Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.
Warning: some slight sexual innuendo; just so you're aware okay? oh, and a whole bunch of verbal profanity towards the end of the chapter.
LEMONS & CHERRIES
Chapter 2: Meet The Cousins, & Welcome to Earth
The next morning:
"-So, any incoming data from the automated scanners is instantly uploaded to the network where necessary, so it saves having to manually switch between the programs and potentially create a conflict between the software alignments" Moonshine explained as she pressed a button on Glen's CTG, and a small hologram instantly flickered to life from out of the gauntlet's holo-projector, and a list of data began scrolling down.
"So any alterations in the code could crash the whole thing" Glen realized, "I'll have to make a note of that"
"Oh, I already have!" Moonshine beamed, "You didn't think I'd make these and not install an instruction manual? Everything you need to know is on there, filed under the maintenance folder"
This morning had started on quite a nice note for the NEST 'interns'; seated on Moonshine's metallic belly and shoulders as she curled up right next to the humans mess area: the femme had been explaining the ins and outs of their new 'equipment' over breakfast/first energon rations of the day. To say they were impressed was certainly an understatement: the new gauntlets had attracted the attention of most of the other NEST troops as they wandered over to get a better look. All throughout breakfast the kids had been fiddling and messing around with their CTG's, trying to get a feel for them.
Switching the holo-projector of her CTG on, Morri was amazed at the small laptop-like layout of the hologram; as she waved her hand through the sculptured laser-light, the icons and keys responded to her fingers and their movement. Right away she tried to move the cursor around, but found it wasn't as easy as it looked, and as she tried to adjust her fingers to achieve the desired result, she couldn't help but smile as a little green warning sign kept reminding her that she wasn't doing it right. "How the hell do you control this thing?" she chuckled.
"Oh you'll get the hang of it, you can adjust the touch-scanners for a more comfortable setting" Moonshine replied
"Damn it you kids get all the fun stuff to play with" one of the rookie soldiers huffed
"Hey when do I get me one' o those?" another rookie asked offhand
"When you grow up" Bishop stated tonelessly as he strode into the mess area, all at once every soldier stood to attention: "At ease: as you were gentlemen" he added as he wandered over to the canteen. At that moment Major Lennox walked in, and the tone of the atmosphere immediately changed as he sat down and heaved a heavy sigh.
"Hey..." Miles offered, "...Sorry about last night dude"
"It's okay ..." Will waved it off, but the downcast mood on his face was plain to see for all, "At least no one was hurt"
"Yeah but having your home burgled? That ain't on man" Glen replied
"Will the insurance cover the damages?" Tom asked
"They said we'll be okay for the security upgrade and the cost of the electrical appliances," the Major sighed, "But getting our personal belongings back? ...You can't put a price on something that's been so dear to your heart"
"You mean Sarah's broach? She told me about it over the phone: she's really broken up about it" Mikaela replied.
"That broach had been in her family for over four generations: the emerald and diamonds came all the way from India, and were cut and set by one of the finest jewelers in Vienna; it was only one of twenty ever made, and now it's being pawned somewhere for a quick buck" Will stated bitterly.
"Well? The police did say they managed to get a clean set of finger prints off the door and windows, that's a good start as any, right?" Becca offered, trying to lighten the mood.
"If it's anything at all; they're all out looking for that serial killer at the moment, they've hardly got anyone to spare as it is" Will huffed.
"Speaking of which: I heard the news bulletin earlier, apparently they found more victims" Morri pointed to the radio.
: -And now, the morning news at eight' o clock...: said the radio sitting on the canteen counter.
"Hey! Turn that up! I wanna listen!-" Miles hollered to one of the cooks, who promptly turned the volume up; as if on cue the whole mess paused and fell silent, listening with particular interest as the news reader continued.
: ... This morning, the hunt for the Tranquility Valley killer took a grizzly turn with the discovery of three new bodies found dumped in sparse woodland on the north side of the Tranquility National Park. Discovered by one of the park's rangers at around five o' clock this morning, the bodies had been excoriated, decapitated, and completely drained of their blood. Police were able to confirm the killer's connection to the victims from forensic evidence left at the scene; however, finding the perpetrator is easier said than done, as no new leads have emerged that might point authorities to a likely suspect... This comes just three days after the discovery of a shallow mass grave deep in the heart of the park: where today police forensic investigators have confirmed the remains of over eighty two victims: all female and all having met their end, in what authorities are describing as 'an exercise in pure evil, and absolute sadism at its worst'. However, whether this will be the final figure remains uncertain, as the investigators have expanded their search to cover more ground, and to try and determine just how many more victims there are... At the present time the authorities have announced that the park will be closed and patrolled around the clock, so as to try and flush the killer out and prevent further abductions; police are advising all hunter's, campers, hikers and wildlife enthusiasts to vacate the park immediately and to warn others to stay away until further notice. We'll keep you posted as the details come in; and now onto to today's financial news-: the cook turned the radio off. A collective wave of gasps and sighs rippled throughout the mess as everyone went back to eating they're breakfasts.
