"So what do you transform into? Ooo, I bet it's a Porsche!" Miko says in excitement. "Don't bother with her. She could still be unstable," Ratchet says. "It's okay, Ratchet," I sighed as I sat up and swing my legs off the berth, "What can she do to bother me?" "A lot," Ratchet says again.
I made a face at him then looked down at Miko again, "I can't turn into any vehicle. But, I can turn into a human," I say. "Can I see!" Miko asked. "She might not be able to do so yet," Ratchet says. "I'll be fine," I waved Ratchet away before transforming into my human form. "Wow, that's so cool," Miko says in amazement, "You look like a human, too!" I let out a nervous laugh, "Really...?" I transform back into my robot mode. It's a good thing she doesn't know anything about how I'm able to turn into a human...
"Does this mean that you'll be able to come to school with us?" Miko asked with a smile. "Absolutely not!" Ratchet booms. "Ah, come on. I've always wanted to see what a human school was like, anyway," I say with an innocent smile.
"You've never said that," Bulkhead butts in. "Well, besides that point," I look around at everyone, "I think that it would be a advantage for me to know more about Earth than the Decepticons,"
Ratchet gives me a look. I let out a sigh and clasp my hands together, looking up at him, "Please...?"
"Optimus has strictly told me for you to keep on the low until your wound has healed fully," Ratchet replies. "It's not like I'll be moving around a lot while learning. From what I've heard, you sit on chairs for half a Mega-cycle each class," I pushed on.
"...Fine, but only for one deca-cycle," Ratchet says, "That's it!" I smile at him, "Thank you," I said with a sing song voice. "Whatever," Ratchet rolled his optics, "I better not expect you to try anymore serious stunts,"
"You can count on me!" I said with a salute. Ratchet raises an optic ridge at me, knowing me enough to know that I'm usually tricky. "Come on, you know that I dislike getting scolded by Optimus," I made a nervous smirk. "I wonder why's that," Miko said, crossing her arms and giving me a cheeky smirk. I blinked. "I don't really know what you mean..." I said a bit flustered.
Miko whistles as she jumps off the berth to meet with her other friends, Jack and Raf. I made a confused expression. "Just ignore it," Ratchet replied to my confusion. I only nod and carefully stood up to follow him towards the computer screen, which starts to beep. "Hm?"
"What is it?" Arcee asked with the rest of the Autobots behind her. "Cliffjumper's signal just came back online," Ratchet replied. "W-What?" I said in surprise, but felt relief. "Who's Cliffjumper?" Miko asked.
"How is that possible?" Optimus asked. "It's not. Probably a bug, this system's no surprise," Ratchet said. "There might be a chance that Cliff's alive," Arcee said. "Ratchet, prepare to bridge us near Cliffjumper's position," Optimus ordered.
"What can we do?" Miko asked. "Remain here," Optimus asked. "uggh," Ratchet groaned. Optimus then looks at me, seeing my eager face to go along with them. "Same for you," He ruins my excitement to see Cliffjumper well. "Understood," I said with a sad look. He follows the others into the space bridge after staring at me for a bit.
"What just happened?" Jack asked in surprise, seeing the Autobots disappear into the green light. "I transported then to the coordinates via the ground bridge," Ratchet replied. "What's a ground bridge?" Raf asked. Ratchet lets out a groan in annoyance. "Take it easy, they're just kids," I say to him. I turn to the three kids, "A ground bridge is a scale down version of space bridge tech. Sense we don't have the requirements or Energon to enable us to travel the universe, we're stuck on your planet,"
"But, I have constructed a ground bridge from here to anywhere on your planet," Ratchet adds in. "Whoa," Raf says in amazement, "Does it work for humans?"
"Naturally..." Ratchet glances at me as proof. "You mean I could just visit my parents in Tokyo whenever I want?" Miko asked. "Within moments. in fact, allow me to send you there immediately, all three of you," Ratchet smirked. "Old 'bot," I called Ratchet by his nickname. I usually do so when I'm playing or taunting. In this case, a mix of playing around and warning. Ratchet grumbles a bit and all three of the kids burst into laughter.
"How about I show you all around?" I asked the kids. "Please do," Ratchet said. I made another look at him. "That would be nice," Jack said. "Climb on," I held out my hand to them and they all stepped on. I raised Miko to my right shoulder, Jack to my left, and Raf onto my head.
