Strange neighbours
Chapter Fourteen: Home
Megatron spun sharply in the air and headed back over to the knot of trees. Skilfully lowering himself down between large tree limbs he hovered just above the form that had caught his optic. Flight tech disengaging Megatron dropped to the ground landing quietly in a crouch next to the form.
He walked around the branch covered form looking at it from every angle until he was standing above its head. Megatron vented and looked around the area very suspicious, the yellow shine of the frame was nagging at his processors and he could not help thinking that he was walking into some sort of trap.
Lazily kicking a rather thick branch off the form Megatron jumped then launched back into a defensive stance when he saw who it was. He stood motionless waiting for any kind of movement but when none came he walked forward and looked down at the yellow form not quite believing his optics.
"Autobot scout Bumblebee…Primus." Megatron looked around the valley then back down at the scout. After a few minutes he knelt down and carefully removed the scout's helm exposing hundreds of wires, sockets and cables. He reached up to the nape of his neck and drew a string of cables out then bent down lower and connected the cables to sockets on the back of Bumblebee's head. Luckily for Megatron Bumblebee lay on his side, stomach side pressed up against a tree making it easy for him to connect to Bumblebee's ports.
Megatron groaned slightly when the last cable was plugged in and nothing happened. The scout was in a stasis lock.
He placed two fingers on each of Bumblebee's temples then sent an electric jolt into Bumblebee's processors. Megatron felt the scout's processors power up and automatically connect with his cables, Bumblebee's frame was still in a stasis lock but his main processors were now online and Megatron could access them as he pleased knowing Bumblebee would not have any memory of this happening when he woke from the stasis lock.
Megatron looked over the scouts frame as he scanned through his memory banks; Bumblebee's frame was dirty, covered in blast marks and had dents all over it. Megatron did not know what he was looking for within the scouts memories, maybe some important Autobot Intel or why Bumblebee was out here. Megatron was disappointed that he did not immediately find any Intel but when he found the reason why Bumblebee was out here he took great interest. Severe battle processor damage…attacked the NEST base during operation…located in Nevada…useful, Megatron's faceplates twisted into a smile when he found that piece of Intel and continued his train of thought. Constantly been on the move due to battle processor not shutting down…forced stasis lock. Hah!
Megatron remained crouched over Bumblebee as new plans started forming, twisting and interlocking with his old ones. Finally he began his work, uploading and hiding his own viruses and rogue coding in the scout's processor. A malevolent smile spread across Megatron's faceplates when he finished his work and disconnected the cables from Bumblebee and retracted them back into his own frame. Bumblebee's processors shut down once more and Megatron reattached his helm carefully before standing up and tossing the fallen branch back over his frame.
"Autobot, you will be my victory." Megatron muttered aiming a kick at the scout's shoulder making the frame jolt and leaving a dent in the armour plating.
New plans underway and with the new found freedom of movement Megatron jumped into the air transforming as he did before happily flying off into the night to return to his temporary home.
…
Sarah pulled the plug out of the sink and wiped down the counter top as the dirty dish water washed down the drain. She pulled off the yellow rubber gloves and took a breath, allowing herself a few moments to relax.
Not knowing where her only child was worried her. Sarah was not an overprotective mother but every time she let Samantha go out with her friends for parties and little teenage adventures a little part of her cried out in fear of something bad happening. Sarah couldn't handle the thought of losing her baby. She'd already lost so many.
Samantha didn't know it but she was Sarah and Dave's fifth attempt at having a child. All those years ago when Sarah had finally given birth to a live baby and not had a miscarriage she and Dave had thanked the heavens every day since for the gift of their daughter.
Sarah opened her eyes and looked out the kitchen window to the front yard. She saw a figure appear, walking onto the grass towards the house. Sarah stopped dead for a moment staring at the figure before darting to the door, throwing it open, running down the porch steps and throwing her arms around Samantha.
"Thaya you're home!" she cried as tears pricked the corners of her eyes, Sarah felt comforted when she sensed Samantha wrap her arms around her waist.
"Hi mum. I missed you" Samantha murmured from Sarah's shoulder. The two shared a long and soothing hug out in the front yard in the afternoon sun.
