Chapter 3: Triage and New Leadership

When the two teams of students and their professor had hoped for a warmer welcome than their escorts, these "Wingspan" and "Pounce" robots, they hadn't meant it in the way they were led to.

The eight humans and one faunus were led through the forest by the twins, silent with the obvious exception of the minor shaking of the ground as the giant robots walked right in front of and behind them. The otherwise-silent trek through the forest was only broken by the occasional Grimm, usually a Beowolf or Ursa, bursting through the trees or bushes and immediately getting blasted by one of the twins' guns. Pounce was the main one shooting, usually mumbling about "Pathetic flesh bugs…" or some other insult.

Fortunately, it was proven that they had been going the correct way before meeting up with their two escorts as it only took them a few minutes to arrive.

Unfortunately, it was obvious that the crash had decimated Remnant's newest arrivals far, far more than the natives.

First, the flying object. It was far larger than most of the ships in Atlas and looked even more advanced. At least, it did before the impact blew off most of the plating, tore great gashes along its sides, knocked off one of the wings and boosters, blew up the other booster, and scorched what little remained of its shell to Hell. There were also several holes punched into it that didn't look possible to be made by the crash itself. Various places were still burning, and even more were belching dark orange smoke, slowly being put out by various other robots clinging to whatever they could to reach.

Speaking of other robots, many were running around the forest floor, tending to the several more laying around on the ground. The groans and occasional screaming and even crying was enough to have few of the Beacon group look away, with Ruby's lip quivering at what she and everyone else saw. Even Professor Goodwitch could only look on in shock, glancing at the various wounded robots.

They were in desperate need of help, but they needed answers…

Surprising everyone, Wingspan spoke. "The crash did more damage than I thought, Pounce. I thought we would've been better."

"Not necessarily the crash. Remember, the Tyranny wasn't exactly using warning shots. Now let's get these miserable glitches inside; I'm tired of sparkiesitting." Pounce said before continuing to the ship.

They all walked through the closest thing that counted as a trail being used by several other giant robots. It was used to carry wounded, parts, and medical supplies wherever possible before the carriers ran back into the ship, presumably for more. Several robots—medics judging by their actions, coloring, and symbols—were crouched over their wounded comrades and wielding wounds shut and replacing what damaged parts they could. Some of the medics even looked like they needed repairs themselves, but they pushed through to take care of who they could while they could still move.

Ruby walked with Yang's arm around her as the two sisters looked around her at the carnage. Her attention was caught by a medic and what looked like a soldier carrying another soldier to a pile of limp robots. A pile that was growing steadily, but very slowly. Tears welled up in her eyes as she watched a nearby soldier hold the hand of a medic who did her best to comfort him as his glossy black and purple shell, damaged with scorch marks and gouges, grayed out and his head fell back, red light dying from his visor.

Her attention was immediately drawn away by the screaming of a soldier on the opposite side of the trail they were walking. Two medics and a soldier were holding down another one as a third soldier gripped the burnt, sparking remains of a still-attached arm. He grunted as he pulled and twisted until the barely recognizable limb was torn from its screaming owner. Tossing it aside, the puller moved to take the place of one of the medics as he began to try and deal with the removal site, getting it prepared for when a replacement became available.

Yang saw this as well and immediately pulled her sister close and away from the sight, whispering, "Don't look, Ruby, please…" She sounded like tears were falling from her eyes as well.

They continued through until they came to an opening on the ship. Stepping through, muffled warnings came over that drifted between speaking and buzzing through damaged speakers. Sparking wires hung from the ceiling as various maintenance bots worked to get the damage under control. It smelled faintly of burning fuel and scorched metal, and various fluids covered sections of the floor.

Wingspan and Pounce quickly moved them through the giant halls of the ship. It seemed calmer, but only slightly. Various soldiers sat against the walls with wounds patched and rested as their repair systems worked to get them back to full power. Medics gave what supplies they could spare to carriers who immediately darted back the way they came to deliver it to those being treated outside.

