Author's Note: I am so sorry for how long it took to complete this chapter. Between College soccer and class work I have had absolutely no free time. I really thank all of you who have read my story and I wish to give an extra special thank you to all of you who have reviewed it is appreciated. So keep those reviews coming, please.
Oh and for all of those who are worried about Sam Mikaela stuff, just wait for the next chapter.
R&R
Chapter 4 Reunions and Infiltrations
The five autobots were waved through the main gate of Fort Cambell without a question. The soldiers staffing the front gate were used to seeing the unmanned cars role in and out of the base. N.E.S.T. command had been relocated after the Egypt incident for security reasons. In fact, it had been split up, with multiple command points set up all across North America.
The four Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters sat on the tarmac already, their rotters slowing lazily. Maintenance crews swarming around the vehicles, helping the few remaining soldiers unload the last of their gear off the helicopters, as well as preparing to role the helicopters into the open doors of one of the five huge, half cylinder hangers that lined the tarmac. The Autobots rolled into the last hanger on the strip, the newest one. However, it would be impossible, for anyone who didn't already know that, to tell since a good bit of time, effort, and money had been put into making sure the building looked identical to the other four hangers. The hanger was alive with activity, as people moved around the hanger in a chaotic ballet of activity. Everyone had a role to play in the after action of the battle.
In the center of the hanger, surrounded by a series of elevated platforms, computer monitors, relays, power cables, and people, stood the mighty blue and red form of Optimus Prime in all his glory. Drift, Ratchet, Wasp, and Side Swipe all transformed as they entered the hanger; Bumblebee, however, came to a stop and let Sam and Mikaela out first.
"Optimus!" Wasp exclaimed upon seeing the commander of the Autobots.
"Wasp, it is good to see you again. I hope you didn't have any trouble finding Earth." Optimus responded in his deep, booming voice.
"Took a left at Saturn accidentally, but I straightened myself out." Sam swore he saw Wasp wink up at Optimus at the end of that statement. Optimus chuckled, but was cut short as their was a commotion at the door of the hanger.
Ten soldiers, all carrying M32s, walked into the hanger in a picket formation followed by a flatbed eighteen wheel truck caring the unconscious form of the surviving Decepticon chained to it. The soldiers were waving people out of the way and barking orders to make room for the giant hunk of dented metal. Drift crossed his arms across his chest; a confident smirk light up his face as he admired his handy work.
"Ratchet, put that Decepticon in the holding cell. Sideswipe, you will interrogate our guest." Optimus ordered. Ratchet and Sideswipe gave curt nods.
"Sam, good too see you again old friend. Mikaela, I trust you are keeping Sam inline?"
"Good to see you too Optimus," Sam responded with a grin.
"Nice to see you Optimus and of course I am keeping Sam in line, someone has to, and Bee certainly doesn't." Mikaela said.
"Sam, is your arm badly wounded?" Optimus asked.
"Its just a scratch, I have had worse," Sam said with a chuckle. Mikaela, however, was not chuckling and worry was etched in her features as the memory of Sam's near fatal wounding in Egypt flashed across her mind.
"Yeah Sam, you should let the medics finish looking at that," Bee suggested. Cornel Lennox came walking up to the crowd of Autobots, in his UCP camo fatigues. His face bore its characteristic cheeriness, while his walk bore the weight of his position and years of combat.
"Sam! Good to see you buddy," Lennox said as he clapped Sam on the shoulder.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Nothing much man, same old, same old, just saving the world from evil alien robots." Lennox said with a small chuckle.
"Mikaela, good to see you again," Lennox said as he shook Mikaela's hand.
"Its good to see you too Cornel."
"Hey Sam, come with me and lets get the arm looked at," Lennox said to Sam. Lennox, Sam, and Mikaela all walked off towards the entrance to the hanger.
"Wasp, this is Drift and Bumblebee," Optimus said with a slight nod of his head to indicate the two Autobots on his left.
Drift shoot Wasp a sower look, and curtly said, "She knows, we've met."
"Yes Optimus, I have met your scouts, especially the one with the over sized vocal processor."
"I really don't like this one Bee," Drift whispered.
