Disclaimer: Yeah. I own nothing. Plain and simple.
Author's Note: Holy chiz guys. Another update! Well, on the bright side, I have spring break so I will be working hard on these upcoming chapters, along with my lovely co-author Topkicker26. We have an important announcement to make: THERE IS THE IDEA OF A POSSIBLE SEQUEL! What it is about, I cannot say... but I guess you will just have to wait to find out. ;)
So, without further delay, here's your next chapter of Basketball, Robots, and Police Chases!
Warnings: Mentions of alcohol, Hungover!Erica, language, and finally... TWINS TWINS TWINS TWINS TWINS! :))
Erica groaned as she slowly woke up. It literally felt like someone was pounding on her temple repeatedly with a sledgehammer. Groggily she sat up, and immediately regretted it. Her headache increased tenfold, making her squeeze her eyes in pain. As if moving through molasses, she swung her legs around and placed them on the ground. Her room began to swim and she put a hand to her head emitting another soft groan.
"Wow, Blue wasn't kidding when he said you were pretty messed up last night. Yikes." Came a voice from the doorway. Wearing a pair of faded jeans, a dark purple tank-top with a jacket hanging loosely on her shoulders and a bandana in her hair, Myra had in her hand a glass of water and a bottle of aspirin. The perfect combination for anyone with a hangover... and in this case, that person would be Erica.
"I feel like crap.." The blonde muttered as Myra walked over sitting down next to her handing over the pills and water. She downed the pills draining the entire glass of water afterwards. "Yeah, well, the rum punch has quite the kick." Her friend humorlessly laughed.
Erica finished her water and placed it on the nightstand before glaring at her friend. "I really want to punch you right now but I think I would rather throw up on you." The blonde stated, a shade of green making its way along her cheeks.
"It's not my fault I swear!" The black haired teen put her hands up in defense. "Someone spiked the punch and I honestly believe it was Wes, the bastard. I smelled alcohol on his breath…."
The blonde sighed and rubbed at her temples with a groan. "Right right blame it on your ex… At least I didn't do anything stupid." She muttered. Erica curled back onto her bed, still wearing her dress from the night before, and began to pet Chance who was now awake but chose to be very lazy.
Myra kept a tight lip as her mind drifted to what Bluestreak said last night. "...do you remember anything before you passed out last night?"
"I remember throwing a shoe at you," came the blunt reply.
The black haired teen frowned."That's it?"
Blue eyes turned over to her friend and then quirked a blonde brow. "Myra? Is there something you want to tell me about last night?"
"... Before he left, Blue didn't seem pleased about something." It wasn't a lie but it wasn't the whole truth either.
Erica almost shot out of her bed but had to remember that she was still kind of queasy. The sense of dread washed over as her eyes widened. The blonde was almost sure that she had done something bad or had made a fool of herself... or worse both.
"Myra... what happened?" Erica shakily questioned.
Myra bit her lip, weighing her options, before sighing. "He said something on the lines that you... kissed... him."
Erica's blue eyes blinked several times. She let out a series of laughs but soon noticed that her best friend wasn't laughing along with her. The blonde stopped her laughing as the feeling of realization came to her.
The blonde swallowed thickly before promptly saying, "I think I'm gonna be sick." And with that said, she threw her hand over her mouth and shot off her bed, rushing towards the bathroom.
Still on the bed, Myra cringed at the sound of the door slamming and then looked at Chance. She patted the Border Collie on the head and murmured, "I don't know how you deal with her, boy."
The Collie just thumped his tail in response making her sigh. "Maybe I shouldn't have told her..."
Chance barked once, as if he was saying, 'you don't say?!'
"Ha ha, smartass mutt," she dryly said.
After a few moments of spending time in the bathroom, Erica trudged back into the room with tears in her eyes. The blonde sniffed and then leaned against her doorframe. Her hair was an absolute wreck, her party dress all mused and wrinkled, and there was no telling what her breath smelled like. All in all, the blonde simply looked pathetic. She thumped her head against the wood and sniffed. Myra could only cringe at the sight of her best friend and tried to give the girl a smile, but it was pretty tough.
Erica sniffed again, wiping her nose. "I messed up, didn't I?" She stated, looking up at the darker haired girl.
She looked up with her grey eyes. "Be lucky it was just a kiss." The teen replied grim. "It could have been… much worse." She stood up and walked over to her friend laying gentle hand on her shoulder. "And sure you messed up, but you must admit... he is kind of cute."
