Transformers Team Six

Dropkick bowed before their leader. “I live to serve, Lord Megatron.”

“Dropkick, rise,” Megatron ordered.

Dropkick did stand up straight again.

“Your survival is an unexpected turn. I had thought you and your partner perished on Cybertron, but Shatter tells me your vanishing was premature,” Megatron spoke.

“Yes, my liege,” Dropkick nodded. “As I’m sure Shatter told you, we were captured during battle, and didn’t wake up from stasis until we crashed here on this planet.”

Megatron waited, and then turned back to Barricade. “Barricade. You always find a way to slip from immediate trouble.”

Barricade smirked. “That I do.”

Megatron then looked around some more. No one else in sight, and only three Decepticons in front of him.

“Has there been any contact with any other Deceptions?”

“None, Lord Megatron. Barricade, Shatter and I haven’t seen any other Decepticons until, well, she found you,” Dropkick shook his head.

"And what about the crashed cruiser? We may have lost some Decepticons, but there are some I noticed who weren't on the ship. Soundwave, Shockwave, Thundercracker, many others," Shatter commented.

"During the attack, I ordered my top troops to evacuate. No sense in wasting their sparks. But their fates remain unknown..." he said, looking back at the cavern hall that would lead outside, thinking.

"Whatcha thinkin' about, boss?"

"But if my Decepticons are still online, we will find them..."

***

"If they escaped long before we made it into Earth's atmosphere, they will already have rendezvoused with Onslaught and the others. But if they are here on Earth, I will expect them to be hiding..."

Several pieces of military aircraft flew over some forests, all staying together in formation. A few of these jets were the same type, sporting only a few different colors. But there were a few other ones with them that were different, though like the others, were all in different colors. But one thing they all had in common, was they were working together, all on the same side.

"...Looking for the others..."

And down a stretch of highway, a massive big rig slammed through several cars, eliciting a few angry honks, but the truck continued to ignore them. Nothing could stop it's big black cabin, purple glass panes, or it's gray trailers.

"... And harvesting as much Energon as possible..."

In a train yard, a big, strong, steaming locomotive pulled out of the yards, hauling a few freight cars behind it, taking them away to put them to good use. And in another disclosed area, several green construction vehicles were working in a massive canyon, unearthing glowing blue crystals from some of the mineral deposits. And in the nearby forest, were large metallic creatures ripping down trees, chirping and clicking as they did so...

"... And when the time comes, we will call our Decepticons, and strike back at the one who dared to oppose us."

***

Megatron then turned around, and looked at his three Decepticons, who were all standing straight and together, giving their boss their undivided attention and respect.

“Fellow Decepticons…” Megatron addressed. “We will be leaving this planet. To that end, you three shall be tasked with executing my new plan.”

“What is the plan, boss?” Barricade asked.

“These unknown forces have depleted half of my army, stormed my warship, and attacked my Titans... They will be dealt with in time. For now, you shall serve me by gathering what I need to assemble a working spacebridge.”

Barricade whistled. “Wow. I’ll admit, not what I thought you were going with this.”

Dropkick nudged his shoulder to quietly tell him to shut up, allowing Megatron to continue.

“Forgive me for asking, Lord Megatron. But what about the rest of the Autobots? Optimus Prime has left a handful of his comrades here on this planet.”

“Optimus Prime's warriors are of no concern to us at present and they will not become one if you do your duty properly. If you manage to fail me in this regard, then you will deal with them as I expect any warrior in my army to do or die trying.”

Dropkick chuckled. “Those Autobots won’t stand a chance…”

“Do not forget: I will not tolerate further infighting or insubordination or other failures to serve my will. Until we find the out the fates of the rest of my trusted warriors, we will work together. We are stronger united, then we are against each other. There will no more room in my army for the likes of Starscream or anyone aspiring to follow his... Dubious example.”

Megatron glared at his three warriors, which did not allow for, much less invite further questions. The three Decepticons bowed their heads.

“Yes, Lord Megatron,” the three said in unison.

“Then rise, my warriors. Our mission has begun…”

The morning sun of Sunday rose over the horizon, bringing the second weekend day. Just like usual, everyone got up and did their daily routine to prepare for the day, make whatever preparations or plans they have to do. Though for the Student Six, they did not sleep well that night. Their minds were too awake to try and sleep, and the thought of those robots watching them scared them to death.

