Disclaimer: Transformers © Hasbro
Warnings: AU for 2007/2009 movie-verses, as I'm quite sure this won't be happening in Transformers 3.
Notes: Goddammit, Turning Point and Hidden-verse have invaded my brain! For whatever reason, my writer's blocked brain decided it was time to do something, and opted to play with Blaster and company again.
So much for hiding, guys.
When Sam had decided to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to Portland, mostly to celebrate surviving freshman year at college as well as making it out of Egypt alive, he honestly hadn't been expecting to bump into anyone he knew. So when he walked into a Starbuck's in search of an espresso macchiato and almost literally bumped into his best friend from high school, he was definitely surprised to see him.
Miles had also been surprised, but as he always had back before Sam's world view twisted completely the blond man took it in his stride, greeting his friend as if they'd last parted company last week instead of last year. It didn't take more than a few minutes for Sam to call his guardian and let him know that he was going to be spending the afternoon with an old friend while Miles went to place the drink orders, and before long the two of them were seated at an outside table playing 'catch-up.'
"Dude, I cannot believe that your dad let you bring the C4 to college," Sam remarked, casting an admiring look at the red Corvette that he had always remembered as a fixture in the Lancaster family garage. It was in excellent shape for a car that was twenty-five years old, looking almost as if it had just rolled off the assembly line.
Miles shrugged slightly as he took a sip of his cinnamon dolce latte – and how did he drink something like that with an additional two shots of espresso? – before responding. "I guess it was the least he could do. A little peace of mind while I'm on the road, at least."
"At least he didn't get high while helping you get moved onto campus," Sam said, thinking of his mother and wincing slightly at the memory. The blond snickered and moved to take the lid off of the banana chocolate vivanno smoothie with double espresso shots he'd also ordered. "Seriously, how can you drink that stuff?"
"It's not for me," Miles replied, holding the cup up and to the side. Almost immediately, a feminine hand snatched it from his loose grasp.
"You are a gift, brother-mine," Michelle said breathlessly, knocking back the drink and taking several large swallows. Next to her, Mason let out a low whine that almost sounded like an admonishment. She stopped after draining half the cup, wiping an arm across her forehead and shooting a warm smile to the boys. "Heyya, Sammy."
"Hey, Shellie," Sam returned the greeting, taking a moment to admire his best friend's sister. Shellie was still slim and almost pretty, never having been one to flaunt her appearance. Even in a pair of track pants, sneakers, and a tank top with her blonde hair pulled up into a messy ponytail, she remained on the border of cute and stunning. Honestly, both the Lancaster twins had always seemed to exude some inner beauty that made them not-pretty yet at the same time ethereal and otherworldly.
Shellie dropped into the chair next to her brother and absently patted Mason on the head. "What brings you to Portland?" she asked as Miles poured a bit of his latte into a dish and set it on the ground for the mastiff.
"Just taking a sort of I-survived-freshman-year vacation. You know how it is." Sam frowned slightly as the twins exchanged a look. The last time he'd seen them do that it had been right after the pair of them had decided to blow off afternoon classes and go to the multiplex to see Friday Night Lights. Their dad had grounded them for a month as well as drop them off and pick them up from school to make sure they weren't cutting class again.
"Oh, yeah," Miles finally said after a moment, pulling off an easy smile. "Information overload almost, huh?"
"Like you have any trouble, dear twin," Shellie retorted, shoving him lightly. "You could probably recite the entire periodic table of elements forward and back in your sleep."
As the blonds began to tease and grapple with one another (taking care not to upset the table and spill their drinks), Sam relaxed and leaned back in his chair. Miles had always been a bit odd, and it only increased when Shellie was added to the equation. They had a sibling bond that he could only look upon with jealousy, never having had any brothers or sisters of his own.
His attention was drawn to Mason as the dog let out a huffing bark. "Yeah, they're kind of nuts, aren't they, boy?" Sam asked, laughing shortly when the mastiff let out a whine that almost sounded like an agreement. "Well, that's just how they are, I suppose."
He sat up abruptly as a sound akin to thunder split the air. A quick glance skyward revealed no sign of a storm, and he felt his stomach drop slightly. There were a few Decepticons that weren't discrete about their activities, and those particular mechs had no qualms about trying to retrieve Sam in broad daylight. Across the table, Shellie and Miles had gone still and were listening as well. A second thunder-like rumble and the ground shaking only furthered Sam's fears, and his chair toppled over as he stood.
