AN: Almost the length of the first two chapters combined. How I love punishing myself.
The Autobot base was abuzz with both nervousness and eagerness. Bulkhead had been pacing back and forth for the better part of the morning, Bumblebee tried to distract himself with funny internet videos and Ratchet with fixing the tools Bulkhead broke. Only Arcee and Optimus managed to go through their normal routines without much difficulty.
"Why didn´t they just groundbridge inside? They´re right there, on the other side of these walls, what´s the deal?" Bulkhead muttered to himself while making faces at the wall as if he possessed some sort of X-Ray vision.
"If you were forced to relocate would you jump right in?" Arcee asked him.
Bumblebee chimed in, backing up their teammate, nodding in understanding.
The green wrecker though about it for a moment before giving up on his fruitless attempt of gazing through the wall. "Yeah, that does make sense."
Ratchet surveyed the younger bots before going back to his attempt at fixing some sort of machinery that appeared to have been torn apart and then crushed. "Optimus, are you sure we´ll be able to work with them?" Asked the medbot, pausing midway through welding two parts together.
He was well aware of the power imbalance the new arrivals would very likely cause within team Prime. Back before the war Makers had been renowned for rejecting most forms of governmental regulations, opting for information scavenging as a means of bribery for the Cybertronian Council. It made it a lot easier when a handful of senators would make regular visits and consume large amounts of high-grade, leaving them as prime subjects for information extraction.
A worried frown started making its way onto the leader´s faceplates before he quickly regained control. "I cannot say for certain, old friend, but we´ll try our best to do so."
When Optimus had been personally contacted by the president after submitting a report new Cybertronians the whole team knew nothing good could come out of it. Now not only were they getting new addition to their base they´d been promised said additions would help in the fight against the Decepticons. Unfortunately he too knew they type of bots they´d be dealing with from then on out. It seemed it had been just a few deca-cycles ago he´d received the news of his intended sparkmate´s involvement with the Maker faction and his swift refusal that she would ever have had any contact with that type of bots.
The sound of the exterior door opening and closing caught the entire team´s attention and various voices fill the hallway. One stood out above the rest, but it was different than the one they´d expected, pointing and aweing at how much bigger their new home was. Five bots came into view, four femmes and a sparkling. From the looks of them two of the femmes were seekers, a heavy-type and a speed type…and were the only normal ones. The scary purple and black spider-like one didn´t show what she could turn into and the one that had shot at them at the blown up energon deposit, now that they got a better look, had neither wings nor wheels.
"I thought there were two." Ratchet was not liking the surprise. While they hadn´t specifically been told how many Makers would be joining them they´d assumed it were at most three, two adults and one sparking, not an extended family from what they could see.
A deadpan tone from Arcee answered the medic´s complain. "Didn´t you ever hear the saying? Makers multiply." She too was feeling the same disdain for the lack of information given about the group coming into their base.
The orange and yellow sparkling waved a greeting. "I´m Rad. Sorry for the other day, I was just really scared." Is tone was very much carefree for someone who´d just recently kicked one of the Autobots in the helm and they´d head curse.
"Whoa. How come their base is better than ours?" The purple and white seeker with pink accents started looking looking around in awe but stopped when her optics locked onto the big green bot and in an instant was in front of him, her frame proving to be bigger than his by a few inches. "I´m Mayhem. Who are you?"
"Bulkhead."
"Are you a wrecker? I can tell you are, you frame just screams it. What´s the heaviest you´ve lifted? Do you want to see my hammer? No, wait-"
Even if she was shorter than her offspring Solarflare managed to yank back the overexcited Mayhem with the momentum of a jump. "I´ll take it from here before you talk his audio receptors off." Straightening up the white and green seeker looked over the entire Autobot tem. "You already know Radical and Doomsday." She gestured towards the smallest bot riding the shoulders of the heavily modified femme. "The one over there is Airachnid." A sluggish wave and unfocused optics greeted the perplexed Autobots, animal-type frames had always been seen as eccentric, especially nightmare-inducing ones. "I´m Solarflare and Mayhem is mine along with Silverbot." Taking a look behind her the Maker leader called out to her son. "If he were to come out."
"So I can be shot at?" Was the answer she got and Solarflare felt the urge to drag him out like when he´d been a sparkling.
