a/n: And here we've got another chapter here! This wasn't as long as I was expecting, but I'm hoping it'll be a nice change of pace.

Chapter 4: Building Bridges

"Thanks to General Ironwood's connections, we have been able to determine multiple possible Autobot sightings," Soundwave explained as the Decepticons gathered around a projected map of Remnant, several Autobot insignias appearing across Anima, "As can be seen here, it would appear that the vast majority of the Autobots landed in Anima after the crash."

"Given that the Atlas Military works closely with Mistral's government, this will make tracking and exterminating them much easier," Shockwave added, "Especially with how the Autobots keep finding ways to expose themselves."

Several projections of CCTS chatrooms, showing rumors and photographs of driverless vehicles saving villages from both Creatures of Grimm and bandits, appeared across the map from each Autobot symbol.

"There's still one thing I don't understand," Ironwood spoke up from the corner of the room, "Why attack the power plant but protect these villages?"

"If I had to hazard a guess, recruitment," Megatron spoke up, "All they have to do is lure monsters or marauders to a village, and they can save the people from a disaster they themselves engineered, in order to discredit the actual protectors of this world, such as yourself, and gain the trust of the people to help them topple this planet's rightful leaders."

Ironwood brought a hand to his chin.

"That would explain quite a bit," he remarked.

"It is imperative that we make all haste to remove them from Anima," Megatron continued as the projection disappeared, "We cannot allow them to gain a foothold on this planet! There is no telling how much harm they could cause!"


Koa hummed to themself as they walked down the street, hands in the pockets of their gray wool hoodie, a spring in their step as they made their way home. Sure, Kuchinashi might not have been the safest city on Remnant, but Koa's big, round, fluffy koala ears would let them know if anything dangerous approached.

Besides, no crook would be dumb enough to attack someone like me, Koa noted as they smoothed out their dull-blue skort and ran a hand through their messy, gray hair, I could not more obviously have zero valuables. They stuck their hands back in their pockets. Just gotta get back to my apartment before dark, and everything will be–

THWACK!

Koa's thought was cut short when something hard and heavy slammed into the side of their head, sending the Faunus to the ground.

Their hands were yanked out of their pockets as her arms were twisted behind their back.

Click!

Something metal clamped down on their wrists.

"Stop resisting!"

A boot collided with the back of Koa's head, before they were yanked off the ground and dragged away.

"Should we kill this one?"

"And let the corpse stink up the place?"

Koa was thrown into the back of their patrol car.

"Well, what do you suggest we do instead?" one of the officers asked as he slammed the door shut, barely muffling their voices as Koa's vision cleared and they sat up.

"Isn't it obvious?" the second officer replied, "We sell the stupid mutt to the highest bidder. One less rat on the streets, and we can put the beast in its proper place!"

The tires of the police car screeched as it sped off down the road, without a driver, sending Koa toppling over.

"Sorry about that!" a voice replied from the radio as a seat belt deployed and strapped Koa into place in the backseat, "I know a safe place we can lay low, but we're gonna have to lose our pursuers first."

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Koa shouted as the chain from the handcuffs dug into their back.

"… Scrap, I didn't actually think of how I'd explain this," the voice on the radio replied as police sirens sounded from behind, "Just uh… Hang on a click."

Koa squirmed as they tried to get into a position where the handcuffs weren't digging into their flesh as static came over the radio.

"Prowl, do you have any idea why every cop car in the area appears to be converging on one point?"

"Oh uh, funny story about that Arcee," the voice from the radio, Prowl, answered, "They're all chasing after me."

"WHAT?!"

"I promise, there's a good reason–" Prowl remarked before making a left turn.

"Prowl, why would they be chasing you, when YOU ARE A COP CAR!"

"Maybe it's because he drove off with me?" Koa chimed in.

"… Who was that, Prowl?"

"… So uh… This might be a rescue mission," Prowl replied, before accelerating towards a police barricade, the officers jumping out of the way.

CRASH!

Arcee sighed as patrol cars went flying, the car Koa was seated in remaining completely unscathed.

"Ultra Magnus won't like this."

"Fortunately for me, he can't afford to be picky at the moment," Prowl replied before making a right turn.

Arcee snickered.

"On my way," she announced, "Remember to stick to vehicle mode."

The transmission cut off as the radio switched to playing police chatter.

