"This is where we're living?" asked Bumblebee.

The Autobots were standing in front of a dilapidated factory on the edge of Detroit. The forest was within viewing distance.

House hunting is never fun. It's even less fun when you're literally an alien. The Autobots needed to find a place that was big enough to accommodate all of them. They also needed to be close to the forest because Silverbolt insisted on being able to hunt his own food. Electricity and a running water supply were also a must.

There weren't many buildings that met these requirements, so they were going to have to make do with the one the city had agreed to let them use.

It didn't look any better on the inside. It was completely bare, but at least they wouldn't have to do too much cleaning before setting their things up.

"So, let's go claim our rooms!" shouted Wheeljack. This resulted in a bit of a stampede. Bulkhead and Prowl set off at a more sedate pace after the initial rush. Wheeljack and Ratchet didn't really care where they roomed so they stayed in what was probably going to be the living area. Silverbolt just walked over to a corner and curled up to take a nap.

"You know what this place needs?" asked Wheeljack. "A couch! I bet I could put one together with the right materials."

Ratchet groaned at the declaration. That was just what they needed, Wheeljack building furniture.

On the other hand, it was doubtful he could make a simple couch explode.

Upstairs, Prowl placed his meager box of possessions on the floor of the room he'd chosen. Most of the ceiling and half the walls were missing, and a tree was growing up from the ground floor.

Most wouldn't want a room so exposed to the elements or attack, but Prowl figured he could deal with a little rain. The view was worth it.

Prowl absentmindedly ran a servo down the bark of the tree. Prowl had to wonder how long this factory had been abandoned that this tree had managed to grow through two stories. It had to be old. He'd gotten the impression trees took a while to grow this large.

"Aw man! I wanted this room!" Prowl blinked and turned to see an annoyed Sari in the doorway.

"Why?"

"Well, the Dinobots are in the room below, so I figured if I had this room I could just jump down if they needed me. Plus I haven't lived in a house since I was six. It's gonna be weird being inside when I sleep."

"…Perhaps you could sleep in the forest?"

Sari glared. "There is a big difference between sleeping in a nice, dry cave and a forest floor where you can get rained on."

"You could get a tent."

"I don't have any money, and those are supposed to be temporary. Besides, I'm the only one who'd fit in the tent," said Sari. "The Dinobots need their snuggles."

"Uh huh…" Prowl started putting up a divider in the doorway. "I suppose you'll just have to get used to living inside again."

Sari crossed her arms with a huff. "You're a real ass, you know that?

"You're not exactly the modicum of social discipline yourself."

Sari growled before turning on her heel and jumping down the hole.

Prowl groaned and hung his head. He could've handled that better.

Next day:

"Okay, I think we can remove the casts," said Jack as he looked over the latest scan results. "Your bones look healed, but I'd avoid putting too much pressure on them. There's still a couple of repair processes going on, and you might refracture them if you try to go back to your normal active routine too soon. So take it easy another couple of weeks, and you should be good."

Silverbolt nodded, eyeing the buzzsaw Jack had fetched. He understood why it was chosen, but he still felt nervous. "Safe?"

"Sure, I do it all the time. I just have to adjust to the added thickness."

Silverbolt nodded. At this point, he didn't care how they were removed so long as the casts were gone.

Outside:

"And we now have electricity!" Wheeljack announced to no one in particular. He'd had to make some modifications to one of his energon generators since human systems ran on electricity instead of energon. It wasn't nearly as efficient in his opinion, but when in Velocitron.

Maybe he could help the humans develop tech that ran on energon. It would certainly cut down on costs for them. "Now, don't blow up on me." The generator contin'ued to run with no signs of an impending explosion. "Good." Wheeljack petted the generator. I think you'll do just fine as long as I perform the usual maintenance procedures on ya. Maybe I'll make a backup too…Hang on." Wheeljack looked up as he noticed a small dot in the sky. He increased the magnification in his optics to get a better look. "Oh…" "Ratchet, I think those reinforcements just arrived."

Ratchet frowned as he grabbed a datapad that contained reports detailing their encounters with Decepticons. "That was faster than I expected. You sure it's them?"

"It's definitely an Autobot ship, and it's the correct make and model for what we're expecting."

"I'll be there in a moment."

"Okay, I'll say hello for you." Wheeljack caught a sigh as he cut the com link. "Okay, time to welcome the new arrivals!"