"Eighty two?!" Danny's face dropped
"That's sick dude" Miles winced uncomfortably
"Yeah but, eighty two victims? How the hell do you get away with that much murder without anyone noticing anything?" Becca gasped
"It's a pretty remote area" Epps said offhand, "Me an' my brother camped up there once when we were kids; once you get up past the valley and you're at the foot of the mountain, your about ten miles from anywhere in either direction. You could do anything in that forest and no one would know"
"It was only sheer dumb luck that bug guy stumbled across it in the first place" Sam replied
"Bug guy?" Becky asked
"Oh, the first report of the grave's location said that some bug expert from the university was out studying moths or something in that area, he lost his footing on one of the trails and fell down right on top of it. He got reacquainted with his lunch and breakfast real fast" Sam explained
"And ever since then they've been churning bodies out one after another" Tom sighed
"Think they'll catch him?" Mikaela asked offhand
"That remains to be seen, but if and when they do it'll be straight to the needle for him" Bishop threw in as he walked out of the mess with an apple in hand.
"Geez, and I thought the cons were sadistic" Moonshine grimaced
"Yep, there are some pretty fucked up weirdo's out there" Miles nodded nonchalantly,
"...Could-, you excuse me? I gotta go-" Darren blurted out as he hastily got up from his table, grabbed his laptop and strode out of the mess without even saying his usual 'catch you guys later'. The kids watched him in bemusement as he disappeared out the door, somewhat curious at his subtle change in attitude.
"What was that all about?" Will raised a curious eyebrow.
"Dunno, but he's been real quiet this past month" Glen shrugged
"It started a couple of weeks ago-" Mikaela interjected as she slid off of Moonshine's belly and sat down next to the Major: "...He's been having 'family issues' at home. Ever since the hunt for Barricade went to kerb-side duty he's been home a lot more than usual, and from what I gather he's been having trouble with his cousins" she explained in a hushed voice.
"Trouble? Prime did mention to me the other day that he's been off his game of late" Will replied, "Has he said anything to you guys?" he glanced over at the other kids.
"Not anything specific" the Waineright twins shrugged
"Whatever it is he won't talk to us about it, and Trailbreaker's been keeping pretty discreet too" Morri offered
Contemplating the issue for a quick moment, Will got up and left the mess.
"Where're you going?" Glen called over
"To talk to him" Will called over his shoulder as he disappeared around the door.
"What was that all about?" Ashley asked as he approached the table with two treys of food and three mugs of tea in hand.
"No idea" Morri raised a quizzical eyebrow
"Ah well..." Ashley shrugged as he sat up at the table, and eyed both plates, which were practically two small mountains of English breakfast with the full works: staring at the food in wide-eyed amazement, the others were somewhat lost for words as the hybrid eagerly tucked into his first plate-load.
"Uh? Have you got enough there?" Tom grimaced as he eyed the sheer amount of fried food.
"What? I'm hungry" Ashley innocently replied.
A few minutes later:
Casually strolling into Wheeljack's lab was not something one did lightly: considering the inventor's partialness for tinkering with devices that had a tendency to blow up unexpectedly, it was understandable that many of the NEST troops didn't venture in here, unless they were accompanied by one of the other bots or by one of their own demolition squad. Unless you knew the layout of the place and had a good idea where most of the volatile inventions were housed, it didn't pay to come into the lab offhand.
Despite the fact he'd been in here dozens of times before, the sight of the chaotic lab and its varying clutter still made the Major nervous on occasion: wondering if something might blow up, or worse. He didn't dawdle, and made a beeline straight for the inventor, who was (literally) knee deep in some strange machine, tinkering around with the wires and cables and getting more and more tangled up himself.
"Hey uh? Wheeljack?" Will called up to him; the Autobot inventor glanced around, then down at the floor: "Major!" he beamed as he removed his welding mask and bent down, "What brings you to my lab?"
"The intern duty roster had Darren down for basic maintenance with you today, is he around?"