It reminded the humans and Faunus of pictures of wounded soldiers being treated in the wars the planet had faced over the years. But was all of this really caused by the crash alone? Pounce mentioned something about "the Tyranny." Was it some kind of enemy?

They'd get their answers soon enough as Wingspan and Pounce led them through the halls before eventually stopping at a door. Another giant robot entered the hallway and walked past them, leaving the door open for the 11 arrivals. Entering, they saw that they had entered some sort of former cargo bay—judging by the large bay door leading to the sky that had a couple more giant robots watching outside for trouble—that had been turned into a sort of command center.

Several more robots were at work repairing various terminals and computers, but the arrivals' attention was drawn to the two robots in the center of the room. One was sitting on a short stack of crates while the other one was kneeling in front and to the right using some sort of wielding tool on the sitting one's injured side. They both had their backs toward the door the group had entered from.

"Can you keep still before I burn something important? Bad enough you're refusing to be seen in the medical bay," The kneeling one, a female medic from the sounds of it, told her patient.

"I'm trying, this hurts like the Pitts here. Besides, the medical bay is full of those with worse than me, Flamewar," the sitting one said.

Wingspan stepped forward. "Enforcer, we brought the parasites that you wanted to speak to for whatever reason. Not like they're gonna help us."

The one sitting down, Enforcer apparently, moved to turn and face them but was quickly pulled back by the other one, Flamewar if they heard correctly.

"Give us a cycle, I'm almost done," she said. About a minute later, she pulled away from Enforcer and stood up, grabbing a box that had been sitting next to her. "There, the wields should hold until your repair systems can take care of the rest of the damage. But remember, no heavy movements; no transforming; nothing serious until you're back to full strength."

"Understood, doctor," Enforcer replied.

Flamewar sighed as Enforcer turned to see Wingspan and Pounce alongside their organic guests. There were nine in total, one adult and eight younger ones, about 17 with one about 15 if he was correct. His scanners picked up that all but one of them were human, not that it seemed important right now. What was important was that they were nowhere near Earth, and yet the planet they'd crashed on had sentient organic life. They all appeared to be heavily armed as well which made sense considering those dark creatures that had popped up since they arrived.

"You two may leave. See what you can do for the wounded outside," he said to Wingspan and Pounce.

The two clones left, and Flamewar and Enforcer stood and approached the organics. This allowed the students and their teacher to finally get a good look at the robot that had requested their presence.

Enforcer was, to put simply, a police officer in robotic form going by his mostly black with a few bits of white color scheme along with a gold badge stamp on either shoulder, though the wording on them was ineligible, finishing with the words "POLICE" on… car doors on his back? He stood about 28 feet tall and had various other vehicle-related parts on him, notably a few wheels and the front of a police car mounted on his chest, complete with a grille-mounted push bar with lights. On his "hood" was the same purple symbol that Wingspan and Pounce had.

A faction symbol, perhaps?

Flamewar was, fitting her name, various shades of orange, red, and a bit of yellow. She was obviously female going by her more-feminine design. Her symbol was also on her shoulders rather than her chest, which had the small windscreen and headlights of a motorcycle. Wheels were on the back of her shoulders and made up her calves, and she carried some sort of container for medical equipment.

Just like Wingspan, Pounce, and the ones they came across when they got here, the two had red eyes.

Enforcer spoke when he and Flamewar stood in front of the group. "I'll admit, I wasn't expecting humans to be on another planet, especially one so far from Earth."

"Earth?" Goodwitch questioned. All her students were standing around in bewilderment at the giant that was talking to them, so she'd have to be the one talking even if she was having a hard time believing things herself.

"Another human planet, but I'm getting ahead of myself. First things first: Bah Weep Graaagnah Wheep Ni Ni Bong," Enforcer said.

The eight students stood there in disbelief before a few of them burst out in nervous laughing. Even Glynda had a hard time remaining stoic and had to briefly cover her face lest she crack a smile.

Enforcer and Flamewar spared a glance at each other before looking back to the laughing humans.

