I'm finished early! This chapter was surprisingly easy to write for some odd reason. Oh well, I'm sure none of you are complaining. Right now I am so close to getting 100 reviews it's driving me crazy! So, to both drum up some reviews and reward those who faithfully review and read my rants along the top and bottom here, I propose a reward. The 100th to the 105th reviewers can have the option of private messaging me and giving me a prompt/idea/situation that they would like to see happen for this story and I will do my best to write it. Those writings will be added to the companion of this story 'Underestimated' or if they really strike my muse they could be added to this story. So let the games begin, read and review!
Disclaimer: I don't own scrap, or Transformers, but Megan is mine!
"Talking"
'Thinking'
:Comm link:
"Megan, we will be approaching the base within the hour. You should wake up now if you wish to be alert."
What Megan really wanted to do was tell the mystery italian voice exactly where it could shove it's wake-up call, but then she remembered exactly who said italian voice belonged to. Megan groaned and cracked open her eyes, memories flooding back and reminding her exactly where she was and what was going on. Megan was amazed that her injuries could still feel worse even after twenty-four hours of receiving them. She sat up and looked out the windows, the sun had long dropped over the horizon as she realized she must have slept for hours.
'And yet I'm still exhausted.' She moaned internally.
"We're almost at base?" She questioned quietly, all traces of sleep forgotten.
Megan really regretted falling asleep now, she had just spent their last few hours together sleeping. Had it really only been less than a week since she found him in Al's junkyard? It felt much longer.
"Yes. We should arrive soon."
They continued the last leg of their journey in silence, having nothing more to really say to each other. Megan adjusted her wildly standing hair and tried to make herself look somewhat presentable. She sat quietly staring at what she could see of the dusty, rocky landscape around them. The road was just a dusty path in the dirt, they were truly in the middle of nowhere Nevada. Megan supposed it was as good a place as any to be hiding twenty-foot tall giant alien robots. After some time a group of lights appeared in the distance, the closest one being at what looked like a guard station at the entrance of a tall barb-wire fence.
Several soldiers were standing at attention as they pulled closer, they had already seen them coming from a long ways off and had their guns pointed in their direction. Mirages engine growled at the meager threat but he still slowed and came to a stop several feet away from them. The soldiers moved at a silent command and flanked Mirage on both sides, all the while keeping their eyes and weapons on the vehicle in front of them. Megan could feel her heartbeat accelerate at the sight of so many weapons pointing in her direction and tried not to look nervous. She had Mirage to back her up after all, but still, it was a little scary.
'This could get really bad really, really fast if we don't do this right.' She thought worriedly. Megan wasn't too surprised, after all these soldiers didn't know if they were friendly yet or not.
Mirage could feel Megan's heart rate accelerate in a fear response as he rumbled his engine warningly at the soldiers. Mirage knew he could easily take damage from the human soldier's guns with little more than a scratch, but these guns could easily harm or even kill his young companion. Megan could see a younger fellow hanging back on a handheld radio, talking feverishly into it while glancing at her and Mirage. She hoped that meant the Autobot's were on their way, that would hopefully make Mirage's introduction go a little smoother. The tallest soldier, with a grim expression, stepped forward and spoke in a voice that clearly said 'do as I say'. Mirage rolled down his window slightly so Megan could hear what the man was shouting.
"This is an active military base. You are not authorized to be in this space, leave now or we will use deadly force."
Mirage's engine growled at the clear threat but he was distracted by Megan unbuckling her seat-belt and tapping at his door.
"Mirage, you got to let me out. I have to explain to them who we are and you have to transform to show them you're an Autobot."
She was right, Mirage didn't like it, but reluctantly opened his door all the same. Megan raised her hands over her head in the universal peaceful gesture as the door swung open on its own and she moved to get out. The sound of numerous guns being cocked and readied to be fired rang through the air before her feet had even touched the ground. Even the guy who had demanded they drive away suddenly had a pistol in his hand. Megan froze for a moment, stiff with sudden fear while Mirage's engine snarled in response and his entire frame shuddered angrily. The leader guy spoke up again shouting even louder this time.