Erica laughed through the tears and sniffed, wiping her eyes. "He's probably never gonna talk to me again." The blonde pointed out to her friend.
"... Well, you know, an apology wouldn't hurt." Myra offered. "He should understand you weren't thinking straight last night." She pulled her friend into a hug patting her back.
"You're probably right. It wouldn't hurt to try at least." The blonde nodded and then cleared her throat pulling away from her friend. "Uhm, I better take a shower and clear my head. Then I guess we can go the base..." She murmured with a sad sigh. "And do whatever.."
The girl walked past her friend and pulled out some clothes from her closet. Without muttering another word, the girl headed back to the bathroom and shut the door behind her.
"Great now I really think I shouldn't have said something." Myra groaned under her breath thumping her head with a hand. Sighing she turned on her heel. At about that time her phone went off with a loud bzzt bzzzt! Myra pulled it out, frowning before answering up seeing it was her mom.
"This is going to be interesting..." The girl muttered as she exited the room with the phone to her ear.
Meanwhile, at the base, Ratchet grumbled as he turned around, hearing the all too familiar 'ping' from the console. "Now what?"
Exiting from her shared quarters with Arcee, Lunarbolt strode into the communications/med-bay and quirked a curious optic ridge at the mumbling medic. She folded her arms over her chest and walked up to the main console. "Is something wrong, Ratchet?" The femme questioned, standing behind the red and white mech.
"I'm not sure, but it appears to look like we picked up a signal..." He muttered before tapping away at the virtual keyboard. "From what I can tell, it's an Autobot."
The femme nodded quietly, missing the word 'Autobot'. But when it came across her processor, Lunarbolt jerked her head up to monitor. "Do you think it might be the Twins? I mean, you did say that they would be coming in soon."
He sent her a look before focusing on the monitor again scowling. "Primus, I hope not. I am not ready for those two. The base isn't 'twin-proofed' yet. It's bad enough we have Bluestreak and Mirage but the four of them together?" Ratchet shuddered at the thought. "I can't even imagine how Optimus deals with them." The medic was tapping away for awhile before stopping his typing. His expressed appeared to be a little surprised. "That's odd. It's Wheeljack."
"Wheeljack? What do you think he wants?" The femme asked, leaning forward to get a good look at the message.
Both of the Autobots read the message. "... He has something that's ours?" Ratchet spoke.
Understanding what the Wrecker had meant, Lunarbolt quickly held a servo to her face, trying to contain her laughter.
Ratchet looked her direction narrowing his optic ridges. "And what pray tell is so amusing?"
Lunarbolt quickly paused her snickering and straightened at the angry-looking medic. The femme shrugged with a smile. "He's probably found the Twins and wants us to pick them up."
Ratchet froze before looking back toward the monitor again, as if that had the answer on it. "Oh please just let it be where Wheeljack is injured..."
Lunarbolt looked at the medic with a confused look. "Doesn't that seem a bit, you know, harsh?" The British Autobot spoke.
"I would rather have that Wrecker lying in a ditch and dying than have those twins on this planet." The medic snapped bitterly as he sent a look over his shoulder at her.
The silver femme chuckled at the dismay of her friend and patted him on the shoulder. "If it will make you feel better, I'll go out and see what's going on." Lunarbolt turned away from the medic who glared darkly from behind her. "Think you could get the ground bridge up for me? Might be easier, don't you think?"
Ratchet wasn't convinced. "Do you think that's the wisest choice to go out by yourself?" He stated flatly.
Lunarbolt rolled her optics, feeling like some youngling with her creator. "Oh come off it Ratch, I'm perfectly capable of handling this on my own. I'll be fine." She rotated her shoulder, getting out the kinks and sighed, turning back with a grin. "If it will make you feel better, I'll keep my comm. on."
"Hmph." Ratchet huffed before going to the Ground Bridge controls. "Fine, fine but keep in touch at all times." He ordered.
Lunarbolt grinned and promptly transformed into her alt. mode. The sleek, silver sports car with black and red stripes revved her engine like a new recruit would on their first mission, eager for action. "Come on Ratch! I'm not getting any younger!"
He rolled his optics and opened up the Ground Bridge for her. "Out with you, youngling."
