Chapter 49: Powerless
Soon, we exited the factory and rolled on normal, paved roads with me in the lead, followed by Bumblebee and Sunstreaker in the back. For the first time, Sunny and I didn't argue about who was going to be in the lead. And that was a relief, because the humans would be petrified if they saw me and Sunny arguing. Pit, other bots were uneasy when we argued.
Optimus gave me the coordinates from which we would be able to see who was going to touch down where. So we were driving towards the vantage point, but before that, we entered a tunnel of some sort.
It was odd, these tunnels. Cybertron didn't have these. At least, not like these. These were so… so dark and rounded. It stank in here and there were no humans in these tunnels. Only humans in their vehicles.
Halfway into the tunnel, Bumblebee pulled the handbrake, losing traction slightly as his alt went sideways. I immediately slowed down as from behind Bee, Sunstreaker pulled a clip after irritably honking his horn as his tires shortly skidded on the ground. "Move it, ya moron!"
And then Bee ushered the humans out of him, leaving the two of them on the street. ::Bee, what is going on? What are you doing?:: I inquired.
::They don't like my alt. Time to get a new one.::
The cars started to honk at us for taking up the whole two lanes of the tunnel, so Sunny and I moved to the side. "See? Fantastic. Now you pissed him off!" The boy griped, gripping his head. "That car is sensitive!" You have no idea. "I mean four thousand dollars just drove off!"
::He's pretty mad about you leaving, Bee. Turn around and we'll find a better alt later. Optimus-::
::It'll just take an astrosecond.:: He quickly replied.
"So, uh… Do we go with you, now?" Sam asked me. I didn't reply. "Uh… Ferrari?" He inquired. My designation is not Ferrari, so I will not answer.
Sunstreaker turned on all fours and that's what made the humans look back into the beginning of the tunnel. And behind Sunstreaker, in a brand new alt, was Bumblebee, rolling proudly behind the egotistical murderer I called my mate. "What..." The boy gasped, his hands falling to his side.
::We gotta go Bee, come on.:: Sunstreaker impatiently said, although the amusement in his voice was clear.
Soon, the two humans were in Bee's alt, assaulting him with questions once again. ::Optimus has entered Earth's atmosphere. Vantage point is near some kind of observatory.::
The two mechs acknowledged my transmission as we got out of the tunnel and started ascending, going on a hill. We were slowly edging away from the rest of the humans that inhabited the city. As we met the top of the hill, I rammed lightly through a restriction fence. Earth restrictions meant nothing to me, anyway. Soon, we parked near the observatory, a rather large white building, and sat in our alts.
::We're at the vantage point, Optimus.:: I said.
::You should be able to see us. We have entered Earth's atmosphere.::Optimus replied.
::We have a visual on you, Optimus.:: Sunstreaker said. Very soon, four other Autobot pods entered Earth's atmosphere with flaming trails behind them. No doubt Sunny, Bee and I had those flaming trails as well when we touched down in Sam's suburbia.
Then Bumblebee's door opened and I couldn't not notice how sharp, yet sleek his alt's lines were. The bulky shape of his alt immediately told me he wasn't designed for Primus knew how fast speeds, but if he gunned his engine, he could be fast. That was a definition of a muscle car. We had something somewhat similar back on Cybertron.
The femme, designated Mikaela, slid out of the car, turning around to look at the four meteors. Soon, Sam came out with her as well as I could see the two of them tentatively approaching the tip of Bee's hood, all too eager to see what would become of the meteors.
::They're here.:: I stated the obvious. The hums of approval greeted me on the other sides of the comlink. All of us could only watch as the four meteors went above us, each travelling almost parallel to the other. They flew above us as I could feel a slight vibration and a huge noise. The sound barrier must have been breached. Humans and their planet had very odd barriers.
Suddenly, I received coordinates to a rendezvous location, sent by Optimus Prime himself. He stressed strictly that the humans needed to present.
::Sunny, Bee, listen,:: I started. ::Optimus sent me coordinates for the rendezvous location. We need the humans there as well.::
::Humans? Why?:: Bee asked.
::I don't know, Bee. But we gotta get going, they already touched down.::
::Got it, I'll just tell… Hey, where did they go?::
::You lost the humans already?:: Sunstreaker huffed. ::I told you he would fail.::
::Put a gear in it, Sunstreaker.:: Isaid as I was greeted with a grunt of disapproval. ::I'm tracking their signals, they're following Optimus's pod.:: I said.
::Scans indicate they're close.:: Bee said. ::I'll go retrieve them.::
::You do that.:: Sunstreaker groaned as he cut off his part of the comlink and Bee transformed, striding off to find the two humans. Then, I transformed and walked over to Sunstreaker, who also transformed and looked to the stars proudly.
"Everything alright?" I asked.
"I'm sick of this planet and having to chase the humans."
