Chapter Three
AN: Yay. I'm screwed. Not really, just I really don't want to write my homework and make a PowerPoint. I'm not a social person.
Also, wasn't aware nightstep remixes existed, but I'm glad they do.
-:-
Colonel Lennox looked at his surroundings; mountains on all sides, but a flat valley lay between them. This seemed to him like a place that would be able to survive if the world was turned upside down. Farms surrounded the small town airport, leaving no room for expansion. It was a wonder how his plane had managed to land on the tarmac.
He turned to face the three Autobots that had accompanied him; Ironhide still giving the twins an evil eye. Lennox just sighed while he contemplated the best way to handle the situation. He supposed he could go and say that upon investigation the teen was a threat to both Canada's and the United States' security, but he knew that would raise all sorts of questions.
He did have permission to just take her and leave, but that didn't seem very civil. That had been Mearing's suggestion when the Autobots and NEST had told her of the situation. He wasn't overly fond of the woman in charge, but she was better than Galloway by a long shot.
Lennox looked at his feet before climbing into Ironhide. "Alright, Nova should be waiting nearby," he said to the Autobots, who drove off the tarmac and out a side entrance. While in Washington, the twins had fit in better than Ironhide by a bit, however, now that they were in a small town with forestry as its main export, Ironhide looked right at home.
The twins rolled into the parking lot, locating Nova in no time flat, she was the only purple car in the crowded lot. The femme drove over to the others and greeted them. "Lennox, I was wondering something about the way your kind raises young," Nova said as they pulled out onto the highway.
"You're not thinking of being a parent, are you?" Lennox asked, a bit shocked.
Nova nearly drove into oncoming traffic. "Primus no. I was just observing Crystal's family, and it seemed strange to me that the way the older female went about parenting. Is yelling a usual part of the system?"
Lennox looked wide eyed for all of a minute before assuming a neutral expression. "Not at all, Nova. Tell me, what else have you seen over the past week?"
"Well, Crystal got slapped in the head once, I think. Although, not as often as two of her younger male siblings. She sticks up for them as best she can, but in my opinion, the girl is scared and weak."
Lennox could only nod, storing this information in his mind to tell Prime later. "So, how many people are in this family, Nova?"
"As I've observed, two females, four males. Although they call the older female their 'stepmother'. It's a foreign concept for me, but after a quick research I did, I did not know that bonding was not final in your species."
Lennox shook his head. "Not many people now a days 'bond' for life, like you guys." He sat in the passenger seat inside Ironhide and thought for a few minutes. Perhaps he should have a chat with this stepmother of theirs. "Change of plan, we're bringing the entire family along. Sunstreaker, that means you're going to have to carry someone."
Sunstreaker groaned over the comm link. "You can't be serious? I won't hurt one this time, but if one of them so much as touches me, I make no promises."
"Look, from what we know, we can fit three people in the back of Ironhide, and that leaves three others. Only one of the siblings is barely old enough to drive, so that means that you three will need to have your holograms up."
"Can't Ironhide take up to five people in his interior?" the gold twin whined while itching to go faster through traffic.
The older mech grumbled at Sunstreaker. "Arrogant glitch. You will take a human, and that's final, or else when we get back to base I'll have Ratchet weld your aft to the med bay ceiling."
Sunstreaker inwardly rolled his optics before falling into a silent steam of anger. Sideswipe hadn't anticipated his twin being this negative towards humans, so he argued with Lennox and Ironhide that he could have two humans in his alt mode.
Lennox shot him down. "Unfortunately, the oldest, Crystal, would still need an adult. I'm sure Sunstreaker won't be difficult when we arrive."
Sideswipe snorted; the colonel had no idea of how much hate he was getting of the split spark bond at that moment. "We'll see," was all the silver twin said before falling silent.
Everyone remained that way for the rest of the trip, which only lasted about another minute before Nova pulled over on the side of the road, letting Ironhide pull into the driveway of the duplex the family lived in. Sunstreaker parked on the side of the road behind Nova, while Sideswipe pulled in behind Ironhide.
Lennox jumped out of Ironhide while the others activated their holoforms and began to walk to the front door.
