The Vagabond Gospel.
Chapter One: Quiet is Violent.
"I find over the course of our human existence; One thing consists of consistence; And it's that we're all battling fear…" Twenty One Pilots, Car Radio
Terrance Case huffed quietly to himself as he threw another load of his dirty laundry into the washing machine, ready to be done with this loud one. He was three dollars poorer and craving for something other than beef jerky and stale crackers to eat, but he still had awhile before there was any money for a steak dinner in his budget.
"A hundred more miles, she says," he grumbles, dipping the small measuring cup into the powder laundry detergent before throwing it into the machine, letting it sprinkle over his clothes. "It will take two hours at most, she says."
Those hundred miles and two hours had, much to Terrance's dislike, turned into three thousand miles and almost two weeks' worth of sitting in the driver seat trying not to fall asleep while 'at the wheel'.
"Do not mock me."
He jumps, turning quickly to look at the woman behind him. It's four in the morning in a laundromat in the middle of New Mexico. He was quite glad, too. Her form fizzled and sparked before going back to the perfect image it had been. It fizzled lightly again, not soon after.
"Dusty, you can't sneak up on me like that!"
She purses her lips, looking at the twenty foot by twenty foot room, taking note of the machines and which ones looked promising to cease to function first.
"I apologize. I will make my presence known each time I enter a room."
Terrance runs a hand over his face, feeling the body oil that coats it. He's breaking out again for the first time in almost three years and his hair has never been longer. There was a definite need for some TLC.
"You have to be more careful when you use… that," he says, motioning for the frizzling body of 'Dusty'. "You can't be seen in public frizzling. People will freak out."
"But we are not in public, correct?" she says, folding her arms over her chest. "My scans show that there are no biologicals within a two mile radius that are currently conscious. We are safe."
Terrance pushes his hair back, moving the few fallen strands from his eyes and turns back to the washing machines. He closes the door on the last one and pushes the start button. It whirls and fills with water, quickly ridding Terrance's clothing of the nasty sweat smell that have been almost permanently embedded in the fabric.
"How much farther to go?" Terrance asks, pulling his self up on top of a machine that wasn't in use and sitting on it comfortably. She does not answer at first, far too captured by the change machine. "Lunardust!"
She snaps her head around, her body fizzling yet again. This time she disappears for a fraction of a second. Terrance sighs and cross his legs underneath him. The dirty-white metal of the machine is cool compared to the warm New Mexico air.
"How much farther?" he asks again.
She has a pensive expression on the coded face before she begins spouting out directional information. Terrance ignores over half of it, only picking out "three hundred miles" from where the signal had been sent from and "four hundred and sixty-two miles" from where the correct meet-up point had been established, as per the message.
"Replay the message?" he requests, and Lunardust does so, projecting the message from her body.
He listens closely, trying to memorize every detail of the message.
"I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars. We are here. We are waiting."
"But you're not an Autobot, or whatever he said," Terrance says. Lunardust cuts the message, frowning at her ward.
"I am not, correct. However, I am a neutral and do not plan on siding with the Decepticons anytime soon."
Terrance looks at 'Dusty', wearing a blank expression, unsure of how to take in the moment. She had explained most of this before to him, during one of their many long drives, but Terrance must have not been listening enough to comprehend what she was saying because he does not remember much of what she's repeating to him.
Then, in the back of Terrance's mind, the topic that has been eating at him rears its ugly head. For the past few days he had wondered what would happen once they made it to the meet up point. Would he go back home and try to live his life normally even though he knew what he knew? College was a waste of his time and money, but how else was he supposed to make a living…
"Lunardust, I-"
Suddenly, her form fizzles completely out of sight and when she doesn't make a reappearance after the usual few seconds, Terrance jumps from the machine and runs from inside the laundromat and to the dark orange Jeep Wrangler that he has called home for the past few weeks while driving through the states.
"What happened, are you okay?" he asks, trying to be quiet enough to not draw any attention to them from anyone in the neighborhood. It wasn't the best neighborhood in the town they had picked, either.
"Yes, I'm fine," Lunardust replies, but it is weak and Terrance knows. "Just low on a sufficient fuel source. They will have Energon at the base. I have enough power to get us there, but we must hurry."
Terrance looks at his Jeep, the friend that he has taken into his life and refused to let leave. After his mother died of cancer not a year ago and his few friends off at college changing the world, he did not have much purpose. This was the purpose that he had given himself.
"Rest, Dusty. It won't take long for everything to wash, okay? I'm right here, you need to rest."
The vehicle hums in acknowledgement of his words, and the metal feels soothingly warm until his touch. Terrance rests his head on the door.