"Come inside, I want to hear all about your little adventure." Sarah said drawing out of the hug so she could take a proper look at Samantha. She looked a little tired and had a few scratches on her face.
"How did you get the scratches?" She asked running her thumb gently over one of them. Samantha shrugged,
"I ran into a branch one afternoon while running away from I thought was a wasp, it turned out to just be a bee. Can I have a shower before I tell you where I've been? I feel like crap." Sarah laughed and they began walking towards the house arm in arm.
"Of course you can Thaya."
…
Sam pulled up outside Samantha's house and she got out the car.
"Good luck with everything. I'll text you later on yeah?" Sam said leaning in towards the passenger's seat. Samantha smiled through the open window,
"It'll be fun, hopefully, and yeah that'd be cool. I'll see you later then" Sam watched Samantha as she walked away and out of view as she turned up her driveway. Sam drove into his own yard and parked Perceptor in the garage. As the windows wound up by themselves it felt strange to Sam to not be looking at Bumblebee's familiar black and yellow model when he got out the car.
"I'll come out in here a little while to introduce my parents but if you need anything just text me, you have my phone number right?" Sam asked Perceptor,
"I have both yours and Samantha's mobile phone number, thankyou Sam." Perceptor's crisp British accent bounced around the interior of the car from its speakers.
"Okay then, I'll see you later then Perceptor."
"Sam?" The boy turned back to the car, his hand on the garage door.
"Yes?"
"Thankyou for accepting me to be your temporary guardian" Sam hadn't expected to hear that but he still smiled at the car knowing that Perceptor could 'see' where he was and what he was doing through his scanners and infrared technology.
He'd learnt that the hard way when he was once making faces at Bumblebee's alt mode in the garage while he was talking to Sam through the radio. The scout had suddenly transformed on the spot, grabbed Sam and gently tossed him onto the roof of the house leaving him there to get down by himself. Ron and Judy had laughed themselves senseless watching Sam on the roof trying to get Bumblebee to help him down, in the end Bumblebee caught Sam when he tried to climb down the piping and slipped, narrowly missing Judy's flower bed.
"Thankyou for actually wanting to guard me Perceptor" Sam couldn't think of anything else to say so he left the garage with that and walked towards the house preparing for the many questions his parents were going to ask him.
…
Ron sat on the couch with Judy tucked up next to him, they were looking over maps and travel brochures planning their big retirement holiday. They both looked up when Sam walked into the room, Judy jumping off the couch to give Sam a hug.
"Sammy!" Ron watched as Sam gently hugged his mother back before she sat back down and Sam sat down across from them.
"So where are you been?" Ron asked casually, concern an underlining note in his sentence. Sam leant back and began to tell them of the road trip he and Samantha went on, ignoring the looks he got from them as he spoke.
"So what's happening with you and Samantha then Sam?" Judy teased happily,
"Nothing. We're only friends"
"for now." Ron added with his own smile. Sam blushed and ran a hand over his face to hide it.
"Why are you covered in cuts and scrapes then Sam? What kind of road trip were you two on?" Judy asked eyeing his dirty clothes and worn out face.
"We found out we're not very good campers the hard way." Ron and Judy laughed at Sam so he stood up,
"I'm going to have a shower but there's still some things I have to talk to you guys about so please just stay here."
"We won't go anywhere, we still have some questions about your little road trip Sam." Judy said to Sam as he turned leaving the room. Once he was out the room Ron turned to Judy,
"You really think they were on a road trip?" Judy, still looking at the door way answered
"No absolutely not."
"Autobot stuff?"
"Yes, defiantly."
"Thought so. So I was thinking Australia might be interesting after hearing about it from Dave." The couple turned back to their holiday planning not bothering to find out if Sam was telling them the truth or not. They had accepted that he was going to go out places he couldn't tell them about and be gone for days at a time but they placed their trust entirely in Bumblebee to keep their son safe so they rarely bothered to get panicked over it all.
…
Soon enough Sarah was sitting at the table with a cup of tea listening to a freshly showered Samantha explain where'd she'd been and what she'd been doing the past few days. She smiled at Samantha as she listened to her happily jabber on about her adventure with Sam.