"W-what was t-that?" Yang managed to get out after a few minutes.

"That was the universal greeting. Humans never seem to know it, though. Must not be that universal," Enforcer clarified for her. The follow-up remarks seemed to be more for himself.

Glynda pulled herself together and looked back to Enforcer. "I… see. Well, I'm Professor Glynda Goodwitch of Beacon Academy. These are first-year teams RWBY and JNPR. Who are you?" she said with caution.

"Vehicon Commander Enforcer, though now I'm Commander of all the Decepticons onboard this ship. It's a long story. And this is one of our top medics, Flamewar," Enforcer answered. He gestured to the medic next to him who hummed in acknowledgement.

At least he was much more respectful than the other two. But what did he mean by "Decepticons", and renegades at that?

"What do you mean you're 'Decepticons', Commander?" Goodwitch asked.

The students gave their full attention to Enforcer and Flamewar.

Enforcer sat down on another nearby crate. "This will require a bit of a history lesson, so I apologize if I'm incorrect about anything. My crew and I are sentient robotic beings that hail from a planet a very, very far away from yours called Cybertron.

"I told you they were aliens!" Nora shouted and pointed to the others in triumph.

"You're right, and you are…?"

"Nora Valkyrie of Team JNPR, Mr. Alien Leader!" she said.

"Nora…" Ren said.

"I-It would probably be a good idea for us to introduce ourselves before you continue with your story, uh, sir," Ruby said timidly. She didn't want to annoy or anger the giant robot that could simply step on her or her friends if he wanted to.

To her surprise, Enforcer nodded in agreement. "That would be a good idea. You are?"

"I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose, and this is my older sister, Yang." She motioned to the blonde girl with yellow gauntlets on her arms.

"Hey," Yang said.

One by one the eight students stepped forward and introduced themselves and their teams. Once introductions were out of the way, Enforcer went to continue with his story but stopped himself.

"You said that you came from a place called Beacon Academy? Was it a large structure that we flew over during our descent? One that we came close to hitting?"

Goodwitch nodded. "Yes, you nearly hit it on your way down. My students and I were tasked with seeing what had crashed in the forest. We were attacked by a mechanical bird—one of yours, I presume—and were forced to continue on foot until we ran into your two escorts."

"Do you remember if it was yellow or red?"

"Red. I accidentally ran into him in the forest," Ruby answered as she rubbed the back of her head.

"I see. You ran into Laserbeak on your way here. I had some others sent out on patrol in case any hostiles came by to investigate. Once he showed me that humans were on their way, I sent Wingspan and Pounce to escort you all here. Not the nicest, but they're good at what they do," Enforcer said.

"Yeah, we noticed," Yang said.

Speaking of mechanical birds, Laserbeak flew into the room from the open bay entrance and flew over the group. He circled a bit before landing on Enforcer's outstretched forearm and began squawking something to him.

"Good. Hopefully they found something useful. Go back on patrol until Soundwave or I call you back," Enforcer said as he moved his arm.

Laserbeak flew off and went back out the way he came back in.

"Pardon me, but what was… Laserbeak saying?" Goodwitch asked.

Enforcer turned back to the group. "The crash heavily damaged our ship and many key systems of it, one of which is our communication system. Without it, it's almost impossible for us to reach one another at far distances. We managed to somewhat tap into your world's version of the World Wide Web and learn a bit about your planet. We learned of an organization called the 'White Fang' and were able to get a location of an outpost they're constructing on the outskirts of this forest."

The group looked on in shock. The White Fang this close to Beacon? Ozpin and Ironwood would definitely want to hear about this ASAP.

Enforcer picked up on their reaction. "I'm assuming that the White Fang isn't well-liked on this planet?"

"Not quite; They're a terrorist organization that believes they're doing what's best for the Faunus race after they felt that protesting peacefully wasn't working as well as they hoped. Recently, they've been building up and making several robberies in Vale and a few other parts of the other kingdoms. We're not sure what they're trying to accomplish, but this base that you mentioned is a valuable clue. The other authorities that no doubt will want to speak to you and your troops will also want any information you've uncovered about this base." Goodwitch said.

