~AN~
Yahoo! Chapter four! Anything I'm doing wrong? Please give me your suggestions and opinions. I may not actually use them, but I will read and consider them!
I am going to try to update every Monday.
(P.S. If it has a * before and after it, it's Bumblebee's own voice. Imagine it sounding like a teenage version of Epps)
"Speech"
"Over phone or video"
"Cybertronian Speech"
"Joint Speech"
'Thought'
[Comm.]
/Text/
TF View- Transformer's Point of View
H View- Human Point of View
I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS!
Chapter Four
Learning Opportunities
TF View
Once Bumblebee, Lennox, Epps, and Fig got back to base, they reported what was going on to Colonel Sharp, who thanks to Don, was now up to speed. He seemed a bit nervous that more alien robots were coming to the base, but after having things explained to him, he knew they would need the help.
The rest of the night was spent treating the wounded and finding all of the bodies of the dead. Bee helped as much as he could, moving the crushed and blown up vehicles off to the side, lifting rubble that was too big for the humans to lift themselves. At first, the 15 soldiers that had been assigned the first shift of clean-up were wary and suspicious of the Autobot, but by the time the sun began peaking over the horizon, they had become used to him enough to openly ask him for help. Bee considered this a very good thing. If these humans were able to trust and work with him, even after being viciously attacked by one of his kind, he was confident that the Autobots could become close allies with them in the fight against the Decepticons. He hoped so anyway.
"Hey, Bee, can you give me a hand with this?"
Bee turned towards the speaker, a young women by the name of Clara Morincy, AKA "Red". She had shoulder-length dark red hair, (hence the nickname) gray eyes, and a very fiery attitude (that also went with the nickname). She had been the first one, after Lennox and his team, to openly trust him. When Bee had asked why, her response was,
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here to have the chance to trust you. I'm just repaying the favor."
Bee had been pleasantly surprised by this firmly-spoken statement.
Bumblebee mentally shook himself out of his thoughts to assist Red in moving the last crushed tank out of the way. They were both relieved that there were no bodies to be found underneath. Then Bee saw Red let out a large yawn. He also noticed that Red had large black circles under her eyes, and was moving sluggishly. A quick check of the internet showed that these were all signs of human exhaustion.
"*Weren't you supposed*... to stop... at... 4:00... this morning?"
Bee questioned, concerned. That had been when the rest of her group had been relieved by a new crew. That was five hours ago. Red nodded,
"Yeah, but I can't rest knowing there may be more people out here. Even if they're dead, I still want to find them. You know what I mean?"
Bee nodded. He did indeed know what she meant. He felt the same way after every large battle with the Cons. But he also knew that humans needed much more rest than Cybertronians did. As long as they weren't wounded, his species could go without rest for up to five human days before needing to recharge, due to the days being much longer on their planet than on Earth. Bee looked at the exhausted human before him and came to a decision. Carefully, he picked Red up and began carrying her towards the make-shift tents that had been set up for the purpose of sleeping and eating.
"Hey, what are you doing? Bee, put me down!"
Red exclaimed, surprised but not alarmed.
"*You need rest*."
He stated firmly, setting her down in front of an empty tent. He blocked the way with a servo when she tried to walk away. She glared at him for a moment, but was really too tired to put up much of a fight.
"I will be helping count the bodies to make sure we found everyone."
She told him stubbornly. He nodded, that was going to be happening around noon, it was a little after 9:00 right now. Plenty of time for her to rest. She shot him another look, then ducked inside the tent. Bee waited until her vitals showed she was truly sleeping before going back to help.
Two hours later, the last of the rubble had been removed and the worn-out humans were all sitting around base, eating, resting, or talking about the attack. Bee had found a quiet "corner" and now sat there in his alt mode. While the 25 or so humans that had worked the night and early morning shifts were okay with him, the remaining 20-something were still uneasy. Wanting to let them rest in peace, he had decided to make himself scarce. It had definitely worked, as they seemed less nervous about seeing a car than a large metal alien. As Bee watched them going about their buisness, he was surprised when there was a knock on his passanger-side door. He rolled down the window to show he had heard and was mildly surprised when a still-tired but much cleaner looking Red stuck her head into the car.
"Mind if I join you?"
