"… Lucky for Ratchet, June's aim isn't that great," Arcee dryly concluded. "All he got were a few scratches and holes in non-critical areas, but he's remembered to hold off on his vocaliser since then around her."

"Wow… that's… whoa…" Smokescreen whistled as he looked at the Lob-ball between his hands with
shock, "wait-you're not jamming my frequencies are you?"

Arcee's expression was decidedly stern. "No, Smokescreen. Jack, Miko and Raf all used to be human, and they only survived the accident because of The Array. You can ask Miko and she'll confirm it, but don't bring up it in front of the other two, it's still a sore point."

Smokescreen glanced over from the hallway he and Arcee stood in to where the three in question were idly watching a human broadcast on the main holoscreen, absently sitting on a makeshift couch comprised of assorted junk Miko and Bulkhead had 'found' on their escapades.

They were odd to the elite guard to be sure. All three were four-wheelers, but two of them verged on the size of a minicon- with only Jack standing a little taller than Arcee. Their general disposition reminded him of civilians before the war had made everyone some kind of soldier, but they seemed to recognise almost nothing about Cybertron!

And their armour…

Well; Raf's fit a civilian's well enough. The little mech's orange plating was clean, if unpolished- and lacked any sign of buffed out-dents or healed-over welds that might have once been wounds.

Miko's by contrast was an impressive clash of pink and black, which gleamed with the signs of regular buffing and polishing. The very picture of an appearance-proud femme if not for the innumerable still-healing dents that were scattered across her entire frame, but concentrated on the front of her torso and arms with little grey scratches in her upper mesh layer that had yet to heal illuminating the most recent impacts. What exactly could have caused them was beyond Smokescreen, since they didn't look like anything a blast would do, and the mix of healing and fresh marks showed she was going through the same injuries over and over.

Jack in contrast only had a few visible marks on him.

But they were unmistakable as wounds of war.

The grey-white mech's doorwings were marred with slight bends and curves rippling through the exterior plating, starting from the middle and radiating to the ends. They had the distinct look of living metal that had been forcibly straightened back into shape, but they had been buffed so it was only really noticeable when the light hit the paint at an angle to reveal the curvatures. But it was clear to any Cybertronian that they'd been twisted well beyond natural healing. Meanwhile the connecting metal that held said doorwings to Jack's body looked all too pristine, and didn't quite match the rest of his frame.

His torso armour had the worst of it though. Thick, ugly welds were still healing under his paint where the entire right section of his chest plating had been clearly crushed by something and then reconstructed by a medic with desperately short supplies. There were three other wounds, one where it looked like his leg had needed re-attachment at the hip-actuators, and some replaced plating on each servo, but nothing came up to the extent of the mech's chest.

The damage Jack wore made him seem like some kind of front-line fighter. But his paintjob was another story. The coloured mesh was mostly whole- not with riddled with new solid patches from covered injuries or lots of scratches from regular combat like the other Auotobots. It wasn't because he was taking particular care of it either; unlike Miko's sharp finish or Raf's plain but clear colour, there were signs of obvious wearing from the elements and old fingerprints from where he'd let humans touch and leave their organic 'skin oil' on him (ew… Smokescreen would douse himself in a pool of solvent before letting that stuff stick on him!).

It didn't make sense.

And their names…

Well okay, Jack made sense- even though the 'Jacks' Smokescreen knew usually had a vehicle or component type affixed to their name. But kind of names were Miko and Rafael?

"Okay, okay…" Smokescreen placated but internally resolved to ask both Miko and The Last Prime if Arcee was messing with the new guy. "It's just kind of hard to believe. Ancient prophecies, this world being Unicron, and now organics turning into us? I mean; I just thought those three were non-standard frames or something!"

"Earth has been quite a ride," Arcee admitted, her cold tone softening with amusement.

"Yeah, and just imagine what Alpha Trion would say!" Smokescreen casually tossed up the ball and caught it with practised ease before openly grinning at Arcee. "We've got a way to make a new home and we can make as many warriors as we need- the war's basically won already!"