Enforcer nodded in agreement. "We'll have to talk about meeting your world's leaders another time with everything that's been going on. After we learned about this base, I sent out one of our sub-groups, the Constructicons, to retrieve anything that we might be able to use to re-establish communications and repair our ship's engine before it becomes too destabilized."

"Wait, 'engine destabilized'? You mean we're standing in the middle of a ticking bomb?!" Yang questioned in disbelief and panic.

Her fellow trainees and teacher began to panic as well. If this ship was at risk of exploding, they didn't want to be within the radius and get taken out with it.

Enforcer waved off Yang's concerns. "Don't worry, our engineers are working on the engine as we speak. Once the Constructicons get back and start working on it as well, we should be fine. Speaking of which,"

Everyone turned to the open bay doors as six new robots, all with green and purple coloring, They seemed to have the parts of various construction vehicles on them, and Enforcer did call them the 'Constructicons'.

The Decepticon leader walked up to the new group and addressed their leader. "Scrapper, report."

"All present or accounted for, Commander. Scavenger, Mixmaster, Long Haul, Bonecrusher, Hook, and myself." Scrapper said, saluting after he addressed himself.

With the students, Pyrrha nudged Jaune. "What's up with their names?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Their names; It's like they name themselves after their design. Enforcer's a cop, Flamewar's got those fire-like colors, and now them." She gestured to the engineer team.

Jaune shrugged. "Maybe they name themselves like we do, with the colors? It's not important right now."

Back with Enforcer, he continued speaking with Scrapper. "Were you able to find anything we could use at the White Fang outpost?"

To the amazement, shock, and some fear, the students and Goodwitch learned why the… Cybertronians, if they recalled, had all the vehicle parts on their bodies when Long Haul transformed from a robot around Enforcer's height to a dump truck. His bucket held what looked like various electronic parts and circuitry, but they couldn't really tell without a closer look. Enforcer looked on at Long Haul's cargo with some relief.

One of the others, Scavenger, approached Enforcer while pulling something from out of his subspace behind his back. "We also found these at the site. They had these stored in containers for transport or storage, and I decided to grab some from a broken one in case we could use them." He dumped whatever was in his hand into Enforcer's outstretched one where he looked them over. He then put them in his own subspace as he looked back to the humans.

"Good work, Scavenger. I'll ask our guests about them later. While all of you were out, some humans from that building we nearly hit on our descent were sent out to investigate. Constructicons, meet Beacon Teams RWBY and JNPR, and Professor Goodwitch. They're not to be harmed or threatened, and they might be willing to help us if we do the same for them. Is that clear?" Enforcer introduced the two groups.

All six of the Constructicons confirmed that they understood.

"Good. Now, Long Haul, Scrapper, you two will take these parts to Soundwave and help him get our communicators back online. When he's finished, I want him to report to me here," Enforcer ordered.

"Understood," Scrapper replied.

"Hook, go to the medical bay and see what you can do; we need our troops to be repaired as fast as possible and the medics will need the help."

"Fear not, Enforcer, I'll make sure it's done right," Hook said.

"The rest of you will head out and assist the others with the engines and patchwork. Something tells me we'll need the ship as a temporary base for a while." He pointed to Long Haul, Scrapper, and Hook. "When the three of you are done in your areas, join the rest."

The Constructicons sans Long Haul transformed into their vehicle modes before driving out of the room and to their respective destinations.

Enforcer walked back to the group of humans and took a seat.

"Wow!" Nora shouted as she ran up to him. "What was that about? You can transform into vehicles?! What else is there?!"

"Yes, all Cybertronians can transform between a robot mode and an alternate mode, sometimes even two or more. It's where we got the term 'Transformer', so you can use either one." Enforcer told the energetic student.

"Cool!" Ruby said. "How do you do it?"

Flamewar stepped closer to the group. "It comes naturally to us, like this."

