AN: Hey guys, sorry for the short chapter, but it felt rather appropriate to end here. We're at the fifth and I believe I've truly found my footing for this.

It's been a mixture of slow and fast in the beginning, at least I feel like it. But considering what I honestly may want to do with this in the future, this is good to remember.

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XXXXX

"Hey, you two!" Bumblebee greeted cheerfully as the humans came in with Optimus, "was wondering when you would show up again."

"Sup' Jack, sup' Sari," Cliffjumper greeted as she lagged behind Bumblebee, putting up a more relaxed front after having her thorough "talking to" from Ratchet, "what brings them you two here so soon?"

"We wanna hang out," Sari answered.

"Don't tell Prowl," Cliffjumper muttered as she subtly looked around for the prickly Autobot.

"And definitely see some super awesome robot action," Sari's eyes were alight with excitement with that.

Jack was quick to Shut that down, "No, just hangout."

"Spoilsport," Sari muttered as she folded her arms and cutely glared.

"Not much to do around here until everything is fixed I think," Bee told them as he looked around. They still weren't as organized as they should be. The key parts were in place, but a lot of other tools and boxes were scattered around.

"Nonsense, I have a variety of games still left over from the Ark available," Teletraan-1 told them as her main monitor displayed a few lists in Cybertronian and on the side of that the screen displayed cover art for them, much more eye catching than even triple AAA games Jack and Sari noted.

"Really?" Bumblebee asked as he checked them out. Some of these were familiar and some not so, in fact, even more, "Woah, that's even better."

"Wait, even the fighting ones? The turn-based strategies?" Cliffjumper asked excitedly and Teletraan-1 nodded with a tool, "Frag yes! It's not scrappin' cons, but it's the second best thing."

"Oh, show us," Sari told with equal enthusiasm and Bumblebee was looking just as excited as them. Jack was surprised by how relatable that was and smiled.

He asked Cliffjumper, "Room for a fourth?"

"Always," Cliffjumper said with a smirk as she brought out four controllers… rather big ones, "Don't worry, they can shift for your human sizes."

XXXXX

The Decepticons, Starscream and Soundwave, in her armored land vehicle mode, were still in their native vehicle modes and making their way through a barren landscape with only a dirt road that seemed to stretch on endlessly. The hot sun was beaming down and very few organic life was in the area save for scattered plants. Just over the horizon, a military group of heavily armed and armored us military vehicles were waiting, locked and loaded.

Knockout, lagging behind Soundwave by choice, was the first to comment on it after a whistle, "Oh my, they truly rolled out the red carpet didn't they?"

"Indeed. Still, I think even you could take them and their little toys," Starscream chuckled, finding their human inferiority amusing. But still, they'll be quite useful as weapons and distractions for their enemies.

Dr. Powell watched from beside Agent Fowler as the aliens made their approach in vehicle modes, astonished by how one perfectly mimicked an Earth vehicle, a simple sports car of all things. All soldiers had their guns primed, ready to fire on command, though given what they heard, a few rowdy ones were to fire at the drop of a nail.

Al three immediately stopped, Starscream hovering between Soundwave and Knockout. The latter two were the first to transform, rising to their full height over the hand sized humans. Many weren't sure whether to cower or to gawk, which of their guns were more ready, or whether Fowler would possibly allow photos of these terrifying giant hotties. Fowler and Powell, on the other hand, were not even partially distracted by such thoughts.

Then Starscream came down in her true form and smiled down at the humans, before calmly asking in the sweetest tone she could muster, "And may I ask who's in charge here?"

Powell was about to speak until Fowler raised his hand and answered, his steely glare focused on Starscream, "That would be me. And I take it you were the ones who sent the message?"

"We are. I am Starscream," she placed her hand on her chest before softly handing her hand over for the human to shake, "Charmed I'm sure."

Fowler simply glared at her hand, keeping his arms crossed, before looking back at her eyes, "Were it not for the fact one of your kind literally killed some of my men, I might be."

"Fowler, be welcoming," Powell chastised, not wanting to potentially start a very possible war of the worlds, "he's understandably upset given the fact that we were attacked by others like you. Two females and male robotic humanoid."

"Ah, that," Starscream muttered before she pulled out several displays from her pocket, nice and slow as to spook anyone. She displayed Barricade and Blitzwing, "We know about those two. About the more dangerous rebel."

"Them? Rebel?" Powell asked, highly delighted and fascinated by the displays.

"The first two were simply former soldiers turned bandits. We've already disposed of them," Starscream displayed their status as KIA, "However, the male one, the one with this symbol," she displayed the Autobot symbol, "is a part of a dangerous rebel faction that has been menacing the universe for millions of years. And he is not alone."

