Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. I do however own a major attack of the plot bunnies.

Author's Note: So, this is actually a very old story that I have been asked by several people over the past year to repost. To be completely frank, I took it down because I hated it. Don't get me wrong, after some rereading I realize it's a pretty good story, but it's not a pretty good Transformers story in my opinion. To be honest, my characterizations of the Decepticons are off, and that is something that I try my best to avoid. However, since a lot of people asked, and I do enjoy looking back on some of my earlier fanfiction I decided to post it back up. I've also tweaked it a bit so that the prose flows a bit better, and corrected some typos.

In short, for newbies, this was my first foray into this idea of mine, and for those who asked for it back, enjoy!

Men Within The Machines

Chapter 1: Meet The New Kid

Mikaela sighed in frustration. Another day, another fight with Trent. "What's new," she murmured.

"Alright people, we've got a new student with us today."

This made her perk up. She liked meeting new people, even if it was the same guy everyday. I really ought to remember who Sam Watwacky is.

"This is Brent Caelius."

Mikaela had already formed an image. Jock type boy in American Eagle and Nikes. His name just screamed that. She was in for the shock of her life.

The boy who walked in looked like he'd never set foot in an American Eagle store. Dressed in tight, black pants, a black hoodie with three yellow stripes, and black combat boots, Brent Caelius looked like he belonged in a My Chemical Romance music video rather than an ad for any mainstream mall store.

What shocked her most was not his attire, because that she could take. It was his hair. It wasn't the muted, sun bronzed blond of her boyfriend. It was bright, nearly blinding yellow. Neon yellow. Glow in the dark yellow. So yellow your eyes bled. And right in front were two black stripes in the hair on the left side of his head.

"Nice hair do," Trent snickered. His buddies snickered with him like the miniature frat boys they were.

"Mr. Caelius is from Arizona. Now, is there anything you'd like to tell the class about yourself Mr. Caelius?" Mikaela frowned. His last name seemed familiar.

The new boy scanned the room. When he looked at her Mikaela blinked. He had pretty eyes of an unearthly blue. "Call me Bee." he said as he strode to the seat beside Sam Witwicky.

Mikaela, and to her amusement the rest of the girls in the class, let her eyes follow the new boy to his seat. When he turned to be seated, she noted with some admiration that he had a nice butt.

Trent followed her eyes, and his own narrowed when he realized what she was admiring. Using selective memory, he decided to forget the fight they'd been engaged in not an hour ago. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her toward him. Mikaela resisted.

The entire class period as the others presented their Genealogy projects, Mikaela found herself staring at Brent. He seemed to not really be interested in the projects. All he did was sit there staring into space. Call him Bee. What kind of nickname was that?

She kept watching him, and didn't even realize it was time for class to end when she nearly jumped out of her skin from fright. The bell had blared right into her ear. She gathered her stuff and looked back up at Brent to find him talking to Sam. She saw surprise then joy register on Sam's face as he held up a pair of round frame glasses. Brent pulled out his wallet and handed Sam a bill. Sam then shook the new boy's hand and went to confront the teacher.

Mikaela followed Brent out of the classroom, but was detained by Trent.

"So what was that?" her boyfriend asked belligerently. He towered over her like a thundercloud over the prairie.

"What was what?" she replied, feigning ignorance.

"That! Staring at that faggot's ass!"

Mikaela glared at him. She noticed that no one seemed to want to get near them, and there was a foot of space all around them. "What?" she asked recklessly, "Jealous that Mr. Caelius has a nicer butt then yours?"

Trent's face darkened. "Whatever." He walked away from her, his cronies following in his wake.

Mikaela blew out a breath and frowned. "Damn. He was my ride." She hitched her backpack higher, deciding to head to the office to call her mom.

"I can give you a lift."

She started at the unfamiliar voice. She turned back to see Brent standing right behind her. "What are you, a ninja?" she asked. "I didn't hear you."

He grinned and glanced around. "I bet I could have an alarm blaring behind you and you wouldn't have heard me in this bedlam."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Who uses the word 'bedlam'?" she asked teasingly.

He blushed. "I picked it up from my older brother Rafe. He likes using words like that. The rest of my brothers and me sort of pick it up."

"The rest of your brothers?" she asked as she began to walk with him to the parking lot in a silent reply to his offer.

"Yeah, I have four."

"Four? Man, your parents must have been run ragged. My mom complained about just me."

Brent's face grew sad. "Actually, I don't remember my parents."

Mikaela gasped. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know." she said, touching his arm lightly.

He smiled in response. "It's alright." By this time they had left the building and were in the lot.

"So," she said changing the subject, "Which one of these is yours?"

Brent pointed to a yellow car on the other end of the parking lot. Mikaela gaped. It was a brand-spanking new Camaro GTO. From there she could even see the custom racing stripes. "That's yours?" she breathed in reverence.

He laughed. "Yeah, Christmas present from my second oldest brother. You might have heard of him. He's an author."

She frowned, and then recognition hit her. "No way. No way! Osirus Caelius! I loved his book!"

Brent shook his head and laughed. "Osirus is my elder brother."

"Wow."

