Hello, everyone. Forgot to mention last chapter that these events take place between 'Scrapheap' (s1e7) and 'Con Job' (s1e8).
Also warning you now: please don't expect regular updates.
Huge.
That was Liliy's first thought when she stepped out of the ground bridge. She had seen the outside of the butte in some flyover surveillance videos but it was a lot bigger on the inside than she was expecting. She recognized the place to be an old missile silo, probably from the Cold War. There was lots of concrete and metal. Three concrete tiers took up almost half the space and an elevator shaft rose from the top tier to meet with the ceiling. Catwalks were everywhere in the upper reaches of the room. There were at least three hallways leading off in different directions. Liliy assumed one of them had to lead to the outside. The added alien tech dwarfed the human-sized objects but, strangely, it did not look too out of place.
Liliy turned around and inspected the ground bridge. It was a deep hole cut into the only part of the silo walls that was bare rock face. Compared to the bridge technology she was used to, this was rudimentary and crudely built, but impressive considering the limited resources of the Autobots.
"Optimus, hold still!" a loud voice demanded from the far corner of the room, startling Liliy. It's owner was hidden from her view by Bulkhead's backside as the mech made his way over to that area.
"But, Ratchet-" Optimus started to say. He was interrupted by a loud clang.
"No talking or I will deactivate your vocalizer until I am done!" the voice warned.
Noting the giant Autobot emblem on the floor, Liliy made her way over to the large staircase near where the Bots stood that allow human access to the tiers. She climbed up to the first tier so she could see better. Optimus was laying on a med berth, helm hidden by the back of a white and orange mech. Liliy looked over at the three bots who stood watching.
"Is he going to be ok?" she asked.
The white and orange mech paused and shot a stern glare at her over his shoulder.
"Another human?" he growled. He looked at the other bots. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Well-" Optimus started.
"I didn't ask you, Optimus! No talking!" Ratchet snapped.
"She saw us fighting the Cons. And when their reinforcements showed up, they targeted her," explained Bulk.
"Soundwave saw Optimus protecting her," added Arcee, missing the tiny flinch from their new guest at the name of the Decepticon. "She was alone and there wasn't town for miles around. Optimus wasn't about to leave her there."
Ratchet sighed heavily and looked down at Optimus. The larger mech stared up at him. The medic shook his helm and spoke again as he went back to work.
"You could of left her there."
"Oh, yes. Let's leave the potentially injured human by herself on the side of the road, miles from civilization. That's nice," commented Liliy sarcastically.
That perked Ratchet's interest and he paused again, glancing over his shoulder with something akin to concern. "Injured?"
"Pretty sure I got a minor concussion when I was knocked to the ground by blaster fire," Liliy told him nonchalantly. "I still have a headache. But don't worry about me. I have survived worse. Is, uh, he going to be ok?" She pointed at the Prime.
"Yes. I'll have him as good as new in no time." His attention went back to Optimus.
Liliy smiled. "Thanks good to hear." She looked at the other bots. "My name is Liliy, by the way."
"Arcee," said the blue femme.
"I'm Bulkhead. This is Bumblebee." The big green mech laid a servo on the shoulder of the yellow mech who waved at her. He pointed at the white and orange mech. "That our medic, Ratchet. And our leader, Optimus Prime."
"Nice to meet you. Um, so if I had to make an educated guess, I'd say you're all giant alien robots from some distant planet fighting a war, not only for your own survival but also to protect this planet and its inhabitants. Am I right?"
Ratchet actually stopped and looked at her, surprised.
"What gave the alien part away?" asked Arcee.
"Because you give off too much emotion to be artificial intelligence so you are obviously sentient. And the glyphs on your monitors are no language of Earth, past or present." Because I am the same as you, she added mentally.
"Wow. I'm impressed," Arcee said.
"Oh, pah-lease," said Ratchet, waving dismissively and going back to repairing Optimus.
Liliy yawned into her hand. "Ah. Sorry. Do you mind if I take a nap now? All that excitement made me tired."
"No. You can't sleep until I have a look at you," ordered Ratchet. "And I can't do that until I'm done fixing Optimus."
"Alright, alright. I'm just gonna go sit down then."
"It's almost time for us to pick up the kids from school anyways," commented Bulkhead. "So we'll be heading out."
"Don't bring them back here until I say so, understood?" commanded Ratchet.
"Yes, Ratchet," answered Arcee.
As the three younger bots transformed and rolled out, Liliy finished climbing the stairs to the top tier where the human-sized rec area was. There was a chair, a couch, a coffee table, and an entertainment center complete with a tv and a game console.
Kids? She thought as she dropped her duffle bag next to the stuffed, yellow chair before plopping down in said chair and putting her feet up on the makeshift coffee table. It was a door laid across four cinder blocks stood on end. So they have other humans to look after. No wonder they have been frequenting the nearby town recently.
She pulled out her phone and some earbuds. Liliy glanced over her shoulder. Ratchet was busy working and not paying her any attention. She stuck the earbuds in her ears and started some music. After pulling her hood up and over her eyes, she laid her head back and went into recharge.
"Hm, what time is it?" Liliy asked tiredly, her hood falling off as she lifted her head. Her music had stopped hours ago but she had slept on.
Ratchet, the only other person in the room, answered. "Just after 3 A.M. I thought I told you not to go to sleep. And you only said you were going to take a nap, not sleep for 12 hours."
He stood at the main computer console, staring up at the three big monitors in front of him.
Liliy chuckled. "Sorry. I guess I was more tired than I thought."
