.:Bystander Ch. 1: Introductions:.
The black Topkick's engine rumbled, turning right onto on an empty street, just like the one he had come off of. Driving was one of the only things the black mech could do that would ease his boredom to some degree when he was trapped in the city. He would rather find something to blow to bits, 'Con or not, but the drive to find someplace where he would not draw the attention of curious human eyes was too long, and often too sandy.
Yes, driving seemed to relieve some of the dull, and very slow, passage of time. Seeing building after building after building, however, began to wear down on one's processor. Nanoclicks never passed by so slowly.
Normally Ironhide would be with the Lennoxes, spending time with the family who welcomed him with open arms (literally in the case of young Annabelle). However, the prospect of sitting in some relative's driveway stuck in alt-mode on this particular day was even less appealing than a day spent in the city.
Ironhide turned again, scanning the empty roads to make sure there was definitely no sign of humans nearby. He made one last turn onto a dirt path, the holographic chain with a 'Do Not Enter' sign flickering behind him. Although this base was nestled inside a maze of empty buildings and similar factories, precautions still had to be made. A lost tourist, for example, would find it strange to see a Camaro, Topkick, or Peterbilt leaving a supposedly empty factory.
Now, more than ever, the Autobots had to keep a low profile.
Pulling into the main 'room' of the factory via an open roller door, Ironhide transformed, stretching his stiff joints. He let out a puff of air from his vents.
"Back already, Ironhide? You must be bored." The observation came from the yellow-green medic, reading a data pad across the room.
"Of course." The Black mech grumbled, rolling his shoulder joints as he walked towards Ratchet. "We haven't been doing anything. Not since Egypt."
"Looking to slay some 'Cons? It's a shame you can't." Ratchet said rather nonchalantly, barely glancing at Ironhide. It was true. There had been no sighting of Decepticons since the event in Egypt which left one of the Wonders of the Ancient World in shambles. The lack of 'Cons afterword was good. No Con's meant no fighting, but it also allowed for the events in Egypt to blow over. It was getting even harder for the government to hide the Autobots' existence and a break meant they would garner little attention.
However, even if there had been appearances of Decepticons, the Autobots would not have been able to act much. Governments were discussing what they should do with their ally Transformers on Earth, whether or not they should continue to be allies with them or not. During this time the Autobots would be restricted slightly, since they had no definite form of support as of yet. Getting the warehouse took several months in itself.
The black mech snorted. "You'd think with such short lifespans humans would be quick decision maker. These negotiations with the government are moving too slowly."
"Give them time, Ironhide." Optimus's baritone voice came from a hallway, the mech himself having finally decided to leave the room that acted as his quarters in the warehouse. "The humans have a difficult decision to make regarding the future of their race. They need the time to make the choice that beset suits their needs."
"I understand that, Prime." Ironhide said crossing his arms over his chassis. "They're taking more time than needed for a problem with only one solution! If we were to leave Earth, undoubtedly the Decepticons would stay to harvest Earth for its resources. The planet has already made it onto Megatron's hate list, and he wouldn't hesitate to either control or destroy it. We're the best defense this planet has against Decepticons."
It was Ratchet's turn to snort. "This planet would have been slagged anyway even if the Allspark had landed on some other planet."
"I know, I know." Optimus sighed. He had already come to the same conclusion as his comrades. The only logical -and best ending- scenario to Earth's situation was for the Autobots to stay on Earth, and continue to work alongside the human soldiers of NEST.
It was only the stubborn bureaucrats who refused to give the Autobots peaceful asylum (or any asylum at all if they had their way). They refused to let their race become involved with Transformers regardless of faction.
Optimus just hoped they would allow the Autobots to stay.
"At least they allowed us to make use of this building." The Prime vented air again, pinching his nasal ridge between his digits- a human habit he had picked up.
"What are we doing here again?" Ironhide asked, grumbling.
"You're here guarding the Lennoxes while Will is on leave," Ratchet began, stating the obvious with slight annoyance, "Bumblebee uses this warehouse when he is not chauffeuring Sam around, and I'm monitoring Sam to see if there are any side effects from what occurred with the matrix in Egypt."
"You and I both know that's a load of slag." Ironhide scoffed. "It's been five Orbital Cycles and nothing's happened. Why are you really here?"
A pause, and then, "I figured if the Chevy Twins and Sideswipe didn't have someone to pound out their dents after every stupid stunt they pulled they would eventually stop."
"Until you return, that is." Ironhide replied, the three mechs smirking, knowing full well the three notorious troublemakers would never give up their pranks nor their dangerous, if not stupid, stunts.
"I am training Mikaela as well," Ratchet continued, "Her background with mechanics and the right teaching could give me a very useful assistant."
"I can understand why you're here," Ironhide grunted, "But why are you here, Prime?"
The Prime shifted like he was looking for a reply. There really was no reason for him to be on the mainland. No missions, no meetings, no apparent reason for him to be there. Finally he admitted, "A break."
"A break from what?" Ironhide asked, confusion lightly flashing across his faceplates.
"Everything." Optimus sighed. "The humans are very demanding."
