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I make no monetary profit from my fanfic/fanart.
Summary: A story about friendship. Ultra Magnus, Springer, Rodimus & Arcee cope with being transformed into humans. Set during the post TFTM episode “Only Human"
Rating - PG
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BEING TRANSFORMERS ~ BEING FRIENDS
For 'Nix & Ultra Magnus
"I've never seen anything this beautiful
in the entire galaxy..."
It was night time. The two humans walked together in the street. Ultra Magnus looked at Arcee and worried about her - actually worried about this whole damn mess. But there was something else too. Arcee looked ahead into the street. With a shock, Ultra Magnus realised what it was. He was attracted to her. Her new human body was nothing short of fantastic. Come to think of it, her Transformer body wasn't too bad either. Ultra Magnus silently scalded himself for having such thoughts. Arcee was a fellow Autobot, a comrade, a friend, but still Magnus could not tear his eyes away from her petite behind.
Stop it! his mind hissed. You should be working out how to reach Autobot City, warn the others and getting back to being robots again! Ultra Magnus sighed. "It all seems like some horribly warped dream," he thought aloud.
"I know whatcha mean," Arcee said, coming to him.
"Huh?" Magnus said, absent-mindedly, at first unaware she'd heard him. "Oh yeah. I wish we could all wake up." But part of him didn't want to wake at all.
"Ahh, how'd we get into this mess?"
"Primus works in mysterious ways," Magnus mused.
"Tell me about it."
"Are you all right?" he asked her.
"I'd be lying if I said I was fine. I'm ... scared, Magnus."
"That makes two of us," Ultra Magnus admitted. "Don't be ashamed of your fear, Arcee. It makes us who we are. Anyone'd feel the same in our position. Scared and uncomfortable."
The blond woman smiled. "Thanks Ultra. I'm glad I'm not alone. But it is kinda interesting," she admitted, "having a human body. They're so different from our own - just wish the circumstances weren't as dire."
"I second that. It's interesting how human bodies function."
The two began to feel hungry and popped into a take away joint and bought two tabouli rolls with money they had found in the shelter.
"Sure is different from Energon," Arcee said, "good though."
Ultra Magnus nodded in agreement as he swallowed the last of his roll.
At that moment, some guys sped past in a red Chevy, stuck their heads out.
"Sexy ass, baby!"
Arcee stuck her middle finger up - something she'd learnt from Daniel. "I've heard some human can be real creeps."
"Like Victor Drath," Magnus mused. "I'd like to get my hands on that bastard."
"I'll hold him down," Arcee said, then a pause. "I'm worried, Magnus - are we gonna get through this?"
"We can only do our best, Arcee." He put his arm around her. To his surprise, she touched his hand.
"Magnus, I-"
"I'm sorry," Ultra Magnus confessed. "I-"
Arcee smiled. "It's funny - we're both embarrassed about the same thing."
Magnus gave a smile and looked into Arcee's blue human eyes. The two drew closer together, slowly and their lips touched, then they withdrew.
"I'm sorry ..." Ultra Magnus confessed.
"Don't be. It's all right," Arcee said, feeling awkward. "It was my fault too."
"I can't do this to Springer," Magnus said.
"I'm sure he'd understand under the circumstances," Arcee said. "I do."
The older Autobot smiled. "Thanks, Arcee."
There was a pause. "We have to get to the bottom of this any way we can," Ultra Magnus said, determined. "Here's some money, in case you need it. We don't have much, so no shopping spree." He smiled.
Arcee did too. "There'll be time for that later and we can splurge when we're Transformers again."
If. Magnus thought. No. When. Be positive, man!
"Be careful," he said to her.
"Hey, trust me."
"Wait..." Magnus said, looking ahead, "there's a telephone. Great!" He eagerly walked over to it, inserted two quarters and waited.
After a while, he hung up the phone in frustration.
"Chief Teran wouldn't speak to you?" Arcee asked, clearly surprised.
"They kept me on hold until my three minutes were up."
Arcee looked across the street.
"Look! That warehouse belongs to Drath."
They crossed over to it.
"I'd be interested to see what he imports," Magnus said, "wouldn't you?"
They pushed a wooden crate to an open window and jumped inside. Magnus caught Arcee as she jumped through, then put her down, unaware they had just triggered a silent alarm.
Ultra Magnus found a torch and the two began to investigate.
PERISHABLE GOODS was written on the side of one box. Arcee opened it.
"Perishable is right. It's a bomb casing..."
"Photon grenades," Ultra said. "The rest is probably similar merchandise."
"There must be enough explosives in here to-"
A robot fist slammed through the door, startling both 'humans.' The robot smashed down the entrance. Ultra Magnus and Arcee stared in horror.
"Ultra Magnus! It's us!" Arcee gasped in shock."
Being attacked by their own bodies was enough to rattle both of them to the core.
"Get out that door - head for Autobot City," Ultra Magnus ordered. "I can deal with our ... other selves."
He pulled the pin to a grenade.
"No!" Arcee exclaimed. "Those are our bodies, you can't - Ultra Magnus, this place is full of explosives! You'll be-"
"Do as I say, Arcee! Now!" He hadn't meant to shout.
