A clang from the garage, followed by a muttered word, told Laserbeak where his partner was. He flew in, followed by Ravage. The girl they were looking for was currently under the Goldenrod, surrounded by spare and broken parts. Tools of all shapes, sizes, and purposes were strewn all over the floor around where she was working. Panels and computer screens lit up and beeped as she did one thing or another to the sleek vessel.
A particularly harsh beep drew her out from under the ship. She rolled the creeper out, sat up, then stood. She checked the readout before noticing them. They got a good look at the state of her and her outfit.
She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans - so they were less likely to snag on something - and a black tank top. The exposed skin on her arms, neck, and face were splotched with grease and oil from working on the ship. Her mid-length, dirty blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail to keep it out of the way.
"Hey guys," she greeted. "What's goin' on?" she asked as she tapped a button or two on the panel before going back to work. Some people would think she was asking simply to be courteous and that she really didn't care, but anyone that knew her knew she could focus on both fixing her ship and a conversation.
"Well... Knock Out, Jan, and I were actually gonna go for a drive, and since you didn't seem to be doing much- not that fixing your ship isn't much. Er, what I meant was that you weren't busy- well, I guess you are... You're not doing anything important- not that... oh, geez..." Laserbeak floundered, looking for a nice way to say it.
Ravage, however, was much more direct, had little patience for Laserbeak's stuttering, and was already annoyed by the bird-like Minicon's intent to get rid of him. "He wants to ditch and make you watch me so he can go for a joyride," Ravage explained much more easily than Laserbeak had been able to. The Cybertronian Avenger glared at the cybercat.
"Okay," Nikki agreed. Both of the Minicons were taken a bit off guard about it. Laserbeak had expected the need to persuade her. Ravage had expected a flat out refusal.
"What?" they both asked, looking at each other, then back at her.
"Yep. I don't see why I can't keep an eye on the newest resident of the Tower while you go for a drive. Just don't stay away too long, okay?" Nikki instructed as she tightened down another bolt on the underside of the ship.
"Yes!" Laserbeak exclaimed. "Thanks, Nik!" he called as he flew out of the garage, leaving a dumbfounded Ravage behind. He walked closer to the ship and sat down, tilting his head. He was usually cynical, so while he understood Laserbeak's desire to get away from him - the two hadn't been on good terms toward the end of the former's time with the 'Cons and since the latter's reappearance - he didn't understand why Nikki would agree to his request.
"Somethin' to add, Ravage?" the girl in question asked as a nut fell to the floor with a light clatter. He needed to get used to the fact that she, much like Soundwave, knew when he was thinking.
"Why'd you let him do that?" he asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"Why not?" she replied, loosening a screw and replacing it. "He wanted to, and I see no harm in either letting him or watching you." Another round of silence filled the room, penetrated by her muttering to herself about this, that, or the other, and the sounds of her tools and skilled fingers at work.
"What are you doing?" he asked, now curious. He didn't move from his spot to get a better look. He saw no need.
"Ah, the panels on the bottom are starting to wear out... and when I got in, I noticed some wear and tear on the inner circuitry, so I had to replace it... she needed some work, anyway," the teenage mechanic explained. While she obviously knew what she was talking about, and Laserbeak might've, Ravage did not.
" 'She'?" he asked, tilting his head in confusion again.
"The ship. It's a pilot thing. Some pilots name their ships, refer to them as if they were alive, you know," she answered.
"No, I don't. Is it a human..." what was the word he was looking for? "Quirk?"
She chuckled. "Yeah, you could call it that. 'Cept it's not just humans that do it. All kinds of species do. I once met this Twi'lek - heck of an attitude - who didn't let anyone onboard his ship unless they greeted it. While I don't go that far, I do think the Goldenrod has a mind of her own."
"What evidence do you have that proves that?" Ravage asked, still trying to understand the human trait of believing inanimate objects had traits, attitudes, even a 'mind of their own.'
"Just little things. Doors being closed when I left 'em open - 'specially when I'm working - getting zapped while working on the ship, the scanners dropping out every now and again when I've been working her too hard, the extra zing the engine gives me when I'm trying to get away and I beg for it, holding together long after she should've stopped - again, when I beg for it," Nikki replied.
Ravage thought about it. It was true for the zaps and the doors being closed, as well as the scanners dropping in and out. But that was to be expected and could be blamed on any number of mechanical failures. It was the other stuff he couldn't explain. The burst of power, the staying intact. He'd even heard Laserbeak 'coaxing' the ship when it was being 'difficult'.
"How did you get so good at fixing ships?" Ravage asked, wanting to change the subject slightly. He didn't like the fact he was having a hard time coming up with explanations for the strange 'behavior' of the ship.
"Been doin' it since I was 7," she answered, tightening the last bolt on a panel before moving on to the next. "Dad taught me, and I enjoyed it so much, I kept doing it in my spare time. Eventually, after not being able to find a ship that I really liked, I just made one myself. She's held together for... 2 years now, so that does say something, considering all the roughing up she gets."
"You also enjoy working on cars, computers, and other technology. Why?"
"I like fixing stuff," she explained. "It's one of the few things from my past that I can still do without feeling like I've taken a knife to the heart. They call me 'Miss Mechanic' at SHIELD. The first time anyone took me seriously - well, anyone but Fury and Coulson - was when I fixed a faulty QuinJet. Took one look, identified the problem, and fixed it within 5 minutes."
" 'Miss Mechanic'?" he asked skeptically. "And you feel this is an accurate title?"
"Yep." She rolled out after tightening one last thing. She put the wrench and other tools back in her toolbox, snapped the lid shut, and placed it back on the shelf under where the computer she'd gotten her data readouts was. "Well, I'm done here."
She'd been on her feet for all of one or two minutes when Knock Out rolled into the garage. Laserbeak hesitantly got out, then flew over. Jan jumped out of the car excitedly. "Nikki! Boy, have we got a story to tell you!" she called through laughs.
"KO got a speeding ticket," Laserbeak cut in. Nikki chuckled.
"I gotta hear this," she remarked. Jan began excitedly telling her story to Nikki while they walked out, leaving the three Cybertronians in the garage.