Author's Note: PTSD has been a lot more active this fall than last fall, so I'm going to try to keep my head above water. I've had advance warning from my brain with upcoming trauma anniversaries, which has been annoying, but at least it's not the usual carpet-bombing. So please be patient with me across social media for the time being; I'm avoiding it to prevent meltdowns, which take up far too much time in my life. Also, I shitpost on Tumlbr. So yeah. Enjoy that in the meanwhile.

.o.

The warehouse that Megatron, Soundwave, and Flamewar had tried to sneak off to had become the gathering place for all present Primes and Protectorates. Elita and Hot Rod called in from where they had stopped for the night, just over the Canadian border, with Mikayla on audio only until her nanites could be upgraded to support an external hologram device.

In the center of the warehouse was a holographic display of the solar system, with Cybertron highlighted in yellow. Its orbit was still stabilizing, but Soundwave's calculations for letting it create an orbit without Earth or Mars sweeping by it had been spot-on, even in the midst of battle. Blaster was still detailing the specifics from what the Mars base could scan, but it looked like they could begin recolonization within the Terran year with certain considerations. Ratchet, in his anxiety, had turned to continue more repairs on the nearest mech, who turned out to be Megatron. He couldn't do anything for Optimus' arm until they had a forge going to rebuild a strut. And even though he knew that he might have to undo some of his work, he had to do something with his hands before he broke into keens.

Finally silent, Blaster looked across the gathered mechs and femmes. "I don't know what else to say. It's home. It's there. And the solar collectors are flowering."

"They what?" Optimus hissed, taking a half-step closer. "They're already gathering?"

"Affirmative. I can't log in to any of my old systems, but my estimate is that we have about two percent power, accounting for damaged power bank systems."

"We should send a team to scout and assess the damages, Optimus," Megatron murmured into the silence. "Time has been Cybertron's consistent foe, and the actions of the war hastened the decay."

Optimus pulled up another window. When the other side answered, he nodded a greeting. "Primal."

"Prime," the Maximal replied warmly but seemingly already ready for taking action. "Rattrap has been hacking and keeping up with the Detroit events and we saw the double-bridge. Where is Cybertron?"

"Gaining a stable orbit between Sol-Three and Sol-Four."

"Frag me, I wasn't expecting it to be that close. Not a bad idea. Who put it there?"

"Soundwave."

With a nod, Primal looked at all those gathered, nodding slowly. "What do you need from us?"

"I want your entire team ready to attend an expedition. Your mission is to assess Cybertron with an integrated group of former Autobots and Decepticons and report your findings. You may need to adjust your alt-modes for this, and we have plenty of Energon and nanite programmers available for the refits."

"I want to know how soon we can return, what resources we will need to find to rebuild, and the state of each of the main solar collectors," Megatron added, smoothly easing into the conversation. He seemed to struggle with himself, but continued at Optimus' gentle nudge. "Will you have any trouble working with high-ranking members of my former faction?"

"None," Dinobot replied from off-screen. "It would be beneficial to the publicity to see former factions working together; I will assist where necessary, Lord Protector."

Optimus looked to Megatron. "I wish it could be us returning first."

Megatron nodded. He, too, felt the draw, the pull, to walk upon their homeworld again.

But their duties.

"It is safer for those with long experience at scouting potentially-hazardous planets to go."

Sam knew exactly who they were going to send, and he could feel the mixed reaction. "May I suggest a team?"

The human's voice seemed to startle the mechs into remembering that they had human counterparts. Megatron gestured for The Boy to continue. Sam kept himself from giving away his chosen few. "The entire Maximal team in Africa, Bumblebee, Barricade, First Aid, Soundwave, Flamewar, and you two. Optimus and Megatron."

"I'm needed here, Sam," Optimus protested. "So is Megatron."

"No, you're not." Sam stood firm, facing down his brother Prime. "You have Prowl and Jazz to maintain a command presence here, and they were civil employees before the War. Your planet just entered our solar system and you and Megatron will soon be facing many humans wanting Cybertronians removed from Earth. By showing that you are willing to work together now, with the plans to return as many Cybertronians home is going to show a lot of people that you are willing to leave if there is that demand."

"And what of you?" Elita asked over her transmission. "What about those humans like you who are of both worlds?"

"I don't have to make that decision today," Sam replied softly, brown gaze sharpening. "But I assure you, I take my duty as AllSpark Prime very seriously. I will not fail Cybertron again. You are my people." He turned to Ratchet. "Get your medical team together and let's get all those going on the scouting mission ready ASAP."

