Thank you so much for all the reviews, favorites and follows! Here's chapter two, I hope you'll like it! Please check Author's note at the end again. ^^
Beta'ed by Lohis, thank you!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or TF Prime
Will of Fire and Hearts of Steel
Chapter Two
For once, the base was quiet.
The atmosphere, however, was tense. They all knew it shouldn't take Bumblebee too long to check out the situation and either request returning to base or for back-up. So the rest of Team Prime was just waiting for a word from their comrade, filling the room with tension and anticipation.
Ratchet stared at the green screens, waiting for the young scout to make contact with the base. He would activate the ground bridge immediately when needed. It should be any second now… Unless it really had been a trap. But Bumblebee was quite a competent soldier, Ratchet reasoned. He could stand his ground long enough to call for help. They just had to trust the scout and his skills.
The rest of the team was standing in silence, waiting for the return of their fellow Autobot. The kids (yes, even Miko) were quiet too. Rafael was sitting on the floor, nervously biting his lip and Miko and Jack were standing right beside him. The Autobots were scattered around the bridge port, ready to take action if so needed.
Then the contact came.
"Bumblebee is returning to base!" Ratchet informed, his voice just a little tense. The white-and-red mech quickly moved beside the ground bridge control panel. He hit the switch again, and the green portal appeared before them, lighting up the room.
Rafael scrambled up and took a few steps forward. The green glow reflected from his glasses as the boy waited for his friend to return.
Seconds drifted slowly by. Then the yellow car raced to the base, tires screeching as the vehicle quickly braked, coming to a halt right in front of them.
"He's alright!" Raf exclaimed, relief evident in his voice. Ratchet shut the ground bridge again, and the glow disappeared.
Then the car's door opened, and Ratchet had to blink a few times to make sure what he was seeing was correct. Two humans had quickly slid out of the car. They instantly spotted the robots staring at them and backed off cautiously.
Bumblebee transformed back to his robot form and took a few steps away from the strangers.
There was a moment of utter silence.
The strangers were probably the most peculiar humans Ratchet had ever seen on this planet. Earlier he'd thought Miko was the most distinctive character this place could offer, but the strangers really looked like they belonged in to another world entirely. The medic used the moment of silence to carefully examine the newcomers, as he was sure this was just calm before the storm.
The taller one had silver hair that seemed to defy all the laws of gravity (Well, at least gravity on Earth). He had simple black pants and a long-sleeved shirt with a green military-looking vest over it. He wore sandals and had a small pack hanging from his belt and another, smaller one tied to his right leg. But the most bizarre thing in the man's appearance was the black cloth-mask covering the lower half of his face and a headband with a metallic plate on it tilted over his left eye. Ratchet had no idea how old he was. He had grey hair, but the age was quite hard to figure out when you could see just ¼ of the person's face. Of course the hair could be dyed, like Miko's, though Ratchet really couldn't see the point in doing such a thing.
The other one looked much younger, maybe about Jack's or Miko's age. The boy had spiky blond hair, bright blue eyes and weird marks on his cheeks. He had an orange-and-black outfit and like his companion, wore sandals and a headband over his forehead. The medic noted how both headbands' seemed to have same spiral patterns on them. The mark clearly had some meaning for these people.
Ratchet quickly glanced at the three children, who were gaping at the weird-looking strangers. So, his assumptions that the way they were dressed really wasn't usual among the humans seemed right. He returned his gaze back at the newcomers, noticing how he taller one was standing slightly in front of the boy, without a doubt trying to protect the kid from whatever was to come.
Ratchet observed the silver-haired man curiously. Though the medic fairly often stayed at the base while the other 'Bots went to carry out whatever missions necessary, it really wasn't wise to forget he was a warrior too. He had fought beside his companions in the scarring and dire war against the Decepticons. And he recognized a soldier when he saw one.
The masked man was carefully observing his surroundings. One dark eye quickly scanned them all and finally ceased to stare at Optimus. Smart man, Ratchet thought. The stranger seemed to have in no time realized who their leader was. Though he held his single eye's gaze at the Prime, Ratchet knew he was still well aware of everything happening around him.
