Generation Breakers
By Sinead

Chapter Four
Relevant Song: Cat Power "I Found a Reason"

.o.O.o.

Raevyn stared at the robot hard, two halves of her mind warring with each other. One half of her was fascinated with the entire transformation of the car into the humanoid, while the other half was still in shock, wanting to blubber and curl up and cry herself to sleep, just like how she had when she was scared and much, much younger.

But eventually, the curious side of her mind won out, and she leaned very, very slightly towards the window. In response to her movement, the window slid downwards, into the door, letting the midnight breeze play among the dark, wavy hair. She rested her hand upon the steering wheel just as her seatbelt released upon its own accord, and the car shook itself much like a dog, the passenger seat hopping in an odd way to lightly bounce the laptop-bag into her lap, and then bouncing her gently out onto the blacktop, her clothing-bag following her out and landing at her feet.

During that whole interaction between herself and "her" car, Jazz managed to keep an air of complete relaxation, a smile plastered over his face. She was adjusting well to the idea that they were not quite what one would call normal cars. He kept his voice quiet, tender. Not too long ago, it would have been very hard to do just that, due to his nature, but certain events had given him the aptitude for connecting with human emotions. He kept his words in proper English, not letting the slurring of his adopted accent come into play. "Raevyn Hawkeye, I am so very happy to finally meet you."

Her eyes blinked twice rapidly, and the golden orbs widened only slightly as they turned to look up at the smallest of Autobots. "You . . . talk."

Jazz chuckled kindly, then nodded twice. "Yes, we do. And I've heard a great many things about you. I'm Jazz, and the one whom you had been traveling with is called Bumblebee."

Raevyn turned to look at Jazz completely, shifting and tilting her head to one side very slightly in a silent question. Jazz shook his head in reply, having studied human expressions and body language very closely in the last few months. He knew what she was referring to. "He doesn't . . . talk. Big bad battle a coupla millennia ago took out his vocals, and there's just been glitches with trying to fix it ever since. Pity, since I miss annoying Rachet and Ironhide with our verbal pollution."

Raevyn looked back at the now-introduced sun-bright Camaro, her sadness at not being able to hear his own, unique voice apparent in her gaze. Taking his cue from her look that it was all right to transform, Bumblebee did so, sitting down beside her and gently brushing a fingertip across her cheek as if to wipe a tear. Blinking, Raevyn smiled and nodded, understanding. "I shouldn't cry about it, huh? It's an old wound and it's all right now."

Bumblebee nodded, resting a few fingertips along her back in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. He did indeed speak when absolutely necessary, but . . . to him . . . the actions were so much more sweet and precious than spoken words could ever be. Behind Raevyn, Jazz nodded, indicating that his larger companion was doing the right thing through his motions. The human woman looked back at Jazz, leaning very slightly against the fingers that rested behind her back. "You know . . . my mother was just warning me about your kind before she and I got into a tiff . . . and I took Bumblebee for a joyride."

Jazz groaned. "Fantastic. Luna always had the worst timing. She's been adamant that we not truly contact you for another year or so." Grinning widely, Jazz made a show of lounging back upon a small spit of grass, nearly taking out a picnic table as he did so. "But I make it a really bad habit of ignoring her."

"And she doesn't guilt-trip you or make you feel like crap for not listening to her?"

Bumblebee tilted his head to one side, then shrugged and the old song "She Drives Me Crazy" echoed softly between the three beings, supplied by Bumblebee's speakers. Cackling, the human nodded. "Yeah, that about answers my question, huh?"

Jazz spoke up again. "Bumblebee is the official guardian of Sam Witwicky, the direct descendant of Archibald Witwicky, who discovered Megatron and the AllSpark." He knew that she wouldn't have heard about this kind of information. It was of the need-to-know kind, and truly, there weren't many people who needed to know about this. He shifted, explaining the significance of who this personage was, and what the AllSpark was to the Transformer race. Pausing after this semi-lengthy speech, the smallest Autobot hesitated. "Sam saved all of us . . . he's the bravest critter from your kind that I've managed to pinpoint. Sure, you have your own kinds of human heroes . . . but he's the first of a kind."

