The Return: (Revised)
Disclaimer: I own no rights to the Transformers series, Hasbro does have that claim. I do however own the plot of this story.
Author Notes: Here is chapter 3 of the story. I was originally going to post this yesterday but the power was out at my house all day so I'm posting it today. Hope you guys enjoy!
Beep Beep Beep Beep
Alex woke with a start, sitting up quickly as instincts kicked in to find the immediate threat of the noise that startled her. Once the sleep left her mind did she look around and saw that her alarm clock was going off.
With a heavy sigh she tapped it to shut it off at the same time swinging her feet over the edge of the bed. But there she paused as last nights talks from both Christy and Prowl came back to her. She knew that they were both right when it came to her going back, but that didn't make it anymore easier for her.
Standing up Alex walked towards her closet grabbing her duffle bag and began stuffing everything she owned into it. There really wasn't much to her wardrobe these days other then the standard military outfits and what few civilian cloths she did own. But most of the time she was dressed in her cameo pants and a green shirt or tank top of some short.
Quickly getting dressed Alex took one last look around her room, knowing it would be a long time before she was even back to see it again. Duffle bag slung over her shoulder she made her way downstairs, seeing the lights on in the kitchen.
Curious as to who in the house hold would be up at this time, she paused only to smile at seeing all three other occupants in there waiting for her.
Cam was first to look up, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he went over to her and gave her a hug. Alex wrapped her own arms around her stepbrother and the two stood like that for a good long while.
"You look after your mother," Alex said as they pulled away. "And make sure you don't get into trouble, I won't be here to bail you out anymore." She smirked just as they and everyone else laughed inside the kitchen.
"I'm going to miss you Alex," he said hugging her once again.
"I'm going to miss you too Cam." Speaking softly as he pulled away and Christy came over.
The two women starred at one another before Alex moved first throwing her arms around her stepmother. "You take care of yourself Alex," Christy spoke softly cradling the young woman's head to her, running her fingers through Alex's hair. "Don't ever be afraid of what you know Alex, love grows in many different and strange ways. Yes it will be a hard road to travel down, but don't ever stop walking down it because eventually it will lead you to what your heart desires."
Alex pulled back and looked at her stepmother who was giving her a small smile to which she returned as the two women hugged once more. Mark came over and placed his hand upon her shoulder, Alex looking up at him noticing that he was also smiling at her.
Nodding her head, Alex pulled away giving him a quick hug and then stood there for a moment taking in her family. "I'll miss you all, but I will be back," she smiled.
Looking at the time on the clock she noted that it was time to head to the airstrip as she turned and began walking towards the front door. There she slipped on her boots before taking one last glance back at her family. They stood in the kitchen doorway, Marks arm around Christy's should who was holding onto Cam as the boy stood before his mother.
Alex gave them one last smile and a mock salute before grabbing the door handle and opening the door. The first thing she noticed was that the sun was just barely coming up in the early morning dawn, casting hard shadows from all the houses on the street. The second thing she noticed was the black and white Saleen parked in the driveway of her house.
Making her way towards she patted the hood and an answering rumble was heard from it.
"Good morning Alex," Prowl greeted opening his driver side door for her.
Alex tossed her duffle bag gently into the passenger seat and she climbed into the interior of his cab. "Morning Prowl," she returned as the door shut behind her.
The Saleen started up and was soon backing down and onto the street before heading to the airstrip. Alex had not been inside an autobot's cab in a while, so she sat with her hands in her lap and watched as the airstrip got closer and closer.
Glancing at the runway Alex could already see Skyfire there in his altmode and as they got closer she could make out soldiers going in and out of his cargo hatch.
"The rest of your unit you will be working with," Prowl spoke answering her unasked question.
Nodding, Alex looked a little relived that at least she would know someone on the autobot base to whom she could trust. Other then the autobots themselves, she knew she was going to need some help with the personnel stationed there.
Prowl pulled up to a stop just outside of Skyfire's cargo bay and waited for Alex to get out. Grabbing her bag she stepped out of the black and white Saleen and walked a bit a ways as she heard him started to change into his bipedal mode.
