward.
Wasp shrieked and ducked behind Hulk for cover. Everyone else simply looked spooked or stunned into immobility. Not even the two Wreckers were above giving inarticulate cries of fright. Even more hysterical was that Ultra Magnus looked ready to call it quits and just faint then and there, not from fright per say, but more along the lines of I-can't-take-this-crap-anymore. I-just-I-NO. Just NO. He was clearly done.
"Ha! You guys should see the looks on your faces!" A snarky female voice cackled from behind one of the Terrorcons.
"Am I the lord of pranks, or am I the lord of pranks? Totally had you guys going, right?" Another snarky voice quipped with a laugh.
"Knew it." Arcee smirked, lowering her blasters. "I knew there was something funny going on when I couldn't pick up any noise from any of you for over half an hour. And how the scrap did you convince Galvatron of all mechs to join your little cabal of mischief?"
"Easy." The largest Terrorcon, who had also been the one to talk, smirked. "They said they were aiming to scare Optimus and Ultra Magnus above anyone else, and I was as good as sold. And I would say it worked like a charm, wouldn't you agree, Clint?"
Clint sniggered and swept out from behind his left pede. "You betcha it did! You make one damn good zombie, big guy! That was really convincing! You even had me going for a second there! And I planned this whole thing! You ever consider acting? You'd be perfect for that!"
He held up a fist to the giant temporarily-repainted mech with the biggest grin anyone had ever seen on his face before.
"Well, come on. Don't leave me hanging!"
Galvatron's smirk grew bigger as he knelt down and held out a fist. With an almost crazed sounding snicker Hawkeye lightly bumped his own fist against the giant metal one.
And then he ran cackling out of the hangar, arms in the air, shouting out to no one in particular and to everyone in hearing range: "I have a posse of alien robot prankers! Ahahahaha! Fear me! I have a posse of alien robot prankers! FEAR ME!"
"He's insane, isn't he?" Galvatron stared after him wide-eyed, trying valiantly to keep his jaw from dropping.
The other two "Terrorcons", Smokescreen and Knockout, glanced at each other and then erupted in laughter. Insane? Hardly. Clint was more along the lines of "Mad with Power" right now, and under normal circumstances he was nothing more than an overgrown child with inexhaustible energy. That was what made working with the man so much fun. He'd corrupted them to the dark side in the best way possible.
Skywarp gave hugely relieved sigh that this whole thing had been a massive joke played in an effort to scare everyone silly in the spirit of Halloween. And to him it was rather disturbing how well it had worked, too. He liked pranks himself, but this one had been a little over the top.
"Hey! Where'd Panther go?" Miko wondered. "I saw him run out to check out the holo-form ruse but he hasn't come back yet. I didn't expect it to work that well."
Raf and Jack stared at her. While she'd been voicing that question a black shadowy feline figure had approached from behind and was looming over her with its piercing yellow eyes.
Miko turned around very slowly with wide eyes.
T'Challa gave a very convincing feline yowl and hiss. Miko promptly turned tail and fled back over to her bulky green friend. He crossed his arms, and everyone just knew he was grinning behind the mask. He knew about the Western superstition regarding black cats.
"Score one for the Wakandan!" Knockout applauded with approval. "I didn't think he had it in him."
"Just because I'm the ruler of a small nation does not mean I can't have a little fun every once in a while. Hawkeye knows. He was the target."
"You're a troll, that's what you are." Clint frowned, jabbing an accusatory finger at him. "I'm never forgiving you for that. I can appreciate it, but I'm not forgiving it. I seriously thought I was going to die from poisoning, you jerk."
Skywarp tried to sneak out to avoid telling his own story, but one icy look from Winter Soldier stopped him cold. He wasn't getting out of this that easily. Only Cliffjumper was exempt because everyone already knew about what had happened to him via Arcee.
"So? No more spark-stopping, terrifying interruptions?" Skywarp asked.
Everyone assured him that no more interruptions would happen and that he could tell his story without issue.
"Okay then."
He teleported off his big red perch and back to the ground in a flash of violet light.
"Now, where do I start this off…?" He mused thoughtfully for a moment or two, pacing back and forth in a two-pace line. He hemmed and rubbed his chin. Despite being reluctant just a moment or two ago, he was now clearly enjoying his time in the spotlight.
