Smoke, Flares and Turbo Energy (TFP/Max Steel Crossover) - ON HIATUS

There's Something You Should Probably Know.

On the way back to N-Tek, Raf called in Max and Steel, and told them that we needed to meet with them at the base. 

As we drove into the base, our holoforms active with our N-Tek uniforms once again, it didn't take long for us to spot Max and Steel.  Unfortunately though, Commander Ferris was with them and he did not look happy. 

"You four!" he shouted at us as we stepped out of our vehicles. "Where the heck have you been?!  You missed an entire training session!"

"Uhh, nowhere?" Miko said unconvincingly.  We had forgotten to come up with a cover story since we were only intending on talking to Max and Steel.  And truthfully, we'd forgotten all about the training session when we got the energy signal.

"Nice try. I am ordering you to tell me what you were doing, NOW!!!!!"  The Commander's face was getting redder and redder, and I could almost see steam coming out of his ears.

I locked eyes with Miko, Jack and Raf. We quickly had a silent conversation on whether or not to tell Forge everything.  It didn't take long, but it was enough time for the Commander to see that there was something he was missing.  That fact only made his face redder. "Okay, okay! Calm down Commander!" I raised my hands in surrender.  "We'll tell you, just, not out here." Jack, Miko and Raf all nodded their heads in agreement.

"Fine." Forge said, and gestured for the four of us to follow.  Max, Steel, you can head back home or go hang out with your friends if you want."  His message was clear.  He knew we were hiding something, and he didn't want Max and Steel involved.  Max crossed his arms, gave a little scowl and began to turn around and walk away before Jack said something.

"No.  This involves Max and Steel too.  If they don't get to come, you're not going to learn anything new Commander."  Max's look of distaste turned to a smirk and Steel let out a small whoop, while Forge's face turned into one of frustration.

"Fine."  The Commander turned around and began walking towards his office, grumbling while Max and Steel grinned and gave us all high fives.

We walked into his office and shut the door, and the Commander locked it behind us.  "So, where do you want us to start?" Miko asked.

"I just want to know why you were late, and why you're not telling me why you're late."  Ferris responded as he sat down in his chair.  Steel basically sat on Max's head while he stood off to the side of the room.  It looked like they were having a discussion in their heads about how much we were going to tell Ferris, if anything at all.

There was a few seconds of awkward silence before I took a deep breath, and started. "We were on our way here when Raf got a major energy surge over his scanners.  We went to check it out, only to find Dredd and an army of DreddNaughts attacking a giant robot."  Before I could say more, Miko cut in.

"So then we went in there, blasting the scrap out of the DreddNaughts before the robot saw us,"

"And then Dredd comes out of nowhere and knocks him out, and the DreddNaughts starts dragging him towards one of the ships," cuts in Raf. Then Jack finishes off the story.

"And then Helen gets really mad and destroys even more of the DreddNaughts before the remaining ones and Dredd escape with the robot.  But, not before Helen," he glares at me, "can yell at him to go to say hi to the Earth's core."

Ferris' eyebrows raise and jaw drops, and there is a look of bewilderment on his face. "Wait," Steel says before Ferris  can recover. "By the Earth's core, did you mean that Unicron guy that you guys helped to stop from destroying all life on Earth?"

"And was the robot one of those Cybertonian guys?" Max cuts in. "And was it one of the Autobots that you guys were friends with?"

"Yes." all four of us nod and say simultaneously. 

Ferris just keeps on getting more and more confused as we talk.  He pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.  "First off, why do you think there is a unicorn in the Earth's core, and-"

He was cut off by Miko yelling at him. "IT'S UNICRON  NOT UNICORN FOR PRIMUS SAKE!"  she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, seeming to calm down.  Max, Steel, and Commander Ferris all had a look on their face that was a mix of astonishment, surprise, and fear.  I nearly burst out laughing at the sight.  "Sorry," Miko finally apologized. "I just hate it when people don't get the words right."

" Pfft! As if you always did! You even had to explain what a unicorn was to the 'bots!" Raf managed to get out through his chuckling. 

"Ok you four.  Get back to the topic at hand."  Forge  told us, shaking his head at our banter.  "Explain everything.  Including what the heck is in the Earth's core besides magma, how you know giant robots, what Cybertronians and Autobots are, and what the heck Primus and Unicron are."

So we did.  We started from the moment Jack stumbled upon Arcee, how we first met Decepticons, nearly died about a thousand times, getting stuck in an alternate dimension, meeting MECH and how they tried on multiple occasions to dissect the bots and how they teamed up with 'Cons a couple of times, finding out about Unicron, teaming up with Megatron to send Unicron back into stasis, the base being blown up, nearly dying thanks to Predaking the Predacon (we had to explain what Predacons are, that included explaining that people in medieval times thought Predacons were dragons and how thats why we have dragons in lore and why they all look so different from culture to culture),  kicking tailpipe at the rebuilt Omega Lock, Bee dying and then sending Megatron to the Allspark (that took at least thirty minutes to explain), and then fixing Cybertron by sending the Cybermatter into Primus' spark, at the core of Cybertron (explaining how a living thing could be the core of a planet and how we could bring it back to life took even longer than trying to explain why Bumblebee wasn't a ghost, zombie, or something like that.)  Then, lastly, but reluctantly, we told Ferris about Primus' visit to us, but we didn't tell him that we were now basically Cybertronian.  I mean, c'mon! We've gotta keep some surprises in store for him!

"So let me get this straight, you four have known about these, 'Cybertronians' since before you started working at N-Tek," Ferris began, "And you didn't think to inform me that there are potentially dangerous giant metal alien robots who use this planet as a second home?!" He looked a bit frustrated, but not as much as when we just got here.

"Well, technically," Jack started to say, "We weren't even supposed to know about them, and we were under strict military orders to keep the Autobots, Decepticons, and their war a secret." He thought for a moment before adding more. "And besides, there hasn't been much activity since they brought us back from Cybertron."

"Until now." Forge finished for Jack.  "I assume you four are currently, or already have laid out a rescue plan?" He stands, and gets in what I like to call his battle planning stance.  Leaning on whatever is in front of him, already thinking up about a thousand strategies.

"Yes Sir." Raf responds immediately.  "We'll explain on the way.  But only the seven of us.  We can't risk a full on assault.  Stealth is the only way that we're gonna have even a shot at making this work."

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DUN DUN DUN!!!!!  Sorry about the ending and taking so long guys!!!  I changed my mind about the rescue cause this chapter turned out WAY longer than I expected it to.  Hopefully the next chapter will be out a little bit sooner than this one was.