Hi people! Hope you've had a wonderful Christmas with lots of pressies!
So here's the next chapter. It's a bit more of Arabella Craziness, to break the more tense and sadness streak of the previous chapter. So she won't be going home quite just yet :3
Sunstreaker's Squishy - You're right, she's not really going to be coming 'round anytime soon, or at all. And my last response was to show that I wasn't sure how to respond to your review, because you were reading my character in a completely different way as to how I would have imagined her coming across. So sowi about that :P
Sweettea1 - I know! Is soo sad! :( But it gets better! Promise! :3 And as for Sam... You'll just have to wait and find out like all the other readers. ;)
So still, please Read, Enjoy and Review please!
And if you find any mistakes (spelling, grammar, etc.) just let me know! :3
As always, I own nothing. IfI did, I'd be rich! RICH I TELL YA'! But, I'm not.
Enjoy!
The awkward flickering of the fluorescent lights woke Arabella from her stuttered slumber. Dark rings had accumulated underneath her eyes. She was dead tired, only having gotten the grand total of an hour's sleep that night.
She had decided to keep her nocturnal sleeping routine for the trip home. She briefly wondered if she could get escorted back. Casting a hand over her eyes to keep the harsh light out, she weakly got out of the truck, yawning as she did.
The hall that she had slept in was pretty small by anyone's standards. It had a high ceiling and white lines criss-crossed on the floor, demarcating the area for indoor games. Arabella could vaguely recognize a basketball court and tennis court outlines.
Must be a sort of gym. She reasoned. As she rubbed the bleariness from her eyes, a figure came into focus.
A man over 6ft tall stood nearby, an army stance evident in his posture. He had short blue-black hair with blazing blue eyes. He stood in black army boots, with dark camo pants. He was wearing a tight blue t-shirt with a set of dog-tags swinging from his neck. They were engraved with the Autobot symbol, she assumed, on one side with the information of the wearer on the other. He was intently staring at her.
"Can I help you, sir?" She inquired politely, a confused frown on her face. Her lack of sleep was not doing her well this fine morning.
"I came to inquire as to if you have slept well last night," the man stated in a baritone voice that was remarkably familiar "though judging by your current state I would assume not." She was staring openly at him now, through squinted eyes of confusion.
"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" The man chuckled slightly.
"Of course. You haven't seen me in this form. I am Optimus Prime."
There were a few moments of silence as the gears stalled in her already slow mind. Her brain finally looked at the information it had received, sighed, and chucked it out the window.
"If you say so. What can I do for you, Optimus?" She sniggered internally. Optimus was so similar to Optimistic! Hehe. Wait! He's saying something. Um…
"Sorry, could you repeat that? I had very little sleep last night and I'm not concentrating all that well. Or at all, actually." She sighed, rubbing at her eyes again. Optimus smiled sympathetically.
"I was going to inquire as to something you were talking about last night. Something about a delivery?" He leaned forward just a little. The light bulb finally switched on in her brain.
"Ah, yes. I had an extra supply of stuff from home that I brought with as a, gift, if you will." She moved around Big Blue, hopping onto the bed in the back. Optimus came closer. "I've got a crate of medical supplies that I hope will still be of use." she patted the crate "I've also got a crate of soap bars, a crate of sanitary towels and a box of stuff for the kids. Mainly a couple of baby blankets and some toys." She sat on the one crate. Optimus nodded appreciatively. And then he frowned.
"What are in the barrels?" Arabella stared at them for a moment before her brain finally allowed her to remember.
"That's one's fresh water," she pointed at the one barrel, "and that one's fuel. They were for the trip."
"I see." Optimus nodded again. "Well, I think the best thing would be if you handed these out after the classes this morning. We wouldn't want the kids distracted during the lessons."
"No need for me to get on their mommies' bad sides, either." Arabella yawned again, but she was waking up. "I guess it would be a good idea to give the medicine to the resident doctors then. Gets it out of the way and besides," she stretched "I'm due for a check-up." Optimus chuckled knowingly. "What?" She inquired.
"Oh, nothing. You are going to love our resident medic." He stated with a smile. Arabella shrugged.
"Cool, just point me in direction of the med bay and I'll be off."
"You are going to need more than that to find his office." Arabella shrugged again, hopped into the truck and turned it on.
"Hop in. Then you can give me directions as I drive." Optimus frowned slightly, but climbed in none the less.
"Are you sure you are in the right state of mind to be driving?"
