Units of Time/Measurement

Vorn: 83 Years
Breem: 8.3 Minutes
Hic: ~1 Kilometer


Pint Sized

Chapter Two

Autobots


Day 1 (Cont.)

Optimus was not in the most ideal situation at the moment, but he was doing pretty well considering it was five against one. After all, it was a common thing for him to be pitted against multiple enemies at one time; being the leader of an opposing faction in the middle of a war painted a large target on a mech.

The masked leader of the Autobots sighed as another beam of energy singed his hiding spot. Optimus had had some rotten days in the past, but this day was quickly rising to the top of his list. First, he had come out of stasis to find himself caged within a glass prison; of course, it was a glass prison he was able to escape by simply pushing on the glass and jumping out, but that was only the beginning.

In the process of his escape, his arm had fallen off. It just fell off. Apparently, he had taken more damage in the last battle than he thought he had, though he was unsure as to how that damage had gone unnoticed. Even he was aware enough in battle to know when an attack could potentially dismember him.

After staring at his arm (the thought of Ratchet's rage towards his negligence made his spark shudder), Optimus had picked it up and started mapping out the new world he had awoken to. He had left the room and entered a huge hallway, which he walked down until he found another room. He had just entered the room when he was fired upon from behind. Without wasting any time, he had ducked behind the first available source of protection, which turned out to not be very protective at all unless he moved around whenever a new shot was fired. At least they were not able see him, or so he assumed from his own lack of visibility.

"This is a waste of time!" one of the Decepticons yelled after a volley of unsuccessful fire. From the matching snicker that followed, Optimus could only assume that the complaint had come from one of Soundwave's Cassettes. "We don't even know if we're hitting him. You fail as a leader!"

"Keep your infernal mouth shut!" If the Cassette's blatant lack of respect had not told Optimus whom he referred to, the familiar high-pitched, grating voice that yelled back was evidence enough. "Until we find Megatron, I'm the leader. So deal with it."

"I think Soundwave would make a better leader," one of the Cassette twins jumped in. Optimus honestly couldn't tell the difference between the two. "He's ten times better than you, you traitorous retro-rat!"

There was a pause, and Optimus could only assume the Decepticons were glaring each other down. He sighed and took the interlude to cross over to the side of the barrier that wasn't riddled with holes. "What did you call me?"

"Traitorous. Retro. Rat," the twin repeated, enunciating each syllable. Optimus shook his head at the snickering that accompanied the insult. "You know, for all the times you plotted Megatron's demise. You couldn't even get that right."

There was the sound of scuffling and more snickering. "That's it! Soundwave find some new Cassettes because these won't be around for much longer."

"What you gonna do, you Seeker femme?"

Starscream let loose another one of his scratchy, high-pitched screams, and more scuffling ensued. Optimus risked a peek out from behind his barrier and found Starscream rolling around on the ground with the red and blue Cassette twins, one clinging to his back while the other kicked his chin with a colorful insult. Thundercracker stood behind them and had one hand over his optics as if refusing to acknowledge that his Air Commander was rolling around on the floor with two Cassettes.

Soundwave was as emotionless as ever even when he reached down and grabbed his troublemaking Cassettes. Frenzy continued to swing his legs in the air, managing to clip the tip of one of Starscream's wings. Both Cassettes laughed at the unseemly yelp that escaped the Seeker. "Desist."

"Oh come on boss," Rumble whined. He wiggled in the bigger Decepticon's grip. "We almost had him. No one wants Starscream around anyway. We'd be doing the Decepticons a favor."

Starscream squawked from where Thundercracker was helping him stand. Soundwave turned his visor to the red twin, and even Frenzy stopped wiggling. "Desist."

"Okay, okay!" Rumble conceded with a wave of his hands. "We'll stop."

Soundwave nodded and dropped the two to the ground, where they both obediently took their places on either side of the mech. Optimus could not help but think that Soundwave could have been a very successful creator. If Cybertron had never been plunged into a civil war at least.

"Now that that's over," Thundercracker started. He stepped back as Starscream flicked imaginary dust from his armor. "We should turn our focus back to the defenseless Autobot leader we have cornered."

Starscream paused to stare at Thundercracker. "Who?"

The blue Seeker slapped his forehead and pointed towards Optimus's barrier. "Optimus Prime. Over there underneath the huge berth."

Ah, so that's what he had ducked under. Then what was the huge cloth that was hiding him? He knew that some mechs enjoyed an extra layer of insulation as they recharged, but the material fluttering in front of him did not resemble any of the covers he had ever seen.

"Oh, yeah," Starscream shrieked. He turned back to the bed and leveled his pistol at where Optimus peeked out from around the cover. For a moment, Optimus stared back at him, trying to recall all the deeds that made Starscream a formidable foe. His processor would only recall the immediate memory of the Cassettes grappling with the Seeker. "I completely forgot about him."

"See?" Frenzy exclaimed. He pointed a blue digit at the jet, and Rumble mimicked him soon after. "You'd make a horrible leader."

"Why you!"

"Starscream—"

"What'cha gonna do, 'Screamer? Screech me to death?"

"Desist."

Optimus watched Starscream swing his weapon around to aim it at the twins when it suddenly flew from his hand. The group of Decepticons jerked around to look behind them, but Optimus could only see them from his position. "What the…."

Another shot was fired, followed by another, and the Decepticons had to dance out of the way of both. Thundercracker barely managed to dodge one particular shot. "What's going on?"

Starscream shrieked as one shot singed the edge of his wing. "I don't know, but in the words of Megatron: retreat!"

The Cassettes folded down and returned to their place in Soundwave's chest just as he was shrinking down into his stereo alt-mode. Thundercracker managed to grab the cassette player as he transformed into a blue jet and chased after Starscream, who had taken off as soon as he could.

Once the Decepticons were gone, Optimus stepped out of his hiding place and walked towards the spot they had just occupied. "Nice work, Mirage."

The blue aristocrat suddenly fizzled back into existence with, to Optimus's surprise, Bluestreak right behind him. The younger Autobot gave him a happy wave as Mirage acknowledged their leader's praise with a nod. "Thank you."

"Hey! Wha' 'bout me? Raj n' Blue weren't the only ones shootin'."