"Vehicle mode?" Koa questioned.

Prowl sighed.

"I'll explain later," he replied, "This whole thing was very spur of the moment."

CRASH!

"What was that?" Koa asked.

"Oil slick," Prowl answered, "Don't have any way to refill at the moment, but I figured it could help get the current group off our back until Arcee gets here. This kinda thing is kinda her specialty."

.

Prowl, I am going to kill you, Arcee thought as she covered her white and pink paintjob with a black and blue projection, the suit her holomatter driver wore changing from red to blue to match. She was waiting in an alleyway as the sounds of police sirens grew louder.

Prowl, the only car who wasn't sounding a siren, sped by, and Arcee accelerated out to slam into the side of a patrol car, bending the metal and causing it to spin out of control and take out two others. She spun around and decelerated to allow two cars to catch up with her.

When they tried to crush her between them, she accelerated again and let the patrol cars take each other out.

Arcee caught up to Prowl and kept pace with his right side.

"On the next turn, flip your siren on," she ordered, "When they stop chasing you and start passing you, slip into the back and flip your siren off to slip away."

"Got it!" Prowl remarked as Arcee pulled ahead.

"I'm heading to our outpost," she stated, "Meet me there, but do not follow me!"

Arcee made a left turn slipped between a couple of cars and let the projection flicker away to reveal her actual coloration as her holomatter driver reverted to its actual red and white color scheme, before cruising down the road at a more casual and legal speed.


Night fell by the time Prowl pulled into the warehouse.

"Ride's over," Prowl stated as Koa's seatbelt unbuckled and the door to their right opened, "Try and make yourself comfortable, I've got some explaining to do."

Koa climbed out of the back of the patrol car and stepped away to look around the warehouse.

It seemed to mostly be empty, save for a pink and white motorcycle, a toaster, and what appeared to be a minicasette player sitting on a dusty old crate.

"Damn…" Koa remarked, "You live like this?"

"Not living," a voice Koa recognized as Arcee's remarked, "Surviving."

"Huh?" Koa glanced around the empty building, "Do you have some kind of invisibility Semblance?"

"C'mon Arcee, you're the only one with a holomatter projector," Prowl spoke up, "Plus, they heard that 'vehicle mode' comment you made earlier."

The pink and white motorcycle grumbled, but nonetheless unfolded into a pink and white, bipedal robot with red eyes, the two wheels from the motorcycle now sticking out of her back.

"This is your fault by the way," Arcee replied as a wide-eyed Koa felt their blood run cold.

"I wasn't about to let the cops auction them off!" Prowl defended as Koa heard the sound of shifting metal.

The Faunus turned around to see the patrol car in the process of unfolding into a bipedal robot with a red crest on his head and blue eyes on his face.

"I think I need to sit down," a light-headed Koa noted.

"Unfortunately, we don't have any seats for you," another voice chimed in.

Koa turned to face the mini cassette player, which leapt from the crate and unfolded into a red, bipedal robot the same size as Prowl.

"That said, those hand-cuffs do not appear to be comfortable," the newcomer stated, "So perhaps it would be best to resolve that first."

"… I don't think sitting down will suffice anymore," Koa noted, before toppling to the side as everything went dark.


"What were you thinking?!"

Koa groaned as they came to. Their head was laying on their arms, and the chain of the handcuffs had been broken.

"Those officers were going to auction them off," Prowl stated, "I couldn't just sit by and do nothing!"

"Stunts like this are precisely why the Decepticons keep finding us!" a large, blue and red robot shot back, "You didn't just endanger yourself and Arcee, now all of us are in Megatron's crosshairs!"

"So, what are you suggesting we do instead?" Prowl replied, "Just sit back and do nothing? Betray everything we're supposed to stand for!"

"We need to look after our own," the blue and red stated, "Whatever issues these organic things have with each other is not our problem, especially not after their kind has already chosen their side!" The large robot turned away from Prowl. "You are not to leave this base unless I order you to," he continued, "Not until I'm certain I can trust you." The robot's body split open to deposit a smaller (yet still large) white robot that folded into a truck's cab. The larger, blue and red body folded into a trailer and connected to the cab, allowing the other robot to drive away.

"So… I'm a 'thing' now?" Koa asked.

Prowl sighed.

"Sorry about that," he opened, "Ultra Magnus… Hasn't exactly had the best experiences with your species since we crash landed on this planet."

