Transformers MHA, Arc 2: Earthrise

by The Omni-Remnant

After a rather intense adventure and the U.A. Sports Festival approaching fast, Izuku and his friends have two important things to do; improve their Quirks in time for the festival… and hide a bunch of giant alien robots. That proves to be easier said than done, especially when enemies on Earth and from beyond the stars end up coming for them…

20. Students and Masters

A/N: Morning, one and all! Welcome back to the story and oh boy, do we have an interesting chapter here today for all of you. We teased it back in the last chapter, but now it's time to get into what the U.A. Teachers REALLY think of what the students have been doing over the past couple of weeks. And we're gonna be getting a bit more context on Arcee's past with Shadow Striker as well, so how about we just jump right into it, hm? This is…

Chapter 20: Students and Masters

…..

~The Darksyde; Five Hours Earlier~

Starscream stood in front of the bridge's control console, its large monitor shining upon him as he reviewed the footage that their probe had retrieved for them. As much as it annoyed him that the probe couldn't locate the Autobot's base due to all of the signal dampening technology they were using, it at least had SOME uses. 'It HAS to be somewhere in the vicinity of THIS city, but WHERE?!' he shouted frustratingly in his head. Well, that didn't matter at the moment. What WAS important was footage he was reviewing right now; that of their enemies in the U.A. parking lot. They were in the middle of a discussion, and in particular, one point had piqued his interest…

"So that means I'm not afraid to ask this either; would you like to go on a little date with me tonight?" the dark-haired woman asked… of Bumblebee of all bots. "If memory serves, I made an offer to show you around to a few fun places I know, so I would like to make due on that. So, what do you say, big boy? Wanna take a chance?"

"Hm… an outing, eh? Sounds interesting…" Starscream noted.

"Ooh, whatcha lookin' at dere, bud?"

"GAH!" Starscream jumped around and raised his hands, only to be met by a cackling Swift. "Grr… DON'T do that!"

Swift merely smiled cheekily as her laughter died down a bit. "Hehe, why not?"

Starscream deadpanned at her, placing his hands on his hips. "Because I'm the commander of this vessel and I said so."

The green Decepticon merely waved her hand at him. "Aw, you're no fun, Screamer. Besides, I wanted your opinion on my Canadian accent. It's kinda grown on me actually." She swung her arm and gave him a wink. "A real hum-dinger of an accent, doncha know, eh?"

"If you continue to use that accent, I WILL blast your head off." Starscream growled as he turned back to the monitor. "I have no time for this. I'm busy researching what the probe brought back for us today."

"Any luck with locating their base?" Swift asked, shifting back into serious mode.

The Seeker commander shook his head, not taking his optics off the screen. "No, but it DID bring back some interesting footage." He pointed up to Midnight, making Swift raise a curious brown. "THAT woman has offered to take Bumblebee on an outing tonight. I would assume she has no idea of his true nature."

"Hm… interesting." Swift put a hand to her chin. "Any idea who she is?"

VWOOM! "Says here her name is Midnight."

"AAAH!" Both Decepticons shouted as high as their vocal processors would allow, with Starscream jumping up and landing in Swift's arms. The copter bot spun around… and saw none other than Nightra standing behind them, with her personal hacking interface pulled up along with a small monitor. "Oh, for fragging—does ANYONE use the actual DOORS around here?!" Starscream exclaimed.

Nightra just smirked up to them. "Hey, I did use the door. You just didn't hear me come in before my cloaker ran out."

The duo deadpanned at her before Swift promptly dropped Starscream like a ton of bricks, placing her hands on her hips. "Okay, Nightra, so who IS this "Midnight", then?"

"Ow."

"Seems she's a teacher at that educational facility." Nightra explained as she pulled up more screens, containing the woman's personal file. "Nemuri Kayama, also known as the R-Rated Heroine, "Midnight". Apparently, her… Quirk is the ability to put people to sleep with the powerful pheromones she emits from her skin." Starscream picked himself off the ground, listening intently with Swift as Nightra went on. "Men are more susceptible to her power, and she's got a very kinky personality. This usually leads to the bad guys she faces getting… whipped into shape."

Swift sneered at that last part. "Eugh, organics and their… mating rituals disgust me. Bathing in the light of your chosen one's spark is a WHOLE lot more tasteful. And less messy."

Nightra simply shrugged it off. "Hm, well, seems like either way, she's got a little crush on B-127 there."

Starscream facepalmed and groaned. "Urgh, like I told you, Nightra, he goes by the name "Bumblebee" now. I suggest you update your files on it… despite how nonsensical of a name it is…" The Seeker commander faced back toward the screen as Nightra did just that, taking note that Bumblebee had accepted the "date" for 5:30 in the evening. "Hm… but perhaps, this little outing could make for a good opportunity. If we were to capture those two and propose an ultimatum, then Optimus would have no choice but to reveal the location of the Autobot base!" He glanced back toward the magenta femme with a raised brow. "Where is Shadow Striker?"

"Bonjour."

"GYAAAAH!" Starscream stumbled back as the assassin in question lowered down from the ceiling, once again hanging from her own grappling hook by her leg. His right optic twitched and he threw his hands up. "WHY?! Why does NO one come in through the door?!"

"Commander, I have been in here for several mega-cycles." Shadow Striker swung down and landed on her feet, placing a hand on her hip. "And I have overheard everything…" Her lips curled into an eager smirk and she rubbed her thumb and forefinger together. "I heard zat you needed a little bug to be… squished?"

"Ahem, er, yes, you could say that." Starscream straightened himself out, folding his hands behind his back as he gave Shadow a skeptic gaze. "That is, if you think you can handle it."

Shadow Striker placed a hand over her chest, bowing her head to him. "Oui, I am certain I can." she affirmed, her self-assuredness evident in her voice. "However, we must also plan for any Autobot resistance zat may follow little "Bumblebee". After all, I doubt zat he would accept an outing with zis human woman without planning for our interference."

Nightra rubbed her thumb on her chin, finding interest in the strategy. "Ooh, plot around THEIR planning! Good thinking, Shadow. Want me to come along?"

However, the sniper shook her head at this. "Je suis desole, Nightra, but for zis mission, a more… persuasive hand will be needed." She shifted her optics toward Starscream and bowed her head. "If it is alright, I would hope that Thundercracker and ze new recruits would accompany me, as I feel zat zere skills would be prudent in zis operation."

"How do you figure that?" Starscream asked.

"Ze outing will most likely be in a public place, non? If zat is ze case, zen ze Mini-Cons can pose as villains while zey are apprehending our targets." Shadow gestured toward all of them. "After all, if one of us were to do it, our cover would be blown immediately. But since ze Mini-Cons are ze size of humans, zey will not be as suspect."

Swift and Starscream eyed one another in thought, the former admitting to the good points that her colleague had made. "Hm, makes sense to me. After all, if Megs finds out we blew our cover, he'd come straight here and throttle all of us." She jabbed her thumb at Starscream. "Though it'd be mostly him."

Starscream nodded without thinking first. "Yes, I—wait a nano-click!" His outburst got a few snickers from the femmes, but he brushed it off to get back on topic. "Ah, never mind. Point is, the plan is sound… now all that is left to do is to find out when to properly strike…"

"Ah, hey, boss!" Nightra piped up, getting the Seeker's attention. "I've done some digging and… well, I got something interesting…" She pulled up another small screen and showed off the poster she had found, one advertising a new exhibit opening at the Musutafu Hero Art Museum. And the event was happening at seven o'clock this evening. "So, what do you think? Look like a good place to go on a date?"

The commander's features twisted into a nefarious grin, tapping his fingertips together eagerly. "Oh, indeed… Shadow Striker, go fetch Thundercracker and the Mini-Cons. Tell them that we mobilize in four mega-cycles!"

…..

~Musutafu Hero Art Museum, Present~

As the two sides stared down one another, Izuku had to admit… he never would've seen this coming. To think that Starscream would go to such lengths to ambush them out in public like this, WHILE keeping to their cover was a move that he didn't expect the Seeker to do. And judging by everyone else, they were also pretty stunned that the Cons were being so bold. …And of course, Midnight was just utterly baffled. "Could someone PLEASE tell me what's going on here?!"