"We've got to get out of here," he said, tone broking no argument. The twins stood as well, Miles leaning down to take off Mason's leash. The mastiff immediately took off at a run into the alleyway. "My car's too far away," he added, thinking that Bumblebee was likely already in-route to cut off the 'con before he reached Sam's location.
Miles opened his mouth to speak, but before he got a word out the sidewalk cracked and exploded outward. The two young men were thrown in one direction and Shellie in the other, the blonde letting out a muffled cry as she smacked into the side of a parked car. What appeared to be a giant mechanical locust crawled out from the hole in the sidewalk, followed by a robot that reminded Sam slightly of Frenzy only larger and bulkier. The Frenzy lookalike chattered something off in his native dialect before launching himself towards the street. The locust turned its attention towards the men and chirred at them.
Sam grabbed hold of Miles' jacket collar and dragged him backward with him, hauling his friend out of the path of the locust-bot. The blond caught on quickly enough, pushing himself to his feet and leaning against the building. There wasn't any way to get around the Decepticon (there was no mistaking the red optics as anything close to friendly) and there was no sign of Bumblebee anywhere, not even his phone buzzing with an incoming text message.
"Hey, Sam?" Miles said evenly, eyes locked on the locust. "There's something I should really tell you."
"Later, Miles," Sam replied. "This isn't the best time, considering—"
"I know that the Mission City thing wasn't terrorists." The brunet's head whipped around, shock in his eyes as the blond looked back evenly. "And I know that all those videos that crop up online about giant robots aren't fake, I know that something major went down in Egypt, and—"
The Decepticon let out a shriek and struck out with what seemed to be a barbed antenna-slash-sword. Not even looking, Miles reached up and caught the serrated appendage, the skin of his hand seeming to fold away to reveal silver and black metal plating. Sam's eyes widened and he could only stare in shocked silence at his oldest 'human' friend.
"And I know that my cover is totally fragged," the Pretender finished. He turned his attention back to the locust, which had chosen that moment to transform into a bipedal form. 'Miles' let out a frustrated sound as the remainder of his outer shell retracted, his free hand folding into a pulse cannon that he fired into the larger mech's face.
Sam had managed to catch a brief glimpse of the small mech's optics, noting them to be a bright blue just before a battle mask much like Bumblebee's slipped over his face. The young man moved towards the alley, hoping that his friend would fare well if only so he could interrogate him later. There were some secrets that were way too big to be shared, but this...! He was beginning to wonder if Miles (and oh man, was Shellie a Cybertronian, too?!) had always been like this or if he'd been replaced somewhere along the way. He got around the Decepticon locust and froze as a giant mechanical lion leaped from the alley he'd last seen Mason running into. The lion didn't seem too interested in him, launching itself at the locust-bot's wings and providing an assist for Miles.
"Witwicky human," a low voice hissed, and Sam turned to find the Frenzy-esque robot glaring at him. The robot's arms shifted much as the man had seen several of the Autobots do, only rather than guns a pair of pile drivers replaced the limbs. "Creator says apprehend and hold, I say destroy."
"And I say you talk too much, bolthead," came a familiar voice from behind the mech. A silver and blue robot, similar in appearance to Miles' robotic form but more lithe and feminine, lunged at the mech and slammed him into the ground. "That's what we call necessary roughness around here, pal." The femme (and there was Sam's question regarding Shellie answered, since this 'bot spoke with her voice) turned towards the human, and he felt the tell-tale sensation of a scan being run from behind the brilliant-blue visor. "We really do need to move now," she said, "before Rumble gets word back to their eye in the sky."
The sound of rending metal came from close to the alley, and a moment later the human-sized mech and bronze lion-bot joined them. "Ransack's down, but not out," the lion said, and although Sam realized he should have been surprised by this he found that he wasn't. "Blaster broke the silence and sent out an all-call to the crew planetside."
The almost look-alike robots sighed, sounding both distressed and relieved at the same time. "Guess the time for mourning is over, brother of mine," the femme said, resting a blue hand on her counterpart's shoulder in a gesture that bespoke affection and familiarity, and one that Same had seen a million times in the past when around the Lancaster twins.
"And it's time to start everything all over again," the mech replied, reaching up to rest his own black fingers over his sibling's before turning towards Sam again. The mask split and retracted, allowing him to offer a somewhat sheepish grin to the human he'd thought of as a friend for his entire lifetime on Earth. "Reintroductions are in order, huh? My designation is Rewind, and this is my sister Eject."
Not the End