Hello again everyone. To all those who've left reviews, favorited, and or followed the story, thank you. I'm going to admit I'm not overly happy with how this chapter turned out. Considering the characters that I had, I had a lot of improvising to do. Raf is the least detailed of the Autobots' human companions. Sierras' friend doesn't even have an official name from what I know of. And for some reason Ultra Magnus' character fought me the entire chapter. However, I hope you all enjoy reading it more than I enjoyed writing it. In addition, I hope I my representation of a panic attack is fairly accurate. Note: edited 3/15/22
The Amazon teams' arrival didn't go as smooth as they'd hoped. Exiting the space bridge onto the bank of the great Amazon River, the ground gave way from their sudden weight, dumping them all into the water. Climbing out Bumblebee gave a series of indignant beeps about Ratchets' choice of coordinates. Raf laughed. "I know Bee, out of the gate and into the drink."
Ultra Magnus shook some water off of his body. "Alright." He began, double checking a holo-map in his right wrist. "The temple the Decepticons are in is three miles downriver from our current location." He turned to Bumblebee. "Go on ahead and scout for any guards. We'll follow once you signal." With a salute Bumblebee took off on foot, the jungle foliage being too dense for his car mode.
Once left alone with the young Maximal Magnus decided to begin his secondary mission. Get to know the Earth members of the team. He cleared his throat. "So, nice weather out here." He winced, even to his own audio sensors that sounded horrible. "I mean."
Raf took pity on the bot. He guessed that Ultra Magnus might want to get to know them, even if his method was blunter than Bulkheads' wrecking balls. "I'm just glad there we're no Pirahna fish in this part of the river. I'm not sure they'd go for me or not." At Magnus' expression he explained. "They're a type of fish that can do to animals and humans what scraplets can do to Cybertronians."
Ultra Magnus shuddered. He'd found more than one scraplet infestation over the years. Apparently, the concept wasn't unique to Cybertron. "Alright. Is there anything else in this area that might pose a threat?" He asked, somewhat afraid of the answer.
Raf gave a small laugh. "There's a reason explorers call the Amazon the 'Green Hell'." He held his arms out. "Everywhere in this jungle are things that want to crush, sting, claw, bite, infect, and otherwise, murder you." At Magnus' horrified expression Raf put his arms down. "However, most of those things are probably more scared of you than you are of them, so I think we'll be all right."
Magnus looked out at the jungle around them. After hearing all that he now had a newfound respect for the natives of this planet. For such a fragile species, they had apparently been able to survive in this horrific jungle that seemed like it could rival the rust sea or sludge swamps of Cybertron in brutality. Still, he had a mission to accomplish and turned back to Raf.
Raf cut him off. "If you want to know more about me, just ask. There's no need to beat around the bush with me." There was a moments silence before Magnus nodded and Raf continued. "I was the youngest of four children, and mostly ignored." He mumbled the last bit; he was still bitter about being essentially abandoned by his family. "I was able to understand digital code by age 3 and grew my technological skillset from there. I like videogames and being with my friends, from both here and Cybertron."
Magnus looked at the young Maximal appraisingly. Apparently, Raf had a brilliant mind and, from what he was told about the humans' history, he wasn't even a fully developed human before becoming techno-organic. Now, throw in the strength he'd gained with his beast mode and the medical tools he had built into him, and you had someone with near limitless potential. "Do you have any idea what you want to do with your life now?" He asked.
Raf gave a sigh. "I honestly don't know now." He answered. "Originally I wanted to do something with computers. Then I met the Autobots and thought I could do something to help out that way." He took a deep breath. "Then we got turned into this and now, I- I just don't know." He sighed, staring out at the river. An uncomfortable silence descended upon the duo.
The silence was broken by a beeping from Magnus' wrist. "Thats Bumblebees' signal. Let's roll." With that they took off down the river at a run. Following the river bank, they avoided the denser vegetation of the jungle and soon came upon the temple. It appeared to be similar to the Aztec temples in design, built into the side of a cliff and was partially overgrown with vines.