"I'll see you when I get back!" With a laugh, Lunarbolt fired up her engine and sped through the Ground Bridge, leaving nothing but the screech of tires behind her.
It was another hour before the five teens arrived at the base. Raf was working on some extra assignment from class, typing away on his laptop. Erica was lounging by the railing, texting on her phone. Myra lay sprawled on the couch, watching Jack and Miko's race on the TV. She huffed as she watched the two of them duke it out.
"...man I wish I grabbed my Xbox..." She muttered before flopping her head back on the couch closing her eyes. "It's boring watching someone else play. Especially some dumb racing game..."
Erica sat leaning against the railing, her head pressed against the cool metal. She was now wearing a pair of jean shorts, a floral knit tank-top, and gladiator shoes, with her hair in curls. The girl ran a hand through her blonde hair and yawned loudly.
"Oh come on Myra. If you want to play so badly, why don't you play winner?"
Miko leaned to the left, focusing on her game against the black haired boy and grinned. "Yeah. And the winner would be... ME!" The girl cried as her car had defeated Jack.
The boy frowned and tossed his controller on the coffee table, folding his arms over his chest. He shook his head and watched as the younger girl began to cheer doing her own victory dance beside him. "Laugh it up Miko. Wait until Myra grinds you into the dust." Jack chuckled, standing up and walking over to Erica.
Myra grinned lazily as she picked up the controller, scooting herself over to Jack's spot before perching her feet on the table. "C'mon Miko, let's see you play against a REAL racer."
"Oh, you are so going to lose." Miko smirked. The other girl chuckled before reaching behind her bandana and throwing down a bundle of bills. "Fifty bucks says I don't."
The blonde on the floor laughed and nodded before saying, "Uhm, hate to break it to you guys but I think Raf might be the better racer. I mean, Bumblebee's probably taken him out on races all the time." Erica shrugged.
Myra shrugged. "Not bad for a twelve year old."
Raf glanced up from his laptop on the stairs. "I heard that!"
"Want to find out after I cream Miko here?" The raven haired girl looked his direction and smirked.
Afraid of what the taller girl could do, Raf quickly turned back to his laptop, burying himself in more research.
Erica sent her best friend a dark look and rolled her eyes. "That wasn't nice, Myra. No threats. Bad best friend." The blonde spoke. Jack held a hand to his mouth to hide his laughter and snorted into his hand, his shoulders quaking.
"Woof." Myra said dryly as she leveled a look at the two. "Oh come on, I was only teasing. Jeez..." She then averted her gaze at Jack. "And the hell are you laughing at?"
Jack chuckled some more until he was finally able to stop and sighed. "I'm just amazed at the fact that Erica just called you a dog and yet you don't want to punch her in the face." At the mention of her name, the blonde punched the dark haired boy on the arm, exciting a yelp from him. He rubbed at his now sore arm and sulked while Erica continued to lean against him.
She rolled her eyes, indicating Jack's sore arm. "Because that's what happens."
Erica gave her friend a shrug of the shoulders. "Well, you do have the track record to match, Myra." The girl snickered.
Myra winked at her, smirking. "You know it!"
The large room suddenly lit up in a green tinge making Myra jump and fall on the floor. "... the hell is that?!" She yelled while pointing at the source of the strange light.
"Looks like we got a visitor." Jack murmured, helping Erica to her feet. Raf shut down his lap top and placed it next to him. Miko paused her game, stood up, walking over to their smaller friend. The youngest of the trio led the way down the stairs and up to the monitor.
"Who do you think it is?" Miko asked Raf.
The boy shrugged. "I'm not sure. It could be Luna since she's the only one gone." Raf suggested.
"Wait... how many Autobots do they have?" Myra blinked as she leaned up against the rail alongside the others.
"...Too few." Ratchet sighed, his back to the humans.
Erica glanced over at Jack. "What does he mean by that? I mean, those guys just seem to pop up everywhere we go." The blonde murmured quietly.
"The Autobots, sad as it is to say, are on the losing side of this war." Jack explained sadly. "They're always outnumbered and outgunned in every battle. Before Miko, Raf, and I came here, they had lost another member of their team. The only new additions we had were... well." He indicated Mirage and Bluestreak. One had a brooding expression while the other was trying to start up a conversation.
"And Lunarbolt." Raf piped in. "Can't forget her."
"Yeah, her as well." Jack agreed. "... But that was a few months ago."