"Eh? What 'kind'?" Raevyn asked, moving to reach over and touch Bumblebee's hand, feeling him still all his movements to as not to hurt her unintentionally. She smiled at the Autobot, then scrambled up onto hid leg and sat upon his folded knee.

"The kind that you'll be the third official member of. Humans who totally, utterly, and completely do not fear my kind." Jazz had used his most soft and reassuring, kind tones. Being a singer of sorts truly let one realize how to use and recognize emotions within a voice.

"Uh, third?"

Jazz stuttered slightly, trying to make himself think like a human for how to explain these things. "Ah . . . eh . . . Sam has a girlfriend. She's almost to the level of total acceptance that Sam has for us." Sitting up, the smallest Autobot rested his head upon one hand, about to say more when a semi rolled into view, oddly silent for the size of the engine, Raevyn surmised. But after a closer inspection, she saw that it was the same exact flame-decaled semi that had pulled in alongside her at the beach. When it reared up, transforming, Raevyn was only mildly shocked at this new twist. But what happened next just blew her out of the water.

She was picked up. This new robot had picked her up. He was so gentle so as not to harm her, almost acting as if she were a kitten made of glass. His voice was warm as he spoke to her, holding her in the palms of his two massive hands. "I apologize that you have not had time to adjust to the circumstances that Luna Starwalker spoke to you of. I had not been planned to go this way."

"Well, not entirely, Prime." Jazz looked to Bumblebee, who shrugged and indicated that Jazz should continue. The sportster did. "Bumblebee could have turned in any other direction, could have done so much worse, but he chose to reveal me."

"Is that true, Bumblebee?" The blue gaze rested upon the second-smallest of the Autobots. Prime wasn't angry, but merely curious about what could possibly have convinced Bumblebee that Raevyn was to be proven of their existence so soon after she was told of them.

Nodding, the sun-bright Autobot moved to stand again, looming between all three beings before miming an apology to his leader. Jazz continued."Began to explain a few things to Hawkeye while we waited for you."

Prime chuckled and set the human back down, only to watch her lean against Bumblebee's leg and watch him with a gaze that seemed to not leave out a single detail. Her voice was strong as she addressed the leader. "So if you have two people who are already able to deal with your . . . uh . . . uniqueness, why bother with a third?"

"Hm." Prime deliberated over this answer, and the pause was noticeable even to the young mechanic. "I suppose that the best way to explain it is that we have need."

"Need?"

"I know your entire history, down to which bones you had broken when you were seven."

"Then you also must know that that had been purely my sister's fault."

Prime chuckled, nodding. "Yes, it was indeed her that spooked the horse you were riding. She wasn't being very nice. But that is besides the point. As I have already said, I know your entire history. The same is for my companions. They wished to know the natures of the candidates. From those candidates, the only one that we all agreed who should enter our circle is you. I had specifically asked Bumblebee and Jazz start to help me pose this proposition to you. That is why your father 'bought' you a new car, and that is why you were being followed."

"Not very discreetly on your side," Jazz said with a smile. "Gathering at the beach? I thought that that was something that I was going to deal with alone."

"My apologies. I feel that we had been a touch . . . eager to get to know you, Raevyn." Optimus seemed to wince and sigh. He then shook his head and moved to crouch, then sit before the human girl. "I wish to ask you if you would consider being an assistant medic to Ratchet, the third of my group."

"M-medic?" The young woman's face began to drain of all color. "I . . . I really don't do well with blood . . . sir."

Jazz laughed, then shook his head. "What the boss is sayin' is a medic for our kind. Mechanical. Not . . . messy flesh like you and the rest of the icky, squishy organisms on this planet." He winked and shrugged confidently.

That got Raevyn to laugh nervously, resting a hand upon Bumblebee's knee to lean against him a bit more. "But why would you need a human?"