Ratchet knew the man felt more than a little cornered. There was a hard stare in the lone dark eye, though the medic could see just a little of the hidden fear and weariness there. The man was about to collapse from exhaustion, but still stood his ground. Not bad for a human.
The kid wasn't so skilled in hiding his emotions and was openly staring at them all, eyes wild like some kind of animal's. The medic could see the surprise in the azure eyes when they noticed the other kids among the robots. Ratchet knew the teenager was scared and nervous, but didn't really seem to be frightened. The boy quickly glanced at the taller man and seemed to stand just a little straighter then, like he had gathered enough courage from just quickly looking at his companion.
The stretched silence was abruptly broken by Bulkhead, who clearly didn't care for formalities.
"Uh, 'Bee? Who are they? And why did you bring them here?"
Bumblebee beeped and gestured. Apparently when the scout had arrived, he'd seen Knock Out, that Decepticon-piece-of-scrap attacking the humans.
"But then… They are the ones who caused that weird energy!" Smokescreen spoke their thoughts aloud.
"Seems like it." Arcee agreed.
The 'Bots' attention returned to the strangers. The youth was gaping at them and didn't look like he could understand a word, while the taller one's visible eye was slightly narrowed in what Ratchet presumed was quite well hidden confusion.
"Um, they don't seem to understand us," Rafael said quietly.
At that moment, the blonde stranger said something to his companion with a nervous voice, eyes darting between the robots. Ratchet gasped as he recognized the language. Miko's brown eyes widened almost comically and the girl jumped forwards and yelled.
"Hey, hey! They speak Japanese!"
"What?" Jack stared at the girl stupidly.
"She's right", Arcee confirmed. The dark-haired boy turned to her, looking astonished.
"You know Japanese too?" Arcee arched an eyebrow at the question and snorted.
"Jack, English isn't the only language we know. Did you really think so?"
"Um… Well…"
Arcee sighed.
Miko didn't pay any attention to the conversation but yelled excitedly in her native tongue:
"Hey! Are you from Japan too?"
The older man's gaze instantly locked on Miko, and for a moment he looked dumbfounded. Then he spoke for the first time in a deep, tense voice.
"You can understand us?" The tone had just a little touch of bafflement in it.
"Of course!" Miko exclaimed and flailed her arms wildly. "Are you guys from Japan too? What are you doing here?"
"I have no idea what that place is you're talking about."
Miko stared at the strangers. "But – but –"The girl stuttered.
"Miko, please stand back," Prime's deep voice asked, now speaking in her native tongue too. Miko backed off a little, still looking thunderstruck.
Optimus Prime took a few steps forwards, causing the blonde to flinch back a little and the older man to visibly tense. The leader of the Autobots lowered himself to one knee to get a little closer to the strange pair in front of him.
"Welcome, strangers. My name is Optimus Prime. You are safe now."
Hatake Kakashi had thought he'd seen everything.
He'd graduated from the Academy at the age of five, been chuunin at six and jounin at thirteen. He'd seen war and fought in one before he was even a teenager. He'd been in ANBU and had witnessed the Kyuubi attack the village. He had early earned the title of one of the most elite jounin in whole Konoha and the other countries taught their soldiers to flee on sight of him. He'd been tortured for three days in immense pain in his own mind by Uchiha Itachi and had tutored a team of hyperactive genins. To cut a long story short, he really had a reason to believe there was nothing in the world that could truly make him speechless.
He had been wrong. Right now, Sharingan Kakashi, the great Copy Nin of the Village Hidden in Leaves, was flabbergasted.
The car had dived into the green portal, and almost instantly they had been in a totally different location. He and Naruto had stumbled out of the vehicle and the first thing they had seen was a whole group of those human-like machine-things. He had barely noted their savior transforming back to the other form and joining the other ones. He could only stare at the impossible yet very real sight in front of them.
They sure were far from home.
Though he was truly dumbfounded, he was still and elite ninja and was in no time scanning their surroundings and examining the weird beings in front of them.