Optimus turned his attention from the first two mechs to the black and white mech who appeared around the corner of the huge door. The mech's teasing grin fell when he caught sight of Optimus. "Whoa, O.P. ya do know that ya arm ain't attached, right?"

Optimus glanced down at the arm he carried and then back to his third-in-command. "No Jazz, I did not know. Though, I did wonder whose arm I carried with me."

Jazz grinned back at his leader's rare show of sarcasm. "See? Wha' would ya do without the Jazzman ta tell ya your parts weren't attached?"

Optimus's optics shined with a humor to match his chuckle. He walked over to stand beside his friend and would have clasped his shoulder had his hand not been occupied. "I think I would be completely lost without you."

Jazz returned the humor with a grin before tensing and straightening his posture. "And Prime makes four. When Ah came outta stasis, only Raj and Blue were with me. Haven't seen anybody else."

Optimus nodded and repositioned the dislocated arm he still held. He glanced down the giant hallway that stretched far in both directions. "Our top priority is to find any other Autobot that may have been transported here. We cannot allow them to be ambushed by Decepticons as I was."

"We should find Ratchet first!" Bluestreak joined them with Mirage. Optimus noted the fluttering door-wings on the back of the former and the oddly strained glint in the optics of the latter. Bluestreak hummed and pointed at the arm in Optimus's hand. "Because a dislocated arm looks painful. Not that I would know. I've had tons of injuries, but none of them have ever been a missing arm, which must suck now that I think about it. I mean, what if you need to do two things at once, but you can't because you only have one arm? You'd have to ask someone else to help. But what if everyone else was busy and couldn't help? Oh yeah, that would really suck. We gotta find Ratchet quick."

Bluestreak turned on his heel and rushed out of the room. The other three followed him at a more subdued pace, and they watched as the younger mech went quickly, yet cautiously, down the huge hallway. Bluestreak stopped a short distance from them and turned back to gesture that it was safe to follow before continuing.

Optimus only hesitated a second before moving to follow to the younger mech. "I admire his youth."

"Ah don't get where the kid gets it," Jazz responded. He followed close behind the Prime, and Mirage took the rear. "He definitely don't get it from Prowl."

"Perhaps he gets it from the Twins," Mirage said, his voice nearly as silent as his footsteps.

Jazz turned to give him a grin. "That's pro'bly it. Or maybe Ah'm just rubbin' off on him." Jazz's grin fell for a brief second. "You doing okay, Mirage? Never seen you look so tired."

Optimus glanced back just in time to see the former noble's face distorted in comfort before it smoothed out again. The strained glint was still in his optics though. "Just a small…hiccup in my electro-disruptor."

Optimus did not need to see Jazz's frown to know the mech did not believe him. Jazz shrugged. "Whatever ya say, mech."

Bluestreak stopped again and turned to face them. He waited until the distance between them had been shortened before he spoke. "No offense, but we gotta pick up the pace! The coast is clear now, but there's no telling how long that will last. We don't even know which Decepticons are here. Well, we do know that there's Starscream, Thundercracker, and Soundwave, and wherever Soundwave is, his Cassettes aren't far behind. I wonder if Blaster's here. That would be cool. I wonder who is here. Let's see, I'm pretty sure Prowl's here…"

"We just got told by one o' the youngest Autobots on the team," Jazz joked. He grinned as Bluestreak continued his common babble without pause.

"We are just getting old Jazz," Optimus said. He flicked his severed arm to touch Jazz's arm. "The rust must be slowing us down."

Jazz faked a gasp. "The Jazzman does not rust! You must be thinkin' 'bout ol' Ironhide. He's the rustiest of us all."

Optimus chuckled while Mirage sighed. All three hurried to catch up with their younger companion, who was still naming potential Autobots they could encounter. Optimus could only hope that Ratchet, or at the very least First Aid, had been teleported with them. Carrying one of his arms was beginning to feel a little weird.

[~]

Victoria had a headache, and it was the kind she was familiar with too. The kind of headache that was a dull throb behind her eyes and would slowly make its way to her temples and sit there for hours. She just had to lay there for a little longer before opening eyes; the longer she waited, the more tolerable it would become.

If only the bed was more comfortable. For all the money her brother wasted on electronics and toys, he had certainly reigned in his splurging when it came to mattresses. It almost felt like she was lying on a floor…

Victoria's eyes shot open despite the nagging pain that continued to flare behind her eyes. The events before her fainting suddenly came back: being shot in the head; meeting walking, talking Transformers; finding Optimus Prime missing. It all seemed like a dream someone would have after watching too many episodes of the old cartoon, and it did not help her headache at all thinking about it.

"Please let it be a dream," Victoria pleaded. She slammed her eyes closed when she caught a speck of white move in her peripheral vision. "Maybe if I wish hard enough, I'll wake up."

"Come on. I'm not stupid. I saw your optic open."

Victoria hesitated for a moment before her curiosity got the better of her. She turned her head and reopened one eye to find the white and red toy frowning at her. "What's an optic?"

The robot frowned back. "How can you not even know what your own optic is?"

"I don't have optics."

"Well, obviously you do. You're staring right at me."

She blinked. "Are you talking about my eye?"

The little Transformer sighed and rubbed the grey crest on his forehead. "I don't have time to argue with you, and now I know for certain that you have recovered from your crash." He glanced back up at her with a frown. "Though I can't account for the amount of corrupted data your crash may have caused."

He walked around her head, and Victoria followed him with a turn of her head. "Crash? Wait, you stayed here to make sure I was okay?"

He sighed again, and Victoria heard a static-like crackling, like the white noise from an old television. "Of course I did. What kind of medic would I be if I just left you here?"

"Medic?" Victoria's eyes widened, and she shot up from the floor. "Ratchet!"

Ratchet jumped before falling into a defensive position. His eyes took on a brighter blue glow. "How do you my designation?"

Victoria froze. Her sudden epiphany had been meant to be in her head, but her head seemed to be throbbing too much to keep anything extra inside. "Uh, lucky guess?"

The medic relaxed enough to take a scolding position, arms crossed over his chest and a scowl in place. "I deal with the Twins on a daily basis. Their lies are far more superior to yours, and I still see through them. Now, would you like to answer the question again or stick with your original answer?"

Victoria felt like a little child who had been scolded for lying about breaking a vase. Ratchet may have been small, but he still held the air of a person far older than she was. It was a little intimidating, especially coming from a toy. "I highly doubt you would believe me even if I told you the truth. I'm still not completely on board with whole situation."