"Yeah, I've gotta agree with her." Kyoka whispered. "What's with the whole "villain" act? You wouldn't think Decepticons would care about their cover…"

At first, Izuku wasn't sure what to think either… but then he remembered that even Starscream had someone to answer to. "Something tells me Megatron must've told Starscream to keep their true nature a secret, too." the greenette resolved. "Still, doesn't exactly help our situation any."

Momo nodded gravely. "You're right, Midoriya. Mini-Cons passing for villains is one thing, but the only ones who can help us are MUCH larger. And if they're spotted, I doubt anyone will be convinced that they're—"

"What are you all WHISPERING about?!" Midnight demanded, catching the trio off-guard.

"O-Oh, well, uh…" Izuku started, raising his hands to his teacher." W-We're just… trying to come up with a plan?"

Midnight furrowed her brow at them and shook her head. "No. No, no, I refuse to have you three put into any more danger than you already are." She reached her hand up to Brian's cheek, stroking it tenderly. "Brian, get the kids out of here. I'll hold these villains off until backup arrives." She saw the blonde's eyes widen in concern, but in a move that stunned even him, she leaned up and pecked him on the cheek. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." She sent him a wink and a thumbs up. "This isn't my first rodeo, you know? I'll keep these villains from making off with any art or money."

"Sorry ma'am, but I think you're mistaken here." Runway spoke up, bringing the group's attention back to the Air Assault Team. "Because to be frank, we're not here for any valuables…" The thrusters on her arms began to light up with brilliant flames, making the humans back away. "We're here for YOU two."

Before Midnight even had a chance to process that, Runway lifted her arms and blasted out a powerful stream of flame at the group, causing them all to duck out of the way once again. The other museum patrons screamed and all began to make for the door again, which Jetstorm noticed. "Yeah, that's right, get outta here!" He brought his hands together and a ball of wind energy was created in his palms, which he blasted out to send all of the other humans out the door faster. The wind was so powerful that it even slammed the doors shut behind them. "And STAY out!"

Sonar chortled at his teammate's action. "Heh, good. Now we won't have any interruptions. Let the hunt begin…" He raised his leg and slammed a foot down, causing a huge seismic blast to ripple through the ground and toward their targets. Without warning, the floor erupted from beneath their feet, sending marble and parts of the foundation flying up at them while taking them down. "Hmph, too easy."

Izuku rubbed the back of his head, struggling to get up after that massive blast. But he immediately went on high alert when he couldn't see the girls, Midnight or Brian in the rubble. "Oh god, KYOKA! Yaoyorozu!"

"We're alright, Midoriya!" Momo called out, raising her hand from behind a mound.

"Yeah, we—GAH!" Izuku's head snapped around and he saw Kyoka near another pile of debris. However, he also saw the "wires" on her earlobes were being stretched out, trapped beneath the wreckage. "AGH! M-My jacks are caught!"

The boy got to his feet and made an immediate b-line for her location. "H-Hold on, I'll get you out!" Thankfully, he didn't have to use his quirk to lift this much, thanks to all those months training on the beach. Within a few seconds, he had her out. "Hah, th-there, you should be—oh…"

Momo had regrouped with them at that moment. "Izuku, Kyoka, are you two alright—ooh… suppose not."

"…It's bad, isn't it?" Kyoka grimaced.

Izuku cringed as he reached down, gently grasping her jacks only for her to wince in pain. "If you classify "bloodied and bruised" as "bad", then…"

"Crap! I can't do anything with these, now!" Kyoka cursed. "Now how're we gonna—SHIT! Get down!" FWOOOSH! The purplette tacked her friends down as twin streams of flame blasted over their heads, the intense heat nearly burning their hair just by being a few feet away from it. The three shifted their sights onto Runway, the Mini-Con lady stalking her way toward them.

"Sorry, kids, nothing personal." She apologized with raised fists. "But you're in our way, and orders are orders."

Jetstorm arrived and took a battle-ready stance. "Heh, yeah, so you might as well just give up now…" His hands began whirling with wind energy again. "Or else we're gonna have to get rough on ya."

"It doesn't have to be like this." Sonar advised, crossing his arms again. "Just let us carry out our mission and we won't have to—" SNAP! "ACK! Hey!"

They were all caught off guard when a cracking whip wrapped itself around Sonar's neck, and astonishingly, he was pulled down onto his back in a second. The other Mini-Cons and students whirled around and were met with Midnight and Brian holding onto the whip, the duo having taken their target down. "Sorry, but I'm afraid that I'll have to disappoint you." Midnight said with a soft glare. "Just like how YOU all disappointed me by ruining my date."

Jetstorm and Runway didn't take too kindly to that, though. "Hey, life ain't fair, lady." the former jet bot fired back, building up wind energy in his hands again. "And just for that, you've lost any mercy we'd have given ya!" BWOOOM!

Brian's eyes widened and he quickly pulled Midnight out of the way, the concussive air blast putting a hole right through the roof instead. "Ah! Oh, that DOES it! Kids, get downwind!" Midnight shot up and thrust her hand forward, her sedative mist wafting off of her hand in a huge wave. The students all did what she said, covering their noses for good measure as the pinkish mist enveloped the Air Assault Team. "Night-night, date-wreckers!"

"Augh! Gross!" Jetstorm grimaced, trying to wave the mist away. "The heck is this stuff?"

"Did this… come out of her skin?" Sonar asked. "Ugh, why are organics so gross?!"

"Oh, for—would you two relax? It's not like it can affect you, anyways." Runway rolled her optics before transforming into her jet mode, her engines winding up loud. "Just blow it away and you'll be fine!" Jetstorm and Sonar followed her example and went into their own alt modes, blowing the mist away with the aid of their turbines. Whrr-tschzz-tschzz-tschzz-chk! The trio transformed back into their robot modes and Runway shook her head. "See? No big deal."

Midnight, however, was left stunned. "W-What… How did… Why were you not—"

Runway sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "Hm, surprised, are we? Lemme let you in on a little something now that all the riff-raff is gone, lady…" She gestured between herself and her teammates. "Us three? We're not ACTUALLY robot villains."

"We're alien robots from another world entirely." Sonar continued. "One's who serve for a great and glorious cause!" He gestured over to the three teenagers, who were backed up against a far wall. "Just ask them, they know."

The R-Rated Heroine's eyebrows shot up in shock and she whipped her head toward Izuku, Momo and Kyoka, the three glancing away awkwardly. "…Children, is this true?"

They couldn't help but wince at how harsh she made that sound. It was obvious that she was disappointed in them for keeping something this big such a secret, but the jig was officially up now. Kyoka took a deep breath and nodded her head. "Yes… it is."

"There, see? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" Jetstorm said with a taunting voice, earning him glares from all of them. "Aw, but we didn't even GET to the best part! Your date? He's one of us, too!"

Now THAT made Midnight's eyes really widen, almost bugging out of her head after hearing those words. Slowly, she craned her head over to Brian, who wore a horrified face of his own. He noticed how she was staring at him and he went to reach his hand out to her… only for her to step back. "Brian… is this true, too?"

Bumblebee felt gutted at how scared she sounded, especially since he was partially responsible for it. He wore a saddened frown and lowered his head in shame, only for Izuku to intervene right there. "Miss Midnight, we promise that we'll explain everything soon. But right now, we need to get out of—"

Whrr-tschzz-tschzz-tschzz-chk! Before anyone knew it, the Air Assault Team all transformed back into their aircraft modes again, hovering above the ground as they put their engines into high gear. "Alright, enough with the sappy stuff and the revelations for one night!" Runway exclaimed, her four jet boosters roaring to life. "It's time we REALLY take care of business!"

"Oh crap, RUN!" At Kyoka's shout, the four humans and Bumblebee's holoform all made a break for it, with the jets zooming off through the halls of the museum to try and cut them off. "Quick, to the back exit! We need to out of here!"

…..

