J: This took so much longer than I'd anticipated, on paper this turned out to be 39 pages long! And I'm sure you will all be thrilled to hear that the next chapter which is Beth's story will take even longer, not because I'm going to make it longer than this, it's because I accepted a challenge to make a one shot based off a picture I found on Deviantart that I really like. If you're a fan of Paul from Pokemon than you might forgive me for the wait ahha. OH, and the chapters after this will be edited, this one isn't since I wanted you guys to get reading ASAP. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Transformers belongs to Hasbro. Roxanne, Beth and Alice belong to me. ASK FIRST!

WARNING: IF YOU HAVEN'T READ 'MS. BABYSITTER VS MR. TRUCK' THEN YOU WILL BE A BIT LOST.

Character Help: If Alice's personality isn't clear try imagining a cross between Abbey from 'NCIS' and Stocking from 'Panty and Stocking with Garter Belt'

Meet Beth and Alice Part One

Another day at the .T base stationed in Diego Garcia has passed with no word or any kind of noise from the Decepticons, for the five human women lounging in the med bay this suited them just fine. Especially the 19 year old red head with a cast on her leg, "Truth or dare?" Roxanne Glitch suggested for a time killer. Out of the spirit of spite the five women had decided to stay up as long as possible until the cranky yellow medic Ratchet yelled at them. If he hadn't decided to keep Roxie in the med bay for another unnecessary night they might have been enjoying their sleepover in the room Roxie shared with Chromia, Flareup and Arcee.

"Nope, that game is only safe in a room the bots can't hear into. I told Sam that I was going to get a tattoo of Bumblebee in his alt mode on my back as a surprise for him and he heard me when we were in Sam's room with the music blaring. The next day Bumblebee sent me snap shots of himself in his alt mode as possible designs." They all giggled at this, Bumblebee was by far the cutest of all the Autobots, it was almost impossible to be mad with him.

Alice Bones, an enlisted N.E.S.T soldier with short sandy blonde hair, pale skin with a rounded face and bright blue eyes took on a sneaky little smile. She motioned with her hands for them to be quiet then said in a whisper, " So Roxie, I heard Tools got you pregnant." Roxie was cut off from her shrieking denial by two loud "WHATS?" from outside the Autobot sized door. Beth jumped into action and hit the release that opened the door. Roxie and the other four girls burst into loud cackling laughter to see Sunstreaker and Sideswipe standing on the other side of the door with their jaws nearly touching the floor.

Recovering enough to look angry Maggie asked of her on-off guardians, "What are you two doing listening in on us?"

"Did Tools or Jolt bribe you into it?" Roxie raised an expectant eyebrow. She wouldn't put it pass her worry wart guardian and hovering best male friend to do it.

"Please, every bot knows that the best way to get black mail on everyone else is to eavesdrop on a group of femmes that think they're unsupervised." Alice, Beth, Mikeala, and Roxie gave Maggie inquisitive looks.

Maggie held her hands up in defense, " Don't look at me like that, I never told them nonsense such as that."

"We didn't need to hear it from anyone. The triplets forced us to watch enough femme movies that we figured it out for ourselves." Sunstreaker was offended that they would assume he and his brother weren't smart enough to get that kind of information.

Beth came up with an interesting idea the would put both the girls and the twins at an advantage. "I've got a deal for you. You two can stay and listen to everything we talk about, but only if you can keep Dr. Kill Joy and Nanny Mech Jolt from killing the party."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker turned their backs to the group of girls to briefly discuss this offer. They could get juicy black mail by openly being allowed to listen or leave then sneak back, probably just to get caught again. The knowledge that it would drive Tools crazy and annoy Jolt enough to hopefully make him glitch was the key needed to convince them. They backed out of the room to change to their alt modes. Two identical gorgeous guys blinked into existence in the room. Alice shook her head, "No way. If you want to talk like normal then your holoforms need to be female…Or Maggie clones work too." Mikeala snorted as Maggie choked on the gulp of water she tried to swallow when Sides and Sunny's holoforms turned into Maggie wearing small tight fitting pajamas.

Glaring Maggie didn't say anything. Having been with the twins long enough taught her that complaints only fed their imaginations to make the situation worse. She just wished they'd make her chest less exaggerated. Choosing to ignore them Maggie asked, "If not truth or dare, what shall we do?"