Arcee raced through the back door. Ultra Magnus turned to the nervous looking humans inside their robot bodies. "Don't think I haven't the nerve to use this. I have."
Arcee ran out of the warehouse, her mind racing. She was worried about Magnus - Rodimus and Springer and not to mention herself and if any of them would get out of this alive. Suddenly she saw her transportation to Autobot City. She ran to the motorbike and jumped on. One of the bikers spun around.
"Hey! My bike!" He ran to Arcee, who kicked him in the stomach and sped off.
"Just stand very still and I'll be going," Ultra Magnus said to the humans, unaware one of Drath's cronies was atop the roof. The man shot Magnus. The humans proceeded to tie him up and planned to tie him to the explosives to destroy Autobot city. Fortunately Ultra escaped with Springer.
Arcee was pretty cranky after the long ride, but the urgency of her mission forced her not to be deterred. She was met by human guards at the entrance to Autobot city.
"I have to see Kup!"
Much to Arcee's horror, the humans didn't believe her story, and thought she was stark raving mad. Arcee could understand their reasoning, but this was urgent, dammit! They placed her in a holding cell, despite her desperate cries. She realised they weren't listening and slumped to the floor. The Autobot bashed the floor with her fist.
"Fuck!" she hissed. Another Earth curse she'd learnt from Daniel.
But with her anger came worry - Ultra Magnus, Springer and Rodimus - what was to become of them? Who could help them now? Even if they did escape Drath, would they return only to be thrown in a cell and to be thought bonkers, or would they prevail? Arcee and felt angry at herself for letting them down. She wanted to have confidence in her friends, but everything seemed against them.
Fortunately, they did. Ultra Magnus and Springer tricked Drath's cronies by boarding Springer's body in helicopter mode and using him to attack Autobot city, risking their lives in the ordeal. Their actions saved many lives, human as well as Autobot.
The offending humans had all been arrested, not the least of which was Victor Drath.
However, the mysterious one called Snake, had escaped without so much as a trace, unknown to all he was the Great Cobra Commander and he didn't plan to stay low forever ...
But Ultra Magnus was unconcerned about 'Snake' - he was concerned about his friends, glad they were all back to normal, and he knew it was a cliché, but was glad they were all safe and sound.
"What an ordeal!" he breathed, flopping down in a chair.
"You can say that again!" Rodimus said.
"Great to be back?"
"Sure. You could say that."
Ultra Magnus could instantly see his friend was upset and became concerned.
"Rodimus, what's wrong?"
"I'm all right, Magnus." He was a tad irritated to be this transparent to his friend, but a lot of the time he relied on that. "It's something I ... I can't talk about it right now..."
"All right, but if you need someone to talk to, we're here."
"Thanks." The Autobot Leader smiled. "One needs to have friends one can count on." He stood and left for his quarters.
The red and orange Autobot entered the number to the computerised lock, mis-dialled the last digit, and barked a short, vile Cybertronian curse before retrying. The door slid open. Rodimus entered his quarters, the door slid shut and he stormed inside, bashed whatever was in sight onto the floor, crashed onto his resting ledge and cried.
Not long after, he heard his door chime. Rodimus instantly dried his eyes. The chime sounded again.
"What?!" he barked.
"It's me. Ultra. I can come back later if you're-"
"No, no, please come in."
The door slid open revealing a red and blue figure.
"I half expected you to come," Rodimus admitted. "Sorry I snapped."
Ultra Magnus smiled and stepped into his leader's quarters.
"Don't worry about it. It's not like I've never had a rough time."
There was a short pause. "Rodimus, I know something's troubling you - deeply and it's going to get worse if you don't talk about it. I'm no Counsellor Troi, but I want you to know whatever you tell me won't leave this room. I've a feeling it's something private. I'm not prying, I want to help."
Rodimus smiled, both a smile of gratitude and sadness. Sitting on his resting ledge, he patted it, motioning for Ultra Magnus to join him. Ultra sat next to him.
"It happened while I was human," Rodimus said.
Another pause.
"It was Michelle."
"Drath's female companion?"
Rodimus nodded. "She helped me when I was shot in my shoulder, dressed the wound and gave me comfort, shelter, food, warmth and protection."
"And what happened?" Magnus prompted after a short pause.
"She seemed so ... lonely. Obviously Drath treats her like a piece of shit, as the humans say."
There was another pause.
"There's more, isn't there?"
Rodimus nodded. "She ... she ... she made ... love to me."
Ultra Magnus' eyes widened.
"I couldn't turn her down or hurt her, and ..."
"You both made love."
Rodimus nodded again. "Yes. Hardly fitting behaviour for the Leader of the Autobots. Optimus Prime would never have done such a thing."
"I'm sure he would understand if he were here, and you're not Optimus. You have to stop comparing yourself to him. When he passed the Matrix on to me, I didn't know if I could handle it and I failed. The reason - I lacked belief in myself - and the Matrix ... I didn't understand why it didn't open. I do realize now - because it was not our Darkest hour. Mine, perhaps, but it's selfish to think the Matrix is only for one. It's for all."