"Miss! Get back in your car and leave! This is your final warning."
Megan's tongue finally saw fit to unglue itself from the roof of her mouth. Having found her voice she had to shout over the sound of Mirage's growling engine to be heard. As she spoke she slowly stood, even as she readied herself to hit the dirt if necessary.
"Sir, you don't understand. I'm here because I know about the Autobot's. This car is in fact one of them if you'll just let him show you."
She was fully out of Mirage's alt-form now but still standing behind the door, she was still too close to Mirage to allow him to safely transform without hurting her. The guy in charge was just standing there, as if processing her words and trying to decide if she was lying to him or not. Megan backed away a little to give Mirage some space.
One of the soldiers, who either hadn't been listening or didn't care, must have somehow read her movement as a threat because a loud cracking sound split the air. Mirage, who had had his sensors trained on each soldier as Megan conversed with the one in charge, had seen the soldier twitch and transformed faster than even he knew he could. Before Megan's ears fully even registered the sound, the car beside her suddenly exploded into motion.
Megan curled into a ball, arms over her head, gasping for breath and wondering where the protective metal cage that surrounded her had come from. Megan checked herself over and listened carefully to what was going on outside. She couldn't find any new wounds, so it appeared that the bullet had missed. There was a lot of shouting coming from outside along with the sound of many loud engines approaching and coming to a screeching stop. A very loud and deep voice could be heard over all the others.
"STAND DOWN!" The voice boomed.
Megan tried to calm her frantically beating heart before cautiously tapping the steel wall. The metal hands surrounding her split and unfurled, letting in the light and a pair of familiar blue optics.
"Megan. Are you damaged?"
"N-no. I don't think so." Megan said shakily. She double checked in the light, but she did seem to be alright, only a little dusty from her roll in the dirt. She looked back up at him.
"You ok?"
"Yes, I am fine." He reassured her before turning his attention back to the approaching crowd of people and vehicles.
Mirage shifted letting Megan see her surroundings but stayed kneeling with one hand behind her. Megan blinked in the light, trying to make sense of what was going on around her. Dozens of more soldiers had and were driving up, guns in hand and trying to understand who the new bot was. Megan could see several military vehicles and a number of other cars including a massive flame painted Peterbilt driving up. A brown-haired, blue-eyed soldier jumped out of a large, roaring, black pick-up truck, his face like a thundercloud.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" The soldier yelled, the many patches on his uniform suggested he was in charge.
Megan decided it would be a good idea to stay off that guys bad side. Another soldier, a tall black man, walked up behind the angry guy and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Take it easy Will."
Will shrugged off the other guys hand but took his advice and seemed to calm down a little. He focused on the soldier that Megan had addressed what she and Mirage had pulled up.
"Officer Jacobs, front and center. Explain yourself."
Megan was distracted from whatever the officer was going to say by the unique sound of transforming metal. The Peterbilt split and stood and Megan's breath caught in her chest as the biggest cybertronian she had seen yet stood to his full height. She gaped at the thirty-five foot tall cybertronian in amazement. The tall, red and blue mech seemed to have an air of clam authority that commanded respect and Megan guess that it could only be Optimus. Megan found herself getting a strong sense of déjà vu as she spoke in little more than a whisper.
"Holy crap he's tall."
She could hear and feel Mirage's chuckle through the hand he had at her back. She looked up at Mirage and watched as he stood and moved away from her. Mirage brought a fist to his chest and nodded his helm at the taller bot is a respectful gesture.
"Optimus, it is good to see you at last. I trust my team made it to earth ahead of me with minimal damage?"
"Mirage. Your team arrived successfully almost an orn ago thanks to your courageous efforts. They have been worried about you. We were unaware you had even arrived on earth, though it is good to see you my friend."