Pulling out her earbuds, she set aside her phone and unbuttoned her cape so that when she stood up it remained in the chair. Hearing her sigh as she stretched, Ratchet looked over at her. His eyes widened in surprise when she turned to face him and he saw that her left arm was gone, the empty three-quarter sleeve of her light grey shirt folded and pinned up so it wouldn't flap around. Liliy gave him an amused smirk when he looked away and tried to hide his surprise behind a fake cough.
"Well, it's good to see that you are finally awake. Do you still have a headache?" he asked.
"Nope. It's gone."
"That's good," he said, turning back to the computer.
"So, where are the others?" Liliy asked, walking over to the rail to watch him work after she had scanned the room.
"I sent Optimus to his quarters to recharge after I was done fixing him. The other three are on curb duty until the children get up. Since today is Saturday, they don't have school so they'll be coming straight here."
"Ha, sounds like life is exciting around here."
Ratchet let out an exasperated sigh. "You have no idea. I'm surprised they didn't wake you with all the noise they made when I finally let them come back to base. Miko wanted to wake you up right away but I told her to let you sleep-even though you weren't supposed to be." He shot a glare at her. She just shrugged. "Then they were playing video games and got into a loud argument right there on the couch. Bulkhead had to pick Miko up and take her out of the room to get her to stop yelling."
She chuckled. "Yes, well, as soon as I put my music on and fall asleep I become oblivious to the world around me. It is both a good and a bad thing, I suppose." She turned and went back to the chair.
After retrieving a black, leather-bound notebook and a pencil case from her bag, she sat down. Opening to the first blank page, she pulled out a pencil. She glanced over at the orange and white medic and noticed that he appeared to be lost in thought as he stared up at the monitors. Softly smiling, Liliy put pencil to paper in an effort to capture that moment.
The roar of three loud engines entering the room, one accompanied by the blasting of heavy metal, caused Liliy to jerk awake.
I fell into recharge again? She thought as she closed the notebook on her lap and set it on the coffee table with the pencil case on top. She glanced at Ratchet who looked rather annoyed that his peace and quiet was over as he turned to watch the arrivals. Buttoning her cape back on, Liliy got up, yawning, and went over to the rail to watch as well. The children left their rides, allowing them to unfold and stand up.
"Good morning, Liliy," said Optimus, entering from the hallway opposite the other bots. "Did you sleep well?"
All eyes swiveled to look up at her. She smiled.
"Yes, Optimus. Thank you. And you are looking much better than the last time I saw you."
The tall mech smiled at her.
"Alright! She's finally awake," exclaimed Miko, running up the stairs. She stopped next to her but, before she could even begin to bombard the woman with questions, Liliy put a finger on the girl's lips.
"You should introduce yourself first before asking questions."
Miko gave her a scrutinizing look. "Are you Japanese?"
"Canadian." Liliy smirked, amused. "Namae wa?"
Miko looked surprised and then annoyed at the use of her native language. "Miko Nakadai."
Liliy smiled. "Yoroshiku, Nakadai Miko-chan." She looked at the boys who had just joined them. "And you two are?"
"Jack Darby," said the tall, dark haired one.
"Rafael Esquivel. But most people just call me Raf," answered the young burnette, pushing up his glasses.
"Well, nice to meet you too, Raf, Jack. My name is Liliy."
"What brings a Canadian to the States?" asked Jack.
"I love to travel. Usually I have a car but I had to leave it behind this time. So I have been hitchhiking and walking across the States. That is until I met these guys." She waved a hand at the Autobots. "And almost died."
"We know what that's like," said Jack.
"So what do you do for a living?" asked Miko.
"I don't do anything right now. But I have dabbled in a lot of things over the years. Medicine, robotics, linguistics, computer science, auto mechanics, as well as art and music, just to name a few."
"Dude, how old are you?" asked Miko.
"That's classified."
"Ah, come on. Seriously?"
Liliy just smiled.
"Fine. What kind of music? Do you like heavy metal? Can you play an instrument? I play the electric guitar."
The tall woman mentally shook her head. This girl just too curious. I have to be careful.
"I occasionally get in the mood for heavy metal but I actually prefer the softer stuff. Usually just instrumental. As far as playing an instrument, no, I can't. I'm usually the one in the booth doing the recording and making everyone else sound good."
"If you are an artist, do you draw? Can you show us a piece of your work?" asked Raf.
"Yes and yes." Liliy went over to the makeshift coffee table and opened her notebook to the page she was on last night. She showed it to them.
She said, "Check it out. I did this last night."
"Whoa. You are really good," said Miko, looking at the incredibly detailed pencil drawing of Ratchet. "Can you draw me?"
"Strike a pose," Liliy said, laying the notebook back on the table and grabbing her phone. Miko immediately did her 'rock on' pose. Liliy snapped her picture. "There. Now you don't have to hold the pose while I draw."
Liliy set her phone on the arm of the chair and pulled a drawing pad out of her bag. Sitting in the chair, she grabbed another pencil from the pencil bag. The three children gathered around the back of the chair in great interest as she began to draw. To the amazement of the Autobots, Liliy was able to hold their attention for the 30 minutes that she took to draw Miko. After signing and dating the drawing, she removed the page from the pad and handed it to the Asian girl.
"Hey, Bulk. Check it out," said the girl, hold up the picture for the big Autobot to see.
"That's amazing, Miko. It looks just like you. What are you going to do with it?"
"I think we should get some tape and hang it on the wall in your room," said the girl, running down the stairs and off to the mech's quarters with the Wrecker trailing behind.
Japanese translation:
"Namae wa?" = "(Your) Name is?"
"Yoroshiku" = "Nice to meet you"