"Shadow Striker, you IDIOT!"

"Hmph, tell me how you really feel, cherie."

Arcee was fuming. It was one thing that the Decepticon she hated most was on this planet, but it was another that she had just sent in THREE Mini-Cons to stage an assault on a human facility. "In one fell swoop, you just blew our WHOLE cover here on Earth! Are you insane?!"

Shadow Striker rolled her optic and scoffed. "Pfft, please, you zink I would be ignorante enough to actually blow our cover? Not even Megatron wishes to have humans officially know about us here on Earth." She wagged her finger at Arcee and shook her head. "No, rather, Starscream came up with a rather clever idea… for once. Zat is to have ze Mini-Cons pose as villains in order to stage zis little assault."

"But WHY?!" Arcee demanded before rushing forward, taking Shadow Striker by surprise… but only slightly. The assassin was able to do a stunning backflip away from the sword strikes, coming down in a crouch before taking aim and firing back at Arcee with her rifle. But, with some expertly timed swings, Arcee managed to deflect many of the blasts as she started forward again. She leapt at Shadow with her blades up high… but then the assassin pulled out an energy machete from her back, using it to stop Arcee in her tracks. "Grr… why would you come here?! Why stage this operation in front of humans? It can't just be to mess with us, can it?!"

"Oh, but it is, Arcee." Shadow Striker assured. "And you can be assured we will not leave empty-handed!"

The purple femme swept Arcee's feet out from under her and pulled up her rifle again, taking more shots at her. Arcee rolled out of the way, however, recovering her own pistol in the process. "Not gonna happen!" Pewpewpew! Before either of them knew it, they started a fire fight on the roof of the building, both femmes blasting at each other in near darkness with the only light coming from their own laser fire. "I won't let you take Bumblebee!"

This made Shadow Striker pause, allowing another laugh to escape her. "Hmhmhm… ah, Arcee… who said we JUST wanted Bumblebee?" KA-BLAM! They were suddenly taken by surprise when a loud explosion was heard from the back of the museum, the two combatants taking a brief glance down… to see a completely destroyed back entrance. The doors were blown off their hinges, the wall was partially torn down, and there were bright flames burning out of the entryway.

…But what horrified Arcee the most was the sight of Izuku, Momo, Kyoka and Midnight, the four having been blown away from the building the moment the blast happened. Brian was among them as well, but since he was a holoform, she knew he was okay. The others, though… "NO!" POW! "AUGH!" Without warning, Shadow Striker had fired an energy net from her wrist, capturing Arcee within before it anchored itself to the roof. …And then it proceeded to shock her. ZZZZZZZT! "AAAAAGH!"

"Oh, what a pity." Shadow Striker went over and kneeled next to Arcee, the net stopping its shock for a moment. "It would seem zat your little allies have been, how you say… lit up."

"You stay away from them, you sick little—"

"Arcee, you are hardly in ze position to threaten me." Shadow noted, reaching down to trail her finger along her cheek again. "Though I have no doubt zat we will be meeting again very soon. But do not worry, I will be certain to take care of Bumblebee. And who knows…" Her smirk returned as she stood back up, knowing how Arcee would react to this; "Perhaps if you are lucky, I will spare him of ze same fate zat befell poor, innocent, little… Tailgate."

As she expected, Arcee's optics flared to life, becoming a bright yellow in contrast with her usual blue as she began trashing against the net. "YOU KEEP HIS NAME OUT OF YOUR SICK, DEMENTED, FILTHY MOUTH, YOU BITCH!" She didn't even realize she had slipped into Earth dialect, she was so mad, and it only got worse when the energy net shocked her again. "AAAAAUGH! Shadow! I swear, if you do ANYTHING to Bumblebee, your head will be on a PIKE!"

The assassin smiled in satisfaction as she stepped away from the helpless femme. "Ah, now zere is ze Arcee I know. Ze warrior who hides under ze false guise of an innocent intelligence officer. Ze one who took my optic from me… too bad I still have a job to do." She went to the edge of the roof, giving Arcee a shrug as she started to fall back. "Ah well, perhaps some other time."

"Shadow! You get back here!" Arcee hollered, but could only watch as the assassin fell backward toward the ground. "SHADOW!"

…..

The first thing any of the humans felt after getting blown up out of the museum was their heads pounding like mad. Not unexpected since they did all land pretty hard on the pavement, but it still wasn't pleasant. "Errgh… god, that sucked." Kyoka muttered, rubbing her temple as a nick in her forehead bled. "Everyone alright?"

"Define "alright"." Momo called back, her own ears ringing. "Miss Midnight?"

"I-I'm fine… more or less." Midnight winced as her palms bled, her wound stinging with every twitch of her hand. And what made matters worse was that her whip was nowhere in sight. "Agh, w-we need to get—" CRASH! "AH!"

The woman and her students all gasped as Runway, Jetstorm and Sonar all smashed their way through even more of the back wall, taking down a huge chuck of it entirely. The three jets loomed over them before transforming again, with Runway folding her arms at them. "I suggest you all surrender now." she advised. "We don't want this to end badly for you, after all."

"N-No way!" Izuku barked back. "You won't succeed! We've beaten you Cons at every turn, and we'll do it—"

"The AUTOBOTS keep beating the Decepticons, brat!" Jetstorm fired back. "You humans may have helped, but you aren't the deciding factor. We've got the numbers here THIS time, so now it's time you felt that."

Kyoka just glared back at them. "Sorry, last I checked, there was four of you…" SCREEEECH! Everyone's heads snapped around to see Bumblebee's vehicle mode come zipping around the corner, with Brian himself standing defiantly. "And SIX of us." Kyoka smirked.

Midnight furrowed her brow in confusion. "W-Wait, four? Six? Jiro, I KNOW you're not bad at counting, what are—"

"There are two more bots on the roof." Izuku explained, taking the hero by surprise. "One on our side, one on theirs. Don't worry, I'm sure she's got that other one handled—" BOOOOM! "AAAAAUGH!"

"Shit, shit, SHIT!" Kyoka's hands flew to hear ears, her sensitive hearing once again picking up the familiar sonic boom MUCH too loudly. "Not this again!"

As if on cue, a certain large, blue MIG fighter jet came bursting out of the sky and down toward the museum, diving down directly toward the humans and the Mini-Cons. Whrr-tschzz-tschzz-tschzz-chk! Within seconds, Thundercracker transformed into robot mode, slamming down onto the ground hard enough to make the earth tremble. Midnight was left flabbergasted. "O-Oh… my god."

Thundercracker directed his red optics down to the Mini-Cons, giving them a small grin. "Hm, Runway, you and your team have done well. I'd consider this first mission a success."

"Thank you, sir. It was simple, really." Runway assured.

"Hm, now there's only one thing left to take care of…" Thundercracker moved his focus over to Bumblebee, the yellow beetle revving his engine as his holoform glowered at him. "You wanna play the hero for your woman friend, Bumblebee? Then come on, take your best shot."

Midnight glanced up toward the blonde, still stunned this was even happening. "…Bumblebee?" Before she could even ask, though, the Volkswagen shot off toward Thundercracker, almost as if it didn't care about what would happen to it.

"Bee, NO!" Izuku pleaded. "Don't do it!"

"Wait for backup!" Kyoka screamed.

But it was to no avail, Bumblebee went ramming into Thundercracker… or at least he WOULD have if the Seeker hadn't stomped on his hood. A pained cry came from the beetle as "Brian" threw his head back, opening his mouth as if to scream… right as it started to glitch out of existence. Midnight was left stunned as she saw this, and was left at a loss for words as Thundercracker kicked Bumblebee away, allowing him to transform into his true form. "…This… th-this must be some sort of dream…"

Momo shook her head solemnly. "I'm sorry, Miss Midnight… but it isn't." She sent a determined gaze to Bumblebee and raised her fist. "Come on, get up, Bumblebee! Don't give up!"

Bumblebee shook his head, wearing a determined face of his own as he stood… only for another bot to come crashing down onto him from the roof. She landed on his back and slammed the butt of her rifle onto the back of his neck, knocking him out cold. The teens couldn't believe what they had seen. "…NOOO!"