"We're not giving up without a fight," he whispers, but knows Lunardust is resting peacefully when she does not reply to his words. Terrance moves from his car, taking a few looks back at it before climbing back up onto the laundry machine. The three machines he has going are the only noise, but he focuses on the orange vehicle outside, ten feet away, half-listening so to catch when they are done and he can throw his clothes into a dryer.
Four in the morning soon turns to five in the morning, and the sun is just barely peaking over the horizon. The only way he can tell sunrise is coming is from the descent of the moon and the slight shade difference of darkness in the eastern and western skies. Terrance quickly folds all of his clothes, careful of the hot metal buttons on his jeans, so everything will fit in the large gray duffle he has that holds all his belongings. Leaving the laundromat, he carefully opens the driver side door of the vehicle.
Slowly, Lunardust awakens from her short rest from Terrance's voice speaking to her. Her Spark tugs at the thought of what could possibly happen once she has met up with the Autobots, but refuses to let him leave her now. The little organic has grown on her. Even if he is messy and always having ridiculous little biological needs.
Not much farther, she reminds herself, but checks her systems one last time as Terrance becomes comfortable in her cab.
Power Supply: 20.35%
Automatic Stasis Lock in 6.17 Joors.
Replenish Energon Supplies Immediately.
Lunardust lets her struts and bands relax, making sure nothing feels out of place before Terrance taps her steering wheel. Quickly, she reverses from the parking spot and maneuvers through the town, getting back on the empty two-lane highway. The sun rises to the right of them, warming Lunardust's side. When she goes to speak to Terrance, she finds him fast asleep, head lulled to the left of the headrest. Lunardust watches him, doing a quick scan of his vitals. Everything is normal (at least from what she has gathered from researching human vitals from the World Wide Web).
Her entrance into the Earth's atmosphere had been a rough one, which was to be expected seeing as her travel pod had been malfunctioning since she arrived into the solar system. She floated for almost thirty vorns on the outer ring of the planets before something came across her processor. More Cybertronians. Whether they were Decepticons or Autobots, she did not particularly care nor worry of, all she left burden her processor was where were they going.
Not long after, as she was finally breaking past the first three planets in this small solar system, a message was broadcasted through the speakers of her small hub, and with what last of the power she could conjure from it, she set the landing coordinates to the ones tagged to the message.
Of course, nothing ever was quite simple for Lunardust. The hub cease to have any functions just as she passed by the moon of the planet and all the shields that the hub was programmed with were unable to come up, making the entry very painful.
And kind, messy little Terrance had been there to find her and help her.
"I'm drunk. I'm not going to remember any of this," she remembers him saying as she crawls from the shallow waters of the Floridian beach, getting sand in very uncomfortable spots. (She despises the substance now.) However, when he awoke the next morning with her laid out in his two car garage, covered in sand and in much pain, something in them both… clicked.
A small red message pops up in the peripheral of her vision. They are almost half way through the drive, nearing the location of where the message had been sent.
Power Supply: 9.89%
Automatic Stasis Lock in 2.78 Joors.
Replenish Energon Supplies Im-
I heard you the first time! She yells at her inner systems, frustrated that she will be just below on energy. They will be a few miles out from the base, and with her communication systems down since she left Cybertron's atmosphere, Lunardust speeds up, going well over the human's limit of speed and being sure to stay out of the radar of any law enforcement.
Terrance awakes to the sharp sound of tires skidding on pavement, the rubber leaving a marked line down the high way. He jerks forward and catches himself on the steering wheel, voicing his concern of why Lunardust had suddenly stopped in the middle of the road. There were no cars around, even though it was close to 11 am.
"Dusty?" he calls, opening his driver side door to jump out.
She's quiet, not answering and he realizes that what energy she had before he was asleep has dwindled down.
"Dusty!" he calls again, just as two vehicles begin to come in sight from farther down the road, and they are coming fast.
"Autobots," she says softly, and Terrance's tense muscles relax. There is a large black truck and a small blue car, both of which Terrance is hesitant to as they pull up beside Lunardust's alt mode.
Once the two vehicles come to a braking stop, the driver side door of the black truck opens and a man hopes down. He's dressed in military greens and tan skinned. He walks up to the two, leaving the others behind him.
"I'm Major Will Lennox. This is Ironhide and Jolt," he motions to the black truck and blue car. "We're here to help your friend. May we know his name?"
"Her name is Lunardust," he says, staying close to the jeep. Will nods, looking over at the two vehicles behind him. The blue car, Jolt, rolls forward, and a small red scanner projects from one of his headlights. "What was that?" he shouts, worried, looking over Lunardust but she does not move.