"… What do you mean, 'landed on this planet'?" Koa asked.

"We are autonomous robotic lifeforms, from the planet Cybertron," Prowl answered, "Our species is divided into two factions. Me and my allies are known as 'Autobots', while our enemies, the ones who allied with your military, are the Decepticons."

"… Mistral doesn't have a military," Koa replied as they sat on the floor, cross-legged.

"Then who are the people in white armor who keep helping the Decepticons hunt us down?" Prowl asked.

"Sounds like soldiers from the Atlesian Military," Koa answered, "Mistral gets by just fine with city-based militias, but the Council does prefer having Atlas' troops on call in case of an emergency."

"… Why would Mistral want Atlas' troops on call?"

"Atlas and Mistral have been allies since before the Great War," Koa replied with a shrug, "Both are absolute jackasses to Faunus, so it's not like there's that much of a difference between the two Kingdoms."

Prowl walked over to Koa and sat on the floor, placing his hands on his knees.

"Well, we've been listening in on radio transmissions and police conversations, but this one chat has revealed that we have a lot of gaps in our intel," the Autobot remarked, "Regardless, I don't believe I ever properly introduced myself." He held out a hand. "The name's Prowl."

Koa took hold of the tip of Prowl's index finger.

"I'm Koa, and I'd prefer it if you were to continue using 'they' and 'them' pronouns when talking about me in the future," the Faunus introduced with a somewhat shaky attempt at a handshake, "So then, where would you like me to begin?"

"What's this about a 'Great War'?" Prowl asked.

"Oh! It's all pretty recent," Koa explained, "In the years leading up to it, Mistral and Atlas, which went by Mantle at the time, had a lot of trade deals and mutual defense pacts. Mantle, having been founded by people who fled North to try and get somewhere too cold for the Creatures of Grimm to survive, were left woefully unprepared when Grimm adapted to the cold suddenly attacked their only city. Since Grimm are attracted to negativity, they felt the best way to keep Grimm away would be by banning all forms of art. They got in touch with Mistral's Emperor and suggested doing the same, but they only applied the ban to their outer territories, letting the nobility and imperial family continue to enjoy the art, music, and dances the lower classes and Faunus were forbidden from partaking in.

"74 years ago, Mistral wanted to settle some of the land on Eastern Saunus. In spite of his people's very sensible concerns, the King of Vale agreed to share those lands, hoping to avoid conflict. He had naively believed this would deescalate the tension between the two Kingdoms, it didn't take long until the local Valeans and invading Mistralis started killing each other, resulting in Mantle getting involved to help Mistral displace the locals and take their land.

"You don't seem to have the most flattering views of your own people," Prowl remarked.

"As far as Mistral is concerned," Koa started before pointing at their Koala ears, "These mean that I am not one of them.

"Now, the Mistrali and Mantlites would kill all of the humans and adult Faunus, while taking the Faunus' children back to be sold as slaves.

"Vacuo tried to stay out of the war, but when Mantle and Mistral tried to intimidate Vacuo into allying with them against Vale, the Vacuans slaughtered the invading troops and hung the corpses out to dry on the city walls as a warning.

"This lead to Mantle and Mistral moving in to destroy Vacuo, and Vale sent in troops to help protect Vacuo from their common enemies.

"64 years ago, after a decade of fighting, and the largest Grimm attack in recorded history, the King of Vale stood triumphant, with the monarchs of the other three Kingdoms kneeling before him out of sheer mortal terror.

"Instead of taking over the world, he abolished the monarchy, and replaced it with the democratic Council System all four Kingdoms used, in addition to outlawing slavery in the Vytal Accords, and establishing the Huntsmen system that now serves as the primary means of defense for our Kingdoms.

"Then, all four Kingdoms went and tried to exile their Faunus populations to the desolate island of Menagerie, resulting in a second war that ended about 57 years ago," Koa finished.

"So, what's a Faunus?" Arcee questioned, prompting Koa to jump.

"How the Hell did you sneak up on me?" Koa asked, "You're three times my size and made of metal!"

"Trade secret," Arcee replied with a wink.

Koa sighed.

"Anyways, to answer your question, Remnant's got two intelligent races inhabiting it," the Faunus answered, "Humans make up the majority of the population, while I'm a Faunus. You can tell the difference because us Faunus each have a single animal feature. In my case, it would be these koala ears, but what the features are or where they're located very from Faunus to Faunus.