"Hmhmhm, well, well, little Bumblebee…" The femme picked him up by the head, crouching down so she was level with him. "It has been far too long. I believe zat we have some catching up to do…"

Kyoka's lips curled into a snarl as she balled her fists. "Wh-Who are you?!" …And why the heck are you FRENCH?!

"Hmph, who am I?" Shadow Striker picked Bumblebee up and slung him over her shoulder, sending a condescending gaze to the humans. "I am Shadow Striker, ze Decepticon's top assassin. And it would appear zat our business is nearly done here…" She glanced over to Thundercracker and gave him a nod. "You know what to do, mon freir."

The Seeker returned the gesture without question. "Right. Mini-Cons, keep the children away."

"On it, boss!" Jetstorm obliged as he and Sonar grabbed the girls, with Runway kicking down Izuku to pin him under her foot.

"AUGH! H-HEY!" Izuku pushed up against her foot, with green energy starting to crackle through his arms. "G-Get off of me—"

"Midoriya, no!" Midnight shouted. "Don't use your Quirk in public, you're not licensed ye—AAAH!" The three teens could only watch in horror as they saw their teacher get scooped up by Thundercracker, who kept a firm grip on her even as she squirmed and thrashed in his hand. "Grr… let me GO! I swear, when I get out of this, ALL of you will be sorry!"

But Thundercracker promptly brought her straight up to his face, speaking in a stoic tone; "Apologies, miss, but that won't be happening. While I personally think that kidnapping you won't get us anywhere in the long run… well, orders are orders." He craned his head down to the Mini-Cons and gave them their orders. "Alright team, ditch the kids and lets get out of here before the authorities show."

"Of course, Thundercracker." Runway concurred, stomping on Izuku's chest hard enough to knock the wind out of him as her companions shoved Kyoka and Momo back to the ground.

In mere moments, all three of them had transformed into their jet modes, with Midnight screaming as she was trapped in Thundercracker's pilot seat. She could only stare in horror through the glass as the canopy sealed tight, the sight of her students bloodied and bruise making her heart sink. She prayed they could hear her as she shouted; "KIDS! Get out of here! Go to the school, find All Might, get help!" BOOOM! And just like that, the four jets blasted back off into the sky, with a GroundBridge portal opening in midair for them before disappearing all together.

"NO!" Momo cried out, disbelief etched into her and her friends' faces. "Miss Midnight!"

"Tsk, tsk, such a shame." Shadow Striker said as her own GroundBridge portal opened close to her as well. "But worry not. If you are lucky, you shall see your teacher and zis one again." She balanced Bumblebee on her shoulder as she turned toward the vortex. "…Provided zat you follow Commander Starscream's incoming message to ze letter. But for now… au revoir."

With tears brimming her eyes, Momo's lips contorted into an uncharacteristic snarl, her scowl boring through the French femme with contempt. She balled her hand into a fist and used her Quirk, creating a magnetic tracer that she quickly threw at Shadow Striker. The tracer managed to stick to the back of her leg just as she stepped into the portal with Bumblebee, leaving the three teens disheartened… and angry. "See if you get THAT message, floosy."

"…That didn't happen." Kyoka's hands flew up to her face as her own tears began to flow, the reality of the situation starting to sink in. Izuku and Momo rushed over to her, the former kneeling down to grasp her shoulders in support. "Please, tell me that DIDN'T JUST HAPPEN!"

Izuku screwed his eyes shut, trying to hold back his own waterworks. "…I'm afraid it did. GOD DAMN IT!"

Momo took a deep breath as she raised her hand, creating a locater that went with the tracer she just made. "Unfortunately, it did. But we're not out of this yet—"

SHINK! The trio were on guard the moment they heard what must've been a blade cutting through something, only to be met with the sight of Arcee jumping off the roof just a moment later. The pink femme landed… rather awkwardly on her side before transforming into vehicle mode, her holoform appearing in a flicker of light. "Arcee!" Kyoka got up and sprinted over to her friend, the pinkette breathing heavily in the driver's seat. "A-Are you okay?!"

"Uuugh… barely." Arcee muttered. "Those shocks nearly fried my neural net. I'm glad I was able to reach one of my swords in time." She opened her eyes, her features pained and saddened as she grit her teeth. "B-But… I-I was too late." Arcee's hand balled into a fist and she punched her center console. "I couldn't help you, I couldn't help Midnight… a-and… I couldn't help Bumblebee. I let Shadow Striker get the better of me… again."

While it was clear that Arcee was upset, the three couldn't help but take note of that last part. "…A-Again? Arcee, what do you mean?" Izuku asked.

"…Nothing to be concerned about right now." Arcee collected herself, reaching up to clench her steering wheel with a serious gaze. "What does matter now is how we're going to save Bee and your teacher."

Kyoka furrowed her brow and crossed her arms. "Easier said than done. We've got no clue WHERE they bridged to. They could literally be anywhere."

"Well, it's a good thing I thought of that, then." Momo piped up, raising the locater for them all to see. Her three friends looked to her as she showed them the divice, which displayed an image of the globe along with a red blip near the northern end of it. "Before she left, I tossed a tracer onto Shadow Striker that's on a specific frequency. With this, we'll be able to track her down easily."

The three were taken by surprise, to be sure… but it was a welcome one. "Wait, seriously?" Arcee asked. "How were you able to come up with something like that?"

A proud smile took hold of Momo's features and she chuckled. "Hmhm, well, over the course of our training, Windblade thought it'd be a good idea to show me some of your tech. I didn't really see the point in it at first, but thankfully in this situation, it's paid off." She zoomed in on the blinking dot, eager to find out where the Cons were. "Alright, it says here that… oh." Momo pursed her lips at where the tracer was leading them, and she quickly came to one conclusion; "Yeah… we're going to want to get Prime in on this, quickly."

HONK-HONK! Everyone's heads snapped up at the sound of the loud truck horn approaching, and before they knew it, a pair of headlights came from around the corner. "…I don't think we'll have any trouble with that." Arcee noted, as Optimus Prime himself pulled to a stop behind the burning building.

All at once, both cab doors opened and out came Agent Fowler and All Might, the latter's features etched with concern. "Young Midoriya! Young Jiro! Young Yaoyorozu!" The Number One hero went straight up to his pupil and set his hands on his shoulders. "Are any of you hurt? What happened here?" He saw how sad Izuku's eyes had become just by his arrival, and the boy couldn't help but hang his head low in shame. "…Young Midoriya?"

"All Might, I… I-I'm sorry." Izuku clenched his fists as he finally let the tears flow, the gravity of the situation hitting him. His best friend and his teacher were gone. He had failed not only them… but his mentor for hesitating to use the Quirk he gave to him. "We let them get away, w-we couldn't stop them from taking them!"

Fowler came up and put his own hand on Izuku's shoulder. "Son, I know what happened must've been intense, but who exactly got taken?"

"I believe I know." Prime pulled up a bit further, stopping again directly in front of Arcee. "We detected multiple Decepticon signals here several cycles ago. We attempted to get here as fast as possible, but by then, the signals were gone… and Bumblebee's along with them." There was a long moment of silence, with the tension so thick one could cut through it. Yet it was Optimus who took the proverbial blade to it. "Arcee… what happened?"

The humans heard a sob from Arcee before she answered. "Hic—I-I'm sorry, Prime… they took him." She suddenly pulled a 180 turn to face away from her commander. "Shadow Striker TOOK Bumblebee and Midnight and there was nothing I could do about it!"

"Shadow Striker… here?"

"The Decepticons have ANOTHER new addition?!" All Might exclaimed. "AND they took Midnight along with Bee?!"

"Thundercracker and Skywarp must not have been alone when they came to Earth." Izuku figured. "The Decepticons have even MORE assets that we didn't know about." He went up to the Prime and continued on; "Optimus, they didn't just send Shadow Striker on this mission. There was also Thundercracker and three others; Mini-Cons that could transform into jets."