He just laughed. "You wanna meet him?"

Mikaela's face brightened. "Yeah! That'd be so cool! My mom suggested the book to me because she fell in love with it."

Brent smiled. "We'll drop by my house then." He held up the pair of glasses in his hand. "I need to drop these off anyway."

The two new friends spent the long drive to Brent's house chatting about whatever they could think of from music to impressions of their peers. When they pulled up, Mikaela was impressed with Brent's home. It wasn't really a mansion, but the house was big. It was in the extreme outskirts of Tranquility, almost on the direct opposite side of town from her own home. "Nice," she said.

He smiled. "Come on." Brent hopped out and held open the door for her. She gave him a smile as she exited. "So, you said you had four other brothers. Am I going to meet them all?"

"You should." It was then that they heard a mighty ruckus coming from the direction of a large building not far from the main house. Brent led her over to it.

"I told you not to handle any heavy lifting! You already put enough stress on it yesterday!" came a smooth male voice.

"Yada yada. I'm fine Ratch! It's not like I sprained it again," another male voice snapped. It was lower and somewhat rougher then the first.

"But it won't heal you slagging imbecile!"

"Who said it -"

The second man cut off his statement when he saw Brent and Mikaela. She could only stare at them. The first man, the one she now knew belonged to the first voice, was a thankfully regular blond with an aristocratic face. His high cheekbones were still slashed with angry red and his full mouth was pressed in a thin line.

The second man was rougher, just like his voice. His face was craggy and rugged. His firm jaw was shaded by stubble that was as dark as his hair. His hair was in a near buzz cut as opposed to the other man's slightly longer than fashion style. His skin was a faint olive that bespoke a Mediterranean ancestry.

Both men were extremely attractive. Both were also extremely pierced. Both had enough metal in their ears to rebuild the Eiffel Tower. Not to mention the nose ring the darker one had. It made him look uncannily like a bull.

What amazed her most was that both had the same eerie blue eyes as Brent. "So," she said to break the ice, "You two must be Brent's brothers."

The blond smiled. "Why, yes we are. I'm Rafe."

"Isaac." the other grunted.

"Mikaela." she said with a smile. She held out her hand. Isaac took it in a firm handshake. When he released it, Rafe swooped it up to lay a gentlemanly kiss on her knuckles.

"I didn't know anyone did that anymore," she giggled.

"I think I already mentioned that Rafe was old fashioned," Brent muttered.

Rafe laughed. "Just jealous you didn't think of it first baby brother."

Brent stuck out his tongue and grabbed Mikaela's arm. "Come on. I know just where to find Jackson."

Brent led her around the house to another shed out back. From several yards away she could hear the thumping bass of a fast paced rap song. Brent opened the door to reveal, much to her surprise, a studio. The walls were filled with art, many of them dark high fantasy. One in particular that drew her eye was a large painting of two robots. One was ringed in light, the other in shadow.

"So, who's this sweet thang?"

Mikaela turned to find herself even more shocked. "Mikaela, this is my brother Jackson."

Jackson held out his hand to shake, but she was too shocked to respond. Brent nudged her and she snapped out of it. "I'm so sorry! It's just-"

"Weren't expecting the middle son to be chocolate instead of vanilla?"

Mikaela burst out laughing. Jackson was a tall, handsome man with skin the same color as good milk chocolate. He also had a friendly face and a mouth made for smiling. Mikaela took his hand and shook, but something bothered her. Jackson had the same eyes. She just shrugged. They must be contacts. Jackson also has the requisite piercings, or so it seemed. His ears were full.

"So you're an artist?"

"Yeah. I make some good money."

"That's cool. And really, I am sorry I was so rude."

"It's alright. I guess Brent didn't tell you. None of us are actual blood brothers. We all were in the same foster home together. We sort of became a family then, and when he aged out, Isaac was able to get guardianship of all of us. We all changed our last names to his." Jackson explained.

"Wow. That's cool," she said, genuinely impressed. They must have been really close.

Brent nudged his brother. "Well, we won't keep you from your painting. I promised her she'd get to meet Osirus."

Jackson snorted. "Just my luck. All the hot sistas want Mr. God King instead of a real man like me."

Brent patted his brother's arm in mock sympathy. "I know. Being in the shadow of a chick magnet is hard on us all."

"God King?" she asked with a frown.

Brent smiled. "Pet name for Osirus. His namesake was the Egyptian king of the dead. According to the traditions of Egypt, the pharaoh was supposed to be descended from him."

Jackson nodded and swatted Brent. "Get with ya now! Go let her meet our illustrious leader!" He turned back to the canvas sitting in the middle of the studio floor.

Brent finally led Mikaela out the studio into the main house. She marveled at the surroundings. Everything was tastefully done and hinted at wealth but didn't throw it in a visitor's face. He led her up to the second floor. "The first floor includes the kitchen, dining room, living room, a guest room, and laundry room. Second floor is the weight room, training room, game room, the work room, and Osirus' study. Third floor is me, Isaac, Rafe, and Jackson's rooms. Top floor is Osirus' Bat Tower."

"Bat Tower?" Mikaela giggled. "But seriously, why does Osirus get the top floor to himself?"