"Even after the revolution started, we're still seen as second class citizens in most parts of the world, in case that little display Prowl witnessed wasn't evidence enough."

"Display?"

"Two security officers assaulted Koa here in front of dozens of witnesses, and nobody reacted," Prowl answered.

"Huh…" Arcee remarked.

"That's pretty typical, actually," Koa stated, "The system has liked to pin the blame for everything that could possibly go wrong on us Faunus. Like, back when it was legal to keep Faunus as property, farms that used Faunus slave labor were attacked by Grimm more often than farms that didn't. This is because Grimm are drawn to negativity, and ask any survivor of that era, and they'll tell you that being a slave was absolutely miserable. But the conclusion the humans typically came to was that some of their slaves must've been summoning the Grimm on purpose out of spite, which lead to various communities rounding up all their Faunus and burning them at the stake, at which point their rage and hatred would attract more Grimm, which lead to the survivors fleeing to other communities to 'warn' them of the 'threat' we allegedly posed, which lead to more purges and more Grimm attacks, because they would do absolutely anything to excuse their abhorrent behavior!"

"And what exactly are these 'Grimm'?" the red mini-cassette player that Koa hadn't realized was still there chimed in.

"They're those shadowy monsters with the boney armors and red eyes that prowl the wilderness beyond the Kingdom's borders," Koa explained, "Y'know, those nightmarish creatures that kill humans, Faunus, and everything we make, and also don't leave behind corpses when they die? Those things!"

"Ah! So that's what they're called," the mini-cassette player declared before unfolding into a robot roughly the same size as Prowl, "Good to finally have a name for them, I think you two should go and get the others!"

The robot's chest opened and ejected two cassettes, which in turn unfolded into two more bipedal robots and ran off.

"Where are they going?" Koa asked.

"To fetch the others," the red robot replied, before sitting down, "I think it would be best if we got everyone present so we only have to repeat all this valuable information when Ultra Magnus gets back, and Eject and Rewind can cover more ground than I can."

Koa blinked.

"Okay…" they stated, "How many of you should I expect?"


Ultra Magnus pulled back into the warehouse and unfolded into robot mode with a sigh.

"Alright Blaster, I've got our escape route planned, gather the troops and–" Blaster wasn't where he left him. "Blaster?"

"Over here! Sir!" the communications officer called.

Ultra Magnus turned to his left to see Blaster, Arcee, Prowl, J-422, Hubcap, Blurr, Springer, Eject, and Rewind all seated around something that was apparently very interesting.

"Anyways, because he didn't bother educating himself on Faunus biology, he didn't know some of us had night vision, and so believed that the darkness of night would be the only cover he needed," a voice Ultra Magnus didn't recognize continued, "So to the sentries keeping watch at night, Legume might as well have been walking right up to the walls in broad daylight! So he wound up getting ambushed instead, and the rest is history!"

"What in the world are you lot doing?" Ultra Magnus asked as he approached the group.

"Koa here was telling us about this planet's history and culture," Eject answered.

"Did you know that the organics with extra kibble are actually a separate race than the ones without?" Rewind questioned, "It would seem that our original theory about the kibble-less organics suffering from some kind of deformity was incorrect."

"Who the Pit is Koa?"

"That would be me, Mr. Ultra Magnus, sir!" a voice chimed in as Blaster and Hubcap leaned out of the way to make the organic lifeform Prowl had rescued visible, "I was just filling in Prowl on some important information you guys will need if you want to survive here, and the others just kinda piled in."

"Sir, it would appear that this planet is actually divided into four separate factions, even if they are not actively at war," Hubcap brought up as he turned to face Ultra Magnus, "Megatron might not have as strong a foothold as we originally thought!"

"I mean, there's a fifth if we count Menagerie!" Koa reminded the large, yellow Autobot.

"And why is this lifeform so willing to share all this sensitive information?" Ultra Magnus questioned.

"Dude… I'm right here and you just heard my name," Koa replied, "And to answer your question, none of this is really secret. At all. I've mostly been sharing things just about anyone could find out by walking into a public library and checking out a children's book. Which, I guess wouldn't really be an option for you guys, all things considered."

