Will Lennox froze at his desk for half a second when he heard the BINDS sirens go off. Jumping to his feet, he sprinted to the main Autobot hangar. The Decepticons had made no less than six approaches to Earth in the last four years, just using drones the last couple of times. The satellites for BINDS (officially known as the Bispecies Interception and Neutralization of Decepticons System) had only used human weaponry when they first came online four years ago, but that had changed just a few months ago with some upgrades courtesy of the recently-arrived Wheeljack. This was the first incursion since the upgrade, and Will was eager to see BINDS make mincemeat of whatever 'cons were daring to attack Earth again.

"Sit rep!" he snapped as he approached the command center scaffolding.

"Alien ship on approach," the soldier at Ops answered. "It's being attacked by three Seekers."

Jolt added, "None of them are responding to hails – ship or Seekers."

Optimus and Prowl came roaring into the hangar. Rolling out of his alt, Optimus transformed and ordered, "Let the ship through. Target the Seekers."

"It could be a ruse," Prowl pointed out.

"I'll gear up for intercept," Optimus said, striding toward the 'trailer' where he stored his own Seeker mods.

Will watched the Ops screen as laser fire struck both a Seeker and, accidentally, the unknown ship in a glancing shot. Even with Cybertronian targeting systems, friendly fire wasn't impossible, and he grimaced in dismay. Still, it was enough that the Seekers retreated. He heartily clapped the Ops soldier on the shoulder – BINDS' weaponry worked!

Prowl suddenly straightened. "Ops, give me access to audio." Then he routed his own personal comm through the Diego Garcia communications system, so that his voice echoed through the hangar. "Cybertronian Vessel, identify yourself."

A male voice answered. "Hold your fire! This is the Iron Will, commanded by Ultra Magnus."

Optimus paused mid-stride and turned to look at Prowl. "Magnus?"

It was all Greek to Will. Or maybe Latin, with whatever 'magnus' was supposed to mean. But why was a Cybertronian ship named after him?

The stranger continued, "And I'd recognize your monotone anywhere, Prowl, even without your command-level ping. No need to pull rank."

"Blaster," Prowl said in answer, his doorwings easing lower in relief. "Why are you not transmitting on your ship's comm frequency?"

"The Iron Will's whole comm system was slagged by those Seekers who kindly opened the space bridge for us. Lancer had the bright idea for me to try my personal comm frequencies instead."

An even deeper voice added, "That's a pretty impressive planetary defense system you have there. Thanks for the assist."

Optimus stood straighter, but Will noticed that the mech's shoulders relaxed. "Ultra Magnus. It is good to hear your voice."

"Likewise, Prime. Permission to land?"

"Granted."

"Old friend?" Will asked when the line cut.

Optimus turned to him. "Friend and kin. He is my..." Optimus tilted his helm, seeming to struggle for the right word. "There is no real human analog. Perhaps the best translation is 'half-brother.' He was created by my father."

Will's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Half-brother?"

Optimus shrugged. "Or possibly 'uncle.' As I said, there's no real human analog."

Will suddenly realized what Optimus was driving at. Optimus' dad had been Magnus' creator-brother. Despite the crash course on Cybertronian reproduction that he'd recently received thanks to Chromia and Ironhide, he couldn't remember if that meant Optimus shared a bond with Ultra Magnus or not. Regardless, bonds were top-secret, so he'd have to ask him privately later. Instead, he turned his focus elsewhere. "What about Blaster?"

"One of our top communications officers," Optimus answered. "He and Jazz were very good friends."

"Which makes him think he can take the same liberties Jazz did," Prowl grumbled. "Optimus, considering the damage the Iron Will received, perhaps you should escort it in."

Will noticed Optimus' slight smile and nod of gratitude to Prowl before the Prime dropped into his alt-mode and hitched into his flight-capable Blackbird armor. Something seemed different about Optimus, but Will couldn't quite put his finger on what. Prowl's suggestion made sense, but Optimus' reaction was almost...boyish. There was too much history here, too much he didn't understand.