"Well, originally it was the master bedroom suite so there's only one set of rooms up there. Also, even though he isn't the oldest, Osirus is still sort of the patriarch of the family."

"Ah." Mikaela said. "That explains Jackson's 'illustrious leader' comment." She instantly got a mental image of a nerdy sort of guy. He had a study for Chrissakes. The crack Jackson made also made her think of Trekkies and the like. Osirus, even though he was a genius writer in her opinion, had "Geek King" stamped all over him.

"Here we are. This is Osirus' study." Brent pushed open the door. "Go on in. Osirus usually doesn't mind."

Mikaela took a hesitant step forward, and was completely floored by what she saw. No way could this guy standing in front of the bookshelf be Osirus Caelius. For one, he was listening to what she could swear was Evanescence. His back was to her, but she still took in the fact that he was wearing a tight burgundy hoodie that had the sleeves cut off and rockstar style jeans. He was barefoot so the jean legs pooled around his feet. When he turned, she was even more shocked.

He was gorgeous. She had a thing for tight abs and nice arms, and Osirus had both in abundance. His face was also ruggedly handsome and finely chiseled, and his skin was a light golden color.

Distracting the eye from this though, was what seemed like a multitude of piercings. She'd never really been one for them, but on him, she'd gladly take them. And there weren't many, just one lip ring, nose stud, and eyebrow bar. His ears had at least ten on each though.

His hair was a strange red-brown that really couldn't be called auburn. It actually looked like he had a bunch of different shades of red throughout it. He held a book in his hands and wore reading glasses, but far from making him look geeky, they looked cute on him.

Mikaela found herself fighting the urge to drool. Jackson and Brent's comments finally made sense now. They weren't joking on their brother, they were being serious.

"Osirus, this is my new friend Mikaela," Brent said.

Osirus smiled gently. "Nice to meet you." he said. His voice caused her to shiver. It was deep and slightly scratchy.

"Um, hi." she answered.

Osirus' smile grew wider. "So, you've made friends with the Caelius baby hunh?"

She glanced over at Brent. "I guess I have."

He held out his hand. "Then I guess you're a friend to us all." Mikaela took Osirus' hand and gave a firm shake.

"So, I um, read your book." she said shyly.

"You did?" he said with a slight laugh. "How'd you like it?"

"I enjoyed it. My mom and I both did. I especially liked the hero's conflict. I mean, to have to fight your own brother at every turn? And like that?" she said.

Osirus nodded. "It's hell." He said it with such utter certainty that Mikaela was a little amazed. Then she realized something. His eyes were the same eerie blue as his brothers. Now that was weird.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Osirus asked.

"Um, sure. I have to call and ask my mom though," she answered.

Brent gestured to the corner. "The phone's right there."

"Thanks," she said brightly. She walked over to it, and dialed out.

Brent turned to Osirus. "Mission accomplished. I was able to get the glasses," he murmured.

Osirus raised an eyebrow. "So soon?"

"The Witwicky kid was doing a Genealogy report today in class. He was hawking the stuff in class so it was a piece of cake to walk up to him and ask to buy them," Brent answered.

"Good job."

Mikaela turned back to them. "Mom says it's okay as long as I'm home before eleven."

"We've got plenty of time then," Osirus said brightly. "Why don't you show her around some more Bee?"

Brent nodded. "Come on! I'll show you my room. Rafe might be a tad sensitive about the kitchen this close to supper time."

"Sounds good."

The two teens left Osirus alone in his study. Not a minute passed before there was a knock.

"Come in."

Rafe entered. "You invited her to dinner?"

"It's been awhile since we've had good company."

"You mean female company."

"She reminds me of Elita."

"Oh, as long as that's all."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, with all due respect, don't start transferring your feelings to her. She's young."

"I'm not going to do that. As you pointed out she's young. And even though she reminds me of Elita, she still doesn't have that flame that Elita does."

"Gag me with a spoon."

"God you're dated."

"Better then being poetic all the time."

"Shove it up your aft."

"If our comrades could hear you now, oh great leader of the Autobots!"

"Oh if our comrades could hear you in five seconds when I begin to slowly gut you with a rusty spoon!"

"Sir, we're beginning to sound like brothers."

Osirus stopped and stared out the window. "I missed being able to banter like this."

Rafe nodded. "Then maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all."

Outside the Witwicky house, the neighborhood was mostly quiet. At the curb, a lone police car sat, its two occupants staring at the Witwicky residence. The teen in the back seat leaned up and grasped the cage. "Why do I have to sit back here again 'Cade?"

The man in front turned a sneer to his passenger. "Because it would look suspicious for a scruffy hacker to sit in the front seat of a police cruiser wouldn't it?"

The teen sighed and slumped down. "Can I at least have a computer? I hate not having my body around."

Barricade snarled. "Maybe later. Right now, that kid has the map to the Allspark. We've got to get it."

Frenzy leaned forward when he saw the boy come out of the house and approach the "vintage" Bug his father had bought him from Bobby Bolivia's. "He's on the move."

Barricade smiled maliciously as he slid his sunglasses up on the bridge of his nose. "Finally."