That last piece of info caught Prime's full attention. "Wait, more Mini-Cons?"

"Yes, they said their names were Sonar, Runway and Jetstorm." Momo informed. "Ring any bells?"

Once again, there was a pause before Optimus replied. "…Unfortunately, yes, I do know those names. And they shouldn't be with the Decepticons." Off in the distance, the sound of fire engine sirens and blaring horns could be heard approaching the museum, leading the Prime to kick his engine back to life. "We cannot stay here for much longer. Come, I've instructed the Autobots to gather at U.A. High. We can continue this discussion there."

This took the teens off guard, however. "Wait… why U.A.?"

"Ho-ho… you'll see." All Might said with a thumbs up.

…..

The past two hours had been nothing but surreal for the faculty of U.A. High. Meeting giant robots from another world was one thing, but to hear that nine of their own students had been taking an active part in helping them acclimate to Earth over the past year, several months, or even just the past two weeks, was simply mind-blowing. Optimus had informed them all of everything, including the fact that they were searching for their lost ship, the Ark, and how this all came about with how Izuku had found Bumblebee on Dagobah Beach almost a year ago. He also told how the other eight students had gradually joined them, as well as how helpful they had been when it came to their war against the evil Decepticons, which was astonishing in and of itself. Overall, it was… a lot to swallow.

…And it didn't help when the other Autobots AND the students themselves had arrived via GroundBridge after Prime, Fowler and All Might left. Apparently, something serious was going down nearby, and Optimus wanted the whole team here just in case something happened. And needless to say, the students themselves were flabbergasted as well. "…This isn't some sort of elaborate prank, is it?" Mina asked, eyeing both the Autobots and their teachers. "Are we being punked?! Why do ALL of our teachers suddenly know about this?!"

"Because Principal Nezu specifically asked Optimus to tell them, we told you this already, Ashido." Aizawa deadpanned.

"Indeed! No tricks here!" Nezu said in his usual happy tone. "Simply a little idea to help bolster the ranks of this Circle of Trust."

Powerloader couldn't help but facepalm at the sight of one student in particular. "Ya know, I really shouldn't be surprised that my most talented yet destructive student is a part of all this." He crossed his arms at the pinkette, shaking his head. "I knew the day you came in with a floating satellite with a laser cutter on it that SOMETHING had to be up."

Nonplussed, Mei simply gave her teacher a salute. "Nice to see you too, Mr. Powerloader! I can't WAIT to show you all the babies that Red Alert made with me now that you know everything!"

Red Alert himself couldn't help but facepalm, something that Powerloader could empathize with. "Hey man, trust me, I feel your pain. I've had to deal with THIS level of insanity since the beginning of the semester."

"Oh, trust me, I'm aware of how much of a handful she can be." Red noted. "I've gotten used to it, though… sort of."

Snipe came up and raised his hands to the teens. "Believe you me, kids, we had pretty much NO idea we'd be sucked into this today either. We're tryin' to adjust to all this as much as ya'll are, trust me."

Bulkhead scratched his helm, surprised at how straight forward the man was. "Huh, well, honestly we all thought Prime was here to meet with just All Might, Aizawa and Nezu, too." He gave the cowboy a shrug. "So I guess that means both sides have been kept in the dark."

"Augh! This is so frustrating!" Strongarm bemoaned before bringing up her holographic data pad full of rules and regulations. "Regulation Number 41227 says that a commanding officer should keep his unit informed of every decision he makes as to not take them off their guard. Optimus is in complete violation of the rules here."

"Oh, so what? You really gonna arrest a Prime?" Sideswipe asked sarcastically.

"Well… no, but it's still annoying that it had to happen in the first place!"

Denki placed his hands behind his head. "Well, on the bright side, we don't have to hide the big secret from our teachers anymore!"

Eijiro gave a thumbs up in agreement. "Yeah, I'd say that counts as a win, plus more help in the war with the Cons is always welcome."

"Yes, about this war…" Vlad King stepped up to the teenagers with his arms crossed, his huge frame, big teeth and blood red attire making for an intimidating combination. He leaned forward and quirked a brow at them. "Is it true what Optimus Prime said? About you kids actually participating in active roles in the war effort? INCLUDING actual battles?"

All of the teens eyed one another warily, some even swallowing fearfully at the question. However, ultimately, Tenya stepped up, the Class Rep wearing a resolute expression. "…Yes, it is true. While we tend to stay away from the conflict most of the time, should we end up in the thick of it for whatever reason, we've been given permission by Agent Fowler to use our Quirks to defend ourselves."

"Even though NONE of you even have provisional licenses yet." Vlad added.

"Well… we technically haven't been using our Quirks in public places…" Ochako emphasized. "Mostly it's just been at the Autobot Base where we've been training for the past couple of weeks."

Windblade stepped up and extended a hand. "It's only recently where they've started using their quirks to defend themselves out in the field, sir. There were a couple instances where it's happened before hand, but like they said, for the most part, we've kept them away from the action."

"I still don't know about all this." Ectoplasm spoke up, the hero's mouth unmoving as he spoke. "The fact that the children are using their Quirks while unsilenced is one thing, but the fact that they're taking active roles in a WAR is another entirely."

"Hey, personally speaking, I think we've been doing a pretty good job in keeping them all safe." Sunstreaker contended, staking his own claim in the conversation. "Look, we've been fighting this war for eons, so we KNOW how dangerous it is and how high the risks are. We've been pretty careful when it comes to the kids up till this point, AND we always make sure to get 'em all home before curfew."

Cementos closed his eyes and lowered his head slightly. "That may be true, but if they ARE taking part in battles…" He opened his eyes back up and narrowed them slightly at Sunstreaker. "Who's to say that something horrible WILL happen eventually?"

There was a bit of extended silence after Cementos said that, with all three sides hesitant to respond to that. "…Really? No one's got the guts to speak except for me?" Springer broke the silence, bringing their attention right to him. "Alright, fine. Here are my thoughts on the whole thing…" He jabbed a thumb over to the students, pointing out Eijiro and Mina in particular. "Listen up, heroes, I may not have seen ALL of these kids in action, but just by seein' what these two did, I think it's safe to say that they're well on their way to becomin' amazing fighters. And given their past credentials, they've been bringing down Vehicons pretty effectively."

"Aw, thanks, Springer!" Mina waved. "You're a peach!"

Eijiro gave him a thumbs up. "Yeah, man, thanks for vouching for us."

"Hey, Wreckers gotta stick together, even if you do still have training wheels on." Springer returned. HONK-HONK! Everyone's heads perked up at the sound of Prime's return, with Arcee trailing along behind him. "Ah, perfect timing." The humans disembarked from their respective rides and the two bots transformed, with Arcee visibly limping while Izuku, Momo and Kyoka were visibly battered and bruised. "…Oh, scrap."

"Arcee!" several bots exclaimed.

The pink femme fell to one knee, causing Red Alert to rush right over to her. "H-Hey, guys."

"Don't move." Red advised as he brought out his laser scalpel, getting right to work in patching up Arcee's wounds. "I'll get you fixed up."

"AH! Deku! Kyoka, Momo!" Ochako and the other students quickly rushed up to their friends, worried at the sight of their injuries. "Oh my gosh, what in the world happened?!" Neither of the three had given her an answer, instead glancing away shamefully. …And it was only then that Ochako noticed they were short by two important people. "…Guys? Where's Bumblebee? …A-And Midnight?"

"Th-They were—uh…" Izuku was about to answer… but cut himself off when he saw several of their teachers approach them from behind. …And the Autobots were just hanging out in robot mode.

Vlad King placed his fists on his hips, giving the greenette a serious look. "Yes, where IS Midnight, Mr. Midoriya? We thought she had gone out on a date."

"Um, before we get to that, I think it's necessary to ask…" Kyoka flung her hands up and waved frantically at all of the heroes. "WHAT THE HELL ARE ALL OF YOU DOING HERE?! You're not supposed to be seeing any of this!"

All Might glanced up to Optimus with an awkward grin. "Wow, you REALLY didn't give anyone the memo on this, did you?"

