Transformers Team Six

Outside the base, leaping through the desert was Leobreaker in lion form. And riding on his back, holding on tight was Gallus, making sure he stayed on tight so he didn't fall.

"Sure is pretty out here," Leobreaker commented, leaping over another rock. "Is all of Earth like this?"

"Most of it. Some places, not so much. But tell me about Cybertron, how is that planet?"

"Before the war, Cybertron was downright gorgeous. It was quiet, peaceful. Though I'll admit, I did enjoy some of that, but the only bits of adrenaline I got was going down to watch local races, or being a team player in Cube games," Leobreaker said. "Then, as soon as the war started, I was getting right into action with the rest of my Autobot buddies."

"Are you able to go back there?"

"I can, but honestly its really boring now. Down here on Earth is where the real action is, its where the Decepticons are! And your planet has a lot of fun things to do!"

"You got that right," Gallus grinned, still holding on.

"Hang on little buddy! We're circling back to the base!"

He ran like a horse with intense speed, running back to the base. Just a few more feet, and... stop! His paws grinded against the sand, halting in front of the doors. Once they opened up, he just walked inside nice and easy. He walked back to the main entrance, and lowered his body to the ground so Gallus could climb off. Once he was off, Leobreaker transformed back into his robot mode.

Inside the kids were doing some final minute studying and doing a little quizzing with each other. But it was quickly coming to an end, as now the kids were getting a little hungry.

"Um, it's getting close to dinnertime. Can we order some food?" Ocellus asked.

Arcee hadn't even considered that idea. They were kids after all, they needed to be fed as well as protected. "Sure. What do you want?"

"Hmm... anyone want some pizza?"

"Sure."

"Why not?"

"I can go pick it up," Makeshift offered. "Let me just get a pizza truck."

He walked over to the main computer and started typing on the monitors. Out his back came several tentacles and cables which started connecting into the mainframe, looking through the internet. Several flashing images went by on screen in nanoseconds until it finally stopped and changed back to the regular map screens. Makeshift's cables unplugged and went back into his body, and the former Decepticon turned around, walked back down the steps and onto the main floor.

Parts shifted and replicated around his body, and he slowly began to convert into a new form, now changing into an old pizza delivery car. Yellow with a white cab over the back end of the truck, and with a pizza logo on the doors.

"Anyone want to come with?"

"I'll come with you!" Ocellus said, dashing to the car. The door opened up and she sat herself in the shotgun seat. Once her seatbelt was clicked, Makeshift drove out of the base and into the desert. A Groundbridge portal opened, and the two of them passed through, now arriving back in the city again.

"Thanks for letting me come with you," Ocellus smiled.

"No problem," Makeshift said. "Besides, I can't exactly pick up pizza without drawing attention to myself. No humans to pick it up after all."

"So Makeshift, what's Cybertron like?"

"You mean right now, or back when I lived there?"

"I guess when you lived there?" Ocellus asked, nervously smiling.

"Okay, fair question. Well, before the war, Cybertron was just a nice little planet. We all had jobs, we had our own businesses, we were living peacefully without worry of anything bad coming except for Unicron."

"Who?" Ocellus tilted her head.

"Long story. Anyways, I had a job there as an actor in Cybertronian theater. Because I was forged with changeling abilities, I harnessed my ability to look and act like anyone into theater. But then when the war came on... all of that went away."

Now the student felt a little sad. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You're not the one who instigated a war. I still found a way to use my abilities for good. Before I turned myself around, I got roped into working with the Decepticons, and they used me as a spy to infiltrate and report back information. None of them even suspected me."

"No one?"

Makeshift's steering wheel turned as he made a turn around the corner. "Not a soul. It wasn't until after the destruction of Unicron that I chose to change my ways. Since Megatron left Cybertron with almost all of his soldiers, I saw a chance to escape and finally get back to my roots again. So I found a job listing for working with Team Cee, so I found Arcee, signed up, and I eventually became a part of her team. Took awhile for that prejudiced Override to finally overcome it."