"You´ll have to come out at some point."
With a resigned sigh the last Maker came out from hiding behind the wall. His tall frame stood above even Optimus, his frame looking very much heavy-duty but also sporting wings and what looked like tank treads. Silverbot looked anywhere but at the ones gawking at him, uncomfortable with being scrutinized by what he was. "Take a picture, it lasts longer." He said, not moving from his further away spot.
"By Primus. But he´s a-"
"Triple-changer, yes." Solarflare cut Ratchet off by finishing his sentence. Remembering one of her favorite ice-breaker lines from back when they´d still been living in Cybertron Solarflare added. "You should´ve seen his Sire."
Mayhem looked back at her brother and thought of a way to make him seem less threatening and more like the bot he really was. "You don´t need to be afraid." Sauntering over to her brother she pulled him close for a hug, making Silverbot raise his arms and look at with a ´Really?´ expression, and smiled up to him. "He only looks scary but he´s got the spark of a great mech."
"Would you please let go of me?"
Giggling she complied with her brother´s request and gestured up and down as to drive home her statement with the biggest smile on her faceplates she could muster.
"Can we leave now? Preferably back home." Silverbot pleaded.
"Are you insane? I´m living a dream here in Botswana and I won´t allow you or anyone else to shatter it."
The Autobot team watched as the two siblings bickered among themselves with curious optics, seeing a triple-changer and a heavy-duty seeker have a back-and-forth looked like the beginning of a bad joke come to life. The femme opened her arms again and the mech tensed up, as if preparing to make a run for it and not amused by his sister´s antics.
Ratchet, still unsure if he was looking at reality of had just consumed a bad batch of energon, could only try to decipher what had just fallen onto their laps. "Optimus, with all due respect I don´t think this partnership will work, orders from the government or not." He commented to his old friend, who, after overcoming the surprise factor, seemed… happy?
Seeing a simple argument between siblings warmed the Prime´s spark. It had been so long since any sense of normalcy had been the norm and witnessing what was regarded as a mundane occurrence gave him the tiniest bit of hope for the future of Cybertron. Even if they were Makers.
An alarm started ringing though the base, green lights flashing along with it. Ratchet took his place at the console and started pressing buttons with practiced knowledge. He´d known it was only a matter of time before they received a visit because of the Makers. And also because of the recent destruction cause by a Decepticon chase.
"What´s that?" Asked Silverbot with worry.
Bumblebee was quick to the punch and gestured to the console and explained what the noise meant with a series of beeps. Jumpy triple-changers were trigger-happy triple-changers, they´d told him in the academy.
"Proximity sensor. Someone´s up top." Radical lit up. "I wanted to install one at the base but they never let me do it."
"You totally could have done it if you wanted to, sweetspark. You can do whatever you processor conjures up." Doomsday reassured her son and looked up at him with a smile. He may not have been able to do certain things but she´d always encouraged him on his talents.
Ratchet pulled up the video-fee of a helicopter landing on the screen. His guess had been right on the nose. "Agent Fowler."
"A human? Here?" Solarflare was not used to dealing with the planet´s native dominant species in person. Except for a handful of occasions during the time they´d been hiding on Earth there had never been the need to meet a human beyond a video-call.
"Special agent Fowler is our designated liaison to the outside world, as he tends to visit only when there are issues. You will have to meet him, as he will represent you as well from now on." Optimus beckoned the Maker leader to approach the platform with the elevator, his team moving to the sides to let their leader handle the human man coming down for a ´talk´.
When the elevator doors opened a black man decked in a blue suit and striped tie came out and did not waste any time in taking up the theme of his visit. He´d been seeing red ever since the damage report hit his desk and did not fancy another talk-down from his smug superiors on how if the so-called Decepticon threat failed to annihilate the planet the Autobots would finish the job in no time.
"Seven wrecks, thirty four fender benders, a three hour traffic jam and a particular note: numerous reports of a speeding motorcycle of unknown make and a black and yellow custom muscle car." He was so concentrated on berating the huge robot in front him he neglected to notice the other one just to the left, or even the ones just seeing him for the first time, while leaning over the railing. "So anything you care to get off your tin chest, Prime?"
Optimus leaned in as well to look the government agent in the eyes. "We have the situation under control, Agent Fowler."