Turning to Prowl, Will asked, "What about the other mech? The one who thought to use personal comms?"

"That 'mech' is actually a femme named Lancer. She and Arcee were friends long before the War even started. Like me, she is a former Enforcer and usually serves as Ultra Magnus' strategist and second-in-command."

Will looked to the open hangar door, realizing with some trepidation that another femme was landing on Earth, and who knew what kind of trouble she'd bring with her. The base still hadn't fully recovered from Chromia's arrival just over a year ago. "How many 'bots are we looking at here?"

"Unknown. I would expect at least six. Perhaps as many as a couple of dozen, though the size of the craft makes a dozen Autobots more likely. I will transmit the new-arrival packets to them so that we can debrief in English."

"But we heard them speaking in English just now."

"I translated real-time for you," Prowl explained. "The audio was being routed through my personal comm system."

"Got it. Go ahead."

Ratchet and Arcee both emerged from the med bay, accompanied by the human repair team, and walked out to the runway to start setting up what looked like a triage station. Will suddenly realized that they were expecting injuries if not casualties, and he started giving orders for NEST to receive these new 'bots. Every now and then, he'd glance toward the open hangar door, torn between excitement and dread.

The ship landed about thirty minutes later, and it was easily four times the square footage of a C-17, never mind the height of the thing. Optimus returned with it and, after dropping into his alt just long enough to set aside the Blackbird armor, took his place in front of the Earth-based 'bots assembled in a half-circle on the tarmac. Lennox watched in awe as the Iron Will touched down as gently as a helicopter, and beside him, Epps swore in admiration. Then a hatch opened, creating a ramp, and a mech even taller than the Prime strode out. Will could only assume this was Ultra Magnus. The name was certainly fitting.

Beside him walked a green 'bot – presumably a femme, based on her curves, though she was as tall as Prowl – and her keen gaze raked over them all. Suddenly she squealed and, breaking rank, ran forward to catch Arcee in a hug. Will mentally reassigned Lancer from 'Femme!Prowl' to 'Coed with Cannons.'

Two more mechs followed, a teal-and-purple one who seemed almost jittery and another who could be Bumblebee's red twin. Behind them were another couple of mechs, a black one smaller than Arcee and an averaged-size one who was red-and-gray. The ship's two-mech brute squad came next: a boxy steel-blue bruiser even bigger than Ironhide who hopped sideways off the ramp to go give Wheeljack a friendly slug on the shoulder and an orange mech who was visibly armed with a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher and a repeater rifle that looked suspiciously like a machine gun. Thankfully, the orange 'bot didn't slug anybody. Will doubted 'friendly' was in that mech's vocabulary.

By this point, the tall one had made it to the bottom of the ramp and crossed the short distance to Optimus. Each placed a hand on the other's shoulder and the mechs touched their foreheads together.

The angle from the ground wasn't very good, and Epps whispered, "What the…Are they kissing?"

"I'm not asking," Will hissed in answer.

Two more Autobots appeared at the top of the ramp, a stocky green-and-orange mech and the most rickety mech Will had ever laid eyes on. His color might have been blue once upon a time, but the paint job had faded white blotches. They were followed by a red-and-white mech with a build similar to Ratchet's and another femme who was a fiery crimson-and-orange. Bringing up the rear was a blue-and-gray mech who walked alone.

Optimus moved back half a step, and both he and the tall mech let their hands fall to their sides. "Welcome to Earth, Ultra Magnus. Welcome, all of you."

"On behalf of my crew," and here Magnus threw a glare Lancer's way, "thank you, Prime. This is not a social call, however. We have intercepted communications about a planned Decepticon assault. We come to warn you and to provide reinforcements, though you are better-fortified here than we expected."