Flamewar demonstrated her ability to transform, slightly slowing it down so that the group could see how it worked. Parts folded and shifted into place as her head, torso, and limbs worked around to form her alternate mode with a noticeable yet strange sound. Within a few seconds, an orange, red, and yellow sports bike rested where Flamewar once stood, license plate LGN 2012.

Yang, the group's #1 bike fan, walked over to inspect her. While Flamewar's motorcycle had some characteristics of Remnant's bikes such as Bumblebee, her personal one, there were enough differences that it couldn't be simply explained away as a different production model rather than a foreign vehicle. Yang let out a simple "Woah…"

"Like it? Now check this out," Flamewar said with a hint of pride in her voice.

Suddenly, a person formed on Flamewar's motorcycle seat holding onto her handlebars. The figure's shape was female, and she was decked out in a red jacket, dark blue jeans, brown boots, and a black helmet. Aware of the attention she was getting, Flamewar's rider raised a hand and waved at the crowd of students.

"Whoa!" Yang, who was still the closest to Flamewar, said. "Who's she?"

"Nobody. She's not even real; it's a hologram." Flamewar explained.

"Holograms? We have those, too," Weiss said. "What are they used for with you… 'Transformers'?"

"Disguise, at least to humans. Self-driving vehicles aren't exactly common on Earth yet," Flamewar added.

Professor Goodwitch spoke up. "We're getting off-track here. It's more important that General Ironwood and Ozpin learn about this situation and about your people. Enforcer, was it?"

He nodded in reply. "Yes. Who're General Ironwood and Ozpin?"

"James Ironwood is General of the Atlas Armed Forces, the most technologically advanced military on Remnant, and he's the one who wanted us to secure the site so that Atlas scientists could study whatever happened to crash here—your ship, in this case. Ozpin is the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, a school for training Huntsmen. The Emerald Forest you crashed in is part of Beacon's property, hence his involvement." Goodwitch answered.

Enforcer nodded. "I see. Though before anyone else shows up here, I want to be able to talk with them. I'd also recommend that you warn the general that until I give my authorization, any ships that come near our location will be shot down either by the Seekers or whatever cannons are still operational." He raised his hands in a sort of surrender motion. "This isn't a threat; it's a warning. I'm not interested in starting any wars with this planet's natives just after arriving."

"Very well, Enforcer. I'll contact Ozpin and have him tell Ironwood. Would you be able to come back to Beacon with us so that we may discuss more with them?" Goodwitch checked her wristwatch. They'd been there longer than she thought, and she needed to talk to Ozpin like she said.

Whatever Enforcer was about to say was stopped by a voice coming from the doorway. "Attention, Enforcer. Communication systems, back online. Reports from the crew coming in in large numbers."

Looking back at the entrance stood another Decepticon. He was about the same height as Enforcer—maybe a bit shorter—and mostly blue and white. His chest had a glass shield over it with the faction's symbol on it, and a cannon was mounted on top of his right shoulder with some sort of gray button on his left. Rather than the individual optics and mouth that Enforcer and Flamewar had, he had a single red visor and a faceplate over where a mouth would be. He approached Enforcer with a data tablet in hand and handed it over when the faction leader stood up.

"Finally, some good news," Enforcer said as he looked over the tablet, frowning at the reports popping up on the screen. Evidently, restoring communications allowed more bad news to be broadcast.

"In that case, I'm heading out to see what I can do for the others," Flamewar said. She dropped her hologram and drove off through the doorway and to another area of the ship in need of medical personnel.

Enforcer continued to look over the tablet, foreign letters going across the screen as he brought himself up to speed on the current events. "Causalities are lower than I thought they'd be. What about energon and damage readings, Soundwave?"

"Vehicon soldiers assessing energon cube supplies. Engineers working in multiple sectors to prevent further damage from existing destruction. Awaiting further information," Soundwave responded. He then turned to the organics on board the ship. "Planet natives discovered by Laserbeak share multiple characteristics with Earth-based humans." He turned back to Enforcer. "Hostile wildlife is currently attacking the ship; Vehicons are clearing them out."