Erica nodded slowly. "Wow, that sucks." She muttered.
And just like that, the five humans watched as a figure came out of the Ground Bridge, dragging two unfamiliar mechs behind him. It was almost comical; just like how a woman would drag her husband by the ear.
"OW OW OW! We're sorry 'Jack! Just don't throw us into the Pit! PLEASE! OW OW!"
"Please let us go! WE'RE SORRY! OWWW! MY PAINT!"
The mech, colored in white, green, and some streaks of red, who was dragging the other two mechs growled before yanking hard. "Shut it you two!"
"... uhh, would someone care to explain to me who those guys are?" Myra leaned over and whispered to Jack. The black haired boy indicated the one dragging the two smaller mechs. "That's Wheeljack. The other two, I'm not so sure. They must be new."
Ratchet groaned at the two mechs that were in Wheeljack's grasp. "Why in Primus's name did you have to bring THEM?!" He gestured at the two unknown mechs. One of the two mechs brightened instantly at the sight of the sour medic.
"Hatchet! Save us!"
Myra slapped a hand over her mouth trying not to laugh. ... Hatchet?! What kind of name is that?
Wheeljack stopped in the center of the room before dropping the other two mechs. "Hey Doc, I think these two belong to you." He paused as he noticed the newest additions in the human department. "… You seem to have more in your daycare there."
"Tell me about it." The medic said haughtily not at all pleased with the current situation. One of the mechs, who was an obnoxious golden yellow jumped up before glaring vehemently at the Wrecker. "You scratched my paint, fragger!"
Ratchet sent the two mechs a hard look. "Out of all the Autobots in the entire universe, it had to be you two." He murmured with a shake of his head. Wheeljack snickered, enjoying the medic's misery at the arrival of the Terror Twins.
Striding into the main room, Bluestreak and Mirage heard the familiar voices and instantly tackled the pair of mechs to the ground. "SUNSHINE! SIDERS!" The spy and sniper were acting like a couple of kids on Christmas morning, digging into their presents without a care in the world. And in the end, it was a massive dog-pile of mechs of different paint jobs.
Myra blinked and looked at Erica who had the same look on her face as she did. "... What. The. Hell?"
The blonde stared blankly at the pile of mechs and looked relieved. She laughed nervously and blinked. "Oh good, you see the giant pile of metal limbs... That's some reassurance." She watched Myra with amusement as she was bent over the rail trying not to laugh.
Ratchet yelled in surprise as the wrestling mechs rolled near him and the console before glaring and brandishing his wrench. "What in Primus' name are you doing!? Get up and stop that! You're Autobots not sparklings! Get up I say!"
The four mechs stared up at Ratchet, exchanged glances at one another and busted out laughing. It was a while before the rest of Team Prime heard the ruckus and entered the main room. Bluestreak and Mirage helped their friends to their feet, clasping them on the shoulders.
Optimus strode to the front and sent the two mechs a small smile. "Sunstreaker, Sideswipe. I hope that you two did not cause much trouble with Wheeljack." The Prime said with a pointed look.
The former-Wrecker on the other side of the room let out a laugh. "They're all yours Prime. Have fun with them." With that said, Wheeljack transformed and drove out of the main entrance, leaving the Team to deal with the twins.
Ratchet threw a glare towards the Wrecker's direction, wanting so badly to throw something at him as he disappeared around the corner. "Great. Primus must sincerely hate me. Now, I'm stuck with these two..." He groaned.
One of the twins appeared to be offended by this. "Aw, c'mon Hatchet." The silver mech with red accents, obviously Sideswipe, wrapped an arm around the medic's shoulders grinning like an idiot. "You missed us!" He had to duck as a wrench came whistling through the air as Ratchet started to swing it.
"That's not my name!" The medic barked.
Miko quietly cackled to herself making Myra raise an eyebrow. "What?"
She pointed at the newest Bots "... Something tells me that those two are pranksters. I have a feeling we will get along swimmingly." The darker haired girl chuckled. Myra's eyebrows rose. "Oh really?" She eyed the two new mechs before cackling herself; rubbing her hands together as if she was some kind of evil villain. Erica patted her friend on the arm and rolled her eyes. Mentally pitying her friend's future victims...
Ratchet glared at the twins for a moment, his anger boiling but then took a step back, his face confused. "I thought Lunarbolt would be with you two..." The base was silent. Something was wrong with this picture. Optimus' face grew concerned while Arcee folded her arms over her chest. Bulkhead looked worried at the mention of their female comrade.
