Author's NB: Magnus is my favourite TF character of all time; I haven't been able to write him into much lately, so I thought I'd do another "twin" fic.

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Welcome

Earth was awful. He despised the whole grubby little planet. He'd been here all of two days and in that time he'd been stuck in "mud", rained on, rear ended at an intersection of the natives' road ways, not to mention he'd been crapped on by numerous flight capable biological entities.

Oh, and then there was the huge throng of natives who were anti his species and while trying to drive through a protest he was cursed at and spat on… and he was pretty sure the brown sludge that had been thrown at him now running down his bumper onto his wheel was not what the natives called "chocolate pudding".

The radio message to his base had been received two earthen planetary cycles ago. At first it was cursory, perhaps even just wondering. It was open ended and not really directed at any particular Autobot or base. It was simply asking if anyone was there, if anyone was still fighting Shockwave and the Decepticons, if anyone had any contact with Elite and other smaller resistance groups. Ultra Magnus had commanded that no one send a reply until they were sure it was genuine. It was suspicious. Optimus Prime and his force had left Cybertron millions of years ago, and despite the rumours that they had returned to the planet on occasion in the last few cycles, he wasn't one to believe rumours. He wanted proof they were still alive and this wasn't' some trick by Shockwave to coax them from their hiding place.

Eventually he received the proof he needed to instruct a reply. Information that no matter how good an interrogated was, a Decepticon could not know. Magnus ordered the reply to be succinct and very non-descript.

So, over the next few years the Autobots communicated between each other. And finally, Magnus allowed for forces to head to Earth. While Magnus wasn't too impressed at any Autobot request for further troops – all cells had enough trouble, they couldn't really be expected to give up their own members for someone else's benefit if it wasn't going to help their cause in the grand scheme of things. The fact was now that Earth was much more valuable the originally assumed by the forces on Cybertron and if Megatron won there, he would win here, and then finally, everywhere. A thought Magnus had to entertain as being a contradiction to the cause. He packed up his troops, re-distributed their resources to other Cybertron based groups and they left for earth.

Here he was now, standing on the edge of a large cliff, dubbed "look out mountain" and scanning down on the construction below. Autobot City was the name one of the human companions of the earth based Autobots had dubbed the place. That particular human was now classed as the "Ambassador of Earth". Their awakening on this planet had thrust this small species into the grand scheme of the universe. They hadn't even developed sustainable space flight yet. Sure, they'd made it to their moon and even sent unmanned devices into the deep, but it'd be decades before they had any real decent information. That's what really bothered the now deemed City Commander, this species, humanity, was benefiting from the placement of Autobot science, and were being protected by them from Decepticon willed slavery and destruction, but there were an increasing number who were protesting their presence. The creature with the designation Sparkplug Witwicky had referred to it as "people wanting their cake and to eat it too". Magnus had no idea what cake was and certainly didn't' know what "eat" was, but Skids later explained the meaning to him.

"You can see my problem with this local, sir?"

Magnus turned from his thoughts and looked at the statistician behind him.

Prowl's departure with Optimus had been a great loss to the Autobot movement left behind. But it was good news for their goals that he'd survived.

"Yes Prowl. I can. The area around will allow for easy attack from the sky and the Decepticons aren't exactly known to come I by the ground".

"Bar the Stunticons, sir. But I suggest we establish sensors in these natural mountain ranges, at least then we will have an early warning system".

"The Stunticons?"

"Yes, Sir. A group created by Megatron since the awakening, they're designed after earthen vehicles and are rather dangerous. It will be in this afternoon's briefing".

"I should hope so. As for the sensors, I believe that will be an excellent idea. What of the possibility of installing canons in the ranges?"

"Next to nil, sir. The natives gifted us this land, but made it clear we were not to interfere with the natural ranges, they back on to what the humans call a "nature reserve", they were not happy about the sensor idea".

"They gift us land and then dictate how we use it?"

He grumbled, irritated.

"They are a contentious species, sir, Highly illogical in most respects, but there are groups that agree with us and are more the happy for us to terraform this area to our use and those who think we should be made to leave".

"Ah, yes, I have met those groupings. Do what you feel necessary to protect our new city, Prowl. I have complete faith in you. I have several briefings before the one scheduled for 1500hrs".

"Very well, Sir".

Magnus pivoted on his foot and after taking only a few steps away from the tactician he transformed into his new form, revved his engines and headed towards one of the many meetings and briefings he needed to be at to better learn the ins and outs of this new mission.

Within ten minutes he was driving up towards the temporary entrance.

Wonderful.

He thought has he saw more human protestors standing outside with a multitude of signs. A native holding a sign which in their language said "GOD HATES BOTS!" was screaming less then "Godly" words and waving their fist, a finger raised in what Magnus had been told was some form of unpleasant gesture. The human next to him who was holding a banner with "ROBOTS BURN IN HELL" threw something at the city commander. It splattered against his windshield and the red lumpy mixture smeared the glass. If he was a normal truck, a human driver, then visual range would be affected and an unpleasant accident would take place.

All he could do was inwardly sigh and slowly drive through. Those were Prime's orders. Of course, he'd be late for his briefings and this was unacceptable. The Autobot transformed and as the humans started screaming even louder – some in fear. He simply stepped over them, avoiding the need to wait for them to clear the roadway.

"Excuse me, please".

He said irritably as he reached the gate and climbed over.

"WELCOME TO EARTH YOU DAMN MACHINE!"

He heard someone scream as something hit him and exploded.

Despite the size of those creatures, despite his technology and his distain for their ignorance, it didn't make the explosive device any less damaging. It ripped through his plating in his bank and damaged his linkage; he slipped into statis and then fell backwards, right onto the crowd of angry protestors.