Hello! It's been a while! How're you all doing?
Today I decided to upload my third OC's one-shot. I've already written June's, and Predaking's story, and I'm working in Rafael's; also, I might finish Crosshair's one too after all (I started to like the character...). However, I'm trying to think something for Bulkhead and Wheeljack, since I literally have nothing planned for those two, and my winter break is coming to an end... So... Yep, that's the situation.
Coira94:
Long time no see! How're you? I'm glad you liked the previous story! And, about Knock Out's child: it won't born during these one-shots, cuz they're all taking place during a short period of time; but I can tell you this... It's going to be reddish pink ;)
Knock Out:
*Trying not to laugh* After all the arguing we had during Redemption you really thought that I was joking about the sparkling? KO... KO... I was never so serious in my life. So, congrats, daddy. Oh, and before you try to grab a spaceship and get off the planet, you may want to remember that I'm friends with Magnus and Prowl, and that if I ask them to, they'll bring you right back to Earth (they have the authority to). Not to mention that Scorch used to be a Wrecker, and she would follow you into a blackhole if she has to...
Nightglider: *appearing from behind, hand on his commlink* They got him somewhere around Andromeda, they'll deliver him in a couple hours.
Sunscorch: *walking towards the exit* Good. I'm going to teach that coward not to abandon me and his child...
See? Wish you luck with your wife, KO.
Let's move on, ok?
Warning: English isn't my mother language, so there might be some grammar mistakes in here.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Transformers franchise, nor its characters. It is a registered trademark of Hasbro.
Summary: Millie has been having some trouble fitting in with the other three kids. Time for Jack and the others to help her overcome her own barriers.
Genre: Family & Friendship
-MILLIE-
My New BIG Family
"… and, then I see Springer coming at us yelling. Next thing I know, a bomb goes off, and I end up landing on my tailpipe." Sunscorch narrated one of her many fights to her charge, while both of them were on their way back to base from Millie's school. "By the time I got up, the 'Cons were nearly upon us, and Pyro had the 'great idea' of fooling them, so they would end up jumping into their own smelting pit. Man, that burn chased him forever…" She snickered, remembering something. "Fortunately for us, the Decepticreeps got a little cocky and committed the mistake of dropping some of their weaponry; so, Wheeljack and I grabbed a few grenades and…"
"Wreck and rule?" The girl completed with a big grin on her face.
Sunscorch let out a joyful laugh.
"You know it, girl!" The Wrecker cheered.
Millie, then, chuckled and laid back against her seat. She always enjoyed the bots' stories ―even if they all were war stories―, mostly because it made her feel welcome among the team; but, it also allowed her to know them better by knowing their past. So far, all of them has shared some memories with Fowler's adoptive daughter ―even Ratchet, which was close to a miracle. All but Knock Out… Sure, he told her lots of things, including Scorch, Daybreak's betrayal, and when he joined the Decepticons; but he never kept going from there! At some point she asked her Autobot guardian about it, but all the crimson femme said was: "He just don't want you to know all the creepy details… Trust me…"
Sighing, the little girl couldn't help but feel bad for the surgeon; because it meant that many years of his life were filled with awful memories… She wished she could help him with it; but, how if the mech didn't let her in? "At least, he'll have a family of his own now… It will help him to move on… right?" She thought, remembering the surprise from a few weeks ago; although she already knew… And so did Ratchet, since he was the one in found out when Sunscorch had her standard medical check. After realizing that she was carrying, the Wrecker went to her human charge, and, together, planned on how to tell Knock Out. It was hard to keep such secret from him, but, it was also funny to see him confused and trying to figure out what was going on.
Then, a question popped into her head: her guardian had a baby growing inside of her, right? Then...
"Scorch?" She called, receiving a hum. "Are you allowed to transform while being pregnant?"
Apparently her question must've been a dumb one, since the Wrecker started to laugh at it; thanks to it, Millie couldn't help but blush, while trying to hide her face with her curly hair. She stared down to her knees, feeling stupid… thing that she hated. Especially after all the bully she had to endure back at the foster house…
It was then when a gentle and warm hand caressed her head, making the girl look up, towards the driver's seat, where Sunscorch's holoform was now sitting. The blond woman had an apologetic look on her eyes, as she sighed and pulled over.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it." The Cybertronian apologized. "I shouldn't have laugh. Sometimes, I forget that you don't know much about our culture, nor our biology yet." She explained, shrugging and cocking her head. "So, answering your question: yes. I'm allowed, because my T-Cog knows where to put the occupied hatch when I shift."
