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dens_tf_den2016-11-08 11:11 pm
dens_extra_pups) wrote in dens_tf_den2016-11-08 11:11 pm
Entry tags:
NaNoWriMo 2016 Fic Day 9: 13944 Words
Continued from here
For a few moments, nobody moved or spoke. Then Den was crouching and clucking her tongue softly, imitating the language that new sparks often used when they were first put into their shells. Jazz was surprised to hear it coming from a human, as he had not been aware that humans even knew anything about the sparklet language. He would have to ask her about that later, after things were a bit quieter. There was just something about the human that told him she knew more than she was letting on at the moment.
His contemplation of the woman was interrupted by a soft rustle of movement. Jazz and the others stilled, nobody daring to move or speak while Den was coaxing the mystery bot out of hiding. Later, he and his counterparts would wonder how Den had spotted the bot from such a distance, and with them hiding in thick brush in order to hide their not so subtle coloration. A bit more rustling, and out of the bushes emerged...
"Bumblebee! Fixit! You cats got pulled here, too?" Jazz almost lost his grip on the backpack strap in his excitement of seeing friendly faces. Thankfully, Den was quick to put a hand up so the saboteur would not take a tumble, even from the lower height of her crouch.
"I will explain things later. We should get going to find the next bot..." Den murmured as Bumblebee helped Fixit into one of the pockets on the flannel shirt Den was wearing, before moving to climb onto the strap of the backpack so he could join Jazz and his counterparts, plus Prowl, from a higher vantage point.
"You have NO idea how glad I am to see more familiar faces... But..."
"I know. This whole place is crazy, mech."
----
Den had set the backpack in the front passenger seat this time, before gently and carefully extracting Fixit from her shirt pocket and with just as much care, tucking him into a nest of fleece scraps in one of the cup holders. Bumblebee, the Jazz Brigade (whoever had come up with it, probably the black colored Ironhide, had been onto something with that...), and the skinny Prowl had gotten situated for the drive to where ever the next bot was likely to be located.
That had been about ten minutes ago, and the bots were just now getting around to finding out what had happened with Fixit and Bumblebee.
"So Steeljaw and Glowstrike are freaking out, the ground bridge portal is destabilizing, and then the next thing I know, there is this flash of light, and I was a few miles away from here."
"Wait, so if you landed a few miles from where we found you 'n Fixit..."
"The Lieutenant was successful in reaching me by my commlink. We were able to triangulate our respective vocations-hesitations-" Here, Fixit gave himself a solid whack to the chest. "Locations! We were also successful in reaching Grimlock, Sideswipe, and Strongarm..." The orange minicon trailed off, seeing the astounded look on multiple faces.
"You mean t' tell me that you were able to comm bots and locate them?" Jazz asked, looking flabbergasted.
"...New plan. We go back to the house, and all of you who might have friends out there? Comm them. Odds are, they are either sticking close to their arrival points, or they are locating one another." Den pointed out. "If it is the latter, then we just need someone to get the coordinates, and I can plug it into my Global Positioning System, and that will save us a bit of trouble in trying to locate everyone who might be missing. And then we can start figuring out what the heck is going on here."
-------
Within the next two hours, not only had numerous comm calls been made, Den and Perceptor had plotted every single arrival point on a big map of the city and the land around the house, confirming the suspicion that Den had made the other night about the pattern to the arrivals. Optimus held onto the back of the kitchen chair he had commandeered, watching Den pace and think out loud.
"This is just the Autobots. Perceptor said his locator program upgrade was having difficulty seeing for certain if the Decepticons or any Predacons for that matter, were also pulled in. That worries me, and I really do not know if I should just go out and rescue bots on my own or if I should take some of you with me when I go..." Yet again, Optimus was reminded of Bluestreak, though now, he understood that Den rambled not to fill the potential awkward silences, but to try and work through sudden bouts of anxiety and worry.
The Autobot Prime felt a pang of sympathy for the kind hearted woman who had taken the displaced Autobots from multiple different reality strings into her home without so much as a protest. He was also very glad that there were no native versions of the Decepticons in this reality string, as he knew they would have very likely attempted to take advantage of the kindness Den shared with others. The thought made him frown behind his faceplate, knowing just how much danger Den might be in if there had actually been native Decepticons, and how likely she would be hurt, either physically or emotionally, should they ever come to Earth, if they even existed in this string...
