A/N: I could blame my cold for this being late but the sad fact was that one of the main fuses in the building decided to die last evening. While highly conductive to romantic dinners by candlelight and/or meeting the equally confused neighbours in the hallway, it did make finishing the chapter a bit hard *cough*. Many apologies to anyone I might have worried – I promise I'm still alive, I haven't drowned in a sea of Kleenex yet, and I've been at work to infect my colleagues like the good little worker that I am. And the next chapter should be here on Thursday again as usual.
I also noticed that my author's notes in general look like one long parade of failtacular excuses for possibly being late with a future chapter, despite this chapter being the first late one in months. I think I may fail at the whole 'author's note' thing X.x
Three years of having an alien guardian in the shape of a transforming Camaro had taught Samuel Witwicky quite a few important lessons, not least of which was the power of "Please, 'Bee?" and puppy-dog eyes... and in this case, even that wasn't enough. It had taken until he had pointed out - truthfully - that NEST team Alpha would be there for obvious reasons and never did put their weapons away, that Ironhide would be there because it was his partner and his NEST team, that Ratchet would be there as their medic, that Mikaela and Jolt would be there as said medic's apprentices, that Sideswipe would be there because Jolt would be (and Sam neatly ignored that it was because the 'Vette didn't trust Will in the least and was there solely to watch his partner's back), that Optimus would be there because it was Optimus... and it was around then that Bumblebee had caved with an electronic sound that Sam translated as 'All right, all right' and tried very hard not to do a little victory dance.
'Bee did mean well, after all. Sam could sort of see his logic, especially after the stuff with Sideswipe that even 'Bee's considerable sneak-skills couldn't keep from him, but it was still Will and Sam trusted him, alien robot or not.
And that was how he found himself heading out to one of the disused runways at some time in the morning that was still way too early for him, nestled safely in Bumblebee's hands and trailing along with two medics in training, said yellow and black guardian, a probably-psychotic front-liner with a sword-fetish... and one toy-sized 'Con turned Autobot, because Wheelie still wasn't going anywhere without his Warrior Goddess if he could avoid it, and Sam was pretty sure at least half the reason was because the damn thing knew it would piss off both him and 'Bee.
"So was Jetfire a prototype of a Seeker? Some ancestor or something? Or did Starscream and the others just claim the name? He didn't look much like Screamer or Will do, but that could be because of his alt-mode," Mikaela asked from up ahead, from her place in Jolt's hands and Wheelie in his alt-mode in her lap - and control or not, after seeing what the blue Autobot could do with electricity, Sam was not afraid to admit that his girlfriend had way bigger balls than he did himself. Possibly the perverted little 'Con, too, but that was probably stupidity more than balls.
"The word is different in Cybertronian," Jolt explained and made two Cybertronian sounds Sam didn't recognise. "They are two related words that are translated to the same in English since you don't have anything to properly distinguish them. A 'Seeker' referring to what Jetfire was means to seek by choice. He was given a mission but when he felt it went against his beliefs, he defied that order to seek. A 'Seeker' referring to what Will is means the lack of choice. Core programming, if you want. A Seeker like them will always seek the skies, regardless of who or where they are. To keep them from that would make them unstable at the very least."
"It would make them insane," Sideswipe said darkly. "I've seen Seekers without their wings. Offlining them would have been a mercy."
Sam shuddered slightly at the thought. It brought up more than a few images that he could have lived without but before he could change the topic, Mikaela had turned to look at Sideswipe instead.
"What about..." she trailed off, hesitant. "I mean, it wasn't always 'shoot to kill on sight', right?"
"The Deceptiscum didn't care," Sideswipe snorted. "They locked them up, anyway. If they couldn't be hacked and didn't cave to torture, the cell would get to them."
Jolt gave his partner a look, then frowned and turned his attention to Mikaela again. "We weren't much better, from what I heard. We never tortured and we never hacked, because we're not 'Cons - I mean, I guess some tried, anyway, it was war, but they always got punished - but we had to deal with Seekers in some way if we captured them and I guess someone thought it was nicer to just knock out the flight-craving bit of coding than to let them go nuts, or kill them, since we couldn't just let them go. They didn't remove it, they just... overruled it for a while, but not long enough to do anything permanent to them. I heard some of the medics used to know how to do it. Some of the really smart science mechs could work it out, too, I guess." He looked a bit uncomfortable as he glanced up ahead at the gathered group in the distance. "I don't think we could ever keep the Elite Trine, any of the three, for long and it's-it's probably a good thing. I'm sorry, Sideswipe, you know what I mean, I don't like them, I just... I didn't think about it before but Ratchet would never do it and it's messing with core programming and I know they meant it kind of well but I don't think I could do it, either. Not do it and look him in the optics again even if I could figure out how it was done."
