Introductions
I looked myself over in the mirror, making sure that everything was okay for the big day.
My hair was thoroughly washed and cared for, leaving a clean blonde color left. I thought I'd never see the day I had blonde hair again. My face looked clean and full of life, as I was. My blue eyes looked absolutely dazzling, I might say. Something happened the day moment Optimus got out of my body. They didn't predict this, but he left kind of a…mark on me, one might say. Well, my skin turned a pale white color, despite its usual tan, and my irises were such a light blue they almost looked white, with a dark blue rim surrounding it, so I looked blind.
One might say I looked like a pretty little girl, but with my blonde hair and now blue eyes, I think I looked like a goddamn Mary-Sue came to life. It's not my fault!
Anyway, getting over that, I looked down at my clothes. I had on a nice, fitting pair of new blue jeans and a red and purple striped sweatshirt, even though my right shoulder seemed kinda bulky because of the ace bandage wrap underneath. My DC shoes were white-note the 'were.' By now, I completely scribbled everywhere on it-I drew a purple Autobot symbol on the front top of it, and colored everywhere else red and blue for Optimus. I even put 'OP' on the back of each shoe, since the Autobots didn't have to hide from the public anymore. I call them my Sketchy DC's.
I put red and blue nail polish on in honor of Prime. Yeah, I loved him, and no, not that way. He adopted me, after all! I didn't have a home and after all we've been through together, he decided to take me into the Autobot base. Even though I've never met him, a nice man named Colonel William Lennox backed me up and since he was so high in N.E.S.T., no one could say no. Besides, everyone was eager to know who exactly Optimus Prime's adopted daughter was.
My hair was tied back into a tight ponytail, with some wisps hanging out here and there. I can never do tight ponytails. Ever since the day I woke up and visited Prime on his hospital bed in just a white T-shirt and my old pair of broken jeans, Doctor Ovane decided that he would take it upon himself to buy me new pairs of clothing and girl stuff. After I visited Optimus, he took my right to the mall and bought me 300 dollars' worth of clothes and shoes, along with some accessories. Because, you know, he can. He's rich as the N.E.S.T.'s scientist. He also let me on one of those massage chairs and brought me into the spa, where they did my nails red and blue and washed and cut my hair to a reasonable length. I was eager the get my thick, unruly hair out of the way, though, so instead of styling it I asked them if they can put it into a ponytail which, to this day, I can never re-do.
Taking a deep breath, I looked into the mirror one last time and nodded, accepting myself, my new self. It's hard to believe that only yesterday I woke up from my short coma-like-thing and now I'm all clean and healthy and mature. Well, almost healthy. Ovane did all sorts of tests on me yesterday, after the trip to the mall. He told me how tall I was; 5'3". He told me my blood type; O+, a semi-rare one. And then he told me how much I weighed in at; 89 pounds. Way too skinny for an almost 15 year old. He told me that I need to weigh at least 110 before I'm considered healthy, and that is precisely my goal.
I looked around my small room at the Autobot base. A twin bed sat in the corner of the room, a fluffy fake zebra comforter on top. My pillows were black, since I still strangely liked the darkness. I had an oak wood dresser that contained all of my clothes next to my bed, with a lamp on top. My 4 pairs of shoes were sitting on the ground next to it. Across from the bed and the dresser was a desk with a mirror and laptop on top that contained all of my other essentials; my sketchpad, colored pencils, collection of 20 different colored sharpies, my notebooks, my camera, and other things.
Sighing, I wondered how they did it. Apparently, while Doctor Ovane and I were gone at the mall, Optimus had told Lennox about adopting me and, for an hour, they debated with some supposed jerk named Charlotte Mearing, the Director of National Intelligence, to keep me here. When she finally angrily gave in, Lennow and a few soldiers went out and got me a bed and the other stuff in my room that I had mentioned earlier. They brought along a few girl N.E.S.T. soldiers, for they didn't know a thing about what I might want, but the boys' muscles helped in lifting everything up the stairs and such. Doctor Ovane and I were only gone for, like, 5 hours. How did they do all of that in that short time? But, anyways, it was sweet.