"-do you think?" Optimus blinked and looked up at Den, who had continued to ramble and was now asking him his opinion on the matter.
"I believe that the best course of action, for right now, would be for you to take a break." He could see the protest Den was about to use forming on her lips and shook his head. "We have not seen any sign that the Decepticons are here as well, but I am very aware that they could be masking their signatures, and hiding in inaccessible locations. I will be working with Ironhide and the others, and with the information that you and Perceptor have been able to uncover and make sense of, we will have a plan for defense. We will not be caught unawares."
"Optimus... I know that finding everyone and getting them to a safe location is the main priority, but what if the Decepticons have figured out where everyone else is? If something happened because I missed something..." Den shook her head. "I would never forgive myself in that situation." Optimus was again touched by the altruism that the human woman was showing. It reminded him exactly why he and his fellow Autobots were willing to risk life and limb to defend Earth. Humans, despite the numerous wars and acts of violence they were willing to perpetuate toward their fellow beings, had a strong sense of what was right and what was not, and more often than not, they fought against the injustices that their own people caused.
It gave him hope, seeing that even in this reality, with all the ugliness and negativity he had witnessed, there were still good people who just wanted to make their world a better place, for the sake of making a difference. He wondered whether there was a version of the hostess in the reality string he, Perceptor, Grimlock, and the other Autobots who had sounded off as being present in the area called home. He would have to ask Perceptor about that possibility, and if Den did exist there, he would look into seeing if she was anything like the one here. But for now, he had another task to see to.
"I understand your concerns, Den, and in your situation, I would likely be experiencing similar concerns. Perceptor is working on calculating the odds that if the Decepticons are here, they are in a similar state to myself and the others, as well as the odds that they may be unaffected. As I said before, we will not be caught unawares." Den took a deep breath, before letting it out in a sigh.
"Alright... I should probably go unstick Grimlock from the wall soon. I think he likes being duct taped to the wall though. Frickin' weirdo."
Optimus shook his head, chuckling softly at the wry smile on the face of the Autobot hostess. "Grimlock is Grimlock, and to expect otherwise is not the best course of action."
--------
Den had taken a quick nap in the recliner in the living room, after extracting Ironhide from its depths, and was ready to go out to pick up more bots, after grabbing a couple of baskets and blankets. It was clear she intended to go out into the November afternoon on her own, and Perceptor could honestly find no fault in her decision, especially given how chaotic the events of this morning had been, despite the best efforts of the human woman who was currently playing hostess to ten Autobots from no less than five different reality strings.
"Alright. Line up." Den clearly had a plan in mind, and to go by the brightly colored cloth she had wrapped around herself, she was quite certain of said plan.
"Optimus, Bumblebee, you two are coming with me. Everyone else? The Jazz Party and Ironhide are in charge, and if you have a problem with it, take it outside. If I come back and find my house is trashed, I am dangling the responsible parties from the tree out back, and the newcomers get to use them as pinatas. Capice?" Worried looking nods and a few disbelieving looks were aimed at Den as she carefully tucked Optimus and Bumblebee into the wraps of her scarf and grabbed her stack of baskets and blankets before heading out to her sport utility vehicle to arrange everything inside.
It was only once the garage door closed after she pulled out that Den helped Optimus and Bumblebee out from the wraps of her scarf. "Alright. Now that that is taken care of..." Den seemed a bit more relaxed now that she did not have to try and wrangle Grimlock into a harness and leash system. Or try to pry Ironhide out of couch cushions, or...
Bumblebee had been debriefed on the chaos of the morning and some of the incidents from the night before, and had expressed his shock at the behavior of some of the Autobots, but had also commented that he knew a few Wreckers who might be able to give the rowdier of the Autobots present a run for their energon. Ironhide had snorted at that before working himself between the back and the cushion on the recliner, only to be extracted by Den when she had come in to have a nap and had spotted the bottoms of the feet of the weapons specialist.
"So. What is the plan?" Bumblebee asked, even as he and the Optimus who was similar but still different from the one he remembered got situated in the passenger seat.
"We are going to go and get everyone who we have location coordinates for in one trip. And then we are going to get all the bots who know anything about science together in one room so they can theorize and come up with possible ways to get everyone back where they belong." Den said as she pulled out onto the main highway from her property.