Grinning widely, Jazz sat up from where he had been semi-reclining. Leaning forward, he asked, "Have you seen our . . . no, sorry. I know that you've not seen Ratchet. His mitts 're massive."

"Hmph. Jazz seems to have been picking up your vernacular rather quickly," a new voice said, a touch grouchy and irritable. A yellow and red emergency vehicle rolled around a bend in the road to come into view. "And I beg to differ, you sorry excuse for a spy. I am in perfect classic Cybertronian proportions."

"They why are your hands so huge?" Jazz asked, a plaintive note in his expressive voice. "They hurt!"

"This could go down the gutter very quickly," Raevyn muttered. Bumblebee apparently both heard and understood the term, for he nodded solemnly before uttering a few odd cough-like noises. Raevyn was about to ask if he was all right, when Ratchet transformed and pointed to the second-smallest.

"Glad that you're amused by all this! Now get over here so that I can get at that grime build-up you got from going throught that mudpit on the way over here." Ratchet took a step aside to make room for Bumblebee beside where the medic had been standing. The Camaro, however, shook his head, gesturing at Raevyn and using a few other signs and gestures, none of which the human could interpret.

But Ratchet could.

"She . . . did . . . what?!"

Jazz, having seen what Bumblebee had signed, roared with laughter, throwing his head back. Bumblebee looked the very picture of naieve innocence. And, since he apparently couldn't talk, Raevyn looked up to Optimus. "What'd I just miss?"

The leader's optics were somehow overflowing with mirth and a touch of pleasure. At what, Raevyn could only guess at. He spoke. "I have to wonder at what you find humorous."

The human was truly honest in her answer. "Wierd things. Odd phrases. Good old fashioned black humor, sarcasm, cynicism, and innuendo. Why?"

"Ah. Well. Bumblebee's been looking for a way to get Ratchet to freak out about something, anything, and to do so in public. He just found a way, since we now are able to identify with our alternate modes with ease."

"C'mon, don't leave me hanging. What did he say?"

Optimus laughed. "That you had gotten under his hood, and that he was looking forward to the same experience in the near future."

Blinking, Raevyn opened her mouth, paused, then looked up at "her" car. Finally, she looked back at the largest of the Autobots. "Is that a reference to what I think it is? Because if so, Bumbles just earned my utmost respect."

"Sure got my attention! Can I be next?" Jazz piped up. He laughed a little more before calming down. "I'll tell you, Hawkeye, I've never seen 'im get so comfortable with anyone--"

"Sam," Ratchet interrupted, still glaring at the other (and brighter) yellow bot. "And I'll bet anything on the fact that there's a reason behind it, too."

Bumblebee nodded and carefully sat down again, making Raevyn's former perch available. She took it as her seat again, one knee pulled up to her chest, the other leg relaxed and hanging down. Bumblebee made another gesture, which caused Ratchet to grumble, "No, I'm not guessing why, you irresponsible young fool."

"I will!" came the enthusiastic reply from Jazz. He sat up completely again, raising his hand as if he were in a human children's school class. "Is it because they're cute babies in comparison to us?"

A shake of his head and the human gesture for "next one" was used by Bumblebee. While they continued on and played their guessing game, Raevyn asked of Optimus Prime, "So you really know my Mom, huh?"

His reply was kind, meant to reassure. "Yes. I find that she is a strong person, although sometimes a touch too strong and possessive, and not very forgiving of honest mistakes that others make. Even the mistakes that myself and my crew have made."

That caused Raevyn to look at his face closely. "Yet you and your kind are infants to our culture. Mistakes are supposed to be made in situations like the one that you're in." She bit her lip, then asked quietly, "Can . . . we talk? Privately?" The young woman was not just curious about the leader of these odd non-organic sentient beings . . . she wanted to know why her mother was the way that she was. Chances were that Prime knew the reasons why. And that meant talking with him, with this fantastic living machine.

Optimus nodded, then surprised her one step further. "I was contacted not more than forty-five of your minutes ago, told of what had happened between yourself and your mother." Moving carefully, Optimus sat so that he was sitting cross-legged, the same as the sometimes-Camaro that Raevyn was sitting on.

