Chapter Text
Ratchet carefully kept his hopes low as he sent out the beacon. The Protectobots hadn’t been seen in millennia, scattered to the stars like every other Cybertronian and fallen out of contact. Like so many other Autobots, each of their files were marked in grey - presumed dead.
That didn’t stop him from watching the skies day in and day out or from obsessing over the long-range scanners.
The first hit he got was a satellite out of its prescribed orbit.
The second was a small meteor that burned up completely in Earth’s atmosphere.
The fifth was Wheeljack in the Jackhammer.
He stopped watching the scanners. He kept watching the skies.
Galaxies away, a shuttle drifted without power. The Sigma was never meant for long journeys, but she had given her everything to the six bots in her charge, taking them as far from the war as possible - to far away fronts where they could help .
The only functions left were life support, the six stasis pods just behind the bridge, short-range scanners, and long-range communications. Her distress signal had been going out longer than she could remember, and she eagerly waited for a response.
Instead, she picked up a beacon, coming from a distant planet. Come here, it said, come home. And so she routed everything she could to her engines and set herself on a drifting course to Earth. To home.
Ratchet sat on the plateau above the base, watching the sun set and the stars reveal themselves. He’d kept to this habit for nearly a year now, looking out to the black for a hint of his little ones.
Wheeljack avoided him like the plague, Optimus gave him knowing looks, and the others stared in concern. Rarely, a human would join him, Miko asking if he’d been to each solar system (he had), Jack asking if he could do anything to help (he couldn’t), and Raf sitting in companionable silence.
It was Raf who had joined him tonight, and he leaned back, putting an arm behind the little one to shield him from the biting winds. “You okay, sparkling?” he asked in that gruff way of his.
Raf leaned forward and tucked his hands between his legs to keep them warm. “I’m okay.” He looked up at Ratchet consideringly, tilting his head. “Who are you looking for?”
Ratchet startled at the uncharacteristic question and muttered something under his breath in Polyhexian about nosy scraplets.
Raf tilted his head the other way. “That’s a different language than Bee speaks.”
“Bee’s from Iacon so he speaks Iaconi,” Ratchet said, seizing the distraction, “I’m from Vaporex so I speak Polyhexian.”
Raf nodded. “Is whoever you’re waiting for from Vaporex, too?”
“No,” Ratchet sighed. “They were built in Thetacon. They speak Iaconi because that’s Thetacon’s primary language, and Polyhexian because their carrier’s from Vaporex, and Ultrixan and Urayan because their sires are from Median and Yuss. And I wouldn’t put it past Groove or Streetwise to have learned others.”
Raf nodded slowly, then curled up, laying his cheek on his knee. “Groove and Streetwise and…?”
Ratchet huffed but smiled. “First Aid is the oldest, and a medic like his carrier. Hot Spot’s next, and he’s the leader out of them all, not to mention taller than Optimus and a Prime-Candidate. Streetwise, Groove, Rook, Blades….”
“Are you their carrier?”
“... I am.”
Raf thought silently for a moment. “I’m sure they’ll be here soon,” he finally said.
Ratchet smiled sadly at him but didn’t discount the possibility. “Maybe.”
It was at that exact moment that Raf perked up and stood, doing a remarkable impression of a meerkat, and said “Is that star getting closer?”
Ratchet jumped to his feet and activated the zoom function on his optics, peering at the ship for any identifying marks, and then without a word, he turned, transformed, and jetted for the exit.
Groove woke first, his smaller frame thawing from stasis faster than his brothers’, and he looked up into a familiar face, crinkled with concern. He shouted happily and threw his arms around Ratchet. “Ri!”
Ratchet laughed, a little bit of a sad edge to it, and wrapped his arms around him. “I need to check your systems over, you had a bit of a crash landing, and I don’t even know how long you were in stasis for.”
“What’s the date?” Streetwise mumbled from a nearby berth, head up but blinking blearily.
Ratchet rattled off the Cybertronian date and time, squeezing Groove one last time before walking over to check Streetwise over.
“Oh,” Streetwise said, “forty thousand vorn.”
Ratchet paused for a moment, blinked in shock, and then went about checking over each and every one of them.
Hot Spot was the last to online and he gripped Ratchet’s forearm, cleanser welling in his optics. “Ri….”
Ratchet put a hand on his head. “I’m here.”
Hot Spot leaned back, closing his eyes. “How can we help?”