"And I plan on helping with that as well. I want to figure out why, all of a sudden, a whole bunch of Autobots were pulled into my reality string, and more specifically, in areas of this city that I tend to either go through, or shop in or work in. Something is strange about this whole situation." She continued, voice going quiet.
"Maybe the ground bridge malfunction has something to do with it." Bumblebee speculated, looking to Optimus in a wordless request for the opinion of the older and more experienced Autobot.
"Perhaps it was a combination of factors... Wheeljack had been testing a new device, which malfunctioned." Optimus explained. "We will need to ask the others if they noticed anything strange before their own arrivals..."
"Yeah, no kidding. That might explain why all of you all are here, but it does not explain why the arrivals all seem to be centered around me. It is like I am some kind of Mary Sue in a crappy fan written fiction that was done by a thirteen year old girl who does not know anything about writing a decent story because she does not have the experience to know what is good and what is not." Optimus shared a puzzled look with Bumblebee. Neither one of them had any idea what Den was even talking about, despite it seeming clear that she had experience in the matter.
After a few moments of what would have been awkward silence but for the song on the radio, Optimus spoke up. "Ah... I see. Perceptor may be able to find an explanation for that as well..."
"And Ratchet can probably figure out part of the reason, too." Bumblebee added, agreeing with Optimus.
Both Autobots sighed internally with relief as Den nodded, turning her attention to driving and cursing at the other drivers from the safety of the inside of the sport utility vehicle, which had the windows rolled up, both to keep the heat from the heater inside and to keep the obscenities from escaping.
-------
It was starting to get dark by the time Den parked the sport utility vehicle at the nearest parking to the last location of where bots had been located. By that point, she had driven over most of the city, stopping only once to put gas into the tank of the sport utility vehicle. She had also gotten herself some coffee and a beef jerky stick, which Optimus amusingly noted she ate as she walked back to the vehicle.
The drive had resulted, so far, in the rescue of several Autobots from the same reality string as Sideburn, including another version of Optimus himself. The Optimus of that reality string seemed to be more of a military bot, and had visibly different alternate mode components on his shell. One of the other bots who had come from that string bore the name Ultra Magnus, and seemed to have a vendetta against the Optimus from his reality string.
The next stop had brought in bots from the same reality string as Fixit, Bumblebee and the Jazz of their reality string, again with another version of himself and also with a version of Ratchet who seemed to be in a bit of a foul mood, though seeing Bumblebee had brought a look of relief to his face, and the faces of his fellow Autobots, a large green mech named Bulkhead who seemed to be of a similar personality to Sludge: a gentle giant; and the small blue and pink femme who called herself Arcee.
One of the stops saw the rescue of friends of the silver Jazz and black Ironhide, with yet another version of Optimus himself, who seemed far too wise for his years, and was decorated with a paint job that included flames and a color transition that must have taken whomever had painted the original vehicle many hours to complete.
Shortly after that, the group was joined bots who seemed to be from the same reality string as the pair of Cyber Ninjas... The version of himself from this reality string was clearly much younger than the others, and Optimus made a mental note to talk to each one of his counterparts, once things had gotten more settled, and things were a bit less hectic.
So preoccupied with his thoughts was Optimus that he almost failed to notice when Den had parked the sport utility vehicle for what would hopefully be the last time today. It was only when his flame marked counterpart touched his shoulder that Optimus was startled from his musings and planning. Said counterpart gave him a look of sympathy and understanding, even as he tipped his head slightly to where Den was getting out of the vehicle. Optimus nodded his understanding, moving to climb over the center console and make his way to the only empty basket that Den had left.
----
A few minutes later found him holding onto the edge of the basket, watching as Den made her way to where the Autobots from his reality string who had not already been rescued were waiting, hidden in a makeshift shelter they had put together before it had gotten colder and darker than was comfortable.
"So... Who do you hope is here?" Den asked quietly as she spotted the shelter, moving to shift the basket so it rested on her hip and so she could reach for Optimus with her now free hand. Optimus was quiet for a few moments as he considered, and waited to be set down near the shelter.
After a few moments, he spoke. "The Autobots who would be most beneficial in this situation would most likely be Skyfire, Wheeljack, and Ratchet, given their extensive knowledge in various sciences..." Den nodded her understanding, carefully setting Optimus down on his feet.
"Well, we just have to find out now, right?"