Wheeljack sure hoped they'd been briefed. This could be really awkward otherwise.

Before long, the ship had landed, and Wheeljack maneuvered himself so that he'd be the first thing the bots onboard saw when they exited the landing ramp…If anyone ever showed up. "Hello? Anybody home?"

A red head peeked out from the corner. "Is this the Autobot outpost on Earth?"

Wheeljack wasn't sure he'd call this an outpost. "More or less."

"Oh good." The head disappeared for a moment. "Guys! This is the right place! Get out here!" A second later, the mech ran down the ramp, allowing Wheeljack to get a better look at him. He was red, orange, and yellow with a flame pattern. "Name's Rodimus Prime."

"I'm Wheeljack. Nice ta meet 'cha." The two shook hands. "What was all that about?"

Rodimus snorted. "The others thought I was lost since this was an organic planet."

Wheeljack nodded. "Earth may be organic, but the life forms here are pretty much harmless. However, the humans are sentient and could potentially develop technology to fight us in a few generations if given the right incentive."

Rodimus nodded, making a note to try and get along with the locals. "Right, got it. So, are you the one in charge here?"

Wheeljack laughed. "No way! I'm too irresponsible! The closest we have to someone in charge is Ratchet, but he's the medic so that's mostly out of necessity."

"Maybe Red Alert can help him out."

"Is that your medic?"

"Yeah. I wonder what's taking everyone so long." Rodimus looked back and noticed a yellow head peeking over the edge. "Hot Shot! What're you doing? Come down here!"

"But-"

"Would the Elite Guard send us somewhere dangerous? Besides, these guys have been doing fine, and they're repair bots."

Hot shot cautiously made his way down the ramp. He paused at the bottom and stared at the ground for a moment before stepping off. He bounced experimentally on his pedes. "It feels okay…"

Rodimus nodded absentmindedly. "See? What'd I tell you?"

That was when a red and white femme carrying a container in her right servo disembarked. Her left servo was a medical tool instead of an actual servo, so Wheeljack figured this was Red Alert. "Hello."

"Hi." Wheeljack looked back up into the ship. "How many of you are there?" There had to be more than three.

"There's Brawn. He's probably just taking his time. Wasp and Ironhide probably got in trouble with Kup," said Rodimus.

Wheeljack blinked. "Kup? That old coot?" Maybe that was a bit hypocritical, but everyone considered Kup to be an old coot. "What was he doing with your group? He's supposed to be retired."

Rodimus paused. "Actually, he showed up, said he'd come out of retirement, had the proper orders, and hitched a ride. Something about how he's supposed to whip you guys into shape."

Wheeljack winced in pity for the younger bots. Kup had to be the toughest drill sergeant to ever exist. "Glad I'm a scientist. Oh, hey, Ratchet."

Ratchet had stomped out. Rodimus smiled and raised his hand. "Hey there. I'm-"

Rodimus was cut off when Ratchet thrust the datapad he'd been holding into his servos. "Here are the reports. You're in charge of this mess now." Then Ratchet turned back and walked into the base. Rodimus gave Wheeljack a confused look.

"He's been having flashbacks," explained Wheeljack. He leaned in. "It's made him grumpier than usual," he stage whispered. Then he straightened and clapped his servos together. "Right! Time for a tour!" He promptly grabbed the three surprised bots and dragged them into the base.

A few seconds later, Sari and the Dinobots exited the tree line. "Yep, looks like the reinforcements have arrived." They made their way over to the ship. As Sari was debating whether to introduce the Dinobots to the new arrivals, another bot came down the ramp.

It was a rather small, kind of boxy bot. He was smaller than Bumblebee, and Sari had thought that was as small as the Autobots came. He seemed to be thinking something similar with the odd look on his faceplate when he noticed her. The two stared awkwardly at one another for a moment.

Then Grimlock got annoyed. "Hey! You stop staring at Mommy!"

The bot made a face. "What?"

Sari coughed. "Yeah, that's what they call me, but my name's Sari. I'm guessing you're part of the reinforcements that Magnus guy said were coming."

It took Brawn a moment to figure out what that meant. He had no idea what 'Mommy' meant, but he did pick up that she was named Sari. "You're part of the repair bot group?"

"Yes and no. My family's neutral, but we're helping out since we want our home to stay safe."

Brawn took a long, considering look at Sari. "You're a bot?"