"I can tell; but will you cool it? We are on the same side after all."
"Fine, but if she starts it, I'm finishing it."
"Right, since so far she has been the one doing the finishing." Bee shot back with a smirk.
"What? Are you kidding me, I totally have been winning!" Drift said in a little less than a whisper. Bee just shook his head.
"Are you two done?" Optimus, who had been watching the entire conversation with a raised eyebar, asked.
"Umm, yes sir. Sorry about that sir," Drift said as he straightened up to attention.
"Who else is here Optimus?" Wasp asked.
"Ironhide and RC are out on a mission right now. Xenon is here, and he is in his lab."
"Good old Xenon, he never tires of his experiments, does he?" Wasp responded with a smile.
"Nope, two hundred years and he is still going strong." Optimus responded.
"There we go," said the doctor as he finished placing the last stitch in Sam's arm. Sam sat on one of the beds in the base hospital, surrounded by Mikeala, Epps, and Cornel Lennox.
"So I heard that you two were moving in together," Lennox said.
"Damn, did Bee tell everyone?" Mikaela exclaimed. Lennox and Epps chuckled and just shrugged their shoulders.
"Do you guys need any help moving?" Epps asked.
"Well, Bee and Drift were going to help us, but this little incident might keep them from being able to," Mikaela answered.
"Its not like you two could help us anyway," Sam said, "you couldn't get off from work."
"No, but my brother owns a moving company." Epps responded.
"Nah, I mean I don't have that much stuff, I think we will be fine," Sam responded as he moved his arm around, checking that the bandage would hold.
"Well, consider it a moving present then."
"What do you mean?" Asked Mikaela.
"I had him move all of your stuff to your new apartment already, he just text me saying that they were unloading the truck as we speak."
"Thanks Epps, that saves us a trip, and a bit of lifting which might have be a bit difficult with this arm," Sam said with a big smile.
"Yes, thank you very much Epps." You really didn't have to do that." Mikaela added as she gave the soldier a hug which the soldier tried feebly to dodge.
The doctor handed Sam a prescription note for some pain killers, and the group got up and left the room. Mikaela and Sam walked hand in hand as the two soldiers strolled along beside them.
"So how have the last few years been, I mean as far as fighting Decepticons go?" Sam asked Lennox.
"Not that bad really, we are getting a lot better at taking those fuckers down, thanks largely to the Autobots teaching us where and how to strike. On the whole, the number of engagements per year have decreased dramatically. About two years ago now, right after the Egypt incident, we were able to mount a strong counter offensive against the Decepticons. We did some serious damage and drove them into hiding. We really haven't seen much from them since. This attack today was a little uncharacteristic but then again if my enemy was getting reinforcements I would have tried to take them out too." Lennox responded.
"How many Decepticons are there left out there?" Mikaela asked.
"We know Megatron is still out there but as to how many of his minions are left, well I have no idea. Our annalists, however, put the number in the low teens."
"That is really good news. Not having to worry about an alien war being fought in my backyard would certainly help me sleep at night." Sam said.
"Good thing most people don't have to," Lennox said with a chuckle.
"You mean thank the lord that no one believes what they see anymore," Mikaela put in.
"Yeah, I really can't believe everyone bought that whole cyber hacker cover the C.I.A came up with," Epps said. The group chuckled at the memory of the government coverup and all the crazy stories that came up after it.
"So when do you think we can get on the road Lennox?" Mikaela asked.
"I would say tomorrow morning, all the debriefings should be done by then."
Sideswipe walked out of the holding cell, wiping lubricant from his fists as he went. The hanger was segmented off into rooms by huge steel and cinderblock walls. Many of the walls had been augmented, or completely made from, Cybertronian alloys. The first half of the hanger was very much open, basically one big room which was only sectioned off by simple dividers at most. Most of the humans worked in that area of the hanger. The rear half of the hanger was a barracks for the autobots. Very few humans every entered that area of the hanger; in fact, many of the humans were strictly forbidden to. Sideswipes passed Ratchet in the central corridor.
"How did it go? Did you get anything out of him?" Ratchet asked in his gravely monotone.