Optimus crossed the distance between them and clapped a hand on Mirages shoulder. Mirage flinched as Optimus's hand connected with the same shoulder that Crankcase had stabbed not even a day ago. The bright yellow-green emergency search-and-rescue vehicle transformed and stood up with a shout that surprised Megan into jumping several feet back. This bot was shorter than Prime but taller than Mirage by a few feet, and Megan assumed from his vehicle form he was the Autobot medic.
"Easy Optimus! He's got some heavy damages there. You shouldn't be transforming too quickly let alone traveling with those injuries Mirage. I can't even get a clear scan with your spark cloak fully activated like that. Your systems must be draining at an accelerated rate. I'm surprised you haven't dropped from low energon levels yet." The yellow bot groused to Mirage while trying to examine the extent of the damage at the same time.
"I am fine Ratchet. I have important information that I must speak of before anything else."
"I'll be the judge of that." Ratchet growled.
"Can we move this conversation back to the base before the whole Decepticon army decides to come and see what the commotion is?" The black pick-up growled.
"Very well Ironhide. Come, let us take this conversation to a more private location." Optimus said.
The bots proceeded to transform beck into their alt-forms and move out toward the base along with a majority of the soldiers. Mirage however hung back and seemed to observe Megan for a moment. He left his driver's side door open.
"Are you coming Megan?"
Megan smiled and moved to join Mirage, but was stopped when Will moved between them and addressed Mirage.
"Actually, it would be best if she came with us."
There was a distinct pause as Mirage hesitated before closing his door with a snap.
"Very well then."
Without another word or even what would have looked like a glance back at her. Megan watched as Mirages tail lights drove smoothly away, and tried her best to choke back the welling disappointment. After all what had she expected? She was only the means for him to find his leader from the very beginning after all. Now that he was home she wasn't needed anymore. Megan tried to force her thoughts and feelings away but instead they lingered, like a poison mist that refused to dissipate. To distract herself from the bitter feelings she turned her attention to the soldier called Will.
"So what now?" She asked.
Will raised an eyebrow at the young woman but decided she seemed friendly enough, if perhaps a little to the point.
"We'll take you to base and work from there. You could be here awhile though."
"Well then the quicker we get moving the sooner I can be on my way." Megan said crisply.
Epps and Will shared a look but led her over to one of the waiting military vehicles all the same. Megan warily watched the group of soldiers that had been the ones who had guarded the gate, and who had shot at her. She quickly jumped into the back seat and closed the door behind her. Will seemed to notice her caution around officer Jacobs and his men and tried to reassure her.
"Don't worry they won't bother you again. They're new to base and still skittish as rabbits around the big guys. They weren't following protocol and certainly shouldn't have fired a weapon at you. They'll be on kitchen and monitor duty for a long time for this one."
Megan muttered something about men and being trigger happy idiots. Epps heard what she said and roared a laugh from the passenger seat as Will started up the engine.
"You ain't so bad kid. You got a name?" Epps asked.
"My name is Megan Valerie Pully, not kid. Who are you?"
"Name's Robert, but call me Epps, and this is Will." Epps punched Will in the shoulder for his introduction.
"That's Major Will to you." Will said with a mock glare at Epps. Megan couldn't help but give a small grin at the friendly banter between the two.
"So how did you meet the new bot?" Will asked with a quick glance in the rear-view mirror at Megan. Megan really didn't want to talk about Mirage, but she supposed she would just have to get over the hurt. She shrugged at the question.
"His name is Mirage, and it's a bit of a long story."
"Well we'll have plenty of time for you to tell us that story in just a bit." Will yawned, reminding Megan that it was very late at night to be having so much excitement.
They pulled up to what looked like the main hangar, which obviously had been modified to accommodate tall cybertronians. Megan hopped out of the car and was almost instantly flanked by Will and Epps, who lead the way into the massive hanger. As they walked she wondered if the place was always this busy at midnight or if was only so because of her and Mirage's arrival.
Soldiers and technicians moved back and forth doing their jobs with effortless efficiency, not even bothering to give Megan more than a second glance. Megan had to hurry to not be left behind by the brisk pace that Will set. They went down a human sized corridor and soon stopped at a sturdy black door, which Will opened for her. Megan looked at the room before going in and shot a look at Will. He only shrugged in response.
