AN: So, the second chapter. Still debating about continuing or not, but I might. Mainly because I want a story with Barricade/Miles in it, and I'm reluctant to do that in my main one.
Reviews: Thanks to Placid Sky, magiccrazy101, Autobot Firekat, Starz, mizukikage, Noella50881, SailorMoon20114486, and Allycat18 for reviewing! It's much appreciated! :)
The sound of a car horn honking reapetedly dragged Miles from sleep, and the young teen yawned, and stretched. For a moment he just stared up at his ceiling with blurry eyes, wishing the car horn would just stop already. When it didn't he groaned, absentmindedly petting Mason's head, the large Mastiff laying comfortably half on and half off the teen. He tried to recall how he had made it home last night, but couldn't. He frowned, something so realistic couldn't have possibly been a dream, especially since he could remember it so well, but the whole thing had been entirely improbable in itself. So maybe he had gotten home the night before and had one of the weirdest dreams of his entire life.
Or maybe he had really met the strange officer with the kittens, but had fallen asleep in the cruiser, and the officer had taken him home. That was entirely plausible.
After a moment Miles sighed, deciding he'd think more on it once he had some breakfast. The teen sat up and grabbed his phone, checking his messages. He had three. The entire time the horn kept honking.
Dude, what's up? U get lost again? Ur 'rents called me freaking out.
That one was from Sam. So he had been late returning home, that could only mean the incident with the giant metal alien calling himself Barricade was... He stopped the train of thought before it got too far, and opened the next message.
Dad and I have left for work. We might be out late, so dinner and lunch are in the fridge. Love you, sweetums!
That was from his mom, and he grinned.
The next message he hesitated on. The number was in his contacts, but it had no name identifying it, and he couldn't think of who it was. Frowning, he opened it.
Meet me at the lake in ten minutes. Barricade.
So it had been real. Miles wasn't sure if he was happy about that or not. He checked the time of the message, and gulped, deciding he was definitely not happy about it. The message had been sent at 9:30 am, and it was now 12:30 pm. And the horn was in the background, but this time it made him realize something.
With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Miles suddenly guessed just what car was being honked.
Miles scrambled out of his bed, and over to his window, moving the curtain outside of it, and peering out. Their house was only one story, and his room was located above the garage at the back of their house. This gave him a clear view of the saleen police cruiser sitting outside.
Until that moment Miles had never realized that cars could look angry.
The honking stopped, and the lights flashed a few times. Miles had been seen.
He opened up his window and leaned out of it, "Whatcha want, Barry?"
Barricade revved his engine angrily at Miles, a holoform appearing and stalking towards the back door.
"What? Hey, no! Don't come in! Bad giant alien, I'll be down in ten minutes!" Miles called, jumping over Mason as he ran to the bathroom. He didn't bother checking if Barricade had done as he said or not.
At exactly thirty seconds after the tenth minute, Barricade appeared in his room, glaring at Miles. The teen, having been shoving his shirt and pants on at the same time, gave a startled yelp and fell backwards as Mason started to bark.
"You look stupid." Barricade stated, regarding the teen sprawled on the floor cooly.
Miles stared up at Barricade in shock, then deciding he was safe enough, glared at the mech. He sat up, and finished putting his shirt on.
"I was asleep, and then I was getting cleaned and dressed. Patience is a virtue, you know." The teen replied, managing to get back up on two feet and put his pants all the way on.
"Another stupid Earth saying."
Miles rolled his eyes, and grabbed his shoes from under the bed, putting them on while hopping around. "To what do I owe this return visit, Barry?"
"It's Barricade." This was snarled at the teen. "And you are easy to retrieve as you already know everything important that there is to know."
"Not telling me anything, Barry." So the teen was testing his luck just a little, fighting with the little tiny part of himself that was pointing out how stupid that was.
"While the other members of my race, and myself included, can normally access the internet easily, I am reluctant to. I do not need to draw unwanted attention to myself."
"Someone got it out for you? That sounds surprising." Miles muttered sarcastically. He grinned sheepishly when Barricade glared at him. "So... what? You want a crash course on Earth or something?"
When Barricade just looked at him as if he had suddenly just realized how stupid Miles really was compared to himself, which really might have been true, the teen took a moment to rethink why Barricade might need him.
"Ohhhh, the kittens! Well, I can access the internet for you, but I think they're basically the same as Mason. Only they need less exercise."
