Autobots, Assemble!

Chapter 2

As told to, Wasp, Ant-Man, and Panther quickly descended into the subway entrance. Considering that a small battle had taken place, it wasn't just the streets that were empty-the subway was nearly abandoned as well, the only people visible being a sprinkling of maintenance workers on the walkways going about their jobs.

"Where'd she go? Hey! Robot…motorcycle…whatever you are….you can come out now!" Wasp shouted down the tunnel. Lights flashed on from down a sideway in answer and the blue and pink motorcycle slowed rolled out from her hiding place.

"Come on, the others are getting your friends. Let's go." Ant-Man told the motorcycle. "Do you have a name?" he asked as an afterthought.

"Call me Arcee." The motorcycle said as it rolled to the stairs that led back above ground with them.

"Oooh! That's a cool name!" Wasp complimented.

"I will refrain from asking what you are; doubtless those answers will come in time." Panther said philosophically.

OooooOoooooOooo

The other Avengers had just as easy a time in locating the other vehicles, mostly because they stood out due to their bright paintjobs, which contrasted against the other, more modestly painted cars in the garage. That, and the blue and red semi and its racecar friend were pretty hard to miss.

"You guys can come back out now, the lightning storm is over." Cap told the semi.

"Aye, I believe that this 'Knockout' will think twice before attacking the son of Odin again." Thor agreed heartily.

Hawkeye approached the racecar and poked its hood experimentally.

"BOO!" the car exclaimed. The archer yelped and jumped backward, drawing his bow out of instinct.

"Smokescreen, I do not believe startling a possible ally to be the wisest choice." The semi chided the racecar.

"Sorry, couldn't resist." The racecar, apparently named Smokescreen, apologized; though it seemed evident he was trying not to laugh.

"Oh haha I'm laughing hysterically." Hawkeye said sarcastically. "Let's go collect your friend mister joker-Jan and the others have probably found her and brought her back up to street level."

"Lead the way." The semi rumbled diplomatically.

OoooooOoooooOooooo

Hank and the others were standing outside waiting for them with the blue and pink motorcycle. A few random bystanders had appeared and had stopped to gawk at the giant red robot lying unconscious in the street with the other two purple robots. Panther was carefully crawling around on one of the purple robots, examining them and making sure they wouldn't wake up randomly, while Wasp and Ant-Man were trying to gently shoo the bystanders away for their own safety in case the robots did wake up. Panther retracted his special vibranium claws and made a paper-thin cut in Knockout's leg. He leapt back down and walked over to Ant-Man.

"Doctor Pym, you are a biochemist; what do you make of this?" The Wakandan held out the tip of one of his claws, which had a tiny droplet of glowing blue liquid on it. Hank shrank down and landed on Panther's finger.

"I honestly don't know what I'm looking at." He told him.

A low groan came from the red robot in street, halting the little examination. The purple robot that had been knocked over by the truck also began to move slightly.

"Time to go!" Wasp said. "But before I do…" She flew up and zapped Knockout in the eye one final time. He was still just coming to, so all he did was snarl and swipe at her. The bystanders gasped at the two metal titans and then quickly dispersed.

"Wasp, Panther, Ant-Man! Fall back!" Cap ordered.

Hulk noticed the purple robot and stomped over to it. With a titanic punch, the robot was offlined, no longer a threat. Knockout, however, still was. He was now fully awake and alert, but on seeing Thor nearby, his red eyes widened and he dropped back into vehicle form, speeding away in a squeal of custom rimmed tires.

"Weakling." Hulk growled.

"Verily. He brings shame to all machines with his cowardice." Thor thundered.

"If that's your way of saying he was a wimp, then yeah I agree." Stark joined in. "If one lightning blast from you was enough to scare a giant killer robot…"

Cap turned on the semi. "I think you owe us some answers, pal. Who are you and who were the guys that attacked us?"

The semi merely opened the driver's side door in answer to him. The racecar opened its door for Hawkeye, the yellow and black muscle car opened its door for Wasp and Ant-Man, and the off-road vehicle opened for Panther. Thor, Hulk, and Iron Man declined, saying they could fly, and or walk.

The soldier got in uneasily. He didn't trust machines easily ever since the Ultron incident a while back. Ultron had nearly killed him; it had nearly killed everyone after hacking into the Helicarrier and activating hundreds of missiles capable of wiping out every major city on Earth, and had injured him badly enough to have be sent to the hospital. Jarvis was the one exception, but he was an AI, not a robot, and he had never turned on the Avengers due to Stark's careful and meticulous programing.

The semi seemed to pick up on his distrustfulness. "There is no need for alarm, Captain. My Autobots will not harm you or your allies." It said, and started up its engine and took off down the street. The soldier realized they were heading for the edge of the city.

He glanced around in an attempt to find the source of the voice. He could understand a robot talking, but a car? Then again, the robot and the car were the same thing. However, there was a more obvious question to ask.

"You know me?" the soldier asked.

"In a way." The semi replied.

The truck and the other vehicles were doing a good eighty miles per hour thanks to the missing traffic. Instead of taking the road leading out of the city however, it took a street that lead for Central Park. A few pedestrians were out jogging or walking, but seeing a squadron of vehicles led by a giant red and blue semi roll up onto the grass made them run off.

Suddenly, a swirling turquoise green vortex opened up and all of the vehicles drove right for it.

"What are doing?...What is that?" he demanded, his uneasiness returning.

"It is not dangerous. It is simply our means of instant transport." The truck said.

The semi drove into the vortex…and emerged into a totally different place.

The doors opened and the semi allowed the soldier to climb out. The other vehicles followed suite. The vortex was still open and Thor, Iron Man, and Hulk emerged a few moments later, and the….whatever it was closed behind them.

