A small yellow bot Élise had never seen before stood in the doorway with Ironhide. Bluestreak may have been the most adorable thing she's ever seen but this bot was by far the cutest thing she ever laid eyes on.
He had cute little yellow door wings on his back, and the brightest baby blue eyes she's ever seen. "Ooo Sweet baby Jesus that man is looking fine as ever!" was that a clip from a radio station?
Optimus chuckled and walked over to the small yellow bot, clapping him on the shoulder, "It's good to see you again too Bumblebee. We have much to catch up on. Thank you for bringing him Ironhide" Optimus nodded to the weapons specialist.
Ironhide returned the nod with his own and a hint of a smile played at the corner of his lips as he placed a servo on the yellow bots head, "It was no problem, Prime. Gave me and the youngling a chance to catch up, seeing as he does not seem to know how to work his comm system to leave a message every now and again." he finished giving Bumblebee a look.
"But-but Dad!" There was that radio clip again, it was coming from him... wasn't it? "Hmm. Ironhide does have a point Bumblebee. Do you not miss us?" Optimus inquired.
The yellow bot furiously shook his head but before another clip could be played Ironhide had interrupted,"Did you forget that not all of us have the freedoms of remaining back in the States to watch over a charge and his girlfriend? Do you think it gives you a right to not attempt contact with one of us?"
The yellow bot shook his head vigorously again and began clicking and whirling desperately as he began to explain himself. In the middle of his clicking, whirling and beeping Optimus held up a hand to silence the young bot. "Relax Bumblebee, Ironhide and I were just kidding, there were no true meanings behind our words." Optimus assured.
Bumblebee sighed in relief and wiped off imaginary sweat from his forehead much to the amusement of Élise and Optimus. Ironhide however, was not the least bit amused.
"Your words may have meant nothing Prime, but mine did. I basically raised him from the moment he was found as a sparkling. I think I- if not at least one of us deserves a message now and again." he growled glaring down at the smaller bot who had shrunk in on himself from guilt.
"You were not the only one who raised Bumblebee, Ironhide. I had helped as well, " Optimus stepped in,"but Bumblebee is grown now. He is still young yes, and he should have left a message." Bumblebee seemed to shrink in on himself even more if it was possible.
Élise felt her heart break a little as she watched the yellow bot; his wings were pinned down, he was messing with his servos nervously and his baby blue optics were filled with guilt as he absorbed every word the two bots thrown at him and each other.
"But he knows how to take care of himself. He's proven himself multiple times that he is a capable warrior. He's not a sparkling anymore."Optimus finished with a shake of his head.
Ironhide snorted and crossed his arms over his chest, "I will give you the credit you deserve of helping to raise Bumblebee, Prime. But ultimately it was me and Chromia who fed him, kept him warm, recharged with him, played with him and taught him everything he knows today. He could be as old as Ratchet for all I care... He. leaves. a. message." he growled with finality.
Optimus sighed in exasperation and pinched the bridge of his nose with a shake of his head, "Fine. He will leave a message from now on, do you understand Bumblebee?...Bumblebee?" Optimus asked looking around the room.
Bumblebee was gone.
Well, to Optimus and Ironhide he was gone. During the argument, Élise had made her way over to the yellow bot unnoticed and turned them both invisible and inaudible.
Bumblebee waved his servo in front of a confused Optimus, he was right here! He tried it with Ironhide as well, he even began clicking and whirling but he hadn't receive an acknowledgement.
"I wouldn't waste my time doing that, he can't see or hear you. Neither of them can." Élise informed. Bumblebee jumped at the sound of an unfamiliar human voice and looked down.
Élise offered a smile and waved kindly. Bumblebee waved back a bit slowly, who was this woman? "I'm Élise Cross, Epp's niece, local mutant and Autobot spy" she informed with a dramatic bow.
"Local...mutant?...Autobot...spy?" She had a feeling that this was his true voice instead of the bits of radio clips he had been playing before. "That's right. Local mutant and current Autobot spy at your service! I can phase through matter, turn invisible, I have control over electricity and I can render myself completely inaudible.
I was told that you guys needed a spy, so my uncle volunteered me for the job. After kicking his ass for not even asking me how I felt about using my powers for the military, I settled in. I already have two infiltration missions under my belt and a hell of a reputation around base for my pranks with Sideswipe." she stated proudly.
The sound of applause reached her ears as Bumblebee clapped his hands along with the clip. "Well howdy there little lady! My name's...the bumblebees...wonderful to meet you!" the multiple clips played before he held out his finger to her.
Élise laughed and shook his finger," It's nice to meet you too Bumble-" she was suddenly cut off by the sound of a door slamming open. Epps stood in the doorway a bit winded. "Epps? What is the matter?" Optimus asked forgetting about the missing yellow bot. "J-Jazz...h-he's waking up!" he panted with a smile.
In Élise's shock, she had dropped their cover. "Jazz... is up?" Ironhide repeated hopefully. He nodded toward the weapons specialist with a smile, "He's going to be. But only you guys know.