Soundwave was now using her screen to display footage of other Autobots, including Optimus and Ratchet, showing them destroying and gunning down cons. She manipulated the footage to make it seem like they were gunning down those fleeing and left out context for the footage showing the destruction of buildings and planets.

Needless to say, it was working. Only Fowler was skeptical. Not of the Autobots doing those things, but the aliens in general. He didn't trust any of them.

Starscream got on her right knee and Soundwave wordlessly followed. Knockout was confused and muttered, "what are you two doing?"

"Do it," Starscream harshly whispered back.

"I really don't want to," Knockout muttered, both finding it to be an insult to her pride and the fact she didn't want to get any unnecessary marks or dirt on her.

"Do. It," Starscream hissed, leaving no room for argument.

"Tch," Knockout did as she was told, but muttered, "This is so demeaning."

Starscream proceeded as usual and began her plea, "You must listen to me, these rebels are dangerous terrorists that have decimated our homeworld and now threaten to terrorize yours. You must help us if you wish to keep your planet, your homes, safe. There are more of them and if this particular band goes unchecked, they will come," her eyes zeroed in on Fowler and Powell, "that is why you must help us find them and capture them before it's too late. Once they've burrowed in, they're hard to take out."

Powell was utterly believing every word he was spoon fed, but Fowler only remained skeptical, wary of Starscream and Knockout, but most of all, the silent one.

He didn't trust the quiet ones.

"Hold on," Fowler told them before he picked up his specialized phone, his eyes not leaving the Decepticons for one moment, "Sir… what on the seat of Lincoln? You're serious… alright, I understand, but I don't like it," Fowler grunted as he put away his phone in a hurry, grumbling, "you fifty foot robotic women will be coming with us for further negotiations. Don't look too hard into it."

"We thank you for your hospitality," Starscream told him, much to the delight of Powell.

"No, we thank you for contacting us," he told them, absolutely ecstatic. Internally, Starscream was absolutely mocking him with a huge, slimy grin, masked by her fake friendliness.

"Let's go, scouts!" Fowler commanded as he practically had to force the scientist into the truck.

As they watched the Military take point, Starscream muttered, "That… Fowler creature is going to be a little difficult. Might need an accident or two for ease of work."

Meanwhile, Soundwave's systems were already at work on some information gathering on Fowler the moment he started talking.

XXXXX

"I'm still highly against this, Prime… with all due respect," Prowl told her as they drove back into the base. They managed to find some Energon not too far away and bring it back via Optimus' cargo hold, "At the very least, we should wait until it's necessary as stated."

"I know. But our war will not remain in secret for long. Not on this planet," Optimus told her, "Despite being rather primitive in terms of technology, they have enough to catch on. And the Decepticons will capitalize on ignorance, especially Starcream," she was silent for a moment until she finished with, "Sari said that a good one to talk with would be a human named Mr. Sumdac. I believe it would be best to talk with him."

"But to involve them could lead to jeopardizing our goals and causing unnecessary misfire. And I know you want to avoid that, Prime," Prowl reasoned, but Optimus wasn't swayed.

"And that is the reason we must involve them. The sad truth is, this is the entire universe's problem. And ignorance is the last thing anyone needs," Optimus told her as she reached the loading bay, "go ahead, I'll be with you shortly."

"Understood, Prime," Prowl told her as she transformed and went ahead. Were she a lesser bot, she would've had a scowl and be cursing on the way back. She didn't share the same sympathy Prime did, or at least in that way. She found it pointless and unnecessary to start contact with the humans, especially so soon after Bumblebee's horribly timed arrival.

Nothing but mishaps and mishaps after the other their entire time on Earth, and a good portion of it was thanks to Bumblebee's arrival and Prime's less than sound judgement as far as Prowl was concerned.

The Autobot officer could feel themselves losing ground by the second.

"You're pretty good at this!"

"I just followed your lead is all!"

The voices of Cliffjumper and Bumblebee respectively echoed through the corridors. Prowl developed an immediate scowl and started walking faster. Prowl could then hear four sets of laughter, the human children with them, getting louder and louder as her annoyance grew with it.

Productivity was key to winning this war and she knew that none of what they were doing was productive in the slightest.

"What is this?" Prowl asked as she stepped inside the main room to see Cliffjumper, Bumblebee, Sari, and Jack playing a video game on Teletraan-1's screen. Not the main screen, but Prowl found them all too Important to be used even for a second of mindless gaming, "Do you have a malfunction, Cliffjumper?"