Optimus nodded, squaring his shoulders and moving to approach the entrance to the makeshift shelter, noting that a large piece of tree had been propped over the entrance. "Autobots, sound off!"
That caused a flurry of activity as Wheeljack, followed by Bumblebee, Jazz, Prowl, and Skyfire, with Cliffjumper bringing up the rear, emerged from the shelter. "See? I told you guys Optimus would be alright!" Optimus couldn't help but chuckle at how cheery Bumblebee sounded, though he was quite certain the little yellow scout had not had as comfortable a night as he himself had. He would make it up to the troops after everything was back to normal, somehow. He would find a way.
"Ya sure did, Bumblebee." Wheeljack replied, chuckling and making his audial indicators flash a cheerful blue. "Looks like Optimus was tellin' the truth 'bout meetin' a human who c'n help us."
Den chuckled as she heard that. "The Autobot Express is going to be leaving in the next five minutes. Anyone who is going better hurry their skids over here."
----
And that was how Friday evening ended. Autobots in numerous baskets, with the various science minded mechs and Den having what she called a "think tank". The theorizing had continued even when Den had gone to get herself something to eat that was not a beef jerky stick, and was still currently going on.
The various Jazzes had found where they could play with the sound system that Den had, including the stereo, and the various formats and types of music Den had in her collection. As a result, there was now what one of the Jazzes had laughed about, a collection of "Smooth Jazz", playing over the house wide sound system. Optimus, as well as most of his counterparts, had found the music to be quite pleasant, as had most of the Autobots.
It seemed that despite the "think tank" going on in the dining room, things were settling down for the night, even as one of the Autobot Brothers, a mech who shared the designation Prowl with the strategist and Cyber Ninja, went past on a self assigned patrol route. Optimus could not fault the mostly white colored mech for attempting to establish some sense of normality in a situation that was anything but normal.
To his surprise and amusement, the police mech had a small, red shadow tailing him. To be fair, Cliffjumper was not the most likely Autobot to relax without a very good reason, and it would not have surprised Optimus if the red gunner was suspicious of all of the other Autobots other than the ones from their reality string. As he watched, the pair rounded a corner and vanished from sight. He would wait to see how things would go before getting too involved. It was actually pretty funny, seeing how some of the bots were settling into a temporary routine.
Continued here.
For a few moments, nobody moved or spoke. Then Den was crouching and clucking her tongue softly, imitating the language that new sparks often used when they were first put into their shells. Jazz was surprised to hear it coming from a human, as he had not been aware that humans even knew anything about the sparklet language. He would have to ask her about that later, after things were a bit quieter. There was just something about the human that told him she knew more than she was letting on at the moment.
His contemplation of the woman was interrupted by a soft rustle of movement. Jazz and the others stilled, nobody daring to move or speak while Den was coaxing the mystery bot out of hiding. Later, he and his counterparts would wonder how Den had spotted the bot from such a distance, and with them hiding in thick brush in order to hide their not so subtle coloration. A bit more rustling, and out of the bushes emerged...
"Bumblebee! Fixit! You cats got pulled here, too?" Jazz almost lost his grip on the backpack strap in his excitement of seeing friendly faces. Thankfully, Den was quick to put a hand up so the saboteur would not take a tumble, even from the lower height of her crouch.
"I will explain things later. We should get going to find the next bot..." Den murmured as Bumblebee helped Fixit into one of the pockets on the flannel shirt Den was wearing, before moving to climb onto the strap of the backpack so he could join Jazz and his counterparts, plus Prowl, from a higher vantage point.
"You have NO idea how glad I am to see more familiar faces... But..."
"I know. This whole place is crazy, mech."
----
Den had set the backpack in the front passenger seat this time, before gently and carefully extracting Fixit from her shirt pocket and with just as much care, tucking him into a nest of fleece scraps in one of the cup holders. Bumblebee, the Jazz Brigade (whoever had come up with it, probably the black colored Ironhide, had been onto something with that...), and the skinny Prowl had gotten situated for the drive to where ever the next bot was likely to be located.
That had been about ten minutes ago, and the bots were just now getting around to finding out what had happened with Fixit and Bumblebee.
"So Steeljaw and Glowstrike are freaking out, the ground bridge portal is destabilizing, and then the next thing I know, there is this flash of light, and I was a few miles away from here."