Taking my camera out of the desk I opened my door, just as Doctor Ovane stood there with his hand raised, about to knock. "Wow!" he yelped, startled, holding a hand to his chest all dramatic-like. "You startled me, Terra!"
I giggled. "Hi, Doctor Ovane," I greeted, smiling. "I was just heading out."
"And I was just about to get you," he said, matter-of-fact like. "The Autobots and all of N.E.S.T. are eager to meet you."
I nodded and followed him out. The only Autobots I've met were Optimus Prime and Ratchet, both a given DUH. The only human part of N.E.S.T. I've seen was Doctor Ovane. Prime and Lennox scheduled for me to meet them all today, and I was so excited I was bouncing on my feet as I walked.
Ovane noticed and raised an eyebrow at me, saying, "Excited, eh? I knew you'd be."
"I just can't wait until we're all friends," I stated, smiling again. I practically looked like a Barbie Doll the way I was smiling.
Ovane only nodded and led me down a few steps and around a corridor to the Rec. Room which, by Optimus' request, was very close to my own room on the base so Prime can keep a better track of me. Sweet, eh? This is why I love him.
"Well, you're going to love them all, except maybe Mearing," Ovane continued. "And Simmons. Dutch is pretty cool, though."
Okay, he lost me with the Simmons and Dutch thing, but I was still excited to meet every each one of them. I never got out much and met decent people when I was 'living' with Mari and Alex, so whoever I met was a new adventure for me.
As I walked into the giant Rec. Room I gasped. Inside stood many Autobots of many shapes, sizes, and colors, humans scattered about on the floor by their feet, all eyes directed at me. They were giants, these Autobots! Even though I've met Prime in his own body and he was taller than all of them by far, I still couldn't help but be mesmerized by their size.
Prime came from around the corner and walked over to me, smiling. "Hello, Terra," he said in that deep baritone voice. He knelt down by me and held out his palm, to which I graciously climbed on. "I'd like you to meet all of N.E.S.T."
He held out his hand and I stood up on it, smiling awkwardly. Waving, I said, "Uh, hi all of N.E.S.T."
The humans below chuckled, but the Autobots did nothing. Hmph, tough croud.
With his other hand, Prime gestured to the first Autobot. He was a big bot with shiny black armor and a battle scar on his right eye, along with a few rusted parts on his metal. "This is Ironhide, the Autobot Weapon Specialist," introduced Prime. Ironhide grunted and then transformed his hands into cannons, bringing them to life as well. Optimus sighed behind me as I smiled at the failed intimidation attempt. "Ironhide, easy," said Optimus tiredly.
Ironhide shrugged. "It's what I do."
Optimus shook his head and then gestured to a bot shorter than Ironhide that was covered blue and looked like he had hair coming out from the sides of his head with a crazed look in his eyes. He looked like a robotic Einstein. "This is-" Prime began, but was cut off by the bot.
"My name's Wheeljack," he said, in a voice that sounded old, even for a Cybertronian. "I'm the Autobot Scientist. Hello, Terra, we've heard so much about you."
I smiled, my face reddening. What was I supposed to say to that? "Thanks." Wheeljack nodded. Whatever.
Prime went on to the next bot. This one looked sleek and kind of feminine, which would be funny if it was a guy. Red paint covered his body and swords stook out from the sides of his arms. "This is Mirage, the Autobot Spy." Well, he sounded like a dude, and being a spy sure fit his looks.
He nodded at me, his hands crossed, and said, "Pleasure to meet you, miss Terra Bennett."
I smiled but tensed. Oh. My. God. I've never said something like this before, but he's so sexy! His Italian accent, his sleek frame, his gentleman-ness. He was probably an Italian sports car. That's hot. Human or Autobot, he's just freaking sexy.
Prime walked over to a group of three small Autobots. "These are the Wreckers, the team's Task Force and Engineers."
"Leadfoot," said the smallest one of the group in a Scottish accent. He was red with a potbelly, and on that potbelly was a white target.