Another snort from Sideswipe at that. "He likes the flying fraggers." There was something in his voice that Sam couldn't identify - not quite annoyance, not quite disapproval, not quite happy with it all - but even if he'd been willing to ask Sideswipe about something like that, the point became moot as they came within hearing range of the gathered group of mechs and humans and Bumblebee put him on the ground again - reluctantly.
Optimus, Ironhide, Ratchet - the Twins were probably around somewhere, too, and Arcee and the others, and for a moment Sam wondered where the hell Will was hiding when he caught a glimpse of F-22 grey behind Ironhide and Ratchet. He had moved exactly four steps before that bit of grey moved and Sam stopped rather abruptly as the Seeker rose from its kneeling position next to Bobby Epps and Sarah Lennox and the grey figure stretched to its full height to loom like a minor thundercloud above all but Optimus and give Sam nasty images of Starscream in his place.
A chirp behind him pulled him back to the present and he nodded and swallowed, a bit wide-eyed. "I'm fine, 'Bee, I just... forgot how huge they are up close." Tall and wide and threatening and ohgod- "I'm so glad he has blue optics."
A long pause and then he forced himself to grin. A bit weak, but still a grin. "I guess there's no more calling them flying Doritos?"
"Lennox would probably find it amusing but the bird-brain would not. I'm not going to save your aft if you try it, anyway," Ironhide's voice rumbled somewhere above him.
Mikaela snorted in a feminine sort of way that always left Sam baffled and then Jolt let her down and she carefully put toy-car Wheelie on the ground and let him transform. One glance at their new Seeker and he was scrambling to hide behind Mikaela's legs – and probably hump her while he was at it, Sam thought darkly.
"I'm a 'Bot! Don't shoot the red-eyed one; protect me, Warrior Goddess!"
Sam had no idea of how a Seeker could actually manage to look baffled in a way that a human could recognise, but Will managed for a moment, anyway, before he shook his head slightly and turned his attention back to whatever he'd been discussing with his human family-of-sorts.
"First time he's been out here?" one of the vaguely familiar-looking NEST guys asked – Graham, the name tag said – and that and the accent was enough to make Sam remember him as one of the survivors of Egypt.
Mikaela patted Wheelie on the head in a way that made both Sam and Bumblebee roll their eyes. "Yeah, we didn't know how that Seeker in Will's head would react to red eyes. It's okay, Wheelie. Will's a good mech, I promise, nothing's going to happen."
"Oh, that's a Seeker, Warrior Goddess," Wheelie said dubiously. "They're not good mechs. They hate the grounders. Jetfire was one of the Old Ones. He was one of the Legendaries. That there's not a good mech."
"You know it's got a human personality in there, though. It's Will, you know him."
Which didn't seem to do much to encourage Wheelie to let go of Mikaela's leg.
"Yeah, Warrior Goddess, and he ain't much saner than that Seeker is."
Sam was pretty sure he heard Graham try to keep back a laugh at that but when he looked at the man again, he was pure NEST professionalism... which wasn't really saying that much, and definitely not when it came to Will Lennox's NEST team.
"Jolt, miss Banes, we've got the test dummies ready," he reported. "Ratchet ran his tests and gave his approval on the spare one you made and we have them all suited up."
Something about the voice told Sam that there was probably more than just suiting up the dolls involved in that 'ready' bit and Jolt apparently agreed because he looked curious at that. "'Ready'?"
Graham thumbed over his shoulder to where two human-shaped things had been dumped on the ground and the group moved closer almost as one as even Bumblebee and Sideswipe's issues with the whole thing got overruled by the nagging sense of a trainwreck in the making that the name-tags on the flight suits proclaimed to be Captain Crash and The Spare.
Sam stared, 'Bee stared, Sideswipe make an unimpressed sound, Jolt stared at Mikaela, and finally the only female of the group decided to ask the question that no one else seemed willing to voice. "God, you're all chickens," she muttered, then took a deep breath. "Is that... a smiley face?"