The alarm clock on Smolder's phone dinged, and in seconds the phone flew across the room and bounced off the wall and into a soft bean bag, followed by Smolder moaning. "Why????"

And that was followed by the sight of Silverstream rolling out and slamming onto the floor. "Ow!"

Smolder's eye sleepily looked at Silverstream who pulled herself to her feet.

"You know, we can just stay in bed you know. There's a reason they call it the weekend."

"I couldn't sleep," Silverstream admitted, clutching herself. "I keep thinking those big meanie Decepticons were going to stick their hands through the window and crush us."

Smolder sighed, pulling herself out of her bed. "You too, huh?"

"You couldn't sleep either?"

"Not one bit," Smolder yawned, smacking her lips. "All I kept seeing was that blue guy's gun in my face." And tired as ever, she stumbled to her closet to grab a set of fresh clothes for the day. "Maybe we just need breakfast."

After getting dressed and using the restroom facilities, the kids walked downstairs to the cafeteria and grabbed breakfast. Pancakes, waffles, bacon, toast, eggs, cereal, orange juice, milk, etc. They got their food and sat down at a table so they could eat.

The breakfast was... quiet, to say the least. Usually it was full of conversation and life, but after yesterday, it just became drop dead quiet. No one said anything, you could barely hear anyone eating their food, it was just... dead. Only some clinking of their utensils or plates were heard.

"... So. Anyone sleep well last night?"

"Nope," everyone said, rather bluntly.

"Honestly I wish I had a gun under my pillow," Gallus admitted. "Not sure how useful it'd be but... the thought would have been nice."

"I slept in the student lounge all night," Ocellus confessed as well, sinking into the chair. "I'm so close to the windows, I didn't want to be that close to being yanked out!"

"That explains why I found your pillow and blanket on the couch," Smolder stated, sipping some milk.

Sandbar nibbled on some bacon in the midst of the talk. "I know we're all scared, but I'm sure things will be okay guys. Those Autobots will stop them from attacking us, I'm sure of it."

None of the friends were so sure about that. I mean, okay, the Autobots were nice and they did approach them with caution, trying not to scare the living daylights out of them, but all of this was still new. They weren't sure what to think.

"I'd make some comment on what if the Autobots are bad and the Decepticons are good, but one of them was about to kill me, so I'm not going to say anything," Smolder said.

Ocellus was about to speak, but she felt a soft buzz vibrate in her pants pocket. Her cellphone was going off. And someone was trying to call her. "Excuse me," Ocellus said, reaching her phone and getting up from the table to talk. "Hello?"

"Ocellus, it's Makeshift."

"Makeshift?" Ocellus asked. The table turned their heads at her. "What's wrong?"

"Just wanted to make sure you and the others are awake. I'm parked outside your campus, I need to take you six to our base of operations."

"But, why?"

"If we're going to protect you kids, you need to understand exactly what we're dealing with here. Are you all dressed?"

"Um... yeah?"

"Good. Meet me at the campus parking lot. Look for a black SUV with a dog hood ornament. Shouldn't be too hard to pick out," Makeshift said, hanging up.

Ocellus heard the dial tone, and she just looked back at her friends with an unsure expression on her face.

After getting all of their gear, i.e their cellphones, snacks, knapsacks, purses, whatever, they walked downstairs out of the dorms and went into the faculty parking lot. Not many cars parked here today, but they could see the car they were requested to go to. Like Makeshift said; he was sitting as a black SUV, looking like every other SUV you would see. Black and shiny like he just went through a car wash, and ready to go.

"Makeshift?"

"That's me. Come on in kids," Makeshift replied, opening up all the car doors.

"Um, how are we all going to fit?"

"It's a sports utility vehicle, it's got more than enough seats. Though I recommend three sit in the middle or all the way in the back. I need to keep a holographic appearance in the driver's seat."

The six students exchanged glances.

"So who's sitting where?"

The drive out of campus and into the city wasn't so bad. Ocellus being the smallest sat in the shotgun seat, Yona sat on the left side in the middle with Smolder in the middle, and Sandbar on the right. This left Gallus and Silverstream to sit all the way in the back.

"So, um, this whole transforming thing, how do you do it?"

"It's easy. You just do it," Makeshift replied, nonchalantly.