"Wait, so if you landed a few miles from where we found you 'n Fixit..."
"The Lieutenant was successful in reaching me by my commlink. We were able to triangulate our respective vocations-hesitations-" Here, Fixit gave himself a solid whack to the chest. "Locations! We were also successful in reaching Grimlock, Sideswipe, and Strongarm..." The orange minicon trailed off, seeing the astounded look on multiple faces.
"You mean t' tell me that you were able to comm bots and locate them?" Jazz asked, looking flabbergasted.
"...New plan. We go back to the house, and all of you who might have friends out there? Comm them. Odds are, they are either sticking close to their arrival points, or they are locating one another." Den pointed out. "If it is the latter, then we just need someone to get the coordinates, and I can plug it into my Global Positioning System, and that will save us a bit of trouble in trying to locate everyone who might be missing. And then we can start figuring out what the heck is going on here."
-------
Within the next two hours, not only had numerous comm calls been made, Den and Perceptor had plotted every single arrival point on a big map of the city and the land around the house, confirming the suspicion that Den had made the other night about the pattern to the arrivals. Optimus held onto the back of the kitchen chair he had commandeered, watching Den pace and think out loud.
"This is just the Autobots. Perceptor said his locator program upgrade was having difficulty seeing for certain if the Decepticons or any Predacons for that matter, were also pulled in. That worries me, and I really do not know if I should just go out and rescue bots on my own or if I should take some of you with me when I go..." Yet again, Optimus was reminded of Bluestreak, though now, he understood that Den rambled not to fill the potential awkward silences, but to try and work through sudden bouts of anxiety and worry.
The Autobot Prime felt a pang of sympathy for the kind hearted woman who had taken the displaced Autobots from multiple different reality strings into her home without so much as a protest. He was also very glad that there were no native versions of the Decepticons in this reality string, as he knew they would have very likely attempted to take advantage of the kindness Den shared with others. The thought made him frown behind his faceplate, knowing just how much danger Den might be in if there had actually been native Decepticons, and how likely she would be hurt, either physically or emotionally, should they ever come to Earth, if they even existed in this string...
"-do you think?" Optimus blinked and looked up at Den, who had continued to ramble and was now asking him his opinion on the matter.
"I believe that the best course of action, for right now, would be for you to take a break." He could see the protest Den was about to use forming on her lips and shook his head. "We have not seen any sign that the Decepticons are here as well, but I am very aware that they could be masking their signatures, and hiding in inaccessible locations. I will be working with Ironhide and the others, and with the information that you and Perceptor have been able to uncover and make sense of, we will have a plan for defense. We will not be caught unawares."
"Optimus... I know that finding everyone and getting them to a safe location is the main priority, but what if the Decepticons have figured out where everyone else is? If something happened because I missed something..." Den shook her head. "I would never forgive myself in that situation." Optimus was again touched by the altruism that the human woman was showing. It reminded him exactly why he and his fellow Autobots were willing to risk life and limb to defend Earth. Humans, despite the numerous wars and acts of violence they were willing to perpetuate toward their fellow beings, had a strong sense of what was right and what was not, and more often than not, they fought against the injustices that their own people caused.
It gave him hope, seeing that even in this reality, with all the ugliness and negativity he had witnessed, there were still good people who just wanted to make their world a better place, for the sake of making a difference. He wondered whether there was a version of the hostess in the reality string he, Perceptor, Grimlock, and the other Autobots who had sounded off as being present in the area called home. He would have to ask Perceptor about that possibility, and if Den did exist there, he would look into seeing if she was anything like the one here. But for now, he had another task to see to.
"I understand your concerns, Den, and in your situation, I would likely be experiencing similar concerns. Perceptor is working on calculating the odds that if the Decepticons are here, they are in a similar state to myself and the others, as well as the odds that they may be unaffected. As I said before, we will not be caught unawares." Den took a deep breath, before letting it out in a sigh.
"Alright... I should probably go unstick Grimlock from the wall soon. I think he likes being duct taped to the wall though. Frickin' weirdo."
Optimus shook his head, chuckling softly at the wry smile on the face of the Autobot hostess. "Grimlock is Grimlock, and to expect otherwise is not the best course of action."