By then, the rest of Alpha Team had noticed them as well and Captain Crash was propped up between two of the soldiers, flopping arms slung around their shoulders and a firm grip on the open helmet kept the head raised to answer the question.
"Hail, Emperor. Those who are about to die, salute you," Graham said solemnly as one of his team-mates bent the test dummy's arm in some kind of vague salute and then let the arm flop back down before Ratchet stalked over and reclaimed both of the test dummies with an annoyed expression.
Sam had expected some sort of comment from someone about it – Ratchet or Epps or Will or Optimus or someone – and it was only when it didn't show that he started to get the uncomfortably nagging suspicion that the smiley faces on the test dummies probably wasn't even unusual for the NEST team. Oh, sure, you had to be more than a bit off in the head to sign up for something like that voluntarily – and that Sam was still there spoke volumes about his mental health as far as he was concerned, even he would admit to that – and sure, it was a bit of a weird situation they were in, even for NEST, but he got the impression that even then, that sort of thing wasn't exactly that weird.
Wheelie forgotten for the moment, Mikaela was still staring as the group of soldiers followed Ratchet like a particularly rambunctious horde of puppies. "It's a smiley face," she finally said.
"It's a smiley face," Sam agreed. "And they named him Captain Crash." He paused. "So, is there a medical term for 'batshit' or can we just stick with that for now? I'd ask the shrink we've got running around somewhere but he might lock us up with the rest of them and 'Bee probably wouldn't like that."
"Bonkers? Bananas? Few fries short of a Happy Meal? Stark raving mad? I don't know, I think 'batshit' fits them pretty well." She paused. "And 'Bee would so be locked up, too. Sorry, 'Bee."
'Bee's radio chirped cheerfully, and then he held down his hand again to let Sam sit down again. Not that Sam couldn't walk just fine but 'Bee was protective and didn't trust their Seeker and Sam wasn't going to complain and make 'Bee reconsider letting him watch in the first place. Jolt followed suit and picked up Mikaela and Wheelie, and tailed by Sideswipe, they wandered over to Ratchet and the two test dummies he seemed to be running a final few tests on. Names like Captain Crash and The Spare didn't really inspire confidence in Will's ability not to kill a human in the air on accident, and Sam mentally debated for a moment whether to ask or not and then let his first impulse win out.
"If you're so sure he can't keep a test dummy in one piece that you two build a spare one..."
"...Then why do this at all?" Mikaela asked softly. "Because mechs are mechs, on both sides, but the 'Bots are the only ones willing to put up with us squishies. If they can get Will to imprint on the NEST team and see them as kin, then Megatron and Starscream will have that bit less to tempt him with. The first time Megatron starts to rant about pathetic fleshlings, he'll remind Will that we're human and we belong here and that the 'Cons wouldn't let us live. They let him and the team play so he'll get used to having us around. We made a spare because it was nice practice and it'll let them play a little rougher while they get used to it."
Oh.
It did explain 'Bee's twitchiness now that Sam thought about it. Sideswipe and the Twins – and probably Ironhide, too – were all unstable as far as Sam was concerned but 'Bee didn't seem twitchy about them in the same way as he did about Will. If he thought their new Seeker was going to pack up and turn 'Con, though... Sam could understand that. He didn't believe it for a second – the can might be 'Con but the content was all 'Bot – but he did understand.
With those kinds of thoughts nagging on his mind, Sam fell silent as they reached the rest of the group. Optimus Prime was huge, Sam was used to that, but while a Seeker wasn't any taller, it was a whole lot wider. Big and wide and took up a whole damn lot of landscape, especially staring at it from up close – and it was a jet, Sam berated himself, of course it was huge – and even if he was never going to comment on it out loud, he was still amazed that Will's wings didn't catch on anyone or anything when he turned and headed a bit away to transform without accidentally crunching someone.
Three years on and Sam was used to seeing their giant, alien allies transform but however many times he'd been used for target practice by the 'Cons, it was still only the Autobots he was really familiar with. Bumblebee's transformation sequence was something he could describe groggily but accurately if someone dragged him out of bed at four in the morning to ask him – and thank you to whatever sadist of a NEST commander had thought of that one as a nice little memory game, Will or Epps, he wasn't sure and couldn't prove it but he knew it had been their idea – and Optimus' was familiar in a way that NEST-focused mechs like Ironhide or Sideswipe's weren't, but this was the first time he had seen a Seeker transform up close and personal and not have to worry about getting squished as a result.