Arcee raised an optic ridge, and Smokescreen rushed to explain; "we can just get a bunch of humans in one spot and boom!" He dropped the Lob-ball with an impactful thud and held his servos wide, "one new Autobot army ready to rumble! And there's loads of loads of them, we could just keep going and going- and even Megatron's clones couldn't keep up!"

"Well that's one idea," Arcee pointedly knelt to grasp the Lob-ball and thrust it into Smokescreen's servos. "But not every human takes well to being turned into one of us."

"Hunh, why!?" Smokescreen was taken aback at the thought, "they're organics, fleshies- they're so weak and squishy- and they wear and out die in a vorn!" he practically spluttered in confusion, "what's the problem!?"

Arcee vented, and pointed at the storeroom. "Put the Lob-ball back rookie, you're going to be here for a while."

First off; the Autobots were in disguise on earth, fighting a secret war that would end badly for everyone involved if humanity as a whole became aware of it. They couldn't just hand out recruiting flyers and start converting squishies en masse.

Secondly, Optimus was adamant that the fact that organic-Cybertronian conversion had been achieved be kept a secret. Even leaving aside the potential for Megatron to attempt it himself to expand his own ranks- assuming he could stand the thought of working side by side by 'insects' in metal bodies- human governments have had quite a dark history of their own, and seeing what they would do to get and abuse the power of the Conversion Array wasn't something anyone in the base wanted to witness.

Even Fowler seemed to agree, though he certainly wasn't happy about it. According to June though; his own career had long disabused him of the dark side of his government, resolute patriot of his country or not. As far as General Bryce and his superiors were concerned, the new Autobots were former civilian 'bots who'd come to the Autobots out of desperation for Energon, and the 'interns' had suffered an unfortunate accident involving a newly discovered artifact.

It was close enough to the truth anyway.

Thirdly, their Energon supplies were still limited. Much to their disappointment; Jack, Miko and Raf couldn't intake 'food' anymore, they needed to be fuelled up like anyone else and that just strained their limited resources all the more. It's pretty hard to keep up with demand when you've got three new intakes to fill and the new 'recruits' didn't even know how their weapon systems work.

Lastly… there were the former humans themselves. Specifically, how each of them took now being permanently Cybertronian and all that entailed.

Miko took it the best. The eccentric girl had always been enamoured by Cybertronians, and clearly adored having an escape from her normal, mundane life. It took her less than an hour after June had run out of bullets to start bugging Bulkhead to let her pick out an alt-mode and teach her how to transform-

"Wait, teach her how to transform?" Smokescreen interrupted incredulously. "How come-"

"Human bodies don't switch between modes like ours do," Arcee curtly informed him. "So yes, they needed to be taught."

-Anyway; Miko, being Miko, picked out the biggest, meanest monster truck she could find.

She also promptly discovered that she could not, in fact, just stroll up to the biggest vehicle she could see and copy it for her alt mode.

"I don't get it!" Miko complained as her eyes (optics now but she didn't really care) did the weird thing where they beamed out light and went up and down something to scan it. Only for her the beam kept stopping partway down with a nasty jerk that made her brain hurt a bit and turning red before vanishing. "Am I doing something wrong?"

"Ahh, sort of," Bulkhead admitted, his own optics darting around shiftily in the massive (for humans) garage they'd snuck into- the same one that housed the trucks for the ring above that hosted the very monster-truck rallies that they so adored in fact. He returned his gaze to her and knelt down so he was optic-to-optic with her new height, "see, you've only got so much stuff to work with. Sure, we can shift it around with subspace- but there's still a minimum and a maximum size and density we can go for with our modes that's limited by our natural mass. And Miko…" Bulkhead's lip-plates sagged a little as he vented, "I've gotta be honest, you just don't have that much to work with."

-"You know I wasn't going to say anything," Smokescreen remarked, "but it was pretty weird seeing a four-wheeler smaller than a two-wheeler- no offense."