"I scanned her," it replies, rolling closer and to just behind Will Lennox. "She is in stasis lock from low energy. I will escort you back to base and Ironhide will tow her back."
Terrance doesn't move, keeping his palm on her warm, dusty metal, not daring to move too far from here. The last time he wants to do is lose her after the past month that they've been together.
"It's fine," Will Lennox says, walking up to him. Terrance keeps a guarded aura. "The last thing they want to do is harm a female. Trust me, you have my word."
The hesitance is thick in the hot Nevada air. Will notices and racks his little jarhead brain for something else to say that will sway the boy to stay calm and come with them. He understands the connection he may have with the bot.
"Okay," Terrance finally says, reaching into the car to pull out his gray duffle bag filled with fresh clothes. He shuts her door softly, giving her a few pats before walking toward Will. "But if anything happens to her I will not be held accountable for my actions."
Will Lennox smiles softly and nods, reaching out to wrap an arm around Terrance's shoulders as he leads him to the open door of the blue car, Jolt. "Don't worry, kid. I've heard that one plenty before and don't take it lightly. You can trust me on one thing, they're happy to see another female."
Terrance settles into the blue car, and watches as the black truck moves on its own, toward the front of Lunardust.
"He better be careful with her," Terrance murmurs.
"Ironhide knows how to handle a femme," Jolt says, sound coming from his radio. Terrance jumps, not expecting an answer. Terrance moves his eyes back to the truck and military officer. There's a thick cord linking the truck's rear bumper to Lunardust's front one. Slowly, the mini caravan begins to move back in the direction of where it originated, pulling two new allies with it.
Terrance uses one of the side mirrors in Jolt's alt mode to keep an eye on the black truck and make sure he wasn't rough housing the sleeping jeep. He rubbed at his forehead, feeling a stress headache coming on.
"My scan shows that you have pressure on the nerves in your frontal lobe. Ratchet will have aspirin waiting for you when we arrive on base."
Terrance, feeling slightly creeped out, just nods and folds his arms over his chest, keeping as much of his contact off the interior of the vehicle. The ride is no longer than ten minutes long, but Terrance is still tense and worries for his mechanical friend. Inside the walls and fences of the base, a swarm of military men and women are walking around, some jogging in groups and others moving quickly from tall building to tall building. He people-watches for a few moments before the blue car turns and slips between two buildings and travels farther to the back of the complex.
The black truck rumbles behind them as they enter into one of the largest buildings that Terrance can see. It takes up almost three of the regular buildings and the overhang door reaches almost forty feet up. It is intimidating, but fascinating at the same time. He knew there were more like Lunardust but were they that much taller? She was, approximately, seventeen to eighteen feet tall and thin.
How much bigger could they possibly get?
Jolt pauses in front of a door, and from the automatically opening door, Terrance takes this as a sign to step out. He does so and steps back a good ten feet. The bot transforms before his eyes, and it still surprises him. He's young, and just a tad bit taller than Lunardust. Maybe a foot or two more, give or take some inches.
He opens the large door, letting the human walk in first. Lennox is right behind him, much to Terrance's surprise, talking into a walkie to someone named 'Epps'. Jolt steps off to the side, going into another room. Lennox pulls Terrance to the side as Ironhide pulls Lunardust into the large room. There is a desk almost twenty feet tall and counters that looks like large shelves. Tools as big as Terrance look menacing but he knows deep down that they have saved lives.
"Where is she?" A booming voice speaks, echoing out deep vocals through the large room. Terrance jumps back as a large yellow and black machine comes stepping into the room, Jolt following behind it.
"That's Ratchet. Best medic this side of the universe," Will Lennox says to Terrance. The young adult nods, staying close to the officer even though he wishes to be next to his guardian.
Ironhide disconnects the cord he has connecting him to the femme bot and drives forward before transforming also, proving to Terrance that yes they could be much taller.
"Does she have rust in her processor?" the mech growls, moving toward the disabled Lunardust. "She should have contacted us if her power supply was this low!"
"She couldn't," Terrance speaks up, and the large yellow mech turns toward him. "She said her communicators had been down since she left Cybertron."
He purses his lips, if a robot can even do that, Terrance thinks, and turns back to the orange female.
"Ironhide, help me get her on the berth."
The black robot grumbles something in a whirl of clicks and whistles, something that sounds oddly familiar from the sounds that Lunardust had originally made before she began to speak to Terrance in his native language, but goes back and helps his fellow bot move her gently. Terrance watches with keen eyes, looking for any sign that his friend may be harmed. Once on the large flat surface, berth, Terrance realizes it to be, Ratchet does his work in carefully opening the hood to her alt mode. Terrance strains his neck to see, and is surprised to see the glowing blue orb that Lunardust had told him was her Spark. Ratchet maneuvers his large fingers around the area of the orb, smaller ends extending from the tips before there's a faint click .