:Look at what you've done, Optimus,: Megatron said proudly as Ratchet affirmed the order, not even pausing as he began preparations. :Look at the strong young Mech you've fostered.:

:You've assisted in his maturation.:

:I'm aware. But it was your direct mentorship that has brought him this strength.:

:Thank you, Megatron.:

:Are you ready to return home?:

:I am. Are you?:

Megatron blinked once, then looked over the gathered faces. :I believe that I am.:

.o.

Ironhide was beginning to really gain more clarity again, his Spark strengthening and his processors no longer running through defrag-reset-defrag-recategorize-defrag-Primusfuckthisshit-defrag-reset. He had a setup similar to what had sustained Jetfire in the medical bay of their new base in Canada, which helped him stay aware of his surroundings while vulnerable. He was watching First Aid continue work on building his new frame, but when the young mech stopped mid-motion, it worried him. "Oh."

Peace Quibbley and Mikayla Banes stopped as well, both looking up at their mentor and friend. "Oh?" they chorused.

"We'll have some incoming mechs for repair, refit, and possibly even re-framing coming in." Most of the largest mechs and femmes had reformatted their alt modes into sturdy trucks that could tow trailers for the journey north. Because of that, they had almost a full medbay, including a lot of spare parts and proto-frames ready. He began mentally tallying up what they had and what they'd need from their production facility on Mars.

"Who fucked themselves up?" Mikayla asked, taking a seat on the edge of the berth and pulling up a blank holo-screen in preparation. She and Peace had complementary interests. While Peace loved repairing, she loved helping design upgrades and refits.

"Well, I just got the advance scouting list from Ratchet." He threw up a hologram of the team returning to Cybertron, including himself at the last moment.

Optimus Prime. Megatron. Bumblebee. Barricade. Soundwave. Flamewar. "Optimus" Primal. Rhinox. Cheetor. Rattrap. Dinobot.

Himself.

He felt wholly inadequate for this mission. Ratchet would be a better choice, but nobody had insisted that Sam choose the Prime for some reason. He stared at the holograms, unsure of where to start.

The gravelly voice of the old Guard rendered stationary on a countertop interrupted his panic, voice calm and in control. "Uplink with Ratchet and Wheeljack. Prioritize Optimus and Megatron over my own frame-design; I won't be cleared for another Earth year for active duty. Update the holograms with current scans, see what must be done, what has been done, and what Ratchet is planning on doing before they arrive here. Deactivate most or all of the oxygen-utilizing systems, since we don't know what sort of atmosphere Cybertron has anymore. Add antigravs and propulsion stabilizers in case the gravity has changed."

First Aid was moving with each new command from Ironhide, grateful that the old mech knew what he was talking about after millennia around Ratchet. He updated Optimus' hologram first, then Megatron's with a hesitation. He still couldn't find it in himself to not know how to handle this situation. His own pain and prejudices kept interfering with his medical coding. Hands trembling, he stopped halfway through, unable to process, caught in a loop—

"First Aid."

Trembling, the mech looked up, into dark blue optics that seemed so much more older than they were this morning. "Rodimus."

Blinking once, the mech pulled his friend into an embrace, one hand cradling both of the medic's against a warm Spark, and the other hand protecting the back of his neck, pressing their cheeks together. "It's okay, Aid. You don't have to work on Megatron. Mikayla can work on all of the former 'Cons."

"He-he hurt so many—"

"I know, little brother. I know. He hurt Bee. He hurt Optimus. He hurt Jazz. He was hacked, Aid. He couldn't break the compulsion programming that drove him insane. Soundwave's working on sending out what he's calling 'routine programming patches' that will put active-Cons into a stasis lock until we can get some of our people to work on individual cases. We have to help our fallen brothers, and it's not going to be easy." Rodimus, now much more comfortable with his new name, didn't let his medic go for a long, long time. Long enough that when they pulled apart, stars shone through the skylight.

Ironhide's voice was soft. "You gonna be okay, bratling?"

"I-I don't know. I have to be around him?"

"You won't be alone. And Sam wouldn't have chosen you if he didn't feel that you were capable of being professional." Ironhide's voice turned wry. "You don't have to like him, after all. You just have to work around him."

Rodimus smiled and sighed. "I'm jealous, you know. Even though it's a ruin of a world, I want to go home. And you get to be there before me. But this is gonna be tough."

First Aid nodded, looking down at his hands, still held within one of Rodimus'. Pulling his gaze back up, he viewed the holograms, now with notations in English about upgrade suggestions from both Mikky and Peace. Apparently, they had continued their work while he had been comforted by one of his closest friends.