They were in a very bizarre-looking place with lots of metal used in the constructions and very futuristic green screens at the other side of the room. The place looked like some kind of base, though he'd never seen rooms quite like this back home. The walls were little rusty, expect the one made of stone with a tunnel entrance. But although there was a big exit in the room, they really had no chance to escape. Not with everybody staring at them like that.
All in all, Kakashi saw six of those machine-things. He also noticed three kids among them (he'd had a hard time believing his eye at first). Their apparent savior, the yellow one, was standing on their left. Next to him (Kakashi had decided it was a "he") stood a little shorter white stranger with some blue and red lines coloring his body. Both were staring at them with great curiosity and amazement.
Next there was the shortest one of the creatures, and Kakashi concluded this one was probably a "she" as the blue-colored creature looked a tad more feminine than the others. She was regarding him with slightly narrowed blue glowing eyes, arms crossed. This one appeared to be a little more suspicious, Kakashi made a mental note.
Next to the blue-colored female, in front of the green screens was a white-red stranger eyeing them carefully. Between the two stood three children, openly gaping at the shinobi. Two boys and one girl, who were all without a doubt civilians. Kakashi quickly moved on in his inspections, he could find more about the kids later. Next he glanced at the thing blocking the entrance, a huge green-colored creature, who was also watching them in awe.
But the last stranger was the one that drew the jounin's attention the most. This one was the tallest of the group and actually made the first two ones they'd encountered seem like shorties. He was colored with blue and red and the metallic surface was full of barely visible scratches and cuts, like the stranger had seen many hard battles and survived. There was a strong aura of leadership surrounding him, and the Hatake was immediately sure this one was the head of the group.
While locking eyes with the leader, Kakashi couldn't help but feel as if he'd looked into the eyes of the Sandaime. Though the idea was absurd, he still couldn't help feeling he was staring at the Third Hokage of Konoha or at least someone very much like the old man…
Suddenly the thick silence was broken when the green one said something in that same alien language the other ones had spoken too. A short conversation followed and the Copy Nin followed the discussion carefully. Apparently their savior seemed really to communicate with just beeping sounds and gestures. He was also confused of how natural the teens were acting and taking part in the conversation, as if it was something they did every day.
"W-what are they talking about?" Naruto asked him in a small voice, but was still heard by the others. The reactions were instant. The metallic creatures seemed to recognize the language, as did the dark-haired teenage girl with faded pink-colored bangs.
A new discussion ensued, mainly between the older boy and the feminine-looking creature. Then the girl yelled loudly:
"Hey! Are you from Japan too?"
Naruto gasped softly beside him. The Copy Nin blinked in amazement.
"You can understand us?"
"Of course!" The girl was waving her arms excitedly and continued. "Are you guys from Japan too? What are you doing here?"
She'd said that weird word again, "Japan". He had absolutely no idea what that was and he told that to the girl. She looked like she couldn't believe her ears.
"But – but – "
"Miko, please stand back."
Kakashi tried his best not to flinch when the tallest of the strangers kneeled in front of them. He swallowed thickly and hoped he wasn't shaking too badly. He stared into the stranger's glowing blue eyes with strength he didn't really feel he had.
"Welcome, strangers. My name is Optimus Prime. You are safe now."
Kakashi remained silent, trying his best not to look intimidated. Behind him Naruto drew a shaky breath.
"We are autonomic robotic organisms from the planet known as Cybertron. You can call as Autobots."
"The what from where? And what the hell is an Autobot?" Apparently the situation wasn't frightening enough to completely silence the blonde boy behind him. Kakashi didn't know if he should have been exasperated or relieved.
Optimus Prime's (what a weird name, thought Kakashi) gaze shifted to Naruto. "We are sentient robots, now living on this planet and protecting its people."
Protecting from what? The jounin thought. Prime straightened and Kakashi marveled how tall he actually was.
"This," Prime gestured at the others, "is our team."
Optimus Prime introduced the rest of the strangers and the teenagers. Kakashi could sense there had been way too much information in a very short time for Naruto, as his could almost feel the confusion radiating from the boy. The silver-haired man had, however, memorized every name and gathered as much information as he'd could during the introductions. You could never have too much information, and knowledge was something he and Naruto needed the most right now.