"Try me."

Victoria never got the chance when little streaks of light came from above them, barely missing the tip of her nose and leaving a small black mark on the carpet. Victoria threw up her arms to protect her head and face while Ratchet expertly ducked under the coffee table, a gun appearing in his hand from thin air. Mad cackling came from the same direction the streaks of light had come from, and the same black jet that had fired on her earlier that night flew above her head. "Feel my wrath, Auto-scum!"

"Just what we needed," Ratchet sighed. He glared as the jet swung back around for another attack. "Of all the Decepticons, we had to be found by one of the truly insane ones."

"I heard that!"

Victoria ducked behind the couch as the jet focused its attention on the coffee table. The jet cursed and shouted for Ratchet to stay still, so Victoria could only assume that Ratchet had dodged the attack again. She leaned against the back of the couch and swiped away the hair that had fallen in her eyes. "I'm getting attacked in in my house. How is this fair?"

"You'll learn that life ain't fair kid."

Victoria jumped and glanced around for the source of the voice. Her eyes found a red toy standing beside her and peering around the couch. She groaned. "Oh no, not another one."

The red robot momentarily turned his attention to Victoria with a hard frown. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I would have liked to think that I was still a little sane," Victoria moaned. She dropped her head into her hands. She used the tips of her fingers to massage her forehead, managing to bring some relief to the persistent throb behind her eyes. "I don't have the imagination for this. Either it's real, or my job has made me finally lose my mind."

Victoria lifted her head and caught a glimpse of yellow out of the corner of her eye. The first pair of robots she had seen that night were scaling up the back of the couch, and she could only stare as they slowly progressed. The red one lost his grip on the slippery leather and slid down until she reached her hand over to catch him. He stood up in her hand and gave her a smile accompanied by a mocking salute. "Thanks. Mind putting me on the top? Would save me a lot of time."

Victoria stared before she shrugged. "Sure, why not."

She shifted onto her knees and placed him beside the crouched form of his brother, who glared at him. "Cheater."

"Jazz calls it 'using the environment to your advantage.'" The robot paused and turned to give Victoria another wide grin. "Name's Sideswipe, by the way. Thanks for catching Sunny earlier."

Victoria blinked. "You're welcome…I guess."

Sideswipe gave her another salute before turning his full attention to the manic jet still circling above them. Victoria returned to her spot on the floor beside the other red robot, who was waiting for the jet to stop its erratic circling. "Maybe I had a headache and took some pain pills. That would explain the weird dream I'm having."

"Dream?" the robot asked. He turned to her and left the jet to the two on top of the couch since one of them had already gained its attention with insults. "This ain't no dream, kid."

"Of course it is," Victoria insisted. "Toys don't come to life and bring their wars into people's houses. This is…this is like some cliché plot from a kid's movie."

"This ain't a dream," the robot repeated. He put his fists on his hips and glowered up at her. "And I ain't a toy."

"Yes, you are!" Victoria shrieked, her voice cracking near the end. The loud yellow Transformer—or Sunny as Sideswipe had called him—stopped his insults long enough to glare down at them before turning back to the jet that had begun to yell insults back at them. "You're all toys. Toys that I found just a few hours ago in a box that looked like it hadn't been touched in years."

"In my experience, toys don't inflict pain!" the one beside her said. As if to demonstrate, he punched the top of her knee, causing her to flinch. Not from pain because she had barely felt a thing, but because she had felt something. He huffed and turned his attention to the open space of the hallway in front of them. "But hypothetically speaking, if we were a box of toys, how many Decepticons were in that box?"

Victoria allowed her head to fall back into her hands. "They had their own box, and I didn't even bother to look past the first toy."

"That doesn't sound good."

"Ack!" the jet yelled. Victoria lifted her head just in time to see Sunny shoot at the jet again. His wing sparked where the beam had singed the edge of it. Sideswipe whooped and lifted a hand for a high-five; Sunny snorted but reciprocated the gesture with less enthusiasm. The jet wobbled mid-air and snarled. "Just wait until next time!"

With a small "pop," the jet was gone, and the brothers continued to celebrate loudly, one more loudly than the other. Ratchet came out from beneath the table and sighed at the sight of the two jumping off the back of the couch to land on the floor beside Victoria and their other red companion. "Terrific, you two are here too."

"Oh no, it's the Hatchet!" Sideswipe exclaimed dramatically as his brother snorted beside him. A wrench appeared in the medic's hand, and Sideswipe ducked with his hands protecting his head. "I mean, Ratchet, I'm so happy to see you."

"That's what I thought you said," Ratchet said as his wrench vanished back to where it had come from. The brothers ducked behind the human as Ratchet made his way towards them. "Ironhide, you made it here in one piece."

The older red bot nodded; he was still staring at the hallway as if he was waiting for something to fly out and start shooting. With the way the night had been going, it would not surprise Victoria one bit if that scenario happened. Ratchet followed his gaze before turning back to her. "What's wrong with you now?"

Ironhide huffed before she had a chance to answer. "Says she's dreaming."

The younger two traded a look, and Sideswipe made a noise while Sunny glared at the wall. Ratchet's attention instantly snapped towards them, and he scowled at the innocent grin Sideswipe gave him. "What did you two do?"

"Nothing," they answered simultaneously, and Victoria couldn't help but stare at the creepy resonance of their matched voices. Ratchet kept his glare on them, which Sunny reciprocated with his own. Sideswipe was the one to crack under the pressure. "It was Skywarp's fault. He's the one that shot it in the head."

"Slagging Decepticons," Ironhide voiced. His gruff voice conveyed his distain. "Leave it to them to fire on the first thing they meet."

"Can we move on?" Sunny asked impatiently. "It got shot and lost its mind. Boo hoo—we have better things to do than cry over it."

Victoria's eyes narrowed, and she was almost tempted to reach over and knock the obnoxious yellow robot over with the back of her hand. Ironhide shook his head, while Sideswipe stared at Sunny as if his brother had lost his mind. Seeing as how Ratchet was currently glaring Sunny's way, losing his mind was the least of his worries. "Sunstreaker, if we weren't in this situation right now—"

Sunstreaker was saved from whatever lecture Ratchet was prepared to give him as the sound of sirens reached their ears. Victoria peeked around the couch at the dark window across the room. "What would the cops be doing up here?"