"Aside from Springer, no." Optimus admitted. "I was hoping it would be an exciting surprise, but given the circumstances that have just arose, I can see now that won't be the case." He set his optics down to the students and explained; "You see, children, I received a call from Principal Nezu here last night, requesting that more of your teachers should be allowed to know of our secret, just in case."

Everyone was stunned to hear that all of this was on such short notice. "Wait, so this was all planned last night?" Momo reiterated. "I must say, I'm surprised, Optimus. I didn't think you would agree to something like this so soon."

"Well, given that Unicronus' presence on Earth was recently confirmed for us, I believed that it would be a good time to bring more members into our fold." Optimus sighed and shook his head. "And it would seem that now IS a perfect time as any." He craned his head over toward the faculty to deliver the news. "I regret to inform you that both your colleague and my scout have been abducted by Decepticon agents."

A collective gasp rang through the crowd of teachers, and the other six students were left flabbergasted. "B-Bumblebee is… gone?" Mei's expression fell before she whipped over to Izuku, desperately grasping him by the shoulders. "Please tell me this is some sort of joke!" Izuku's own frown deepened and his head fell again in shame, which only made Mei start to tear up. "No… nonono, Muscles, please!"

"Mei… I'm sorry." Kyoka apologized, placing a hand on the inventor's arm. "There was… nothing we could do. They had us outnumbered and out gunned thanks to them bringing three new Mini-Cons they somehow got."

That piqued the Autobots' interests instantly. "Wait, they had MORE Mini-Cons?" Bulkhead asked. "I thought they only had Frenzy."

"Well, they have more now. They call themselves the Aerial Assault Team." Momo explained before raising a brow to Optimus. "And Prime thinks he knows where these Minis came from. …At least, I think that's what you're implying."

"Indeed, I am." Optimus confirmed, moving a hand up to his temple. "But in order to accurately explain all of this, we must go back to something we haven't revisited in a while…" After tapping his temple, Prime's eyes began to flash brightly and within seconds, a holographic schematic began to be projected from them. And not just any schematic either. It was the one that belonged to the Ark itself. "By this point, we all know about the Ark, correct?"

"Of course!" All Might saluted. "You just explained it all to our colleagues here not too long ago." The Number One hero placed a hand to his chin. "I assume these new Mini-Cons have something to do with it?"

"That is correct." Optimus nodded before pointing to a section of the Ark's hull, which started flashing bright red to indicate the exact spot. The schematic zoomed in as Prime continued; "As all of you know by now, the Ark's primary mission was to search the galaxy to find and mine Energon to bring back to Cybertron. However, the Ark also had several secondary missions as well, with one of them being to help find a new home for a particularly powerful group of Mini-Cons."

Snipe promptly raised his hand. "Er, if you don't mind me askin', what exactly ARE Mini-Cons?"

Jazz was the one to provide that answer. "Mini-Cons are basically tiny Cybertronians that live on our moons, ones that're about the size of you humans. They come in a lot of shapes an' sizes an' can transform into almost anything."

"Some of 'em can become weapons." Sideswipe furthered. "While others are deployers, like the ones that Springer has."

The teachers all promptly turned their heads to Springer, the Wrecker rolling his optics and sighing. "Yeah, had a feeling that'd happen. Sawback, Fangblade, show 'em." With that, he shot his disk-shaped Mini-Cons off his shoulders, the duo transforming into their wolf and Smilodon modes.

Needless to say, the entire faculty was stunned. …Well at least some of them. Others were a lot more excited at the sight of them. "Oh my goodness!" Thirteen gushed, going up to pet Sawback on the head. "They're so cute! Are all Mini-Cons like this?"

"Not all of 'em, no." Sunstreaker denied. "Most of them have normal robot modes like us. Very few Minis look like animals."

"Deployers and Weaponizers are actually the least common type of Mini-Cons, really." Windblade added. "The most common type are the ones that transform into regular vehicles, like us. Those ones in particular are capable of granting us bigger bots power-ups that enhance our combat capabilities when they link up with us."

Cementos scratched his chin, intrigued by the prospect. "Hm, fascinating. But that leads me to ask… why was your ship transporting these Mini-Cons in the first place?"

Optimus shook his head disappointingly. "With the way the war was going, and how less and less energon was being produced from Cybertron, we had a feeling that the Decepticons would try to seek alternate methods of powering themselves in order to win the war." He gestured over to Sawback and Fangblade. "And given how powerful Mini-Cons can be, it was only natural to assume that they would be a possible target. So, we gave several Mini-Cons the option to board the arc in special stasis panels, which they happily agreed to."

Red Alert stood up, having finished his work on Arcee. "They all agreed that they didn't want to be used in that way, especially given how cruel they knew the Decepticons to be." He craned his head down as his tone grew much more somber. "However, there WAS a downside to being in these stasis panels… their core programming could easily be rewritten."

"…So you're saying that these three Mini-Cons have been reprogrammed to follow the Cons' orders without question?" Denki asked.

"Precisely." Red Alert nodded before turning to Optimus. "And I suppose this solves our little mystery of what those three unidentified Cybertronian signals were yesterday."

"Yes, and if these Mini-Cons were found by the Decepticons in Texas yesterday, then it stands to reason that there may be several more that were launched from the Arc upon its planet fall all of those eons ago." Prime concluded.

Present Mic stepped forward and placed his hands on his hips. "Okay, so now that we got the downlow on WHO captured Midnight and your boy, Bumblebee, then that leaves one question… where the heck did they TAKE them?"

Bulkhead furrowed his brow as he offered his own idea. "If I had to guess, they're most likely inside the Con's base… wherever that is."

"You mean you DON'T know?!" Vlad King exclaimed.

Strongarm raised a hand to him to try and calm the situation. "W-We've been trying to locate them for weeks now, I assure you." The cadet balled her fist, reminded of her own failure with her tracer. "But we haven't had much luck, and just when we think we're close, we—"

"Uh… everyone?" Eijiro interrupted, pointing up toward the sky. "I think we may wanna be on guard." The group collectively raised their heads just in time to see a dark, metal probe come flying down from the night sky, floating down and stopping just above Optimus' head level.

"…Anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?" Kyoka asked.

Izuku furrowed his brow at the probe as the projector on its underside started to light up. "Yeah… a message straight from the Decepticons."

The young man's fears were confirmed the moment a hologram emerged from the dark purple lensed, and the smirking visage of Starscream stood directly in the center of the massive group of people and Autobots. His sights locked onto Optimus Prime and he gave him a bow. "Greetings, Optimus Prime. I hope I have caught you in a… good mood, hmhm."

Prime's glare hardened on the Seeker in contempt. "I am far from a good mood, Starscream. Tell me where you have taken Bumblebee and Midnight and perhaps we will be lenient on you."

"Oh, Optimus, you were never good at threats, were you?" Starscream rubbed his nails against his chest, his smug grin never leaving. "But then again, I suppose that IS more of a Decepticon's forte, now isn't it? Worry not, though, for your precious scout and the human woman are both alive…" He raised his hands and two more holograms appeared next to him… which showed an unconscious Midnight and Bumblebee hanging from electronic shackles. "Granted, they're out like lights, so—"

"GIVE THEM BACK!" Everyone was taken aback when Mei suddenly snapped at Starscream, her lips curled into a snarl as she clenched her fists so hard, her knuckles turned white. "That's our friend you have! And you're a bunch of cowards for taking him!"

Surprisingly enough, Tenya actually joined in on admonishing the Seeker. "Indeed! And how DARE you take our teacher as well! She had nothing to do with any of this!"

Starscream sneered down to the two, rolling his optics. "Yes, well, your scout should've thought that through before accepting her "date" offer." He moved his focus back to Prime with a snide remark; "Honestly, I thought you would've taught your soldiers better, Optimus. To think that your own scout would put such an important secret at risk…"

Optimus shook his head, not letting Starscream's words get to him. "Enough of this, Starscream. What is it that you want?"

"Oh, nothing much." Starscream's grin increased significantly. "Simply relinquish the Skyboom Shield and the coordinates to your base and I'll let them go."