"Yeah, but how do you pick what you disguise as?"

"That's also easy. You just find the vehicle that suits you, scan it, integrate all it's data into your system, and you will have yourself a new alternative mode," he answered. "Most of the Autobots are limited to choice, but I can scan whatever I want and be whatever vehicle I want."

"So... anything?"

"Well, mostly anything that's within' my body size, so I can't exactly transform into a jumbo jet or a blimp or an aircraft carrier," he corrected himself.

"That's... actually pretty awesome," Smolder grinned. "That must make you the ultimate warrior then, right?"

There was some eerie quietness in the car as they were driving, and Makeshift didn't respond. Smolder felt like she might have said something offensive, until--

"--It does not."

Smolder sighed in relief, no offense taken.

"I may be able to look like almost anyone, but that doesn't mean I'm powerful. Having a great power doesn't translate into being the strongest of them all."

"Makeshift speaks truth," Yona nodded. "Yona's family members claim strength, but not all Yona family members super strong as they speak."

Some awkward silence filled the car some more. The only things they could hear right now was the sound of Makeshift's engine running.

"... You kids want me to play some music? I can find just about anything--"

"--No, no, it's okay. We'll just uh... we'll just sit here," Sandbar said, awkwardly.

"... Okay. Makeshift to base, Makeshift to base. Seaspray, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear."

"I'm almost outside of the city, I'm going to need a groundbridge."

"Roger that."

Just then a green portal flashed before them on the road ahead. The kids jolted in surprise, even more when Makeshift just kept driving like normal. With a flash of light, Makeshift drove through the portal and found himself no longer in the city; now he was sitting in the middle of a long dusty stretch of road that went across a scorching hot desert.

"Wha... where are we?" Ocellus quaked.

"Don't worry, we're not far from the city. We just needed to take a Groundbridge to our base to save driving time."

And with a sharp right he skewered off the road and bounced on the desert grounds, racing to the base.

"Whoa, slow down!" Sandbar gripped the handlebars of the car. "We're not in a race!"

"Trying to avoid detection right now, gotta go fast," Makeshift answered. He made a turn around the bend, and just up ahead he could see the base. An abandoned factory that looked condemned. Several boards covering most of the windows, broken glass, mold everywhere, it looked absolutely desolate.

But the doors opened up, and he drove inside like normal. They drove through a hall, until he parked himself int he main command center. Off in the corner there was a set of control consoles and screens, probably for monitoring any activity. A cinder-block looking piece that they swore was a couch, sat in front of a TV with a few other chairs. Some giant-sized cabinets hooked on the walls, some tables, so much interior installed. And in the command center was Arcee and the rest of the Autobots who were waiting.

"Welcome to our base of operations," Makeshift welcomed, opening all doors. The kids climbed out, and once everyone was free, Makeshift slowly shifted and transformed back into the metallic shadowy body that he was hiding. "Boss. The kids are here, as per ordered."

"Thanks Makeshift. But again, you don't have to call me boss, just call me Arcee," she corrected.

"My apologies, Arcee."

"Hey, hey, hey, welcome to our pad!" Override smiled, with open arms. "Now I know, an abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere isn't the greatest place for a hideout, but it works for us. We got space, we got cover, it works."

"Eh, not the biggest dump I've seen," Smolder shrugged.

"If you don't mind us asking, we have some questions about those Decepticons, and well, everything," Sandbar asked.

"Of course."

"First of all, when did this all even start?” Smolder asked. "You act like this fight between you guys and those two Decepticons had been going on for a long time, how long has this war been going?"

“It’s kind of a long story,” Arcee began.

“Oh boy, we’re telling this story again…” Override rolled her eyes, planting her behind onto a chair.

“If they’re going to learn about us, they might as well know a bit on how all of this got started,” Arcee pointed out.

“She’s right you know,” Bulkhead said.

“If I may?” Arcee asked, looking at the kids.

“We’re listening,” Sandbar nodded.

Arcee walked them over to their little 'living room' area, sort of. And the kids parked themselves onto the cinderblock couch, sitting next to Override and Catapult who sat down. Arcee pulled out a chair, spinning it around and sat on it backwards, so her arms were hanging over the back support.