Sari shrugged. "Half. I'm a techno-organic."

Brawn's optics widened. "You mean that part of the report was true?!" Yeah, the report had mentioned that there were a couple of bots that were half organic, but he'd thought that was a rumor or misunderstanding or something. Don't get him wrong. Organics don't bother him. He's aware that there are much more dangerous things to worry about. He just doesn't see how you can have a partially organic Transformer. It doesn't make sense.

"You two are completely undisciplined! What did Sentinel teach you?!" Brawn groaned. That…that could make this situation go from awkward to dangerous. "And why hasn't Rodimus straightened you out yet?!"

And that was when Kup started down the ramp, dragging Ironhide and Wasp by their audials. "Back in my day, that sort of behavior would be grounds for a court martial!" Kup gave Sari and the Dinobots a glance but that was it. "I have half a processor to make you go through basic training again! You're damn lucky that Rodimus wants all bots ready for sudden attacks or I'd go through with it!"

"All right, all right already!"

"Why you drag bots?" asked Sludge.

"Because they're idiots!" shouted Kup, seemingly unbothered by the fact a robotic sauropod had just talked to him.

This statement was immediately proven when Ironhide saw Sari. Being young bots, Ironhide and Wasp hadn't paid attention throughout the entire report and briefing, and one of the things they had missed was that humans were sentient, intelligent, and were the ones in charge of the government and various other things on this planet. So when he saw Sari, Ironhide assumed that she was an organic pest and kicked at her in an attempt to make her leave.

Luckily, Sari noticed the kick in time to safely jump out of the way, but the Dinobots stiffened and started growling.

Inside the base:

Silverbolt was in his alt mode for the first time in weeks, and he felt great! Dr. Darby watched as he walked around the room and nodded. "Your leg seems to be working just fine. Let's check on that wing now."

"And this is the living room! And that is Jack (I like his name.). He's an organic doctor who specializes in animals and acts as a consultant since we don't know a thing about organic medicine. Ratchet's learned a bit, but not enough for him to take care of Silverbolt and Sari on his own. And that's Silverbolt, one of our resident techno-organic neutrals. He is very strange. I like him!"

Jack and Silverbolt stared at the three new bots. Hot Shot was wide-eyed at the sight of the large wolf. Red Alert looked interested in a scientific way. Rodimus walked up to the two. "Hi there. I'm Rodimus Prime." He extended his smallest digit to Jack, who awkwardly shook it. He extended his whole servo to Silverbolt. "I'm gonna be in charge now. Nice to meet you."

Silverbolt studied Rodimus for a moment before sniffing his servo. Silverbolt transformed back to robot mode to shake the other's servo, apparently deciding to trust Rodimus for the moment.

And then a loud roar ripped through the air. Silverbolt instantly transformed and dashed for the exit.

"What was that?" asked Hot Shot.

"That sounded like Grimlock," said Wheeljack. "Wonder what upset him."

"Grimlock is one of the Dinobots, right?" asked Rodimus. "How does he react to being upset?"

"He usually attacks whatever upset him with his giant flaming sword. Or his flamethrower. Or his denta. It depends."

Rodimus, Red Alert, and Hot Shot were running for the exit before Wheeljack finished his explanation. Wheeljack shrugged and turned to Jack. "So, how's Silverbolt?"

Outside was a mess. Grimlock was shaking Wasp in his mouth like a ragdoll. Sari was trying to get Grimlock to drop Wasp. Ironhide was fighting Slag and had dents because of this. Snarl was lying on the ground in robot mode, slightly out of it. Swoop was poking at him. Brawn and Sludge were fighting hand-to-hand, which was an odd thing to see due to the rather extreme height difference.

Kup was watching the whole thing, not feeling the slightest bit sorry for Ironhide or Wasp. He felt a bit bad for Brawn, but he figured the brawler could handle himself.

That was when Silverbolt entered the scene in beast mode. He came from seemingly nowhere and rammed into Slag, separating him from Ironhide. He snarled at Slag and growled in a way that indicated he would take on Slag himself if he did not back down.

Slag backed down, although he was still giving Ironhide a look.

Ironhide was caught off guard enough that he just stared.

Silverbolt turned his attention to Grimlock. "See how upset you made Grandpa?" said Sari. "Drop that bot right now."

Grimlock reluctantly dropped Wasp none too gently on the ground. Wasp groaned.