"She doesn't seem to like Counselor Cyberwarp that much," Ocellus twiddled her fingers.

"She just needs to get to know her like you do," Makeshift said, parking in place. "Oh, here it is!"

"I've got money, I'll be right back!"

Makeshift stayed parked on the curb, in the space while he waited. His radio flipped through several channels on the radio station. Nothing out of the ordinary, mainly just those same old talk show hosts. His rearview mirrors adjusted, until he spotted something in the street. A sleek dark blue police cruiser was slowly driving down the road, doing a daily patrol. But Makeshift spotted something on the side as it slowly pulled up next to him. A Decepticon marking on a police badge, printed near the door.

Oh scrap no... please, please, go away! Go away and don't come back, do not find me, I am not an Autobot, I am a pizza truck, go away!!!

Barricade was slowly looking around, checking for any signs for Autobots in the vicinity. If there were any, he was going to deal with them swiftly and with extreme prejudice.

I will smother you in pepperoni and cheese if you don't go away! Just gooo!!!

Barricade's engine idly hummed as he looked around. Nothing was in sight. But a strange aroma was hitting his senses, something wasn't right. Makeshift was shaking inside, hoping that he wouldn't come back to find him. Worse, Ocellus was now coming out of the pizza parlor!

Ocellus looked up at the doors, hoping to come in, but then she froze when she saw that same cop car from yesterday. Instinctively, she moved as fast as she could and slammed her back against the side of Makeshift, setting the pizza down. Ocellus cupped her mouth, shaking in fear. She couldn't make a sound, not when he was around. And Barricade was still close to them!

The two of them waited, until they heard the sound of an engine roaring in the street across from them. Driving through the intersection was several drag racers, speeding right past some civilians and ramming into several cars. And quite audibly, they could hear the police scanner talk in Barricade's vehicular mode.

"Calling all units, calling all units. I've got my eyes on a 10-94, we've got several dragsters reported in the area, any officers available please intercept."

Barricade wasn't about to do a human's job, but hey, why not? He wanted some excitement, at the very least, he could get some joy from scaring the living daylights out of them.

"Officer in progress, I will be giving pursuit, over," Barricade said, rather calmly. He slowly drove out into the intersection, and making Ocellus jump, his police siren turned on and he started to race down the road to pursue the dragsters.

Once he was gone, Ocellus finally got up. "That was close."

"Too close. Thank you crazy adrenaline junkies," Makeshift said, opening up his door to let Ocellus back inside. She sat in the shotgun seat and buckled up, shaking as she held the pizza. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah. I'll be okay."

Makeshift pulled back into the street, now going on the path that would take them outside of the city.

"Want some music? I think I know something that can cheer you up."

The kids and Autobots waited for Makeshift to come back, and when the doors opened, they saw him come inside. And in the car was the sound of an oldies song, and Ocellus smiling happily as she sang along with Makeshift. Arcee just playfully rolled her eyes, grinning.

... ride through town
In one of those new horse drawn open cars
We'll see the shows at Delmonicos
And we'll close the town in a whirl
And we won't come home until we've kissed a girl

The shotgun door opened and Ocellus came out with the pizza. "Pizza's here!"

With some paper plates and drinks (that Ocellus also stopped to pick up along the way), the kids were gathered around and were eating some very delicious pizza with some soda and or juice included. The Autobots joked about wanting a slice, but no one really took any, and the kids understood right away. Even then, the Bots had their own susstenance with them; in the form of some motor oil straight from an oil can.

"Yona curious. What was it like having humans in Autobot base?" Yona asked, nibbling on some pizza.

"At first, it was really weird," Bulkhead answered, sitting next to her on the concrete sofa. "But we got used to it as time went on. Besides, having them around was a breath of fresh air."

"Sounds like they were fun," Yona grinned.

"They were. And I have a feeling they would have loved to meet you guys back then," Bulkhead nodded, patting her head.