"It's more comfortable than the brigs we got, and besides, you aren't a prisoner here. So really we're just keeping you here until we find time to get your side of the story. We shouldn't be long."
'Ya right.' Megan scoffed in her head, but still she only sighed and entered the interrogation room.
The room was well-lit and all pale white with only a plain table and a pair of chairs within. The bright light revealed a fine layer of dust over everything and showed that the room wasn't used very often. A standard one way mirror decorated one wall, in which she regarded her scruffy, pale appearance for a moment. Megan really didn't feel comfortable, she was way out of her depth and far from any comfort zone she had ever known. Will gave her an apologetic smile as he closed the door and locked it behind him, leaving Megan alone and feeling more than a little trapped.
Megan forced herself to take deep breaths and remind herself that she wouldn't be there for long. A few hours tops, or maybe a day or two at most. The thought really didn't do much to make her feel any better. At least she had been allowed to keep her bag and things. So she sat down at the table and put her head down. She hoped that maybe a little nap would make the stinging feeling that had settled in her chest since Mirage had driven away fade a little. Or at the very least, make it easier to ignore.
Elsewhere in the base Mirage was leaning against a berth with his arms crossed over his chassis. He tapped a ped as he impatiently waited for Ratchet to see fit to release him from the med bay. The med bay was a little on the small side and had few resources due to a lack of funding, but had the basic essentials for repairs. Though it was sparsely decorated it was still better then what Ratchet normally had to work with. The medic had insisted on first bringing the spy in for a thorough check-up and minor repairs before letting him anywhere near a debriefing room. Ratchet entered the med bay muttering and grumbling over a data pad exactly as Mirage remembered him.
"Fragging useless human tech. Can't even make a decent string of code that isn't written in such a primitive way to make it completely useless."
Ratchet tossed the data pad down on the other berth with a derisive snort before turning his attention to Mirage. Mirage was suddenly very wary of the way the CMO was regarding him with narrowed optics.
"Well? Do I have to knock you over the helm myself to get you onto the berth, or are you going to cooperate?"
Mirage instantly hauled his aft onto the berth he had been leaning against in the most dignified way he could. Ratchet wasted no time and began to inspect the most recent damage, particularly his damaged shoulder strut and door wing. Ratchet growled as he scanned the damage and made an inventory of the supplies and tools he would need.
"Did you purposely run your shoulder into a blade or was it just a happy accident?" Ratchet complained, Mirage answered with a roll of his optics.
"Crankcase and his lackeys tracked us down. They had captured me and would have had me offlined in a spark beat if it had not been for Megan."
Ratchet didn't miss the note of what could have been called pride in Mirages voice, though for once it wasn't pride at an accomplishment of his own.
"Megan, isn't that the designation of the human femme you were traveling with? How could she have fought off three mechs?"
"I think I shall wait until the debriefing. I would not want to have to repeat myself and it is unlikely you will believe me at any rate. I still hardly believe it myself." Mirage made an electronic sound of disbelief but the smile tugging at the corners of his faceplates softened the words.
Of course none of this escaped Ratchets keen optics, even as he repaired what damage he could to Mirage's frame. Ratchet moved on to inspect the damage that Mirage had received before arriving on earth.
"Slag! You just had to get hit in your specialized secondary systems core didn't you?"
"Is that going to be a problem?" Mirage asked. Ratchet sighed at the question and moved to sort through his supplies on his work table.
"Repairing your communication systems and making it so you can deactivate your spark cloak won't be a problem. It's your invisibility cloaking system and holo-emitter that's going to be a pain in the aft. They need to be completely replaced and I haven't got the equipment to make such specialized equipment."
"How long could it take to fix or replace them?"
"It's hard to say."
"Ratchet. How long?"
The CMO hesitated before reluctantly answering in a gruff voice.
"It could take years for humans to come up with the tech we would need to do even a patch job on these systems. If Wheeljack or Preceptor were here it would be different, but the truth of the matter remains that you'll have to go without them for a while."
