Up ahead Alex recognised the pull over they'd first stopped earlier when they were supposed to wait for the others. Now, however, the area of rough ground away from the road was occupied by Crossfire and Pulse, though Alex could faintly hear Reaper flying above them somewhere.
"He looks pissed," Jak muttered, "Well, at least as pissed as Crossfire gets."
"He looks like a fire truck to me. They always seem to have that expression," Alex commented.
"Probably why he picked it as his vehicle," Jak mused.
Alex just shrugged as they pulled off the road and rolled up behind Traction. They'd all managed to park in a perfect line apart from Freeway who was at a slight angle, though was apparently trying to make it look like he did it on purpose, his front wheels turning this way and that in the gravel to achieve a jaunty look while Bill just stared at the dash with a confused look.
"Out ya get," Jak prompted, opening his door so Alex could get out. He clambered out and casually ignored Crossfire, looking to Bill and indicating that she should join him. She jumped out of Freeway and briefly patted him on the wheel arch before hurrying over to Alex.
"Who are these two?" she asked quietly.
"Crossfire's the truck, he's in charge of these guys, and Pulse is the ambulance, the medic," Alex muttered quickly, just as all around them the Autobots began to buckle and twist into their natural states. All of them apart from Jak of course.
Bill took a step closer to Alex as she was forced to look up at all the bright eyes staring at her, and accidentally bumped into him, her hand brushing his. She quickly pulled it away and Alex felt obliged to grunt a quiet apology.
Crossfire turned his head in Jak's direction briefly, something unsaid passing between them, which made Jak back off slightly, before he crouched down in front of Bill and Alex.
"I thank you for going back for Traction, Alex," he gave a slow nod in gratitude, "But while I'm obviously grateful, I am a little worried though that you put yourself in harm's way."
Alex shrugged, "Traction took out Burnout and saved my life. I just got the feds off his back. Fair deal. I doubt they would have shot me anyway. Drag, Jak and Freeway were their too, so I'm sure they could have helped out if things became dire."
"Hmm," Crossfire looked like he wanted to say more, but resisted the urge to, glancing over to Freeway who was standing up straight, straighter than Drag who was slouched at his side, "Freeway?" he addressed him.
"Yes sir," Freeway went to bring his hand up in a salute, however hit Drag with what Alex thought was his elbow by accident, causing him to stagger into Traction, who quickly righted him. Drag looked murderous, but didn't say anything and just shook himself off, staring at the ground a little way ahead of him.
Crossfire looked rather amused, "You're dedicated to protecting the humans?"
"Yes sir," Freeway nodded enthusiastically, "They're absolutely fascinating. To think that the Decepticons want to kill them, it's horrible."
Crossfire just nodded, "We can talk more in detail while on the move. But now," he turned his attention to Bill at Alex's side, "Who's this?"
"Alex's girlfriend," Jak put in loudly before doing a very poor wolf whistle.
"A life partner?" Pulse looked intrigued.
"No, no, God no, please you guys," Alex said quickly, running a hand over his face before glancing at Bill, who had folded her arms, "She's my friend. Nothing more."
"And she's here, with us now, because?" Crossfire prompted.
"She followed us here. To keep an eye on me," Alex shrugged.
"Nothing more, eh?" Pulse chuckled quietly.
"Not you too," Alex grunted, shaking his head.
"Oh, sorry," he grinned, not sounding apologetic in the slightest.
Crossfire pretended not to notice anything and carried on, "So she followed us?" he echoed, sounding thoughtful as he peered at Bill.
She cringed away a little nervously, glancing at Alex, and then to his surprise, Freeway, for support.
"I'm sure Alex has told you that we won't harm you?" Crossfire raised his eyebrows.
"Well… Yes," she admitted, "But it's not everyday that you come so close to a huge extraterrestrial."
"Very true," he nodded slowly, glancing at Freeway who was watching both him, and Bill, closely, "You followed Alex in order to make sure he was safe?"
"Basically, yes," Bill nodded, "And to keep him out of trouble."
"Wise," Crossfire took on a musing tone again, looking her over as if assessing her.
Bill glanced at Alex as if asking him why the large Autobot was eyeing her up in such a fashion. He just shrugged, having no idea either, deciding that he'd best just let Crossfire continue to look thoughtful and not interrupt.
Meanwhile, Pulse took it upon himself to introduce them all to Bill briefly, since she had only been told and picked up snippets from Alex. When it came to introducing Reaper, all she could identify as him was a speck of black against the blue sky in the far distance, however she remembered the armed helicopter from the desert, so just nodded when Pulse apologised for him not being there.
Eventually, once Pulse had concluded, Crossfire nodded again and straightened up to his full height, so that Alex and Bill had to crane their necks, "She will stay with us, if she wishes."
"Uh," Alex grunted quietly, glancing at Bill who looked surprised, "Why?"