"No, it went poorly. I didn't get anything out of him. He could barely speak. It was like he was little more than a sparkling." Sideswipe answered.
"Thats odd. He is clearly fully grown."
"That is what I thought but he could barely say more than his name."
"Very odd, very odd. I will go attend to him and see if his vocal processor was damaged."
"I don't think it was. Honestly I just think he couldn't form a sentence."
"Okay. In the mean time go report to Optimus." Sideswipe nodded and continued down the hall. Ratchet scratched his head, his brow furrowed in thought.
"What are the Decepticons up to this time? They can't really be trying to grow a new army, can they?" Ratchet asked himself as he continued on toward the holding cell.
A 2010 Dodge Charger decked in the livery of the campus police department rolled down Murdock drive, passing the tightly packed town house style apartments that lined either side of the road. It pulled up across the street from a large orange moving van. Four men were moving around in the van, preparing it to receive the belongings of the occupants of apartment 1243. Barricade's sensors told him another two men were inside.
"Infiltrate, don't be spotted. Recon and report back," Barricade said through his internal speakers to the two and a half foot tall red and black striped Decepticon that sat in his passenger seat. Schiz's reptilian face gave a quick shudder before he responded, "Yes, yes of course. Don't pick the apple until it is ripe."
Barricade's passenger door opened up and the nimble Decepticon hopped out, sprinted across the road, and hid himself behind one of the moving van's oversized tires. Barricade's door slammed shut and he pulled away with as little fuss as he had arrived. Schiz peaked out from behind the tire, his talon like fingers rapidly tapping on the hard rubber. The truck shook as the men moved around inside. With a thunderous pounding a man came down the metal ramp extending off the trucks open tail section. Schiz watched the man walk towards the front door of the house, scratching his ass as he did so. "Stupid little creatures. Humans, what a wast of energon," he mumbled to himself. Schiz shot out from behind the tire and sprinted underneath the ramp before leapt head first into a small bush in front of the town house, right underneath a window. After a few seconds on of his green optics pocked its way out of the entanglement of leaves. Another human was walking towards the front door of the house. He was carrying a stack of thick quilted mats, mostly blue in color, though all of them were covered in dirty and mud. Schiz's optic stock gave a spastic twitch causing the human to look over in the direction of the movement. Schiz hurriedly withdrew his optic stalk but the human stopped. He peered at the bush for a few agonizingly long seconds.
"Stupid, fucking, little human. It was nothing you, look the other way, you overside sack of meat," Schiz mumbled impossibly fast under his breath. Sure enough the man stopped looking at the bush, shrugged his shoulders, and continued on into the house. Schiz forced his way out of the bush, hurriedly disentangling himself from its branches, and ran into the house. He slipped into the first room on his right, and hid himself behind a stack of cardboard boxes. He peaked out from behind the boxes as another man entered the house as he slipped on a pair of thick, dirty, work gloves.
Schiz chuckled to himself, "Wimpy human, your hands are too soft and squishy, you have to wear things to protect them, stupid animal." His talon like fingers tapped away on the side of the box as he made this comment. He let the another human pass into the house before he darted across he hall into a small broom closet.
"Ridiculous, all these strange contraptions human's have created to assist them, such a waste of good resources. I can't wait to kill all these fucking meat bags." Schiz said as he rubbed his hands together menacingly. He stuck his head back out into the hall and took a quick glance around to make sure none of the humans were coming. He then darted down the hall, his feet making a hurried tapping noise on the tile floor. He turned right at the end of the hall and found himself in the kitchen. It, like the rest of the house, was filled with boxes, some full but most were still open, awaiting for more things to be shoved inside of them.
"Hey Bob! Come give me a hand with some of the stuff in here."
Schiz looked around frantically for a place to hide because he could hear the heavy foot falls of the two approaching humans coming down the hall. He noticed a telephone sitting on a charger in the corner. He quickly scanned the object, ripped it free from its cord and chucked it out an open window, before transforming into the phone and taking its former place. The two men entered the room, "Hey Bob, look at this these two kids still have a house phone, how odd is that?"
"Its not really that odd Jerry, my wife and I still have one," the thinner man replied to his burley counter part.
"Uh, what ever. Just throw it in a box."