"What in the hell are those things!" Lavi shouted.

"Not friendly!" Raph shouted back even as the first sounds of fighting took place.

We were finding that out, even as Leo and I dodged to different sides as the thing opened fire on us. Fuck...Leo thought he was getting old...he sure was still hell of a lot quicker than me. He was around and behind the stupid thing while I was still rolling around in the dirt. Did that mean I was getting old and slow too? Great...now he had me thinking that shit...

"Move Vicky!" I got screamed at even as he leapt up to the shoulders of the ten foot tall thing. The thing that already had me in it's sights again as I did just that. I clearly heard the clang of metal against metal as he struck at it and I skidded to a stop even as I felt his amazement.

"Robots!" Ty hollard out, echoing what we were already thinking. "They are robots!"

"They are more than that!" Leo snapped as soon as it all clicked in his head, which made it click in mine...oh shit... "Lavi! Ari! Abandon the blunt weapons! All of you, go for the eyes! Blind them, it's their weak point, then take them out at the joints! Once they are down go for the chest!"

"You don't think...?" Raph broke off as what Leo was suggesting fully hit him.

"Yes, I do." Leo replied even as his katanas took out those purple orbs. Once that was taken care of he nimbly jumped back down and went for any joints he could pry his swords into.

"Well isn't this fucking fantastic!" Raph really wasn't to happy about that revelation. I wasn't either. This really wasn't our fight and on our own we really weren't equipped to deal with it.

By now Leo had managed to pry a leg apart, with his sheer stubbornness, and his foe fell heavily to the ground. In that position it wasn't much of an effort for him to force that sword in the chest, where he knew something very important should be. The metal monstrosity instantly grew still, but he didn't have time for a breather as another one came in, this one already shooting. It took every skill he had to keep ahead of those blasts as he flipped away, and kept flipping. Then, to my horror, the one he just downed was getting back up!

This was fucking new...

"Dad? Are they supposed to get back up?!" Ty asked as he finally came running into my view, looking over his shoulder at the robot following him, then he was doing the same kind of flipping maneuvers as he started to get shot at.

"No!" Leo snapped as he skidded to a stop, then dodged in another direction.

"Leo! What do we do here?" Mikey called out.

By that point Leo had made it to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me away from the fight. "Run!"

Ty had made it to my other side and we were all three doing just that. Running as fast as our legs would carry us. Which seemed to me to not really be fast enough. Shots were hitting all around us by now, kicking up more dust and dirt. I was seriously choking again by this point as my lungs struggled for clean air in this shit.

As a matter of fact, I was coughing and choking so hard that I didn't realise that my son and husband had stopped until the yank happened on my arm as I passed Leo, who quickly pulled me back to him. I blinked blurry eyes at what had his undivided attention and barely made out another, much larger form, coming through the dust. My head craned up at this one who was well over twenty feet tall and I started shaking. There was no way in hell we were going to beat it. More larger shadows came up on either side of it cutting off the idea of going around it before it even formed. Again we were staring at arms that came up with weapons raised.

I closed my eyes, fully expecting to get blasted to smithereens. I even winced when I heard them discharge. Then couldn't figure out why in the hell I was still breathing when the explosions hit. Behind me. I opened my eyes and stared stupidly at the robots that had been following us were smoothly blasted into little bitty bits. Again and again the rounds impacted and now I noticed other lights flaring up around me. What in the hell?

"Well, don't just stand there!" A voice I haven't heard in a long while grumped at me. "Get your afts in gear before you end up smeared all over the place!"

I looked up to where it came from, now seeing the blue glow. "Ironhide?"

"No...the fragging grenade fairy. Move!"

"The others..." Leo tried to cut in as he looked back.

"Are getting their afts pulled out of this fragging mess even as you waste time. Get a move on reptile!"

Leo just blinked a second before he pulled me along again. "He hasn't changed over the years." Leo muttered as we began to run on again.

A wide grin found it's way onto my face. "You didn't expect him to, did you?"

He chose not to answer that.

Suddenly a yellow camaro came zooming by, honking his horn as he passed, with a widely grinning Mikey and Ari riding on top and April and Dennis inside. A moment later Jazz came zipping by on the other side with Donnie, Marina, Casey and Amy.

"You fragger!" I heard another voice I remembered. "You scratched my paint!"

"You got in my way Sunny!"

"Don't call me that!"

"Will you two just shut the hell up and get them out of here!" Raph snapped at the terror twins, who came out of the dust a moment later with their own passengers, Cris, Caitlin, Lavi and Dante. Thane and Raph came running out not long after.

"That's all of us!" Raph shouted as he got closer. "Can we get the hell out of here now?"

