Chapter 25
Revelations
"Fowler!" the tone in Optimus's voice demanded an explanation.
The agent turned to the Cybertronian and gave a long sigh. From the amused expression twinkling in the human's eyes the Prime deduced that he feared no censure for what he was about to reveal. Indeed, it looked like he expected Optimus to be pleased, but before he could speak up a shaky voice called out.
"Optimus, please don't be angry with the humans. This is all my doing," the white mech's voice grew stronger as he staggered to his feet.
"Easy Driver, you need to rest," Ratchet cautioned as he helped the miner to his feet.
"No, good medic, I need to work!"
Driver turned back to Optimus and there was a steadiness, a confidence in his faceplates that the Prime had never seen before.
"I was the first to wake from stasis. I scouted the local human villages. All I could remember clearly was the Autobot commander telling me he had made contact with the locals and they were friendly. I took my alt mode and watched the people. I knew that my crew could be happy there." A guilty look crept over the white mech's faceplates as he continued. "I kidnapped the local law enforcement officers and demanded to speak to their commander. When they arrived I threatened to kill the inhabitants of the village unless my demands were met." The white mech's voice broke at this confession and his optics fell to the ground. "I demanded that the rest of my gestalt be allowed to live among the people of the village. In exchange for that and their silence, I would sever my link to the gestalt and surrender peacefully to the Autobot commander. The rest you know."
The gathered Autobots stood around the shame faced miner in blank astonishment. A thousand questions presented themselves to each but Optimus simply shook his helm and signaled for quiet.
"With the aid of your gestalt you will be able to rescue the trapped humans?"
"I think so," a grim look settled on the mech's faceplates. "Right now I can't even get a clear picture of what is going on down there. I will know more when they arrive and we can deploy the scouts."
"What can we do to help?"
The miner turned to Fowler.
"The men will need medical care and comfort when they come out right?"
"Sure as they're red blooded humans!"
"That man; Mr. Brown, can you have him set up a place ready to receive them somewhere isolated? If we have to bring them out fast it would be easier to cover up if we didn't have to take them to the main camp."
"On it!" Fowler agreed striding off after the Red Cross worker.
"Driver?" Raf suddenly called out. "When your gestalt-mates get here will they be as scared of the Bots as you were? I mean should the others hide?"
Driver crouched down in front of him and gave a smile so beautiful he caught his breath.
"No, from the moment they connected with me they knew all that I know of the Autobots. They are not afraid. We are all eager to meet you all."
Raf smiled a bit crookedly at the odd jumble of pronouns. It was disconcerting he had to admit. Driver stood and his faceplates took on the look that the children had dubbed the 'surfing-the-net' look as he gathered information. A frown flickered over his mouth and he turned to Prime.
"The water is rising faster in the cave. I will go and attempt to keep it manageable while we wait for the rest."
The Prime nodded and Driver slid easily into the ground. Once he was gone Arcee turned to Optimus with a frown.
"I can't say I like this Optimus, he's been lying to us the entire time."
"Indeed Arcee," Optimus replied with a tired exvent as Agent Fowler came back through the woods.
"And what about you Fowler?" the cycle-bot demanded of the human. "Why did you keep it quiet all this time?"
Fowler hesitated and let out a laugh.
"Well like the mech said at first he was holding the entire village hostage. By the time Agent Johnson called me out to the scene they were pretty worked up."
"Agent Johnson was involved?" Optimus asked his optics narrowing at this new complication.
"Yes," Fowler confirmed, "but only in his capacity as an FBI agent and representative for Uncle Sam," he hurriedly assured the leader of the Autobots. "There aren't that many of them in that area so they wear a lot of hats. And anyway Driver's demands were very reasonable. As to why we never bothered telling you later; well, I had given him my solemn word as an officer and a gentleman, didn't want to break that. As for the rest of the unit, they were no trouble from the moment they woke up. Each of them just sort of naturally chose a human partner from the village right off and have been the most productive little guys you can imagine. The villagers stay quiet because they don't want to lose them." Fowler paused and shook his head with a small grin. "There's really no way to explain it exactly without sounding mean. You'll understand when you meet them. But I'll personally vouch for every one of 'em if Driver's word isn't enough."