Ratchet doesn't want everyone flooding the med bay, he only wants Optimus and Élise in there for the first few minutes. Then when they leave, the rest of us can visit him." Epps reported, having caught his breath back.
Élise perked up and ran for the wall the doorway rested in, "Let's go Optimus!" she yelled slipping through the wall and running down the hall, making her way towards the med bay and leaving the occupants of the room in her dust.
Everyone left in the room stared at the spot she had phased through in amazement. Optimus, Ironhide and Epps have seen her do this plenty of times around base but it still amazed them. Bumblebee who had never saw her powers in action was frozen in shock and awe. D-did she really just phase through the wall?
Epps seemed to be the first to snap out of it,"Man. I'm her uncle and I have no idea how many times I've seen her do that, but I don't think I'll ever get used to it." he chuckled.
...
"I'm here!" Élise's unexpected call had startled Ratchet and he nearly dropped the energon cube in his hand. "For the love of Primus girl, don't do that! Nearly gave me a spark attack." he muttered clutching at his rapidly beating spark.
"Sorry." she apologized with a sheepish smile. "I'm excited is all, Uncle Epps told us that Jazz is waking up. Is it true?" she asked jumping up and down in a familiar fashion as she had before, when she had first tried to see Jazz from the ground.
Ratchet set down his cube and caught the woman in mid-air, bringing her up onto his shoulder and placing her there. From up there, she could easily see Jazz's silver form.
"Yes, what Epps has said is true - Jazz should be bound to wake up in just a few minutes. Now be still, I don't want you falling off." he lightly scolded before taking a sip of his energon.
Élise stared at the mysterious blue liquid with curiosity, "Have you ever thought about making it synthetic?" she asked randomly. Ratchet raised an eye ridge at the woman,"What?"he asked. "The energon" she supplied, nodding to the drink in his servo.
"I heard you, Ironhide and Optimus all talking about how the energon you have left in the reserves won't last forever, especially with the amounts you had to pour back into Jazz. And then Hound is going to need some poured into him when he gets here too. So have you ever thought about trying to create a synthetic form of energon?" she suggested.
Ratchet nodded slowly,"Yes, I have. I considered it many times but I do not have the materials or knowledge on how to do it with out the necessities. If we had WheelJack here, then perhaps it could be worked out. But, we don't". he vented air heavily as he shook his head.
Élise frowned in sympathy," Suppose it's time I actually step it up and start doing my job right, huh?" she asked sadly. "What are you talking about?" Ratchet asked confusingly, she was doing her job just fine. What was she talking about?
" A spy does not simply just wait around to be given missions, they go out and discover the information before it is even requested of them. I haven't been doing that, and now you guys are suffering for it." she frowned, glaring down at the white tiled floor.
Ratchet's face hardened a bit. Did she honestly think that the energon shortage was her fault?! "Élise. We are short of energon because of our own mistakes. You have nothing to do with-" Ratchet was cut off by the sound of a familiar groan.
"Mmm. O-oh m-man. W-wha' happ'ned?" a tired voice asked from the table. Élise froze and whipped her head up, it was Jazz wasn't it? Ratchet stood and walked over to the metal table briskly.
He looked down and seen the visor begin to glow a bit brighter by the second until it had finally settled on a healthy level of brightness. "You seem to have managed to escaped the clutches of death once again, Jazz. Congratulations." Ratchet smirked.
Jazz felt the corners of his lips twitch upwards." Thanks Ratch. How have ya doin' ?" he asked weakly. "Hmm. That is something I should be asking seeing as I am not the one eluding death...but I have been better as of recently" he replied throwing the woman on his shoulder a meaningful look.
Jazz noticed the look and seen the young woman on his shoulder. Jazz carefully tipped his helm to the side as he took her in,"Whose the pretty lil' lady?" he asked. Élise blushed a bit at the comment but smiled nonetheless.
"I'm Élise Cross. I helped Ratchet fix you up" she informed gently. Jazz smiled and managed to lift and hold a servo over his spark, "A beautiful creäture such as yourself helpin' little ol' me? I'm honored."
Élise giggled, he was quite the charmer wasn't he? Ratchet however was not as amused, "Not even three minutes back online and you're already flirting with a female." he grumbled with an irritated roll of his optics.
"I'm afraid my audios are up to full strength yet Ratch, can't hear ya when ya grumble like that." Jazz teased. Ratchet growled in warning before turning to the woman on his shoulder, "Crash course Élise, pay attention." he ordered as he began to show her all the tests to run and questions to ask a patient after they've woken up from surgery.
Ratchet had hoped it would be a simple crash course as they always had but with Jazz's constant flirting and Élise's giggling, it didn't go as planned. No matter how hard she had tried to hold in her laughter it was no use, the giggles would still escape past her lips.
...
"Élise...is a mutant?" Jazz repeated slowly . The crash course with Élise had ended just as Optimus walked into the room. She left to give them some privacy but before she left, Optimus ordered her to head to the Autobot Rec room - where the new comers would be.