"You'd make a much better leader than I, Ultra Magnus."
Magnus smiled. "Thanks, but stop putting yourself down, and your leadership isn't the issue here, is it?"
There was a short pause.
Rodimus forced himself to go on. "Even though part of me knew it was wrong and felt guilty, the other part of me wanted nothing else, wanted her more than anything."
"Rodimus, you're acting as if you think you're the only Transformer who's ever experienced lust."
The Autobot Leader looked toward his friend for guidance. "Has it ever happened to you? ... Have you ever made love when you knew it was wrong ... really wrong?"
"Yes," Ultra admitted. "I've never told anyone before ... There was one occasion in my youth." He trusted Rodimus not to tell another soul. "My first time ... Her name was Nightingale, a Decepticon spy..."
"A Decepticon?..."
Magnus nodded "Yes. I'd captured her trying to sneak into Autobot Headquarters on Cybertron. A black petite little thing, but quite feisty ... Well, we were almost instantly attracted and I took her to a prison cell and in short, we fucked each other's brains out."
Rodimus smiled at the kinky thought. "So what happened after?"
"I let her go, and unbeknownst to me, while we were interfacing, she accessed my memory banks and stole secret data files of security codes, weapons storage locations and gave them to the Decepticons."
"She betrayed you?"
Magnus nodded. "Part of me hated her, but part of me still loved her despite what she did."
"Thank you for sharing that with me," Rodimus said, sincere.
"It's all right. It's good to finally tell someone ... Michelle betrayed you?"
Rodimus nodded. "She took me to Drath when she promised to help us all. Drath was about to blow up Autobot City. I didn't understand why she did it. She seemed so sincere, but she also looked so sad. I was so confused and torn, but you've helped me understand. It still hurts, but it's good and comforting to know I have friends I can confide in."
Ultra Magnus smiled. "Same here."
The two hugged.
"Thanks," Rodimus said.
"My pleasure ... and you look like you need some rest."
Rodimus smiled. "You know me better than I do."
Ultra Magnus returned the smile and stood. Rodimus lay on his resting ledge and closed his eyes.
"Hi," Springer said. "Sure is great to be a robot again!"
Ultra Magnus smiled. "It was quite an experience, you'd have to admit."
"You can say that again! ... Say, where's Rod?"
"Resting. He needs it."
"Don't blame him. I'm off to get some Energon. Wanna come?"
"Yes, actually. Hadn't realised how damn hungry I am."
Springer drank his cube in one gulp and Ultra Magnus followed.
"Ooh, I missed that," the white and blue Autobot smiled, glad to feel his stomach relaxing.
"Well, see you U.M," Springer said. "Gotta make a diary entry on this. It's not something that happens every day, being human!"
"Sure isn't! I'll make an entry later. I don't feel like it now."
Ultra Magnus watched Springer leave, then drank another energon cube, slower this time, then started to leave the room and almost bumped into another.
"Oo!" Arcee stabilised herself. "Springer said you were here." She picked up an energon cube and drank it.
"Sorry I snapped at you before," Ultra Magnus admitted.
"S'okay. Sorry I failed. They thought I was mad. I was so worried..."
"It's all right Arcee. You did your best."
"Thanks, Ultra, for everything ... For believing in me and supporting me when ... y'know ..."
"It was my pleasure, Arcee - and I don't care how cliched this sounds, but that's what friends are for."
Arcee smiled. "Thanks. Hey, you wanna go for a spin?"
"Sure."
The two began to walk to the entrance of Autobot City.
"Hey, let's take these." Arcee handed Magnus a jet pack. "Could be fun."
They transformed into their vehicular modes and rolled out.
"This feels great!" Arcee exclaimed, a smile in his voice, feeling the wind gush past her. "I sure missed this when I was human! Although it was a wonderful experience it its own way."
"It was, wasn't it?"
The two drove for a while, before transforming and using their jet packs.
They flew over vast areas of the Earth, before landing at the edge of a huge extinct volcanic crater. The sky was darkening. The two sat on a large rock.
"It's lovely out here."
Arcee nodded. "Earth is a beautiful planet ... so peaceful..."
Ultra Magnus put his arm around her. She leaned closer to him and rested her head against his shoulder, letting her feet dangle off the edge of the rock. The two gazed into each other's blue eyes, smiled, their heads drew closer and they kissed, a short, gentle kiss. They both smiled again.
"I don't want to destroy what we have," Ultra Magnus said gently. "Our friendship is very special and unique."
Arcee nodded. "I agree, but it's nice being here with you."
"The feeling's mutual."
The two Transformers held hands and looked down into the valley, the Earthen animals engaged in their nighttime activities, frolicking, sleeping, grazing, hunting, as if nothing else mattered. A blur of movement, a spotted animal ran at incredible speed to tackle her prey, to take back to take back to her children. The two Transformers watched the life below, quiet as not to disturb the natural ecosystem. Arcee and Ultra Magnus gazed into the dark sky, as the light from the crescent moon and the twinkling stars shone over the African Serengeti plains.
*