Roxie looked around the room until her eyes fell on Alice and Beth, "How about a story?" When she received curious look she nodded to her two best friends, "Well I was just wondering if you two would tell me how you got into N.E.S.T? I've heard Mikeala and Maggie's stories and everyone knows mine. I just don't know yours."

Beth and Alice shrugged at each other, they didn't mind sharing. Alice left her spot on a cot she had set up next to Roxie's bed to make herself comfortable next to Roxie. Gesturing with her hands for everyone to gather around she started, "My recruitment started with the most interesting day of my life…"

- Alice's Story -

Alice Bones considered her life to really, really suck. She had the label of a "country bum" thanks to her adopted parents being farmers that chose to live in the middle of no where in Teas with the nearest city being Abilene two hours away. At the age of 23 her friends were few and lived in the city. The high light of her years were the odd tornadoes that would storm through. If her parents were healthier she'd have moved to the city for a fresh new start.

One day while her parents went to town for a doctor's appointment Alice decided to work on her shooting skills. Instead of horse back riding or fishing she'd followed in her father's footsteps and taken up fire arms for a hobby. She didn't have the heard to actually kill animals so she used cans, paper cut outs stuck on trees, and rotten fruit to aim at.

That day Alice chose to practice with her paint ball gun rifle on some new cut outs near the corn field. The first ten shots hit their mark without a problem, after that she couldn't concentrate. Back at the house she could hear her babies, Mario, Luigi, and Bowser, the huskies barking endlessly. Those dogs were trained and naturally smart. After a minute of barking Alice got worried and went back to the house.

When she got there she found something that didn't belong. A rather dirty and worn out Saleen mustang police cruiser. Sure she'd seen her fair share of cops around the city, but they rarely came out to the country and they looked entirely different than the cop sitting in her drive way. To top it off Mario, Luigi, and Bowser were pulling against their chains barking in a frenzy at the car. All this raised Alice's suspicions enough to approach her house from the back so it blocked her from the driver's view. Going in through the back door she went straight for the phone and called the police, "911 what's your emergency?"

"Yea hi, this is Alice Bones. I live at 420 Barker Bane Road. There's a strange police car outside my house that doesn't belong to the Abilene force and my dogs don't like it. Could you send someone over to check it out please?"

Alice expected to get a response saying they were on their way, but the woman on the other end told her, " One moment, I'm redirecting you." Alice stared at the phone in disbelief when waiting music, horrible waiting music, began to play. Two seconds later a tough snarly voice demanded, "Describe this cop car your dogs don't like."

She didn't like the voice or whoever she was talking but still prattled off what details she could remember, "Um, I didn't get really close to it so all I saw was the number 643, a weird symbol on the door and a cursive message on the back. It's not a serial killing cop is it?"

"Alice was it? I want you to remain calm and get to a safe location away from your house. See if you can get your dogs away from the car. Help is on the way. Do you understand?" The snarly voice sounded irritated rather than soothing, and his words only made Alice feel like panicking more. Her parents would be home in a few minutes, there was no way this help that was coming would get here before them. Knowing her dad his first reaction would be to get the shot gun, snarly voice made it sound like the owner of the strange cop car was dangerous. She couldn't risk him doing something that stupid with his declining health. Maybe she could lead the threat away from the house, that way her parents wouldn't get involved and the help that was coming wouldn't cause any damage to the property. This plan set in her mind she told Snarly Voice, "I understand. Thank you." Alice slammed the phone into it's cradle and ran upstairs to her parents' room. Her dad was a seasoned hunter, and a good hunter always had a good gun at hand. At present his amateur hiding spot in their closet was a blessing, though in the future she'd have to nag him to put it somewhere safer. 'And he keeps the bullets for his M03 De Luxe in a shoe box right beneath it. Really need to talk to him about hiding things…After Christmas.'

Alice wasn't sure what kind of situation she was putting herself in with this little plan of hers, to be safe she put in five bullets. First her babies needed to be put in the cellar for their own safety. She refused to let her precious children get hurt. Thankfully she had the advantage of training and treats. The three of them didn't win first place for the do show in obedience for nothing.

Her dad's De Luxe slung onto her back and three pieces of cheese in hand Alice went to the front door. The chains tethering Mario, Luigi, and Bowser to the front porch were next to the door on the left. Gathering the chains in her free hand she gave three sharp whistles, "Mario! Luigi! Bowser! Cheese!" The huskies ceased their barking at the police car (that she couldn't see a driver for) and ran to her feet to sit perfectly still with wagging tails. Her eyes focused on the police car Alice made the hand motion for them to follow.