"Sure I am!" She stated merrily. "Just as long as those double doors stop swirling around the way they are doing right now." Optimus' head snapped towards her with a look of horror. Before he could protest, she floored the gas pedal, speeding towards the open corridors, careening left and right as a feminine 'WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!' and a not so masculine 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAH!' emanated from the car.
xxxxxPCxxxxx
"Come on, there was no need to grab the steering wheel."
"You were about to crash!"
"They got out the way in time! And besides, how was I supposed to know that was a one-way?"
"There were signs everywhere! You were in no state to drive!"
"It didn't stop you from trying. Or screaming like a little girl."
"I WAS NOT SCREAMING LIKE A FEMME!"
"Tell that to the security cameras. Now tell me, is Ratchet a doctor or a mechanic? Because I can't figure it out!" Arabella asked as she stepped out of the truck. They had driven through wide doors that led to a small hanger sized room. There seemed to be oversized beds, an oversized table and oversized door in the hanger. With her brain running on its back-up systems, she was not paying that much attention to anything. There were smoking black tire marks on the smooth concrete from where Arabella had suddenly hit the brakes, nearly causing whiplash. She turned to Optimus, who had an ashen sheen to his face.
"Come now, it wasn't that bad!" If looks could kill, she would have been six feet under. "Eh, suit yourself. Yo' Doc! Someone here to see you!" She called out. Optimus paled a little more. Loud whirring noises came from the door in the back of the hanger.
"What do you want?! I swear, if you aren't bleeding, you're gonna be!" A grouchy voice called out from the back. Arabella just tsk'ed.
"Sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep, Doc, but I brought presents!" A head poked around the door. It was another Robot's head and from her initial guess, he was about 16 feet tall.
"You're not one of the usual bunch. So? What do ya' want?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I wanted to give you some medical supplies, but it looks like you don't need them." Ratchet stuttered a little. "No! It's fine!" Arabella called out, turning her back to him. "I know when I'm not wanted. I mean, who cares if I brought Will back to his family, or lugged this junk half across the continent, or that I had spent hours and hours collecting it, making sure that the pieces weren't contaminated or broken. It's fine." She paused momentarily. "It's fine. I'll just leave."
"Wait!" Ratchet shouted, taking a few steps closer, trying to stop her from leaving. She was already sitting behind the wheel again. "I'm sorry. Most of the idiots that come in here are just here to work on my nerves. I didn't get a lot of recharge last night."
"Neither did I, but you don't see me acting like an ass!" Arabella shouted back. She paused for a moment, taking a calming breath. "Apology accepted. Now, do you want these supplies or not?"
Ratchet nodded.
"Good. Now I just hope this stuff is of any use to you. And also, I'd like to have my check-up."
"When's the last time you had one?"
"Um… seven years, give or take, I think…"
You could see a faint wisp of smoke coming out from between Ratchet's ears.
xxxxxPCxxxxx
"So… Apart from being sleep deprived, you are in perfect health. Impressive. I can't remember when last I had a case like that." Arabella smiled gaily as she received Ratchet's diagnosis.
"Will should be in a similar state, but you should check him anyway. Who knows what he suffered when he was stuck with the Decepticons." She stated as she pulled on her jacket.
"Speaking of, what was his state when you found him?"
"Malnourished, dehydrated, he had several scratches on him," she paused for a moment, trying to remember "He had a dislocated shoulder, a cracked fore-arm, which I think you might need to take a look at," she looked thoughtful again "and he was about to be mauled by a bear. Oh, wait! He also had a twisted ankle and some bruised ribs, if I remember correctly." She sat on the edge of the large metal bed that reminded her of one of those Autopsy tables. Her legs were swinging merrily.
"I'll look into that. Now, what did your diet consist of?"
"Whatever I could hunt or grow. I mainly hunted deer, but rabbits were good for a change in taste. I sometimes got lucky with tomatoes and beans. Once or twice I got some corn to grow. Other than that, berries." Ratchet was standing facing her, tapping away at a thing that looked like an oversized Apple iPad, but way rougher around the edges. More like something you would see in Science Fiction movies.
"I've got to admit, that is rather healthier than what we have over here. All the exercise you got from hunting works in your favour as well." His bright blue eyes dimmed for a moment. "Optimus wanted to know if we were done."
"Are we?"
"Yes, we are. He will escort you to the hall were you will be able to hand out the rest of your gifts. He has made the proper arrangements."
"Sweet." Arabella literally hopped off the 'berth' she had been sitting on. Luckily Ratchet's back had been turned when she landed, falling into a crouched position before straightening up again. "See you later, Ratchet!" She called out loudly as she walked back over to the blue truck.