"She is your friend, is she not?" Crossfire raised his eyebrows, "And I think that she has much to offer Freeway. He is eager to learn, while she seems the kind to be good at teaching."
Alex looked across to Freeway who was nodding excitedly, oblivious to the look of disgust Drag was giving him for being less than professional. Bill however looked a little torn, unsure suddenly if she should be allowed to tag along. Alex casually glanced at her and shrugged, the simple gesture telling her she could do what she wanted.
"Well… I…" she muttered, looking at Freeway before turning her attention up to Crossfire, "I don't want to intrude…?"
"Nonsense," he shook his head, "You'd be beneficial. I'm sure that you maybe able to help us in someway. You could leave whenever you want too. We would never force you into something you didn't want."
"So this doesn't tie me down to anything?" Bill asked.
"Not at all," Crossfire shook his head again, "This is your world, you're at liberty to do as you want."
"Nothing military related?" she added.
"The NEST organisation that Optimus Prime and his team work under has no jurisdiction over us, nor them, to be truthful. They advise, both NEST and Prime, but otherwise we're separate, much like fellow Autobots who have arrived here on Earth seeking sanctuary," he explained.
Bill glanced at Alex briefly, leaning close to him to mutter, "Optimus Prime?"
"I think he's the leader of all the Autobots, the good ones," Alex shrugged quietly, "He was the one who was involved in the Paris incident."
"Oh," she nodded slightly, before looking back to Crossfire, "Well I suppose I can stay and see how things go."
"Very well," he nodded, "Though I will warn you, things may get dangerous. With the Decepticons appearing at every turn, it's likely that you will often find yourself in the middle of our conflict."
"I'm sure I can cope," she shrugged.
"I hope you can," Crossfire just nodded, "It will be Freeway's duty to look after you, much like it's Jak's to look after Alex, however if you need us, we will be at your side in an instant. Our main goal is to protect Alex at all costs, however."
Bill glanced at Alex, looking rather amused, "Dare I ask why?"
Alex shrugged lazily, "Oh, you know, alien compound in my blood that the evil guys want to kill me for. Nothing out of the ordinary there."
"Fair enough," she frowned slightly at his attitude.
"And now, we must move on again," Crossfire spoke up once more, "I apologise for our constant travelling, however we've learnt that staying out in the open can be more than a little dangerous. We'd be safe at our base, yet we can't hide there forever."
"Where we moving onto?" Alex asked, absently flicking a few stray strands of hair from his eyes as he looked up.
"Our assistance has been requested northeast of here by a small band of fellow Autobots who have found themselves under increasing attack from the Deceptions. They're are convinced they're hiding something from them, however the Autobots claim they have nothing," Crossfire shook his head, looking a little confused, "We plan to eradicate the Decepticons in the area, while finding out what they were aiming for."
Alex frowned, "Sounds interesting."
"It's certainly unusual," Crossfire agreed, "Unless the Autobots don't realise they have something of value."
"I would have thought they would," Pulse spoke up, "For us not to realise when something is important, it must be something that isn't Cybertronian. It may be human, therefore we share no connection with it."
"What more could they want that's related to humans?" Traction asked as the other Autobots began to join in with the conversation, "We understand that Megatron and Prime are constantly grappling over any shards of the Cube, while Megatron has sent others to seek out humans like Alex who carry Fusion, however what more could their be on this small planet?"
"The Decepticons are bound to have found something they want," Drag folded his arms, "Even if it's something small and insignificant. If they want it, then they'll get it. Any destruction that occurs is a bonus to them. They spend all their time looking for ways to gain for themselves while causing suffering to others."
"Either that, or they think they've found more Energon," Jak shrugged.
Crossfire glanced at him, raising his eyebrows.
"What? They obsess over it, and you know it," he shrugged.
"I would have thought after the events a couple of years ago, that maybe they'd have realised that Earth, and its sun, are not a source of Energon," Crossfire shook his head.
"Do Decepticons ever take hints?" Jak flashed his lights, "I think not."
"Hijack has a point," Drag nodded, "If the Decepticons even catch onto what they think might be an Energon source, they'd never give it up."
"Uh, Energon?" Alex spoke up, "Explain for us?" he indicated himself and Bill.
"Freeway, care to explain?" Crossfire looked at him.
He looked almost fit to burst at the prospect of actually being useful and quickly nodded, "Yes sir, of course. Energon is our source of energy and is highly useful. It can be used in such diverse fashions as sustenance to ammunitions. Most importantly however, it's the building blocks to us. Our bodies and our Sparks, which are basically our versions of your hearts, are created from Energon. In its pure state, it is highly volatile and can be extremely destructive. Any slight impact may cause it to detonate explosively. In order to transport it, it can be condensed into an Energon cube, however, while much more stable, it can still be quite dangerous. Pure Energon cannot be handled by any of us, since it can potentially cause us to overload due to the sheer amount of energy," Freeway finished and looked at Crossfire expectantly. He received a smile and nod, causing him to once again look far too happy.