"Regardless," Ultra Magnus stated, "We need to get going soon! We don't know how long we have to get out before they find us, and we still have no idea what their new tech is! And I doubt Prowl's new pet will be much help in that regard."

"… Excuse me?!" Koa growled.

"Erm! Please avoid animal-related comments towards Koa!" Prowl remarked, "That'd be like the equivalent of a Quintesson calling you an appliance!"

"What's a Quintesson?"

"I'll tell you later," Arcee remarked.

"There won't be a later!" Ultra Magnus insisted, "We need to get going as soon as possible!"

"After you get rid of these cuffs, right?" Koa questioned as they held their wrists up, "Because if a cop sees a Faunus like me wearing broken handcuffs, I will die."

"Not my problem," Ultra Magnus stated.

"Oh, but I can solve that for you!" Eject stated, before walking up to Koa and fiddling with the cuffs.

"Uh, sir, may I have a quick word with you?" Blaster requested.


"What do you want, Blaster?" Ultra Magnus asked as soon as they were standing a little ways away from the others.

"Sir, with all due respect, I think you're being unfair to Koa here," Blaster remarked, "From what Prowl and Arcee have seen, they have no reason to betray us, and they've so far been taking this in stride."

"And how do you know that little arrest wasn't staged?" Ultra Magnus asked, "It could've been a Decepticon trick to get Prowl to blow his cover."

"Sir, with all due respect, I think you're letting your paranoia get the better of you," Blaster stated, "Megatron would not have the resources to pull that off, and even if he could, how many 'fake arrests' do you think he'd have to pull off in one day on the off chance that Prowl would see one of them?"

Ultra Magnus growled.

"Look, I want the humans who sided with Megatron to pay, but I'm not about to write off the entire SPECIES over the actions of a select few members of their ruling class!" Blaster replied, "Would you suggest that we burn this whole planet to the ground and wipe their species from the face of the universe?"

"Of course not!" Ultra Magnus shouted, "Why the Pit would you even suggest that possibility?"

"Because you've been acting like these people are genetically coded to be evil!" Blaster replied, "Given what started this war in the first place, you can probably imagine why I'm not too comfortable with that implication."

Ultra Magnus opened his mouth to protest, but no words came out.

"Point taken," he conceded, "But I still don't think it's a good idea to get so attached to someone who we're going to be leaving behind soon!"

"Erm, excuse me!" a small voice chimed in. Ultra Magnus sighed and turned to face the Faunus Prowl had taken back to their base.

"What do you want?" he growled.

"The others haven't told me much, just the vague, broad strokes of your situation," the Faunus replied, "And well, some bits of it sound painfully familiar, so I wanted to know…" Their face steeled. "Where do I sign up to join you?"

"… Excuse me?" Ultra Magnus replied.

"I might not have my Aura unlocked, or know how to hold a weapon, or even have any combat experience whatsoever," The Faunus replied, "But I can go to places you guys can't. I can get information from people you can't speak to in places beyond your reach. I can help with getting intel, or spare parts, or whatever else you need that you can't get without blowing your cover, all without anyone tracing it back to you!" Koa looked Ultra Magnus right in the optic. "I might not know these 'Decepticons', but I do know Atlas, and if they're working together, it'll only end up hurting my people in the long run, so please… Let me help you save both our homes!"

Ultra Magnus stared down at the Faunus.

"Okay then, you can come along," Ultra Magnus stated, "But we don't have any means of caring for an organic lifeform."

Koa stared at him blankly.

"Then why do you have a toaster?" Koa asked as they held up the contraption in question.

"How did you know my name?" Toaster replied.

Koa shrieked and dropped the disguised Autobot.


a/n: And done! We were originally going to get some more Ironwood content, but couldn't find way to naturally transition back to it from the Autobot content.

Speaking of, meet Koa! No, their name isn't a koala pun. It's one of the names the RWBY Name Generator gave me that I didn't use back in Chapter 2. It's based off of the color "Deep Koamaru". What's Deep Koamaru? It's a shade of dull blue. The koala bit came later, as a result of the name.

The car chase was inspired by some of the earliest trailers we got for Rise of the Beats, but with Prowl in Mirage's role.

And now for reviews:

Z-King: The question is which of the three versions of that scientist we've gotten over the years will end up having the most influence on him.

Next time, we get the Ironwood stuff that was supposed to be in this one!