"Okay. So..." Arcee cleared her pipes. “A long time ago, just far out in the cosmos of space, there was nothing except for two gods; Primus, and his brother, Unicron. Primus believed in creating life, but Unicron was more interested in destroying and devouring anything in his way. The brothers fought; but Primus found a way to combat him; the 13 Primes. The very first Cybertronians.

They fought him off, and Unicron left, vowing revenge one day. Primus then converged himself, and with the help of the 13 Primes, he created more life; Cybertron. But as our society advanced, we unfortunately raised a new problem. Some Cybertronians were not happy with how leadership and planetary control was being handled, until some bot was bold enough to start his own force of power; Megatron. He raised an army to battle against the current rulers, and it turned into an all out war. That is until an Autobot, courageous enough to fight took a stand; and that Autobot’s name was Optimus Prime. He rallied those who were fighting for a noble cause, and we had been in war ever since..."

Cybertron

Explosions and laserfire were echoing through the air across Cybertron. Hordes of Decepticons and Autobots were screaming during the battles, trying to one up the other but with very little success. Each side continued to get on top of each other, and it only continued as the years went on.

During the battle, several Autobot cars were flying through the air, having raced up a ramp to try and jump to the other side. Since a bridge had been disconnected, they had to do a little improvising. The first one to slam her wheels on the other side was Arcee, albeit much younger and with a light pink and white color scheme; with a race car-like mode.

Right behind her were a few of her fellow allies who had helped her with the most recent mission; Hound, Mirage, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, many others. Now they were on the run, thanks to some Vehicon troopers who were racing after them, hoping to eliminate them due to the Autobots finding valuable information that could have turned the tide for the war.

“They’re still on our tail, Arcee!” an Autobot yelled from behind.

“We’ll take it to the tunnels, we’ll out maneuver them there!” Arcee ordered, swerving to the right. The Autobots swerved towards her direction and raced down a ramp, going straight across the highway.

Several Decepticon soldiers fired at them from the buildings above. Seekers and Vehicon troopers fired with all they got, even manning a few turrets. But the Autobots were getting farther and farther away from them. The Decepticon leading this barrage, a hulking large purple figure with a large cannon for an arm and a single yellow eye pointed at them.

"Destroy the bridge! They are carrying sensitive information! Let none escape!"

Several Seekers jumped from where they stood, flipping into jet forms and gave chase.

"Uh oh. Arcee, we have Seekers on our tail!"

"Hound, Mirage, can you throw some rockets back at them?"

"Yes ma'am!" Hound called. The two Autobots spun around, now driving backward to cover the Autobots. Armed rockets equipped from their sides, locking on target. They let go, and the rockets headed straight for the Seekers in the air. They took evasive action, but one or two of them did hit a Vehicon, and one Seeker in the process. But they kept up the chase. The Decepticons loaded rockets to fire at the Autobots, until some shots went above them, calling his attention.

On a tower, two Autobots pulled themselves up, armed to the brim. One was all in red with a tank turret sticking out his chest, and the other was in red and dark blue, a femme with two rockets mounted above her head.

"Need some help?"

"Let's blow 'em to pieces, BANG, POW!!" The red Autobot shouted before flipping into a tank mode. His turret locked on, and he fired several rounds into the air, taking out a few jets with powerful kicks. "That outta buy our friends some time, KAZOWIE!"

And it sure did. The Decepticons completely forgot about Arcee's team that they put their focus on the two Autobots shooting from inside one of the buildings.

"Haha, suckers!" Sideswipe taunted.

"Forget about something, boys?" Sunstreaker added.

"Boys, save it when we get to base," Arcee said, playfully rolling her eyes underneath that car form. "Prowl, you can open up the gates, we're coming home."

The group went straight down a ramp, heading underneath a part of the bridges. And when they took another turn, they went down a ramp that went deeper, towards the base entrance. The doors opened, and the pack drove inside, nice and smoothly.

"Finally, we made it!" Arcee said, transforming into robot mode, with a proud smile, looking at her comrades. "Tell Optimus we have the access codes, we got them!"

Prowl smiled. "Nice job, Arcee. I'll tell him at once."

The femme looked back to her friends who were all throwing some fist bumps, high-fives, even a chest slam or two in there, something they picked up from the Wreckers. But Arcee still smiled, beaming with pride. She had every reason to be proud of her team. This may have been a small victory, but it was just what they needed right now...