Eager for their cheese they ran into the house nearly knocking Alice over. Going in after them she whispered, "C'mon boys, basement. Good boys, go to the basement." She gave them their cheese and pushed them into the basement doorway. There were dog beds tucked under the stairs so they made themselves comfortable there.

Her babies secured Alice tip toed to the back door. She gave the inside of her home a loving smile, she didn't know if she would ever see it again and wanted to remember the tranquility of it all. Leaving the safety of her home was difficult but it helped her get into motion.

Running at full speed Alice went into the corn field for cover. She found an angle that allowed her a clear view of the cop car that was now facing the opposite direction. Alice had a good memory and she knew that the cop car had its trunk facing the house last time she'd seen it. Now the front was facing the house. There was still no sign of a driver. "It must be a possessed cop car then! So maybe the help that's coming are the Ghost Busters….Sweet! Focus Alice. Crouch down, gun set comfortably, take aim, and pull." The loud bang from the gun reminded Alice of the one thing she'd forgotten. Earplugs.

Her right ear was filled with annoying ringing, the left ear could hear fine, and it heard a rather angry car engine. The shot had hit the windshield and bounced off leaving a small crack. The cop car revved it's engine and squealed it's tires as it turned and drove straight towards Alice. "Oh sugar….DEMON CAR! DEMON CAR!" It was giving away her position but screaming at the top of her lungs made sense as she took off running.

"You annoying human! Die for your stupidity!" A deep gravely voice with a bit of a snarl touching the words emitted from the cop car, this only solidified Alice's belief that she was being chased by a possessed police car.

The sound of vegetation being crunched at a rapid rate got Alice to chance a look back, the demon cop car was literally right behind her running down the family crop of corn. The corn crops being the largest source of income Alice made the quick call to leave the corn field. She reasoned that the corn field wasn't even hiding her anymore since the cop car was right behind her.

Out of the corn she went for the road, maybe she'd get lucky and the help would meet them on her crazy run. Adrenaline and determination driving her Alice ignored the nagging thought in the back of her mind that she was going to die before the help showed up. 'Just keep running, just keep running. What do we do? We run, run, run!' The adapted version of Dori's song from Finding Nemo was just a tad unnecessary. However the light tune to the song gave Alice a little bit of happiness. She was ignoring the voice of death in her mind but when it got just a little too loud she believed it. This left Alice to think that if she did perish at the hands…wheels…of the possessed vehicle she would at least die with a happy last thought.

The sound of more powerful engines startled a small shriek from her. If the engines belonged to more demon cars that were friends with the demon cop she was just going to stop and let herself be run over. At the speed it was moving at there was no way for it to break fast enough to not give her a quick death.

The dirt road Alice was running down had a small rise that would decrease her speed. It also had an abrupt break off that lead to her closest neighbour. If not for the gold and silver Chevrolet stingrays going Alice would have had to make the decision of going off road entirely or risk the uphill climb.

The demon cop car slammed on the brakes and much to Alice's awestruck horror, turned into a giant robot. Her mouth formed the words "what" and "oh my gawd" but couldn't make the noise necessary for the words to be heard. The radiant silver and gold stingrays that she realized were the source of the other engines she'd heard, morphed into giant robots that Alice thought looked so much better than the demon cop.

Stumbling backwards without looking away Alice wished she'd had a cell phone or camera, her friends and family were never in a million years going to believe her. Demon cop shook a fist and gurgled out noises she figured to be robot language. Silver and Gold gurgled something back that even she could tell by tone was insult and mockery. Enthralled by the exchange of hostility Alice caught the back of her foot on a rock and tumbled back onto her butt, in the process she made a little squeak that drew Demon cop's ruby red eyes to her in a glare. As a scare tactic just for her Demon cop pointed at her demanding, "Let me squish that one disgusting organic then I'll deal with you two Pit spawned slaggers."

Gold and Silver looked back over their shoulders at her, and laughed. Her saviours laughed out right at her. Any gratitude she felt for the two robots she expected to be brilliant heroes dissipated in her next heart beat. Alice didn't mind being laughed at if she did something embarrassing but being laughed at for no clear reason was irritatingly insulting. Gold stoked her anger a bit more by responding in English, "You're seriously threatened more by THAT human? Wow Barricade, without your crazy little minicon and Megatron you're nothing but a big wimp. Not that you were much of a mech back on Cybertron either."