"I'm Roadbuster," said the tallest, a green one, also in a Scottish accent. He looked like he was wearing a red visor and a baseball cap-you know, the right way. Roadbuster pointed to the bot standing next to him. "And 'dat one ova there is Topspin. 'E doesn't talk much." Topspin was a blue bot with illuminated blue dreadlocks on the sides of his head, like Wheeljack, but Wheeljack didn't have dreadlocks. Topspin was another one with a visor, but this one was blue. I wonder why he didn't talk.
"Ay, Terra!"
I whipped my head around, looking for the voice, until a little green bot that had buck teeth, one of them gold, walked up to me. "I'm Skidz," he said. "To get this ova' wit'. Can I go now, boss bot?" He looked up at Prime, who scowled down at him.
"Hey, hey!" yelled another, similar voice. A red one walked to up Skidz and stood by him. Judging by the looks and the attitude and voice, I think they're twins. "Don't go disrespecting 'da lady like 'dat!" He slapped Skidz upside the head. "Say you're sorry!"
"It's fine!" I yelled out, but they didn't hear my over their bickering.
Skidz shoved the other one and yelled, "Don't touch me, Mudflap!"
Mudflap, apparently, punched Skidz in the face. I held in a guilty snicker as another bot with wheels for feet literally rolled up and pushed them both aside, a hand on both of their chests. This one was silver and sleek, like Mirage, but with wheels for feet I could only assume he was meant for speed. "Hey, calm down, you two! Not now!" he yelled out in a deep, manly voice. No sexy accent. Darn.
"Fine," grumbled Skidz, walking away, out of the Rec. Room. "Whatever."
Mudflap looked back at me and shrugged, walking out with his twin.
The sleek silver bot turned and looked at me awkwardly. He raised his hand and twinkled his fingers. "Hi." He pointed to himself. "Sideswipe."
I giggled and waved back, then pointed to myself. "Terra."
Shrugging, he wheeled out of the Rec. Room, followed by a bored Ironhide and the group of Wreckers. Slightly offended, I told myself to shrug it off. I mean, I've already met them, and they're giant alien robots. I'm sure they have other business to attend to.
Optimus seemed to have noticed my slight pain and moved onto the next bot, the final bot. "This is Bumblebee."
Bumblebee seemed fit for him, as he was yellow and black all over-you know, like a bumblebee. He waved at me and chirped. Yeah, you heard that right. A giant alien robot chirped like a freakin' bird. I…I just don't know.
"Bee doesn't talk."
Another random friggin' voice. Let's just hope it doesn't start a fight with its twin.
I jumped, a little startled, when Prime started lowering his hand to the ground. I got off awkwardly, gripping my shoulder as the sudden movement caused it to sting a little bit. Hissing, I looked up to see who the voice belonged to.
A young man, no more than 25, maybe even a little bit younger, stood in front of me. He had short, curly brown hair, olive skin and brown eyes. He was wearing a blue shirt with a dark blue tie, black work pants, and black work shoes. A black formal work jacket hung on his forearm. He smiled at me, revealing pearly whites, and held out his other hand. "Hi, I'm Sam Witwicky. I'm the lead Human/Autobot alliance cooperator."
I nodded and shook his head. "Hey."
A woman in a tight peach colored dress that stopped at the thighs walked over to me, her heels clicking on the floor. Blonde hair cascaded down one shoulder and her blue eyes sparkled. Finally I'm not the only one! She smiled as well, revealing pearly whites. Now I suddenly felt self-conscious. "Hello, I'm Carly," she introduced, holding out on hand for me to shake as well.
I smiled and shook her hand, even though I was annoyed. I don't know why-don't ask me-I just hate British accents. They're irritating.
"Colonel Will Lennox," said a rather tall man, holding out his hand and smiling. He had short brown hair and a tan, muscular build for a man that looked about 30 years old. I shook his hand and he motioned to another soldier who stepped forward. This one was dark skinned with dark brown eyes but has a sort of funny look to him, like he was the one to always crack jokes. "And this is Master Sergeant Robert Epps."