"So the night of the dinner party Sam and I decided to go on a road trip. He wanted to show me the state and mum, he's so cute! Why would I say no? Anyway, we decided it would be best to leave early so we could cover as much ground as possible on the first day." Sarah sipped her tea before responding,
"Well that does explain why I woke up to find your bed empty. In future Samantha, tell either me of your father where you're going please, we were very worried. It's lucky Judy rang me before I called the police about a lost child!" Samantha's face fell a little, she knew Sarah was right,
"I'm sorry for scaring you mum, I promise in future I'll let you guys know where I am."
"So where did you two go? Do you have any photos?" Sarah brought the subject back and Samantha smiled,
"Sam has all the photos of our trip and we went to a town called…I can't remember the name," Samantha said a little sheepishly.
"That's okay, I'm sure I'll get to see them another time. I thought you hated long car rides though Thaya." Sarah added raising an eyebrow at Samantha. The girl looked away with a smile and she was blushing slightly.
"Sam is really nice. And funny, and cute. Mum I couldn't have said no, I like him. I think." Sarah laughed,
"Does someone have a crush?" Samantha laughed but remained silent and a thought hit Sarah.
"Thaya on your road trip with Sam, did anything between you two happen?" Sarah had had 'the talk' with Samantha so she hoped she'd understand but Samantha face was blank with confusion.
"I mean anything sexual" Sarah said bluntly. Samantha's face went from realization, shock, embarrassment and back to shock in a matter of seconds.
"What! No of course not! I only said I liked him I haven't even hugged him let alone anything like. That. Besides I don't even know if he thinks the same way about me."
"Sorry Thaya but I had to ask. And I completely understand what you mean so don't worry I'm sure you'll find out soon enough." Samantha nodded staring at Sarah, she sipped her tea then looked back at Samantha,
"what?"
…
Samantha brought her arms around Sarah returning the bone crushing hug. She felt relieved to be back in her mother's arms.
"Hi mum. I missed you." She muttered from Sarah's shoulder. They stood in the embrace for a few moments until Samantha felt Sarah pull out of the hug,
"Come inside, I want to hear all about your little adventure." Samantha felt Sarah scan over her face,
"How did you get the scratches?" Samantha stopped a small shudder as she felt Sarah trace one of the scratches from the blast caused by Bumblebee. Shrugging it off she responded lightly,
"I ran into a branch one afternoon while running away from I thought was a wasp, it turned out to just be a bee. Can I have a shower before I tell you where I've been? I feel like crap." Sarah laughed at her and they began walking towards the house.
"Of course you can Thaya."
Samantha took a long hot and soothing shower and got changed into the most comfy clothes she owned. Surprisingly Sarah hadn't asked about the army looking clothes she had arrived in. When Samantha found Sarah she was drinking tea and waiting for her at the table. She looked up at her and smiled,
"So come on then, tell me about your trip." Samantha smiled at her mother then sat down and began telling her the story. She'd been rehearsing with Sam on the way back so she wouldn't forget anything but when she got on the subject of Sam himself everything she said was the truth.
"Sam is really nice. And funny, and cute. Mum I couldn't have said no, I like him. I think." Samantha rambled lightly, it was Sarah's laugh that stopped Samantha from continuing. Sarah eyed Samantha with a smile,
"does someone have a crush?" Samantha could only laugh and look away, not even she knew if she had a crush on him, she couldn't tell yet. But there was something about Sam that Samantha liked despite everything they'd been through involving his car.
"Thaya on your road trip with Sam, did anything between you two happen?" The question brought Samantha back from her thoughts and she looked at her mother blankly not making any connections.
"I mean anything sexual." Samantha made the connection and processed a number of emotions before landing on a mixture of shock and embarrassment.
"What! No of course not! I only said I liked him I haven't even hugged him let alone anything like. That. Besides I don't even know if he thinks the same way about me." She admitted the last part with a slither of sadness in her heart. She could hope all she wanted but Samantha knew only Sam could say how he truly felt about her. The fear of rejection was overpowering to Samantha.