"You look ridiculous," Ratchet commented with a smirk. "Serving the guests, wise one," I smirked back and start to walk around the base, giving the kids a tour of the base.
"What's this?" Miko asked as she leans down towards a weird device Ratchet invented. "It's broken, don't touch," Ratchet walks by to look at the monitor screen. Miko slowly starts to touch something else.
"Don't touch that either," Ratchet snaps. I leaned down to whisper to Miko, "Careful, he's got optics of a hawk on the back of his helm," I joked. Miko giggled. Ratchet looks at both of us with a look, then back to the screen. "How come you guys are using human computers?" Raf asked.
"Well, it's not by choice, it was handed down from the previous inheritance of this former missile silo. I make modifications as I see fit," Ratchet answered. He starts to type when red pop ups start to cover the screens. Ratchet lets out a groan. "What I would expect from Windows," I joked.
"I think I can fix that," Raf says as he runs over to the computer and uses a cord to plug it into it with his laptop and starts to type. "Really? You do know that this is complex technology, don't you?" Ratchet asked.
"Now try," Raf says with a smile. Ratchet raises an optic ridge and looks back at the monitor screen, seeing the pop ups vanish with green check marks. "You shouldn't judge humans so easily, Ratchet," I waved my index finger at him.
"Ratchet, bridge us back, now!" Optimus voice sounds over the monitor. Following orders, Ratchet pulls down the lever to open a space bridge. Soon enough, four vehicles zoom inside through the bridge followed by a explosion of Energon. I blinked in surprise and Ratchet closes the bridge right after the last of the Autobots got through. They all transform into their robot forms immediately. "Cutting a bit close..." Ratchet says.
"What about Cliff?" I asked, looking up at Optimus. He could already tell from my expression that I knew something didn't turn out well for Cliffjumper. Instead of getting a response, I only received silence. That answered my certainty, as a lowered by head down to the floor with a expression full of grief.
"What was that explosion? Was there a fight? Can I come with you guys next time?" Miko asked numerous questions. She stopped once she noticed my glare. "Uh, Miko, let's go see what they hide in their sock drawers," Jack starts to drag Miko away. "Are you serious..?"
"Arcee, what did you see?" Optimus asked. I looked up at her intentionally. "Not Cliff, at least, not anymore. He was mutated, butchered. Like, something fron those 'Con experiments during the war," Arcee explained, her expression like as if she was nauseous. I cringed from it, already imagining what Cliffjumper looked like the way Arcee might have seen herself.
'Are you okay?' Bumblebee beeps. "I'm aright, just dizzy," Arcee replied as she took a seat on the crate. "He doesn't deserve that..." I muttered, clenching my fist with a scrunched up face. "What's this?" Ratchet asked, seeing a weird purplish goo on Arcee's arm. "Don't know. Cliff was covered in it," Arcee answered.
Ratchet scrapes a sample from it, "Go take a decontamination bath, now," Ratchet orders. Bumblebee helps Arcee up to the decontamination chamber.
I sighed as I sat and watch Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Arcee accompany the kids back to their homes. I was left alone in the base with Optimus and Ratchet. It was probably a good time to talk to Optimus about things, but I felt weird doing so.
"Is there something troubling you, Ariona," I flinched and looked up to see Optimus. Speak of the devil.
"Y-Yes sir. I just wanted to talk to you about something," I looked over at Ratchet, who was looking over his shoulder at us from his work. I changed my voice to a mutter, "In private,"
Optimus nods and allows me to follow him to another room. I let out a sigh, "It's about going outside the base," I looked up at him. "There is no reason to feel unease," Optimus reassured. "Y-Yeah," I took in a deep breath.
"Optimus Prime.. Orion Pax... I'm asking permission to go along with the kids to their human school for one deca-cycle...as requested from Miko... Ratchet said that it was alright, but it really didn't feel right to me without your approval..." I exhaled, looking up at him again.
"You may go," Optimus places a hand on my shoulder, making me flinch, "But I do not recommend engaging attack without any help,"
"Y-Yes sir," I said, a smile appearing on my face. Optimus nods and turns to walk back into the room we came from. I was a bit shocked from what I might have seen, though. Either it was a hallucination, or Optimus had a slight smile on his face. I let out a small cheerful chuckle before following after him to check on what Ratchet was doing.