"Oh, should've mentioned she was back here…" Muttered the computer sheepishly, "Got carried away."

Cliffjumper shot a quick glare at her before gulping as she turned to her superior officer, "Hey, ma'am. We were just relaxing is all."

"On our barely functioning supercomputer. With him and the humans," Prowl folded her arms, "wasting time is one thing, but this will not stand."

"Jeez, lady, can you cool those afterburners for like a minute? Do you need some coolant or something?" Sari smart mouthed, drawing Prowl's attention which gave Bumblebee a quick moment to hold back a small snicker.

"Sari," Jack whispered a brief scold, making Sari briefly indignant, and then he spoke to Prowl, "We're sorry. I asked and didn't realize it was wrong. It won't happen again."

Prowl was about to say something else, but Sari's phone ringtone began blaring and she immediately reached for it with one hand while pointed to Prowl with another, swiftly saying, "You, shut it. My dad's calling. More important."

Prowl's eyes narrowed, "Excuse me?"

"Ah, shut it!" Sari told her with a finger wag, as if she was scolding a dog. Prowl's scowl was now aimed at Jack and he immediately turned away, both fearful and embarrassed. Then Sari said, "Hi, dad! No, me and Jack were just hanging out… really? Now? No, it's just..."

Optimus had entered the room just as Sari was looking around. Sari thought for a moment before saying, "Hold on, dad," then covering it, "Hey, Optimus… our talk about you guys and humans?"

"What about it?" The robot woman asked as Bumblebee, Jack, and Prowl already had an idea of what she was going to go for. So did Optimus, truthfully, but she had quite the poker face.

"What if we started small?" Sari asked.

Optimus stroked her chin then hummed. After a brief thought, she asked, "How small?" Sari glanced at Bumblebee and Cliffjumper before nodding at him, "Hmm… proceed."

Jack and Prowl gave Optimus a shocked look while Bumblebee blinked, not entirely sure what to think. So, he opted on just rolling with it and seeing where things went.

Something he figured he may as well get used to.

Sari smirked and told her father, "yeah, we'll be coming over soon. Me, Jack, and another pair of cool people. They're a bit foreign though."

Everyone could faintly hear the surprised screaming from the phone.

XXXXX

Jack sat back and asked, "You're totally sure about this?"

"Yep."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Sari..."

"Jack, I'm always sure. You will learn to understand this." Sari told him with a mixture of faint annoyance, mostly confidence, and a pinch of sass. They were sitting in their respective Cybertronian partners, talking over the phone, and waiting for Mr. Sumdac to come and greet them. Sari noticed the door move and quickly said, "Alright, he's coming, get ready," before hanging up.

Jack did his best to relax as he watched the man who could probably, literally buy and sell the city then buy another just for giggles. Rotund, shirt, the stereotypical lab coat, and rather flamboyant mad scientist hair going upwards. This was Mr. Sumdac, Sari's dad, and Jack's champion employer.

And they were going to give this man a heart attack from either joy, dread, or both. Probably both. And considering what he had, it would probably be a mere setback for a few seconds. Especially with his robotic butlers so close by.

Sari stepped out of Bumblebee first and Jack followed, stepping out of Cliffjumper.

"Sari, Jack, did you two have a good time," Mr. Sumdac asked pleasantly as he walked towards them. He immediately hugged Sari, who looked embarrassed, and turned to jack, "Now, I will have to deduct from your tip since you were out rather late, but given Sari's fondness of you, I think that's all I'll do."

"That's… good to hear," muttered jack, nervously rubbing the back of his head. Never had he been so anxious, not even when he set his first foot on the Sumdac premises.

"Dad, give him the full tip… please," Sari told him with big puppy eyes.

"Sari… oh, okay," Mr. Sumdac relented, much to Sari's clear delight.

"Good. Now with that out of the way, we should work on ripping the Band-Aid off," Sari told him and jack was now so tense, he could pass off as a statue, "Dad, did you notice the cars behind us?"

"I did. I assumed one of them was Jack's and the others were one of ours," Mr. Sumdac answered as he began studying them, moving closer for further inspection, "Why, they don't look particularly special. Both are rather new, older models, about the same, but the red definitely has more bulk to it. I like the added horns. More character."

"Poor Bee," Muttered Sari, Jack nodding absently.

"Bee? Is that the name of this car? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to call it wasp?" The scientist asked as he pointed to said "car".

"Actually, that's a "he". He's kind of special out of his, er… processing line?" Sari began stroking her chin and furrowed her brow, "you know what, let's say out of his people."