"Sure, he's in the back," Wheeljack thumbed over his shoulder to the door at the far end of the room, "Just watch your feet as you step in, I haven't had a chance to pick up the cables yet" the inventor added as he placed his mask back on and got back to work. The Major navigated his way through the mess of piled up junk and other strange things until he slipped through the door and gingerly stepped over the mass of cables snaking in all directions across the floor. At the end of the room, sitting atop one of the bot-sized shelving units, Darren glanced down and was a little surprised to see the major standing there.
"Hey there" Will greeted
"Hi" Darren replied nonchalantly, "If you want that report I'll be finishing it up later: I couldn't finish it the day before as Frenzy kept nicking my paper"
"The report can wait..." Will stated as he climbed up the shelf and sat next to him on the edge, "I'm here to talk"
"Talk? About what? I ain't got no problem" Darren replied as he got back to work.
"I think we both know that's not quite true..." Will stated softly. Darren paused, put his tools down, and glanced up at the Major; for a moment he didn't reply, and as he studied the man, he realized he might not be able to make excuses. "...I don't wish to pry," Will sighed, "But-, everyone's been worried about you. You're work's not been up to your usual standard and Prime's been wondering if everything's okay?"
"I'm fine..." Darren stated bluntly as he got back to work, but as several seconds passed, a glazed look came over his eyes and he stopped and heaved a heavy disappointed sigh, "...No, I'm not fine..." he admitted reluctantly.
"Care to share it with me? ..." Will offered
Darren looked at him sceptically; but knowing this was his friend he was talking to, something at the back his mind told him it was okay, and so he sighed again as he raked his thoughts on where to begin. "...Things-...haven't been going well with my family of late..." he stated, the reluctance in his voice wasn't hard to miss, but the Major simply nodded in understanding.
"Family issues?" he asked
"Yeah, and not the good kind..." Darren explained uncomfortably, "...Three years ago, my dad found out that his little brother, Andrew, had-, taken his own life... They hadn't seen each other since they were kids, and my dad and his brother (my uncle) had spent time trying to find him when they could...Needless to say Dad's been pretty depressed about it: not all the time, but-, there are moments when he can't help but feel guilty for not finding him sooner; my uncle too, only he took it harder"
"I'm so sorry"
"I didn't know the guy so it's no great loss on me, but dad and Uncle Will-"
"Uncle Will?" Lennox grinned
"Yeah, two Wills I know, how about that?" Darren smiled offhand, "Anyway-" he continued, "-He and Uncle Will have been trying to make sense of it. But that's only been half the issue, as not only did we all learn about Andrew's suicide, but he was a father too"
"You have cousins?" Will blinked in surprise
"Yeah, but at the time we were told about it they were both pulling a six month stint in Juvi: oh, and he'd been dead for over ten years, they only just found out about it (at the time) because someone in family services dropped the ball with the paperwork: so we didn't know until three years ago" Darren sarcastically explained
"So no one in the family knew he'd been dead all that time? What'd happened to?..."
"Max and Chelsea..." Darren added, "They were with their mom: came and went most of the time (mostly went); not that she was an ideal mother as she had priors for drug dealing, theft, prostitution and GBH, not to mention she had serious anger management issues. After they went to juvi she packed up, left home, and has been AWOL ever since; didn't leave any forwarding number, address, nothing"
"Shame on her" Will thought aloud; he was half tempted to ask why his cousins had been sent to juvi in the first place, but he thought it best not to be too nosy: "...So what happened?
"After their sentence was up the state and family services handed them over to my Uncle, making him and Aunt Lorie their legal guardians. They went to live with them and my other cousins: Roxy, Allie, Rosy, Jeanie, Lizzy and Violet, and from day one it's been one Jerry Springer show after another" he drolled
"Conflict of character?"
"Conflict of everything" Darren huffed, "It's bad enough discovering you have a family you had no idea existed before, but when you've been living on the streets near the red light district most of your life there's gonna be way more than just a few differences that set you apart from everyone else in the family"
"Ah, differences in upbringing" Will nodded
"That barely even covers it: for the first year the girls were always fighting with the family, over anything and everything. Finally it got so bad that their parole officer signed them up for family counseling, and they couldn't back out or they'd go straight back to juvi: the whole family had to attend too (which didn't sit well with most)...After the 'counseling' was complete things quietened down and it was actually pretty okay for a while; Chelsea finally began to come around and she managed to get herself together at last. But Max was still quite resentful, she may not have constantly ranted about it but she still found ways to let us all know she couldn't give a shit about us...For the most part nothing major went down, until a few months ago when Max and Uncle Will had a major falling out, and soon after that, I found this..." Darren reached into his pocket, pulled out a small envelop and handed it to the Major, "...When they first came to live with the family Dad wanted to make sure they'd be okay, but at the same time he wanted to be certain they didn't get up to anything that could mean trouble; so, after agreeing to help him out in return for some favors I started hacking Uncle Will's computer and the girl's laptops: not to pry too much or anything like that, but just to check for anything that might suggest something was off. And sure enough I found out that Max was still in touch with her old crew: but more than that, she was planning to pull that off..." he gestured to the envelope.