"You sure?" Millie sniffed, still feeling a bit bad.
"The femme's body is programmed to protect the hatchling, kid. As long as it's inside of me, it's safe." The holoform assured, smirking. Then, she placed her hand under the girl's chin, making her look up. "Hey! Cheer up, kiddo! You're going to be an aunty!"
Ok, that made her chuckle at the strange image that came to her head. After all, she was from an entire different species; and, besides, she saw Knock Out and Sunscorch as the uncle and the aunt she never had. However, the mere thought of them thinking of her as a family member made her incredibly happy; so, unbuckling her seat-belt, Millie gave Sunscorch's holoform a big hug that took the Wrecker by surprise. It took a moment, but, eventually, she felt the Cybertronian returning the gesture, before both of them pulled away, the moment in which the warrior reminded her charge that they were still halfway away from base, and that it was getting late. Nodding, Millie buckled up again, and both of them resumed their previous chat as if nothing happened.
Once they were with the rest of the team, the girl saw the other three human kids competing against each other in some videogame. Since she has been around for barely a year now, Millie still felt a little awkward when near them; especially when they were behaving like this, giving away that they knew each other for quite a long time. "Still unaccustomed…" She thought, sighing, and going straight to the sick bay, where she should find Knock Out.
"Hey, Millie!" Jack called, making her turn around to see him looking away from the TV screen. "How was school?" He asked politely.
"Um… Good, I think. I passed my English test…" She shrugged. It was still weird to interact with someone who was much older than her. At least, when said person was human. Apparently, for her, it was easier to interact with giant aliens than with her own species; but, fortunately, none of them wanted to push her too far, so they were simply allowing her to acclimate at her own pace.
Nodding, the older boy went back to the game… discovering that he was now losing.
"What the-?! Miko, since when do you know how to play this game?!" He complained, desperately trying to catch up with his friends… Unsuccessfully.
In the end, the Japanese girl won the match.
"OH YEAH!" Miko yelled, jumping off the couch, controller still in hand. "I. SCORCHED. YOU!" She celebrated, pointing at the two groaning boys. "Oh, hi, Millie!" She waved with a smile, noticing the girl.
Chuckling, she waved back and resumed her way to the sick bay. Unfortunately, the Velocitronian wasn't there, only Ratchet. "Oh…" She sighed, dropping her shoulders.
"He's in the back."
Looking up, she noticed that the old medic was now looking at her instead of his screens. Smiling, she nodded and thanked him, while running out of the room. Unknown to her, the white and orange mech chuckled, rolling his optics, before go back to work. He would never dare to say it out loud, but he came to like her too…
"BOO-YAH!" Miko's yell came from the other room, next to the not-so-low growls from the boys.
"At least she's not like Miko…" Ratchet muttered, slightly shaking his head and closing his optics.
… … …
On the way to the back, Millie saw the mayor part of the team either chatting at the hallway, or on their way back to the control room; all of them seemed to have taken a bath recently. "They probably had a training session…" She thought, trying to find an explanation. After all, she learned from her guardian that the bots liked to have a relaxing warm bath after their battle simulations ―she has even witnessed some of them, next to the other three kids, and her dad. It was a scary, yet impressive experience for her, since she never saw them in an actual fight.
Finally, she reached the training rooms, and entered the one that was opened. "Optimus and Elita are sparring again." She thought, when she heard the grunts and gunfire coming from the other room ―the leaders, apparently, didn't hold back when facing each other.
"Sounds like they really want to break the tie they're stuck in, huh?" Millie heard Sunscorch asking as she entered the training room.
"It would be the thirtieth time this week…" A familiar male voice answered.
"Knock Out!" The girl called, gaining both bots' attention.
The surgeon dedicated a warm smile to his human friend.
"Hey, there! You just missed another training session." He commented, pointing at the empty room with his right thumb.
"Did you participate?" Millie wondered, noticing the large scratch that her friend had in the middle of the chest.
Knock Out's eyes widened, right before look down at himself and let out a nervous chuckle. No, he didn't participate… Smokescreen tried to perform a flying kick on Ironhide, and got tossed to the side… right where the red surgeon was standing, monitoring the warriors' vitals. The girl winced at the mental picture of her friend being crushed by the Elite Guard… But it kind of explained the blue paint on the medic's body… It must have been one heck of a hit.
"If K-Out doesn't go to the battle, the battle will go to K-Out." The crimson femme chortled, crossing her arms.