Ratchet was already moving among the newcomers, and Arcee was examining Lancer at the triage station. No other Autobots followed the solitary blue-and-gray mech as he made his way down the ramp. By Will's count, that made thirteen new Autobot arrivals, and – Primus help him – two were femmes!

"These Autobots will need energon," Ratchet said to Optimus, "and lots of it."

"Understood." Then nodding with his helm toward the hangar, Optimus turned to go inside.

Ultra Magnus glanced back at his crew. "You are dismissed to greet your friends and receive treatment."

Lennox was surprised by that. It was honestly one of the most military things he'd ever seen an Autobot spontaneously do.

Then the colossus turned to follow Optimus.

Seeing Will, the Prime paused and gestured to him. "Ultra Magnus, this is my human counterpart, Major William Lennox. Orders from him carry as much weight as orders from me."

Will hadn't really thought of it that way, so he was a little stunned when Magnus bowed his helm and said, "Permission to enter your base, sir?"

Standing a little straighter, Will answered, "Granted. As Prime said, you're all welcome here."

Ultra Magnus nodded in acknowledgement, and Optimus continued into the hangar, leading the way toward the Autobot barracks. Magnus fell in step beside Prime. "We didn't come here to be a drain on your resources, Optimus. Save what little energon you have left."

Will barely overheard Optimus' low voice when he said, "Our energon is all but limitless here."

Magnus stopped in his tracks. "How?"

Glancing pointedly at the humans staring slack-jawed from the command scaffolding, Optimus said to him, "I will show you, when the time is right. But not yet."

Magnus nodded. "Understood."

William Lennox was tall – for a human. There weren't many men who could make him feel small, and he was aware of it enough that he'd leveraged it when needed in giving orders or disciplining someone.

Ironhide towered over him, but the two had worked together so well and for so long that Will didn't notice it as much anymore. To a certain extent, that was true even of Optimus, though admittedly the command scaffolding had been a deliberate effort to even things up a bit.

Here in the Autobot barracks, though, Lennox was more overwhelmed than he'd been since Mission City. The room was crowded with twenty giant alien robots, some of them talking in English but many of them chattering away in clicks, squeals, and the occasional hum he felt more than heard. Even the smallest of the Iron Will's crew made him feel puny. Next to Ultra Magnus, he felt like a slagging ant.

Ironhide noticed him and strode over to offer him a hand up. "Should have worn your Autobot uniform," he grunted. "You'd blend in better."

"I think I'm about half a football field too short for that," Will said as he stood in 'Hide's palm, using the mech's thumb as a hand-hold to keep himself balanced.

"Only until they get to know you," 'Hide said in answer, and Lennox gave him a grateful glance. 'Hide brought him over to the ancient blue mech. "This is Kup, the only Autobot I know who's older than me."

"What this youngling won't admit," Kup amiably grumbled, "is that makes me a tougher slagger than him."

Ironhide chuckled. "You can only say that when you've spent more time in the med bay than me, old mech."

"Naw, that just means I'm more spry than you, lug nut."

"Yeah, whatever, you'll tell us the same story ten times before breakfast."

"I don't have to take this abuse," Kup archly said. "I'm going to see if young Ratchet has any more flasks of the good stuff ready yet." Nodding to Lennox, he added, "Good to meet you."

The human chuckled and returned the nod. "Likewise."

Next 'Hide headed over to Chromia's bunk.

"You didn't tell Kup my name," Will pointed out.

"He'd forget it before he got back from the med bay," Ironhide said. "It's a shame, though. He really is a tough, old slagger. When the War was still on Cybertron, he could easily hold his own against me in the sparring ring."

Chromia was sitting cross-legged on one end of her bed with Lancer sitting on the other end. They were facing each other, and on the berth between them sat a narrow five-gallon gasoline can. It was the kind Ratchet usually used for storing his medicinal high-grade fuel, and Will suddenly understood what Kup had meant by "flask." As he watched, Lancer picked it up, took a swig, and then passed it to the femme with the flame-theme for her paint job who was standing beside her. She also took a long drink and then handed it off to the red mech who had disembarked with her.