-:-
Crystal sat in the living room, watching children cartoons with David, because, really, there was nothing to do. Her ears perked at the sound of two cars pulling into what sounded like her driveway. Curious, she got up from the couch and pulled back the curtains to have a glance outside.
When she saw the Corvette in the driveway, that was all she saw, ignoring every other car there. It had to be the most beautiful car she had ever seen. She had even failed to see the five people walking down her driveway and approaching the front door.
The teen was brought out of her day dreaming when the doorbell rang out loud and clear. Looking around the room for a second before registering that it was the door, she made her way to the front door and opened it and the screen door.
"Hello? Can I help you people?"
Lennox stood in front of the group. "We're looking for a Crystal Charbaneau."
"I'm listening," Crystal said, urging the man to continue.
The man nodded. "Right, we need you and your family to come with us. It's kind of important."
The teen nodded. "Uh huh," she said in a disbelieving tone. "Mary Ann! There's someone at the door!" she yelled out. Not a moment later, a larger set woman walked to the front door.
"Hello," she said, as Crystal turned to leave, returning to watching David watch cartoons, because she had nothing else to do.
"Hello," Lennox greeted. "Are you Crystal's parent?"
Mary Ann nodded. "Stepmom. How can I help you?"
"We need this family to come with us."
-:-
After several different arguments, the family of six plus Lennox were now sitting in the Autobots, on their way to the airport. The first few arguments were about why the family needed to go with the Autobots, and then after they had agreed and packed for a few days, it came down to who was carrying who.
It was Sunstreaker who had argued the most, with Sideswipe behind him in second. Sunstreaker had flatly refused to carry anyone, until he settled on carrying someone who wasn't filthy and wouldn't leave dirt in his interior. That left either Crystal or Mary Ann. After hearing what Nova had observed, he finally, after about fifteen minutes of arguing, agreed to let Crystal ride in his interior.
Sideswipe was arguing about not being able to handle one too young or too old, but had phrased his issue quite delicately; something new for him. After some debate, it was decided that he would drive with Scott, who was enthusiastic about riding in a car such as his.
Lennox and Ironhide had agreed that the two parents and the youngest would ride along with him and Ironhide, leaving Peter with Nova.
The young femme was excited at the prospect at first, until she found out how careful she had to be while driving.
Crystal walked over to the gold Corvette, mouth slightly open. "Okay, I take back what I thought about the silver one; gold looks a hundred time better."
Sunstreaker looked at the teen for a moment; it was a compliment he supposed.
"Is this custom? It looks like it. I didn't know a car could look this good. Originally I had always thought that Ferrari's were the best, but the new Corvettes are gorgeous," Crystal continued on for a moment, before catching herself and falling silent.
Sunstreaker's holoform took a deep breath before 'opening' the door and sitting down. "We haven't got all day," he said coldly, watching the teen open the door gingerly and sit in the passenger seat, holding her bag in her lap.
They drove for a few minutes before Crystal tried to make small talk, even though she hate it. "So, you seemed to already know who I am." Sunstreaker's holoform just stared at the road in front of them, not looking over at the teen. "What's your name?"
Sunstreaker tried his best to ignore her, but his twin spoke for him instead. "Hey Sunny, you're quiet. Are you still mad?"
Crystal showed signs of beginning to freak out, and as much as he hated humans, he thought their antics were worse. "Standard issue for our military unit," Sunstreaker said, surprising both Crystal and Sideswipe. "And as much as it will pain me, my nickname, and I use that term very lightly, is Sunny. Do not, under any circumstances, call me anything but. Got it, Crystal, Sideswipe?" He glared at the human, who nodded weakly, scared.
Sideswipe made a whining sound that Crystal heard. "Fine, Sunny."
Sunstreaker grit his holoform's teeth together. He was going to regret this, he just knew it.
"Who's Sideswipe?" Crystal asked quietly, as if she was testing if it was safe to talk.
"My twin."
Crystal nodded slightly. "Is that his nickname? Is that how bad his driving is? Did he sideswipe a lot of cars?"
Sunstreaker looked at Crystal for a moment. "You could say that, yeah." It was a lot easier to go along with what the teen had said than try to explain what the actual truth was.
"Okay," Crystal replied and fell silent, content with the answer she was given.