"Alright, it happened like this. It's common knowledge to both 'Bots and 'Cons that I'm more or less a flying nuisance with a teleportation ability. And that's pretty much spot on – I am, and I don't deny it. In my opinion if you've got an awesome power like that, then you sure as scrap should make the most of it. There's just one problem: I tended to get a little cocky with it."
Stark gave him a look that plainly said: "Wow. There's a shocker. A spastic teleporter getting cocky with his power." The look alone supplied all the implied sarcasm.
"Yeah, yeah I know." He responded to the look verbally. "I had this coming because of that. So feel free to laugh at me when I tell you this. I was taken out by Sunstreaker and Sideswipe."
"You got terminated by the twins?!" Bulkhead exclaimed. "I don't know whether to laugh or feel bad for you! Those two were nutcases but they never played around when it came to fighting 'Cons – they were downright brutal. That's one nasty way to go."
Skywarp shrugged. "Karma's a glitch. Then again, when they got terminated and joined us poor tricked sods in Nifelheim, Sideswipe actually came up and apologized to me even though it was Sunstreaker who had done the actual termination, because he knew there was no freakin' way that Sunstreaker was going to apologize to me. Guy's a sociopath who would sooner shoot you in the face than greet you. Also really vain."
"So after that you three pretty much got along?" Jack asked.
The teleporter nodded. "Pretty much. We actually cooked up a few schemes to see if we could get the big boss's attention by getting on Hela's nerves and forcing her to use her creepy shadow claws. Those things act like evil beacons when she used them enough. And I think because of that we managed to narrow down the big guy's field of search a little."
"Wouldn't those hurt you if they caught you?" Ant-Man wondered worriedly. "I'm no Doctor Strange, but dark magic used on sparks sounds like it would be extremely painful."
Skywarp winked at him. "She never actually caught us. You try catching a teleporter and two Cybertronian Lamborghinis. There's like a one in one billion chance you're gonna manage to pull that off, and she never managed it. 'Cause, you know, we got major skills."
Ant-Man seemed very much relieved to hear this, as well as amused at Skywarp's little burst of pride, but he could very well be excused for it. Outwitting and outrunning the Asgardian of Death in her own realm was impressive in it of itself.
"And ah, that's it." He finished lamely. "We were finally found and rescued, as you know. Got to spend a little time where we were supposed to have ended up, which was nice."
"Until you got bored and stupidly decided 'Hey! Let's harass the Creator and see what happens just for the lols.'." Mirage deadpanned. "Honestly, did you have nothing better to do with your time?"
"Nope!" Skywarp replied brightly. "And you gotta admit that whole thing was friggin' hilarious! I mean, hello – you got into it too, Mr. Denial!"
"Only to keep you and the others from doing something regrettable." Mirage shot back calmly. "Might I add that you nutcases are exceedingly lucky to have someone that patient and who put up with your addle-brained shenanigans for as long as he did?"
Jazz roared in laughter. "'Put up with'? You kiddin' me Mirage? He was gettin' us right back!"
"Hold on. Lemme get this straight." Miko said, holding her hands in a demand for silence. "You guys started a prank war with a giant robot god and he was pranking you back? Pfft! I haven't even met the guy and he sounds cool!"
"'Course he's cool." Cliffjumper laughed. "Think giant, white, glow-in-the-dark version of him." He gestured over at Optimus with a grin. "I'm probably gonna get smacked for that later, but that's pretty much Primus in a nutshell."
"Now why would I do that?" A voice retorted with a chuckle. "I was enjoying that prank war as much as you were, and you are entitled to your own opinion of me, Cliffjumper."
Miko let out a little shriek of shock and delight and whipped around to face the hangar entrance. Everyone who had their backs to the entrance also turned to look, while anyone who had been facing that direction originally simply stared with wide eyes or optics.
Standing in the entryway, looking highly entrained at the slack-jawed and wide-eyed occupants inside, was a white and gold Cybertronian, his blue body glyphs glowing steady and strong.
Without any encouragement, Miko hollered "COOL!" and ran right for him, happily running circles around his feet and spouting off random questions in a flurry. Bulkhead chuckled at the rather bewildered look on the poor deity's face. This was his "First Contact" with Miko, and it was totally worth the wait.