--------
Den had taken a quick nap in the recliner in the living room, after extracting Ironhide from its depths, and was ready to go out to pick up more bots, after grabbing a couple of baskets and blankets. It was clear she intended to go out into the November afternoon on her own, and Perceptor could honestly find no fault in her decision, especially given how chaotic the events of this morning had been, despite the best efforts of the human woman who was currently playing hostess to ten Autobots from no less than five different reality strings.
"Alright. Line up." Den clearly had a plan in mind, and to go by the brightly colored cloth she had wrapped around herself, she was quite certain of said plan.
"Optimus, Bumblebee, you two are coming with me. Everyone else? The Jazz Party and Ironhide are in charge, and if you have a problem with it, take it outside. If I come back and find my house is trashed, I am dangling the responsible parties from the tree out back, and the newcomers get to use them as pinatas. Capice?" Worried looking nods and a few disbelieving looks were aimed at Den as she carefully tucked Optimus and Bumblebee into the wraps of her scarf and grabbed her stack of baskets and blankets before heading out to her sport utility vehicle to arrange everything inside.
It was only once the garage door closed after she pulled out that Den helped Optimus and Bumblebee out from the wraps of her scarf. "Alright. Now that that is taken care of..." Den seemed a bit more relaxed now that she did not have to try and wrangle Grimlock into a harness and leash system. Or try to pry Ironhide out of couch cushions, or...
Bumblebee had been debriefed on the chaos of the morning and some of the incidents from the night before, and had expressed his shock at the behavior of some of the Autobots, but had also commented that he knew a few Wreckers who might be able to give the rowdier of the Autobots present a run for their energon. Ironhide had snorted at that before working himself between the back and the cushion on the recliner, only to be extracted by Den when she had come in to have a nap and had spotted the bottoms of the feet of the weapons specialist.
"So. What is the plan?" Bumblebee asked, even as he and the Optimus who was similar but still different from the one he remembered got situated in the passenger seat.
"We are going to go and get everyone who we have location coordinates for in one trip. And then we are going to get all the bots who know anything about science together in one room so they can theorize and come up with possible ways to get everyone back where they belong." Den said as she pulled out onto the main highway from her property.
"And I plan on helping with that as well. I want to figure out why, all of a sudden, a whole bunch of Autobots were pulled into my reality string, and more specifically, in areas of this city that I tend to either go through, or shop in or work in. Something is strange about this whole situation." She continued, voice going quiet.
"Maybe the ground bridge malfunction has something to do with it." Bumblebee speculated, looking to Optimus in a wordless request for the opinion of the older and more experienced Autobot.
"Perhaps it was a combination of factors... Wheeljack had been testing a new device, which malfunctioned." Optimus explained. "We will need to ask the others if they noticed anything strange before their own arrivals..."
"Yeah, no kidding. That might explain why all of you all are here, but it does not explain why the arrivals all seem to be centered around me. It is like I am some kind of Mary Sue in a crappy fan written fiction that was done by a thirteen year old girl who does not know anything about writing a decent story because she does not have the experience to know what is good and what is not." Optimus shared a puzzled look with Bumblebee. Neither one of them had any idea what Den was even talking about, despite it seeming clear that she had experience in the matter.
After a few moments of what would have been awkward silence but for the song on the radio, Optimus spoke up. "Ah... I see. Perceptor may be able to find an explanation for that as well..."
"And Ratchet can probably figure out part of the reason, too." Bumblebee added, agreeing with Optimus.
Both Autobots sighed internally with relief as Den nodded, turning her attention to driving and cursing at the other drivers from the safety of the inside of the sport utility vehicle, which had the windows rolled up, both to keep the heat from the heater inside and to keep the obscenities from escaping.
-------
It was starting to get dark by the time Den parked the sport utility vehicle at the nearest parking to the last location of where bots had been located. By that point, she had driven over most of the city, stopping only once to put gas into the tank of the sport utility vehicle. She had also gotten herself some coffee and a beef jerky stick, which Optimus amusingly noted she ate as she walked back to the vehicle.
The drive had resulted, so far, in the rescue of several Autobots from the same reality string as Sideburn, including another version of Optimus himself. The Optimus of that reality string seemed to be more of a military bot, and had visibly different alternate mode components on his shell. One of the other bots who had come from that string bore the name Ultra Magnus, and seemed to have a vendetta against the Optimus from his reality string.