Ratchet and Ironhide work together to manually transform the femme from her alt mode to her pedal form, being observant of the scratches on her sides and loose wires. Once fully converted to her true form, Lunardust lays dormant with Ratchet beginning to connect wires to multiple places on her body.
"Is she going to be okay?" Terrance asks once Ratchet finishes connecting wires and picks up a data pad from the large counter/shelf thing that towers above Terrance's head.
"She will be perfectly healthy, young one. She is low on Energon and needs a long rest. It will only take about twelve of your Earth hours, or so. No need to fret."
Terrance, even though he was told not to, worried.
"Why don't we go get you something to eat, hm?" Will Lennox suggests, and Terrance shakes his head.
"I'm not leaving her."
Will is surprised, but from the look that Terrance is giving the femme, he can sense that he is as devoted to her as Sam is to Bumblebee, and he is almost certain that it is returned from her end.
"Youngling," Ratchet says, catching both of their attentions. "Go with the Major. I will be in contact if there are any fluctuations in her vital signs."
Terrance is unwavering in his decision before he nods and pushes himself off of the wall he had been leaning on. Will smiles at Ratchet, who in return gives a nod. The officer slings his arm around Terrance's shoulders once again.
"C'mon. The dining hall isn't the best food in the world but I bet it's better than whatever you've been eating lately."
Terrance silently agreed; he was glad to not be eating beef jerky and crackers that tasted like cardboard for the first time in over two weeks.
The dining hall was at a low lull in sound when the two walked in. Soldiers of all shape and size sat together at the long tables, some speaking with their fork or spoon, while others listened in and ate slowly. They were all war-hardened. They had all seen someone die. They are soldiers. A few accents could be picked up here and there, showing that not all of them were of American descent.
Will and Terrance were seated at the end of one of the long tables. A few soldiers greeted their higher-up friendly, to which he returned with a smile and a wave. Terrance slowly ate the food in front of him. While it was no steak, definitely better than gas station food.
"Major Lennox?"
The two males look up from their meals to find a short woman, dressed in a pencil skirt and a tucked in cream colored blouse, holding a stack of papers in her arms.
"Yes, Marcy?"
"I was told to give this to you by Director Galloway," she says, pulling the papers from her chest and setting them in front of the officer. Lennox sighs as he begins to shuffle through them, completely forgetting about his small meal now.
"Thank you, Marcy. I'll return them as soon as I can."
Marcy nods, looking at Terrance for a moment, before she speeds off, her heels clicking on the concrete floor. Will Lennox sighs again, rubbing at his temples before dragging his hands down his face.
"I hate paperwork," he murmurs to no one in particular. Straightening himself back up, Lennox pulls a pen from his jacket pocket and begins to fill out the blanks on the front page. Terrance does not pay him much attention until he asks for it. "You said her name is Lunardust, right?"
Terrance nods. Will fills in a few more lines. "About how long ago did she arriv, or do you know-"
"A month ago. She landed on the beach and I took her back to my house. I was drunk," Terrance answers, taking another bite from his plastic tray of dining hall food. Lennox nods, continuing to write. After a few minutes, he looks up with an almost blank expression.
"I just realized I don't even know your name," Will says. Terrance smirks and nods, pushing his empty tray to the side.
"Terrance Case of West Palm Beach, Florida. Nice to meet you," he says, holding his hand out for the major. Will smiles and shakes the hand.
"The same. Now, let's try and get most of this filled out, yeah?"
Terrance laughs and nods, taking the sheet of paper Will slid to him, and looking over what he could fill out. Most of it was basic information about him that didn't take more than five minutes to fill in. He'd done it almost a hundred of times before with job applications and applying for college so none of it was much difference.
"I was thinking Sam was just an unlucky teenager but it seems he's not the only one," Will says, glancing over what Terrance had written down about his first encounter with the femme bot.
"Sam?" Terrance asks. Will nods.
"Yeah, you'll meet him later on. He bought a car and it ended up being an alien robot. Who knew?" Will says jokingly. Terrance snorts.
"He must have horrible luck."
"He does."
The two laugh, forgetting about the paperwork for the time being.
"So, let's go find you a bunk, yeah? I doubt you'll be going anywhere anytime soon without your friend."
A/N: Joor: approximately 1 Earth hour.
Vorn: approximately 83 Earth years.
Slowly pulling in the plot I have semi-planned. Look for another chapter in a few days! I'm hoping to update this story at least once every week.