"Over our dead bodies, Starscream!" Windblade snapped.

"You think we'll just GIVE you the location of our base?!" Sideswipe scoffed. "Psh, dream on, ya bolt-head!"

A sigh escaped Starscream's throat and his hand went to his face, ashamed of their defiance. "Oh, I had SO hoped this would be easier. Perhaps THIS will serve to better incentivize you." He snapped his fingers and another set of holograms appeared, those of Thundercracker and Shadow Striker… and they were holding shock prods next to Bumblebee and Midnight. "Now, I'll ask again. Give us the location of your base or else we will torture your scout into giving it up! …And I cannot be responsible for what may happen to the woman if you continue to resist."

Instantly, Arcee had shot up to her feet, her features contorted in rage the moment she saw her personal nemesis. "SHADOW STRIKER!" Her scream took everyone off guard, and brought the assassin's attention straight to her. "I swear, if ANY of you do anything to hurt Bumblebee or Midnight, I will—"

"Yes, yes, cherie, you made your intentions VERY clear to me." Shadow Striker assured with a wave. "And considering how upset you were, I would not put it past you to actually… what was it, you said? Ah, yes, "put my head on a pike"."

That made almost everyone's jaws drop, Autobot and human alike. Arcee, the nicest femme they had ever met, one with a friendly disposition and even friendlier paint job, had threatened her with THAT? "…Arcee?" Ochako spoke up, though her voice was shaking. "D-Did you REALLY say that to her?"

The intel officer's face softened significantly, seeing how worried her friends were. "Guys, I-I can explain—"

"Oh, but having no context makes it so much more fun!" Starscream complained.

"Hmhm, children, le femme you see before you has a MUCH darker side to her zan she typically lets on." Shadow Striker chortled, earning her Arcee's glare again. "And it was I who unlocked zat side of her zousands of stellar cycles ago." She eyed Arcee curiously. "Do not tell me you haven't told zem about Tailgate yet."

Optimus, Bulkhead and many other bots all awkwardly glanced away at that, some even saddened at the mention of the bot's name. "…Who's Tailgate?" Kyoka finally asked.

Arcee balled her hands into fists. It was painful to relive many of these memories, especially when she had thought she'd moved past them long ago. It had gotten easier to deal with over the eons, but still, occasionally her mind would go back to that moment, when she screamed his name in desperation before seeing the light fade from his optics. 'TAILGATE!'

Arcee screwed her eyes shut, took a deep breath, and explained; "Tailgate was… a young bot. One who had emerged in the midst of the War for Cybertron." She hugged her arms while everyone listened intently. "He was barely a stellar cycle old when he was assigned to the intelligence division, with me and Bumblebee acting as his mentors. He was small, so he was a good scout." Her eyes opened, revealing her optics to have changed to yellow yet again as she glared at her nemesis. "…But then everything went wrong. We were ambushed, and I think you can tell by who."

"Hmhmhehehe… yes, I remember zat day rather well." Shadow Striker cackled. "It was relatively easy, really."

The heroes and students present couldn't help but be disgusted by Shadow Striker's proud tone, bragging about taking a life. "How COULD you?!" All Might bellowed, his expression far from happy. "You killed a YEARLING in cold blood! How in the hell can you even LOOK at yourself in the mirror?!"

"I am a Decepticon, good sir." Shadow dismissed. "It is my job to eliminate Autobots, especially when zey do not give us ze information we require." She shrugged and faced away from the crowd, pointing her prod at Bumblebee. "No information? No chance at living. It was only zanks to zis one's timely arrival zat Arcee even got to live. …But even zen, seeing her protégé die before her very optics…' She peered over her shoulder back to Arcee. "It was enough to send her into quite ze frenzy. Took out all of my Vehicons in one swoop, and zere were a LOT."

Once again, the students stared at Arcee in disbelief… only for her to nod and confirm her words. "It's true. It's not something I like to admit, but… something broke in me after that. The little bot that I was responsible for… died before he could really get the chance to live. I've never forgiven myself for that…" Her optics narrowed at Shadow without remorse. "And I'll never forgive you for doing it."

Shadow Striker was about to respond, but Starscream intervened. "Hm, yes, quite the tragic backstory. But if you recall, this ISN'T "Story Time with Arcee", this is an ultimatum." He refocused himself back on Optimus, puffing his chest confidently with his hands behind his back. "So once again, I offer you a choice, Prime; the Skyboom Shield and your base's coordinates and I will let your scout and the woman go. I will give you two hours to decide, and nothing more." He raised a hand and a set of Cybertronian characters appeared on it. "Simply contact us on this frequency when you're ready. Starscream, out."

With that, the holograms disappeared and the probe started to fly off… only for Sideswipe to shoot it down with his shoulder missile. "Psh, jerks." he sneered.

"MORE than jerks, they're down right despicable!" Snipe noted. "More evil than ANY villain I've had to face down!"

Present Mic grit his teeth and pointed his fingers up. "These Cons are straight up WHACK! Bad vibes from top to bottom, no question asked."

"These Decepticons have made it clear that they show absolutely no remorse for what they have to do to get what they want." Ectoplasm said with a raised fist. "These appalling threats shouldn't go unpunished!"

"Agreed." Thirteen nodded. "But what do we even do? It's not like we can just find out where their base is and storm it to try and get our friends back."

It was then that they heard someone clear their throat, and everyone brought their attention… straight to Momo. "Ahem, yes, hi, about that…" She pulled out the locater she had created not too long ago and showed it all to them. "I actually managed to create a tracer that I stuck to Shadow Striker's leg before she left. I checked her hologram during the comm and it IS actually still on there, so… I've got their location right here."

The news surprised the crowd of heroes and Autobots as Optimus, Fowler and All Might went over to see what she had. Prime crouched down and zoomed his optics in on the screen, seeing that she spoke the truth. "Hah, excellent work, Momo." He smiled beneath his faceplate. "You have just saved us quite the amount of guesswork." The Creation Quirk user smiled back as Optimus analyzed the map. "Hm… it says the Decepticons should be in the far northern part of Earth's western hemisphere…"

"HA! They're in CANADA!" All Might guffawed.

"Our friendly neighbors to the north." Fowler muttered. "How ironic."

Sideswipe grinned and rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Alright, so we know what we've gotta do, now! Get to this Canada place, bust Bumblebee and Midnight outta the Con's ship, and wreck the place while we do it!"

Optimus stood up and somewhat agreed with Sideswipe's assessment. "We'll require a bit more planning than that, but I'd say that's a fair summation of what's to happen." He looked out to the rest of his Autobots and raised a fist. "Autobots, we have a destination and we have our rescue mission. So let's do what we have to in order to rescue our friend."

"Woah, woah, hold on there, big guy." Snipe piped up, stepping forward once again. "I hope yer not thinkin' of goin' without some of us, now. Those Con's just kidnapped our friend, too, after all."

"Exactly." Cementos concurred, causing several more teachers to step up to the plate as well. "It's not just one of your own that's been captured, but one of ours as well. I believe it would be only fair to accompany you on this mission to rescue her."

Prime was taken aback by all of the volunteers that had just offered their help, though he couldn't fault their strong argument. "They've got a point, Prime." Jazz said with a shrug of his own. "If anything, we got these cats all involved at a pretty opportune time. The Cons might be ready for us, but every time we bring heroes into the mix, they come up short."

"They DO like to underestimate the humans, I'll say that much." Windblade smirked, eyeing the heroes with a smirk. "I'd say that this time would be no exception."

"Hm, you are correct. Very well then." Prime nodded down to the heroes in approval. "Heroes of U.A., you may accompany us on this mission. However, I recommend you only send ten, so we can pair yourselves up with each of us to ensure your safety."

Nezu returned the nod in approval. "That sounds very amicable, Optimus Prime. Thank you." He raised his hands up to the teachers and announced; "You heard the Autobot! Will ten of you please—"

"W-Wait, Principal Nezu!" Things once again came to a halt when Izuku spoke, the greenette stepping right to the principal before bowing to him. "I-If it's not too much trouble… my friends and I would like to come as well."