Then she was to stay there with them until Arcee, Skidz and Mudflap were escorted there and all of them would wait for him to appear and greet them. Optimus nodded, "Yes, she is a mutant who specializes in infiltration. And quite the healer in the making with all the crash courses Ratchet gives her." he informed.
"Interestin'...very interestin'. Has she gotten ya'll any information so far?" Jazz asked curiously. Optimus nodded," Yes. She's discovered Decepticon information right from Megatron himself and we are currently preparing for it.
She has also infiltrated the Empress with the help of another friend; where they found Arcee, Skidz, Mudflap and Hound- whose life has been saved because of her crash course medical training.
Had she left him with Arcee's patch job, Hound would be offline by now instead of making his way down to Earth with the others." he mentioned. Jazz cracked a smile," Well would ya look at that, the lil' beauty really is a life saver then. What was the-" a yawn had racked over his frame.
Optimus chuckled and stood,"I believe this would be the time where I take my leave. I will fill you in more when you're rested." Ratchet who had hung back stepped forward and ran a quick scan over the saboteur," Good call Prime, Jazz needs this time to rest. You can fill him in more in the morning."
"But-" he protested weakly but Ratchet was not having any of that,"Enough! Either you recharge on your own or I help you get some recharge" he warned waving a wrench threateningly.
Jazz flinched and attempted to scoot away,"You wouldn't hit a bot who just escaped death would you?" he asked weakly. "Try me" Ratchet growled. "Okay okay! Jus' stop wavin' that thing around, how's a mech supposed to get some recharge when you're wavin wrenches in the air like that?" Jazz complained before powering down.
...
"So it's Chromia, Elita-One and Flareup. But Arcee, Chromia and Elita-One are the sisters, right?" Élise asked looking up at the blue, pink and red bots in front of her. The three femmes all stood on one wheel; Chromia was dark blue and Ironhides' sparkmate.
Elita-One was rose pink and Optimus' sparkmate. Flareup was red but didn't have a sparkmate yet. "That's correct little one, but where is our missing sister? We were told she would be here." Elita-One informed.
"Oh she will! Optimus got the coördinates up to them a while ago. They were set to crash land in the Indian Ocean and be picked up by a Naval ship but they should be here anytime now." Élise assured confidently.
Flareup rolled closer to the young mutant and bent down to her level," Tell me...Élise." she tested out her name cautiously, and nodded in satisfactory when it rolled off her metallic tongue easily. " You were answering Elita about their sister but you kept referring to Arcee as 'they'. Who else is arriving with her?" she asked.
"Arcee was up on the ship with three other bots- Skidz, Mudflap and Hound, sooo~ they're coming too." she supplied easily. Flareup perked up at this bit of information and turned to her fellow wheeled bots with a mischievous look on her face,"Did you hear that femmes? Arcee has been on a ship with three mechs all by herself."
Chromia laughed at the suggestion,"Ohhh~ you know she must have done something with at least one of them. She wouldn't miss an opportunity like that." Elita-One gasped and turned on the blue sister,"Chromia! Do not speak about Arcee in such a lecherous way like that!"
Flareup rolled her optics and came to Chromias' defense, "Oh come on Elita you know she probably did. She's been known to have more than one mech in the berth and if not then she's been known to grab a mech that's sure to give her the time of her life, and Hound is definitely one of those mechs despite his appearance."
"You make it sound like my sister is a berth hoping pleasure bot" Elita growled unhappily. Chromia scoffed, gaining the rosettes' attention, "For the love of Primus Elita, get the pole out of your tailpipe.
You know Flareup only spoke of the truth, Arcee was a little berth hopper back on Cybertron. And from what I heard from the mechs, she definitely did not disappoint."Chromia smirked.
Wait a minute, how exactly did Flareup know that about Hound? "Um, hey Flareup?" Élise called. Flareup cast her glowing blue optics down on her, "Yes?" she asked. "How exactly would you know that about Hound? Did you perhaps, spend a night or two with Hound?" Élise asked wiggling her eyebrows suggestively with a laugh.
Chromia busted out laughing before nudging Flareup a bit harshly on her shoulder. "Yes, Flareup. Howexactly did you get that kind of information on Hound?" Flareup felt the energon rush to her cheek plates as she wheeled back from the laughing woman and blue bot. Even Elita could not hide her amusement to the red femme.
"W-well you...you know...bots talk, word gets around!" she protested weakly. "I don't think word is the only thing that's getting around Flareup."Élise teased. Flareups cooling fans had kicked into over drive by now.
Not only because of the embarrassment or because of this whole situation she had managed to get herself into, but it was the memories of the nights her and Hound had spent together had began replaying in her processor.
"Sweet Primus, listen to those fans work! You're thinking about your times in the berth with Hound aren't you?!" Elita surprisingly laughed loudly. "N-No! I'm not! It's just really hot on this planet, I need time to adjust to the temperature!" Flareup argued but it fell deaf on the ears of the laughing occupants of the room.
Hey! Thanks for the reads and reviews, I appreciate it :D! Sorry for grammar/spelling errors you found.