"Do you have any old videos of them?" Sandbar asked.

"You bet we do! I have some of those video tapes, let me go find them," Seaspray said, running into one of the backrooms.

"Video tapes? Who even uses those anymore?" Smolder chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Everything can just be done on computers now."

"Be careful who you say that around. We've met some people who will get set off if you say that kind of thing to them. Besides, the only reason we used some old technology was because we didn't want Decepticons to lock onto their wifi signals on their phones."

Smolder shrugged. "Fair enough."

"Oh I found one of the tapes!" Seaspray said, holding a VHS tape looking piece in his hand. "This is a good one. This might show you what things were like back in the day when they were with us..."

He pushed the tape into the player, and the knobs were adjusted to tune into the recording. Everyone was gathered around to view, and the kids gave their full attention to the screen.

--

6/25/17

The tape began to play, and the screen turned on. The first thing that was on screen was an extreme closeup of an Autobot's face; a bot with a black helm and gray face (typical for a majority) but was seen with a red body and a rocket launcher on his shoulder.

"Rainbow, are we rolling?"

"Yeah, we're rolling buddy," the girl said, holding the camera.

"Great!" The robot cleared his throat and looked at the camera with a friendly smile. "Hey guys. Sideswipe here. Rainbow Dash suggested I make a video tape for you guys to show you what you're missing here while you're off catching some more Cons over in New York. Oh, wait!"

Rainbow Dash turned the camera around, showing a yellow-orange robot who had the same face like Sideswipe, almost like a twin.

"Sunstreaker! Bro! Say hi!"

Sunstreaker looked over at the camera and nearly fumbled. "Whoa, oh! How do I look, do I look camera-ready?"

"You look fine, Sunstreaker," Rainbow said, rolling her eyes behind the camera.

"Oh. Hi guys! ... What's this for again?"

"We're making a tape for some of our friends while they go hunting for Decepticon prisoners. Say where's Jazz and Bumblebee, I bet they'd love to get in on this."

"They're off at some fundraiser event with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, something about helping animals get a new home," Sunstreaker said.

"Oh okay. Too bad they're not here, I think they could use a little bit of Pinkie's happiness," Sideswipe shrugged off.

A red alert siren went off, and the three of them turned their heads around, camera included to see an explosion go off near one of the computer grids. Even worse, sounds of gunfire were going off as well.

"Oh scrap! Fire!"

Sideswipe ran towards the smoke, looking for the source of the flames. Sunstreaker, and a few other Autobots were seen running close by. Arcee, Seaspray, and Bulkhead recognized them all; Inferno, Mirage, Gears, many old Autobot buddies.

"Rainbow Dash, put the camera down and put on a suit!"

"Shoot, sorry! Hang on, I'm coming!" Rainbow ran from the smoke filled area and the camera was now facing her feet as she ran for her life. A few more seconds of screams, and then the video ended with some static and a test pattern.

--

"Yikes. What happened that day?" Smolder asked.

"Overheating and malfunctioning tech in Wheeljack's lab," Arcee said, bluntly. "Apparently he was trying to help make a new gun, and it didn't go very well."

"Better than making an Immobilizer Mark II, I can't imagine the damages that would do if he were to revive that thing," Seaspray shook his head.

"Still better than Hoist and Grapple's short-lived project," Arcee said. The kids were blanking, which Arcee could see by their confused faces. "Two of our Autobots, mechanics I might add, wanted to build a solar tower which could produce energy. Optimus said no because he was afraid the Decepticons could get ahold of it. And needless to say, the Decepticons played them hard, because they got help in assembling it."

"Ow. Didn't they know?"

"They were manipulated. And at the time, they were new, they didn't realize how deceptive they were being."

"They're literally called Decepticons, doesn't that set off any red flags?" Gallus pointed out.

"You'd think it would. But you be surprised at how many people have fallen for their treachery," Leobreaker pointed out, curling up in another chair.