The rest of the ride to the airport has quiet, except for the few times Sideswipe would use a private channel to talk with Sunstreaker. The gold twin had cooled off a little, but was still displeased that he had to transport a human.
Sideswipe knew that it would take a while for Sunstreaker to get back to his normal self, but for the time being, it was the best they could do.
-:-
Mearing walked back and forth between Autobots and humans alike, trying to get everything organized. Just moments ago, they had been told that the plane had landed, and the Autobots were returning, which left her very little time to organize everyone so that not everything was given away immediately. With her feeling of control finally restored, she leaned against a railing observing the Autobots that were in the hanger.
All of them had changed to their alt modes, as they had thought it best not to overwhelm the teen girl. The Autobots in the room consisted of Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Prowl and Chromia. The others were off somewhere else, and Bumblebee was off with Sam Witwicky for the time being.
Only Optimus and Ratchet had their holoforms active, going over some things with the humans that worked in that room. It didn't take them long to get several things organized, but just moments before the team returned, Optimus Prime had received a message from Lennox, stating that it had been easier to bring the entire family, rather than just the teen.
He had no time to relay this information to Mearing, for in the next minute, Ironhide, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker and Nova rolled into the room. As the humans exited the vehicles, Mearing's expression changed from a cool calm into something similar to anger.
She confronted Colonel Lennox as soon as she could. "What is this? I gave you permission to bring one person, not an entire family."
Lennox looked at Mearing. "I know that's what we set out to do. However, it was impossible to get her to move without the entire family."
Mearing gave Lennox a cold stare before turning and walking off. Sighing, Lennox went to go find Ratchet's holoform, only to see him already talking with Crystal.
"Have you ever experienced any energy bursts?" Ratchet asked, trying to get information that could help him figure out what was going on.
Crystal merely shook her head in response to most of Ratchet's questions. Why she was so interesting to him she had no idea, but she was no stranger to doctors, having had brain surgery when she was five.
However, she didn't want to upset the doctor, so she remained silent, listening to his questions and answering them with a quiet voice.
Ratchet sighed. She did have an energon signature, but what had caused it he couldn't figure out. Unless something happened in her early years, in which he would have to talk to the parents, and not Crystal. Taking a breath in, he approached Crystal's father, who answered all the questions he had. The only thing that could have happened was something during the brain surgery. But that seemed highly unlikely, given their presence on this planet wasn't until a few years after.
Frowning at having not gotten anywhere in his investigation, he glanced over at the younglings running about. In a few minutes, Sideswipe was being chased around by Scott, Peter, David and Nova, although David soon gave up as his tiny frame couldn't keep up.
Sideswipe, deciding the humans had given a good enough chase, feigned being out of breath so that the two younglings could tackle him to the ground, Nova just standing to the side. The three wrestled on the ground for a few minutes before a few people and bots, especially Sunstreaker, yelled at them to get up since the floor was filthy.
Sideswipe shrugged before thinking up another activity he could engage Crystal's brothers in, this time including the youngest, David. Observing his surroundings, he decided that they could play a human game called hide and seek, as there were plenty of places to hide in the room they were in.
Crystal was about to run over and join them when a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She looked up and it belonged to a man she had been introduced to as Orion. She gave him a questioning look, but was led silently back to where the others were. Shrugging her shoulders in defeat, she walked back in silence.
Optimus, who Crystal knew as Orion, looked at the girl. He could see nothing different with her than what was usual of her kind, which made him wonder even more why she was putting off such a strange energy.
Sighing, he led Crystal back to the others, away from her brothers. He could tell that she was worried about her siblings; the twins tended to display this kind of behaviour when separated for a long time, or when the other was hurt. "They will be fine," he said, startling Crystal.
The girl gave a half smile with not much effort put into it. "If only that were true," she said in a hushed tone as she looked at how big the room was. "Why you need a ceiling that high I have no idea."
-:-
AN: Done. Yay. At around 2k words I was feeling like I was losing my pace, but then right after, I got super excited for writing the last part. Mostly because I can see my brothers wrestling with Sides. And then Sunny getting dragged into it somehow. Yay. Now, can tomorrow (really today, but as I haven't slept, it's tomorrow) just fall off the face of the earth? I don't want to do college work and then present it. : (