"But you're not the one chasing them."
"Regardless, it's wasting my time." He crossed his arms, huffing.
"It's wasting both of our time and we can do nothing about it." I shrugged, not knowing how else to reply to his comments. "Come on, babe. It's just this one mission."
"I know." He looked to the side, finding something very interesting in the human architecture as he stared intently at it. He was silent for too long.
"Something's not right, Sunny. I can see it bothering you."
"I'm just wondering when we'll get back to Cybertron."
"Probably when we get the AllSpark. Then we'll rebuild Cybertron." I said with a smile, walking closer to him and taking his hand into mine. He rubbed the back of it with his thumb. "Chin up, Sunny." I said as I put my finger under his chin. His optics locked on mine. "We'll get back. And see everyone." I smiled.
He smiled back. "Love your optimism, babe. Although… We wouldn't be here if I didn't lose hold of the AllSpark." He said it as if it was a bad thing. Well, it was more of a hindrance, but anyway.
"Come on Sunny, it's not that bad. Besides, by taking the AllSpark away from the Cons, you helped save the Autobot cause. That's a major thing. And let's not forget, going into the Cons' Nemesis was stupid and leviathan in danger, but… you did it. You accomplished." I said as he had that proud look in his optics as he held his head and back straight and up. It was 'feed the ego' time.
"Yeah, I did pretty well, didn't I?"
"You did spectacular. You were very brave."
"I was born brave." He grinned to himself. I locked my arms around him as I stood next to him. His arm went around my shoulders, keeping me close to him. But then his touch softened and his hubris attitude disappeared. "You know… you were there through thick and thin with me. I can't thank you enough."
"Sunstreaker…"
"No, hear me out. Seriously, I thought when I came back with the synergetic energon that you would give up on me and just cease talking to me. But instead, you wanted to get me through it."
"I would have never left you. You mean so much to me, I don't know how I could leave you."
"And Primus forbid you ever should." Hesaid, pulling me to his chest to hug me warmly. "It really meant a lot to me."
I turned my head up and put my hands on his cheeks. I brought his head down, pressing his lips to mine. In a long kiss, I let his glossa slide into my mouth and vice versa. He was an expert kisser, that much I could tell immediately.
His hands slid down my waist and stayed on my aft. I pulled back. "No groping the aft plates, Sunbeam." I gave him a look as I batted a finger at him.
He only smirked and rolled his optics, before his hands retracted to go around my neck and gently pull me towards him, pressing his soft lips onto mine. "Whatever you say, babe. And don't call me Sunbeam."
"Sunbeam suits you." I grinned innocently.
"I'll call you Goldmine then."
"Don't even go there." I threatened playfully. "Goldmine sucks."
"So does Sunbeam."
::I got the humans, let's go!:: Bee enthusiastically said as Sunny and I broke apart, our conversation ending there with the acknowledgment of Bumblebee's report. He drove over to us as Sunny and I transformed and turned on our headlights, lighting up the front of Bee's alt. We clearly saw the two humans inside, with the male one sitting behind the steering wheel. Bee revved his engine in anticipation as Sunny and I revved back. He turned around, starting to lead the way towards the rendezvous location.
After about an hour of Earth's time, we were back in the city and in a dark alley. It was a wide one, with a couple of rusted cars and disposal units scattered on the flanks of it. Bee decelerated to a stop and Sunny and I parked on each side of him. The humans slowly got out of the car, turning around when they heard the engines of Ironhide, Ratchet and Jazz. Then they turned back around, doing a full 360 degree spin until their organic little optics landed on Optimus Prime. He took on the form of a truck, but maintained his legendary red and blue flamed livery.
Prime stopped right in front of the two humans as they stared intently onto the red colored Autobot insignia on his chrome grille. He started transforming and all of us waited until he finished. Soon, all of us followed suit with his order of the public comlink. As we slowly transformed, we knew that the humans were looking up at us in awe. Each of us performed a move while transforming, well, everyone except Ironhide and Bumblebee.
Jazz made sure he showed off his strength and stability by standing up on one arm. Ratchet twisted his upper frame. Sunstreaker and I revved our engines, gaining the attention of the two humans as I made sure I did a 360 spin, by sliding my pede on the ground as I created slight sparks on the ground. Sunstreaker's engine roared powerfully as all of the attention was to him, and the loud sound was more than enough for the humans to gaze up at him, all too in awe with our species.
That's when they turned back around to face Optimus, as he descended down to their level, careful to not disrupt or frighten them. He got close to the humans, as all of us stood behind the humans and in front of the Prime. Their puny heart rates sped up, as we immediately learned that their hearts were something somewhat similar to our sparks. But sparks were better.
"Are you Samuel James Witwicky, descendant of Archibald Witwicky?" Optimus slowly asked the human, waiting for him to comprehend.