As the evening went on, the kids finished their meals and took the rest of the time at the base to just sit and chill with their Autobot friends. Arcee leaned against a doorframe, finding herself suddenly smiling. The new recruits were having a nice conversation with these kids, and they were getting along just fine. This cute scene reminded her back in the day with many times she found Sunset Shimmer and her friends having conversations with their Autobot guardians. She always found it funny to see Rainbow Dash so competitive with Sideswipe, or Bumblebee be so fascinated by Fluttershy's variety of animals she took care of. To say nothing of Jazz's party antics with Pinkie Pie.

And now there was a new batch of kids having fun with their Autobot companions. This could be fun, really fun. After all, she could use something to turn things around and have a little bit of fun now and then. Something to help her recent behavior would be nice as well...

"You know, Arcee. I had a crazy idea," Bulkhead said, standing in the doorway.

"Can't be as crazy as anything else we've seen," Arcee said. "Lay it on me."

"Since we're going to be looking after them for a while, and they know our secret and all... what if we made new suits for them?"

Arcee blinked. "I'm sorry, you want to--what?"

"Sunset Shimmer and the girls helped us with the Decepticons with their own power suits. Why not make some new suits for the kids?"

"They're kids, Bulkhead. They're 12 years old!"

"But what if we're not around to protect them? It's not like we can just leave them in Cyberwarp's hands, she barely stood a chance against Barricade and Dropkick last time I checked."

Arcee sighed, rubbing her fingers on her temples. "Okay, maybe it would be good to teach them how to protect themselves, but I'm not sure how smart it is to give them suits to fight Decepticons."

"I'm not saying it's the best idea, but I'm only saying--"

"--I know Bulk, I know," Arcee nodded, looking at the kids. "But they're just kids. They shouldn't have been involved to begin with. They're not..."

Bulkhead finished her sentence. "They're not students from Canterlot High?"

Arcee shook her head. "It's not just that. I... I don't know. I'll give it some thought, but I don't think it's a good idea. We shouldn't be putting their lives in danger, and they shouldn't be going out fighting Decepticons."

Bulkhead nodded. "I understand."

As Arcee looked back at the kids, chatting, eating pizza, having a few laughs with their Autobot companions, she thought more and more on their current status. Seven of them, and so far only four Decepticons on the loose. They could handle just four, she was sure of it. But her mind still scared her with the thought of any of them getting hurt because of the Decepticons. If any of them did... she didn't know what she would do.

The kids were eventually returned back to their dorms, and they gave their goodbyes to the Autobots, thanking them for letting them hang out at the base for the day. Of course the Autobots planned on paying them another visit once their classes were done (and more so to check on them) but they did let them return back so that the school staff and no one else would be worried for their departure.

While it was nowhere near bedtime for the kids, it was close to bedtime for someone else over at the Sweet household.

"... And so with Twilight Sparkle saved, everyone came together and declared the Friendship Games a tie, Principal Cinch was fired, and they all lived happily ever after. The End."

Cyberwarp closed the faux book in her hands, finishing the bedtime story for little Max. The boy yawned as he slowly started to relax in his bed.

"Thanks for reading to me," he said softly.

"Aww, it's no problem at all buddy. Now you just rest comfy, okay bud?" Cyberwarp smiled, pulling the blankets over him. She gave him a soft kiss and was ready to walk out of the room--

"Cyberwarp."

She turned around. "Yes, kiddo?"

Max was hesitant to speak, but then he finally spoke up. "... Are Mommy and Mama going to replace me?"

Cyberwarp frowned. "What? Kiddo, no. Who told you that?"

"Some big meanies at school. They said when a new baby comes, the parents completely forget about their other kid," Max said, hugging his little teddy bear.

"Oh, kiddo, no. Your moms are never going to forget you, and you are not being replaced," Cyberwarp said, her motherly instinct kicking in as she pulled up a chair to sit back down. "They wanted a baby because they wanted to bring another member to the family here. They do not have any intent on replacing you, I know it. Why are you so afraid of having a younger sibling?"