"Sorry Thaya but I had ask. And I completely understand what you mean so don't worry I'm sure you'll find out soon enough." Samantha nodded at her mother staring at her as she sipped her tea. Sarah seemed to notice this and looked up at Samantha.
"What?"
"What if he doesn't like me back?" Sarah reached over and took Samantha's hand,
"That's boys for you Samantha, they can make you stay awake for hours at night stressing over the simplest things but you just have to accept the fact that they might not like you back and if they don't you'll just have to keep looking for someone who does." Samantha thought through the advice and nodded to her mother.
"Thanks mum." Samantha stood up and hugged Sarah, their talk having helped Samantha get a lot off her chest.
…
Lennox leaned back into the chair he was sitting in and exhaled relieved, the long and stressed meeting finally drawing to an end. When the men began filing out of the room he stood up and followed suit but once he was out of the room and the other the men had dispersed he took off sprinting out of building N3 and across the tarmac heading straight for the medical ward where he hoped Ratchet would be.
Knowing he had to find the closest Autobot as soon as he could he ran straight into the hangar and stopped breathing heavily when he saw the medic in the hangar working on something he didn't bother looking at.
"Ratchet! Ratchet! Get Optimus and Ironhide in here now!" Lennox breathed heavily between his words and Ratchet turned shocked at his sudden and unexpected entrance. Sending out a ping to Optimus and Ironhide across the comlink Ratchet walked over to Lennox.
"What is it Lennox?" The man took a few more breaths before he straightened up to answer but before he could Ironhide stormed in walking straight to Lennox,
"What's going on Lennox?" he asked. Optimus walked in behind Ironhide and didn't say anything he waited for the man to speak.
Lennox looked up at the three Autobots and told them the news,
"the NEST team had been granted the clearance needed to rescue Bumblebee. We leave tonight." He heard the loud venting of the three relieved mechs all of which slouched a little before standing to their full height with new hope in their optics.
…
Perceptor remained in his car mode as he sat in the garage but after a few short hours he began to feel cramped and uncomfortable due to only having a car alt mode for a short time so he carefully transformed and sat in the garage then began cleaning his weaponry. As he worked he got an incoming call from Ironhide.
:Perceptor the NEST team has been given clearance to rescue Bumblebee. Tell Sam of this as soon as possible, Prime's orders:
:I will Ironhide. Good luck and don't hurt yourself Hidy:
Perceptor heard a gruff chuckle before the call ended and he chuckled himself. He was so happy to hear that Ironhide was on this planet. It was long ago that he found himself beginning to accept he probably wouldn't see his childhood friend again but when he saw the black mech tackle hug him he nearly cried in happiness. Perceptor sent a text message to Sam updating the situation and only a few moments after he sent it he answered an incoming call from the boy.
"Hello Sam."
{Perceptor is it true?}
"Yes. I have been informed by Ironhide that the NEST team has been granted clearance to find and rescue Bumblebee." Perceptor was monitoring Sam's vitals and registered an increased heart rate which eventually slowed.
{Oh my god. Thankyou for telling me Perceptor.}
"You're welcome Sam, I'll leave you to process all of this." Perceptor ended the call and continued cleaning his weaponry still monitoring the boy. He was completely fine, a little stunned if anything but Judy's unexpected entrance had Perceptor much more stunned than Sam just was.
…
Judy walked out to the garage with a box full of tools Ron had been using to fix a cracked tile in 'his path'. She snorted a laugh at her husband and pushed the door open arranging the tools so they fit snuggly inside the box. She heard the door swing shut behind her and looked up to greet Bumblebee but jumped back in shock when she saw a completely different Autobot sitting cross-legged in the garage running a cleaning cloth over a gun.
Of course Judy didn't notice the Autobot insignia when she looked up at the large metal being, the first and only thing she noticed was the shiny glint and sheer size of the weapon he was holding. She screamed jumping back and threw the box of tools at the Autobot, tools loudly clanging off his armour and bouncing to the ground. He cried out in shock and scrambled away from the panicked woman and the hit opposite wall with his back making the entire structure of the garage shake. Judy continued screaming as sawdust fell from the roofing, some catching in her hair as she ran. She flung the door open, which bounced off the wall with a crash, and ran straight into her son. Sam grabbed Judy's arms and wrapped her up in a strong embrace to stop her from running any further.