"Tell you what. We're going to rip you to pieces first, then we'll give her a good scare for you. No need to thank us." Silver drew out two lethal blades and got into a crouched position. Gold did the same with a rather pleased expression Alice could make out from the distance she stood from.

Demon cop, who she just learned was named Barricade, took out a contraption that closely resembled a mace. Had Alice not just been insulted she would have gladly stayed in the background and watched. Throughout high school Alice had built a reputation of being a bit Two Faced. Her favourite rumour connected to the reputation was that she was bi-polar and secretly worshipped Harvey Dent. Calling on this second side of herself Alice swung her gun forward and fired without aiming. One bullet hit Gold and ricocheted to hit Silver, her second bullet was lucky and got Barricade in the eye. Gold and Silver must not have felt the bullet that bounced off of them since they didn't react until Barricade's eye exploded and he roared in pain. Looking back at her they made expressions asking what she thought she was doing.

"You are mine human insect!" His dead eye uncovered to ooze freely Barricade launched his weapon over the Gold and Silver robots to land on top of Alice.

Silver moved faster than the falling weapon and snatched up Alice to roll out of the way. His prey still alive Barricade lunged to get his claws around her to finish the job. Gold intercepted with a swing of his blade that removed Barricade's entire left hand. This new round of pain diluted Barricade's rage enough to make him retreat from Gold's attack. Leaping back enough to put a gap between them Barricade growled something in his robot language that made Gold and Silver snicker. Barricade transformed and sped off, when Gold and Silver didn't follow Alice coughed out of a dry throat and mouth, "What did he say and why aren't you chasing him? He's the bad guy and you're the good guys right?"

Silver put Alice on the ground where she collapsed from weak legs, Gold answered, "We're not chasing him because of what he said."

"What did he say?" Alice realized that the insulting good guy robots were also cocky.

"He said he wasn't going let himself be off-lined until he killed you. When we feel good and ready to dismantle him we'll just tie you to a flag pole for bait." Alice had held some hope that Silver would be better in the personality department than his identical partner. His announcement of their brilliant idea destroyed every shred of that hope.

Her face showing her feelings towards their intelligence Alice managed to stand, "Awesome plan, good luck making it work without me. I have three fury babies to console. No thanks for the help and good day." The odd faces they made at her overly chipper voice was enough to make her giggle as she waved and started her long walk back home. Her adrenaline run from Barricade had put her at least fifteen minutes away from home.

Silver and Gold looked at each other and shrugged, transforming they drove off back to wherever they came from.

Roxie blinked, "What? That's it? You just went home as if nothing happened? That doesn't explain how you ended up in N.E.S.T"

"Roxie I'm not done. Calm down and let Aunty Alice finish. Here's a cookie." Alice grabbed a sugar cookie from their snack tray and shoved it into Roxie's mouth. Roxie rolled her eyes but began to chew anyways.

No one had noticed that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had their heads together and were whispering about something with annoyed eyes focused on Alice.

Two weeks after that incident Alice had brushed it off as a bad dream that refused to leave her memories. On a relatively gloomy overcast Thursday her parents had announced out of no where that they were going out for most of the day and would be back later that night with a surprise. Alice didn't say anything in objection since her parents could use all the fun they could get while they still could.

Laying spread eagle on the living room floor in a pair of tight fitting blue jeans and a periwinkle t-shirt Alice stared at the ceiling. "Bowser, what do you think I should do with my life? My high school marks were okay but college sounds boring. Got any ideas?"

Her mostly black husky with more weight on it than the other two merely wagged his tail and went back to sleeping. "Oh right, you're a dog. I need an answer from someone!" A hard double knock on the front door made Alice smile, "And I didn't even say please. COMING!"

When Alice opened the door Alice wished she'd said please. Standing at the door was an old man with lots of wrinkles, no hair, a huge bushy moustache and a permanent scowl on his face. Alice was fine with him being old, it was his military uniform that made her uneasy. "Can I help you?"

"Are you Alice Emilia Bones?" The man dared her to deny him with his eyes.

Straightening her back to show she was the same height at five feet six inches Alice responded calmly, "Yes and you are?"

"Corporal Louis, may I come in?" He pushed passed Alice and went into the house before Alice could think of denying him entrance.