"They´re back, aren´t they?"
"If you are referring to the Decepticons I have doubts they ever left. Your planet is much too valuable."
"Then it´s time to wake up the pentagon."
"Hear me, Agent Fowler, we are your best, possibly your only defense against the Decepticon threat."
"Says you."
"Says your president." Solarflare grew tired of being in the sidelines. Her leadership may have started unwillingly but she´d be dammed to let someone else take over the last bots she considered to be her family.
Startled, Agent Fowler finally took notice of the other giant robots amongst the Autobots. (Did those wings mean they were flyers? Weren´t all Decepticons just that? What were they doing there?) "What the…? Prime, how come there´s more of you and where did they come from?!" The distressed man looked between the team leader and all the new faces (faceplates?).
"Excuse me, Agent Fowler, was it? I was talking to you so please do not ignore me." She really wasn´t liking her first meeting with the human that was to represent them from then on out.
"Well then, who are you?"
"Solarflare, Mayhem, Silverbot, Airachnid, Doomsday and Radical." Solarflare pointed to each in a fast sequence. "Maker faction. We´ve been on this planet longer than any of your walking disasters and have been a more well-kept secret since day one. I do believe if you were to contact your superiors our presence will not be unexpected, your president was very adamant on our forced help and non-optional refusal."
"Please, if something of this magnitude landed on my lap I´d know about it. There was nothing on my desk about six new giant robots so that can´t possibly be true."
"Check your spam." Radical and Mayhem stated at the same time. "What?" They asked when the others looked at them.
"That has got to be the most…" Taking out his phone Agent Fowler grumbled but still humored the two new walking disasters that were now supposedly of his responsibility. It was only until he actually found something that very much should have been on his inbox that his eyes started to widen as he read along the very clear text declaring the ´Makers´ his new charges. "Well, erm… Yes… Subject transfer… Military resources… And whole lot of disciplinary actions against me should I fail to keep the new robots from causing too much damages. Oh joy, I feel like this is some sort of a a demented version of Christmas."
"I told you guys we´d get to fight!" Mayhem looked over to her brother and shot him an ´I told you so´ smile.
"Frag me." Airachnid took out an energon container from her subspace and started emptying it with vigor before Doomsday set her son down snatched the cube from the spider-femme´s servos to drink whatever was left of it.
Shaking the last drops onto her glossa the Forger gave a contented sigh. "You´re not the only one with high-grade problems. I need this too, you know?" She handed over the cube back to her multi-legged friend who snatched it right back with a huff and stored it. That had been her last batch.
"High-grade? You drink that stuff?" Bulkhead was surprised. Due to their constant battles and need to be ready at all occasions any type of recreational substances were off-limits.
"We make it, my new green friend. What´s a Maker without entertainment?" Doomsday laughed but it was not a result of the high-grade. Her resistance to that energon type was high enough for her to have won many bets in the past with bots twice her size.
Ratchet frowned. "A very dangerous individual." He´d known sooner or later the faction´s true colors would show and he didn´t want them to spread over to his teammates.
"Oh, so you know what we very likely did before abandoning Cybertron. Personally, might I ask?" The spider-like femme placed her servos on her hips, one pede in front of the other. Her heel struts helped make her seductive point come across.
"Humph, as if I´d ever use personal time to dabble in such things."
"Well, one can´t remember every face they see at work. How about you, big guy?"
The wrecker looked lost, unsure what the medic and the femme were referring to. "Sorry, can´t say I know what you´re talking about."
"You must be post wrecker ban. Too bad, you guys dropped shanix like crazy after a big payday."
Agent Fowler watched the interactions go back and forth until he decided it was enough and explanations were in order. He had a basic understanding of Decepticon and Autobot but these Makers were uncharted territory. For all he knew they could be even worse in the destruction department. "Solarflare, care to explain what´s going on?"
Taking a look at her friends Solarflare felt her optic twitch in annoyance. Back on Cybertron she´d have no qualms on announcing her line of work but human customs proved to be more critical of her side-career. "I´d prefer not to and that my teammates kept their intake holes shut."
"They used to be the equivalent of what humans would refer to as ´call girls´." Arcee chimed in with a nonchalant air to her statement.