Enforcer put away the data pad. "I feel they're the least of our concerns at the moment." He gestured to their guests. "This is Professor Goodwitch and her students at a place nearby called Beacon Academy. They were sent here to investigate us crashing on the planet." He motioned to Soundwave while facing the humans and Faunus in question. "This is Soundwave, our communications officer."

The Beacon group greeted the comms officer who seemed rather indifferent and more interested in what Enforcer wanted him to do now. The former police officer focused on Glynda. "What was it you were saying?"

"Ozpin will want to talk with you about your situation and what had happened. Ironwood will want to make sure that you aren't here to harm the people of this world or that you're a threat to global security as well," Goodwitch repeated.

Enforcer sat back down as he held his side with a small grimace. "I'm in no condition to be traveling at the moment, and I need to remain here until we get things back under control. Ozpin and Ironwood will need to wait for me."

"I'm afraid Ironwood won't wait; if he thinks the Decepticons are dangerous, he'll come in with his entire fleet and dig through whatever's left for answers," Glynda said. Ironwood was often too paranoid for his own good, and she had little doubt that something unknown to him like these robotic aliens would be seen as too great a threat to stay to the side of.

The tension in the room rose slightly as the robotic commander stared down Professor Goodwitch. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't happy that they'd have to deal with being attacked by yet another enemy so soon. This would be the third one in a row, fourth if the forest creatures were counted. The students also started to panic a bit at the prospect of pissing off these giant soldiers that could easily step on them if aggravated.

It was a surprise to everyone when Weiss walked forward and addressed him. "W-Well, then, Commander, do you have anyone that can serve as a representative until you can make the trip?"

To Enforcer's credit, he seemed to ponder the idea. His free hand went to his chin as he looked to the ground in thought. He hummed before looking at Soundwave who remained standing. "How about the Casseticons? They should be able to give a brief rundown on current events; they'll give their leaders some time to familiarize themselves with us; and they should be able to keep it neutral until things calm down and I can meet them in person."

Soundwave nodded before moving to the button on his shoulder. "Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, eject. Operation: De-escalation," he said as he pushed the button. The frame on his chest opened up like an old-time cassette player and three large cassettes were launched into the air. As they approached the ground, they transformed into their robot modes: two humanoid robots, one red and black while the other was blue and purple, and a black and gray jaguar. All of them were about the size of the organics they stared at before their attention went to Soundwave and Enforcer.

"Goodwitch, this is Frenzy, Rumble, and Ravage. They'll come with you and speak to Ozpin and Ironwood while my repairs finish up, and we take care of our problems here," Enforcer said.

One of the humanoid ones wasn't too thrilled about his assignment. "C'mon, Enforcer, we're warriors; not preachers."

"That's an order, Rumble. Besides, it shouldn't be too long. All we need to do is make sure the engine core is stabilized, and that we're in no immediate danger. Just answer their questions to the best of your abilities, and don't instigate any violence. We have enough trouble at the moment as is." Enforcer said sternly.

Rumble kicked at the floor, but he kept his mouth shut. His twin Frenzy crossed his arms and grumbled to himself, and Ravage simply continued to stare at the humans.

"I'll need to contact our pilot and have him come here to pick us and your soldiers up. Can you make sure he'll be safe?" Goodwitch asked.

Enforcer confirmed that he'd announce that the incoming aircraft wasn't to be harmed, and that he'd arrive with alternate means of transportation when he could. It was also agreed that team JNPR would stay behind with the others to do the same for Enforcer and whoever else might need their planetary knowledge. That, and it would mean the bullhead wouldn't be as crowded as before, even if just a little bit.

They continued talking for the short time it took for the aircraft to return, and they were soon headed back to Beacon with three very unusual lifeforms.

Things were going to get interesting.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait on this chapter. Frontier's Loudest was my main focus for a while until I focused on getting that one finished before finishing this one. Also sorry if the dialogue seems weak. Discussions are not my specialty, but cheesiness is something I want for this fic considering the main source material for the crossover.