A rustling to their right made both Autobot and Maximal jump and deploy their guns. A moment later Bumblebee emerged from the tree line, a couple of vines dragging behind him. "Alright soldier, report." Bumblebee beeped that the two Vehicons that'd been guarding the entrance to the temple entered it a few minutes after he arrived. In addition, a loud drilling was heard moments later that died down a few moments before Raf and Magnus arrived.
Ultra Magnus nodded. "Alright. We'll head inside the temple and then." He was cut off when the ground beneath them began to shake. Looking down the trio had just enough time to leap back before a pair of red drills erupted from the ground where their feet were moments before. From there what looked like a red, orange, and purple cross between a tank and an ant followed the drills out of the ground.
The tank turned around to face them, fire bellowing from exhaust ports on the thorax and abdomen. "Death to the enemies of the colony!" It bellowed in a regal voice. "Long live, the Royalty!" With that the drills and tank treads retracted into the body, six legs taking their place, leaving it a giant ant.
Rearing its' head back and opening its' mandibles, a stream of fire erupted from its' mouth, creating a wall of flame between them and the enemy. Raf, Bumblebee and Ultra Magnus barely got out of the way before the stream of fire could hit them. Before they could return fire, they heard a voice. "The three of you now face one of my next generation Predacons." Turning, they saw Shockwave emerge from the temple, holding what looked like a vertebra in his hand.
A group of Vehicons came from the temple next, pulling a stasis pod on a platform. The pod however appeared to be shaking a little, and small sparks were coming off it.
Shockwave looked at the pod. Perhaps infusing that experiment with crystalized Nucleon hadn't been the most logical idea.
Turning back to the fray he saw that the Autobots and their companion had opened fire on Infernus and he was taking every shot with barely a wince. Apparently giving him reinforced armor plating had been both logical, and practical. "I must thank you Autobots, without the process your humans went through, I wouldn't have stumbled onto the process to reformat our own troops. Infernus is but one of the first of our new shock troopers that shall lead the Decepticons to victory."
Seeing no further logic in prolonging the mission with needless taunts he activated his comms. "Lord Megatron, this is Shockwave. Objective complete, requesting space bridge." A moment later the space bridge portal opened in front of him. With a motion of his cannon arm the Vehicons went through first, the last one activating the timer on the stasis pod. "Come Infernus, further fighting here would be, illogical."
"As you command, regent." Infernus called. He switched into robot mode and ran for the portal. Ultra Magnus leapt through the fire to follow them but was blasted backwards by Shockwave before they both stepped through the portal and it winked out of existence. As the portal closed the stasis pod opened in a cloud of steam.
Within the stasis pod, Allison Blackrock awoke in terror. Last thing she remembered was that purple robot flooding her cell/tube with that burning cold liquid and electrifying her, and after that nothing. And she'd been having a bad week to begin with.
First her and Sierra were separated from their father during the evacuation. Then that plane turned into some kind of robot and knocked them out. Then she woke up naked in a lab with Sierra and Vince with several giant robots working around them. Then Vince and Sierra were taken into the lab where she heard them screaming before they went silent. Both times she prayed for her friend and her sister. Then it was her turn.
Looking down at herself she nearly fainted. She looked like someone mixed her with a robot and a horse. Looking down past her muzzle, which freaked her out bad enough, she saw she had white fur growing out of her skin. Her metallic fingers ended in small hooves and looking down she saw she now had steel-hoofed feet that let out a pulse of silvery light every time she stepped.
Hearing loud footfalls, she felt panic flood her body from whatever passed for her heart now. Looking to her left, she saw three more robots coming towards her. Her eyes widened in terror she looked from one face to the next. In her mounting panic attack all three of them looked scary.
The tall red white and blue robot spoke first. "Excuse me." It spoke. "But if you're one of the missing humans we've been looking for, could you please identify yourself? If you're scared you just need to calm down and I'm sure we can help you."
These words had the opposite effect on Allison. Last time she was in contact with any robots she ended up like this. So, she did the only thing she could think of, she bolted past the trio and up the river as fast as her new legs could take her.