"I don't see how getting pancaked by some IMPRUDENT IDIOT…!" The Velocitronian yelled, towards the hallway's door, frowning.
"Hey! I said I was sorry!" Smokescreen yelled back in the distance.
"…is a valid cause to be mocked, by my own bondmate!" He finished, looking at the Wrecker.
"I could mention another scenario in which your paint ended way worse, but there's a kid present…" Scorch retorted, smirking, and starting to walk away; right when Knock Out's fans kicked on high gear.
"Knock Out? Are you ok?" Millie wondered, cocking her head, after Sunscorch left the room.
The mech cleared his throat.
"If your father asks, you never heard that, ok?" He asked, kind of embarrassed, sighing in relief when she nodded.
Then, he offered a hand for her to jump in, and allowed her to sit comfortably on one of his shoulders, while he finished his job at the training room. Meanwhile, Millie started to tell him how her day was, just as she did with Sunscorch on their way there. She even admitted that she was thinking about joining the art club, thing that the medic fully supported, saying that it would be good for her to have some hobby outside the base. She gave him the reason on that, but said that she wasn't completely sure yet…
"Why not? I've seen you drawing, you have the talent." Knock Out commented, trying to help.
The girl simply averted her green eyes, and shrunk on her place.
"Oh, I see." The Velocitronian chuckled. "Someone is being a little shy." His only response was Millie hiding her face with her hair. He couldn't help but laugh a little at her reaction. "Kid, you had the guts to talk to me when I was yet a 'Con, but you fear a bunch of human preteens?"
"It's different…" She mumbled, looking back at him. "It's easier to talk to you…"
"Hm… Yes… I have to admit that I felt the same when we met." He confessed, remembering their meetings at that glade, back when he really needed to talk to someone just to keep himself sane. Never expected to make a friend, that's for sure; but Millie was different from other humans. To begin with, she didn't give a scrap about him being a giant alien.
"Sometimes I cannot even start an actual conversation with the others…" The girl, then, admitted with a frustrated sigh.
She liked the other three kids of the group, they were really kind with her when the Autobots learned about her existence, and made sure to integrate her properly; they even made that huge party to celebrate her adoption! Nevertheless, whenever they started to talk about things that happened long ago, when they joined the team, Millie tended to feel left behind. Like she didn't really belong there… Like she was an intruder. That was why she liked to listen to the bots too. Their lives were so long, that it was more natural for her to hear about stuff that happened centuries before she was even born.
"As far as I know, they haven't bitten anyone yet." Knock Out chuckled. "Well… At least not Jack and Raf…" He added, suddenly.
Millie laughed and punched his shoulder in a friendly way.
"Hey! Miko isn't that bad!" She defended the Japanese girl.
"Sorry, I must've been channeling Ratchet." He said, with a wink.
Right the moment they reached the control room, there was a flick on the electricity that called everyone's, humans and bots, attention. Fowler exited his office, asking what happened.
"Surely not scraplets. We haven't brought any strange Artic pods lately." Miko joked.
"Miko, please don't bring up that day…" Bulkhead pleaded, a hand on his helm.
"Yeah, some of us still has trouble forgetting those little creepers…" Bumblebee commented, kind of trembling, though Millie couldn't tell if it was in disgust or in fear.
"Not to mention that some of us almost froze to dead thanks to those vermin." Arcee groaned, her arms crossed and her back against the wall.
Another power failure, and… the lights were out. Only the cerulean optics of the Autobots were visible, until those who could turned on their headlights. Nightglider appeared from the hallway shortly after, wondering what happened.
"Must've been some problem at the main grid…" Ratchet suggested, thinking possibilities. "Wheeljack, with me. Let's check it out." He called the mechanic, while heading into the, now, pitch black corridor.
"Uh… Do we have to split up? It never ends well in the movies…" Smokescreen wondered, his doorwings down.
Everyone's optics were now on him.
"You haven't recovered from the movies' marathon yet, now have you?" Arcee mocked him.
Suddenly, a screeching noise came from the hallway, calling the bots attention. Ok, now everyone was in max alert… "What was that?" Millie wondered, gulping. She felt Knock Out putting her down on the platform where the others were, just in case.
The noise was heard again.
"Don't tell me…" Bulkhead gulped.
Another screech, followed by a whirl.
"Scraplets! Scraplets!" The green Wrecker started yelping, bringing up his cannons.