He was amazed enough that something like Bumblebee could fit into a car shape that was all smooth lines and perfect paintjob, and never mind Optimus, but watching something as-as Decepticon-shaped as a Seeker do it boggled the mind. He wasn't going to tell the man-mech-Seeker that he was 'Decepticon-shaped' to his face but it was what he was - all pointy bits and teeth and claws and assorted other bits that showed up in his nightmares, and if Mikaela had been a mind-reader, Sam was sure she would have made a bad, brain-breaky joke about just what kind of mech-bits to make him scrub his brain with soap but since she wasn't, he would just have to do it himself.
Possibly, Sam was a tiny bit whipped in the girlfriend department, but with the kind of girlfriend he had, he wasn't going to complain.
Starscream could transform in about one second flat, painful experience had taught them that, but Will took his time and ten seconds later – and some really brain-bending slow-motion displays of just how those pointy ends fit together that Sam would have sworn involved magic – and there was an F-22 sitting on the runway looking perfectly, utterly innocent.
Sam was attuned enough to Bumblebee that he felt his guardian's hand tense slightly underneath him and he did the smart thing and decided against pointing out that Will's alt-mode dwarfed all of them, including Optimus. Going by Bumblebee's frown, he already knew and Sam was in absolutely no hurry to get kicked back into the relative safety of indoors.
The canopy opened and Mikaela hesitated for a second before she slid down from Jolt's hand and carefully stepped onto the jet instead and Sam really couldn't blame her. It was like walking around on Optimus' alt-mode or something, or stepping on 'Bee's hood. Mech-form was fine - and with something as perfectly climbable as Bumblebee it would be a crime not to use him for that sometimes - but alt-modes were something different and this was probably the first time anyone had ever stepped on that thing, and it was a Seeker and yes, Mikaela had way bigger balls than Sam could ever hope for. Or possibly a lot less common sense but with the sort of things Sam got himself into, that wasn't a theory he was about to share.
Ratchet put Captain Crash in the cockpit, Mikaela handled the belts and straps and whatever else was in there, and between the two of them, the dummy was in place in a matter of minutes and the medic and his apprentices retreated to join the rest of them a bit away.
"Now we watch things go crunch?" Sam asked and Ratchet gave him a Look.
"Now we go through the tests again to ensure we can actually get reliable readings with the dummy in such close proximity to them. Then, they may take off and while I doubt that 'crunching' will be involved then yes, I do expect to see some damage done to our first test subject there, with lack of oxygen being the main concern." He made a shushing gesture and Sam settled down in Bumblebee's hand again and fell silent.
So T minus something to take-off and the show began and strangely, he started to get a craving for popcorn.
He paused and then groaned inaudibly.
Bonkers. Bananas. Batshit insane. It has to be something in the water.
When Will had transformed, Ironhide had picked up his cue as well and held down a hand to Sarah Lennox in a silent offer. His body had been humming with pent-up energy when he had caught up with their medic and Seeker in the first place but it had faded fast at the sight of human company. Autobots would have been one thing. The human femme that might or might not be an actual mate to their Seeker was something else entirely and Ironhide had no desire to make things any worse for her than they already were... and admittedly, nor did he want to deal with an angry Seeker if it took insult to seeing its human possible mate upset. Instead he had regretfully pushed aside the last pleasant burn of energy and held down his hand to the human in a silent offer of a truce and she had accepted it willingly. The palm of his hand did offer a far better vantage point than the ground did until their Seeker took off and now she had accepted the offer again with a small, grateful smile that had gradually turned into a frown by the time the test dummy had been strapped in and Ratchet was handling the final tests.
Her body language held enough echoes of Will's that Ironhide could identify the tension in her body for the anger that it was – not as fiery as what her husband was capable of, Ironhide suspected, but still anger – and the tension he felt in her small frame increased with every joke and comment around them about the odds of survival that the test dummies faced.
It was no particularly tasteless comment that made her snap, merely the sum of it all, and she offered the offending soldier a look of icy disgust before she turned her attention back to Ironhide.
"What an astounding vote of confidence in my husband," she said in a biting voice, too low for any of the other humans to hear, and Ironhide arched one optic ridge slightly in surprise at the unusual venom in her voice.
"Sarah?" First name, she had insisted on that – if he's going to claim both of us, you can at least call me Sarah – and Ironhide respected that.