Mirage gritted his dental plates but said nothing. He didn't need to because the waves of frustration were almost visibly coming off his frame. Ratchet finished his inspection, satisfied that Mirage wasn't about to drop dead within the next solar cycle before he could do all the repairs that needed to be done.
"Alright, just one more thing to check. Come on now, lets see your spark."
Mirage hesitated for as long as it took for Ratchet to lose his patience and whip a wrench out of subspace to threaten him with it.
"Come on now ya sparkling. Don't make me use this 'cause we both know I'll still get the same results in the end if you cooperate or not."
Mirage rolled his optics and reluctantly opened his chest plates just enough to reveal his spark. Ratchet immediately set to work scanning and doing the normal routine checks. What he found both did and didn't surprise him.
"Have you noticed any unusual reactions from your spark lately? Any aches or pains?"
"No, none." Mirage muttered in his usual bored tone.
"Some of the cracks ran deep from the damage Crankcase did to your shoulder strut. Nothing threatening, fortunately, but it would be in our best interest to seal the damage running along your inner frame as soon as possible. Are you sure you haven't been experiencing any spark activity?"
"Yes Ratchet. I think I would know if I was having a spark attack." Mirage said sarcastically.
Ratchet looked up from his work with a glare.
"That's not what I mean Mirage. What I'm trying to say is that you're showing signs of a developing Guardian bond."
Ratchet took a cautious step back as Mirage froze. Mirage quickly snapped out of it and scowled at the medic, Ratchet of course hardly being effected by the scathing look.
"That is not possible Ratchet. You know as well as I that my Guardian programming was disabled and buried under other systems and subroutines back at the beginning of the war."
"Of course I know that, I was the one to do it after all, but that doesn't change the reality of what is happening now. The bond is there and growing stronger Mirage. It is most likely the bond is between yourself and Megan."
Mirage surged to his feet, closing his spark casing and firmly folding his chest plates back into place over it and crossing his arms.
"That is not possible! She is a human."
Ratchet interrupted him before Mirage said something that would make Ratchet lose his precarious temper.
"How it happens is unclear at this time, but yours is not the only human-cybertronian bond Mirage. The longer we're on earth the more I'm beginning to think that such bonds are in fact a natural occurrence. Bumblebee was the first to discover this kind of bond with his charge Sam. Ironhide was next, and his spark seems to even be extending itself to include the wife and child of his charge. The bonds are stable and much like our own cybertronian Guardian bonds."
Ratchet was now speaking like Wheeljack when he found a new explosive element, seemingly unaware how Mirage was only half-listening.
"The only major differences is that because the humans have a different spark then our own, the bonds only share strong emotions and give a general sense if the other is in danger. The other main difference is that these bonds aren't instantaneous like a cybertronian bond, instead they grow over time. How quickly the bond forms seems to differ, as they sometimes seem to happen almost overnight while others take longer. I'm currently trying to find out why sparks extend only to certain humans. It's really quite interesting work."
Now that Mirage knew that the bond was there he could vaguely feel it, a tiny reaching of his spark. It was a familiar feeling and one that brought bad memories with it. Mirage tried not to think too deeply on what this bond could mean. Mirage could feel his tanks sink with dread but remained outwardly emotionless.
"How far along is this 'bond'?" Mirage asked in an empty voice.
"Your's is a slow-growing bond but it's about half-formed right now. It's not developed enough for you to share emotions but it's developed enough you should begin to get a kind of 'sixth sense' for if the other half of the bond is in danger. However it is still growing, so I should imagine you should explain bonds to Megan and let her know what this could-"
"No." Mirage interrupted the medic, his mind made up.
Ratchet gave Mirage a surprised look, not entirely understanding what Mirage was saying.
"No? I should think she should know about-"
"I do not want her to know about this because I am not keeping it Ratchet. I do not want this bond, I want it gone."
Ratchet's expression became stormy and he spoke in a dangerously calm professional manner.
"You want it gone." It wasn't a question.