"Now we have introduced ourselves," Prime was saying. "We understand this is a bizarre situation for you both, but it would be kind to let us know your names too."
Kakashi shifted a bit. He felt Naruto's gaze at his back, silently asking what to do.
The Hatake didn't want to tell his name, but he wasn't sure if there was any real reason they shouldn't do that. And these "Autobots" had told their names as well and Kakashi couldn't sense any hostility in any of them so…
"Kakashi," He said blankly. "Hatake Kakashi."
"And I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" The blonde shouted.
Kakashi bowed a little. "Nice to meet you. Thank you for helping us in our grave situation."
Bumblebee (really, what was it with these funny names?) chirped happily. Kakashi interpreted that as a "you're welcome".
"Hatake Kakashi, I presume you didn't come to that desert on purpose."
"No, we didn't," the Copy Nin agreed shortly. He didn't want to share too much information, at least not yet. He'd have to carefully think about the situation they'd been thrown into before making any rash decisions. But the Autobots were naturally curious.
"So how did you get here?" Arcee, the cautious one, asked.
"There was energy similar to a ground bridge, the portal through which you were transported here, where you were found," Ratchet explained. "I assume you were the cause of it."
Kakashi tilted his head, turning his gaze to the white robot. "We don't know how we got here. We just woke up in the desert." Naruto shifted beside him but didn't say a word. Kakashi was grateful for that. He suddenly felt quite dizzy and his vision almost blurred for a moment. He blinked and hardly managed to stay upright.
"Apologies, we have kept you here for far too long," Prime was speaking again with a slightly apologetic voice. "Unfortunately this place isn't particularly comfortable for humans to inhabit, but we will find you a place to rest."
"Thank you. Anything will do just fine." Kakashi would have bowed again if he hadn't felt so damn dizzy.
Prime gestured at the yellow Autobot. "Bumblebee, please escort them to a suitable place."
After a minute, Bumblebee was leading them through large gloomy corridors to a medium-sized room with high ceiling and nothing more than a few tables against the furthest wall. The yellow Autobot beeped apologetically.
"No, this is fine," Naruto answered and grinned. "And uh, Bumblebee, was it?" The robot nodded happily.
Naruto smiled. "Thanks for saving us and all."
Bumblebee chirped and waved them to enter. Kakashi knew he was going to stay and guard them on the other side of the door. Though the Autobots had been very kind and helpful to them, the shinobi knew they weren't still fully trusted. Or at least that would have been incredibly stupid of them. Kakashi wouldn't have trusted himself either if he'd been in the strangers' situation.
Kakashi slid now against the wall until he was sitting against it. Naruto sat cross-legged next to him.
"Woah, what a day," the blond huffed. Kakashi chuckled tiredly.
"You okay, Sensei?" Naruto asked in a worried voice.
"I'm fine, Naruto, just tired." The jounin's eye curved happily.
Naruto smiled and then frowned. "So, what do you think? Are they okay?"
Kakashi pondered at the question for a while. "I think they are," he finally replied. "I would be very surprised if that Prime fellow would have been lying to us." Yes, the leader sure was like Sandaime, Kakashi had no doubt of that.
"But you didn't tell them about that jutsu and light," the blonde pointed out quietly.
Kakashi shook his head slightly and quickly regretted the movement. He waited for the room to stop spinning. "No, I didn't. They seem to be trustworthy, but I wouldn't want them to know about our abilities just yet. We are off better if they underestimate us a little."
"Yeah…" Naruto snorted. "Though we can't really do any jutsus now, can we?"
Kakashi smiled under his mask.
"Naruto, we need to rest a bit. They probably want to talk to us again tomorrow." He glanced at the door and sighed. "We'll just have to trust them for now. I doubt either of us is strong enough to take on the guard."
"Don't worry Sensei," Naruto reassured. "We'll be fine."
I really hope so, Naruto. With that thought, Kakashi's dark eye drifted close and he fell asleep almost immediately.
Ratceht watched as Bumblebee led the newcomers to the corridors, quickly disappearing from the view. There was a short silence, finally broken by Jack.
"Well, that was interesting."