Will took out the letter inside: and as he read over its contents, his eyebrows flew up in surprise. "She was going to say he raped her?"
"Yes (not that the police would believe her anyway, they already checked him out and he's clean). She'd been blackmailing him for weeks while we were gone in that other universe. That morning I left to come to the base, the day we were supposed to go camping? My hacking programme picked up that email and forwarded it to my laptop while simultaneously deleting it from the computer Max had drafted it on. That's the only printed copy, and as far as she knows it was a Trojan virus that made the computer loose the email"
"Unbelievable..." Will breathed as he handed him back the letter,
"Uncle Will didn't tell the police 'cuz he wanted to try and handle it his own way; but, it's not really been working out: things went downhill while I was gone and now Max is out every night and sometimes doesn't come back for days at a time, and when she is home it's only to pick up food, clothes and cash; but worse for her, this time around Chelsea doesn't want to hang with her anymore, and that's pissed her off big-time"
"They close?"
"When they first came to live with the family they did everything together: totally inseparable; but over the last three years Chelsea's realized that there's more to life than being-, her 'old self', that she didn't have to be, 'what she was' anymore. But Max is way too stubborn to see anything past her own selfishness and cynicism, and it's starting to really push everyone to the edge...Things have been bad, but they've never been this bad before..." Darren sighed as he held his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes.
'What she was? ...' the Major thought curiously: "...What do you want to do?" he asked
"Hm?"
"Look, if you need time off to go sort things out with your family I'd gladly sign you off for-"
"No no it's okay, really: I've been doing this as best I know how, and that's through a computer. I get brain-ache trying to figure out ordinary women at the best of times, but my cousins? They're a Molotov cocktail waiting to rip my balls off..." he drolled, but then paused as a look of regret came over his face, "...No, that's not fair on Jeanie and Allie, or Chelsea; their okay, them I can have a conversation with. But the rest? Roxy's the most hated slut on Facebook, Rosy can't even spell the word 'blue' forget having much of a brain to figure anything else out that even a layman would pick up in a heartbeat, Lizzy's a one-girl prank-spree who could literally prank the proverbial pants off both the Chevy and Lambo twins in her sleep, and Violet? She's just a spoilt brat who knows how to throw the mother of all temper-tantrums. I can't win whichever way I try to engage them, but when Max comes into the picture? Oh boy, it's time to hunker in the bunker and wait for the ceasefire: you don't wanna get in the middle of that kinda carnage, and with that letter now common knowledge to everyone, it's been an all-out bloodbath"
Will let a moment of silence pass, letting the tension mellow out before he spoke up again: "...So what are you trying to do?"
"...I'm trying the best I can..." was all Darren found he could say. "It's bad enough my dad and his brother are still grieving Andrew, but with the girls constantly fighting, and mum and Aunt Lorie struggling to keep everything in perspective (and everyone in check, lest there be any violent domestic disturbances); Everyone is pulling everyone is all different directions, and I'm left to try and pick up the pieces..." he paused a moment as he drew in breath, "...I'm doing what I can, all I can for my family; but no matter what happens it's just getting worse..."
Another long paused dragged out between them: despite the fact Darren's face was blank and unwavering, the stress and despair was there in his eyes: no tears nor sadness, but rather sense of being lost, stressed, and confused. Will put his arm around him, and gently patted him on the shoulder.
"...Does Trailbreaker know?" Will asked softly
"I know..." the black bot softly replied as he walked into the room, "Please, forgive my 'eves-dropping', but I heard you talking and-, I couldn't help but listen..." he offered demurely as he walked over to the shelf and gently cupped his hand around his charge, letting him lean back into his fingers. "It's okay bud..." Darren sighed, as he stroked his thumb.
"I worry for him," Trailbreaker sighed, "And I'm at a loss what to do"
"Well? ..." the Major thought a moment as he tried to sum up the right wisdom to offer: "...When trying to resolve a crisis, sometimes you have to step back, and try to-
: Alert! Code amber, four Autobot ID signatures detected: approaching earth's orbit and commencing planet-fall within ten minutes: All Autobots report to the command center immediately: Teletran blared over the base's intercom speakers.
