[Location: Autobot Base]
Ratchet looked up as he heard Arcee and Jack returning. Bumblebee and Raf had already left per Optimus' request to replace him since their medic had filled the Autobot leader in on the errand that Jack had taken. Optimus smiled as they pulled up, the young man quickly getting off so Arcee could change.
"I'm sorry, Optimus. It's my fault," the young man admitted, looking up at the much larger bot before him.
Optimus dismissed the issue with a wave of his hand. "Ratchet had told me about your kindness for Elita and Bumblebee agreed to take over for Arcee for the same reason." The cranky medic bot was even smiling about it.
"I better get these clothes to Elita," Arcee said, dismissing herself. Jack hopped up to their usual area, digging out the bags of food from his backpack.
Elita's robotic body was resting on the large bed, while the human form, still wrapped up in the blanket, was looking at the inside of the cavity she had fallen from. So engrossed was she in her findings that when the knock came from her door she lost her balance and fell in. Pulling herself half out, she called for whoever was on the other side to enter her room, privately glad it was Arcee.
The blue motorcycle fem entered the room, allowing the door to shut behind her and began to pull out the two large trash bags of clothing from her storage compartments. "Jack and June thought you might be able to use these."
Elita deftly hopped from the cavity onto the floor, running over the bags as Arcee knelt down next to them as well. "He's such a gentleman. His Momma's raising him right, that's for sure."
"She does her best," her friend agreed.
Pulling out the clothing and looking it over, the human-shaped bot picked out a set to wear for the moment. "And you all help keep the kids out of trouble."
"Trouble still finds them, both human and Decepticon." Arcee was holding up the blanket so Elita could dress behind it.
"Vince being the main human trouble maker, after M.E.C.H. that is." The fem-bot holding the blanket heard her friend hopping around a bit. "Gah! June's so small!"
"That a bad thing?"
"Not for her. The pants fit. The shirt's a bit snug. I'm just glad I'm covered." Arcee let go of the blanket when Elita's hand grabbed the top of it to pull it away. She was still barefoot, but otherwise fully clothed in black pants, dark green shirt with a blue long sleeve over shirt that was left unbuttoned. "Thankfully June's a conservative dresser."
Arcee gave an approving nod. "I'm glad we never have to deal with that." Watching her friend carry the two bags over to the foot of the large bed, Arcee got back up to her feet and made her way over to the large bed as well, looking down at the opening in Elita-One's larger body. Her friend crawled on the body as well, looking down into it, too.
"I'm trying to figure out how it all works," Elita said, lying on the form, her arms crossed but holding her up.
Arcee blinked, crooking her head to the left and moved her body to look more down into the cavity. There was a huge, slightly recessed Autobot symbol on the back of a harness like system inside, but there was no visible control system. "That's where you were formed?"
"It's where I dropped out of at least."
"I've never seen an Autobot symbol inside one of us before," the standing bot said.
"I have one about that size on my back," Elita said sitting up, intertwining her legs, "Must have been where my back was pressed against while forming. Or maybe my umbilical while this form developed."
"Umbilical?" Arcee blinked a couple times, but before she got her answer Elita got a strange look on her face as an odd sound came from her midsection.
"That's something I haven't felt in… forever." Elita smiled up at her friend, "I'm actually hungry."
"Then let's get you some energon," Arcee said, offering her friend a hand down, "Ratchet said you had lost a lot last night."
"Yeah, all over the floor when I hatched." Elita was laughing a bit as they moved away the bed. Her robotic form sat up in the bed, got to its feet as the torso opening closed, and began to follow.
The other fem-bot looked back at it, raising an optic ridge. "That's starting to creep me out."
Elita turned around as they walked, looking up at it as well. "You're not the only one. I've just gotta make sure I don't step on myself, or anybody else with it." Then the most delicious smell came through the hallway. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath in and smiled. "Ooooooohhhh. I don't think its energon that I'm craving. Did one of the kids bring food?"
"Jack had picked some up on our way back." Arcee was smiling.
