The plan was to integrate the Predacons into normal Autobot functions slowly.
That plan went out the window as soon as the Predacons onlined in the morning.
Sky-Byte and Divebomb decided to explore while waiting for Jack and the other two to wake up.
In fairness, the two didn't actually break anything, but they did give the humans heart attacks as they tried to enter smaller doors in order to observe the humans inside.
"Cubs." Razorclaw scoffed when they onlined and heard the panic. They nudged Jack awake and then went to perch on top of the Unit.
Jack groaned as he heard the noise as well.
"You leader." Paddles reminded him.
"I'm aware." Jack sighed and struggled up. Wheeljack and Ratchet were busy doing something and were the only bots on base.
He felt more like a sheepdog trying to herd cats. Divebomb listened, but as soon as Jack moved onto getting Sky-Byte, he had joined Razorclaw on the roof.
"This is loco, man." One of the soldiers noted.
"Sorry about this." Jack sighed. "Sky-Byte, what are you doing?" The flying shark was trying to wedge himself under the hangar door without moving it.
"It's movie night- everyone on night shift is watching the movie now." The soldier explained.
"What's the movie?"
"Double feature, Journey to the Center of the Earth and Journey 2 the Mysterious Island."
"We haven't had the discussion about movies yet." Jack could feel the headache coming. "Sky-Byte, you can watch the movies later, we need to talk about Earth culture and technology first."
"They're hurting fish! They must be villains!" Sky-Byte gasped, the hangar door bent slightly.
"It's a movie, they aren't really hurting fish, it's just pretend … Can we open the door?" Jack asked.
"Uh, one moment." The soldier radioed it in. "So Giant robots don't know everything?"
"He was technically born less than … uh, month?, maybe? ago." Jack guessed. "Not much life experience, I would have preferred starting with something more educational."
"Oh no, now the human cub has gone missing!" Sky-Bite was horrified. "Where's their location? We can go there, right?"
"… So, he's basically a kid that looks like an adult?" The soldier asked, looking confused before looking surprised.
"Pretty much." Jack glanced up to see Paddles had arrived. The two of them were able to pull Sky-Byte out of the door.
"Wait, I need to see if the cub finds his family!!" Sky-Bite protested.
"We'll ask if we can watch it tonight, Sky-Bite, you need to learn about a bit about earth first." Jack was pleased that Divebomb and Razorclaw came off the roof when he called.
Jack didn't notice the soldier staring at him, still looking very confused.
Smokescreen onlined to someone getting lectured by Ratchet and Arcee.
It wasn't him, though, which was nice. It took a moment for his memory of what happened before he woke up to comeback.
"Where's Nurse-?" Smokescreen tried to sit up to see if she was in the unit. Instead, he yelped and fell back.
"Smokescreen! Don't move." Jack was there.
"Where is she?"
"She's okay, bruised up and resting." Jack smiled. "We'll get you caught up in a moment-" Jack was knocked away by a Predacon that looked like a Dinobot.
It chirped at him.
"Why's there an extra Predacon?" Smokescreen asked.
"There's more than one. Ratchet!" Jack called the medic over.
"Smokescreen! What were you thinking?!" Ratchet fussed over him. "Why didn't you phase-?"
"You all told me not to phase when I had a human with me. And if I let her out to phase, Predaking would have grabbed her!" Smokescreen defended. He could hear Jack resume the lecture.
"You're lucky you still have all your parts!" Ratchet did not acknowledge that Smokescreen had a point. Smokescreen was poked and prodded as Ratchet checked over the welds. "You're not moving until tomorrow."
"Smokescreen!" Nurse Darby called out. She was set down next to him. "You had me worried."
"Are you alright?" Smokescreen asked.
"Bruised and banged up, but I'll recover." She assured him. "Officially, you and I were hit by a hit and run driver, so I don't have to go into work."
"I'm glad you're okay."
"Just don't do that again, next time, let me out so you can fight back. I can run and hide." Her hand very gently patted his armor.
"Didn't want to risk him grabbing you and flying off-"
"Movie and Night!" Someone interrupted.
"Huh?" Smokescreen tilted his head.
"Sky-Byte is fascinated by humans, apparently." Nurse Darby sighed. "It's been an interesting couple of days."
"Mind filling me in? I'm apparently not going anywhere anytime soon."
General Bryce was not a man prone to violence despite his choice in career. He very much preferred to have as much information as possible before making a decision.
The Autobots had proven themselves to be stalwart allies, Agent Fowler had been chosen because he was wary of the giant alien robots and he had gone on record multiple times vouching for Team Prime.
General Bryce had observed for himself that Team Prime was genuine, enough to sign off on allowing the civilian Rescue Bots to be assigned to a civilian watcher- Chief Charlie Burns of Griffin Rock Maine- and that was quickly proving to be a good decision. Chief Burns had good reports when asked, and the technology swap was going well.
While Team Prime and the rescue bots were based in America, there was also a degree of international cooperation, as the Decepticons did not care about collateral damage and the Autobots did.
That said, it was not a unanimous decision, and it required quarterly meetings (unless there was an emergency, like Darkmount).
Right now, General Bryce's current headache was one Harold Attinger who was of the opinion that the Autobots should be stripped for parts and studied for weaknesses, as well as their artifacts confiscated for study, and the man's pet scientist who seconded that motion.
Attinger was positively hitting the ceiling over the recruitment of the Predacons while Dr. Arkeville looked disturbingly happy.
General Bryce reluctantly paid attention to the two, if only so he could figure out how much he needed to warn Bill about.
"I have agents deputized and ready should we need a quick assault, good men who will protect this planet." Attinger announced.
"Excuse me?" General Bryce demanded.
"I was allowed to select people no matter where they were stationed in case the Autobots betrayed us." Attinger defended, and one of the higher ups confirmed it.
"And you didn't think to notify us when you were doing this?"
"You didn't need to know." Was the smug reply. "But if you want me to pick one to act as a liaison for when you come to your senses, I can do that."
"Tell them I expect them at my office 0700 tomorrow morning." General Bryce instructed.
"Of course. Any word on the missing child?"
"Roadhauler's memories of the lab are still fuzzy, but he remembers Jackson Darby talking to him. Their plans to recover him hinge on getting onto the ship. During the recent track down of Predacons multiple attempts to go into the Decepticon ground bridges were made. The Autobots were in for repairs for almost twenty-four hours after." He'd have to speak with Prime about it.
"I'm sure I could clear his memory up." Dr. Arkeville offered. "A few adjustments here and there …"
"That's not happening. For one thing Roadhauler has already been tortured by being pulled apart and hacked by the Decepticons. Our alliance is based on not doing the same things the Decepticons do."
The argument took a little longer, but General Bryce was able to successfully protect the Jackson Darby's secret. The kid might not be human anymore, but he was still an American citizen, and General Bryce had sworn to protect his country and countrymen.
Dr. Arkeville is one of the human villains from G1 I'm bringing back, he was mentioned by Vogel earlier, and will be a threat to Jack and Raf.
Attinger might be recognized from the recent live action movies … I needed an enemy for General Bryce and Agent Fowler to contend against.