"They're good with their hands!" Jazz said louder than the previous guesses, pointing to Raevyn. Bumblebee seemed to consider the comment before sighing something, amused, Ratchet was lost upon the innuendo, and a black Autobot walked up, laughing as he translated Bumblebee's signs, "True, but try again. Haw!" He leaned in closer, nodding to Raevyn. "Name's Ironhide, Miz Hawkeye. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," Raevyn replied before hopping off of Bumblebee's leg, picking her bags up of the cement to rest them upon the picnic table. She shook her finger in warning at Jazz. "My computer is in there. See this bag?"

"I do sense electronics in it, yes," Jazz replied, grinning. "Valuable?"

"Prolly not to you, since you've got more computing power in your left hand than what I'm lugging about. But anyways, yes, it is valuable. If only to me."

"Then I won't harm it."

"Thanks." She turned away from him and walked closer to Optimus. She didn't see Jazz pick up the bag with the computer in it, using his much-smaller-than-Ratchet hands to open it silently. While he was doing that, he was still rocketing off guesses that he knew were totally off the mark as to why Bumblebee liked to be around humans. As he began to fiddle with the timy computer, changing a setting here, physically converting a component to a Cybertronian one with the merest use of concentrated energy, Ratchet leaned over his shoulder, giving suggestions for what else this computer should be capable of, for the training purposes he had in mind for the human he was going to be sharing with Jazz for what amounted to a brief time in their ways of measurement.

Raevyn Hawkeye was walking over to Optimus as all that had been going on behind her. Climbing to his knee, she felt that she shouldn't go any higher, but this being seemed to be full of surprises for her as he picked her up as gently as before and placed her upon his shoulder. His voice was much lower in volume as he addressed the twenty-two-year-old. "New we can talk in relative privacy. I have set up a slight damping field. The effect is that humans will not be able to hear you, and to my comrades, your loudest shout is but a normal tone."

"Thank you." She seemed relieved, and in truth, she was. And as she sat and looked up at the stars, asked, "How long has my mother known of your kind?"

"Close to sixteen years, now. She was inducted into your intelligence department when she stumbled upon a sensitive issue concerning our race." He seemed to not mind answering her questions.

"How could she have done that? The computers back then . . ." Raevyn paused, then whispered, "She hacked in. She's always been good with computers and contemptuous of the government."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It is not said in the records that we have access to." Prime tilted his head a little, then spoke again, his voice holding a smile. "Does this intrigue you? How your mother started upon the path that she is walking upon now?"

"Yeah. To say the least." Sighing, the young woman shook her head, catching the sight of Jazz putting the computer back into the bag. Having watched Jazz this entire time, Optimus wisely let down the damping field. Standing, Raevyn pointed to him, body language tense. "Hey! I thought that I told you not to touch it!"

"No," Jazz chuckled, "ya specifically asked me not t' harm it." He stood and walked over to where she was just above the height of his head on Optimus' shoulder. His metal hands were careful as he held the bag up to her. "Check. See if I'm lying."

"You're awfully gentle today, Jazz," Ironhide said in a curious growl. To him, it was odd to she the outgoing one so subdued. Perhaps it had something to do with seeing, no, actually being upon the other side.

"He's smitten, trying to woo the next love of his life," Ratchet said with the hints of a very dry sense of humor in his voice, having cornered Bumblebee and gotten under some armor to repair an odd malfunction that the little Camaro had mentioned.

"What?!" the white bot yelped, staring at the company medic.

Optimus chuckled low enough that only Raevyn and the offended bot heard it. Jazz looked mortified, and was starting to stutter that he only wished to make friends. But Raevyn, having not taken the laptop bag back, merely clambered down Optimus' arm, startling the Autobots with her fearlessness and audacity. Jazz reached over and up a bit when she seemed a touch stuck, saving her pride from asking if she could get a little help, and with a grateful look, she, again fearlessly, went to him to sit upon his much smaller shoulder. "Let me see what you did with my machine."