Lancer scrambled to her feet and stood to attention when she saw him. "Major William Lennox."

Chromia chuckled. "Out there, he's Major Lennox. In here, he's the human Autobot designated Iron Will."

"Iron Will?" she stuttered, and Lennox grinned that somebody else finally thought it odd that he and the ship shared the same name.

"Yeah, yeah, he reminded 'Bee of a human Ultra Magnus," Chromia said. "Tall as far as humans go and a force of nature in a fight. We'll have to figure out something to avoid confusion in the future. But for now, they're both Iron Will."

"Iron Will, sir," she amended, and Will had to mentally correct himself again. She was definitely coming across as femme!Prowl right now.

"At ease," he said. "This is a party."

"Will," Chromia said, gesturing toward the newcomers,"this is Lancer, who used to be Arcee's sister through Moonracer, and Firestar, who used to be my sister through Flareup."

"Flareup might still be out there," Firestar added, and the red mech rested an encouraging hand on her shoulder.

"True," Chromia allowed, finishing off the 'flask' and giving it a mournful look. "But Will's more interested in immediate tactical abilities than in backstories."

It stung him a little that she was right. "I would like to learn more about...Flareup, was it? Maybe another time, though. Out at the house."

"House?" the red mech asked, and Chromia added, "And this is Inferno, Firestar's mate."

"Pleased to meet you," Will said. "To answer your question, my mate is designated Spitfire –"

"By Ironhide," Chromia interjected, "if that tells you anything."

" – and she helps everyone improve their holoforms for interaction with oblivious squishies. Our house is officially the human integration training ground. But her human name is Sarah Lennox, and she does her best to make even alien robots feel at home."

"It's her superpower," Ironhide said, "that and her ability to stare down a mech. I think even Megatron would feel like a naughty sparkling under her glare."

Will chuckled. "I know I sure do."

"Sounds like our kind of femme," Lancer said approvingly.

"As soon as Ratchet clears you all for duty, we'll arrange for a get-together at the house," Will promised.

"I'm going to get more fuel," Inferno said, picking up the gas can and nodding in deference to Will as he strode toward the door. As the human watched him exit, he noticed that Kup was back and swigging his own 'flask' as he talked with Skids, Mudflap, the purple-and-teal newcomer, and the jittery stranger.

But Ironhide was headed toward a different corner of the room. Ultra Magnus and Optimus stood there, right hands clasped and optics flickering. The barracks was crowded, but there was almost an invisible line creating a bubble around the two leader-class mechs, one that the socializing mechs and femmes didn't cross. Ironhide stopped several paces away from them, at the edge of that line.

"Are they okay?" Will asked.

"This is why Lancer reacted the way she did," 'Hide said. "Ultra Magnus is a stickler for military rules and regs. Prowl might expect us to behave a certain way, but Magnus isn't happy unless we feel that discipline in our sparks. And he lives it himself, too. He's got 10,000 years' worth of reports and ships logs to turn in."

"Seriously?" Will sputtered. "He's reunited with kin after ten millennia and the first thing he does is turn in reports?"

"That's Magnus for you," Ironhide said. "In fairness to him, though, Lancer says that his discipline is what's kept so many of the Autobots alive this long."

"That's part of what discipline is for," Will thoughtfully agreed. Looking around the barracks room again, he wondered how many of the newcomers felt they owed their lives to Magnus and his enthusiastic discipline. Especially since the 'bots thought he was the human version of Magnus. Somehow, he'd always thought of himself as the human version of Ironhide.

Turning, 'Hide crossed in a couple of steps to another knot of mechs. This time it was Prowl, the blue-and-gray mech, and the shortest newcomer.

"Blaster," Ironhide said, addressing the smallest mech, "this is Iron Will."

Blaster made a slightly strangled sound and Will amiably said, "Yeah, I know, me and the ship. Blame 'Bee for that one. And it's good to meet you."