Biting the inside of her cheek Alice closed the door and went after the rude army man. He'd gone into the kitchen and was helping himself to a mug of coffee. Arms crossed Alice kept her manners enough to ask politely, "May I please know why you are here and how I can help you?" 'So I can sick my babies after you.' She put on as a pleasant after thought.

Corporal Louis took a swallow of the coffee he didn't ask for and puckered his mouth. Deciding the free coffee wasn't to his liking he emptied the mug in the sink. Facing Alice he reached into an inner pocket of his jacket to pull out a picture. Holding it up he asked, "Do you recognize this vehicle?"

The picture showed Barricade as a car. 'You wanna act like a rude house guest I'll act like I'm a blonde idiot.' Thinking this with a simple smile Alice asked innocently, "Isn't that a cop car? I've seen plenty of those."

Corporal Louis' mouth twitched downward, "I'm asking if you've seen this particular police car."

"Nope, never seen it. Why? Should I have seen it? Is it lost?" Alice was beginning to really enjoy this act of stupidity. It was clear from the man's furrowing eyebrows that he didn't sign up to talk to someone that would refuse to be intelligent.

"Two weeks ago you called 911 about a strange police car that your dogs didn't like. What happened to that police car?" The dare to refuse came back into his eyes, he would not tolerate lies.

Alice leaned against the nearest counter, inspecting her nails she casually drawled, "Um…Oh, that police car. That ended up being nothing. The owner of the car was a surprise striper my friend sent as a joke. Which worked out well since no one showed up to see about the issue like I was told over the phone." Her eyes left her nails to challenge the army man. If he spoke about the two cars she'd snare him a question trap of her own.

Corporal Louis was a smart military meat head. Tucking the picture away he met Alice's challenge from an approach she didn't anticipate, "You're quite good at the stupid act. How much do you want to never speak about what you saw?"

Dropping her act entirely Alice put her hands on her hips, "If you're paying for my silence then that means that those two rude car robots are classified. Did you know they wanted to use me as bait since Barricade said he wanted to kill me? Teach them some manners and you'll never hear anything from me."

One of Louis' furrowed eyebrows rose at the continuous insults to the two that had saved her life. When the bit about Barricade wanting to kill her sank in the eyebrow went back down. "Ms. Bones I would like you to come with me. It seems we need to have a more in-depth conversation."

"No way. My parents, who are probably ten years away from kicking the bucket are going to lose five of those years when they get home and learn that I've been taken away by the army. Would it be an issue to leave this until tomorrow?" Alice didn't really think that way about her beloved parents, she just used the old age card so Mr. Bald and Wrinkled wouldn't try to argue. The card play worked.

"Very well. Someone will pick you up tomorrow morning 10am. Unless you want your parents getting involved be ready and outside before then. Good day Ms. Bones." His back ramrod straight Corporal Louis briskly left the house.

When Alice heard the front door shut she sat down in the nearest chair so she could stare up at the ceiling and moan, "That could have gone better if I'd cooperated more. Oh well too late now…Hey! That didn't answer my question!"

That night when her parents got home she was shocked and thrilled over the surprise they'd brought. Aware that Alice alone couldn't be left to handle their farm if something happened to them no matter who passed on first, Mr. and Mrs. Bones adopted another child. Her name was Allison, she was 12 years old, had pixie cut light brown hair and eyes and a beautiful complexion and smile. For about an hour Alice and Allison sat in Alice's room talking about the things they like and what they might do if their adoptive parents passed away too soon. Allison was quiet and appreciated being able to talk just to Alice. Alice was particularly overjoyed with the new addition to her life because it meant she had a friend to spend time with when her parents were in town seeing their doctor or bringing produce in for sale.

The new family addition unfortunately put a new weight of guilt on Alice's conscious. The worst thing to do when making a new relationship was lie, she couldn't get out of it. She had to slip out under the cover of a false story about seeing a friend or get them all dragged into the bizarre situation with giant car robots. Either way she had a lie in front and behind for her to live with and/or get revealed.

Her supper that night felt like lead in her stomach as she told the lie about going into town with her friend Roberta and promised to spend the rest of her day with her new sister.

Sleep wouldn't be nice and take away her worry leaving Alice to pace, draw and lay on her bed to stare at the ceiling. More than once she wanted to end her misery and tell the truth, the varying results of doing that kept her silent.

When the sun brought light into her room Alice didn't know if she wanted to sigh in relief or groan in frustration. She still had another four hours to wait before her ride would show up and her dad would be awake and outside by seven.