Sideswipe looked at his brother who shared his confusion before looking back at the other Bot. "Uhm, who?" The silver twin questioned Mirage.
"Our current Lieutenant," the spy replied with his optic ridges furrowed. "Ratchet, where did you send her?"
"I sent her to investigate the signal sent by Wheeljack. I just figured something was wrong or that he had the twins with him." Ratchet replied, gesturing to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.
Optimus took a step forward, still pressing for answers. "Had she contacted you at all since she left?"
The medic shook his head. "Nothing. I told her that she shouldn't go alone, but she insisted."
Hearing this, Bluestreak's shoulders slumped. Every Autobot in the room knew for a fact that when one goes alone, nothing good would come of it. Even the teens by the railings looked around at each other in worry. Erica reached over and grabbed Jack's wrist, clutching tightly to him. Myra glanced over at Mirage who was looking to the Ground Bridge which was now closed.
Obviously, something was wrong.
When Lunarbolt finally went through the Ground Bridge, she rolled out and swiftly transformed into her bi-pedal mode. The femme drew out her cannon on her left arm and glanced around her surroundings, finding nothing but dense forest. Something was off about this place, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Lunarbolt withdrew her cannon and tried calling Ratchet from her comm. but nothing went through.
"Ratch? Ratchet? Come on Ratch! It's not funny!" The British femme snapped bitterly. "If this is payback for me stealing your wrench last week, I only did it for your safety! ... And mine."
But all she received was static.
The femme let out a frustrated huff and gave up on the comm. "So much for 'on at all times' you old git." She glanced around the forest and then began to walk deeper into the trees, checking for any signs of life. As she walked on, a silent shape followed her from above. Lunarbolt scanned around the forest ground and found nothing on her scanner. She sighed softly and then heard a faint buzzing from behind her. The femme armed herself with her cannon and prepared to fire at anything that would move.
The buzzing noise stopped abruptly as she armed herself.
Lunarbolt whirled around, aiming her cannon at a large oak tree but found nothing nearby. She shook her head, disarmed herself, and continued on walking through the forest. The femme walked on for a while, her audio sensors on high alert for any sound or movement. The first that occurred were her feet being pulled out from under her making her slam into the ground. Before she could react, she was pinned down by a foot on her throat and a blaster in her face. Lunarbolt shuttered her optics and found herself staring up to see Soundwave's unmoving visor. She glared darkly at the Decepticon's communications officer, trying to swallow but no anvil.
"Good to see you Soundwave." The femme spat, optics narrowed.
She jerked her head to the side, twirled her knee, and swiped her legs from under Soundwave. The femme rolled and jumped to her feet, retracting her cannons and aiming them at the silent mech. The Decepticon just stood there not reacting at all to the cannons being aimed in his direction.
The Autobot lowered her weapons slightly and then stood straight. "I really hope you are not trying to make me look like a fool." Lunarbolt murmured at Soundwave. She examined his frame and then noticed that Laserbeak was missing... That must've been the buzzing I heard earlier. The femme thought with a sigh. Soundwave wanted me to be here...
The same buzzing noise was heard again and she was then struck in the back of the head by the culprit who turned out to be Soundwave's fateful companion, Laserbeak. Soundwave tilted his head to the side as Lunarbolt fell to the ground, face first and unconscious. The communications office strode towards the fallen Autobot as Laserbeak firmly attached himself to his chest. He knelt down and traced his claws over the femme's face. Soundwave knew that the Autobots would come looking for their comrade, but they would just have to wait...
A voice of a long dead ghost was heard from the silent sentinel. It sounded gruff but kind all the same though it had a slight echo to it. A war hero perhaps? Maybe just an old friend of Lunarbolt's? Hell, a lover? There was no telling who it was, but Soundwave knew that the femme would remember...
"We had a good run, didn't we Luna? Guess all good things come to an end, right?"
A/N: Alrighty, the first reviewer to guess CORRECTLY who says the quote at the end of the chapter, give have 3 questions for me to answer regarding B, R, and PC. It can be about any character, any chapter, and even about the sequel. ;) I hope you reviewers make use of it because there are some juicy facts about this fic that I know some would want to know. And so, REVIEW GUYS!
PS: And TK, you can't guess because you already know who it is.