"Yes. I do not care what you have to do Ratchet. I want the bond gone and my Guardian programming disabled again."
Ratchet's optics paled with anger at the mere idea of destroying a developing Guardian bond, one of the most cherished of cybertronian ties. However, there was more to Mirage's decision then met the eye, and Ratchet knew why Mirage feared forming such a bond again. Ratchet managed to speak without raising his voice.
"You would break a Guardian bond before it even has a chance to fully develop? What about your charge? What about Megan? Does she get a say in this?" Mirage flinched at the mention of Megan's name but continued to look Ratchet in the optics. He refused to back down from this.
"The girl will be better off without ever knowing of the bond. She will not miss what she never had. As you said the bond has not fully formed, so it is unlikely she is even aware of it. The repercussions of breaking it will be mine alone."
"You're a fragging fool if you think that a bond breaking would only effect you." Ratchet scoffed. Mirage didn't react.
Ratchet regarded the spy's stiffly held door wings and overall stubborn posture and knew he wouldn't be able to drive some sense into the bot at this time. Ratchet could see that he was too dead set against having the bond, to fearful of what losing it would do to his spark to give it a chance. Mirage was already trying to distance himself from Megan by not mentioning her name. Ratchet sighed.
"Fine then, but I don't know what kind of stress doing this will do to your spark Mirage. We're still learning about these kinds of bonds and exactly what they are and aren't capable of. I'm going to need to do a few tests and meet the girl before I know specifically what it is we're dealing with."
"You mentioned that the bond grows stronger with time, Ratchet. I do not wish for it to develop any further then it already has."
"Then block it for Primus' sake, that will stunt the bond's growth until I know what we are dealing with. Go get some energon. I'll have the supplies to finish the rest of your repairs and fix your communications systems tomorrow at noon, so until then get out." Ratchet snarled, finally losing his patience with the unfortunate situation.
Mirage stood and left swiftly to find Prime and be debriefed, seemingly undisturbed by the sudden revelation of his Guardian bond. Ratchet cursed as the door shut, venting his spleen at the whole situation by angrily reorganizing his tools.
"Stupid, half-aft, slag for a processor, spy. Can't even let his spark give half a watt about someone other than himself. Dumb, cross wired, fragger." The rant went on for several minutes, with many choice curse words uttered in both English and cybertronian.
Finally Ratchet set aside his reorganized tools and tried to think logically on the situation. The bonds formed with humans were just as permanent and binding as a bond to another cybertronian. Once a bond, any bond, was formed there was little that could done about it, and generally the parties involved didn't want anything done about it. Back on Cybertron before the war, Guardian bonds were formed when two sparks resonated with each other, forming the bond almost instantly. The Guardian-Charge bond was similar to a Sibling bond in nature, and very hard to break without causing potentially fatal spark pain.
Breaking a spark bond was painful, and Ratchet had seen all too many mech's offline from the pain of a broken bond. Most of those bonds had broken because of loved ones joining the Matrix, but as more chose sides in the war, purposely broken bonds became more common. Mech's would purposely cut the ties to their sparks to hurt the other half, where before to do such a thing would have been unthinkable. Now with Human-Cybertronian bonds Mirage wanted to break a bond before it had even formed. The major problem with that was you couldn't break a bond that wasn't yet there.
The only course of action was to either let the bond form enough to be broken, or cut off it's growth by disabling the Guardian programming which was already a painful process. Ratchet wasn't sure it was possible to disable Mirage's Guardian programming with a bond already half-formed. He was even less sure if Mirage's spark would be able to handle the stress of another spark breaking. Then there was the question of how a spark breaking could affect a human.
"There's just so much we don't yet know about these bonds." Ratchet cursed.
If Mirage didn't change his mind about the Guardian bond, Ratchet feared he wouldn't have much choice but to find out how a bond breaking effected a human.