By the time she was showered and dressed she could hear her dad in the kitchen drinking his ritual coffee. Shuffling from Allison's new bedroom warned Alice that Allison was a light sleeper.

Seeing no problem with conversing with her dad she braced herself for the badgering to help with the chores.

An hour was spent talking and nicely refusing to work even for a brief allowance raise. Having two hours to kill Alice chose to sit in the living room and think. She thought about that strange day where she'd encountered three robot cars and had shot at one of them twice. A swell of pride and satisfaction followed that particular memory, it felt good to do that giant cop car on legs some damage.

She thought about the future she had ahead of her. If these army idiots left her alone then life would continue with no giant death bringing robot issues. She would hang out with Allison, teach her the tricks necessary to make chores easier. Maybe convince her dad to buy a horse, that would take a couple of months of course. The fun they would have consumed her thoughts so thoroughly she startled when their old cuckoo clock chimed the time to be 9:30. The crotchety Corporal Louis had warned her to be outside for pick up before 10am. That being rather vague for a time Alice put on her well worn sneakers and solid blue bandana. Unsure of where her "talk" would take place and what it might lead her to Alice faced the entire house and blew it a kiss. As she turned to exit through the front door she managed to catch a glimpse of Allison sitting on the top step waving with a small smile. This gave Alice the strength to step out the door and confidently tell herself she would come back before the next day.

Alice nearly ran right back inside when she saw the silver Chevrolet stingray parked outside her house with the engine running. Using the insults from two weeks ago as fuel to move her body she rigidly walked up to the car and asked, "Why are you here and not some stuffy military man?"

The door opened with no reply. Taking it as the hint that he couldn't talk out in the open she got in. The door closed without her touching it and the seat belt slid down to buckle itself. All of this picked at Alice's strong will not scream like a girl (even though she is a girl.) The gear shifted from park to drive and sent them rocketing down the street. From the radio the familiar voice she remembered finally answered her question, "The last stuffy human you dealt with figured you might try to back out of things. What were his words, oh right, he said you're a wild card that might get to be too much for his men to handle in a vehicle. Optimus thought one of us would work out better since we're part of the problem to begin with. I think whatever his face is is a spineless scrap heap."

Alice blinked, then blinked again. Then she just laughed. She'd been so nervous about today, to have the annoying car robot belittle the guy that had gotten under her skin made things seem easier. "What did I say that was so amusing?" The confused voice calmed her down enough to regain control.

Alice shook her head, "I doubt you'd understand if I tried to explain it. I'm not the best at explaining anything. Where are we going…at nearly 200 mph?" The ride was so smooth she didn't even realize that any trees they passed barely had time to stay in her line of vision.

"The local base, because of you and your interference with Barricade we've been stuck out here with nothing to do and Ironhide can only be pranked so many times before he decides to take out his frustrations in training."

That didn't answer her question about where they were going but she did just learn that she wasn't the only one wanting to put a dent in his shiny silver metal door. Focusing on the radio rather than her blurry surroundings Alice came up with one more question, "Am I going to be able to go home after my little talk?" The last time she'd asked a question and didn't get an immediate answer she could see the clear reason as to why. This time Silver didn't say anything there was no reason only reinforcement for what she already expected. From there the ride remained silent.

The local base was a converted factory twenty minutes from a town Alice had been to twice and couldn't remember the name of. Outside the factory Alice thought it was rather abandoned, there was barely any sign of life. Inside the factory was completely different, stepping in through the large doorway Alice counted 50 men in uniform just from looking at one corner. The ones that were in motion made it difficult to properly count. Sadly she had no choice but to pick out Corporal Louis, he was the oldest and least attractive male in uniform. "I see you arrived with no issues. Follow me."

'How was the ride? How are you today? Bet this guy isn't a lady killer.' Her thoughts stayed in her head and showed in her expressions, a couple of soldiers they walked passed nodded with sympathetic looks. 'Now I know two more things. Corporal Louis isn't liked by anyone and I'm in for a rough talk.'

Alice followed Corporal Louis through the large open space of the factory taking everything in as they went. Not many girls her age could say they got to walk pass heavily equipped armoured vehicles and completely muscled attractive men carrying various weapons. It bummed her out a bit that she couldn't tell anyone since no one would believer her, at least she wasn't having a boring life.