Primus seemed to be enjoying himself and was spinning in slow circles to keep an eye on her while he did his best to answer her questions as they came. Finally he gently extended a foot and the girl lightly bumped into it, stopping her in her tracks. The girl looked up at him still grinning.
"Do you ever stop talking?" He wondered with a smile. Miko's grin merely widened and she shook her head.
Miko skipped back over to her guardian after flashing him another grin.
"Oh! Also." He began, valiantly struggling to keep a straight face and failing magnificently. "I found this one dancing around outside on the tarmac like a drunkard. Is he one of yours, Captain?"
He held up a purple-clad man by his collar that flung his arms up and shouted: "Woo!"
Cap's expression portrayed his sudden desire to fade out of existence or possibly murder his resident archer and hide the body where no one would ever find it. "There are some days I wholeheartedly wish he wasn't one of mine, but…yes, yes he is."
"Just making certain." Primus chuckled.
He gently placed Hawkeye down and let him scamper over to his cabal of re-painted robotic troublemakers. Apparently being nabbed by a mechanical god hadn't dampened his personality in the slightest. He still looked mad with power and was cackling like an evil maniac.
Ratchet crossed his arms over his chest and subjected the white and gold mech to one of his signature I-want-answers-right-now glares. "What are you even doing here?"
"What? I'm not allowed the indulgence of a simple social visit?" He asked innocently, smiling. His gold optics twinkled.
Just the adorably innocent way he asked that made the stoic Magnus crack a half-smile. Primus was playing with fire by messing with Ratchet, and he was well and completely aware of the fact.
"On this particular night?" Ratchet's blue optics narrowed suspiciously. "You were jump scaring the military personnel, weren't you? That explains why you were out there and how you stumbled across Clint."
"Ah….not intentionally." He admitted slowly. It was funny how much he looked like a child who had been called out for being naughty. Here he was, an omnipotent mechanical being, and he looked abashed just for having Ratchet whistle-blow his childish (unintentional) behavior.
He was saved a sharp rebuttal when Rafael finally worked up the courage to approach him, his ever trusty laptop tucked under his arm. One look at the spectacled boy visibly made his "D'aaw!" meter short circuit and melt into a metaphorical puddle.
Raf almost jumped when the friendly white and gold mech knelt down and politely introduced himself. The boy's nervousness faded at that friendly, warm smile, and he managed a rather squeaky sounding "Hi".
He eyed the medic knowingly. 'You clever little faker. He's why you stayed here, isn't he?' His twinkling gold optics seemed to say.
Ratchet glared murderously at him. 'Sometimes I really don't like you.'
"What's that on your arm?" Rafael asked, interrupting the silent conversation in an effort to make sure the medic didn't throw anything at him. He pointed to the strange object perched on his lower arm. It looked like an itty-bitty alien jet.
"Not a what. Who." He smiled. He lightly tapped the teensy jet and it bweeped back, detaching from its perch and flying down to hover in front of the boy. Then it transformed.
A chorus of "Awwwwww's!" sounded at the teensy little Seeker mini-con. It wasn't much taller than Fowler and had bright, cheery white optics. It whistled merrily and curiously poked at Raf, gingerly taking his glasses and examining them like a curious sparrow before returning them with exaggerated care.
"Are you trying to kill us from cute?" Ms. Marvel demanded of the white and gold mech. "Our cute tolerance is way lower than the 'Bot's, genius."
"I wanna snuggle him!" Wasp shrieked. And honestly, she looked ready to just run over and hug the living daylights out of him, and screw anyone who tried to stop her.
"I…I think I just died a little on the inside." Fowler admitted. "Little guy got a name?"
"Safeguard."
The little Seeker mini-con caught sight of the other teen boy and bounded over to examine him, gently poking him between the eyes and whistling happily. Jack cracked a genuine smile at the childish wonder in the mini-con's white optics as he continued to examine him and beep comments or questions.
One particular beeped question was translated simply thanks to gesturing with his hands. "Oh! My name? Jack."
Safeguard whistled cheerfully and hugged him, resulting in another chorus of "Awwwww's!" to happen. Jack seemed to be really trying not to allow his face to turn red, but the smile on his face told that he was just as cuted out as everyone else.