"Jarvis, where are we?" Stark asked.

"Unknown sir. I am unable to use the Stark Industries satellite network to pinpoint our current location." The AI answered. "Where ever this is, the location is heavily shielded."

Hawkeye and Wasp were less nervous. The spunky little size changer was flitting around and trying to chat with anyone and everyone while the archer leaned against one of Smokescreen's feet, surveying the area and probably looking for a good vantage point. Hank and Tony were staring at the giant metal titans in fascination, their scientific minds trying to make sense of what these creatures were and how they worked. Hulk merely grunted and glanced around before following Hawkeye's example and leaned against a wall. Thor was hovering in mid-air for short period before lighting down on the floor, twirling his hammer absent-mindedly, while Panther stood idle, awaiting explanations. The Avengers soon took notice of yet another robot; an amber and white one with markings resembling those on an ambulance on his arms was scowling at them in evident displeasure.

Wasp flew right up to him. "Hiya! Who're you?" she waved.

The robot stared at her before turning to the large red and blue robot. "Optimus, more humans? Aren't the three children enough hassle as it is?"

"Oh! More people!" a voice with a foreign accent chirped. A slim Japanese teen girl bounded down a set of steps that led to a catwalk, her two pigtails bobbing as she descended. "Who are they?"

Two boys followed her down; a young tween with red glasses and spiky blonde hair, around eleven or twelve in age, and an older looking teen with black hair and dark brown eyes, who looked about sixteen or seventeen. They nearly cannoned into the girl, who had stopped dead in her tracks on seeing who the arrivals were.

"No way." She grinned. The two boys had gone wide-eyed as well but kept their cool. "NO WAY! SO AWESOME!" the girl squealed.

"Miko, seriously?" the older boy deadpanned.

Miko rolled her eyes at the boy and then whipped around to face the Smokescreen. "You have no idea who's leaning on your foot do you, Smoke?" she grinned.

Smokescreen shrugged but looked at her oddly. "Just said his name was Hawkeye, nothing else. What's the big deal?"

"Dude, 'What's the big deal'? These are the Avengers! The Avengers! And they're standing in the Autobot base!"

The amber and white robot was watching the exchange as though watching a tennis match. He finally managed to get a word in.

"Who are the Avengers?"

The younger boy turned to the robot. "The Autobots have been here how long and you still don't know about them?" he asked curiously.

Cap had walked over to the large red and blue robot, evidently called Optimus. His head was reeling at being surrounded by giant robots, but he liked this one. He always believed himself to be a good judge of character, and Optimus's character made him feel less overwhelmed. He finally had another leader he could relate to.

Iron Man landed with a clank on the floor and lifted his helmet's faceplate up, revealing the pilot. "You guys go first. We dealt with your red friend for you. It's only fair." He said. "So first things first: What. The heck. Are you? You've even got Jarvis and Hank stumped on that point. So spill."

"We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron, also known as Autobots." Optimus began.

Wasp flew right up to one of his large blue eyes and hovered there. "Whoa, you're aliens? Why aren't you on your own planet then?" she asked, flitting back and forth in the air. The eye followed her movements in amusement, but then turned grave on hearing her second question.

"Because it is no longer able to sustain life. It has been ravaged by centuries of civil war." He told her sadly.

"Why are you here, then?" Hank added in his own question.

"To protect your planet from the Decepticons."

"I assume that 'Knockout' and the two purple robots were Decepticons?" T'Challa guessed.

"Correct. They seek to destroy us and any who oppose them. Like you." The amber and white robot confirmed. "And it's 'Cybertronian', not robot."

"So we just got pulled into an interstellar civil war over one incident?" Cap groaned. "I've already been in one war; I don't intend to join another. And that last war nearly killed me, if you count being frozen for 70 years in the North Atlantic Ocean as 'nearly dying'."

The amber and white Cybertronian turned on him with astonished glance but held back his questions.

"You guys have names right? We heard a few of them; the white one is Smokescreen, the blue and pink one is Arcee, and you're Optimus." Ant-Man gestured toward each 'Bot in turn. "I think introductions are in order before we introduce ourselves."

Team Prime, as they called themselves, introduced themselves. The yellow and black Autobot was named Bumblebee, the scout, the bulky green one was Bulkhead, the heavy hitter, and the amber and white one was Ratchet, the medic. There was one other, honorary team member, Wheeljack, but he was off exploring Earth and taking down Decepticon mining operations on his own. According to Ratchet, Wheeljack didn't think of himself as a team player.

"Your turn." Miko chirped.

Tony grinned. "Well, the kids clearly know who I am, but for those who don't: I'm Iron Man."

"Hawkeye."

"Captain America, though everyone just calls me Cap. Or in Hawkeye's case it's 'old man'."

"I'm Wasp!"

"Ant-Man."

"I am King T'Challa of Wakanda, the Black Panther."

"Hulk."

"Thor, Prince of Asgard."

The last name made Ratchet turn and stare. "Wait, Thor? As in the Norse god of lightning Thor?"

Stark grinned again. "The one and only." He held back laughter as Ratchet threw his hands up and stalked out of the room. He could almost hear the medic's processor shorting out. Hawkeye however didn't hold back his laughter.

The pleasantries stopped when, out of nowhere:

"Prime! PRIME!"

A dark-skinned, middle-aged man in a business suit stormed in from what looked like an elevator. In one hand he held a folder labeled CLASSIFIED in red ink. In another he held a newspaper titled The Daily Bugle.

"What in blazes did you think you were doing?! Dropping your cover in a heavily populated area?! When my superiors find out about this…" The man fumed.

That's when the man noticed the new comers in the base. He dropped both the folder and the newspaper in shock and stood rigid.

"What?" was all the man was capable of saying.