THE REST OF THIS STORY IS DEDICATED TO NOVA. YOU'RE THE FUEL TO THIS STORY. THANKS. J
" Decepticons attacked the patrol I was with and captured your sparkmate. Bumblebee is mostly unharmed and is following at a distance. He sent me back to get you." Randall reported quickly.
"The others?" Optimus looked at him questionably.
Randall shook his head, and the semi's gaze shifted to the floor in momentary grief.
Then the leader rose to his full height. " A rescue will be mounted at once." He declared. "Thank you for reporting back to me and not trying to take on a rescue yourself." After looking at the boy shrewdly, making Randall shiver slightly and wonder is somehow the leader knew of his forbidden adventures, Optimus Prime stared to leave, and Randall scurried after him.
"Can't I come too?" he asked anxiously, crossing his fingers behind his back and holding his breath as he trotted along beside the noble Autobot.
"No. Too dangerous." Optimus stated firmly without slowing.
"But I might be able to help!" Randall pleaded, following his massive friend down the hall.
"I said no, and that is final." Prime said sternly, starting to pick up the pace.
"But, but, your sparkmate carries the form of your son." Randall said quietly, and Optimus froze.
Slowly, the alien swiveled his head to stare down at Randall. " And how do you know this?" He rumbled.
Randall gulped. " My inspection of her this morning revealed another spark throbbing inside her, and that is how I know."
Optimus looked lost in thought.
"Sir?" Randall prompted after a second.
Optimus snapped out of it. " I was, unaware that she was carrying our son." He said in a horror stricken voice.
"I believe she was trying to surprise you." Randall said quietly. "You have been so busy and stressed here lately…"
Optimus stepped out again, this time so quickly Randall had to run to catch up.
"If Megatron discovers she's carrying, he will torture her or worse, and kill our son." Optimus growled, and clenched his fists.
"Let me come! If we work together, we may be able to rescue her in time!" Randall pleaded once more.
"NO!" Optimus thundered, making Randall jump. " This is too dangerous for a mere human like you. There is nothing you can do." He added more gently, seeing how he scared the boy.
"But you don't-"
"Randall."
At Optimus's warning tone, the teenager clenched his fists angrily and looked down, tears springing to his eyes.
It was the same story, over and over.
Optimus would never let him help with anything the tiniest bit dangerous, and it was wearing on his nerves.
There was a creaking of metal, and Randall felt a huge finger under his chin tilt his face up for his angry brown eyes to look into sad yellow optics.
"You do understand, don't you?" Optimus spoke quietly, having knelt so he was closer to the younger. " I do not do this to make you feel useless, I just do not want you hurt. The Decepticons are cruel, and would kill you as easy as crushing a fly is for you." Optimus held his gaze a moment longer, then stood up and looked down on him once more.
Randall nodded, unable to speak because of the lump in his throat.
The Prime's little speech only made him feel worse for what he was about to do, and he just hoped the wise mech would understand once he did it.
But at the same time, it only made him more determined to carry on with his plan.
Optimus Prime was the one being that had cared about him since his parents died, and he would do anything to help him.
Even if that meant disobeying him and putting his own life on the line, like he was about to do.
The mighty Bot turned and walked down the hall, disappearing through a doorway to issue orders to the rest of the Autobots.
Randall spun and headed for his room.
Randall sped through the underground tunnels on his stolen motorcycle, wearing a camouflaged suit, clutching a miniaturized laser weapon that he had designed for himself to use based on the Autobots' weapons he had examined, and enough cloaking devices for four Autobots.
He had never seen anything like them before, and he had secretly made a copy of their design so he could have one too.
It had been tricky business, assembling it, but he had finally made one, and just in time too.
He had only target practiced with it a month before, and now he needed to use it.
Just like it had been interesting to steal the motorcycle he was now riding.
Or should he say, easy to steal, but hard to keep hidden from the aliens.
He only rode it, and kept it, in his secret tunnels, but with the Autobots' sensitive hearing, and other sensing capabilities, he never rode till he was out from under the Nevada mountain base, which, since it was inside the mountain, wasn't that hard.
This time was different.
He didn't care if they heard him underfoot; he knew where the Decepticon base was and they didn't.
He had listened to many arguments since he arrived about where the 'con's base was located, and after having been severely scolded for asking about trying to locate it himself, he had started sneaking off when no one was around, and exploring on his own.
It was surprisingly easy to sneak off, since Optimus trusted him enough to not have him watched, at all.