Hide transformed down and I dove into the offered door that was opened for me even as Ty dove in the other side. Leo, Raph and Thane just jumped into the bed of the large black pickup before Hide hightailed it out of there, his rear end fishtailing in his haste. Once I cleared the damaged area, I noticed more familiar color schemes popping out, even if the frames themselves were a bit different since the last time I saw them. Prowl, Arcee, Chromia, Elita and a few others all surrounded us as the loaded vehicles hauled off with their organic cargo even as more Autobots were finishing the job we couldn't do. Mikey and Ari took the time to slide into Bee's windows.

"Thanks for the save Hide." I told my old friend. "Got a little hairy there for a minute."

"Hide? Ironhide?" Ty asked in wonder. "Is that really you?"

"No. I'm a clone made out of recycled parts."

"Be nice." I told him with a glare at his radio where his voice was coming from. "He hasn't seen you since he was three."

"Little Titian?" This time Hide sounded stunned. "Has that much time really passed?"

"Not so little anymore, is he?"

"Indeed not. It always amazes me how quickly you organics age."

"I remember you..." Ty said, with that wonder still in his voice. "You look a bit different though..."

"I've changed my alt form a time or two since you've seen me last youngling. But I see your family still has the tendency to get into trouble."

Ty gave him a slight smile at that.

"So... Dare I assume that those things are the reason for your visit?"

"Actually...no. They aren't."

My brow shot up on that one. "Then why are you here?"

"For a completely different matter. That this happened was a random coincidence."

"Mind filling me in?"

"It's not my place to do so. We'll take you back home, and you might want to gather your things. It seems your aid is once again needed."

He was only confusing me more, but I just settled back for the ride. I was sure we would get our answers soon enough, but to which questions though?

.

.

"This brings back memories..." I quietly told Leo as we packed. "A bit different from last time though."

"Kids are older for one." He said as he zipped the suitcase closed I had just finished packing. He picked the heavy thing easily up off of the bed even as I grabbed a smaller one sitting next to it. Was all we needed between the both of us really, besides the weapons that were already gathered together in the living area.

Hide's holoform was already waiting for us on the other side. He found out earlier that he couldn't walk through it. I guess he couldn't do interworld hops with it. He reached out and took my bag from me as I stepped through. "All is ready." He informed Leo as we made our way to the door. "Except for that one..." He pointed at Donnie who couldn't pull himself from the screen of his computer.

"Let's go Donnie." Leo told him.

"Just a sec..."

"Now."

He mumbled as he did something to his stuff. Whatever was on his screen switched over to his wrist tech before he got up and followed us out. "What's got your attention so bad?" I asked as we walked.

"Just trying to see if there were anymore of those things out there."

"Highly unlikely." Hide told him. "I'm sure the others have been very thorough."

"No...I meant out there." He pointed skyward. Or ceiling ward since we were still in the lair.

"And?" Leo asked him.

"I can't find anything," Donnie admitted "just like I didn't find anything on the last batch that came in." And from the look on his face, that pissed him off too.

"Maybe your equipment just isn't strong enough?" Like I had any fucking clue if that was the case. I still didn't really understand that shit...

He just shrugged in reply, his face uncertain.

Dennis already had our mobile turtle aquarium running as Leo walked over to it and handed Ty the suitcase. My son disappeared inside with it as Hide passed my bag to Dante. "A much better improvement from your last vehicle" He looked over our battle bus approvingly. "But isn't it a bit large and cumbersome?"

"Family outgrew the old one." Donnie shrugged. "We needed something with the space."

"And you should see all the crap he put in it." Mikey grinned as his head popped out the back door. "Thing is fucking awesome!"

"That it is." I grinned. "But I'm still riding with Hide."

"Still on that crush?" Leo asked me, amusement in his voice.

"Yup, and always will be." I grinned right back at him and he laughed. It felt good to see him actually laugh after the last few days of being so quiet. Maybe he was pulling himself back out of his funk.

Ty came out of the van then with Lavi. "Everything is stowed away." Lavi said as they moved closer.

"Well, I guess it's time to load up." Leo said as he moved towards the van.

Ty and Lavi looked at Hide, both a little nervous I noticed. "Can...we ride with you Hide?" Lavi finally asked.

There was a slight smile on his holoform's face before the doors to his alt form popped open. Didn't take those two long to get the hint. After a pushing, pulling and shoving match on who was going to ride shotgun, which Lavi won by yanking her brother's masktails hard enough to make him fall on his ass, my daughter slipped into the front passenger seat. "I win!"

I sighed and shook my head. Maybe they weren't so grown up after all.