"That was SO cool!" Miko yelled. "Did you see their clothes? And that boy was like our age!"
"Miko, calm do-" Jack tried to quiet his friend, unsuccessfully.
"And he had, like, these whiskers on his cheeks! And those weird headbands and the other one had a mask! A mask! "
"Miko –"
"And how can they not know about Japan? They were speaking Japanese, though with a weird dialect and all. Oooh, maybe they are aliens or -"
"MIKO!"
"What?"
Raf glanced at his watch and gasped.
"Wow, it's late! We better get going now or I'll be grounded for a month!"
"Bulk, can you give us a ride home?" Miko yelled. Bulkhead didn't look too enthusiastic about the thought of leaving when the others were clearly going to discuss about the happenings of the evening, but the green mech still shrugged and agreed.
"Um, sure. Let's get you home, kids." The 'Bot then transformed into the familiar green vehicle and opened the door helpfully.
"Cool! But you gotta fetch us first thing in the morning!" Miko demanded while climbing to the truck, Jack and Rafael right behind her. "I wanna be here when they wake up!"
"Well," Arcee began when the green truck had disappeared to the tunnel. "What do you think? Could they be spies? I mean, Megatron has worked with humans before. Think about that Silas guy."
"They seemed to be telling the truth," Optimus answered. "I believe they had no intentions coming here. I doubt they even know where they are right now."
"And don't you think the Decepticons would send someone, uh, less suspicious if they wanted to infiltrate the base?" Smokescreen pointed out. Ratchet hid a smile. The kid could act mature when he wanted to. But Arcee wasn't going to give up just yet.
"But they are hiding something!" She insisted. Smokescreen scoffed.
"Of course they are hiding something! They would be fools to tell us everything right away!"
"For now, we will let them stay here," Optimus interrupted the brewing argument when Arcee opened her mouth in indignation. "We will keep an eye on them and they won't be let near the relics or information about our location. However, we will inform them about the Decepticons. First thing they had to deal with here was being attacked by Megatron's henchman. They have the right to know."
Ratchet nodded. "We could talk to the older one first, Hatake Kakashi if I remember correctly." Which he did, of course. "After all, he was clearly a soldier."
The rest of the team complied. Arcee narrowed her eyes but didn't object.
"I'm going to go with 'Bee and keep an eye on them," the blue 'Bot muttered, leaving the room.
Ratchet let out a little sigh, wondering what tomorrow would bring in its wake. There had been way too much drama for him in one evening already, but he doubted the next day would be any better.
A loud crash echoed through the bridge of the Nemesis. All the Decepticon minions present fidgeted in their places nervously, hoping the rage currently focused on their red-colored officer wouldn't later be directed on them. Lord Megatron's fury was something none of them wanted to experience.
"TWO LOUSY HUMANS AND YOU LET THEM ESCAPE?!"
The henchmen cringed. Lord Megatron sure was angry… again.
"But – but there was an Autobot too!" Knock Out scrambled up from the floor where his leader had just a moment ago hurled him. "I was ambushed!"
"YOU WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO CONFRONT PRIME'S FOOLS IF YOU HADN'T BEEN WASTING TIME IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
"But they ruined by paintwork!" Knock Out pointed at the scratch on his face. "They had to pay!"
Another crash was heard and the red mech flew through the air again, landing with a loud thump beside the entrance, activating the motion censored door.
"If you dare to fail another mission because of so ludicrous reasons ever again, you won't have anything left to be ruined!"
Knock Out grunted affirmatively and fled the room with as much pride as he could.
The minions shivered in fear. What wouldn't they give to be anywhere else right now…
"Why is it so hard for these fools to accomplish even the simplest of tasks!" Megatron roared, slamming his fist to the nearest minion's face. The poor fellow flew through the air, slamming to the wall and didn't get up. The leader of the Decepticons turned towards the henchmen still standing and bellowed:
"Get me Soundwave!"
Thank you for reading! Feedback and reviews are more than welcomed!
AN: Well, here's chapter two! This was kind of hard to write because of all these introductions and so on, but I think it still turned out fine. Anyway, I hope you like it!
If there are any mistakes, please let me know.