"I don't think those are…cops" Sideswipe said, stumbling over the word she used only a little.

"Maybe its Prowl," Ironhide suggested. "His alt-form has sirens."

"I hope not," Sunstreaker muttered. His brother nodded along with him.

"How long do you think you can escape punishment?" Ratchet asked as the sirens came closer. Now that Victoria listened a little closer, they didn't sound as loud as they normally would. More like a tiny whine than a shrilling cry. "Prowl already knows you two were involved in this."

"How did he find out so quickly?" Sideswipe squeaked.

"He was standing right next to you when the bomb went off!"

The brothers stared at each other. "Did you see Prowl there?"

"No."

"This isn't good," Sideswipe concluded. "We're losing our touch. We can't even keep track of Prowl anymore."

"I didn't have anything to do with this."

"I'm still taking you down with me."

Sunstreaker glared at his grinning brother while the older Transformers just shook their heads. The sirens were growing louder, and everyone stared at the hallway when a tiny car swung around the left corner and screeched to a halt in front of them. It sat there and appeared to be staring them down as the siren lights blipped off. The stare down lasted until Victoria broke the silence. "Your friend's not much of a talker, is he?"

The moment she spoke, the tiny vehicle began to fall apart. Its various pieces shifted around to accommodate the new form it was taking. Instead of walking over to greet him, like Victoria thought they would, the Autobots beside her tensed and reached for their weapons.

"That's not Prowl," Sunstreaker said with certainty before the new Transformer had even finished transforming.

"That didn't even look like a toy," Victoria said to herself. She eyed the black and white robot, watching how little pieces shifted and fell into place with ease. Once the transformation had ended, something even smaller popped out of its chest and sprinted across the short distance between them at an amazingly fast pace.

"Ravage incoming!"

Sunstreaker added a growl to Sideswipe's exclamation. "I hate Cassettes."

The small black cat was quick enough to cross the distance between them before anyone else could respond and attacked the first thing it came across. Its target just happened to be Victoria. Its claws sunk deep into her knee, and she flinched at the pain. "Ow!"

Victoria grabbed the feline around its middle and pulled its claws out of her knee, wincing when the claws pulled at her skin. It wiggled but was unable to escape her grasp, so it released a mechanical growl. With the cat somewhat secured, Victoria turned her attention to the sounds of fighting and was surprised to see that another tan Transformer had joined the fray. It was larger than all the others, which may have been why Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and Ratchet were dealing with it while Ironhide went toe-to-toe with siren wielding Transformer. The tan Transformer had a third limb on its back that would move forward to snap at them, almost getting Sunstreaker at one point.

With all six of them in such close proximity, Victoria realized that the two newcomers looked drastically different from the Autobots. The Autobots were blockier and clean cut, whereas their enemies seemed to have more sharp, individual parts. She looked down at the panther-like feline and noticed that it looked more like the Autobots—blocky and clean cut.

Ironhide managed to land a hit, and the former cop car grunted and stumbled back into its tan companion, who immediately twisted around to shove him away. What sounded like grating gears emitted from them as they bucked up to one another. Sunstreaker shouted something back at them using the same sounds. Their red eyes focused on him, and both looked ready to attack. Sunstreaker gave them a grin that sent chills down Victoria's spine and encouraged them by dropping into an offensive position.

The battle would have turned nasty if Victoria didn't suddenly scream and fling her captive across the room. The cat collided with the wall on the far side of the hallway. Its hind leg was twisted at an odd angle when it attempted to stand. As it limped away, the two red-eyed robots exchanged a series of sounds before folding back down into vehicles and speeding off behind the limping cat.

Sunstreaker's grin fell as they fled, but his brother soon distracted him. Ironhide and Ratchet hurried over to Victoria, who had the edge of her hand in her mouth. Ratchet immediately began inspecting her knee while Ironhide chuckled.

"Primus," Ironhide said. "What made you throw him so far?"

Victoria took the hand out of her mouth to show him. "He bit me."

Ironhide let out another chuckle while Ratchet ordered her to show him her hand. She did as she was told and endured his poking. She had to tell him what not to poke, and he avoided touching the wounds as he learned. The Twins had huddled a short distance away from them, and Ironhide was busy keeping an eye on them. Despite Ironhide's vigilance Ratchet would pause his work long enough to send the two a glare. The glare seemed to keep the two from making a break for it.

"You do know I can patch these up myself," Victoria informed him as he searched for something suitable to place over what were, to her at least, minor scratches. Her knee was still bleeding a little, but she had suffered worse just from shaving her legs.

"Who's the medic?" Ratchet growled back. A roll of what looked like duct tape magically appeared in his hand, and he pulled a long length of tape from the roll. Victoria winced as he placed it over the scratches on her knee. "Who has accumulated vorns of medical experience?"

"I'm just saying…"

"Exactly. Now stay still while I patch this."

Victoria stared down at him before she turned to Ironhide. "Is he always like this?"

"You get used to it," Ironhide grunted. She could only assume from that answer that this was how the medic acted on a daily basis.

There was a commotion from the hallway, and the occupants of the living room tensed for another attack. The masked robot from earlier, Wheeljack if Victoria recalled correctly, turned the corner. He paused when he saw them but immediately focused his sole attention on Victoria, directing his path towards her with the glow of his face lights casting strange shadows across his head. Victoria was almost certain that the weird lights were even brighter than they had been before. "Oh look, you woke up! Now, if you would so kindly answer a few questions—"

He was cut off as something flew into the room and circled them from above. Victoria automatically flinched in preparation of an attack, but it never came. Instead, the tiny form circled above them in tighter and tighter spirals. "Swoop find other Autobots!"

"Yes, good job Swoop," Wheeljack said, sounding like a parent praising his child. "You did exactly what Prowl asked you to do."

The pterodactyl landed on the floor in front of Victoria, but his wings drooped as he waddled back and forth in front of her as if looking for something. "But me Swoop no find Dinobot brothers. Where they be?"

Victoria felt her heart melt a little at the sight of the dejected Swoop standing in front of her. "Aw, Swoop."