The agent´s jaw nearly touched the floor and he had to take a few seconds to compose himself. "Come again?" He wondered if he was finally needing a hearing aid or the words ´call girl´ had actually been spoken. For the first time in his life he wished he was just getting old.
"Actually it would be more of ´high end escorts´. Not everyone was willing to jump on the berth of a random bot, a lot of us just got paid to talk." Doomsday quickly rectified the blue femme´s statement. It would make a very bad first impression if Solarflare burst out on their first meeting.
"But we were not the second type."
"Airachnid." Warned Solarflare.
"Fine. We as in me and Doomsday. Mayhem, Silver and Rad were always too young to even think about it. But you could make bots drop shanix with those hips of yours on stage. Both your sweetparks didn´t have any qualms about it either."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Prime, are they telling the truth?" Now it was time for Agent Fowler to panic. Not only did he have more walking destruction-causing giant robots the older ones had made whatever passed as Cybertronian currency (shanix, was it?) with what he was learning to be the oldest profession in the Universe.
"Yes, Agent Fowler. From my understanding Makers had a sort of separate society and took advantage of their high femme numbers in many ways." The Autobot leader knew there was no denying a fact that would have sooner or later come to the table.
"We´re sending naughty entertainers to fight in a war?! Are those guys crazy?"
"Please remain calm. My team was not originally built for war and yet we´ve defended your planet on numerous occasions. They could be even better suited for this type of situation, Makers were renowned for their battle prowess. At one point a Maker was the best gladiator in all of Cybertron."
"Before he got shot in the back by coward Autobots." Loudly proclaimed Silverbot. He´d been watching the fight in person when said gladiator fell to a rigged match.
"Silver, please." Solarflare knew he was a sensitive topic and wished to avoid it at all costs, especially in front of the Autobots. "Now´s not the time."
With a half-hearted wave the triple-changer turned away towards the entrance. "I´m going for a drive. Or flight. See you later."
"Stop right there, you can´t just leave whenever you feel like it." Arcee approached the taller bot with a resolute gait and had to stop herself from flinching when he turned back to lean over her. "Like it or not Optimus is now your leader as well and you need to start listening to orders."
"Who´s going to stop me? Any volunteers may step forward." The mech looked around, as if to dare one of the Autobots to stand in his way. Silence was his only reply but when Fowler was about to cut in Solarflare lifted a digit in front of him and shot the man a look that asked for him to stay silent and not add fuel to the flames.
"I thought so. The day I start taking orders from an Autobot will be…never."
The others watched Silverbot disappear behind the wall once again before a transformation and jet engine sounds were heard, signaling his disappearance into the Nevada desert. The Makers knew to leave him alone at times like those, any attempt at interference would be better spent at arguing with a wall. At least the inanimate slab of concrete would stay put.
"Sooo… where can we settle in?" Mayhem tried, and failed, to relieve some of the tension. She wanted badly to chase after her brother however, in a rare decison, reeled in her impulses.
Solarflare gazed with sorrowful optics at the exit. Those actions mirrored hers in the past almost too perfectly. "Please don´t mind my son, Agent Fowler. He just needs some time to process this."
"Well if he does half the damage this lot does I´ll call it a win."
"Hey fleshie, anyone get splattered on that freeway?" Bulkhead ripped a piece of machinery apart from a nearby Cybertronian-sized table and held it tightly. "Team Prime knows when to use force." He squeezed the metal tightly until it broke even more. "And how much to use."
Ratchet let out a complaint when the green bot destroyed his equipment. "Bulkhead, I needed that! And I was fixing it!"
"Enough." Quieting his quarreling fellow Autobots, Optimus turned back to Agent Fowler. "As I was saying military involvement will only result in catastrophe. Perhaps you can condone widespread human casualties, Agent Fowler, I, however, cannot. With the Maker as reinforcements we will drive back the Decepticon invasion once and for all this time around."
"Then do us both a favor Prime and handle this. Under the radar. Ma´am." Nodding towards Solarflare the man turned to leave. Getting into the elevator he pressed a button and left all the bots with a final warning before the doors closed. "Or I will."
"Pretty big bearings, for a human." Commented Bulkhead after the human left.
"Agent Fowler is concerned for his world, Bulkhead. As he should."