Ratchet snorted fondly. “You don’t. Not yet. Recover first, you little workaholics.”
“We get it from you,” Rook teased, deadpan.
“After recovery?” First Aid asked.
“After…,” Ratchet trailed off, thinking. “After, I have just the assignment for you.”
Chief Charlie Burns stretched as he walked past his arguing children to the coffee machine. “Morning,” he said, greeting his nephew with the salute of a coffee mug.
Ed’s face twitched in a smile, though he still flinched away from the louder voices in the family.
“That’s enough,” Charlie called, firm but not loud. “What’s the argument about?”
Kade twisted his dark hair up into a bun, firmly jamming a bobby pin through the center to keep it secure, and grinned somewhat maniacally. “We’re just looking over the new vehicles and their robot modes. Everyone’s jealous that mine is the biggest.”
“I just said I could do so much more with that kind of strength,” Graham protested.
Dani groaned and flopped back on the couch. “Literally no one is jealous of you, Kade. My girlfriend has a bigger dick than you.”
Charlie covered his smile with a cough. “Alright, everyone, come on. Assignments have been made, there’s no changing that now. I expect everyone to put on their best Kuwhasihkuk Fire & Rescue Authority faces for the ceremony later. And, Graham, I think your bot might just surprise you. Now, where are Carly and Cody?”
“Cody’s out biking, and Carly had to run to the dry cleaner’s for her dress blues,” Ed dutifully reported.
Charlie nodded gratefully. “Alright, yahoos, everyone into the squad car. I’ll drop you all off at Town Hall before heading to the mainland.”
Ratchet carefully ran the Protectobots through a final check-up.
Streetwise smiled indulgently at the plethora of scans. “I thought we already got the all-clear, Ri.”
Ratchet huffed. “Just making sure. Forgive me for not being keen on sending you back out into the field so soon.”
“We’ll be careful,” Hot Spot promised.
“Are you really going to Kuwhasihkuk Island?” Raf asked excitedly.
“Yep!” Groove said cheerfully. “Prime wants a public relations team out there, and their Fire & Rescue is badly in need of new equipment. It’s expensive to cart everything over by boat. So we’re headed out there to help.”
“Cool! I have family out there, on my dad’s side, though I don’t know who. I’ve always wanted to visit.”
“Maybe I can take you for a day sometime,” Blades offered, rotors whirring with the urge to get in the air.
Raf’s eyes went wide.
“Alright, miscreants,” Ratchet called, “come get your alt modes.”
Blades immediately scanned the only rotary in the group of vehicles and initialized a slow transformation to be sure everything had ended up where it should be. “Oh, this is nice,” he purred.
“Top of the line, best in new equipment,” Fowler called from the topmost catwalk.
Hot Spot scanned next, going through the same slow transformation and then back to root mode. Frowning, he changed his paint job from firetruck red back to his preferred black and powder blue before nodding happily. First Aid chose an ambulance, Groove a highway patrol motorcycle, and Streetwise a squad car, leaving Rook with the acid green bulldozer. He sighed and recolored himself to his original gray and blue.
Ratchet put his hands on his hip skirting and smiled, shaking his head at his creations. “You all behave, you hear me?”
“Yes, Ri,” six sets of voices called.
The door to the hangar opened and a stocky, brown-skinned human stepped through. “These are my new recruits?” he asked light-heartedly.
Hot Spot stepped forward and kneeled down, smiling at the human. “Protectobots reporting for duty, sir. I’m Hot Spot, team leader.”
“Nice to meet you, Hot Spot, I’m Chief Charlie Burns. You’ll be partnered with my oldest son, Kade.” He turned to Streetwise with a wide grin. “And I believe you’ll be my partner.”
“Streetwise,” the bot introduced himself, grinning just as widely. “Pleasure to meet you.”
Something in Ratchet’s spark clenched watching his creations introduce themselves to the Chief. “I mean it,” he suddenly said, only peripherally aware that he was interrupting. “Behave.”
“Oh, Ratchet,” First Aid said, reaching for him.
Ratchet found himself in the middle of a Protectobot pile, Hot Spot swamping them all with his prime-spark field.
“We’ll be okay,” Hot Spot promised. “And we’ll comm every day.”
“I’ll take good care of them,” Charlie promised.
“Okay,” Ratchet said, letting himself snuggle in for a second. “Okay. Go save the world, kiddos.”