"Me Swoop very sad," Swoop acknowledged. Without thinking, Victoria reached down to scoop him into her hands. He allowed it without protest and practically slumped against her curled fingers even as he looked up at her with dark blue eyes. He looked like a little lost puppy, and Victoria felt the rest of her heart melt into a pile of goo. "You tell Swoop where brothers be?"

Victoria bit her bottom lip and was thankful for yell that prevented her from answering. The shout was immediately accompanied by a frantic voice. "What the frag is that thing?"

The new red, white, and black robot ducked behind the last robot she had seen with Ratchet earlier. She assumed the black and white one was Prowl, since his paint job resembled the cop car they had mistaken him for earlier. The red and white robot peeked out from behind Prowl before clinging to Prowl's arm. "We can't trust that thing!"

"Why not?" Wheeljack asked. Victoria was temporarily distracted as his fins lit up in sync with his words. Those lights were definitely brighter than before. "She seems friendly."

"Look at it!" the panicking Autobot yelled. "It's huge! It could squish us all without a second thought."

Victoria stared blankly at him as the small beings turned to stare at her. Wheeljack was the first to speak. "I don't see that."

"You're not looking at it right!" the panicking robot yelled again. "Tilt your head a little to the right."

Swoop was the only one who followed his orders. "Me Swoop see no difference."

"Red Alert," Prowl started with a sigh, "you are being…overcautious again."

"How many accidents have we managed to avoid thanks to me?"

"How many false alarms have you set off?" Sunstreaker snapped before Prowl could respond.

Red Alert glared and pointed at him. "I warned them about you too!"

With a growl, Sunstreaker began to stalk over to Red Alert, who seemed to realize what he had just said and ducked back behind Prowl. Sunstreaker was stopped when his brother grabbed one of his arms. "Cool it Sunny. The last thing we need is for Ratchet to be wasting time putting a fellow 'bot back together when it could have been avoided."

The group of mini-Transformers stared long enough for Sideswipe to hold throw up his hands. "What?"

"You are not escaping punishment," Prowl said firmly.

Sideswipe looked offended. "What? What makes you think I was trying to do that? I was only helping Ratchet."

Now even Victoria stared at him. Sideswipe turned to his brother and asked in a hushed voice, "Too much?"

"Way too much."

"Slaggit."

"We will discuss your punishment later," Prowl interrupted. "Right now our main focus should be finding any remaining Autobots that may have been brought here with us."

Ironhide gestured towards her. "She says that we were in boxes 'fore we woke up."

Prowl's eyes rapidly winked, and Red Alert's eyes drastically brightened. Ratchet frowned and turned to Victoria as well. "Do you happen to remember who else was in the box, if anyone else was in the box?"

Victoria pursed her lips and used her fingers to quickly count off the toys she remembered. "Other than you guys, I remember there being one that was blue one and another one that was black and white. Then there was one that looked kind of like you."

She paused to gesture towards Prowl. From the way they nodded, they instantly seemed to understand whom she was talking about. "And then there was Optimus, but he was over in the glass cabinet."

Red Alert emitted what could pass as a mix between a squeak and a croak. "She knows Optimus's name! How can an alien know his name? I'm telling you, she's plotting something!"

Ratchet turned to Victoria, and from his frown, Victoria could tell he remembered the interrogation that had been interrupted by the jet earlier. "You were just about to explain how you knew my name as well."

"She knew Ratchet's name too?"

"Are you okay?" Victoria asked as the little robot seemed to begin hyperventilating. There was a high-pitched wheezing coming from him, like a whining fan, and the way his eyes were rabidly winking was beginning to concern even her.

"Where's Inferno when you need him?" Sideswipe commented to his brother, who just shrugged and turned back to inspecting a shallow scratch on his arm.

"Do you know my name?" Red Alert asked, panic making his voice rise in pitch.

"Uh," Victoria stuttered. The wheezing was becoming worse, and her instincts told that saying yes would make things worse despite the fact that his name had been revealed through his companions. "No…."

Her answer seemed to calm to the poor robot down, and the wheezing slowly began to subside. "Oh, thank Primus. So you only know Ratchet and Optimus's names?"

"Yes."

Red Alert nodded and stepped back behind Prowl. He pointed at his eyes, then at her, and then at his eyes again. "I'm watching you."

"Okay?" Victoria said. Prowl took a small step away from Red Alert, but Red Alert followed, keeping Prowl between him and Victoria at all times. "Well, now that that's been settled, maybe we should find your other companions."

"Right," Prowl agreed. His eyes seemed to scan her from head to toe, making Victoria do the same for him. He frowned when he noticed her actions. "Afterwards you will explain what you know."

Victoria shrugged. She didn't appreciate the patronizing tone of Prowl's voice very much, but maybe the searching would give her time to figure out how to explain to them that their world was nothing more than a huge children's franchise here. Maybe it would even allow her to come to terms with the fact that she was about to even have that type of conversation.

She stood as everyone moved to follow Prowl into the hallway, except Swoop, who, to her surprise, flew up to settle on her shoulder. She froze when his tiny feet pinched her skin beneath her shirt, and he angled his long beak to look up at her. Taking a small step forward, she watched her new shoulder companion from the corner of her eye for any sudden moves. He continued to stare at her with bright eyes and shuffled closer to her face after she took another small step. The tip of his wing gently poked the bottom of her chin. "Why you walk funny? You giant not feel good?"

Victoria smiled at the inquiry and took a larger step. Swoop folded his wings against his body and pinched her a little tighter as she entered the hallway. Sideswipe had paused just beyond the living room, and he fell into step beside her, causing Victoria to tense and pay more attention to where she stepped. Sunstreaker joined his brother, and the two suddenly decided to be little daredevils as one or the other would weave through her legs from time to time.

"Hey!" a new voice yelled from ahead of them.

Victoria barely glanced up as Sideswipe felt the need to graduate from leg weaving to foot hopping, meaning he would intentionally try to jump on her foot. It was Sunstreaker who nearly caused her to lose her balance though when he suddenly jumped in front of her. She froze, one foot in the air, in an attempt to avoid stepping on him and nearly lost her balance when her body kept attempted to complete the motion of walking without her consent. Sideswipe snickered when her arm jerked to the side to grab the wall.

"I knew you guys would be here!" the new voice continued. "Well actually, I didn't know that Red Alert or Swoop would be here. But I guessed the rest of you. I also guessed Bumblebee, but then I remembered that he was scouting the other side of the city with Hound and Arcee. Was Hot Rod part of that team too? No, wait, I think it was just those three."