"You say that now," Prowl said, "but Blaster comes by his name rightly. He's attuned to the cacophony of signals here, and he's got broadcast speakers that could make the rafters rattle. He's already enamored by Earth's music styles. Your poor organic ears will be sick of him sooner than later."

"Just let me know when you're ready for a demonstration," Blaster added, denying nothing.

"You and Epps will get along like a house on fire," Will said with a grin.

"Is that a good thing?" the blue-and-gray stranger asked.

Will gave him a puzzled look. "Now that you mention it, yeah, as far as the saying goes. In the real world, not so much."

"I'm Beachcomber, by the way," he said. "I was a geologist before the War."

"And a neutral for most of it," Ironhide grunted.

Beachcomber hung his helm, and Blaster said, "He's the best at finding hidey holes for us, though. And if you need a specialty metal, he's your mech."

Beachcomber gave Blaster a grateful look, and Will said, "I'm sure we'll find a way to put your skills to good use."

A group of mechs came into the barracks – Sunstreaker and Sideswipe along with the gunslinging orange mech. Beachcomber glanced their direction and then looked away, though it seemed to Will he was keeping the trio of warriors in his peripheral vision. It was crazy, sometimes, how much Cybertronians and humans acted alike.

"Trouble?" Will softly asked.

"No more than usual," Prowl answered with an annoyed twitch of his doorwings. "Roadbuster is invaluable as an engineer, but he prides himself on his fighting skills. Sunstreaker and Roadbuster compete for who can be the most deadly on the battlefield and the most brooding off it. Sideswipe generally thinks they're hysterical. One of them will be in the brig by Tuesday."

Will snorted in amusement. If Primus was going to curse the Autobots with twins, at least He had the wisdom to give them Prowl.

"Who else am I looking at?" Will asked. "And who's missing?"

"Windcharger is the red-and-gray one," Prowl said, "and that's Blurr beside him."

"Blurr's wicked fast," Blaster said. "He was a courier for one of the commerce clans before the War, so it's a high-end upgrade. But Windcharger's got him beat on speed, and he's got some magnetic upgrades that are a melee weapon all by themselves."

"Cliffjumper and Brawn are currently getting checked out by Ratchet and Arcee," Ironhide added. "And I'm sure Wheeljack's fixing up Bulkhead – they both served with the Wreckers."

Will had heard that term before – Wreckers – and knew it was a cross between the Marines and all the crazy-aft special ops teams out there. He hadn't realized until now that Wheeljack had been one. "I thought 'Jack was a civilian."

"More or less," Beachcomber said. "Kind of like me."

A recent recruit, then, and not really the warrior type. Still, with Wheeljack's ability to make anything explode, Will could see why the Wreckers would want a mech like him.

The red Bumblebee look-alike and the stocky green-and-orange mech returned, and the red one was bold enough to go tap Ultra Magnus on the elbow.

"Which one is he?" Will softly asked. "Brawn or Cliffjumper?"

"Cliffjumper," Blaster answered just as quietly. "Brawn's the little one who can out-lift both Ratchet and Magnus. Just don't tell him he's little to his faceplates, or you'll find yourself in orbit, squishy."

"Got it," Will answered, making a mental note to warn the other human NEST members, too.

With a synchronized sigh, Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime both moved, unclasping hands and optics returning to normal.

Cliffjumper cheekily declared, "Ratchet says, and I quote, 'You're the last one I haven't examined, Magnus. You slagging well had better get your aft into the med bay, or I'll have your Autobot brand for a fragging hood ornament.' I edited out the human swears for you."

Optimus chuckled and strode with Magnus toward the door.

"Come on," Ironhide said to Will, "I'll finish introducing you around."


Author's Endnote: For more about how Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus are related, why Will is intimidated by the arrival of more femmes, and how Chromia and Ironhide caused chaos when she arrived, please see our fic "Chat."