"Because I don't know if I'll be a good brother. And I don't want them to not love me anymore..."

"Max, buddy, hey..." Cyberwarp stroked her cheek. "Bud, they will always love you no matter what. And you know, I think you could make a great brother when that new baby comes. And..." She did hold back a little snicker. "Your mom said a little something to me that I think you would probably enjoy."

"Yeah?"

"Mmmhmm. She said if it's a girl, you get to help put up barbed wire around the house when she's sixteen to protect she from all the hes..."

Max just nodded. "Oh... cool!"

Cyberwarp giggled. "And, (although I am not encouraging this) if it's a boy, you will have someone to tease and be the boss of without ever having to leave the comforts of your home."

Max did find some comfort in that thought. "... I hope I get a little brother."

Cyberwarp chuckled. "Oh, I can bet. We don't know whether it'll be a boy or girl, but I'm sure you'll still be able to love them when they come. In the meantime, you should just focus on your spelling. You've got that big test coming on Wednesday, after all."

"I know..."

Cyberwarp tapped her finger, but a grin came to her face. "Tell you what. If you do really well on that test, if your grade is in the A or B area... I will take you out as a little reward, we can go to anywhere you want."

"Anywhere?"

"Anywhere little bud. But only if you pass," Cyberwarp smiled, booping his nose. "Understand?"

"I do. And I will do well!"

"I believe in you, buddy," Cyberwarp smiled, ruffling up his hair. "Goodnight Max."

She walked out of the room, and closed the door after turning off the light. With a content sigh, she walked back downstairs to the main living room and dining room to relax for the rest of the day. One successful weapons trip done, now she was ready to defend herself should the day come. More of the house had been cleaned up for the arrival of the baby (whenever that would be). She still had some things to do, but it would be one day at a time.

As she about to turn on the television, the landline phone next to her rung. And she reached over to pick it up.

"Hello, Sweets residence," Cyberwarp said, answering.

"Cyberwarp?"

"Smallfoot, hey! It's so good to hear from you," Cyberwarp smiled, adjusting herself to get more comfy on the couch. "How's Las Vegas?"

"We didn't come to go gambling, silly," Smallfoot giggled. "How is everything back home, everyone okay?"

"Everything's great," Cyberwarp said with a straight face. And inside, she was hating herself to the core for lying her aft off. "Max is okay, the house is still in one piece, we're all doing okay."

"Has Max done the spelling test yet?"

"No, not yet. That's not until Wednesday," Cyberwarp clarified. "But anyways, how are things there? Is Sour okay?"

"She is. We did get word from the doctors that the baby should be due any day now, but its so generic and broad that, well, we didn't want to take chances. We do have a room for Sour booked at the hospital, and we're checking to make sure that, well, her water didn't break," Smallfoot said on the other end. "But enough about me, is there anything interesting happening on your end?"

Cyberwarp's face drooped. "Um... no."

"... Something happened, didn't it?"

"Um, no, nothing happened."

"Cyberwarp," Smallfoot said, sternly. "If something happened, you can talk to me, you know that right?"

"... Okay, I ran into the Stunticons!" Cyberwarp blurted.

"You--wait--what?"

"I was just going out for a drive, and I ran into the Stunticons. They're back on Earth," Cyberwarp confessed, panicking in between.

"Wha--how? Why are they back?"

"I don't know!" Cyberwarp clawed at her own face. "I felt like they were going to kill me, but they didn't! They don't know... They don't even know I'm... you know?"

"So, they don't know you're technically siding with the Autobots?"

"Technically," Cyberwarp emphasized. "But no, they don't. "

"Okay, look just stay calm. Does Arcee know?"

"No she does not," Cyberwarp confessed.

"Why didn't you tell her?"

"Because I'm having a hard time trying to earn their trust as it is! The last thing I need is for them to know I just happened to bump into some of Megatron's top troops," Cyberwarp threw her head back on the couch.