“Alright, guys,” Charlie said as the island came into view. “Hot Spot, like I said, you’ll be working with Kade. He’s got a good heart, but he tends to cover it up with more bluster than could be contained in - well, you.
“Aid, I’m really looking forward to how you get on with Ed, I think you’re perfectly suited for each other. He can be a bit skittish at times, but not when it counts.
“Blades, flying is Dani’s whole life, she’s a bit bossy, but can take it just as well as she can dish it out.
“Rook, Graham tends to think to himself, but he’s willing to explain if you ask.
“Groove, Carly’s the best mechanic from here to Seattle and has a special love of speeding on the scenic routes.
“Streetwise, you’ll be with me.
“Now, due to a scheduling issue, we won’t have time to introduce you all to them until after the ceremony, so as far as they’re concerned, you’re just fancy new transforming robots from the mainland - which will be your cover with the rest of the town.”
“Understood,” Hot Spot said, headlights flashing as he spoke. “How soon will we be arriving?”
Chief smiled and turned to face his home, waving to the dock crew. “Now. Welcome to Kuwhasihkuk Island.”
Owen and Eleanor waved back and moved to help the Protectobots off-load, making surprised noises as they drove down the ramp themselves.
“Self-driving cars,” Chief explained, “the white people get all the best toys.”
Eleanor shook her grey head, staring appraisingly at Groove. “I’ll say. Better tell Doc to get on with that.”
Charlie laughed and climbed into Streetwise.
“White people?” the bot asked, already searching the internet.
“Yup!” Chief said. “We’re all Peskotomuhkati here, real tight-knit community. I was skeptical when Fowler contacted me, but when I talked to Ratchet and learned what he really wanted, I agreed immediately.”
Over the gestalt bond, Blades hummed neutrally.
First Aid prodded him. Ratchet just wants us to be safe. This way, we’re still helping both the Autobots and the humans.
Blades grumbled, but relented.
Soon enough, they drove down into the underground platform that would rise to reveal them to the crowd.
The Burns family was already waiting, and Chief stepped out of Streetwise to greet them all.
A blonde woman stopped in front of Groove, a helmet tucked under her arm. “The motorcycle’s mine, right?” she asked.
Charlie nodded. “That he is, Carly.”
Carly whistled lowly, running a hand over Groove’s seat. “Sweet, she said.”
“Race you!” Dani called from where she was investigating Blades’ cockpit.
Carly laughed, eyes sparkling with adoration. “We both know you’ll win, love.”
A smaller human than the rest hovered on the peripheral of the group. Hot Spot zeroed his sensors on him, ignoring his assigned human’s fumbling about his cab, and pinged the rest of his gestalt.
“Cody!” Charlie called, drawing the boy into his arms. “I’m glad you made it.”
“Yeah, me, too,” Cody said, genuine but subdued. “So can I test-drive any of them?”
“I’ll take you on a ride around the block or two,” Carly promised, already straddling her bot.
“Speed limits only,” Charlie warned.
Carly saluted. “Yes, sir.”
“Alright.” Chief clapped his hands together twice to get everyone’s attention. “Places. Cody, you coming with me onto the stage?”
“I can?” Cody asked, eyes lighting up.
Chief smiled at him. “You’re part of the family, right?”
Cody beamed and skipped after his creator.
So we’re adopting him right? all five of Hot Spot’s brothers chorused at him.
We are, Hot Spot agreed, prime-spark pulsing in empathy with the young one’s loneliness.
Kade shuddered and backed out of the cab. “Weird vibes in there.”
Dani and Graham shared a look. “Vibe-check!” they shouted, each throwing a small soft toy at him as hard as they could from their respective vehicles.
Kade spluttered and stashed the stuffed animals in his firetruck just as the platform started to rise.
The humans rushed to get into position.
“Our town has a long history of being on the cutting edge of new technology,” Chief was saying as the platform rose. “Now, thanks to our friends in Washington, I give you the latest in emergency response: the Protectobots.”
The citizens on the grass clapped politely at the reveal of the new vehicles, and more than one bot preened over the bond.
“Robots, transform,” Chief ordered.
Hot Spot transformed first, and the others, save for Groove, followed quickly behind, drawing shocked gasps from the crowd.