Despite how calm Mirage looked on the outside, his cooling fans were straining to their maximum as his systems tried to cool his CPU. He mechanically made his way along the hallway towards the debriefing room, using only a minimum of his circuits to pay attention to where he was going and avoid stepping on any humans. Mirage was processing several thoughts at once and not a one of them stuck around to be finished. He was confused and frustrated from Ratchets revelation of the guardian bond. Only one thought remained clear.
'How did this happen? Why didn't I notice it sooner, I could have stopped it! This shouldn't be happening.'
Mirage's musings were interrupted when something slammed into him from behind and wrapped it's arms around him. Mirage's systems automatically interpreted whatever it was to be a threat and with surprising swiftness he broke from the loose hold, turned and swept the threat off it's peds with one sweeping motion. The mech fell with an 'oof' and a deafening metal clang, a few of the closer humans jumped and stared in shock but fortunately none of them had been close enough to be in danger. It took a click for Mirage to calm his circuits and recognize just who the 'threat' had been.
"Hound?" Mirage questioned. Hound looked up from the floor with a sheepish grin, rubbing his newly dented helm.
"Well that's one heck of a way t' say hello. Nice to see you to Mirage." Hound chuckled in good humour.
Mirage rolled his optics and offered his friend a servo up. The slightly shorter, dark green bot firmly grasped the offered servo and got back to his peds. Once standing he clapped a servo to Mirage's newly repaired shoulder.
"You fragger! We thought we'd lost you for sure when we couldn't reach you on the team's long-range comm after an orn of radio silence. But you made it in more or less one piece, and with a human friend I've heard."
Mirage's servos clenched at his sides at the reminder of Megan, but forced them to relax so as to not alert Hound to his discomfort.
"I apologize for any undue concern I caused. My comm system was damaged in the Decepticon ambush. We should make our way to the debriefing room, there I will make my official report."
"Sure thing. The others are probably already there, oh and here. I grabbed an energon cube for ya." Hound took a brightly glowing blue cube from subspace and passed it to Mirage as they navigated their way down the hallways. Remembering Ratchet's warning to get some energon Mirage took a few slow sips, not looking to get overcharged by downing it too quickly just before a debriefing.
Their entrance into the debriefing room was greeted by the chattering silver blur that was Bluestreak. Mirage could see that Bumblebee was absent but Ironhide, Jazz, Prowl, and Optimus were already within and conversing among themselves. Mirage surmised that Ratchet had opted to stay in his med bay, and would be debriefed later before turning his attention to the others in the room. Several humans were in a group on a raised catwalk along one wall, among them was Major Will and Sergeant Epps. Mirage turned his attention to what Bluestreak was saying, but had already missed the first half of the one-sided conversation.
"-And it was so cool. Isn't that a funny saying human saying? Why do they refer to the atmospheric temperature when something is pleasing? I thought humans don't like to be cold. I know I don't 'cause that would make my hydraulic lines freeze and then I wouldn't be able to move. And if I couldn't move I couldn't race! Speaking of racing-"
"Bluestreak." Optimus kindly interrupted the young gunner, who immediately shut up.
Other conversations ceased and everyone subtly shifted to circle around the cybertronian sized table at the center of the room. One side was left empty so the humans on the cat walk could be included in the conversation. Optimus took his place at the head of the table, Mirage taking the side opposite his leader with Hound flanking him from behind, always the faithful friend. Optimus took a moment to be sure that he had everyone's attention, but before he could even open his mouth to open the debriefing session the doors whisked open interrupting him.
Mirage turned to view the human that marched imperiously across the floor with several files and a briefcase in hand. Mirage could hear several disgruntled mutters coming from the human's and even Ironhide didn't seemed pleased to see this human. The human was young, dressed in a crisp black suit with dark slicked back hair, and seemed to be completely uncaring that he had just rudely interrupted. The human offered no apology and made his way to the catwalk, his every step watched by the assembled bots and soldiers. Optimus addressed the human as he took a seat and arranged his folders.