She asked in a noticeably less grim voice. Bee answered by opening the door, careful not to hit her. As she got in, he wondered why she was here. After a few minutes, when all she did was situate herself more comfortably in the seat, he decided to ask.
/Did you need anything?/
"No, you just looked like you could use some company, over here all by yourself."
Came the cheery response. Once again, Bee was pleasantly surprised. He hadn't really expected any of the humans to think about him like that.
/Thanks, I appreciate it./
Red smiled, something he realized he hadn't seen her do yet.
"Besides, I get the feeling we're going to be working with each other more. I wanted to see if we could get to know each other a bit. You don't mind, do you?"
Bee responded quickly.
/Not at all. It would be nice to talk to someone about something other than war for once. I don't get the chance often to just talk./
She smiled again, Bumblebee deciding that he definitely like it better on her than a grim frown.
"Yeah, me either. So, what do we talk about?"
Bee thought for a moment, then had an idea.
/I could tell you what it was like when I was growing up./
He offered. This time, Red grinned.
"That sounds perfect."
Bee smiled back, even though she couldn't see it. He thought for another moment, then began.
/Well, since my caretakers were both busy with the war, I spent most of the time hanging out with Bluestreak, another youngling my age. I remember this one time when we.../
H View
45 minutes later, Lennox finished his shift counting and identifying bodies and went to find Red, who had asked him to get her for the afternoon shift. However, after 10 minutes of searching, he had come up with nothing. Lennox decided to ask Bee if he had seen her, as he had noticed the two seemed to get along well. Walking towards the Camaro, he was surprised to see that someone was already inside. Once he was a few feet away, he was even more surprised to see that Red was the one sitting in the passenger seat, and that she appeared to be laughing, hard. He hesitated a moment, then knocked on the drivers-side door. A moment later, the window rolled down and he saw that he had been correct in thinking Red was laughing.
"Hey Lennox, whats up?"
She asked him with a grin. He grinned back and responded,
"My morning shift is up. You asked me to tell you when the afternoon shift started."
Red nodded her thanks and turned towards the dashboard.
"I gotta go, but we'll talk more later, alright?"
/You got it!/
Came the typed response. Red smiled and exited the vehicle, walking towards the line of tarp-covered bodies. Lennox watched her go for another moment, then gestured at the seat, asking Bee,
"Mind if I sit?"
/Nope, hop in./
Lennox did just that, then asked,
"So, what were you two talking about? Red certainly seemed happier than I've seen her all night."
/I was telling her about what I did for entertainment when I was younger. Bluestreak and I got into a lotta trouble together. He and I were best friends. Still are./
Lennox thought a moment, then questioned, "Bluestreak, isn't he one of the snipers you said is on Jazz's team?"
/Yup, he sure is. Won't find a better sniper in the Autobot ranks. He and Moonracer are the best. That's why they're on Jazz's team. He only takes the best, cause of how important their work is./
Lennox nodded his understanding.
/How did your shift go?/
Bee asked, and even though it was typed out, Lennox could tell he was more subdued than he had been a moment ago. With a grim look on his face, he answered.
"As good as you would expect. Once a body has been correctly identified, it is moved to the backside of the building. Some of them are cut up quite a bit, making it harder to I.D. them. Sometimes we only have the dogtags and the base's personnel list to go by. A few more hours and we'll know for sure if we found everyone."
There was a few minutes of depressing silence after his answer.
/And the wounded?/
"Doing well, we haven't lost anyone else at least. A few people will be in the hospital for a few months with broken bones and second-degree burns, but mostly it's just minor burns, bruises, cuts, a few that needed stitches, and a couple cracked or broken ribs here and there. Mahfouz, the boy from earlier, has a slight concussion and a broken arm. All in all, not bad considering what happened."
/That's good. I just wish I had gotten here sooner, then more soldiers might still be alive./
Before Lennox could try to refute that statement, his radio went off.
"Lennox, I need you and Bumblebee to meet me by the building's entrance. I just got a call that you two need to hear."
Came Colonel Sharp's voice.
"On our way sir."
Lennox answered, then asked Bee,
"You walking or driving?"
Bee started his engine and headed towards the afore-mentioned location as an answer.