The man, Epps, glanced at Lennox and raised an eyebrow. "I can introduce myself," he said, the corner of his mouth turning up.
I giggled and shook Epps extended hand. Damn, he had a firm grip, but he seemed nice. Still gripping my hand, he spun me around so his other arm was around my shoulder and he held out his hand, introducing the rest of the group of soldiers to me. Yeah, I could already tell that Epps and I were going to get along just fine.
I tried my best to remember all of the names thrown at me. James, Emerson, Claudic, Taylor, Clark. I didn't really focus on the whole military rank thing, they were too confusing for me. All I knew was that these people were high in the military, judging by 'Corporal' or 'Staff Sergeant' or whatever.
I was just finishing shaking Clark's hand and smiling as someone shouted, "Excuse me, please."
A woman made her way over to our little cordial group, heels clicking on the concrete floor. Her dirty blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and I saw bags under her eyes past the black glasses. She wore a standard tan work pants and a white and blue blouse. I could already tell that this one was going to be hard to like.
She glared at me with her snake-like eyes. "Terra Bennett." Oh my god. She used my full name, this is bad. "I would like to see you right now in my office, please." Now she'd like to see me in her office? This is worse.
Sam let out an aggravated sigh and fidgeted his feet. I ignored him as I glanced back up at Optimus for recognition, him and Bumblebee being the only Autobots left in the Rec. Room. He simply nodded but it was visible to me that he was slightly pissed, giving me the notion that he hates this lady, too.
Gulping, I followed the lady down a corridor, up some stairs, and through a door. She sat down on her seat behind her desk overfilled with paperwork and I sat on the chair opposite her, fidgeting. Her assistant stood next to her-a young-looking Japanese girl with glasses and a gray work outfit, carrying many bags. The door closed behind me and I jumped as I turned around and was a little shocked when William Lennox had followed us and took a seat next to me. My anxiety died down a bit as he stole a wink at me and half smiled.
"Terra Bennett," said the woman, gaining my attention as my head snapped in her direction. "I'm the Director of National Intelligence. You may call me Ms. Mearing-nothing more, nothing less, I don't want any stupid nicknames bored teenagers come up with."
Woah, what the hell did I do? I glanced at Lennox from the corner of my eye but he just glared at Mearing with a stone-cold expression. Yikes.
"You don't belong here," she continued. "You should have never been here in the first place. You got here by luck, only luck. I don't understand why we still keep you here and a place has been made for you-"
"Look," Lennox growled, standing up. The chair made a squeaky noise and he pushed it back. "After Optimus supposedly died, he had inhabited her body for-"
Mearing held up a hand. "Yeah, I know, Colonel, I'm familiar with the story-"
"-Let me finish." She narrowed her eyes at him, but let him continue. "He had been through her hardships of being mistreated by her parents-" I flinched "-and had helped her escape after a month. After the transfer back to his own body was complete, it left sort of a…mark on Terra." He pointed at me. "Her eyes changed to a light blue, Autobot blue, and her skin paled a bit from the heavy treatment. But also a bond was made."
All of a sudden I knew where he was going with this. I knew all about this bond that Optimus and I shared. Ovane told me about it in the mall, where we had our little break from shopping in the cafeteria. Apparently, there are four forms of bonds that Cybertronians can have. One is a bond that was hard to put into words, but an example of that bond was Arcee and her 'sisters.' Really, Arcee has three bodies that have their own little personalities and that she kind of 'controls,' and they are, well, Arcee, Chromia, and Elita-One. Arcee was the sleek and fast one, Chromia was the strong and hard-willed one, and Elita was the intelligent, wise one. Another bond is a sibling bond, like what the Twins have. Another bond is kind of like marriage between two bots, but even closer, and the last one is a parent one. Once Prime left my body, his spark connected with my organic heart a little, without actually making that connection, but it left a parent bond with him to me. It's hard to explain, Doctor Ovane told me, but apparently you can't back out of something like that, like you don't have much choice, and your whole endeavor changes once a connection is made. Prime used to be a tough fighting machine with nothing very close to him to lose, and now he is a very protective bot and would be devastated if he lost me. That's what Prime told me, by the way.