"I also require your... assistance in other areas." Barricade said, nearly growling out the word assistance.
Miles tried not to grin at that. Barricade was at least trying to not make it seem like the teen had no choice in the matter, even if he was failing horribly, and even though it was obvious that Miles most likely wouldn't if he tried to walk out on it.
"Like what?"
"System repairs. They are not going as fast as I would like, and I can instruct you on what to do as you do it. Naturally it is just as hard for a Cybertronian to work on themselves as it would be for a human." Barricade paused as he waited for any kind of response. When Miles nodded he continued, "I have a large selection of tools in my alt mode's trunk for you to use."
"You always keep tools on you?" Meant as a joke from Miles, but obviously Barricade had yet to grasp Earth humor completely.
"No, I stole them." And Miles gaped at the holoform in front of him.
Barricade took Miles to a secluded place, and transformed there after Miles got Brightspark, Softspark, and anything else inside of the Decepticon out. Then Barricade had proceeded to sit down, helping Miles to climb up on him and instructing the teen on what to do, and occasionally encouraging the teen. This only happened sparingly; Miles freaking out when Energon started pouring out of Barricade before he could patch that coolant line up, or when he had to use a few of the tools that he wasn't used to and it caused Barricade to give a small grunt of pain.
Besides that Miles didn't bother with speaking much besides to ask the occasional question as to what a certain part was, and why it was needed. After an hour or two Barricade told the teen he had done enough for the day. Miles had grinned cheekily up at the Decepticon and said that his first time using a welder had been enjoyable. Then he sat down on Barricade's leg, making himself comfortable.
"So, how did you end up here?"
Barricade glared down at the tiny organic on his leg, "A war. Two factions: Decepticon, Autobot. Fighting over the Allspark, which ended up on your world, along with the Decepticon leader, Megatron." He shifted slightly, pointing to the Decepticon symbol he had on. "This is the Decepticon symbol."
"Guessing things didn't go too well for the Decepticons, then?"
"To make a long story short: Your friend, Samual Witwicky was the key to finding the Allsparks location because of the glasses he had obtained from an ancestor."
"Woah, wait, the ones he tried to sell on ebay?"
"Those exact ones. That is how we ended up finding him. However, the Autobot Scout Bumblebee got to Ladiesman217 first, and that was the car your fleshy organic friend had purchased."
"That piece of shit was one of you?" At that Miles gaped up at Barricade.
"The newer one is still Bumblebee. The Autodolt contacted Prime and the rest of their back up. Stuff happened, we fought, I let him win. More stuff. The organic and the merry crew of Autodolts ended up being chased to Mission City."
"So it was a government cover up! I knew it!"
Barricade was torn between exasperation because of the interruptions, and amusement because Miles hadn't seemed to realize that his friend not only knew and hadn't told, but was on the opposite side. "Several of your fellow fleshlings helped the Autodolts. Ladiesman217 personally shoved the Allspark into Megatron's chest, offlining him." A pause, then glare. "Yes, that means killing him. And Megatron is a good deal taller than me."
Miles stayed silent, slipping off Barricade's leg and landing on his two feet already walking. Barricade watched the young teen begin to pace.
Okay, so, I'm essentially hanging out with my best friend's technical enemy. That's great! But he never even told me, and I've been riding in Bumblebee this whole time! I even spilled soda on him... Oh my God, Bumblebee is going to hate me. But Barricade doesn't seem that bad, even if him and Bumblebee fought. I mean the hard ass took on two adorable kittens... how bad could he be?
These were a few of the thoughts flowing around in Miles' mind, and the teen turned towards Barricade, opening his mouth, only to be cut off.
"I attacked your friend to obtain the glasses. I did knock him around a little, though no more than a few bruises at the most."
Miles snapped his mouth shut again.
After a moment, "The kittens... you can't be that bad, and you said yourself, no more than a few bruises..."
"Make no mistakes about me, fleshling. I have killed before, and have no qualms with doing so again. The kittens were an exception to my 'lone wolf' status. You are just useful."
Barricade didn't bother bringing up Frenzy. Miles huffed and glared up at the Decepticon.
"Y'know, I'm really trying to find a way to convince myself to stick with you, but you're making that hard!"
"I don't want you to stay any longer than for what I need you."
"Well then, that solves my problem." The teen glowered. "You ain't getting rid of me now, Barry."
And the Decepticon had no idea what he was in for.