Millie couldn't help but take a step back, and grab her dad's hand when that happened; and, of course, Fowler pushed her behind his back. But, even then, she could see Jack groan and roll his eyes.
"C'mon guys! There is no way for a scraplet to have entered the base!" The oldest teenager said, trying to calm the bots.
"He's right." Ratchet agreed, hands on the sides of his hip. "It's probably some wiring making a short circuit, at the main panel…"
"Last time you said that, we were almost eaten alive!" The green mech pressed.
"The last time we brought the scraplets in!" The older medic retorted.
"What's a scraplet?" Millie asked out loud, earning everyone's attention.
The three kids exchanged a look, before go back to her.
"It's like a Cybertronian termite. Only that it eats metal instead of wood." Rafael explained, measuring the bug with his hands ―by the looks of it, the scraplets were of the size of a Toy Poodle.
"If they eat metal…" She looked at the bots.
"Yup. Apparently, they're delicious for those things…" Jack commented, scratching the back of his neck, and earning a growl from Arcee.
Another screech, this time stronger… And, finally, there was a very hearable clank.
Now, all the bots were on their guard. The clanks were approaching…
They were almost there…
"What are the guns for?" A feminine voice asked.
And everyone dropped their guard. It were Elita and Optimus. Turns out that they were still at the training room when the power went completely down, reason why the lock didn't open, and they had to… improvise their way out. And those were the weird noises they were hearing: the two leaders trying to pry the door open…
Growling, Ratchet glared at Bulkhead, who chuckled awkwardly and muttered an apology. Finally, the old medic left the room, carrying his toolbox, so he could fix the problem when he finds it.
After an hour, the power was restored ―Ratchet was right all along, a wire short circuited―, everything seemed to go back to normal: Raf went back to his laptop, Miko was watching some TV show, and Jack was focused in some homework from college. So, Millie decided to sketch a little; and, what could be better than try to sketch one of the bots? Unfortunately, they were constantly moving, and she didn't want to bother her friends by asking them to pose for her… So, she went to plan B: Miko's wall. There were enough pics for her to copy.
She was so immersed in trying to get Bumblebee's head right that she missed the three shadows that the other kids were casting upon her. Until she got frustrated and started to erase part of her drawing…
"Hey! Why're you doing that?!"
Miko's sudden complain made the younger girl yelp and slip off the chair she was sitting on, reason why Millie found herself sitting on the platform's metal floor soon enough.
"Woah! Are you ok?!" Rafael wondered, while helping her up.
"Way to scare the living scrap out of her, Miko…" Jack reprehended his friend, though he couldn't help but fight back a smirk, while also helping the girl to stand up. He would hate to admit it, but it was kind of funny.
"Sorry, Millie, I didn't mean to." The Japanese girl apologized.
"It's okay, just… don't do it again." She couldn't help but chuckle, after all, it was a silly thing.
The other three kids smiled at her, before Jack crouched to pick up her sketchbook and decided to take a look at her drawings. The other two were soon next to the oldest boy, trying to get a glimpse of Millie's artwork; it was a little embarrassing for her, since she never let anyone but her dad and Knock Out to see it. Suddenly, the other kids chuckled together.
"Th-that's…! That's the school's vice principal!" Jack chortled, trying to control himself.
"You sure got his best angle!" Rafael laughed too, relying some of his weight on the older boy.
"The horns are a nice touch!" Miko gave her a thumbs up.
Millie couldn't help but join them in the laughing. Yeah… The vice principal was a jerk, reason why during one of his everlasting speeches, she started to draw a cartoony version of him, wearing horns and all… Nobody among the students liked that guy, and, for what she could see, these three weren't an exception.
Of course that, in no time, some of the bots wanted to know what was so funny; reason why, before long, everyone around the base knew about Millie's sketchbook. It was a big surprise for them to find out that the girl has been drawing them too… She feared to have make them mad about it, but it wasn't the case; they all took it well, even chuckled about it ―especially the Wreckers.
By the end of the day, when Fowler announced his daughter that it was time to go home, Millie made up her mind about the Art Club: she was going to join it.
"I heard a lot of laughing before, something good?" Fowler asked his daughter, while she buckled up and he turned on the car.
"Let's just say that I'm finally feeling comfortable in the team… The whole team." She answered, receiving a happy nod.
From then on, Miko's wall started to be Miko's and Millie's wall; and the base started to feel a lot like a second home for the younger girl.
That's all for now; I hope you liked it!
*Sunscorch passes from behind, dragging Knock Out*
See ya next time, with June's one-shot!
Bye!