Once there, Lennox exited the car and Bee transformed to bipedal mode.
"What's this about sir?"
Lennox asked respectfully. Sharp looked at him and said,
"I just got a call from an organization calling themselves Sector Seven. They informed me that they had been made aware of what happened here and are sending one of their top agents to look into it. An Agent Simmons will be arriving at about 1700 hours." (~AN~ 5:00 pm)
Sharp looked at Bee and continued. "Considering that they already have the harbinger of death frozen somewhere, I may have forgotten to mention that you are here." Bee nodded his gratitude towards the Colonel. Sharp nodded back, then spoke again,
"Until we know whether or not this S-7 group is trustworthy, it would probably be best if you stayed out of sight at first. There are some old ruins about three miles from here you can hide in. Once this Agent arrives, we have about five hours to find out what he wants before your leader and his team get here. If we can't trust him, you all will have to work in secret until we have things figured out. It will be about another 8 hours before the network hardline is repaired. Once it is, I'll give you access so that you can find this Megatron." "*Thank you, Colonel*."
Bee told him sincerely. Sharp nodded again and started to turn away, but stopped.
"I would like to have one of my soldiers stay with you in order for us to get in touch with you while you're in hiding. Do you two have any recommendations?"
Bee and Lennox shared a look, and then Lennox said,
"I would suggest Clara Morincy. She gets along with Bee really well and wouldn't have a problem spending a few hours with him in the desert."
Lennox stopped and smirked.
"Especially since he has air conditioning."
Bee chuckled at this, since Red had stated more than once how much she disliked the heat. Sharp nodded his agreement.
"I'll radio her about her new assignment. I want you to leave at 1500 (~AN~ 3:00 pm) so we can be sure S-7 doesn't see you. I'll have Morincy pack for an overnighter just in case."
"*Understood*."
Bumblebee answered.
"I'll be debriefing all the soldiers about the situation and make sure they keep quiet about you."
Sharp told him as he walked back inside.
TF View
"Yo Bee, let's get going. I hate the heat."
Red stated loudly, making any nearby soldiers snicker at her attitude. Bee rolled his optics as he transformed into alt mode. This was the 10th time she had expressed her apparent hatred of high temperatures in the past 14 hours. He was glad he had air conditioning, as it would put a halt to her complaints. Once he was finished transforming, he opened the trunk for her stuff, which consisted of a tent, a spare set of clothes, several MREs, a blanket and pillow, and a first aid kit. She carried her weapons with her at all times. When Bee had asked earlier what weapons she had, the answer he got was a stunning,
"My AK47, two Glocks, one at my waist and the other on my right ankle, 100 rounds worth of ammunition each for all three, a military issue knife on my left ankle, a throwing knife on each arm, and a 12 inch Samurai sword on my back. I also have a few different types of grenades in my bag."
Bee had stared at her for a moment, as had a few others nearby. As far as he knew, none of the other soldiers carried so many weapons, and they definitely didn't carry swords. Red had grinned at his stunned silence and commented,
"I like to be prepared."
As if that cleared everything up. 'She and Ironhide will definitely get along well.' Bee thought dryly as he closed his now full trunk. Opening the drivers-side door for Red and her seven weapons, (not counting the grenades) he texted,
/Got everything you need?/
"Yup, now drive and start blasting the cold air."
She answered with a grin.
/Yes, you majesty./
He typed back teasingly. She laughed, a sound Bumblebee definitely liked better than her complaining. Bee laughed with her as he did exactly as she had asked/demanded, turning the air conditioning up as high as it went. He snickered as she sighed with pleasure when the cold air hit her face.
"Oh, shut up!"
She snapped playfully, as she closed her eyes and lowered the seat back until she was laying down.
"Wake me when we get there."
H View
In Clara's opinion, the ride to the ruins went way too fast. She grumbled as Bumblebee called her name, unwilling to leave the heaven that was the air conditioned interior. When Bee honked his horn, she only squashed herself closer to the seat and groaned. Suddenly, the world around her was moving in a whirl of metal and yellow as she suddenly found herself sitting in the Autobot's right hand, all her gear in the left. She sat gaping for a moment, then snarked,
"Impatient much?"