"Maybe you should stick to 'not saying anything' for a while."-

Miko gasped as she looked at herself in the reflection the monster-truck's shiny finish, and realised that despite her recent enlargement; it was still far taller than her. Bulkhead meanwhile towered the same as ever, and of the entire team of bots only Raf was smaller than she was- even Arcee still stood taller and she was a flipping motorcycle!

"Aww…." the new femme pouted as she realised her predicament. "How come I've gotta be a shorty even as a bot!?"

"Ahh, it's okay Miko," Bulkhead gave her a gentle pat on the back. "Earth's got plenty of cool trucks and cars in your size!" His good humour dimmed a bit as he surreptitiously scanned the garage and found nothing remotely in Miko's size. "… Just maybe not in this place."

In the end Miko had to accept that she just wasn't going to a physical powerhouse on par with Bulkhead, but she eventually found a suitably overpowered off-roader that resembled a 'Humvee' that her mass could just fit.

"She still looks like a minicon next to Bulk in either form."

Of course, the first thing she did was ruin any chance of avoiding attention by getting Bulk, Raf and (after a little wheedling to the still irritable former human) Jack to help paint her black with hot pink flames. There was no chance Miko Nakadai was going to stay in basic protoform grey for any longer than she had to after all.

She had to be repainted three times because she wouldn't sit still long enough to dry though. Not even the trauma of getting crushed to death could apparently dim her sheer enthusiasm of being a giant robot.

The next day- planetary rotation- was a different story. For once Miko Nakadai was as still as a rock, and insisted that Jack and Raf polish her to a finish that she'd normally have ruined within seconds with some antic or adventure.

Apparently, she was nervous about how her parents would take her new form.

-"Parents?"

"Caretakers essentially, but a human 'parent' is usually also one of the donors of their charge's CNA-equivalent. Humans are helpless for the first part of their lives, so the juvenile and caretaker usually form strong emotional bonds- and Miko was afraid she could lose that."-

Bulkhead and the other Autobots assured her that no matter what, she had a home and a family with them- and June would always be there for her. But even with that Miko remained anxiously quiet, standing in the middle of the silo in all her freshly buffed glory while everyone else worked around her with not so much as the odd digit twitch to show she was alive.

Until the moment of truth arrived.

The main computer issued an alert, and Ratchet confirmed the call in- "Agent Fowler has arrived with the Nakadais."

Miko's back struts audibly tightened as she straightened up even further. Bulkhead watched on concern at his charge's behaviour, and knelt down a little to give her some encouragement- but found himself backing off as the elevator doors opened to reveal three humans.

At the forefront was a slightly unsettled Agent Fowler, and behind him were a Japanese man and woman.

The woman was a full head shorter than the man, and wore a pair of thick, square glasses. Her hair hung just a little past her ears and she wore a blue jacket over a yellow blouse with dark trousers. The resemblance to her offspring wasn't as strong as June Darby's was to Jack-

"But-"

"Obviously I mean Jack when he was a human," Arcee vented. "Even now you can see some similarity in their faces."

- but the general shape of Miko's human self could be seen in her mother.

The man meanwhile contrasted the female's clothes with a plain business suit, neatly combed black hair and a perfectly neutral expression. There was almost nothing about him that matched his chaotic offspring.

Nothing except his almost yellow, golden-brown amber eyes.

"Ahh, Mr and Mrs Nakadai, welcome to Outpost Omega One," Fowler stepped out with a nervous smile and stood aside, beckoning the two forward with an outstretched arm. "I-"

Mr Nakadai stepped forwards, coolly ignoring Fowler as he did. Mrs Nakadai quickly joined him, also paying Fowler no mind as he trailed off. The two reached the railing overlooking the main area and took in the full assembly of the Autobots.

Optimus was there of course, there was no chance he'd pass up this responsibility to anyone else. Ratchet stood beside him, ready to offer a technical explanation to the newly arrived humans if needed- and to support Optimus when he would need that. Bulkhead stood behind Miko like a guard, while Jack and Raf stood beside her as her companions in conversion.

Everyone else stood scattered nearby, standing at attention but not trying to draw it.

Mr Nakadai's eyes took in each of them despite that, seeming to bore into each of them with a cold inscrutability that only softened when they matched Miko's new optics.