Silverbolt gave Sludge a look. That was enough for her to back off and change back to beast mode to go into a submissive posture.

Snarl was unaffected due to still being stunned. Swoop looked nervous, but was relieved he didn't have the look directed at him.

"Okay…That was both scary and cool," admitted Rodimus. "What happened here?"

"They just attacked us!" said Ironhide.

"You start it!" argued Grimlock.

"Ironhide tried to kick the human," explained Kup.

Now Ironhide was the recipient of Silverbolt's growling.

"Ironhide! Humans are the dominant species on this planet!" chided Rodimus. "You don't attack them! Relations are strained enough as it is!"

"Why do we need relations with them?" asked Ironhide.

"Because it's their planet!"

Red Alert had been looking over the mechs by that point in time. "Clear this up later. I want to get these guys to your med bay and fix them up."

Kup snorted. "Let 'em sit so they remember this. They gotta learn how to pick their fights."

Red Alert vented. "Well, I want to look Wasp over at least. Some of these puncture wounds look deep."

To everyone's surprise, Swoop scooped up Wasp. "Swoop help."

"…All right then. Show me to the med bay then."

"…Is anyone else hungry?" asked Sari. "I am starving. Let's see if there's anything to eat and look for a nice documentary to watch."

That seemed to calm down the rest of the Dinobots, but they still gave Ironhide nasty looks as they followed her inside.

Kup snorted. "Not exactly the best start to our stay."

"It could be worse," pointed out Rodimus.

And that was when Silverbolt changed to robot mode and grabbed Ironhide, lifting him up to his snarling face. "You hurt Sari, I kill you. Got it?" Ironhide gulped and nodded. "Good." He dropped Ironhide and stalked back to the base.

"I think it just got worse," commented Hot Shot.

Rodimus groaned. "This is going to be a lot harder than I thought."

For some reason, that made Kup laugh.

Inside, Swoop had just reached the med bay. "Here be med bay."

Red Alert looked around in surprise. "It's a bit undersupplied." Swoop gave her a confused look as he put Wasp on the medical berth. "You've never seen a fully stocked medical facility, have you?" Swoop shook his head. "Have you commed Ratchet?"

"What commed?"

"…You don't know how to use your com links?" Swoop didn't appear to understand. "You communicate with the devices set in your helms. You can hear the other in your processor and vice versa."

Swoop frowned. "Voices in head bad," he said in a tone that said this should be obvious to anyone.

The report and briefing had indicated that the Dinobots were essentially sparklings. Red Alert had thought this had been an exaggeration. It hadn't. "Yes, hearing voices with no source is a sign of mental illness, but these voices have a source, and your HUD screen will display the speaker so that you know who is contacting you even if you can't recognize the voice."

"…Swoop confused now."

Red Alert vented. "Right. We'll try again later." She moved to Wasp and started scanning his injuries. It was a few moments before she realized Swoop was still there. "Something wrong?"

"No."

"Then why are you still here?"

"Swoop stay with Ratchet. Swoop stay with medic lady too."

"My name is Red Alert," she corrected.

"Okay medic lady."

Red Alert vented. "Whatever."

Living Room:

"And I've been researching dinosaurs since we're gonna be living together, and dinosaurs are actually pretty cool. It's too bad they got blown up by a meteor," said Wheeljack

"They didn't get blown up. The meteor impact changed the environment so much that they couldn't survive," corrected Jack

"Oh, that makes more sense." Wheeljack paused so wave at the Dino Clan. "Hi guys. How's it going?"

"I've been better," muttered Sari as she sat down on the ground with some casserole that Jack had brought (certifiably organic!). "One of the new bots tried to kick me and pissed off the Dinobots." The Dinobts growled as they settled down around her. "I know most Cybertronians don't like organics, but didn't they read the report that told them that I'm gonna be working with them?"

"They might have missed that part," admitted Wheeljack. "We don't have perfect attention or memory. Why, I missed half the stuff in my political courses and forgot the rest of it shortly after graduation. Uh, don't tell Ratchet that, okay?"

"Not very professional," muttered Sari.

"If there's a robot running around kicking humans, I think I'd better leave," said Dr. Darby. "Preferably with an escort."

Wheeljack got the hint and showed Dr. Darby out. A second later, Silverbolt entered, transformed to beast mode, and settled down next to the rest of his family. Rodimus entered next and awkwardly made his way over, tensing slightly when the Dinobots started growling. He held up his servos to convey he was (relatively) unarmed. "Hey, relax. I don't plan on hurting any of you. I just want to apologize for what Ironhide did. It was out of line."