Glancing at one another in astonishment, it was a second before Trailbreaker scooped up the two humans into his hands, bounded over the mess in Wheeljack's lab, and jogged down the corridor towards the command center.
"Four new bots?!" Darren gasped,
"I know! What luck!" Trailbreaker grinned
"Who are they?" Will asked as he tried to steady himself
"No idea, but we'll know once we get to the command hub!" the black bot replied as he joined the other bots and NEST troops who were all running in the same direction.
A little while later: in Tranquility:
The tension in the car was uncomfortable
As she twiddled her thumbs, staring down at the foot-well, her sister let out another sharp huff: like a puff adder sizing up its enemy. Sensing her little sister's anxiety, she let out a long sigh and tried to let some of the tension in her frustration go.
"Look, I'm not angry at you okay? I'm just-, still pissed off about last night" Roxy vented.
"I know..." Allie replied nervously, "But-, you still shouldn't yelled at her like that, you know she can't control her temper"
"Yeah well that's not my problem, if that little trailer-trash bitch hadn't stolen my cell to be calling her homies at all hours of the night, we wouldn't have had that little 'conversation' would we?" Roxy frowned
"You threw Jeanie's spaghetti at her" Allie pointed out
"I don't care! She started it!" she whined, at that Allie instantly shut up. Roxy pulled the car over to the side of the street, where her two other sisters were waiting with a couple of bags of groceries in hand: they loaded their shopping into the trunk and got into the back; after buckling up, Roxy sped off, narrowly missing an old man and his dog as they tried to cross the street.
"Starbucks?" Roxy asked
"Starbucks" Rosy nodded
"Get all the groceries?" Allie asked, trying to make light conversation
"All the stuff that was wasted last night" Jeanie sighed as she folded her arms in discontent, "Stuff which, by the way I forked out for!"
"Oh get over it already it was just dinner" Roxy scoffed
"Dinner I spent nearly an hour putting together" Jeanie frowned at her eldest sister, "You just had to be immature didn't you?"
Roxy didn't reply, and made her way to their favorite Starbucks; once parked up and paid for their coffee, the girls sat at their favorite table outside the front of the cafe, watching the people stroll by as they sipped their lattes, mocha's and cappuccinos. But despite the silence, the uneasiness and tension from said incident was hanging over them like a dark cloud; unable to take it anymore, Jeanie glanced at Roxy with a reprimanding look.
"Chelsea cried all night last night" she stated purposely
"And I give a shit because?" Roxy nonchalantly glanced at her
"You provoked that fight on purpose" Jeanie frowned
"As if!-" Roxy scoffed, "Look, this whole thing was her fault, if she and her sister-"
"Oh please! Not this again!" Jeanie facepalmed, "Look, she just wanted to call Max to check to see if she was okay; I was gonna give her my cell to borrow, but somehow your cell ended up in her bag before I could even ask"
"Not my fault she stole it" Roxy shot back as she took a sip of her latte
"Her bag was in her room the whole time and I know for a fact she had the door locked..." Jeanie glared at her, "...What did you bribe Lizzy with this time? And don't lie to me Roxy, we both know Lizzy can pick locks as good as any cat-burglar: what did you promise her this time huh?"
Roxy didn't reply
"Fine, be that way: but just so you know, dad wants to talk to you about last night"
"Whatever, it's not my fault those bitches decided to make a mess of our lives; and what they did this time is totally unforgivable!"
"I'll admit, that letter was totally reckless-"
"Reckless?" Rosy cut in, "They were gonna tell the police our dad's a pedophile! That's way more than just reckless Jeanie!"
Jeanie paused a moment as she tried to think
"What? You can't think of anything to justify that little white lie? How the fuck can you stand up for them? After everything they've done you would gladly turn your back on your own family for a couple of thieving trailer-trash sluts?" Roxy argued facetiously.
"Max has taken this to a new low, I'll admit; but Chelsea had nothing to do with that letter!" Jeanie shot back
"And you know that for a fact?" Rosy frowned
"Yes"
Roxy looked her square in the eye for a moment, before smiling: "Liar. You know she helped write that letter, you just don't wanna be proved wrong" she scoffed
"What? This isn't about me!" Jeanie protested
"Oh isn't it? Little miss Dr Phil trying to get us all to make up and be all goody-goody to each other? Give it a rest Jeanie, no one's interested" Roxy sarcastically retorted
"Then why hasn't dad thrown them out of the house yet? Our better yet, why didn't he call the police?"
Roxy paused, as did the other sisters, who stared at her in confusion.
"Dad is trying like crazy to keep this family from falling apart, and none of you are helping! If anyone's as much the cause of the problem it's you!"