Then something went Click! in his head. White optics, from what Iron Man, Ant-Man, and Vision had reported almost always meant….
"Nuh-uh….No way…..!" He gaped in awe at the adorable little mini-con Seeker. Safeguard trilled happily, beaming at him.
"That's a Prime?!" Iron Man, Vision, and Ant-Man cried out in shocked adorability mere milliseconds later. Safeguard whistled and gave them two big thumbs up of confirmation. It really was wholly criminal how gosh-darned cute the little guy was. Primes were not supposed to be this criminally adorable! And Optimus did not count!
Primus smirked – actually smirked – at them. "Wow. It took you three that long to connect the dots? I'm very disappointed. Aren't you three supposed to be super-geniuses with incredibly high IQs?"
All three men stared at him, then at each other.
"He just dissed us, didn't he?" Iron Man realized. "We just got dissed by a friggin' god, didn't we?"
"Yes. Yes you did." Knockout snickered with an evil grin. "And it was glorious." He turned to the surprisingly sassy Primus. "You know what, just for that, I'm no longer ticked at you for cheating on the whole allegiance-swap thing. That was perfect."
"Oh, well thank you." He answered, chuckling.
June shook her head in amazement. He was not at all how she'd pictured him. He had a surprising amount of sass and attitude for a god, reminding her more of Hermes from Greek mythology than anyone.
Safeguard continued to examine Jack with his cheery white optics and beep merrily at him. He seemed far more curious about him than anyone else in the hangar, and Optimus suspected why. He was probably detecting the residual energy from the Key and wondering why it was there.
The little mini-con Prime turned to look at him. *So this is the one you gave the Key to? Good choice. He's a leader; he just doesn't realize it yet.*
Optimus nodded. "I thought so, too."
Jack was quick enough to realize they were talking about him and shrank back towards Arcee out of awkwardness. Safeguard caught the motion and wisely dropped the subject for fear of making the boy feel even more awkward. It had been intended just as a comment, anyway.
He beeped apologetically at him, transformed back into his teensy jet form, flew back over to his living perch and re-attached with one last friendly whistle in Jack's direction as though saying "Sorry about that! We good now?"
Jack interpreted the sound right and nodded, smiling. Because seriously, how could anyone stay mad at someone that ridiculously cute and friendly?
"Oh! And before I go, I have a surprise for Miko."
Miko apparently didn't notice the devilish glitter in the deity's golden optics. Everyone else, however, instantly knew something was up. Smokescreen had seen that look one too many times on Clint – the look of someone about to pull a prank that would scare the victim silly. Actually, that had been Clint's look while he and Miko had repainted him, Knockout, and Galvatron.
The white and gold mech folded down as he assumed an alternative form. Eight legs folded out from a two-sectioned body with five glowing golden "eyes". Mandibles retracted and snapped together with a metallic clicking noise.
Miko's reaction was priceless.
She shrieked out at the top of her lungs "SPIDER!" and ducked behind Bulkhead for cover. When the giant white and gold spider scuttled forward a few feet the girl flat out froze like a statue, eyes wide in terror.
What the girl wasn't expecting was for the spider to come right up and practically nuzzle her. She'd had plenty of crazy things happen on a day-to-day basis being with the 'Bots, but this….this caught her by surprise. But in retrospect is sort of made sense – this was a god, but it was a friendly, rather child-like god whose main waking impulse was to aid others.
Though the bigger issue in her mind was how the heck he knew about her fear of spiders in the first place.
'Telepathy comes in very handy sometimes'.
Miko jolted, her wide eyes growing even wider. The spider clicked its mandibles and reverted back to bipedal mode, his obvious arachnid features changing out for his usual appearance. Despite being scared nearly senseless, Miko managed an "Oh-you-sneaky-devil!" look at him.
He smiled, nodded, and in a brilliant flash of white light, vanished.
"I like him!" Jane declared enthusiastically. When she glanced to look at Fowler she saw the man was grinning broadly.
"You and me both." He agreed.
Author's Note: I will confess that Primus's personality is more or less based off of Princess Celestia from MLP: FiM since I'm new to the TF bandwagon and don't know a ton about the universe, but personally I think that personality suits him. And yes – I let Micronus have a little cute cameo-thing :) Because everybody loves mini-cons.