"I'm not so sure I should allow you to drive."
Arabella stopped dead, turning on her heel to face Ratchet again.
"Come again?"
"Prime's orders. He was pretty firm about it."
A small, figurative raincloud obscured her face.
"I was more than half asleep when I drove this morning and also slightly crazy. I am more than in the right mind to drive."
"Really?" Ratchet turned slowly, skepticism dripping from his tone. "Think fast!"
He threw a medium sized wrench at her. It flew through the air at a dizzying speed.
Arabella did not even blink.
She grabbed it out of the air, twirling it once before throwing it back just as hard, hitting him right between the eyes.
There were loud squeals coming from the tires as she flew out of the med bay in Big Blue, racing away from the angered, no, furious medic.
xxxxxPCxxxxx
In the gym like hall where peace had been the order of the day, the peace was suddenly kidnapped and beaten to a bloody pulp by the entity of chaos.
A group of young teenaged children were in the middle of a game of basketball when the blue truck swiftly flew into the hall, hugging the wall as it screeched to a halt. It suddenly hit reverse, still running parallel to the wall, past the entrance before stopping again as the engine cut out. A silence fell on the gathered crowd who tried to understand what just happened.
They saw a woman driver sitting in the truck, holding one finger to her lips to show that they should remain as silent as they were. Before they could react, they heard, nay, felt Ratchet stomping down the hallway, only his legs visible as he stormed past the doors. The group held their frozen pose until the footsteps died off to silence.
Which was broken by hysterical laughter.
Arabella was in stitches. Clutching her sides tightly, she bellowed her guffawing laughter as tears streaked her face. It reminded her of a thing she had read once on the internet, when it still had existed:
Laughing so hard that you don't make a sound so you just sit there clapping your hands like a retarded seal.
It described her situation so well that she started laughing harder, nearly completely unable to breathe and thus unable to make any sound.
She eventually stumbled out of the truck, rolling around on the floor until she was able to regain some form of breathing. Her stomach hurt, but she was happily wiping away tears as she eventually stood up. Or tried to.
A large hand swam into her field of vision which she grabbed to pull herself up.
"Arabella" Will, who she had not realised was playing with the kids, asked with a suspicious tone in his voice, "what did you do?"
Arabella, who was still gasping for breath, smiled, speaking shakily between the puffing.
"I…" puff "gave him…" puff " a taste of his own…" puff, puff, "medicine." Will started to smile a little as the kids stood still, also grinning a little.
"How so?"
"I threw a wrench at him." The teens burst out with 'Oooh, burn!' noises as Will paled.
"YOU ASSAULTED RATCHET?!" He practically screamed in fright.
"He threw it first! And besides, I was just tossing it back to him!" She looked away. "Not my fault he used his head to catch it." She mumbled, but Will still heard it clearly. He paled further, mouth agape as no sound escaped. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"
"Prime… told me to be here because you were going to be handing stuff out." He regained his composure. She looked over his shoulder and saw that the rest of the children had gathered in the hall, with their mothers and other women walking in as well. The men were nowhere to be found, which was understandable.
They were on duty.
"Right. Let's get this party started!" Before Will could stop her, she had jumped onto Big Blue's bonnet.
xxxxxPCxxxxx
To say that the handing out was a success would have been a slight understatement. It was a roaring success. Why roaring? Because everyone was roaring with laughter at the stories Arabella was telling them.
Most of them revolved around Will's mishaps during his time with her, much to his chagrin. The kids little kids were all excited about the new toys that they had received, the mothers were ecstatic about the beautiful new baby blankets and the women were overall overjoyed. They now had a large amount of scented soaps and fresh toiletries that would last a while among the approximately 50 women that lived on the base. They had quickly chosen one of the women to look after the supplies.
While they were still laughing at one of the stories Arabella had just told them, a young man ran into the hall.
"The hunters are back! The hunters are back!" The women gasped excitedly, before jumping up and racing out into the hallway. Arabella and Will ran after them, keeping up without even breaking a sweat.
They were brought back to the main entrance where a small group of men walked into the bunker, carrying a variety of meats on their backs.
Arabella froze, her face contorted into a wild look of disbelief and disgust. Will saw her stop, and jogged back to her.
"Arabella?" He looked at her unwavering form. "Arabeeeeeellaaaa." He drawled, waving a hand in front of her unresponsive figure. He turned to look back at the hunters and heard a loud thud coming from behind him.
Arabella had passed out.