"They know your name." The femme whispered back to him. Alas, she didn't know we had superior audios, and that we could actually hear and understand her.
"Yeah." The boy said, too awestruck to utter any other word. The rest of us just stood on the sidelines, although we chattered through the public comlink, commenting how humans were so easily impressed and how funny their reactions were. That's when Optimus spoke back.
"My name is Optimus Prime. We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron." He said, albeit a little faster this time.
"But you can call us Autobots, for short." Ratchet added in freely, gesturing to the rest of us, making the human Sam turn around to look at all of us. We all shifted our weights, waiting for some action. We were in the middle of a war, Decepticons were on this very planet and we needed to find the glasses, get the Cube and get the frag out of here.
"Autobots." The male human said, testing out the word.
"What's crackin', lil' bitches?" Jazz said, doing a midair backwards somersault, twirling around and landing on a rusted shell of a car in a completely cool and relaxed manner. The rest of us looked at him, but Sunstreaker and I took the time to lean on the adjacent wall, crossing our arms across our chests as both of our right legs were placed on the wall behind us.
"My first lieutenant, designation Jazz." Optimus carefully explained from his lowered position, but he slowly started to get up.
"What is-how'd he learn to talk like that?" Samuel inquired, pointing a finger towards Jazz, but turning to face Optimus as he stood up straight and proudly.
"We've learned Earth's languages through the World Wide Web." Our leader responded. He motioned towards the old black gruff. "My weapons specialist, Ironhide."
The humans quickly turned around, just in time to hear the clicking of Ironhide's digits as his cannons rotated and locked on the two petite, organic targets, glowing with deadly orange and blue lights. "You feeling lucky, punk?" He challengingly said.
Sam of Earth could do nothing but stare at him wide eyed, although his heart rate quickened. Sunny and I found it amusing, but so did everybody else, as we could see by their smirks. "Easy, Ironhide." Optimus tried to calm him.
"Just kidding. I just wanted to show them my cannons." He said, checking over the tips of his cannons proudly as the light within them died out, ever so slowly.
Sam huffed air out of his petite lungs in amazement, as I quickly learned that their lungs were the same as our air tanks. "Primus, they get so easily impressed." I said in Cybertronian, commenting to Sunstreaker. He nodded and hummed in return.
"Our medical officer, Ratchet." Optimus motioned to the CMO, as Ratchet seemed to sniff the air. No, he didn't seem, he was sniffing the air.
Ratchet hummed out loud, as if intrigued by some recent discovery. "Hmm, the boy's pheromone level suggests he wants to mate with the female."
The two humans stood their awkwardly, the girl scratching the back of her head as the boy whistled embarrassingly. Sunstreaker and I snickered slightly.
"But they are so short lived, it's ridiculous." Sunny eventually replied in Cybertronian, just as quiet as I had asked him.
Regardless of Sunny and mine's quiet conversation, Optimus continued on. "You already know your guardian, Bumblebee."
What? "Guardian?" Sunstreaker and I said at the same time as Bee jumped around, punching the air in front of him, showing off his fighting skills. Optimus nodded once at us. When did Bee become a human guardian?
"Bumblebee, right?" Sam said, testing out the word as well.
"Check on the rep, yep, second to none!" He said through the radio as he looked down at his new charge.
"You're my guardian, huh?" He tentatively, but amusedly said, as if he couldn't believe that this was happening to his right now.
Bee chirped at him, nodding once. It was the best reply he could give, given the fact that he didn't have a functioning vocal chip. Ratchet's arm suddenly transformed into the healing laser he had, as he pointed it to Bee's throat and emitted a red light from the laser's end. "His vocal processors were damaged in battle." Bumblebee gripped his throat, coughing. I knew that the laser could cease that air getting to your tanks. I had my share of it as well, when Sunstreaker and I almost dismembered each other a long, long time ago. Ratchet stopped emitting the red, thin light and turned off the laser. "I'm still working on them."
Hopefully, he'd make the vocal chip needed soon. "These are two of our best frontliners, Sunstreaker and Goldstreak." Optimus said, gesturing to us. I gave them a slight nod in respect, a part of me I carried everywhere. The boy seemed to smile at me, but the girl stared at me just as she did at the rest of them. Both of their little optics ran over mine and Sunny's frame, and Sunny clearly loved the attention.
"This one's different than the others, right?" Sam openly said, gesturing towards me. "It's smaller."
"That is because she is a female." Optimus explained right away.
"A girl, huh?" He grinned a small, tentative grin at me as I nodded once.
But then the human femme turned towards Optimus, her blue optics looking at our leader. "Why are you here?" She asked, looking up at all of us until her little optics landed on Optimus.
That's such a long story, sweetspark.
The 'no groping the aft plates, Sunbeam' was inspired by blufizz's review. She said something like that in her review, and therefore, this is your line.
Written:
06.07.2014.