Stepping onto the platform Alex made her way up onto the plane, placing her bag down by some of the other cargo that was to go back to the autobot base. A man came up beside her and she smiled seeing Skyfire's holoform.
"Good morning Alex," he greeted as he began checking to make sure the cargo was secure.
"Good morning Skyfire, ready to head back?" she asked as she too checked the cargo.
"Yup, just waiting for the last of your unit to get here."
Just as he said that five men stepped onboard and heading over to where the two were. "Lieutenant," one of the men spoke to whom she instantly recognized.
"Jason are you coming with us?" she asked as the men all saluted her a grin coming upon Jason's face.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," he said and Alex could see the eagerness in his eyes.
If anything Alex knew how big of a nerd Jason was to being around the autobots, as he always seemed to enjoy the stories she was able to tell to him. Her guess was that he either begged to go on this mission or Lennox choose him specifically to go. Either way at least she knew she would not be alone to deal with this assignment.
"Prowl we're ready," spoke Skyfire as he checked the last of the cargo, the black and white mech sticking his head into the cargo bay and nodding.
"Alright then, let's get going." Prowl spoke stepping into the cargo bay, changing into his alt mode; which would take up less room. From there he turned on his holoform, just as the cargo bay door closed shut and the sound of Skyfire's jet engines started up.
The six humans all took seats on wall seats, strapping themselves in as Skyfire began making his way around the airstrip. Prowls holoform disappeared into the cockpit area as the plane began gathering speed and just like that they took off into the sky.
Alex waited for a bit for Skyfire to stabilize himself before taking off her straps and heading to the cockpit. Once there she stood behind Prowl's holoform hand resting on the back of the seat he sat in.
"We'll be there in about one earth hour," he said looking up from the datapad he was reading.
Nodding her head she glanced briefly at the datapad before turning back to look out the window as the ground below them stretched out for miles in all direction. Alex loved looking down at the landscape before her, and loved seeing the beauty that earth had to offer from it. There was still so much untamed wilderness that seeing it now before her made her smile as the beauty was still there for others to experience as well.
Alex closed her eyes, as she knew that beyond the miles of earth and beauty below her they were coming that much closer to him. Her dreams last night were filled with nothing but seeing him again. Dread filled her body and she felt a weight on her shoulder, opening her eyes to see Prowl looking at her with concern in his eyes.
"Sit," he indicated to the other pilot seat as she did so once again closing her eyes. "What is troubling you Alex?"
Cracking open an eye she looked towards him briefly and saw him nodding his head in understanding. "I see anyone would be nervous when returning to base and seeing Sunstreaker." He mused trying to get some humor in there.
Alex snorted shaking her head back and forth at his lame excuse for a joke as he shrugged his shoulders. "At least Sideswipe and a few of the others will be glad to see you once again. Though I think Ratchet would dismantle you and change you into some kind of interesting little gadget he can think of."
This forced a smile from Alex as she remembered all the times Ratchet threatened mechs like Sideswipe when he was too careless in a fight. But they all knew the medic well enough that he could not live without knowing one of his comrades needed him.
"…none of the others know you are coming." Prowl continued speaking.
"They don't know I'm coming," she interrupted to which he gave a small glare.
"No they don't. This mission needed to be tight lipped till we can get a hold of whoever is doing this to us." He growled something he didn't do very often.
Alex frowned. "What exactly is going on there Prowl? Something is up and to me it doesn't sound good."
Shaking his head Prowl spoke. "No Alex it isn't. What I gave Colonel Lennox was only a cover up to what we really need you to help us with. I won't go into the details here, we will have to wait till Prime can address you too. But know that we would be eternally grateful if we can get this whole thing resolved."
Looking back out the window Alex let her mind wander as to what could be so bad at the autobot base. If it were another decepticon attack, Colonel Lennox would have been on it as quick as could be. But the cons had been relatively quite for a while and there was no sign of them anywhere either. Not knowing what else that could warrant such an operation, Alex lent back in her chair as Skyfire continued to fly towards the oncoming autobot base.