The three Autobots followed her. "Magnus you idiot." Rafael shouted as he ran, trying to catch up to the techno-organic. "Telling someone who's that scared to calm down is the worst thing you could have done." Bumblebee beeped in agreement following Raf.
Magnus glowered a bit at the back of the Maximal before following suit. How was he supposed to know these things, he'd only been on Earth for a week. He did have an idea to fix this though. "Ratchet, this is Ultra Magnus. The Decepticons recovered some kind of fossil and left behind one of the missing humans. It looks like they were experimented on like the Maximals and is panicked."
He looked ahead, gauging the distance away the techno-organic was. "I need you to open a bridge back to base, about sixty yards in front of our present location, on my mark." At Ratchets' "Copy that." he looked up as they were coming to a bend in the river. "Mark."
A space bridge portal swirled into existence some ten feet from the techno-organic who didn't have enough time to stop themself before falling through it. Putting on an extra burst of speed, the group ran through the portal, returning to base.
Allison looked around the room she'd just entered. It looked like a military hangar. Looking to her right she saw two more giant robots. One red and white, the other, red and blue. Backing away from the two she saw the three from before come through the portal she just came through before it faded away to nothing.
"No, no, no, no, no." She whispered to herself as she frantically looked for a way out.
The red white, and blue bot came closer to her. "Honestly young one, we aren't here to harm you. We're trying to help." It said in a somewhat clipped tone that did absolutely nothing to help her anxiety. It reached out a hand, whether to comfort or capture she didn't know so in her panic she punched.
At the point of contact a silvery white pulse erupted from her fist and traveled up the robots' left arm. It spasmed and jerked for a few seconds before dangling limply at its side. Backing away she tried to run only to find the black and yellow robot from before standing in her way.
Ultra Magnus backed away from the hybrid. Poking at his left arm he could tell that it was only temporarily paralyzed. Looking up he saw that Bumblebee and Rafael were trying to corral her. Just what kind of power was in this techno-organic?
"Ultra Magnus, a word?" Optimus' voice interrupted his thoughts. Walking over to his commander he prepared to give a situation report but was cut off. "I know you've only been with us for a week, but could you please try a little harder to understand our human allies? Especially now that it seems we'll be having more of them to watch over." He reprimanded.
Ultra Magnus sighed. "I'm' sorry sir, but frankly, this unit is in sever disarray. There's little to no chain of command, and almost no respect for authority." For a 'by the books' bot like him, this was a madhouse within a protocol nightmare.
"Perhaps." Optimus began. "But during our time on this planet we found that there is something far stronger than an army." Before Optimus could continue there was a beeping from the space bridge console.
"Doc bot this is Wheeljack requesting ground bridge back to base." Came Wheeljacks' voice. "We also found one of the kidnapped humans from Jasper and will be bringing them.
Ratchet made his way over to the controls. "Was this one experimented on too?" He asked. "Because Magnus' team found one as well, and they're in quite a bit of distress." He cringed as he heard some equipment get knocked around behind him. Thank Primus for the extra supplies .
Wheeljacks' response came a few seconds later. "Yes, but she seems pretty calm at the moment. I don't think this one will be a problem." With that Ratchet reactivated the bridge for their coordinates. A moment later Wheeljack stepped through, pushing what looked like a giant human shaped bulb with tentacles on some kind of wheeled platform. Miko and Bulkhead arrived immediately after.
Meanwhile Bumblebee and Rafs' attempts to contain the techno-organic were not going well. By the sound of it she may have damaged some of the equipment and getting close was proving perilous. The activation of the space bridge distracted them for a moment, allowing Bumblebee to get close. He received a kick to the torso that caused him to spasm and collapse unconscious to the floor.
"Leave me alone!" Allison screamed after kicking the black and yellow bot. She ran before the other large bot could catch her. However, what did stop her was a familiar voice coming from the recently arrived giant bulb.