"Bluestreak!" Sideswipe exclaimed. He abandoned his new game and tackled the new Autobot. "I'm so happy to see you. I was worried that me and Sunny were stuck with all the old-timers."

He froze as he seemed to feel the heat of all the "old-timers" glares. "I mean, our experienced war veterans and stuff."

"Guess Ah'd be in that category too, havin' so much 'experience' an' such," another voice said. Victoria finally glanced up see the four new Autobots joined their group. Sideswipe was standing beside a younger looking Prowl (the smile was what made him look so younger), and standing beside them was the last black and white robot who looked like he wore a pair of blue sunglasses. They must have run ahead because the last two were still a good distance away, the blue one walking with a gait drastically different from the other Autobots, and Optimus Prime carrying his…arm?

Ratchet broke away from the group and rushed over to meet Optimus halfway. "Optimus—"

"I have absolutely no idea how this happen," Optimus interrupted. He held out his limb for the medic to snatch up and turned to give Ratchet full access to the gapping hole in his shoulder. "Believe it or not, it just fell off."

Ratchet stared at the arm before nodding and examining the hole. Sunstreaker, who now sat on top of Victoria's foot after winning Sideswipe's game, scowled at the easy acceptance. "Why do me and Sideswipe get loaded down with questions when we come to your med-bay with a missing limb?"

"Because you usually tell me lies," Ratchet answered. Ratchet matched Sunstreaker's scowl and also directed a glare at Sideswipe for good measure. "It's also entertaining to watch as you two struggle to keep your stories straight. That's why I stick you in separate rooms."

Sunstreaker grumbled as his brother chuckled despite the medic's glare. Wheeljack moved over to help Ratchet, or at least he appeared to be helping. As the two fiddled with the arm, Ratchet scowling at the odd shape at the end where the arm and shoulder would connect, Optimus finally noticed the huge organic standing behind his men. His cerulean eyes winked. "Well, it is not every day that you come across a being ten times bigger than you."

Victoria knocked Sunstreaker off of her foot so that she could crouch down and appear to be on their level. Swoop floated down from her shoulder to transform into his bipedal form next to Wheeljack and Ratchet. He leaned forward in an attempt to match their height, much like how Victoria had done. "Me Swoop help?"

Ratchet moved over for the Dinobot to observe the reattachment of the leader's limb. Optimus acted as if he was not currently one arm less than normal, and Victoria admired how he remained unfazed by that fact. He placed his attached hand on his chest. "I am Optimus Prime, and I am the leader of the Autobots. I see that you have already met the majority of my men."

"I wouldn't mind some formal introductions," Victoria said. She flicked Sunstreaker in the head, making him stumble forward. "That's for being rude earlier and almost making me trip down the hallway."

"Fragger," Sunstreaker snarled back. Most of the assembled mechs chuckled or outright laughed, as was the case for Sideswipe and Bluestreak. The blue Autobot's faced appeared to twitch, and Prowl kept his expression as neutral as possible.

Optimus's optics still shone with humor as he began to introduce each Autobot, pointing at them as he named them of. "My second and third-in-command: Prowl and Jazz."

Prowl nodded at her while Jazz, the one who looked like he was wearing sunglasses, grinned and gave her a jaunty wave that she couldn't help but return. With just that simple introduction, Victoria could tell that the two were the complete opposites of each other. Optimus briefly paused to observe the exchange before continuing with a small gesture towards Ratchet. "My Chief Medical Officer: Ratchet."

"Oh, she knows," Ratchet said dryly while not even bothering to look up from the shoulder joint he was repairing. Optimus grunted when Ratchet attempted to shove the arm back into place and probably would have stumbled to the side if Swoop had not been ordered to keep the Prime in place. Ratchet frowned when the arm immediately fell off again. "She still has questions to answer."

Optimus only blinked and continued down the line after bracing himself against Ratchet's repairs. "Wheeljack is our Chief Engineer; Ironhide our Weapons Specialist; and our Security Director is Red Alert."

"I don't trust her Optimus," Red Alert jumped in as soon as he was finally mentioned.

"Do you trust anyone?" Sunstreaker said snidely, and Victoria flicked his head again. "What the—why the pit did you do that?"

"Don't be rude to your superiors."

Sunstreaker stared at her with brightened eyes while Sidesswipe and Bluestreak laughed. "Who do you think you are? My creator or something?"

"I'm gonna be the one who squishes you if you annoy me too much." Victoria she turned back to Optimus without waiting for Sunstreaker to retaliate. "Sorry about that. Please continue."

"Well, since our attention has been brought to them, this is Sunstreaker and his twin Sideswipe." Sunstreaker sneered at her while Sideswipe waved. "This is Mirage, who works under Jazz, and the one standing beside Sideswipe is Bluestreak."

"Hi!" Bluestreak said cheerfully. He gave her a wave that somehow managed to be more enthusiastic than both Jazz's and Wheeljack's combined. "It's nice to meet you. I've gotta say, I've never met someone as big as you. I think you'd even give Omega Supreme a run for his credits, and he's huge. But there are some mechs who can combine together and make bigger bots, and I've met Superion before. I guess I should rephrase that and say that you're the biggest organic I've ever seen."

The other Autobots waited patiently for Bluestreak to finish. Victoria blinked at how he was able to get that all out in one go. "You're a talker, huh?

Bluestreak's head bobbed up and down quickly. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Sideswipe placed a hand on his shoulder. "Slow down, Blue. You'll be able to say as much as ya want when we get done with business."

"Me Swoop!" Swoop introduced himself. He still stood beside Optimus and kept the Prime in place as Ratchet inspected the empty shoulder socket. "Me Swoop Dinobot."

"We are autonomous robotic beings from the planet Cybertron," Optimus continued once everyone had been properly introduced.

"Autobots," Wheeljack piped in distractedly as he held the arm so that Ratchet could magically pull out another tool. His fins winked as he shook his head. "Wow, I think I just had a flashback…"

"That's because you said the same thing less than two breems ago," Ratchet said. He used his wrench to regain the engineer's attention. "Pay attention to what you're doing! You nearly dropped it."

"Me Swoop can hold if Wheeljack can't," Swoop said.