Roxy looked away nonchalantly.
"What? You got nothing to come back with?" Jeanie shot back, "Do us all a favor Roxy and keep your trap shut for a change"
"But-" Allie tried to cut in, "What about Lizzy and Violet? Don't they get a say in this?"
"Uhg!-" Roxy huffed in annoyance, "Allie, Violet's seven years old, she's way too young to know what the hell's going on, and Lizzy's too much of a pre-teen and wrapped up in her own bullshit to care anyway. This whole thing is on our plate, and I'll be fucked if I have to live under the same roof as the trailer-trash"
"Seriously, that letter was the last straw" Rosy threw in, "You can't get any lower that that"
Jeanie was about to argue back when Roxy's cell phone suddenly went off, drawing the girl's attention when the display screen indicated 'Lizzy' was calling. Passing another annoyed huff, Roxy whipped the flip-phone open and grumbled: "What is it Lizzy?"
: Hey sis! Uh? Listen, I'm kinda sorta in a bit of tight spot, do you think you could maybe swing by and perhaps pick me up? : Lizzy asked in a sugary sweet voice.
"And what makes you think I'll help you, runt?" Roxy shot back in a factious tone
At that moment, a click could be heard over the phone, followed by the sound of two people breathing heavily and moaning together in ecstasy: Roxy's face nearly dropped when she recognized one of the voices was her own, and nearly choked on her coffee when she heard herself cry out: "Oh my god! You're cock's so much bigger than Steve's!"
: I'll tell mom and dad all about your little 'museum trip' with Ken last week, that is, if you don't get your ass over here right now and pick me up; they don't have to know a thing: Lizzy added, the smugness in her voice wasn't hard to miss, and Roxy began to seethe: "You little bitch" she growled into the phone.
: I know: Lizzy added nonchalantly, purposely rubbing it in,: Now get over here, twenty minutes, don't be late, and be sure to bring a spare latte with you, I'm parched! : And with that, the other end of the line went dead. Closing her phone with a hard snap, Roxy was about to let rip, when she noticed her sister's staring at her in a deadpan tone.
"What?" she demanded
"Who did you sleep with this time?" Jeanie drolled
Roxy nearly chocked: "Wha-" But Jeanie whipped her hand up and stopped her right there: "Just-, don't... " She grumbled in exasperation, making it clear she was in no mood to be palmed off with any more bullshit today. "Go get the car, I'll get another latte, and we'll go"
Deciding not to argue, Roxy got up and fumbled around her handbag for her car keys: followed closely by her sisters as she made her way back to where she'd parked the car, all the while cursing and promising a world of hurt for her little sister when she finally got her hands on her.
Thirty miles west of Tranquility:
Four flaming meteors streaked through the clouded sky in a near-perfect formation, coming in at a steep angle and hitting the ground simultaneously with a mighty BOOOM! Sending up a giant plume of dirt, sand and rock; as their outer exteriors cooled down, the flames subsided: revealing four smooth cybertronian interstellar travel pods. Suddenly, one of the pods opened up and transformed into its bipedal mode; stretching its legs out and standing up, the grey and silver cybertronian looked around at its surroundings, before planting both hands on its hips and huffing in frustration : "Well this sucks!" she vented.
"Oh come on Veebee! We only just got here!" one of the other pods replied, as it too transformed and stood upright, followed by the other two, who were equally surprised and curious at the sight of the desert scrub.
"This, is where we're gonna be living?!" the first femme gestured to the surrounding scrub, "Bluebird, it's covered in dirt and-, EWW! Organic things!" she cringed with horror as she spotted a lizard dart under a rock, "Where're the refueling stations huh? The energon refineries? The body shops!" she whined, "Look at me! I look like I just got sucked into an insecticon's tailpipe and spat out through his fuel port!"
"We just traveled over eight million light years of outer space! What did you think you were gonna look like?!" the smaller of the four retorted as she folded her arms.
"A damn slaggin sight better than this Firefly!"
"Hey come on," the third femme put both her arms around them, "Let's not start our first day on earth with another cyber-cat fight okay? We're here now, we're all in one piece, and we got ourselves a new planet to call home!" she beamed
"Tangostar, if this is Prime's idea of a home he's more over the hill than I thought!" Veebee scoffed
"Well, his message didn't give any specifics, just the co-ordinates the solar system" Bluebird replied offhand
"Look, I'm sure the base must be nearby, we did land on the right continent so it can't be more than a few thousand miles away at least" Tangostar threw in.
"Then in that case, we better start making tracks" Bluebird stated as she climbed up out of the hole and started walking off.