"Allie stop, they're friends." Came Sierras' voice. Allison stared wide eyed at the giant bulb. Looking at the vines growing from it she saw that one had a set of lips and seemed to talk and the other two each had an eye in a very familiar shape and color. Eyes she recognized.
"Siri, is that you?" She asked. At the awkward 'nod' she did with the eye vines, Allison began to relax a little. If nothing else, being with her sister could make this a little easier to bear.
"She's having a panic attack." Sierra explained to the assembled robots in the room. Much to her embarrassment. "Just be gentle and speak softly to her and she'll calm down."
The large robot had just helped the black and yellow one up and came over to her. Getting down on one knee he gently said. "Hey, sorry we scared you back there. We were just trying to help."
Allison thought hard for a second, she knew that voice. With a small jolt, she realized that it was Rafael Esquivel. That pipsqueak computer geek that hung around with Darby and Nakadai. Although looking at him now, she knew better than to ever call him a pipsqueak again.
Raf spoke again, maintaining a gentle voice. "Would you please come here so that the good doctor can do a quick check on you?" He asked indicating the red and white bot she'd noticed before, only now catching the medical motif that adorned his body. Raf looked at Sierra. "I'm sure he'll be with you as soon as he's finished."
With both of them nodding in agreement Allison walked back over to where the apparent doctor was standing with what looked like an airport security metal detector wand in his hand. Raf sat down cross legged and pulled Allison onto his lap and put a comforting hand on her back. It was a little embarrassing, but the comforting aspect was much appreciated after what she'd been through.
"Now." Raf began. "What doctor Ratchet here is going to do, is wave that scanner over your body. It will enable him to make a hologram image of it so he can see inside you without anything going inside you." With that Ratchet began to slowly wave his scanner over her body while Raf continued to comfort her. Finally, she was beginning to relax knowing that she was no longer in danger here.
A few minutes later she received another surprise at Sierras' "OMG". Listening a little closer she understood that the bot Sierra was talking to was Miko Nakadai. Apparently, whatever turned little Rafael into the giant holding her now, also turned Nakadai into some kind of bird themed robot ninja. An equally big shock was hearing that she and Darby had only just started dating despite the whole school thinking they were already a couple. Idly she wondered if he was in the same boat they were.
However, her musings were cut short when Sierra asked about what the words "Wrecker" and "Maximal" meant. Rafael looked over to them and stated. "I think we need to have some kind of class for these two to get them caught up on everything that's happened." Personally, she agreed with Nakadai about having school lessons in their current condition. She also found her choice of nickname for him "Rhinox" interesting. Now that she was calmer, she noticed the Rhinoceros jaw on his chest and head on his back.
Ratchets' scan was interrupted when the space bridge controls beeped again. Putting the scanner down he walked back over to the console and reactivated the comms. "Ratchet," Came a feminine voice from the console. "Requesting a bridge back to base." There was a pause. "And we're bringing someone with us."
Ratchet threw his head back at the news. "Another one! For the love of." He gave a sigh. "Alright, one bridge coming up, but be warned it's a bit of a circus here right now." He punched in some coordinates for a location she thought looked like somewhere in New Mexico. With that he walked back over and resumed his scan as the portal they'd come through swirled to life.
Through the portal walked a blue woman robot, a white robot with what looked like red and blue highlights, a grayish white and metallic blue lion with a black mane, and a red furred metallic red bat with similar characteristics as the lion. Rafael gently explained that the two larger bots were called Arcee and Smokescreen and that the lion was indeed Jack Darby.
The bats' identity was discovered when Nakadai, after greeting Jack with the admittedly cute nickname of "Jackrabbit", called to who Rafael explained was the robots' leader (Optimist or something that sounded like that) that they "had the third one." With her and Sierra accounted for, that meant the bat could only be Vince. Said bat was now looking at the scene before him with the other three, seemingly at a loss for words, trying to figure out what had happened in the time they were gone.
A/N- Okay, so much for this one. Next chapter. Three new Maximals join the team, June gets some bad news, and the Autobots gain a new ally. If you read carefully and know the Transformers franchise well enough, you might be able to guess who it is.