After they entered the main chamber, Elita's larger body moved off to stand beside Ratchet's work table. Arcee watched as Elita herself easily hopped twice, once off of the workstation Ratchet was working on, to get up to the walkway. Jack was finishing pulling the food out of the bags when she landed at his side. A medium stack of burgers, a two large fries, and two large sodas all resting neatly on the coffee table.
"Oh bless your mother for raising you a gentleman," she said smiling warmly at him.
Jack smiled, complementing her on her clothing before passing the bag of bath soaps to her. "I have no idea why, but I figured you needed food, too. And to wash up…"
"Probably the same thing that made Optimus feel that he needed to stay in base last night," she offered, her smile brightening even more as their human friend passed her one of the burgers. Flopping down on the couch, she quickly unwrapped the treat, took a deep whiff of it before chomping a huge bite, savoring it.
Behind her Ratchet and Arcee turned around as they heard some odd stomping behind them. Even Optimus raised an optic ridge at the sight. Elita's robotic form had its fists up near its chin as it practically hopped around in a circle.
"What is it doing?" the blue fem-bot asked.
"She has a mental link to it that picks up on her subconscious," the medic explained, chuckling a bit at the odd sight before turning back to his station, "I take it that this is her version of what Miko calls the 'happy dance'?"
"It does look 'happy'," Arcee mumbled a bit as she looked back at Jack joining Elita for the meal.
"I am happy," said the large robot, while the smaller form still chewed a mouthful of burger, "Even before I ended up here I was only given three ration bars a day for at least six months." Everyone present focused on the larger bot form again. "Alright," it continued, "this is pretty cool."
"It appears," Ratchet said, turning to face the form standing behind him, "that you and your larger form, despite being separated at the moment, still have a complete bond."
"So I guess we have to stop referring to it as… well 'it'," Elita said through her larger form, "But we'll figure that out later."
She was halfway through the stack of burgers when the proximity alert went off. It wasn't too much later when Agent Fowler came through the elevator doors. Optimus was already standing near the entrance by the time the human came into the room. "Special Agent Fowler," the Prime nodded.
"Prime," the man nodded back calmly and then held up a folder. "I have some pictures of possible M.E.C.H. agents that I'd like Elita to look at to see if she can I.D. them."
"I can look, but I'd do better with audio," Elita said through her larger form while the smaller one was taking a large gulp of her drink. She chuckled at his reaction.
Fowler looked over at where the voice came from, stared for a good ten seconds with is mouth open as he looked between the bot standing behind Ratchet and Arcee and the human looking one eating, and then made his way over to the one sitting on the couch. "What happened?"
"One of those crazy mystical properties of the big VS," she smiled, offering him one of the burgers. He took it, a bit awkwardly because he had no idea what to do about this situation. She twisted a bit to point at her larger body behind Ratchet, now standing calmly by. "I still have that. But, about the photos…"
"I can try to get recordings of their voices. That would make more sense."
"With the masks 'n all."
Fowler nodded, but set the stack of files on what was left of the table, amidst the empty wrappers. "But I had got to thinking that he might have spoken with them while he was still active duty, and maybe around you as well."
She nodded, chewing on some fries. "That… actually makes sense. He did speak to a lot of other soldiers, a good amount of which had nothing directly to do with Damocles."
"Any help you can give us will benefit us all." Agent Fowler said, opening the wrapper of the burger.
Then her eyes brightened more, "Oh! What do I need to do to maybe get stuff to start a hydroponic garden here?"
The rapid change of topics kept the government agent off guard. "I… guess make a list of the supplies you'll need."
"Thankies!"
Arcee, who had moved over beside Optimus while they were speaking, took the opportunity to get Jack's attention. "You ready to go out on patrol, Jack?"
"Sure, Arcee!" and he was up on his feet a moment before, excusing himself from the adults.
"Have fun! And thanks again for the food Jack!"
"No prob, Elita."
Jack was on the ground level the next moment, Arcee transforming into her vehicle mode while he secured his helmet. Optimus opened the ground bridge for the pair and soon they were taking off through the vortex.
[Author's Note]
I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS PRIME NOR ANY CHARACTER IN THE SHOW.
Sorry, I know it's a bit slow at the moment. Thanks for sticking with me.