"Ooo, it's looooove," a deep and sensual voice echoed forth from Bumblebee's speakers.

Raevyn gave the yellow bot a one-fingered salute, which was answered by his odd chuckle and a wink. She took the bag from Jazz's fingers, opening it and turning on her laptop. There was literally no pause to wait through while the operating system booted. The superficial look of the computer and the OS were the same, but the speed was beyond fast. Looking over at Jazz's face, she asked, "What did you do to it?"

"Find out yourself!" He teased, very gently closing the laptop and smiling. "After a joyride."

The prospect of going fast in an obvious muscle car, completely customized and tricked-out in a way that no human could ever dream of doing, well, to say that it both thrilled and scared her would be slightly understating the truth. But her voice was steady. "Sure. But what about the local law enforcement?"

"Ah, we jam their scanners on a regular basis. Even if Prime frowns upon it the same way he's frowning now." He brushed the question off as merely and only a slight worry for humans. He had never crashed before, in any form, and he never would. Well, unless it was to protect the humans, to protect the peoples and individuals that he had come to love. He was the perfect safe driver.

"Joyride, huh?" Raevyn asked, grinning, golden eyes slowly brightening with the prospect. "You know, I think that those just might be my magic words."

"And I won't ever run outta gas, either!" Jazz quipped, somehow giving the impression of winking. He knew how that phrase could be taken a few different ways.

Giggling, the mechanic put her laptop safely into her bag, slinging it over her shoulders and climbing down to the ground. Walking over to her other bag, she looked up at Bumblebee. "D'ya mind being traded in, Bumbles?"

The sun-colored mechanoid shook his head, finding the song equivalent of "I've got someone waiting for me back home" and playing part of it. Ratchet clarified, "He has his own human to guard over and to have as a companion to help him adjust to this culture . . . however inadequate that boy may be."

"Hey!" Jazz snapped, stepping around Raevyn to move towards the medic-bot, his body language slightly menacing.

"Jazz! Ratchet!" Prime boomed, the bass of his voice causing Raevyn to turn and face him, having actually felt the soundwaves in the air. He didn't stand, but then again, he didn't have to. The tone of his voice was warning enough. "Why must you fight?"

Ratchet spoke before Jazz could, his syllables clipped and angry. "If he is to be Bumblebee's partner, he should have picked up at least some of our obvious anatomical quirks! The fact that he hasn't even begun to understand a basic human automotive engine--"

"Enough, Ratchet," the leader growled, settling back to sigh and shake his head. "To each their own. You know this. You cannot be a spy any more than Jazz or Bumblebee could be a medic and technician."

"So that's why you chose me. Why my mother and father raised me the way that they did." The small, feminine voice belonged to none of the 'bots, all of whom had masculine voices and mannerisms. As one, they looked to Raevyn. She was rolling her sleeves back up past her elbows, her gaze somewhere between all of the Autobots and yet, past them. "So that's been the grand scheme of things. Good. There's my reason." Her gaze came back to those around her, and she asked, "Is my position of teaching this boy temporary?"

"Teaching?" Ironhide asked, his dark form coming out from the shadows again as he spoke. Tilting his head to one side, he blinked at the human. "Didn't think you had that in y'r job description."

"Considering that I have a rather hazy view of what my job is to be, I hope that you'd elaborate upon what I am and am not to do." Her speeck was as frank as possible without dipping into the side of being rude. It was seeing the situation straight and clearly, not pausing to sugarcoat her words. Her gaze was just as straightforward.