Mrs Nakadai gasped as she recognised her daughters face on one of the alien machines, "Miko!" Her hands drew up to her mouth, and she spoke in distraught Japanese; "is that really you?"

Jack and Raf both subtly shuddered, Arcee would later learn that that was the first time they'd experienced their translation programs working-

"Organic brains don't have comprehension programs like ours, so they have to learn most languages like any other skill, and neither Jack or Raf had learnt Miko's native language before they were converted," Arcee explained to the confused rookie. "Fortunately for them, most human languages are simple enough for even their basic modules to adequately translate on first exposure."

"Oh, but how come they got weirded out?"

"Apparently instantly understanding something like that without studying for it is really dissonant for humans, Jack described it like him noticing someone rearranging his thoughts."-

"Y-yeah Mom, it's me," Miko spoke up in uncharacteristic meekness. "I kind of got messed up a bit."

"Oh Miko…" Mrs Nakadai took in her daughter as Miko slowly walked up to them, still short enough to need to tilt her head up when she got close to the elevated railing but far, far too tall to ever be mistaken as the girl she once was in some kind of costume. "Are you… does it hurt?"

"No Mom, not even when-" Miko frowned. "I'm okay, I promise."

Mr Nakadai watched on impassively, "… what happened in Yanai?."

Miko froze. "Yanai? Dad-"

"Yanai, what happened on that day in Yanai?" Mr Nakadai's jaw clenched. "Please tell me."

"… You called in a sick day from the company so we could go down for the Goldfish Festival." Miko recalled. "I didn't want to go because it sounded lame- and it totally was- but I liked getting to skip school and Grandpa was really mad because he knew and wanted you at work. You still took me and Mom there though and it really sucked even though you liked it for some reason." Miko's lip-plates quirked sourly; "we all got sick the next day from the food or something, and we had to stay over in the hotel for another day too, so Grandpa went and lectured you in front of the company when you came back."

She matched gold-optics with amber eyes, "but you just did your usual fake apology thing and went back to work anyway. Everyone knew you didn't mean it, and Grandpa was still so mad, but you just said to us that if you'd earnt a break and taking it didn't hurt anyone then it wasn't their business."

Mr Nakadai closed his eyes for a moment, before they snapped open to regard the being below him;

"… did it hurt?"

Miko took a moment before she answered; "no Dad, like I said- it was just-" she paused again, "a-a few seconds of shock I think, and then I woke up like this."

Mr Nakadai swallowed, but otherwise his features remained still; "and you cannot turn back?"

"… No," Miko's plates creaked a little as she shifted uncomfortably.

Mr Nakadai's eyes narrowed slightly. "Miko…"

"Jack already asked Ratchet!" Miko blurted, and she pointed at her chest-plates. "He said there's something in our chests now that's got our minds inside! T-they call it a spark and it's made of pure energy. Even if they could change our bodies back human the spark's too big, and way too strong for any organic nervous system to take, and there's no way to break a spark down without killing the person!"

A sharp intake came from Miko's mother, and the woman in question pressed her hands to her mouth as she muffled a wail.

"Mom… it's okay," Miko stepped up a little closer to her mother and offered up the best cheerful face she could managed. "I'm okay, I promise. It's really kind of cool and stuff- I-I can blow things up, and I'm never going get sick anymore or die of old age or anything lame like that!" She reached up with her servo, "I'm okay, just let me show you!"

Mrs Nakadai flinched back and Miko's smile fell, her digits curling in a little. "Mom?"

Mr Nakadai frowned slightly; "Maki." His wife turned to him, and he leant in to speak with her in a quiet tone. He obviously didn't know how sensitive Cybertronian audials could be; "remember that she's afraid as well."

Mrs Nakadai paused for a moment as she took in his words, then she gave a subtle nod and collected herself.

Mr Nakadai straightened up and turned his attention to Optimus; "You are the leader, 'Optimus Prime' ?"

"I am," The Prime spoke calmly, but with a weight to his words.