There was no hesitation when Aizawa said; "Absolutely NOT." The students flinched at their teacher's words, his hair standing up on end as his Quirk activated. His red, bloodshot eyes glared at them through his bandages to get his point across. "It's bad enough that some of you kids went on an unsanctioned mission yesterday, but you went WITHOUT any provisional licenses."

Springer rolled his optics and flung his head back. "Agh, scrap, THIS again?! I thought we've been over this."

"The discussion didn't end." Aizawa emphasized. "You kids aren't going, end of discussion."

"But Fowler gave us the okay yesterday!" Mina protested. "And he's a government official!"

"And I'm the one who's ACTUALLY responsible for you kids' safety." Aizawa pressed further, glancing to Fowler briefly. "And the fact that Agent Fowler didn't even consult me on the matter is even more questionable." He went back to his students with a hard glare. "Nevertheless, it's still completely out of the question."

Eijiro raised his fists and grit his teeth in frustration. "Yeah, but we actually came back from that fight! Doesn't that count for something?!"

Aizawa sighed and brought his good hand up, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe this conversation is still going." He blinked and his Quirk deactivated, though he still had the students' attention. "Listen, whether or not you're good on the battlefield ISN'T the main focus of this debate. It's that you were using your Quirks in a way that violates every rule set up by the law. And in wanting to come on this mission, you would be continuing to do so."

While the teens winced at his words, Arcee couldn't help but be curious. "Mr. Aizawa, what do you mean by that?"

"I think I can explain." Strongarm spoke up, raising her hand to bring up her holographic display. "I've been studying Earth law over the past couple of weeks since we've got here and I've come to learn that there's quite a lot of prohibition on public Quirk usage in several countries, mainly amongst civilians and heroes in training without licenses."

Nezu nodded up to her. "That is correct, and there's a reason for it. Quirks can be powerful, yes, but that does not necessarily make a person a ready-made hero. If civilians were to engage villains with their own Quirks without the proper training, it could have disastrous results."

"Plus, anyone whose Quirk could be destructive enough to cause collateral damage would also be an issue." Snipe added. "There's a lot of intricacies to this law, ya see."

Optimus put a hand to his chin, going over it in his head. "Hm, I do see. However, I also believe that you are severely underestimating your students." He gestured down to the kids, all of them wearing sheepish yet hopeful faces. "We have trained them for the past two weeks, and it is evident that it has paid off. They have taken on Vehicons several times over and continue to help us in other matters as well, such as our search for the relics, and the Scraplet invasion."

"The heck's a Scraplet?" Present Mic said as quietly as possible, only for him to get shushed.

Aizawa sighed and directed his sights up to the Prime. "Optimus, I get it, you're proud of the kids for making it this far. …And I won't lie, a part of me is impressed, too." The students were taken aback slightly as Aizawa went on. "But this rescue mission is the real deal. If any of the students were to get seriously hurt out there—"

"Then I will bear full responsibility for whatever may happen." Optimus urged, shooting a glance toward Springer. "Someone promised me that the other day when we went on that mission, and now, I extend the same commitment to you."

The homeroom teacher narrowed his eyes curiously to Optimus, only for All Might to step in as well. "I will also take responsibility for the children on this mission. I'm one of the ones who've been in on this secret for the longest, so it's only right that I carry that burden." With a furrow of his brow and a determined smile, he pleaded with his colleague; "Please, Aizawa, give them a chance to help rescue their friend."

Shifting his eyes back and forth between All Might, Optimus and the students, Aizawa knew he had a lot of weight riding on his choice. The fact that the former two were so stalwart in their standing was one thing, but as they spoke, the students became more resolute as well. Before long, all nine of them were standing tall and ready to accept anything that came their way on this mission. He could see it in their eyes… they weren't going to back down.

With yet another sigh, Aizawa narrowed his eyes toward the students. "Alright, here's how things are going to play out." The pointed over to Mei first. "Hatsume, you work best with Red Alert, right?"

"Y-Yeah." Mei stammered. "I do."

"Then you'll be running communications between all of the other heroes out in the field with me and him back at base." Aizawa ordered. "Plus, I heard you had something called a "Sky Spy" that you were working on. Maybe it's time you give it a test run."

Mei brightened up immediately at that and saluted to the man. "Sir, yes sir!"

"Good." Aizawa went back to his own students, giving them a stern glare. "Now listen very closely. I want you and your guardian bots to pair up with the teachers; one bot, one student, one human." The other teachers were stunned to hear this while the students were equally as surprised, though they also brightened up as Aizawa made his instructions clear to them. "Do NOT stray from your group while on this operation, is that clear? Otherwise you can kiss this chance to prove yourselves goodbye."

The eight 1-A students all shared a look, their smiles unyielding as Tenya answered for all of them; "Sir, we understand very clearly. We'll follow yours and Prime's orders to the letter."

"That's what I was hoping to hear." Aizawa's arm snapped back as he pointed to the school. "Now get to the classroom and grab your costumes. We're getting this done tonight."

Optimus watched on as the students all cheered victoriously and made a break for the school, all while he smiled with pride beneath his faceplate. He bowed his head toward Aizawa appreciatively. "Thank you, Aizawa. This means a lot to them, I'm sure."

"Hmph, took him long enough." Fowler chuckled as Aizawa merely huffed back to him. "Trust me, after this mission, you'll see the same potential in these kids that I do."

Vlad King crossed his arms, raising his brow toward his dark-haired colleague. "I certainly hope so, otherwise you just made a VERY questionable decision, Aizawa."

"We'll see, Vlad." Aizawa replied.

It was then that Optimus Prime addressed the Autobots and heroes one final time, his voice unwavering as he spoke with the utmost gravity. "We have our mission, and soon we will have our teams. Be warned, though, the Decepticons' defenses will be great, so we must tread carefully. However, if we all work together, I have faith that we will overcome this challenge and rescue Bumblebee and Midnight." He pointed off into the distance and declared; "Autobots, heroes… let's roll to the rescue!"

…..

A/N: Hey Prime, that's someone else's catchphrase! Hehe, but what a series of events we have here, eh? It took some heavy convincing on the part of several parties, but Aizawa finally relented and allowed the kids to come along on the mission! Provided they follow his instructions to the letter, of course. This rescue operation ought to be interesting, I'll say that much.

But hoo boy, Arcee and Shadow Striker's past is pretty heated, to say the least. Of course, it's a backstory that's very similar to Prime Arcee's only here, it seems to have affected Arcee a lot differently. Instead of becoming somewhat cold and battle-hardened like her Prime counterpart, this version of Arcee seems to have quite the temper whenever she sees Shadow Striker, the trauma of the event being so severe that it sent her into a rage when it happened in front of her eyes. Otherwise, though, she still seems like the same friendly bot. Oh, and speaking of, same as in Transformers Prime, it was Tailgate who got axed by Shadow. And with that, I just killed off BOTH uses of the Windcharger mold. This HAS to boil down to coincidence because I don't hate the mold by any means. Sure, it's not my FAVORITE of the original Minibots, but I don't HATE it. Again, it's weird and I have no idea why it happened like this.

And we also got an explanation of where those three Mini-Cons probably came from. Seems like the Ark's mission to find energon wasn't its ONLY mission, hm? Now we've got Mini-Cons potentially scattered around the Earth with no idea where any of them could be. They could literally pop up anywhere, so that should be interesting to see in the future. In any case, with Bumblebee and Midnight in the Cons' grasp and their mission clear, it's time for…

And now, the Preview! Midnight and Bumblebee wake up in the Cons' base being guarded by Thundercracker, and it's here where they finally have a little heart-to-spark on everything that just happened to them. Meanwhile, the teachers, students and Autobots all set out on their mission, headed to Canada to rescue their comrades. Will they succeed? Next time; Roll to the Rescue! Optimus, All Might and Izuku enter the Darksyde in a BIG way! Thanks for reading everyone, and I'll see you all next time! Stay safe out there, and remember;

GO BEYOND! PLUS ULTRA!