They left the main floor up a flight of stairs and into a tiny dank office with nothing but a desk and two chairs. Alice's comfort level with the situation wasn't very high to begin with, being put into a cramped room did nothing to improve that comfort. "Take a seat." She did and he locked the door.

Corporal Louis sat down in the empty chair and openly glared at her. Wanting to get away from this nasty man Alice spoke her mind, "We came here to talk, so please talk and not glare."

"I want you to answer me entirely honest or I will bring a lie detector into this. What did you think about the aliens you encountered?" Corporal Louis' face was serious even though his question seemed ridiculous to Alice.

"Wait, you said aliens? Barricade, Silver and Gold are aliens? That's a lot cooler than just giant robots. As to what I thought, as long as they aren't trying to kill me or insulting me they're not that bad." Alice finished with her kindest smile to enforce her honesty.

He blinked, Alice could swear she saw disbelief cross his wrinkles, the dim lighting made it difficult to tell. "According to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker -"

"Who?"

"The two aliens you know as Silver and Gold."

"Oh, continue."

"As I was saying Sideswipe and Sunstreaker reported that you remained calm while dealing with the situation. It's calm people such as yourself that we are recruiting to work with the aliens." His eyes never left Alice's face.

Exactly what Corporal Louis was saying took a moment for Alice to understand since his wording wasn't too direct. "Y-you want me to join the army?" This option wasn't unheard of for post secondary school, thinking about the option for herself never crossed her mind. Especially not with both of her parents being in poor health.

"This offer is being made once and once. If you say no now then there is no take backs. We normally wouldn't make such an offer to a completely untrained civilian, due to your circumstances this seemed to be the most reasonable course of action." It seemed that making this offer was like pulling teeth for Corporal Louis, which made her wonder if he was a stiff bastard through and through that didn't think women belong in the military besides medical positions.

"My circumstances? Would that be Barricade putting me on the top of his hit list? This is a big decision to make out of the blue. I'm going to need time, if you want an answer that will have no regret behind it I'm getting at least a week." The factors were already listing themselves through her mind, the first ten told her to decline the offer.

Corporal Louis leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, "We can give you three days. If we don't get an answer on the third day the offer will be made void. So think quickly." This turned out to be everything he'd wanted to talk about, Louis stood up and unlocked the door to hold it open for her.

Her mind fully focused on the positive and negative effects of accepting or declining Alice robotically left the room and the base to get back in Silver (she wasn't told which of the two was who so didn't want to make presumptions.) Alice was grateful that the ride back was quiet, though it didn't escape her notice that Silver went even faster. Only when she stepped out to face her home did she become aware of her surroundings, checking her watch it read 12:30 on the dot. Smiling a bit in the direction of the shrinking dust cloud that had been her ride Alice mumbled, "Wonder how much money was placed on him getting back by one. I hope he makes it."

"You're back sooner than we expected, did Roberta run out of money?" Her father had come around the house with a basket of freshly picked tomatoes for supper. He was leaning forward, a sign that his back was hurting again. Despite the pain he was smiling kindly at her, just as he always did when seeing his daughter.

Stepping forward Alice took the basket and kissed his tanned forehead. She knew her smile wasn't reaching her eyes and her voice wasn't as cheerful as it had been that morning but she knew that her love reached his old farmer's heart, "It was a mutual agreement. Do you know where mom is? I need to talk to you both about something? And maybe Allison too if I can handle it."

His daughter being serious was a rare occurrence that deserved his full attention. "She's in the kitchen teaching Allison how to make home-made lemonade. Let's go see if they're still there."

Fabricating a story about encountering military recruiting post in a shopping plaza Alice told her family about being offered a place in the ranks. When she told them about the three day dead line their concern was voiced.

"Alice, we have never forced you to make decisions that would effect your life immediately. But…This time we really need you to choose." Janet Bones took hold of Alice's hand and squeezed. The worry, concern and fear clear in her hazel brown eyes.

Keeping his eyes on the table Marty Bones sighed, "I'll be frank, I thought you would be content going to the local college and someday inheriting the farm from us. You can't even stand hunting animals, how are you going to handle shooting humans Alice? No, the military isn't a place for you." He didn't say the truth, Alice could handle the military, it was him that couldn't handle Alice ever being lost by a man or woman that pulled the trigger faster than Alice could get to safety.