"Mom calm down! It's okay, he's an Autobot! He's an Autobot!" Judy stopped struggling so much and looked at Sam, her breathing heavy and panicked.
"Sam Witwicky! You have some explaining to do!"
…
Sam dried his hair with a towel and was about to go back down stairs to continue talking to his parents about their "road trip". Before he left his room his phone went off so he picked it up and swiftly read through the text only to re-read it a few times before calling Perceptor.
{Hello Sam}
"Perceptor is it true?"
{Yes. I have been informed by Ironhide that the NEST team has been granted clearance to find and rescue Bumblebee.}
Sam felt an indescribable weight lift from his shoulders and an inkling of hope settle in its place.
"Oh my god." Sam was speechless,
"Thankyou for telling me Perceptor."
{You're welcome Sam, I'll leave you to process all of this.}
Sam heard the line go dead but he just stood there, phone pressed to his ear, stunned at the news. He eventually sat on the edge of his bed and he felt a small smile pull the corners of his mouth up, hope filling his mind.
Suddenly he heard Judy's high pitched scream and a tremor set through the foundations of the house. Sam jumped off his bed and sprinted out to the garage only to run into a panicked and screaming Judy at the garage door. She'd just met Perceptor. Sam wrapped his arms around his mother to stop her from running, why she was panicking so much was beyond him.
"Mom calm down! It's okay, he's an Autobot! He's an Autobot!" He felt Judy stop struggling so much and she looked at Sam, her breathing was heavy and panicked.
"Sam Witwicky! You have some explaining to do!"
Sam let go of Judy and walked into the garage, Perceptor sat against the wall staring at Judy who clung to Sam's arm hiding behind him. He noticed the oversized gun and cleaning cloth on the ground amongst the tools and had some idea of what had just happened.
"Perceptor are you okay?" The Autobot looked at Sam apologetically,
"I am fine Sam, I apologise for scaring your creator. I did not notice her until she was inside." Sam walked a little closer to Perceptor, Judy let go of him and stood where she was.
"That's okay." Sam turned to Judy.
"Mom this is Perceptor, he's an Autobot."
"H-hello." Suddenly Ron came storming in clearly panicked,
"What's going on out here?!" he stopped when he saw the unfamiliar Autobot in his garage. He looked at Judy then at Sam then around the garage piecing together what had happened.
"Dad this is Perceptor, he's an Autobot" Sam repeated. Perceptor nodded at Ron.
"Hello Perceptor."
"What happened to Bumblebee?" Judy asked walking to stand by Ron.
"The Autobots needed him for a mission so Perceptor is guarding me temporarily until Bumblebee gets back."
"I knew that road trip had a little more to it than what you were saying." Ron said to Sam.
"I am very sorry for scaring you Judy, please know I would never use my weaponry on a human." Judy smiled at Perceptor,
"It's okay Perceptor, I am sorry for throwing the tools at you." Perceptor laughed.
"This is was what I still needed to talk to you guys about" Sam said and Ron turned to him,
"Well we know now." He clamped his hand on Sam's shoulder before turning and leaving the garage to go back to planning his holiday. Judy smiled at Perceptor before following Ron.
Sam began picking up the tools and placing them in the box.
"Sorry about that, I was going to tell them you were here so nothing like this would happen" Sam said reaching under one of the shelves for a wrench that had slid under there.
"It is fine Sam, the tools didn't even dent my armour." Perceptor helped Sam with finding all the tools before the boy left him to continue cleaning his gun.
A/N: Hello everyone, I'm back! This chapter was meant to be posted earlier but I had a lot to do this week. My trip away was fantastic and my inspiration for this story has been rekindled. Sorry for any typos, I didn't edit this chapter very much because I wanted to post it before tomorrow.
I've noticed that when posting all my chapters Fanfiction messes them up a bit, so I'll be going back to chapter one and editing all the chapters from there because it's annoying me and I want the story to make sense and read easily. Thankyou to all the favouriters, followers and reviewers!