"That one…should…apologize," said Silverbolt

"Yeah, I'm aware of that, but as the leader of this unit, I should take responsibility for my subordinates' actions."

Silverbolt snorted and placed his head on his talons. "His actions, not yours."

Rodimus was spared from any further disagreements when Fanzone stormed in. "All right! What's with the new spaceship that half the city reported seeing in the sky?"

Sari raised an eyebrow. "Only half? I thought everyone would see that."

Fanzone ignored Sari to examine Rodimus. "Who're you? New arrival on that ship?"

"Yes, I'm Rodimus Prime. I'm in charge of the reinforcements that were sent to help with any remaining Decepticons."

"I'm gonna need a list of everyone you brought with you, pictures, and information on what they can do."

Rodimus was noticeably taken aback by Fanzone's attitude. "What? Why?"

Fanzone crossed his arms. "Because I've heard you're not exactly fond of organics, and we want to have some idea of what to do if there's an incident."

"Also, they're making us IDs," added Sari with a smirk. "It's kind of funny considering how small the cards are."

"That brings up the next order of business." Fanzone walked over to Sari and thrust a bag into her hands. "We've been getting complaints about your clothes. If you don't start wearing more, you're gonna get charged with indecent exposure."

Sari stared at Fanzone, her mouth open. "But these are the only clothes I have!"

"The station took up some donations for you."

Sari pulled a yellow sweater out of the bag. It was a bit big for her, but it looked like it would fit. She frowned at the texture. "Can I at least wear my regular outfit here?"

"I don't care what you do in the privacy of your home." In fact, he'd rather not know what people do in their homes. He'd found some creepy stuff during investigations. Fanzone then got as much information on the new bots as he could from Rodimus before leaving to find the other bots.

And then Ratchet reappeared with Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Prowl. They'd been working on repairs all day. Ratchet had gone to fetch them. "Hey, you guys got here faster than I thought," commented Bumblebee.

"Yeah, we were close to a space bridge," explained Rodimus.

"And what's your plan?" asked Ratchet.

"Kup wants to train most of ya, except for Ratchet and Wheeljack. My group will run routine patrols to look for the Decepticons you mentioned. Ratchet and Wheeljack can keep doing whatever they do, but they can help with patrols if they want to."

"What about repairs?" asked Bulkhead.

"Ratchet and Red Alert-"

"He meant the city," interrupted Ratchet. "Part of the deal we made was that we would help rebuild what the Decepticons destroyed."

Rodimus blinked. "Can't you…put it on hold?"

"No."

"Well, maybe you and Wheeljack-"

"No!" shouted everyone.

Rodimus recoiled. "What?"

"Wheeljack has an unfortunate tendency to make things explode," explained Prowl. "I don't think the humans would appreciate him blowing up their buildings…again."

That was news to Rodimus. "Then Ratchet-"

"I am not doing all that work alone," interrupted Ratchet.

And that was when Red Alert entered the room with Wasp and Swoop. Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Wasp's optics widened.

"Wasp?!"

"Bumbler?!"

Rodimus suddenly felt a throbbing pain in his processor and a chill ran up his spinal strut. Why did he suddenly feel like this assignment was going to be a lot more trouble than he originally thought?

And now Butterflies presents: The Afterword.

"That one was kind of short," noted Vector.

KHGiggle shrugged. "Not a lot was going on…So, on to addressing reviews!"

"These are all from Fanatic97 I believe," said Vector. "The main gist was 'Who's gonna come and will Optimus be with them?'"

"Oh, I guess we don't need to answer that one."

"Also if Blackarachnia is going to appear."

"If Optimus is gonna be in this story, then of course Blackarachnia is gonna be in this story," said KHGiggle.

"And if you're going to use a Con medic called Flatline."

"…I've never actually heard of him before. The only Decepticon medics that come to mind are the Constructicons, Scalpel, and Knockout." KHGiggle thought a moment. "I might use him depending on his personality. I'll have to do some research first, but thankfully I won't be needing a Decepticon medic for a while."

Vector waved the datapad away. "Now, best get back to practicing for your job interview tomorrow."

"Fire away! I bet I can answer any workplace question you come up with!"

This has been The Afterword.