"Cyberwarp, you know if they try to do that, we'll still stand by you, you know that right?"

"How can you do that if you aren't even here?"

"... Touche. But still, this isn't something you should hide. If they're back, you need to tell them. And speaking of which, have you run into Shatter or--"

"--I haven't seen Shatter yet, but I did have a bad encounter with Barricade and Dropkick who kicked my butt. The only reason I was even able to survive was because I had Glit, and even then, I'm just lucky they didn't hack me to pieces," the counselor said. "And this might be breaking who knows how many rules, but I might have, sorta... bought some weapons to defend you guys and myself?"

"... Where did you put the guns?"

"I put them in the barn, out of Max's reach. Why?"

"No, no, that's a good thing. Look, I promise I won't tell the Autobots you have weapons, but you need to tell them about the Stunticons. Talk to Arcee in private if you have to, but you need to tell the truth. Okay?"

Cyberwarp sighed, throwing her other arm down on the couch. "I understand. But if you don't mind, could we please change the subject? Do you know whether or not you're having a boy or a girl yet?"

"No, not yet. We wanted to keep it a surprise," Smallfoot admitted. "Which reminds me, have you gotten a mobile for the baby yet?"

"No, because that's something I've been meaning to ask, do you want me to get anything specific?"

"Get something space related, something with cute little rocket ships and stars, that will work," Smallfoot answered. "Oh, and there's something else. We need to place another order, I'm going to need some heating pads."

"What for?"

"If a baby is going to be raised, they need to feel warm in the hands of their mother, or mothers in this case. And I don't know if you still plan on sticking around to help..."

Cyberwarp pulled herself up with a straight face. "I made a promise to help you when you needed it. And that's a promise I plan to keep. If I have to install heating pads on my body, I will do it if it means it will help you two." Note to self; install heating pads onto my arm and chest.

She didn't see it, but Smallfoot was smiling on the other end. "I really appreciate it Cyberwarp. Now where's the rest of our little family? Steve, Space, your twin Sky, where are they?"

"They're still off collecting a bounty on some old criminals," Cyberwarp explained. "Though I really wish they were here right now, I could use their hands."

"They'll come back soon, I'm sure of it. We'll give them a call," Smallfoot replied. "Now I'm probably going to go get some sleep, you should consider relaxing as well."

"I don't understand how you, a Pretender of all things can even sleep."

"The correct term is cyborg, Cyberwarp. My organs aren't pretending anything," Smallfoot playfully retorted.

"Yeah, I know," Cyberwarp rolled her eyes, chuckling. "Well I'll let you get some sleep. Stay safe, okay?"

"You too. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Cyberwarp finished, hanging up the phone. She set the phone back on its slot, and threw her head back, rubbing her temples. Smallfoot was right, she had to tell the truth. This wasn't something she could hide for long. But how was she going to tell them? Would they even be accepting of her story, or worse, would they lock her back up in stasis again?

In the emptiness of space, a massive capsule was floating around outside of Earth's atmosphere, slowly moving towards the planet. It was covered in several burn marks, with some scraps and shredded plating deteriorating from the body. Soon the atmosphere captured the capsule, and it began its descent towards Earth, now hurling through the several layers above the planet.

The body was soon overheating, and it caught fire as it hurled towards the planet. Now it was spinning out of control as it made its way down, and was straight on a collision course. It hurled straight down to California, towards the Mojave desert.

It hurled farther and farther until it crash-landed, straight into one of the mountains. The mountain did stop it from going any further, but it dented part of the capsule like crushing a beer can. And it rolled right off and slammed into the ground, taking out a cactus in the process.

Flames were catching onto the pod, and more pieces of metal were falling off, breaking apart some more. But then, another piece of plating was punched out of the craft, and it slammed on the side. A single hand grabbed onto the edge, pulling itself up. And the rest of a metal body slowly emerged, rising out of the pod. A single pair of glowing blue eyes opened, finally awake and ready...