"People? Sari, what are you talking about? Jack?" Mr. Sumdac asked and Jack jolted.

"Ugh, well, these aren't really just cars, Mr. Sumdac," Jack told him.

"Do they have AI? There should only be a select handful of those," muttered Mr. Sumdac as he backed away from the cars.

"Alright," Jack sighed, "enough suspense, please come out," he told them, Sari nodding with a big grin.

Mr. Sumdac's eyes slowly transformed into saucers just as Bumblebee and Cliffjumper transformed into their true modes, towering over the portly scientist. His jaw was agape.

"Nice to meet you," Bumblebee told him with a wave. This would be like meeting June all over again. Accept he could talk the first time around.

"Hey," Cliffjumper greeted, waving too.

"So… surprise!" Sari shouted, now sounding a bit nervous herself. Jack was mortified and frozen in place, his eyes locked on Mr. Sumdac.

As for the scientist, he just stood wide eyed and looked between everyone, then just focused on Bumblebee and Cliffjumper before looking at Sari and Jack. He turned around for a moment and took a deep breath then turned around to say, "Would… would you like to invite your… new friends in?"

Sari slowly nodded, "Yeah…"

Mr. Sumdac pulled out some keys and pressed a button, making the garage door swiftly open up. He gestured for them to follow. Bumblebee and Cliffjumper looked at each other before shrugging, and walking in, the kids leading them in.

The robotic butlers simply trailed behind them, processing how to tend to their larger guests.

"Sari, Jack… you two have much explaining to do," Mr. Sumdac's tone was very calm and collected, which frightened Jack more than anything.

Sari nodded and replied, "We know dad… you're really going to want to sit in your good chair. And maybe give Jack a nice soda."

"I really wish I was twenty one," Jack muttered.

They were being watched from a distance by Arcee and she quietly spoke to the comms, "They're in. The human didn't make a scene. Yet."

"A rare positive," Prowl replied.

Arcee kept her sniper trained on Mr. Sumdac with an inferred mode activated, ready to blow him and the rest all apart if need be. At least as a last resort as she was told.

Personally, she found this rather wasteful of her time, watching two small bots and some rich humans. She could be doing much more to help need the war rather than sitting by and practically babysitting. Though she didn't mind keeping an eye on Bumblebee as much.

She was just like Prowl, if not, worse when it came to Bumblebee so far. She felt him to be an annoyance, a distraction. And worse, a highly dubious anomaly with questionable origins. That upbeat and friendly attitude of his felt thick to her, she didn't trust it.

But for the time being, she would simply watch and wait. As she always has.

XXXXX

"This is your base!?" Shouted Starscream. She was absolutely appalled at the sight of the human headquarters, it was all so primitive and outdated, unorganized by Cybertronian standards, and she's seen some rather antiquated items in her past.

After that brief outburst, she coughed into her hand and quickly followed up with, "It's better than I… expected."

"Why thank you," replied Powell while Fowler rolled his eyes, well aware she was hiding some rather demeaning thoughts.

He could care less. What he did care about was the fact they even let these aliens into their base in the first place. This was a severe breach in security, potential good guys or not. He wondered what his higher ups were thinking of doing that anyways.

Speaking of which, as scientists came pouring out to study these giant mechanical women, a few of said higher ups walked forward to the railing to see them and were absolutely stunned. Leading these decorated leaders was a rather decorated and powerfully built general with mostly gray hair which was the only way you could tell he was rather old. He cleared his throat and said, "Hello… I am General Simmons of the United States."

"A pleasure. I take it you invited us here?" Starscream purred as she walked forward. She knew they did and knew they didn't trust them too much thanks to the always useful Soundwave.

"We did. After some reviews of the situation and the circumstances, we decided to bring you here for questioning," Simmons told her. As he did so, soldiers were quietly moving around and aiming their specialized snipers in them. Soundwave heard all of this, despite how quiet they tried to be.

However, she didn't fear them and her other two Decepticons would not either. She's reviewed how good their handheld weapons are. And she was not impressed in the slightest, especially with the fail safes they had.

"Questioning?" Knockout asked, a little put off. Last species of organics she encountered were rather accepting right off the ship. It made it far more easy to deal with them.

"If everything you say is true, then you have nothing to worry about, right? We're willing to cooperate if you are," Simmons told them as he began to size them up.

"Likewise. Please, ask away," Starscream implored him, cautiously checking around. She still felt they could make this work.

"Tell me exactly what you told them. We'll start from there," Simmons began while Fowler made his way beside him along with Powell.

Starscream smirked. This would indeed work, "Well, as I told Fowler and Powell…"