"Also," Jak added lazily, "If it's in a liquid state and a small amount is drunk by us, we become 'over-energized'. Or as you two may know it, absolutely stoned, shattered and totally wasted."
"Drunk?" Alex snorted slightly.
"Exactly," Jak nodded in his customary manner, "It's great fun."
"And dangerous," Pulse added.
"Only in excess," Jak shrugged off his comment.
Pulse just rolled his eyes and muttered something about it being a good thing that there was no liquid Energon on Earth, as well as Jak not being in a state to drink.
"That's enough of this talk for now. We had better be moving on," Crossfire looked around at his team of Autobots, "The journey should take us around five hours. Reaper has checked the area and it seems to be clear of Decepticons. Spectre vanished after a tussle with him, apparently."
"That's all Spectre's good at," Drag grunted, "Running and disappearing. Worthless piece of scrap metal," he added darkly.
The others around him just nodded, both Traction and Pulse glancing at each other before they began to fold into their vehicle forms.
Crossfire looked at Drag expectantly, and there was a moment's pause before the Autobot turned away and knelt down to convert into the Aston Martin. Freeway seemed to be struggling a little beside him and eventually Traction moved over to him in order to give him some support as one of the young Autobot's legs appeared to get stuck briefly.
Crossfire was the last to reform into the fire truck, whereat he took up position by the road; ready to move out once they were all ready.
Alex indicated that they should get to their designated drivers, and after a moments hesitation hurried away from Bill towards Jak who was waiting with his door open. Bill watched him get into the Mustang before turning to Freeway who looked like he was shuffling uncomfortably, however fell still once her gaze fell on him. She quickly made her way over to him and clambered into the drivers seat after once again patting him on the wheel arch.
Once he was content that everyone was settled and ready, Crossfire lead the Autobots off the gravelled area and onto the road, all in a perfect line apart from when Freeway occasionally drifted into the other side of the road. This occurred a few times until Drag finally blared his horn at him in irritation and Freeway quickly gained control of himself again, but only just doing so thanks to Bill who quickly reassured him that his driving wasn't that bad.
After an hour or so in the air conditioned comfort of Jak, where the benefits were almost outweighed by the loud music pounding through the many speakers around him, Alex couldn't help but wonder if Bill was going to burn to a crisp as they drove through the empty expanse of desert. Maybe she liked having the top down, she did own a convertible after all. Or maybe there was enough of a breeze to keep her cool.
He paused in his thinking, suddenly wondering why he honestly cared that much. Sure she was his friend, but she knew what she was doing. She didn't need him worrying that she might get a little sunburnt or dehydrate slightly.
At the mention of dehydrating, Alex's stomach suddenly gave a loud growl.
He'd almost forgotten in the heat of the moment, and the desert. It'd been almost a whole day since he'd eaten and drunk something.
Jak obviously heard his stomach rumbling, even through the music, and snorted in amusement, "Of course, you humans have to eat, don't you? Someone hungry?"
"You could say that. I didn't realise I was starving until I starting thinking about it," Alex ran a hand over his face.
"Want a detour so you can pick something up? Just a quick drive through?"
"Something's better than nothing, I guess," Alex nodded, "Will Crossfire mind?"
"I think both of us don't want you to starve to death in me. Could you believe how hard it would be to get your tiny body out of my driver's seat? Drag's the only one with small enough hands to do so without tearing me to pieces, and I really don't think he'd want to pull your dead carcass out of me," Jak still sounded rather amused.
"Oh, lovely Jak. What a brilliant image that just gave me," Alex pulled a face, "Of all places to die, it has to be in an arrogant Mustang."
"Correction. Arrogant Autobot. I'm technically no more of a Mustang than you are a shirt and jeans. You're not what you wear are you?"
"You have a point," Alex nodded.
"We'll stop off at the next place we see, regardless whether you like the food or not. I'm sure they'll have something you'll eat," Jak commented.
"I generally eat anything," Alex shrugged, beginning to root around in his pockets for some change, "Lets just hope I have enough money."
"If you don't, check this," Jak popped open his glove compartment. Alex leant across to it and peered in, frowning when he found a wad of cash in it.
"Do I want to know?" he sat up again.
"In case of emergency."
"You stole it?"
"Hell no! We just happen to have money on us," Jak insisted.
"As you do. Because you're obviously going to saunter into some random shop and buy some clothes?" Alex rolled his eyes.
"More like in case we have a human passenger who needs money," Jak muttered, "But hey, if you don't want or need it…" the glove compartment slammed shut.
"I don't need your money," Alex huffed, once again diving into his pockets, "I have it all here. I can pay for my own food."