A red X crossed out the entirety of the Lord Protector.

"What?"

"He needs a full refit according to Ratchet, who will supervise the production and procedure when he gets here. He's already sent the parts lists and redundant systems lists to Wheeljack."

"Oh."

"It's okay to have anxiety about this, you know."

First Aid shot Rodimus a withering glare. "Excuse you?"

"Uh, have you seen my psych profile? It hasn't changed much since I got the Matrix, bro. I'm a ball of anxious misery if I have too much time to think about situations. The Prime-Cloud helps, and the Primes-Past also do a lot to help me even out my mental shit, but seriously. You're Cybertronian; you're allowed to have emotions and be anxious and all that shit."

"Wow. Get out of my medbay."

Laughing, his work done, Rodimus trotted to the doors, paused, grinned, and said, "On the other hand, because we're settled and it's a Saturday, I get a vacation to test out those new mods."

"Primus."

"I'll let you know if Mikayla finds them as pleasing for her pleasure as my own self-exploration has proven to be."

"OUT!"

.o.

Sam choked on his coffee, staring in shock at Will, who must have just gotten the same update and was looking just as stunned. "Oh gawd."

Carly blinked up from her toast. "Whuh?" She hadn't yet gotten all of the communications upgrades for her nanites, but she had the feeling that this was something through the Cloud, rather than via nanite-transmission.

"Well, we knew it was only a matter of time before a human and a Cybertronian fucked each other senseless and the local medic threw a fit about it. I just wasn't expecting my ex-girlfriend to be that human."

The British woman blinked.

Soundwave tipped his head to one side after enjoying another sip of some solar mid-grade. Ratchet was going to continue dosing him with a blend of metals and minerals within the Energon for some time to come. After all, the centuries of malnutrition and his recent Trine Bonding had naturally stripped some of his stores away. "Intriguing concept to share physical pleasure without the addition of the mental aspects and requirements that Cybertronian intimacy is based upon."

"Nope," Sam shook his head. "I'm not caffeinated enough for this shit." He downed his coffee, waited for Carly to finish her first mug, then went to get another, is mutter fading with his retreat. "Not against it, just can't process it this early in the morning."

Carly shrugged. "I don't see a problem with it. I know that Sam is still a little weirded-out by the mental gymnastics you use for pleasure because he's hetero as hell and feelin' swell—"

"Damn right, babe!"

"—but I wouldn't mind it if it was available to me. And gender is a fucking social construct you absolute wingnut."

Lennox blinked slowly over the rim of his mug before lowering it. "Should I remove myself from this conversation? Not that I disagree with you, Carly, but . . ."

Ratchet settled himself down beside Soundwave, pulling up a hologram for Barricade's optics. The young mech had requested a cranial upgrade that would include a visor almost identical to Jazz's own and upgraded doorwings that would reflect Prowl's influence in his creation. He ambled in, no longer high off his gourd from the neuro-patches, and sat to Soundwave's other side. Lennox blinked. "I've got a question that's been a long time coming. Years in coming, actually."

"Sounds like me if I don't get enough foreplay," Carly muttered, then clapped a hand over her mouth in shock.

Sam quietly wheezed with laughter over at the Keurig machine, holding onto the countertop for balance.

Head falling onto crossed arms, Carly's muffled voice clarified, "I'm demisexual."

"Demi-what?" Lennox asked.

"I'm on the asexual spectrum. So I don't feel sexual attraction unless I have an emotional connection with someone and feel intellectual attraction as well." She pulled her head up and took the coffee mug from Sam, who leaned in and kissed her forehead before sitting down again, stealing a piece of toast and getting his hand swatted in retribution. Carly sighed. "So I really understand the Cybertronians' form of attraction to one another. That's what Sam and I were quibbling about."

"Does that mean my Consort may one day up and fuck a mech?" Sam teased. This had been a conversation they'd had privately many times. "I think it do~oes," he sing-songed.

She razzed at him. "Only if you're there, handsome."

Will was trying not to inhale his coffee with his snort of laughter, but it was a close thing. He set it down. "Okay, okay, but really, I have a nonsexual question to bring up with Soundwave and Barricade." He raised his mug to them both, getting a raised cube of Energon in return. "What was the deal with Frenzy hanging out with Barricade?"

"Insanity," Soundwave replied softly, taking a step forward. "We . . . hm." He looked to his younger counterpart, who had silicon patches and a strop of cloth holding them against where his optics had been to keep the repaired sockets as clean as possible. "Barricade?"

"This is your story, Prime," the Protectorate murmured softly.