"Autobot base in five minutes Prowl," Skyfire said over the comms, making Alex jump in her seat having just realized she had dozed off for a bit.
Looking out the window Alex let out a huge gasp as the land before her opened up into a vast area that seemed to go on for miles. Six years away and the autobots were busy making what the government had given them into a vast network of buildings and one giant structure that connected all of them together.
She knew what she was looking at was impressive to her; she could only imagine what their planet Cybertron must have looked like before its demise.
"It may not be much, but it's home," the mech besides her said as Skyfire touched town on the runway and began slowing his form coming to a rolling stop by one of the buildings.
Prowl's holoform disappeared and Alex stood up and headed back into the cargo bay, the door already open. Her unit was already up and waiting for her when she went over to grab her things, slinging the duffle bag once more over her shoulder. They then proceeded out of the cargo bay where Prowl was already in his bipedal mode.
"Copy that Jazz, make sure to send Brawn and Hotshot out to grab the cargo please."
Prowl cut the line he was talking on off, before kneeling down and placing a hand upon the ground. "Come let us get you guys out before they come in and see you."
Jason and the others looked to Alex who nodded her head and stepped up onto Prowl's black hand. She beckoned the others on as well though she could see the slight nervousness in being picked up by a giant robot. But she trusted Prowl and knew nothing would come of her or her unit so there was nothing to worry about yet.
Prowl walked away from the building they were sitting in front of and over towards another set of buildings that seemed to scatter in different directions. Alex looked and noticed a giant size door that was shut tight but on the wall next to it was a control panel. The black and white mech typed in a code and the door slide open with ease.
The humans on his hand each let out some kind of noise at the expanse of the hallway and even Alex looked impressed by what she saw. It seemed to stretch on for miles at least in human terms, but for an autobot they could cover it in half the time with their giant steps.
Doors lined either side of the hallways, spaced equally apart and on the walls next to each door were names, both written in human and Cybertronian language. Below each of the names were panels just like the ones outside and a bunch of what assumed to be numbers written in their language.
"Offices?" asked Alex looking around.
"No, these are our quarters for when we recharge. There is a lift over in the back here that will take you down 3 more levels for the rest of the autobots quarters." He explained pointing out the lift as he walked past it. "Sadly we could not put all the quarters on level flooring so we had to make due with what the government has kindly given to us."
A snort left Alex's mouth knowing that he didn't say that to lightly, the other men looking at her weirdly. Prowl took a left out of the hallway and began walking down another hallway before taking a right.
"There is a brig down that way," Prowl pointed out to the left as a hallway opened up that led downwards into the ground before disappearing from their site. "We will let you guys explore more of the base once we have met with Prime. I am taking you the long way around the base since the rec room and our offices are so close to one another."
Alex nodded as they took another right as she could hear the telltale sign of more voices drifting down the hallways, bouncing off the walls.
"…come on Jazz, tell us why we are all here already." One mech boomed and Alex grinned at hearing Ironhide's gruff voice.
"Ahm gettin' there, just chill big guy." Another more sleek voice spoke up.
Prowl took a left this time and the voices of the other autobot's began to fade a bit from their hearing. Taking one last left he started down the end of this hallway towards the very back, were a giant size door stood, one big enough for a giant size mech to go through.
Alex shifted nervously on Prowl's hand, Jason placing his hand gently on her shoulder offering her a bit of comfort. Thankful for him she watched as the black and white mech raised his hand and knocked on the door, which slid open as soon as he stopped.
Prowl stepped inside and the door shut behind him and he began making his way over to the giant size desk, where an equally giant size mech sat behind it. The black and white mech placed his hand gently down upon the desk and there the six humans each stepped off. They all turned to look up at Optimus Prime leader of the autobots.
"Welcome," his voice boomed out but in a gentle manner that had each of them relaxing a bit. His optics regarded each human in turn, before finally settling on Alex who was looking down at her feet. "Alex?" She looked up into his eyes. A smile touched the leaders face. "I welcome you back amongst us as a friend and family."
Author Notes: Alright everyone there you go, finally touched down back at the base. You guys know what to do and leave that review! Thanks again for reading!