The next stop had brought in bots from the same reality string as Fixit, Bumblebee and the Jazz of their reality string, again with another version of himself and also with a version of Ratchet who seemed to be in a bit of a foul mood, though seeing Bumblebee had brought a look of relief to his face, and the faces of his fellow Autobots, a large green mech named Bulkhead who seemed to be of a similar personality to Sludge: a gentle giant; and the small blue and pink femme who called herself Arcee.
One of the stops saw the rescue of friends of the silver Jazz and black Ironhide, with yet another version of Optimus himself, who seemed far too wise for his years, and was decorated with a paint job that included flames and a color transition that must have taken whomever had painted the original vehicle many hours to complete.
Shortly after that, the group was joined bots who seemed to be from the same reality string as the pair of Cyber Ninjas... The version of himself from this reality string was clearly much younger than the others, and Optimus made a mental note to talk to each one of his counterparts, once things had gotten more settled, and things were a bit less hectic.
So preoccupied with his thoughts was Optimus that he almost failed to notice when Den had parked the sport utility vehicle for what would hopefully be the last time today. It was only when his flame marked counterpart touched his shoulder that Optimus was startled from his musings and planning. Said counterpart gave him a look of sympathy and understanding, even as he tipped his head slightly to where Den was getting out of the vehicle. Optimus nodded his understanding, moving to climb over the center console and make his way to the only empty basket that Den had left.
----
A few minutes later found him holding onto the edge of the basket, watching as Den made her way to where the Autobots from his reality string who had not already been rescued were waiting, hidden in a makeshift shelter they had put together before it had gotten colder and darker than was comfortable.
"So... Who do you hope is here?" Den asked quietly as she spotted the shelter, moving to shift the basket so it rested on her hip and so she could reach for Optimus with her now free hand. Optimus was quiet for a few moments as he considered, and waited to be set down near the shelter.
After a few moments, he spoke. "The Autobots who would be most beneficial in this situation would most likely be Skyfire, Wheeljack, and Ratchet, given their extensive knowledge in various sciences..." Den nodded her understanding, carefully setting Optimus down on his feet.
"Well, we just have to find out now, right?"
Optimus nodded, squaring his shoulders and moving to approach the entrance to the makeshift shelter, noting that a large piece of tree had been propped over the entrance. "Autobots, sound off!"
That caused a flurry of activity as Wheeljack, followed by Bumblebee, Jazz, Prowl, and Skyfire, with Cliffjumper bringing up the rear, emerged from the shelter. "See? I told you guys Optimus would be alright!" Optimus couldn't help but chuckle at how cheery Bumblebee sounded, though he was quite certain the little yellow scout had not had as comfortable a night as he himself had. He would make it up to the troops after everything was back to normal, somehow. He would find a way.
"Ya sure did, Bumblebee." Wheeljack replied, chuckling and making his audial indicators flash a cheerful blue. "Looks like Optimus was tellin' the truth 'bout meetin' a human who c'n help us."
Den chuckled as she heard that. "The Autobot Express is going to be leaving in the next five minutes. Anyone who is going better hurry their skids over here."
----
And that was how Friday evening ended. Autobots in numerous baskets, with the various science minded mechs and Den having what she called a "think tank". The theorizing had continued even when Den had gone to get herself something to eat that was not a beef jerky stick, and was still currently going on.
The various Jazzes had found where they could play with the sound system that Den had, including the stereo, and the various formats and types of music Den had in her collection. As a result, there was now what one of the Jazzes had laughed about, a collection of "Smooth Jazz", playing over the house wide sound system. Optimus, as well as most of his counterparts, had found the music to be quite pleasant, as had most of the Autobots.
It seemed that despite the "think tank" going on in the dining room, things were settling down for the night, even as one of the Autobot Brothers, a mech who shared the designation Prowl with the strategist and Cyber Ninja, went past on a self assigned patrol route. Optimus could not fault the mostly white colored mech for attempting to establish some sense of normality in a situation that was anything but normal.
To his surprise and amusement, the police mech had a small, red shadow tailing him. To be fair, Cliffjumper was not the most likely Autobot to relax without a very good reason, and it would not have surprised Optimus if the red gunner was suspicious of all of the other Autobots other than the ones from their reality string. As he watched, the pair rounded a corner and vanished from sight. He would wait to see how things would go before getting too involved. It was actually pretty funny, seeing how some of the bots were settling into a temporary routine.
Continued here.