"... But as eons went on and the war continued, our resources became more and more depleted. We eventually set off to find new sources of energy and that’s when we crash-landed here on Earth, in 1984. We stayed hidden, until the Decepticons came back in 2016. Our war with the Decepticons continued, until one faithful day in 2017…”

“Well what happened?” Gallus asked.

“Unicron made his return, planning on killing Cybertron and Primus once and for all. That was when Autobot and Decepticon forces joined forces and stopped Unicron, for good,” Leobreaker said.

“With the war over, we hoped things would finally become peaceful again. Until some Decepticons rose up and launched a series of attacks in 2027. Even though a few remained and escaped, we did capture the attention of your planet’s leaders and, well, one thing led to another and we made a peace treaty with them. We were granted safe haven here on Earth.”

“But if the whole world knows you exist, how come we haven’t heard? How come you guys aren’t out in the public so often? How have we not heard a single thing about you, I think an attack on New York City's hard to forget!” Smolder asked.

“Because we know you humans and your desire to capture every exciting thing on video with your phones,” Arcee said, a little sarcastically. “But even then, if we did, it could attract attention of the Decepticons. California’s one of the biggest states here in the US, and we didn’t want to start a battle in a highly populated city. The world knows we exist, but it's still our job to stay hidden among the public.”

“Except thanks to Barricade and Dropkick, we couldn’t avoid that,” Bulkhead added. “I love lobbing as much as the next bot, but I’d rather do it with the least likely chance that someone will get hurt.”

The kids nodded, understanding what they were explaining.

“But wait, what about Cyberwarp? Where is she? Isn't she a part of this war?” Ocellus asked, looking around.

“She told us to talk to you kids alone. Since you kids figured out her secret, she wanted you all to talk to us before talking to her.”

“But why?”

"Because in her rambling, she said we would do a better job of taking care of you six than she could."

"... Okay, that doesn't really answer the question," Gallus raised a finger.

"If anything, that raises even more questions," Yona stated, tilting her head.

"I asked about that, it's a sensitive subject for her, one that she rather not discuss with us. Again. If you want to know, you'll have to ask her. I'm not going to talk about her behind her back," Arcee said.

"Fair enough," Gallus agreed.

Just then, a noise went off on the main computer. Leobreaker who had stood quietly, listening to the entire conversation, walked to the monitors to check. "We have an Energon spike. Should we go investigate?" Leobreaker asked.

"Yes, we should. Autobots, prepare to--"

"--Wait, what about the children?"

Arcee froze and internally cursed. "... Scrap. Leobreaker, where exactly is this spike, is it in a populated area?"

The Autobot typed on the console, moving the cursor around on the radar screen. "Hang on... the spike's located... aww scrap. Checking internet satellites, there's some people camping nearby. Guess I won't be going anywhere again."

"You'll get your chance to come back out again, I promise," Arcee reassured.

The lion crossed his arms. "Doesn't feel like it..."

"Chin up big guy. If we need someone to pounce on Cons, we'll give you a call," Override teased.

"You ever hear the phrase 'don't poke the bear'?" Bulkhead asked.

"He's not a bear," Override chuckled.

"You know what I mean."

Seaspray turned on the groundbridge, and watched as Arcee rounded up the team (at least most of them).

"Autobots, roll out!"

Arcee transformed first, and she drove out of the base and through the portal. Bulkhead then transformed and followed after. And one by one, Override, Catapult, and Makeshift followed suit. When everyone had finally passed, the portal closed off. Seaspray and Leobreaker stood awkwardly, looking at each other, and then back at the kids.

"Well as long as you kids are here, how about we--"

"--You do what you want, I think I'm gonna go cool off for a bit," Leobreaker said, walking away from the group and going down the hallway.

"Grouch much?" Smolder raised a brow.

"The guy doesn't get much time outside the base. Doesn't help that someone didn't give him the memo on needing to pick a mode that falls under 'low profile'. But as long as you all are here, how about I show you around? If you kids are going to be under our protection and all, and besides, you six are guests. What kind of hosts would we be if we didn't show you around?"

Sandbar smiled. "I like the sound of that. What about you guys?"

"Eh, beats sitting and doing nothing."

"Sure."

"Yona want to see!"

"Why not."

"Yes, please!"

Seaspray smiled under the mask. "Great! Follow me. Let me show you around..."