Ratchet was about to step forward when, surprisigly, Jazz held his hand up and interrupted the medic before he could actually say anything. "Let me." Chuckling, he shook his head. "Hawkeye, eh? . . . Ya really live up to your name. Seeing through a lotta crap and focusin' intently upon y'r prey." Going solemn and watching her, the bot chose his words carefully. "I . . . I guess that it comes down t' me. I've been watchin' everyone who has been connected in some way to the government. Specifically, to what had been Sector Seven, which is now under some new name that I, personally, haven't looked into. Your mother's been a great help to that agency. She has been doing a lotta th' cover-up work, t' divert leads. None of the people born to those who have been in the Sector show the promise that you do, and that same promise that you've lived up to." Thinking for a second, he then said, "The job description is that you become my partner, to help me be adjusted into the human culture. Even though I really don' need ya to. I'm just bein' a lonely wretch." At the few chuckles that came up, Jazz smiled and continued. "The secondary nature of that partnership is, and I'm thankful that you've got the aptitude for it, of the mechanical kind. If something goes wrong at an odd moment, it could prevent my transformation, makin' it dangerous for you and for the innocent lives around ya."

That was good to know. "What promise is it that you spoke of?" It was odd to hear what she had believed to be a human concept come from a mechanical being.

Smiling, the silvery-white bot replied, "T' be completely open-minded an' acceptin' of who we are."

Staring at him for a moment longer, Raevyn simply nodded once, then looked to all the others, ending at Prime. The leader nodded and said softly, "Think this over. You can't expect to make a decision on something this big on such short notice."

"Joyride?" Jazz prompted, quietly, hopefully. He really wanted to just take off with her. "I promise that I won't go over a hundred! Really!"

Ratchet just groaned, having taken on the human habit of hiding one's face when they really didn't want to deal with something. "If you blow something vital, I'll kill you after I fix you."

"Oh, go breathe in your own exhaust, you grouch." Jazz transformed back into his alternate mode, then opened his drivers' side door, the engine an angry mutter as Raevyn shook her head at the bickering.

"Boys, I'm not gonna be won over by anyone 'one-upping' the other. Jazz, you're mine. Bumblebee, I'm sorry, luv, but you've been traded."

A few signals and a wink later left Jazz and Ironhide, if they had been human, all but choking, they were laughing so hard. Optimus sighed, trying to summon up patience to deal with his warriors. "I am not translating that."

"Oh, I'll just ask Jazz later," replied the young woman flippantly, patting the large leg.

"Don't!" Jazz laughed. "Because I'm telling you now!" He tried valiently to get his laughter under control again, then gave up for a long time. He wouldn't tell anyone, but it had been a long time since he had felt free enough to laugh, feeling the hand of a partner resting upon his frame. "He said that as long as I'm the 'legal wife,' he'd be the 'illicit lover."

Barking a laugh, Raevyn darted over to Bumblebee, only to be lifted up to his head and given a very, very gentle hug against the side of the Autobot's face. Raevyn kissed what passed as his cheek, and then hugged the sun-bright head. "I think that can be arranged. Come over whenever, you know?"

A nod and a rub across her shoulders later, the young woman was upon the ground again, about to get into Jazz's driver's side. Pausing, she looked up at Ratchet. "You get me as an apprentice, so that . . . whaddya call 'im . . . S . . . S . . . something. Spike. Callin' him Spike."

"Sam," Prime corrected gently.

"Yeah, I think that I'd rather call him Spike," Raevyn replied to his correction, overriding the general preference of nomenclature. "Hope he doesn't mind. Anywhos, Ratchet, you teach me what you want me to know--"

"Everything," the large bot interrupted.

"Right. And I'll turn this kid into a grease-monkey." But a wicked grin spread over her face and she stepped around Jazz's door, closing it. "C'mon, joyride in a moment. You'll want to hear what I've got planned on how to get this kid into the thick of things mechanics-wise."

Doing so, the car looked down at her, then sat. She promptly leaned against his arm, smirking. "Okay, this is going to freak this poor pup out, but in the long run, he'll know a few things about your engine, Bumblebee. And you'll be running better when you're a car as my bribe to you for helping me freak this kid out."

The Camaro tilted his head to one side, listening to her plan as she laid it out, nodding at a few points.

But by the time she was done telling them all, he was laughing hard, his true voice ringing out over the small crowd to shock Raevyn. Picking her up in another hug, the Autobot was just plain happy to be causing trouble again.