Chief smiled. “These robotic rescue vehicles will streamline our resources. Now, one human teamed with one robot can do the work of an entire police force,” Carly waved from where she straddled Groove’s seat and revved his engine, “fire department,” Kade stepped out smugly from behind Hot Spot’s leg, “emergency medical response unit,” Ed grinned and waved to the crowd, putting on his best public appearance act, “search and rescue team,” Dani tucked her helmet under her arm and smiled for the cameras, “and engineering corps.” Graham, still engrossed in his clipboard, inched into the public view.
“Each robot is programmed to respond only to the commands of its handler, so you can sleep at night, knowing that Griffin Rock is protected by the very best that technology and humanity have to offer.”
The crowd went wild as Chief gathered his family around him.
Hot Spot noted the young Cody was still on the stage, but not with the others.
“Hey, kid!” another human yelled. Streetwise sent them a profile on the man, a journalist - an interloper - from the mainland. “Move out of the way! I want to get a picture of the Burns Family of Heroes!”
Cody sighed and stepped aside.
First Aid took an aborted step toward the young one and then froze back in his original position.
Imperceptibly fast, the bots thought, but Hot Spot noticed Cody staring with wonder and suspicion and nudged his brothers.
Aid’s embarrassment crept through the bond, but the others reassured him. He’s the only one who noticed, Streetwise reported, and he was going to learn anyway.
Sudden alarms broke them out of their internal conversation, coming from their human’s comm units.
“Fire at the Natural History Museum!” Chief barked. “Everyone to your vehicles!”
Blades immediately transformed and opened his cockpit.
Dani stared in shock. “I didn’t tell it to do that.”
“Just go!” Kade called. “Transform!”
The Protectobots all transformed and raced off toward the fire, taking the quickest route their nav systems gave them.
“It’s like they’re driving themselves,” Kade grumbled, wrestling with Hot Spot’s steering wheel.
Hot Spot resisted the urge to announce himself to the human and instead said, in his best impersonation of Soundwave, “Fastest course calculated, driving.”
Over the bond, Groove snickered, speeding along as fast as he could, weaving in and out of his brother’s ways until he was at the head of the pack.
Kade tumbled out of Hot Spot’s cab. “Transform!” he ordered again, already grabbing a hose out of his side and running to hook it up to the nearest hydrant.
Hot Spot quickly changed to route mode and immediately set about dousing the fire, long unused systems roaring to life to tell him exactly how to contain the blaze. He sent orders through the bond to his team, only peripherally aware that they corresponded with the ones given by the humans.
“Hey, Kade,” Dani called from where she was helping Ed look over those who had escaped the blaze, “looks like your bot’s doing your job for you!”
Hot Spot sighed as the last of the fire was put out and his human partner immediately set into his sister.
Chief sighed as well and looked up at him with the dead-eyed stare of someone absolutely done with it all. “Costaqs!” he snapped, and Kade and Dani fell quiet. “This can wait until we get home. Protectobots, assess the stability of the structure.”
Rook took a step forward to do just that, only for a horrible electronic wailing noise to come out of the building. He froze and glanced at Hot Spot, waiting for a command.
A tyrranosaurus rex burst out of the building and past the startled bots, rampaging through the streets.
“Everyone to your vehicles!” Chief ordered. “Dani, get in the air and spot for me!”
Carly and Groove took off immediately.
“Ed, is everyone alright?”
“Superficial injuries only,” Ed called, climbing into First Aid’s driver’s seat and turning on the sirens.
Chief dove for Streetwise and they all gunned after the dinosaur.
The dinosaur charged through the streets, knocking over mailboxes and parked cars as it beelined for the town square, where the crowds of people who had come for the unveiling ceremony still milled in celebration.
Carly pulled out in front of the dinosaur and Groove flashed his lights and sirens, trying to get its attention, draw it away.
A little girl with dark skin looked up and screamed at the sight of the dino running directly at her, and Cody cried out “Frankie!”
Hot Spot took one look at the situation and made a decision. He screeched to a halt, shoved Kade out of his driver’s seat, and transformed. Protectobots, he called over the bond, combine and form Defensor.
His brothers quickly followed the order, First Aid and Blades hurtling through the air as they transformed, their humans safely deposited on the asphalt. Rook tumbled into position, sending Graham rolling on the grass. Groove and Streetwise set their own humans down and twisted into the combiner’s legs. Their minds smoothly slid together until they were one.
Defensor slammed his hand down on the dinosaur, trapping it in a cage of his fingers.