And since he had to head to the nearest town, which was at least thirty miles away, in order to get stuff for him, human stuff like food, clothing, games, ect, ect, (he never let on he was stealing it all) he would often take his sweet time going there and back to explore the area.
Over the year he had been here, he had designed goggles to allow him to tell the difference between a Decepticon jet, car, train, ect ect and a human jet, car, train, ect ect and a camouflaged suit that also hid him from thermal imaging.
He had built them in a hurry, as rumors were flying in the little town closest to the Autobot base and even towns a hundred miles away of strange vehicles moving in the desert and canyons in the area, and increased jet activity.
Once he discovered what was human made, and what was alien, he was able to move more safely, and get an idea in which direction the enemy base was.
Shortly after that, he discovered he needed a faster way to get around, and had stolen the motorcycle.
Using more alien technology, he souped up the motor until he could whiz along at incredible speeds.
He began drilling more and more tunnels in the direction of what he calculated was the Decepticon base, due to the frequency the jets and other 'cons came and went in that specific direction.
He knew it was somewhere in the ocean, as all the Autobots had scouted the land around them extensively and knew it was nowhere on land.
After one more time of trying to help them find their enemy, he never spoke up again, which meant none of them had the slightest idea of the goggles, his suit, or his 'cycle.
He shuddered as he recalled how he had eventually found the base.
Townsfolk from all over the western USA had started making forays out into the desert and canyons, trying to spot the vehicles and find out where they were coming from.
Some of them never came back.
Randall had informed Optimus of these developments, and all Autobots now stayed well hidden, but the rumors kept flying, and Randall overheard Tracks and Prowl talking about the disappearances, which they guessed meant Deception kidnappings.
Optimus sent out more patrols then he used to after that, with added orders of protecting the humans.
None of the Bots, however, were suited to this kind of work, and they failed repeatedly, as their knowledge of humans was minimal, and they had to keep completely hidden from view at all times, fueling the stories and superstitions of the townsfolk.
Randall once more offered his help with the humans, but was refused again.
Optimus was afraid he would be kidnapped, as he told Randall the boy would never know whether he was looking at a 'con or a human vehicle.
Randall almost had told Prime of his goggles, as even the aliens could not tell which was Decepticon and which was human when they were confronted with trying to decide.
But, he was afraid of getting into serious trouble, for having used their own tech without permission for himself, and so he kept silent, sighing to himself whenever he spied on them and saw them arguing on whether that speck up there was a human jet or a Decepticon.
Usually, it was a human jet, but sometimes it was the enemy, and Randall always kept well hidden from them.
He never had to hide from his own kind when they were in jets, but after he found the base, he was terrified of the brutal enemy aliens.
If only the townsfolk had kept in the town, and not wandered so far out into the desert, he may never have found the base, so he was kinda thankful for the ignorant folks who searched, but then neither would he be having the nightmares he did from how he found it, either, raising some interesting questions from Optimus about them when Randall would wake screaming Decepticon names in the night.
He always hoped his excuse of a vivid imagination from the stories the other Bots told him would be enough, and so far it seemed to be working, though it made things more complicated with what Optimus would allow him to do after that.
On the bright side, if he had never found their base, he would never have made the small submarine he built just to get out of the base.
He had stolen some cloaking technology from the Decepticons, added it to both the sub and his suit, and turbo charged the tiny sub, or he never would have made it out of there alive.
He also had stolen some teleporting tech from them, which, considering how far the Decepticon base was from the Autobot base, really came in handy, other then he was only able to move at about 80 miles or less at a stretch, do to his limited knowledge of such things.
But, it got him where he needed to go, a lot whole lot faster then by just 'bike or sub.
Thankfully, he had since then discovered more tunnels leading out into the ocean, and had been drilling them around his teleporting gates all the way into the underwater base, creating new ones in case he was ever caught and had to confuse his enemies in the maze of tunnels and teleport gates.
Other then that, it was absurdly easy to slip in and out of the 'con base, and to spy on them.
They were not prepared for a small human to creep around in their ducts and airways, and it was simple to distract them and start them fighting amongst themselves to allow him an easier getaway.
He had made a detailed map of the interior of the base, and any set routines they seemed to have.
He also drew a rough map of the outside area of the base, but it was risky, so he was unable to get much detail with all the traffic coming in and out of it all the time.
He may have had a cloaking device on his sub, but he still was leery of getting caught, after what brought him there in the first place.
It was all because a little girl had lost her dog one day, and happened to wander in the wrong place, at the wrong time…