Bee's smug look didn't change in the least as he sat both her and her things on the sandy ground right in front of the only structure that still had a roof. As Bee went to check out the rest of the ruins, which Red had already seen on patrols, she set up her tent inside the building and stored her stuff in the tent. She knew from experience that doing this would keep the wind-blown sand out of her things. Once she was finished, she did a quick 360 outside, saw Bee staring at an old half-broken statue (probably trying to read the hieroglyphs on it) and decided to take a nap. Wasn't like there was much to do anyway. As Red lay down in the tent, not bothering with the blanket (it was a horrid 101 degrees outside) she thought about how she had ended up in Qatar. Most people wouldn't think that a 22 year old women fresh out of training camp would be sent strait into a high-combat zone. But then, most people didn't know Clara Morincy. Her father, a two star general, had made sure that she had self-defense training since she could walk. By the time she was 12, she was a black belt in karate and was capable of taking on three grown men at once. At her insistence, due to watching a documentary on Samurai, he also signed her up for swordsmanship classes, hence her skills with the blade. When she turned 14, her father began teaching her to shoot. For her 18th birthday, he had given her a pair of Glocks, and her mother had gotten her an authentic Samurai sword. The very weapons she was currently carrying. Red smiled, a bit sadly, as she thought of her parents. She had inherited her mother's red hair and height, being 5'6", while she had her father's gray eyes and fiery attitude. Her mother had died of cancer six months after her 18th birthday, and her father had been KIA when she was 20. It had been the loss of her whole family that had driven her to join the U.S. Air Force. She had quickly risen through the ranks to become a Second Lieutenant. After 18 months of training, she had first been stationed on a base stateside, but after two months of that, her superiors had realized that she was more than experienced enough to deploy overseas, despite her not having been in active combat. At least, that's the "official" reason they gave for sending a "green" soldier into the heat of battle. Red personally thought that they had just wanted the, to quote one of her training officers, "Hot headed, stubborn, immature, loud, and deadly" woman out of their hair. Not that she blamed them. She would be the first to admit that she had a bit of a fiery and hard-to-control personality, but when it counted, she was also loyal, caring, strategic, and yes, mature. She had never really been a "people person" in the sense that she had a lot of friends. She got along with people just fine, but mostly she kept them at a distance. When she had been posted here, she hadn't expected to have the opportunity to become friends with any of her comrades-in-arms, especially when the only other woman on base finished her tour two weeks after Red got here. However, she found she was wrong. Now, four months into her first deployment, she was not only friends with Lennox, Epps, Fig, Don, and a woman who had arrived one month ago named Bracy, she was becoming friends with an 18 foot tall metal alien. Who apparently had finished nosing around, because said yellow alien walked over to the entrance and peered in at her. Red smiled, sitting up and giving Bee a lazy wave.
"I think I'm gonna take a nap, kay? I don't want to miss it when your friends arrive tonight. Could you wake me up at about 2100 hours?" (~AN~ 9:00 pm)
Bee nodded,
"*Sure, you look*... like you... could use... some... rest."
"Thanks Bee."
Red replied, then lay back down. As she closed her eyes, Bee hesitantly spoke up.
"Hey, Red, I've*... got... two questions... real quick."
Red hummed in response. Bee, taking that as permission, asked,
"*Why do you*... hate the... heat... so much?" Red waited a moment, then told him,
"I'm from Alaska. It isn't exactly warm there, so I'm more used to the cold than the heat. I've been here four months and I'm still not used to it."
Bee chirped in response, then moved on to his second question.
"*Why do you*... have so many... weapons?" Red smiled, her eyes still closed.
"Well,"
she began,
"my dad was in the Air Force, and he always wanted me to be prepared. So when I was 14 he..."
~AN~
Sorry to leave off like that, but I've already explained her past to you and didn't want to repeat it. For those of you wondering, no I will NOT be pairing Bumblebee and Clara together, or having any other romantic Human/Cybertronian relationships for that matter. They are just friends, with an eventual brother-sister relationship, with them generally driving each other, and everyone else, nuts. Anyway, what do you think of my OC? I hope this chapter gave you a good view of her background. Also, I called this chapter "Learning Opportunities" because this chapter is mainly about the humans and Cybertronians learning more about one another.