Allison hadn't said anything and wouldn't meet her eyes. 'She must be thinking I want to leave because of her.' Her father's words settled into Alice's growing list of positive vs. negative. Her mother hadn't really given a opinion but Alice was sure she would support whatever decision she made. Turning in her seat to face Allison Alice leaned forward to ask her quietly, "What do you think I should do Allison?"

Allison twiddled her thumbs to keep her attention away from Alice, her voice was quiet and tiny, "I would like it if you didn't leave, I want to get to know you more…But…If leaving would make you happier then you can go. Just promise to write." Her thumbs stopped twiddling and her eyes looked up so she could give Alice a sad little smile.

That night and the entire next day Alice wrote all of her list contents on paper for her to physically see and contemplate one by one. At the end of the day Alice was still completely uncertain. "I need to talk to a third party, someone that isn't going to be a huge part of the after math. I guess she counts as a third party. It's been years though."

Hopping off her bed Alice went to her desk to dig out her barely used contact book. Her parents had made her write down the numbers of all the people she could talk to about being an adopted child. It had her psychiatrist, her last foster mother and her social worker. Instead of those three Alice went to the last page and number. It would be a long distance call but her parents would understand. The phone rang twice before a tired woman's voice answered, "Yes, can I help you so I can get back to bed?"

"Hi Lisa, it's me." Alice sat down on her bed and pulled her knees to her chest.

"Alice? What are you doing calling me at 9 in the night? Is something wrong sweetie?" Lisa, her biological mother became more alert with the knowledge of who her caller was.

"Nothing is wrong wrong, I've just got a hard decision to make and I'm not sure how to make up my mind. I was hoping that maybe you could give me some advice?"

"I see. If this decision is large enough to effect your life then you need to ask yourself one question. How much will you regret this choice in the end? When I was decided to give you away I knew that it was the best choice. My regret is not getting to know the beautiful young lady you turned out to be, but you turned into a wonderful woman because I let you go."

"Thank you, this really did help. I'll let you get back to sleep."

"Take care Alice, and remember that I do love you." Lisa hung up first, Alice hung up with a content sigh. She'd called the right person and the insight she'd been given changed her view on the situation. Going through the list again the answer became clear, it was just a matter of letting go.

The next morning Marty went downstairs to find Alice sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, scrambled eggs and toast waiting for him. His mouth set to a straight line he took the seat that was set for him, "You've made up your mind then?"

"Yea. I'm going to join the army dad. I know you're against it but I really feel like I should do this. If' I'm lucky they won't put me on the front lines that often. I'll call them today and give them my answer."

Marty sighed, Alice was asking for his support. He loved his little girl, he didn't think he'd be losing her until she got married. Every bit of his mind told him to hide her from the world and keep her safe. If he did he wouldn't have to worry about giving her to the grim reaper, in return she might never forgive him. The words didn't want to leave his mouth and yet they did, " Alright, I won't argue with you. You just make sure to keep all those hormone crazy men away from you. They lay one finger on you without permission you tell me and I'll go teach them some manners." Alice left her seat and hugged her precious father with every bit of love and strength she had in her body.

Two days later she was on a plane with several other men and women that had been recruited, the woman sitting in the seat next to her ended up being her best friend.

"The end." Alice finished with a firm nod. All the girls applauded for the great story.

Sunstreaker had her arms crossed to glare at Alice, once she noticed he growled, " Now I know where that ding came from. You owe us for that, it took a while to get our paint jobs smooth and perfect again. Until tomorrow you get punished."

No one had noticed Sideswipe sneak around the group to get behind Alice on the other side of the bed. Grabbing Alice's arms and holding them back Sunstreaker leapt forward to start poking Alice in one single spot. Tears leaking from her eyes Alice squirmed and squeaked, "N-no STOP! Th-th-that tickles! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! ROXIE! HELP! BETH!" Instead of helping Roxie fell over laughing herself, the scene was so out of place and unexpected that she couldn't help it.

Beth had a different sense of humour than the others but still smirked while everyone laughed. Knowing the perfect solution she grabbed a marshmallow, ripped it in half and left the room. One second Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were tormenting Alice, the next they were gone and squealing tires were heard driving off for the wash pit. Beth came back in with an even bigger smirk, when Alice crawled over to her to hug in gratitude she simply pat her head and took the spot beside Roxie. Calming down Roxie gasped, "O-okay, so what's your story oh Twin Tamer?"

To Be Continued…

J: I have recently added links to my profile page for you all to check out fanart done by Ironaft30, one of which is Roxie's mother! GO GO GO!