Arcee looked somewhat mollified but still offended. Optimus let his processor wander over the conversations Driver had tried to have with him. The Prime had been well aware that the mech had something on his processor that he felt needed to be confessed, but the Autobot had suspected it was something dark, not this joyous news. Despite the act of deception something in his spark had swelled when he realized the news. Ten lives, ten sparks that this war had not claimed.
"Why didn't he tell us?" Arcee was shaking her head in confusion. "I mean I understand at first he was afraid that we might offline them but after everything we've been through together you'd think he would have trusted us enough to share."
"Arcee," Optimus offered with a grim note in his voice, "for a short time you yourself were at the mercy of a Decepticon."
The femme looked at the ground and winced at the memories.
"Driver has lived the majority of his life under those circumstances," Optimus continued. "Fear and caution were burned into him. It takes more strength to break such chains of habit than many mechs possess. Yet when it was important, when lives were on the line, he did tell us."
Arcee nodded deep in thought. Suddenly the sound of a powerful engine roared over head.
"There's the C-130," Fowler called out eagerly. "They will be air dropping in."
As if on cue the rear of the plane opened and a swarm of forms in parachutes dropped out. The decent was rather dignified until they hit the tree line. The mechs in protoform and their parachutes caught and tangled in the tall trees. The was the sound of crashing, wood splintering, and general chaos for several minutes and then thumps as they finally hit the ground. Ten Cybertronians ranging in size from just smaller than Driver to no bigger than Raf surrounded the Autobots with curious smiles. The Autobots and Fowler eyed them warily.
"Raf!" a small musical voice broke the silence.
The two little copper mechs suddenly darted forward, causing the Autobots to tense. But their green optics shown with joy as they stopped just short of touching Raf.
"We been."
"Want to meeting you!" They declared in turns.
"For hours and hours!"
"You like,"
"Us, you help and small!"
"Driver say."
"We be friends with you!"
"But need to ask."
"You first! So."
"We be friends?"
Raf blinked at them in surprise and adjusted his glasses as a huge grin split his face. He reached out and grabbed a hand on each of them.
"Of course we're friends! You must be the scouts!"
"Yes I am Thing One!"
"And I am Thing Two!"
"Our humans named us," they chorused proudly.
"Uh oh!" Ratchet muttered scanning the little ones.
"What is it Ratchet?" Optimus asked with a frown.
"Their names are a literary reference to a classic human work by Dr. Seuss. Nurse Darby introduced it to me. It is not a good indicator of things to come," the medic predicted dourly.
The largest of the miners, a lanky creature of sunset red with a long sad faceplate, stepped forward and addressed Optimus.
"Prime, I Shift."
Whatever else he may have been intending to say was lost in a spray of earth. Driver stood for a moment staring at his brothers with undisguised joy, and then all eleven mechs converged on the same point in space. The Autobots and their human friends watched in amazement as the gestalt formed. It was impossible to say when or where it happened. There were eleven bots, and then there was one great mass of Cybertronian movement. The being shifted constantly, a swirling statue raised to joy and motion. If Raf looked too closely at any one part the individual mechs were invisible, but he discovered that if he let his eyes lose focus just a bit he could sort of keep track of them by the colors. That copper arc was Thing One, or possibly Thing Two. The red wrapping around the black was Shift.
As suddenly as it had begun it stopped and there were now eight mechs standing slightly apart from the Autobots. Driver strode fearlessly up to Optimus and stood tall.
"Prime! We are ready to work!"
A hum of eager agreement came from the rest of the gestalt. Agent Fowler didn't really hear Optimus's reply. He was eyeing the gathered mechs and trying to figure out which ones were still merged. He just about had it when Driver let out a high musical note. He dove into the ground so fast the Autobots didn't even have time to register what form he took. The two little scouts skipped across the forest floor as if looking for a place to enter before deciding to drill in from the top of the largest piece of granite they could find, sending rock shards flying. Three of the midsized mechs, each little larger than Fowler, stayed above ground, but from the looks on their faceplates it was clear their processors were with their brothers. Two took up positions on either side of the clearing and their limbs transformed into root and vine like structures that dug down into the soil. The third transformed his arms into two massive pile drivers and began to steadily strike the forest floor in between them. Even the humans could feel the vibrations through their feet.
Mr. Brown walked back into the clearing and looked at the proceedings with mild interest. He filled Fowler in on the status of the secondary rescue camp and left as unobtrusively as he had arrived. Optimus noted his professionalism with approval. All they could do now was wait and trust to the workers below ground in the kingdom of the earth.