"Then we have matters to discuss," Mr Nakadai spoke firmly, like he was addressing one of Miko's teacher's instead of a multi-tonne giant mechanical alien. "Is there a private room?"

"Indeed," Optimus solemnly nodded, "if you would accompany me to the living quarters, then my own will be secure. I believe Agent Fowler should also be present."

Mr Nakadai nodded, but paused for a moment longer. "Miko?"

Miko jumped a little clearly not expecting to have been addressed, "y-yeah Dad?"

"Why don't you show your mother around this place?" his tone softened as he regarded the two females in his life. "I'm sure Maki wants to see how you're living now."

Mrs Nakadai's eyes flickered to her husband's, and they had some kind of weird silent conversation-

"No, humans don't have internal comms or read each other's fields, they just sometimes 'get each other' if they've known one another for a while."

-and they came to an understanding. Mrs Nakadai straightened up and she looked to her daughter with clear expectation.

"Oh- ah, sure thing!" Miko plastered on a smile and pointed to one of the still-functional stairs from the standing rails to the floor, "just come on down."

Mrs Nakadai complied, and Mr Nakadai silently followed Optimus and Fowler to another one of the stairs, treading over some Cyberformed but still functional sections to do so. Before long the two females were standing on the same floor, and Mrs Nakadai took in her daughter's full form from properly.

"… I always hoped you'd be taller than me." The elder female finally gave a stiff smile.

Miko blinked, then her faceplates practically cracked open with a grin. "Yeah; I know right! I mean, I'm still kind of small compared to everyone but Raf- oh, they're the other two who got transformed, they're my friends from school and we all met the bots together and…."

"… Things went pretty well from there." Arcee continued. "I don't know what Fowler, Mr Nakadai and Optimus said, but when they came out they'd made arrangements for how Miko would be living with us, what her Host parents would be told and when the Nakadais visit.

It's as ideal an arrangement as any of the kids get to have. Miko has her family- she and her Mom even play their 'music' together every few days so look forwards to that- and she even adjusted to the change in her biology without too many speedbumps.

All in all, not too bad." Arcee concluded. "If you forget about her new hobby of wrecking condemned buildings with her alt-form getting Fowler up in arms, but she can't exactly sneak through the Groundbridge anymore so it more or less evens out."

"So what's the problem then!?" Smokescreen rolled his optics. "It sounds like everything worked out just fine!"

"The problem, rookie-" Arcee emphasised the moniker, "is that even with how well she's taken the change; Miko's not a solider. She's a kid, a very immature fledgling who lacks the discipline and focus to even be an adult member of her own society nevermind be a solider. When we do send her out on 'missions' they're mostly just training exercises with Bulkhead because even if we wanted to throw her into something more; her parents would forbid it.

She's not even an adult by human standards yet- none of them are. None of them have even seen a vorn pass yet, or even lived a Stellar Cycle as Cybertronians." She advanced on the Elite Guard, "how long did you spend in the Academy? In basic training?"

"Ughh," Smokescreen winced. "Not really that long-"

"Oh, no. I bet it was a long time, a lifetime." Arcee's optic lids narrowed as she tapped Smokescreen's torso plating with a single digit. "At least by human standards, because even with the corner-cutting towards the end, I guarantee it was longer than most humans even live."

She drew back and nudged her head towards the couch where the three changelings still sat. "They're kids Smokescreen, kids who never even got to be adults of their own species before they had to start learning to be part of ours. And let me tell you;

Just because Miko embraced the change, doesn't mean the others did."

A/N:

Special thanks to Geosdad and Blaze1 for Beta-reading.

This is just an epilogue of sorts to look over some of the points of interest that human-to-bot stories tend to forget about, albeit through the lens of a very silly story and far longer than the actual story itself turned out to be. This was originally meant to be one, short chapter that gave a brief funny overview of how each child went through those rarely covered areas, but by the time Miko's section was done it already had more words than the original chapter, thus Raf and Jack will probably be getting chapters of their own.

Fair warning, while there's not going to be too much darkness, there's probably not going to be as much humour as in the first chapter- though a fair bit will still be present.