"Where're you going?!" Veebee called after her.
"To try and find an altmode: according to the 'in-ter-net', the native species drives around in terrain vehicles, we're gonna need a good modal if we're to blend in" she replied, glancing at each other, the three femmes scrambled out and took off after her. Before long, they could hear the sound of traffic, and as they cautiously peered out from around a rock formation, they saw a huge highway with countless vehicles speeding by.
"Wow!" Tangostar breathed
"Awesome!" Firefly beamed
"Look at all those designs!" Veebee squealed with excitement, "Oh my Primus! I'm gonna be the talk of the base with that for an altmode!" she smiled as she eyed a particularly flashy black Lamborghini roar by.
"Their all pretty impressive, but remember, we need-" Bluebird stopped in her tracks when she saw a little VW 2000 pull over to the side of the highway. "...Perfect!" she beamed, "That'll do all of us nicely!"
"That stumpy little thing?!" Veebee gawked
"Kinda looks cute to me" Tangostar beamed
"Meh, I don't mind" Firefly shrugged, "Just as long as I can pick my own color this time"
"Three outta four: majority wins Veebee" Bluebird smirked; Veebee grumbled something under her breath before sighing in defeat: "Fine!"
And with that, the femmes all activated their scanners and scanned the car inside and out, once complete, the femmes all transformed into their new altmode's and changed the paint color too; Veebee's was a bold bright pink with a magenta iridescence, Bluebird was a pale sky blue with turquoise iridescence, Tangostar's was a tangerine orange with a peach iridescence, and Firefly's was a pale mint green with lime green iridescence.
"Nice!" Bluebird smiled to herself through her new car radio
"Not bad I guess?" Veebee proverbially shrugged
"I guess I can make this work" Firefly threw in,
"Then let's get going!" Tangostar revved her engines up, "I'm hunkering for a tall cube of the pink stuff!", Voicing their agreement, the three other sisters took off onto the highway, following the flow of traffic as it made its way westwards.
"So? Any ideas where to start looking for the other Autobots?" Veebee asked offhand
"Well first of all, it would be prudent to do some research; find out where this route is going and if there's any way it'll lead us to our destination" Bluebird reasoned
"Ohohohoh! According to this 'in-ter-net' there's a human city about thirty 'my-yells' up ahead! Some place called 'Tranquility'!" Firefly eagerly spoke up as she scanned the internet.
"Well? With a name like that it can't be all bad eh?" Tangostar reasoned
"Agreed, let's make a start scouting there" Bluebird agreed as she took point and led the way.
"You know? I gotta good feeling about this!" Firefly added.
An hour later, back in Tranquility:
As if the tension in the car was tense enough, Lizzy wasn't doing herself any favors as she sat wedged between Rosy and Allie in the backseat with a smug look of satisfaction plastered across her face, secretly reveling in the victory of her latest prank. In the driver's seat, Roxy kept her eyes on the road with a seething look of ire burning in her eyes. She hated it when her little sister blackmailed her, and this time she had her by the proverbial balls.
"Oh come on!" Lizzy finally broke the silence, "What are you all so miserable about? We got out okay and no one got hurt, so what's the beef?"
"The 'beef' is that you stole the football team's jockstraps, painted them florescent pink and hung them all up on the school flag pole!" Jeanie frowned
"They had it coming, that's what you get for trying to cheat me at poker" Lizzy scoffed
"You shouldn't have crashed their poker night in the first place!" Jeanie angrily shot back
"Hey, Cherry bombs, itching power and laxatives don't pay for themselves you know? And with mom and dad still keeping my allowance back I need some moolah to keep my supplies stocked up!" the pre-teen retorted
"Regardless, that was reckless. Funny, but reckless" Rosy pointed out
"And that doesn't even begin to cover the sheer lack of regard you have for your safety as well as other peoples! What if you'd been caught? Those guys are seriously hardcore with the tempers to match! And that quarter-back Ricky Simons is a class-A jerk who'd beat the crap outta you in a heartbeat!" Jeanie shot at her. "He's not gonna go easy on you just 'cuz you're a kid!"
"What're you so worried for? It's not like you come along or anything" Lizzy huffed as she folded her arms.
"That's not the point! You could've gotten hurt or worse, actually caught!" Jeanie reprimanded.
"Pft!-" Lizzy waved off in a blase manner, "That'll never happen, I'm way too slick to get caught by those brain-dead idiots; besides, if I do get caught I'll have you guys to bail me out, I'm your little sister and wouldn't let anything happen to me!" she scoffed
"What?!"
"No way!"