Nodding once, Soundwave took a seat at the end of the table, Laserbeak crawling off his shoulder and draping himself across both Carly's and Sam's laps before settling into a light recharge. "My symbionts do not have the same kinds of processors that mechs of my size do. To them, the compulsory coding created by Shockwave had to be modified and installed with my own updates. Which I believe is why I was able to isolate and begin untangling it faster, as he had to write my code differently than how he wrote code for the rest of the Decepticon army. Shockwave did not understand everything about the symbiont-master relationship, thinking that it was processor-only. I do not have the medical training to explain all of the how behind it—"

A hologram came to life, provided by Ratchet. "It's a series of factors of connection. Processor-Spark in duality. They are literally part of Soundwave in all ways, if not formed directly from his Spark as . . ." His face dropped.

"Kindling. Like what Jetfire had told us he was. Kindled without the use of the AllSpark," Sam whispered. "Holy shit. I knew that I was forgetting something!"

"Mute it! We'll get back to that!" Ratchet looked back at Soundwave. "There's no real English word for his frame-type and culture outside of 'Carrier.' Either party may court one another to test for suitability, but once the match is made, it's very difficult to undo. It involves several hardware connections that are unique to each Carrier and a Spark-bond that is somewhere between a brother-bond and a relationship-bond out of necessity. The smaller mechs can survive for a long time without a Carrier, but . . . they start to lose themselves."

"We believed that we had lost Rumble, Frenzy's frame-twin, and a mech that Frenzy loved dearly, more than he loved me." Soundwave took the narrative again. "We did not know that Blaster was working with others of the Kin, what we call our frame-type and culture, to preserve every Symbiont that they came across that didn't have an attending Carrier. Their goal was and is to repair and sustain until such a time that we have more Carriers available to host all the Symbionts."

Sam's face paled. "Ravage."

"My oldest and dearest. He's alive, thanks to the quick work of a very sneaky medic."

Ratchet grinned broadly. "He wasn't easy, but he was actually in a better situation than Frenzy, when we found that dumb slagger."

"Wandering headless in the Hoover Dam," Barricade snorted. "The AllSpark saw that he had a penchant for getting his head taken off and redesigned him to have his Spark elsewhere in his body."

"Which is why the head we saw in Simmons' basement was inert?" Lennox asked.

"What head in my basement?"

Laserbeak's head snapped up.

Soundwave bristled, the hum of weaponry trying to activate vibrating his armor.

Lennox froze.

Simmons took in the body-language of everyone in the mess hall (really, it was a large room in an old convention center with lots of windows to let natural light in) and realized that he should probably start wheeling himself back the way that he had come in.

Jazz slid through the doors, avoiding Simmons with a deft ease, for once not entirely poised. "Mechs! C'mere! We got touch-down!"

"Already?!" Sam and Will chorused, dropping everything and running after the small Prime.

Carly scooped Laserbeak up into one arm, reaching up with the other to take Soundwave's hand, tugging on it gently. "You can eviscerate him when you're not angry. You have the time to. I'll sell popcorn. Come on, Prime; you're going to want to see who has come to help us."

"His is a face I know from Frenzy's last transmission."

Simmons paled and he began trying harder to speed out of there. He had learned more about the symbionts since first encountering them, and had just realized who Frenzy was beholden to. "Ohshit."

"He's going to regret a lot of his actions from that time. Let's go."

She led Soundwave out of the room, out of the old convention center and into the sunlight. Once they were on the street with a pack of mechs milling and greeting each other about fifty feet away. She launched Laserbeak expertly with both hands, standing back as a mob detached itself, booking it towards Soundwave.

They were led by Rumble and Frenzy.

Keening, dropping to his knees, Soundwave drew his little twins up against his chest with his left arm, face open and showing his complete shock. Ravage trotted over, still with a limp, and carefully stood on his hind legs to push his face against his Carrier's, Sparks reaching out automatically to renew their bond as he was cradled at the mech's right side. Buzzclaw and Ratbat danced with Laserbeak, weaving around each other in spirals too dizzying to watch for long before they dropped down, Laserbeak taking his customary perch on Soundwave's right shoulder, Buzzclaw draping himself over Soundwave's left shoulder, and Ratbat literally flopping to a stop over Soundwave's helm.

Carly knew that local news cameras, which always flocked to seeing new mechs, were capturing this moment. She smiled up at the openly-weeping face as his hands continued to stroke the helms of the family he thought he had lost. They hadn't wanted to get his hopes up that any of his symbionts were ready for spaceflight so early. The last couple of weeks had really given the Cybertronians in Detroit enough time to see that Soundwave was as close to his old, pre-hacked self as one could be in their situation. He was trustworthy. He had given of himself, and so it was only the compassionate thing to do to bring his family back to him.