"I'm tired of hearing them talk like that. Like he's-like there isn't even any human self-control left in him anymore." She paused, took a breath, and Ironhide stayed silent and waited for her to continue. "I know he's a Seeker, I know I don't understand that like your medic wants me to, but I do know Will. Can you trust me in that?" she asked quietly.
Interesting question, that. He trusted her to be her, he trusted her to be willing to fight for her mate and offspring with the same ruthless fury he had seen William capable of, and after a moment of hesitation too short for any human to pick up on, he nodded slightly.
"Then get me over there to him," she said firmly. "If nobody expects him to manage to keep that dummy intact, of course he won't be able to. That Seeker doesn't think like an adult and if everyone expects those two to fail, then why even bother trying?" A pause, watching him as he watched her, and then she sighed softly. "Please?"
It would probably force Ratchet to do his final tests over and earn Ironhide a sound chewing out for that but right now, he figured it was worth it. He trusted her not to do anything stupid or reckless, he trusted her to know his – their – mate, and however much he doubted the Seeker and human duo's ability to actually manage what they were supposed to, he did want to see them succeed. Bearing witness to what a Seeker-flight could potentially do to a human body, even if merely in theory, was not on his list of good entertainment, however morbidly fascinating their organic allies seemed to find it.
He glanced at Ratchet, saw the medic occupied by last-minute adjustments, and he took his chance and headed back over to Will, Sarah in his hand, before anyone could open their mouths to stop him.
A wave of displeasure from Ratchet told him exactly when he had been spotted but he firmly ignored that and focused on the small human in his hand again as she looked back up at him.
"Tell him to open his canopy?"
The Seeker-human obeyed without being told, made Ironhide's optics shutter briefly in surprise, and then Sarah pushed off her shoes and put them in Ironhide's palm before she slipped down from his hand and tested her balance carefully before she stood up on the jet. Ironhide wasn't sure if he would prefer bare feet to the sand and gravel and whatever else could get stuck on the sole of a shoe, but he understood the logic behind and could appreciate the sentiment. He was not a piece of furniture and she was not going to treat him like that, either.
Get your piece-of-scrap aft back here and bring her with you before you contaminate the test results, Ratchet bit out over their bond as his annoyance turned vocal.
Sorry, Ironhide offered in return with a slight bit of genuine apology in the emotion he allowed to accompany it and then he focused on the small femme again as she reached up and took off her necklace.
She kneeled and hesitated but by then Ironhide understood what she was doing and he held out his hand for support to allow her to lie down and wrap the flimsy bit of soft, metallic chain twice around the wrist of the dummy before she closed the infinitely small clasp again and climbed back up proper in his hand.
"There." She reached down and his hand followed to let her brush her fingers lightly against the edge of one wing. "Ratchet tells me there are two personalities in there now," she continued softly. "I would like to get to know both of them. Fly nice."
The canopy closed behind them as they turned and headed back to the rest of the group, Sarah clearly ignoring any looks she got and Ironhide simply not caring. Ratchet's attention was focused on them until Ironhide was right back next to him and then he turned his optics back to a data-pad and started right over with the tests again.
Ironhide sent him his memory of what had just transpired in a small transmission without being told and he didn't miss the way the medic paused for the briefest of moments.
You actually think it'll work? Ironhide asked bemused.
Hesitation over their bond, then- In any other case, I would say no. In this case, however... there is a bit of the human in there still. She might make him think, if nothing else.
Ironhide glance at the Seeker, the femme, the data-pad with the tests, and then back at the medic, still a bit bemused.
And if they can pull it off?
Another long moment of hesitation, enough to make Ironhide wonder if there was something he had missed, and then Ratchet looked at the human femme.
Ask me again if they succeed.
There was definitely something there that their medic was hiding but Ironhide knew him well enough to know when prodding any further was a lost cause. Instead he settled for a small shrug before he let Ratchet return to those final tests and turned to watch their Seeker instead, the human femme still in his hand. She didn't ask to be put down and he made no move to make her. He had always focused most of his attention on William as a brother in arms. He had been aware of the human's mate and offspring, and had met them as well, but he had never considered them much as anything more than a strong part of Will Lennox's determination to survive and see the Decepticons gone from their planet. With her claimed as a mate by the Seeker as well, though... becoming used to one another was probably overdue.
He shifted his hands slightly to allow her to become more comfortable and ignoring the Seeker-related remarks of his organic allies, they settled down in companionable silence to wait.