"Uh-uh! If you think for one fucking minute I'd coming running to save your skinny ass, think again! This is the last time I do anything for you, you little parasite! The next time you're in trouble you can haul your own ass home!" Roxy fumed
"Yeah, and have me tell mom and dad (and Facebook) all about your 'flings', 'one-offs', 'booty-call's' and 'stolen boyfriends'? I still got all the recordings and camera footage, and you don't know where I've hidden them, so? Yeah, I'm gonna be requiring 'big-sis taxi service' for quite a while yet" Lizzy grinned slyly.
Roxy nearly all but lost it as she gripped the wheel so tight that her knuckles turned white. At that moment she slammed on the breaks as she approached a crossing, and as the little old lady standing at the kerb proceed to hobble across to the other side, Roxy wound down the window, and let loose her pent up frustration as she (essential) told her to hurry up, unleashing a string of curses and every profanity known to man at the poor woman. A tall burly sailor walking down the street blushed with embarrassment as he hid his face under his cap while the other people in the street stared at her in a mix of shock, horror, amusement and surprise.
Once she reached the other side, the little old lady turned and flipped the bird at her: "Go buy yourself some manners you little blonde shithead!" she shouted angrily. Roxy was about to go in for round two when Jeanie reached her foot across to the pedals and slammed on the accelerator, "Save it!" she sternly shouted, "Just get us home!"
Roxy glared daggers at her, but didn't respond as she kept her eyes on the road; while Lizzy tried to stop herself from bursting into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, the other girls merely slouched down in the seats, totally embarrassed, and praying no one had a camera phone back at that crossing.
But then, quiet unexpectedly: smoke began to rise up from under the hood.
"Oh what the fuck now?!" Roxy fumed as she pulled over.
BOOOOM!
The girls screamed in terror as the explosion blew the hood clean off its hinges and a small fire engulfed the whole engine; the sister's all scrambled out and ran some distance down the street, only turning back to watch as the front of the vehicle went up in smoke. As Roxy's frayed nerve ascended to a whole new level, all but Lizzy looked on in shock.
"Huh, so that's where Violet hid my cherry bombs?" Lizzy thought aloud, at that, Roxy whipped her head round and gawked at her in utter shock.
"Oh shit!" she cursed under her breath, realizing it might have been better not to have said that out loud.
At the same time, thirty miles west of Tranquility:
"Well? You don't need an energon residue scanner to tell they landed here" Sam thought aloud as he inspected the still-smoking crater.
"Undoubtedly" Will concurred: "So why didn't they respond to our hails?"
"They must have past too close to the North Pole upon entering the planet's atmosphere and the magnetic field disabled their comm system. Or, they do not know our particular encrypted frequencies" Prime reasoned as he gazed down at the crater. "I followed their trail to the highway. You were right Optimus; they've already acquired new altmode's and have taken off" Ironhide stated as he approached, "So the question now is, which way did they go?" Bluestreak asked offhand as he scratched the back of his helm.
"My instincts say they headed towards the city" Bumblebee suggested, "Plenty of places to hide, and easy enough to lose a pursuing con"
"Very well..." Prime nodded,: All search parties maintain your positions, we're heading into the city to search for them: he informed the other bots over the comm. "...Come, we better go too" he said as she transformed into his Peterbuilt form and reconnected to his trailer: the other bots followed suit, opening their doors for their charges, and then followed the Prime over to the highway, where they joined the steady river of traffic westbound for Tranquility.
"So? Our first ambassadorial duty?" Sam nervously thought aloud, "Man why did I pick the short straw for this?"
"Relax; you'll be great" Bumblebee assured him, "How bad could they be?"
How bad you say Bee? oh you poor simple fool...;)
A/N: the story's gonna start picking up the pace over the next few chapters so it'll be quite a ride!
Also, I wanted to make one thing quite clear: Darren's Uncle Will (Roxy, Allie, Rosy, Jeanie, Lizzy and Violet's father) is not a pedophile, that was a lie Max made up to try and have him do what she wants. False Blackmail? yes, but the thing with pedophilia in general, is that while it's no issue to sneeze at, being accused of it can open a whole can of worms, and even if proved innocent of the crime, it's very hard if not impossible to shake off. Lives can be ruined by it, and its a stigma that can hang around one's neck for the rest of their lives. Max knows this, and isn't afraid to play dirty to get what she wants. We'll be introduced to her in the next chapter, though we won't get a more thorough 'intro' of sorts until a few chapters later when things settle down a little. the same goes for the rest of the girls & femmes too.
Please let me know what you think, & stay tuned!
Love you darlings!