Blaster strode up behind the human Consort, his own pack of miscreants bouncing and happy at shis heels to see this reunion, Autobot insignia still very much on display until such a time he was ready to remove it. He crouched beside Carly. "So I have you to thank for keeping Laserbeak sane after Soundwave found the hack. He needed a lot of recharge, and your attention to his frame with grooming and Spark with your friendship stabilized him. For a human, you have the soul of the Kin."

She blushed, looking down before smiling back up at the brightly-enameled mech. "Well, the little bug grew on me. He's dangerous, all of you are, but we had figured out a truce before his coding had been cleansed."

Said little bug swooped down, spiraled around the female in warning, then backpacked onto her with a trill. "She is Kin?"

"I believe so, with all my Spark," Soundwave murmured. "She is Kin."

Blaster drew himself up, making a series of gestures across his Spark, ending with his hands palm-up in a symbol of welcome. "Sister: welcome."

The harmonics underlying the English words brought tears to Carly's eyes, and she smiled, reaching up to take Blaster's offered fingertip in a human handshake. Sam was greeting the other mechs, making sure to make the rounds in a way that helped to give them this moment of relative privacy.

But Soundwave sent a tug to him through the Cloud.

When Sam reached his "younger" brother's side, he bumped his shoulder against the silver hip before moving around to smile up at Ravage. "You're the scariest motherfucker in the Tribe. I will try not to piss myself if we cross paths at night. No promises."

The cat preened, face having been redesigned to be a little more "friendly" as he bowed it in thanks for the praise. And Sam smiled up at Frenzy. "Hey, you. We good?"

"W-we g-g-g-goooood! What happened other girl?"

"She's assigned to another group."

"Good. Crazy bitch."

Wheelie laughed and Brains snickered. Sam thumbed at his Younglings. "They keep saying the same thing, but she was technically hacked, too. So she was just as crazy as you were."

Frenzy dropped down off of Soundwave's chest, staring up at Sam. "W-wait. She w-w-w-was h-hacked?"

"Yeah."

"Who? Shockwave? H-how? He w-w-w-wasn't on Earth yet."

"Me, acting on Shockwave's orders."

Frenzy stared up at his Carrier in broken dismay, but must have realized the entirety of the situation. Rumble gave the reply. "You fucked up, boss."

Soundwave didn't deny anything. "I did. We have all done terrible things. I will be paying atonement for the evils I have perpetuated for many decades to come."

"But some of us are willing and able to give you mechs a second chance," Sam replied firmly. "And so far, you're proving that the chance wasn't given in vain." Brains tugged on his jeans, and was swung up into an embrace and forehead-boop while Wheelie tried to look like the tough Youngling he was trying to be. Sam reached down and scruffed him for the same treatment, getting a few whines, but a snuggle afterwards.

"Only way to go is forward." Sam smiled up at the mechs, Carly coming around with Laserbeak still around her shoulders. Ratbat, the youngest of the bunch, was sliding down to try to get closer to her, wanting to know more about this human female that was now Kin.

Despite Soundwave telegraphing his movements, both were surprised at the careful embrace that they were pulled into. Ravage curled against the backs of their thighs as Soundwave kept them close to his Spark, pinning Ratbat against his chest with the humans against his wings. "Thank you, AllSpark Prime, for giving me my family and Kin back."

"You're welcome, Silent Prime. I am happy to feel the continued healing of your Spark."

The morning passed in a very public puddle of happy mechs and humans soaking in the sunshine and ignoring the cameras and phones pointing their way. Reporters weren't allowed across the fence, and after the first hour, they stopped yelling questions when nobody paid them any attention. Sometimes a medic would call one out to get a repair done, sometimes a mech would just wander over and join the sprawl.

What got the media's attention was when the "command" group of mechs that the media had singled out had joined in the tangle just before noon. Sam and Carly had been spending time around each Spark, Sam doing his work as AllSpark and AllSpark Priest whenever the mech seemed receptive. He reached over to touch his hand to Megatron's, then Optimus' offered fingers.

And then he stared up at their silence.

"You're coming to Cybertron with us, Sam. We need you."

.o.

Author's Note: This kinda came out of nowhere. I had questions that I needed to answer, one of which was "why was Frenzy with Barricade?" What was supposed to be about 1k words turned into what you've just read. So almost 4500 words. Sorry not sorry.

Song is: "What the Water Gave Me" by Florence + The Machine