It hissed and writhed, but couldn’t break free.
The little girl stood a ways away and hollered “It has an off switch! Behind a panel on the back of its neck!”
Cody bolted for it, despite his family’s cries of alarm, and grabbed the panel’s handle, his arms immediately jerked all ways by the automaton’s thrashing.
Defensor’s other hand moved to pin the dino down more thoroughly, and he nodded to Cody.
The child grinned and opened the panel, pulling the switch to the off position with all his strength.
The dinosaur froze.
Defensor waited a moment and then stood.
The humans cheered.
The Burns family stared. “They can do that?!” Kade screeched.
Chief sighed. “And the day is saved,” he said. “Protectobots, back to the museum. Let’s clean up and then go home.”
“I want an explanation,” Dani said. “Nobody gave them the order to do that.”
Graham nodded. “We can’t afford to work with glitchy tech,” he said. “It puts us and everyone around us at risk.”
Charlie put a hand on each of their shoulders. “I’ll explain back at the firehouse. They’re not glitching, there’s just something I didn’t have the time to say earlier.”
Dani scowled and Graham frowned in confusion while Kade just gaped up at Defensor.
The combiner scooped the deactivated dinosaur up in his hand and turned to walk back to the museum with earth-shaking steps.
“I... guess we’re walking then,” Graham chuckled.
“Explain,” Dani demanded as soon as everyone was back in the garage.
Charlie opened his mouth to do just that, but Blades beat him to it.
He transformed, knelt down, and offered his hand. “Name’s Blades, nice to meet you. My older brothers and I are from the planet Cybertron.”
A poignant, tense silence fell over the humans, who all stared wide-eyed.
Hot Spot sighed audibly and transformed himself. “My name is Hot Spot of Thetacon. I apologize for Blades. I’m the leader of the Protectobots, we’ve been charged by our government and yours to observe human culture and work with you to protect this island.”
“Not my government,” the humans chorused.
Charlie laughed at the bewildered look on Hot Spot’s face. “You’ll learn,” he promised. “It’s a long and unhappy tale, but you’re part of the family now and deserve to know about your history.”
“Dad’s adopting alien robots,” Dani said, shaking her head but smiling. “Why am I not surprised?” She moved over and grabbed Blades’ finger. “Nice to meet you, I’m Dani Burns.”
Blades grinned.
Carly glanced at Groove curiously.
The two-wheeler transformed and knelt down next to her. “Hey,” he said, friendly as always.
Carly grinned. “Hey. You drive good.”
“I hope so,” Groove chuckled. “Groove.”
“Carly. I’m that one’s girlfriend.” She gestured to Dani. “You’re all brothers?”
“We’re gestalt,” Hot Spot answered. “Our sparks - souls? I think? - are quantum-entangled.”
First Aid transformed and sat cross-legged, immediately sparking up a conversation with Ed about human medical care.
Carly whistled in amazement. “That sure is something. And the big guy?”
“Defensor.” Hot Spot smiled. “When we combine and our minds merge together. Fair warning, there is no such thing as privacy or secrets in a gestalt. If one of us knows, we all know.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Graham rubbed the back of his neck. “So, uh….”
“Rook,” the bulldozer answered quietly. He thought for a moment, and then transformed, making himself as small as possible for all he was second in height only to Hot Spot. “You’re smart. I was studying tactics, not engineering, but I can see some places where the principles are similar?”
Graham beamed. “Yeah! I’d love to learn from you.”
Kade looked up at Hot Spot with an indecipherable expression on his face. Then it split into a smug grin. “So,” he said, “I got the leader.”
Hot Spot scowled and crouched down, nearly at the limit of his infinite patience with just the few comments he’d heard in the time he’d met the human. “We have the same specialty,” he said slowly, “but if you refuse to respect me as a fellow sentient being, we will have a problem, and I am much, much bigger than you.”
Cody laughed at the shocked expression on his oldest brother’s face.
Kade shot him a glare and opened his mouth, but Hot Spot nudged him gently.
“Your siblings, too.”
“Alright, everyone,” Charlie called, pulling out a camera. “Picture time. Bots and humans both, come on, Cody.”
Cody beamed and ran over to join them all.
Hot Spot offered him a hand and carefully lifted him to his shoulder, the boy laughing in amazed enjoyment. The Protectobots carefully posed, and the flash went off.