His two companions were sympathetic. Many of the human officials dealing with NEST were…difficult. Some wanted to enforce rules or guidelines that were rather unfair for the mechs and femmes on base; others were strict and wanted the Autobots to act with impeccable behavior. And then there where those who did not want to deal with the Autobots at all, who only saw them as weapons against the Deceptions and wanted them gone as soon as the 'Cons were. The liaisons and government officials had proved themselves stubborn, difficult and demanding.
Ratchet's optics narrowed. "You're not overworking yourself again, are you?"
"No, Ratchet." Optimus answered. Ratchet, however did not rest his scrutinizing gaze.
"I know you, Optimus. You're worse than Prowl sometimes."
"I am perfectly fine, Ratchet." The Prime retorted. "It is nice not to do anything for the time being."
"We're lucky the Con's haven't done anything since Megatron and Starscream hightailed it back into space." Ironhide granted us though he were annoyed with the fact. No 'Cons meant no attacks, no casualties or damages, but the lag was brutal to the Autobots sometimes. There wasn't much for them to do on or off Diego Garcia. Thus the result was endless boredom (or in some cases endless pranks).
"This is going to be a long week with you, isn't it?" Ratchet sighed, refocusing his attention on his datapad.
"Could always do some target practice," the black mech suggested. "Preferably with moving targets."
Ratchet did not miss who Ironhide was suggesting play the role of the targets. Instead, without looking up at the datapad, he merely countered, "Or maybe we could do that maintenance check you skipped about a deca-cycle ago."
By the look on the weapon master's face, he had forgotten. Optimus tried to hide his snort of amusement with a cough-like noise, but he ultimately failed in his endeavor.
"Yours is coming up too, Prime." The medic informed him with a pointed look. Suddenly, Optimus was no amused.
Slag. He had forgotten, too.
The young woman tossed in her bed, kicking off the last of her sheets onto the small mountain of others that spilled over the edge of her bed onto the floor. Kai had spent the last couple hours awake and uncomfortably hot. She was restless, her mind refusing to let her sleep in this late hour. The heat did not help much either.
"Screw this." She said, getting off of her bed. She refused to lie there all night if she was not going to get any rest.
Kai shrugged off her sleepwear, dressing in clothes more suitable for the day; jeans, socks, and a short-sleeved shirt. She had a thought of what she could do to ease her boredom. It was a whim really, something she had not done before but now had the opportunity to do so.
She exited her room, navigating the dark hallway. She did not care about avoiding the spots on the stairs that squeaked under the slightest pressure as she made her way downstairs. Her parents were gone, helping family.
Her Aunt Cheryl was moving to a state close to where Kai and her family resided. Kai's parents had gone to help, regretfully leaving the adolescent at home. Kai managed her way out of helping. It wasn't that she wouldn't mind helping, she just did not want to help during her school vacation. Sure, it was pretty selfish of her, but she really wanted time to relax without having to do any school work. Plus, she did have a job she needed to go to.
Kai grabbed her sweatshirt off of the railing, pockets loaded with her electronics, and pulled it on as she soured her feet into sneakers. Finally, she left her house, locking the door behind her.
The cool air outside betrayed the heat Kai felt in her bedroom. She pulled out headphones attached to the music player in her sweatshirt pocket, and stuffed the earbuds into her ears. Then she began to walk.
It had traveled for a span of time it lost count of long ago. The journey began aimlessly, or rather with a purpose but no known destination. Finally, one orn it found the signal, a message. It began to follow.
Thousands to millions of lightyears later it was still traveling, cramped into a smaller, more compact form than it was used to. A thick covering of dust and rock collected on its outer layer forming a shell-like crust of dirt. Sore, tired, and low on energy, it continued, no matter how uncomfortable it was. It continued to far-off sectors filled with unknown stars and planets, not knowing if it was even going to the right destination.
Finally, the signal lead to a single solar system in a spiraled galaxy. Nine planets, or maybe eight- it was not sure if the farthest one from the center was a very small planet or just a large ball of rock-, circled around a center star in this particular system. It was the third planet from the sun that captured its attention, where the signal had emanated from. The planet looked different than others it had seen before, blue with white misty swirls that sometimes allowed glimpses of brown or green on the surface. This planet was different, unique.
Orbiting around the planet it saw not only a moon but multitudes of metal satellites. It could detect no sentience in the steel structures, and they were not of natural formation nor did they appear to be of Autobot or Decepticon design. Were there sentient natives of the planet who created them?
Even though the satellites themselves were not self-aware, there was something that was. It had detected something unlike anything it had encountered before. It accessed the thing with ease and its processor was immediately over flooded with a mass of information. It was taken by surprise by the sheer size of data this thing contained from millions of individuals. Sentient individuals.
Overcoming its initial shock, it began searching though the thing- the internet. This 'World Wide Web' had multiple uses from holding information to social interaction. It looked for a language, finding hundreds in the process, and began downloading information it thought would be useful.
Entering the pull of the planet, it let the world's gravity take a hold. She descended.
My first multi-chapter fanfic :3
Yes, there are OCs in this fic, but I'm trying to keep them from overrunning the story. There are only going to be three (save the unnamed cannon fodder).
I really wanted to establish this before DOTM came out, but yeah, I think I'm an hour late for the 3d premier :/
Enjoy! Reviews are loved!