"Well—"

"He can hold it Swoop. Just keep Optimus in place while I do these repairs."

Optimus allowed the three to quiet down before he continued. "How we came to be here is currently a mystery—"

"Oh, I can solve that one," Ratchet interrupted. He pointed his wrench in the general direction of the Twins. "And there happen to be two answers."

Sideswipe immediately pointed at Wheeljack. "It was Wheeljack's fault."

"My fault?" Wheeljack said in offense. He almost dropped his current task to address Sideswipe directly, but a solid glare from Ratchet kept him in place "I told you two that bomb was still in the drafting stages."

"You get us to test them out," Sideswipe objected. Sunstreaker moved to stand firmly behind his brother. "You're just upset because we proved it didn't work."

"That's a lie! It worked perfectly."

The Autobots stared at the inventor while Victoria blinked in confusion. Prowl's frown grew more prominent, and he took a step towards Wheeljack. "Wheeljack."

Wheeljack blinked as he realized what he had said. "Um, I mean, I had no idea this would happen. Let's go back to blaming the Twins again."

"One of ya inventions was successful?" Jazz asked.

"You know, my self-esteem crumbles a little every time you all act so amazed," Wheeljack said. His face fins dimmed to the point where they barely lit up, and Victoria thought the dimness made him look more pitiful.

"Well, our minds get blown ev'ry time ya make somethin' that don't blow up in ya face." Most of the mechs laughed at Jazz's teasing. Even Prowl cracked a smile before it quickly vanished.

"If your latest invention was not meant to simply explode, then what was its purpose?" Optimus asked. Ratchet finally managed to fix his arm and ordered him to move it certain ways to see if the arm would stay in place. It did, but Ratchet hummed, pulled out his magical duct tape, and wrapped a few layers of it around Optimus's shoulder before finally nodding.

Wheeljack's fins lit back up as he began to answer Optimus' question. "Well, it was an idea I had been playing with for a while. Honestly, it was only meant to be used as a last resort. Decepticons have a nasty habit of targeting Autobots who aren't at their peak performance level and wouldn't be able to handle a full-blown fight. So I thought 'what if you could get rid of the Decepticon with little to no hassle?' Of course, there's physics and what not involved but—"

"Please don't start talking about that mumbo jumbo," Sunstreaker interrupted, earning another flick to the head via Victoria. Sideswipe snickered at his brother's growl and held up his hands when Sunstreaker turned on him.

"Yes, try to keep it simple as possible for the time being," Optimus said more politely.

Wheeljack nodded. "Oh, I wasn't going to delve into it anyway. It took me vorns to fully understand it. Anyway the short and sweet of it is that the bomb was actually meant to teleport things."

"Teleportation?" Prowl said slowly. "Through a bomb?"

Wheeljack nodded again. "Yep. I hadn't exactly figured out how to program the destinations—"

"Wheeljack!" Ratchet cut him off. Victoria glanced between the Autobots and noticed how Prowl's optics had become dimmer than usual. Red Alert had also frozen in place, but from his earlier episode, she thought that might be a more frequent occurrence. "We can talk about this later."

"Teleportation?" Victoria echoed Prowl's earlier disbelief, turning her full attention back to the inventor. "You actually built a teleportation device?"

"It's actually quite easy to make a teleportation device with the right materials," Wheeljack said. His chest puffed out, and his face fins lit up to a new brightness. "Now, one the size of an average grenade is a little more difficult. It wasn't even complete when the Twins took it from my lab."

"In our defense, you should really start labeling what is and isn't complete," Sideswipe said. His brother nodded in agreement, and even Bluestreak and Jazz affirmed Sideswipe's sentiment.

"If you had the materials, could you recreate the device?" Optimus asked.

"Sure! It'd be a lot easier the second time around," Wheeljack said with confidence. "I could even finish it completely if I wanted to…"

"Um," Victoria interrupted. "How far was your invention supposed to teleport people?"

Wheeljack tapped the chin of his mask. "Not very far—a few hics at the least. I was still working out the kinks when it came to that."

Victoria hummed, and Ratchet turned his full attention on her once more. He stepped forward and crossed his arms over his chest, a trained scowl in place as he stared her down. "All right, no more distractions. Time to explain everything you know."

Victoria hesitated as all of their gazes turned to her. She watched Red Alert twitch, and the little wings on Bluestreak's back flutter. Ironhide grunted at her silence and waved a hand. "C'mon! Can't be any worse than what we've already been through thanks to 'Jack."

Wheeljack's fins lit up as if to protest, but Victoria's sigh made Ratchet glare the inventor into silence. "I don't know how else to explain this other than being extremely blunt about it." Victoria paused, struggling to find the right for even that. "You're not real."

Silence and stares—that was the bulk of their responses. Bluestreak's wing flutters increased in speed, and Sideswipe scratched his head as if confused. Mirage leaned forward to say something to Jazz, but his voice was too soft for Victoria to hear. Optimus took a tense step towards her flanked by Ironhide and Prowl. "Explain."

"The entire concept of Transformers is a kid's cartoon. You have an entire franchise of merchandise, a cartoon, and even a live-action film. It's why…" Victoria trailed off and gestured at Optimus's bandaged shoulder. "It's why your arm fell off. You're an old toy who's been played with so often that the joint became loose."

They continued to stare at her in shocked silence. Ironhide hummed and rubbed the bottom of his chin. "Guess that explains why ya thought all this was a dream…"

"What!"

Red Alert's shout broke through the others' dazes. Bluestreak began to babble incoherently as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe tried to keep up with him. Jazz was speaking lowly to Prowl now, whose eyes had dimmed again. Wheeljack was counting on his fingers, mumbling strange words that Victoria had no idea how to interpret, while Optimus, Ratchet, and Ironhide tried to calm the frantic Red Alert. Swoop transformed into his alt-mode and flew up to Victoria's shoulder, and Mirage seemed to follow Swoop's example as he moved over to stand beside her to avoid the mayhem that had ensued.

"Red Alert," Optimus' deep, calm voice rose above the others. "Calm down."

"Calm down?" Red Alert repeated. He turned on Optimus so quickly that even Ironhide couldn't stop him from grabbing the Prime's shoulders. Optimus grunted when Red Alert pulled on his injured arm. "Calm down! How am I supposed to calm down after hearing that we're not even real?"