After Lennox explained about the bonds and Prime's parent bond with me, Mearing scoffed. "Oh please. And now we're supposed to abandon thoughts of civilian safety over this exclaimed 'parent bond' between those two?" She shook her head. "And now that Prime thinks he's a parent we're supposed to board a little girl in our base?"
"Is it your base?" I asked, standing up as well. "Really? Cause I thought it was the Autobots' base, not yours."
Mearing opened her mouth to protest but Lennox cut her off. "Look, Ms. Mearing. I know you're the Director of National Intelligence but when Cybertronians have bonds they are grave and mean a lot to them. You can't separate a child from her father like this."
"But he's not her father!" Mearing argued. What's wrong with this chick, mother nature?
"Biologically? No," Lennox answered. Damn, he's the bomb. "But technically, he is. Prime isn't the only one feeling this bond. Terra is, too, but only a little bit. If she actually returned the bond her heart would implode." Wait, sorry, what? "But Prime feels the bond. To separate them would be disastrous and it would hurt Prime emotionally. You can't compare bonds to anything human related, really. And why would you want to take Prime's kid away, when he's helped save Earth three times?"
Mearing sighed and though about what's she's just been told for about a minute before throwing her hands up in the air, defeated. "Fine, fine," she said. "Just get this, kid: no shenanigans, no teen drama, no pranks, and overall no bullshit. I have had my share with teenagers and I've found I'm sick of them. You absolutely cannot get in the way of anything. Do you understand?"
I nodded my head. "Yeah, I understand, Ms. Mearing. I won't be of any trouble." I walked to the door and opened it, allowing Lennox to follow me through before closing it behind him. Once we walked a safe distance away I turned to Lennox angrily and asked, "What the hell is her problem with one more resident?"
Lennox shook his head. "Don't know, don't ask. Just avoid her." Then his face lit up a bit and he smiled. "Follow me."
Confused, I followed him down some stairs and back into the Rec. Room, where Prime, Bumblebee, Sam, Carly, and Epps were waiting. Bumblebee crouched down against a wall with Sam and Carly and Epps stood by Prime's feet, who was standing in the middle of the room. They all smiled at me as I entered the room.
"What's going on?" I asked, approaching Prime.
"I decided to give you a gift," Prime answered.
A gift? What more could they possibly give me that they hadn't already? I didn't know what I should do-be excited that I was getting a gift or be mad that they keep giving me things and I couldn't give back? But my question was answered as Prime held out his palm and in it was a familiar object, one that I cherished and loved ever since I was very little.
"ZERO!" I shouted, grabbing him and holding him to my chest. "Oh my God I missed you!" I squealed from the excitement and happiness rushing through me as everyone in the room laughed. I looked up at Prime, who smiled down at me. "Who in the hell did you find him?" I practically shrieked up at him.
"I sent some friends in your government to retrieve it," he explained, and his smile dropped a bit. "It was left in your…old home."
I nodded, understanding, and hugged Zero closer to my chest. This was where I belonged, where I was safe and comfortable and loved. I had a nice 'dad' and nice friends, both human and Autobot. Who can say they have the Autobot leader as their daddy? I have everything that I could've ever wanted, right here in this military base. And as I looked around at all of the happy faces staring back at me, both organic and robotic, I only had one thing left to say.
I could finally call something my permanent home.
Author's Note: Just a short little sweet thing between Terra and Optimus and the rest of N.E.S.T. as she meets them all. Now the real fun begins! I'm planning on making a set of rules of 'What Not To Do,' and there's going to be A LOT of pranks and fluff and humor and Terra screwing with Mearing! XD Damn I hate her... And also maybe appearances by some Decepticons, hm? *wriggles eyebrows* Anyways, hope you liked it! Review please!
Okay alright bi~ ;)