"Assistant Daniel Hops, we are glad you could join us. I take it Director Galloway will not be joining us?" Mirage almost thought that for a moment he detected a hint of dislike in Optimus's voice at the mention of this Galloway, but dismissed it for an over reactive simulator. Optimus was the most patient mech Mirage had ever known, and it was near impossible to annoy him. However, the way the human spoke had even Mirage's armor bristling, and he heard several engines rev with annoyance at the tone directed at their leader.
"That is Executive Assistant Daniel Hops to you, and yes. The esteemed Director Galloway is previously engaged with another matter of utmost importance and sent me in his stead. Now that I have arrived we can begin without haste."
Several mutters, and even a few sighs of relief that the Director wouldn't be joining them, circled around the room before Optimus caught their attention again with a human cough.
"Very well then. Mirage, we would like for you to begin. We are aware that you have been missing for just over twelve earth days, separated from your team by unfortunate circumstances. You have also mentioned that you have uncovered potentially vital information on Decepticon activities. Please begin your report from the time you separated from your team and include as many details as you can."
Mirage knew that he would likely be speaking for hours so he took a moment to cycle his vents before beginning. He was actually thankful for this, as he focused on making his report the thoughts of the Guardian bond were pushed from his processor.
"My team and I were ambushed just beyond the planet Saturn by five Decepticon assailants, and it was agreed that I would be the wisest choice for a diversion."
Megan hadn't been alone for long in the dusty interrogation room, likely little more than an hour, when the door opened. Megan looked up, expecting to see Major will or even Epps, but was surprised to see a stuffy forty-year old man in a black suit walk in. The man had a receding hairline of mousey hair and round framed glasses that his cold gray eyes openly glared out from. The suited man wasn't alone, he had two armed soldiers with him, one of whom stood at attention at the door while the other proceeded to grab Megan's backpack from where it lay beside her.
"Hey! That's my stuff!" Megan made as if to stand up and reach for her things but was forced to either sit back down or fall over when the soldier shoved her.
Megan landed hard in her seat and said nothing else as the soldier tossed her bag into the hall through the open door. She was then lifted by her arms and patted down, the soldier taking her ipod, wallet, and her inhaler as the suited man looked on. The soldier pushed her back into her seat, took her things and left, leaving just the one soldier by the door and the suited man behind. Megan said not a word as she and the suited man regarded each other, the silence was oppressive and after only a few second Megan couldn't take it.
"Who are you?" She asked suspiciously, Megan was getting a very strong impression that this man was seven different flavors of jerk wrapped up in one. The man gave a small smile that didn't reach his eyes and remained standing.
"I am Director Galloway, National Security Advisor to the president of the United States and official Liaison to the NBE's of NEST." Megan could tell just by the way this Galloway guy spoke that he was stuck up, and likely had his head up somewhere the sun doesn't shine. A tiny part of Megan was looking forward to pushing this guys buttons, the egotistical ones were always fun to mess with.
"NBE? NEST?" Megan decided to play the dumb and gullible card for the moment, see where that got her.
"Non-biological Extraterrestrials, and Non-biological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty. Try to keep up with the acronyms."
Galloway took a file that had been tucked under his arm and slapped it down on the table, sending a cloud of fine dust into Megan's face. Megan coughed a few times and tried not to breath to deeply, she really didn't want to have another asthma attack so soon after the last one. Especially since this guy took her inhaler. Megan glared up into the cold gray eyes that watched her every move.
"So Miss Pully, why don't you tell me all you know about alien robots?"
'Oh ya. This guy is definitely an A-hole.'
So does this still count as a cliff-hanger? Some of you have expressed displeasure about my tendency to leave you hanging. I swear I don't do it on purpose, it just happens! (Naw, I'm lying I totally do it like this cuz I'm just evil like that) So their arrival at base was a little less then smooth. Gotta love trigger happy soldiers right? Mirage and Megan have a guardian bond and Raj' doesn't want it. Will Megan find out? And what will she think? Why is Raj' so against it? Meanwhile, Megan's about to have a chat with Galloway and I don't think Major Lennox knows about that. What's going to happen there? Remember to review for the reward mentioned up top! Review twice if you must even if it's only for the reward I don't mind! Roll out and review!