"Prowl!" Jazz shouted. He lunged forward to grab the falling Prowl, whose optics had turned completely grey. Jazz grunted under the weight of the other Autobot. "Aw, man. Prowler's processor done gone an' crashed again."

"He lasted much longer than I had anticipated," Mirage muttered. Victoria would have missed what he said if he had not been standing so close to her, and she was surprised by the lilting accent he possessed. It seemed to contrast drastically with the others' accents.

"Me Swoop, no feel good either," the pterodactyl said. He sidled closer to Victoria's neck, and she automatically flinched at the close contact. "If Swoop not real, does that mean Dinobot brothers not real either?"

Victoria shook her head sadly. "Sorry, Swoop."

Swoop slumped before perking back up again. "Then how come me Swoop feel real?"

Bluestreak stopped talking and turned to the Dinobot. "Yeah, how come I don't feel any different either? I don't feel like a toy, and all of my self-diagnostics say there's nothing wrong. I'm a little low on fuel, but that was a problem before I came online here."

Victoria started to shrug but stopped when Swoop pinched her shoulder. Instead she shook her head. "I don't know. But before you, um, came online here, you were just my brother's old toys."

Wheeljack paused, fingers still held up in mid-calculation. "I have a theory! Maybe we're not really here. Physically I mean. Perhaps we're only mentally here. Our real selves may still be on Cybertron."

"That definitely would've made Prowler crash," Jazz said. He had propped Prowl's unmoving body against the wall and was now leaning against the wall himself. "Can't say Ah'm too keen on the idea myself."

"Thankfully he's already crashed so less damage has been done."

Ratchet glared at Wheeljack's statement, while Sideswipe, Bluestreak, and Jazz chuckled. Victoria sleepily smiled at the group as the long day finally caught up to her. Her sudden drowsiness reminded her of her headache, but thankfully, it was not as bad as it had been when she first woke up. "I honestly still think I'm dreaming all of this, so whatever explanations you guys can come up with are probably better than mine."

Victoria paused and yawned. Swoop jumped back at the noise that escaped her but soon sidled back up to her cheek to poke her with his beak. "What you just do?"

"I yawned," she said. She did it again, much to Swoop's amusement. "It's what humans do when we get tired."

"You're already tired?" Bluestreak asked. "We just came online."

"You may have just come online, but I've been…online all day. You guys might be able to keep going for days and days, but humans aren't that talented." Victoria stood from her crouch, regaining Red Alert's attention as he cringed away from her. "Now what's your problem?"

He twitched and finally let go of Optimus's arm to allow Ratchet to calm him down. With one hand, Ratchet calmly traced tight circles along Red Alert's back, and the gesture seemed to calm Red Alert down a little more. Ratchet eventually answered for him. "Don't mind him. He just needs time to adjust."

Sunstreaker opened his mouth but closed it when he caught Victoria staring at him. "You're learning."

"Shut up."

Optimus walked over to where she stood, and Victoria automatically crouched back down to be more on his level. He nodded, a silent appreciation for her consideration. "The Decepticons are still roaming freely through the premises. It would be wise if we remained close by in case they decide to attack again."

"Anyone attacks me in my sleep and they're dead."

"Be that as it may, I must insist that we remain close until we have fully acclimated to our current situation."

Victoria nodded and stood back up. She started walking the short distance to her bedroom but paused to ensure that they could keep up with her. Optimus followed her with little hesitation, and the other Autobots fell in step behind him with Jazz and Bluestreak at the rear carrying Prowl between them while Ratchet slowly guided Red Alert to keep him calm.

"Hey, this is where we found Optimus," Bluestreak exclaimed upon entering the bedroom. "He was under the big berth getting shot at by Starscream, Thundercracker, Soundwave, Rumble, and Frenzy. Wow, when you say their names all together it seems like a lot of Decepticons."

"Add that to Ravage, Skywarp, and the two other Decepticons we encountered, and you have nine," Ironhide concluded. "Three less than the Autobot number."

"That's great!" Jazz said, adjusting his hold on Prowl. "Normally the 'Cons outnumber us. Feels good ta have that advantage fo' once."

"That's because they have a bunch of mindless drones," Sideswipe said. "If you counted the number of Decepticons with a processor to make their own decisions, then we would always outnumber them."

Swoop flew off of Victoria's shoulder as she collapsed onto the bed. He landed on the nightstand beside her and transformed to hop onto the pillow under her head. "Why berth so lumpy?"

"To make humans happy," Victoria answered. Her voice was muffled from her face being squished into the pillow.

"And how long are you supposed be in recharge?" Ratchet asked in a medic-type tone from the floor below.

"Just let me sleep until I wake up." Victoria moved her head from the pillow and leaned over the edge of the bed to see the Autobots scattered across the room. Ratchet stood just below her head with Optimus standing behind him. The Twins had become interested in the bookshelf on the other side of the room, and Sideswipe looked as if he was about to start scaling it to escape Ironhide, who was stomping towards them. Jazz and Bluestreak were leaning Prowl against the nightstand. The lamp on the nightstand started to flicker on and off, and Victoria looked up to see that Wheeljack had climbed onto the nightstand and was pushing the switch on and off. The only two missing were Red Alert and Mirage, though from the sounds of it one of them must have been beneath the bed. "If you're still here, I'll help you in any way I can."

"Ah," Optimus said in understanding. "You still believe that this is a…dream. Correct?"

"Of course," Victoria answered. Her head sunk back into the pillow with a sigh. Swoop was now jumping on the pillow next to her, though he did little to disturb her. "We'll talk in the morning when I'm slightly saner."

Optimus nodded and walked over to Jazz, who was now inspecting the dresser much like the Twins had been examining the bookcase. Ratchet gave her a final look before following after him. When no more bots attempted to speak with her and Swoop had settled down into the little dip between the pillows, Victoria finally rolled over onto her back and slipped into sleep.


Original AN: That's all the Autobots. The Decepticons will get their own chapter of introductions :) And yes, Barricade and his (obvious) tanned companion are the only ones in the story whose appearance will be from the Movie-verse. Why? To support Wheeljack's theory of course.

EDITED: 1/3/2014 (Grammar, some added/changed words, etc.)

EDIT 2: 5/25/2016

Final Revision: 1/2/2019