Hello friends, welcome back! Thanks for coming back again, I hope you all enjoyed! Special shoutout to jynkx, SummerMistedDragon, FluffyPrime, and Guest for reviewing last chapter! I'll see you all next Tuesday!
Chapter Twenty Six – Terrorizing Terror Twins
Though the garage was done and there was no point in fixing it because in the time it would take to rebuild it they could double the efforts on the new garage being put up and finish at an earlier date, Sunstreaker miraculously managed to not blow up most of her tools, and the ones that did get damaged the higher ups offered to replace for her. They also offered to replace all of her toolboxes considering most of them had cosmetic damages that they didn't have prior to being blasted at, but she declined that specific offer, declaring they weren't bad enough to replace completely and besides, the markings gave it character, a story to recount for years to come.
She thanked every deity whose name she could think of when she found the Jeep sitting, parked, perfectly still and right where she'd left. It was dirty, and there was probably debris all over the interior, but it was there and in working condition with nothing was broken. That was all that mattered.
Then, of course, came her obvious question.
What was she supposed to do, now?
Lennox simply shrugged her concerns off when she asked him the first and second times, and then Ironhide found her in the back lot that held the vehicles, having hauled two of her toolboxes over, working away at the vehicles in the lot. Somewhat amused, he reported his find to Optimus and Lennox while they were in a meeting about Sunstreaker, who at the time had been asleep still, and Lennox marched his way down there to tell her to stop.
Confused, she asked if she couldn't work there then where was she supposed to? And he dropped the ball on her.
"No, you're on paid leave right now."
Her jaw fell ajar slightly. "What?"
"Until we have a safetied and guideline approved shop for you to work in, you're on an approved paid leave. You don't have to do any of this."
She huffed, struggling to not cry – her coping mechanism, her way of passing time and enjoying her day was now ripped from her fingers and currently sat as a charred pile of ashes.
But then, the day Sunstreaker woke up, Optimus Prime was on his way to the Med Bay when he found J.J in the middle of her lot, working on jacking one of the Humvees in her sights up on a jack to give her access to the undercarriage.
He slowed as he turned and pulled up to the front of the lot, activating his holoform as he stepped up to her.
"Ms Robbins?" he called out.
The two Greyhounds that accompanied her, now aware of his presence, stood and barked each a couple of times before stopping once they realised who it was that had approached. J.J stood from where she had been crouched and focused, her eyes wide as if she thought she just got caught, then relaxed once she saw who it was. "Oh, hey Captain. I thought you were Mr Lennox."
He chuckled. "That assumption would be false, however I must insist that he is right – you should not be doing this. You're on a paid leave until we can build an appropriate facility for you, and after everything you've been through I do believe you have more than deserved a break from work."
She huffed, shaking her head. "No, I need to not fall behind."
He almost smirked to himself – okay, so maybe they were a little alike.
"Unfortunately, I do believe its out of the question. This current set up breaks multiple safety guidelines, and I do believe Major Lennox will not allow you to continue much longer."
`She huffed, letting her shoulders droop. "I know, but I don't wanna just sit around and not do anything, I'll feel like a useless burden."
He jerked back almost in shock. "Why would you think such a thing?"
She shrugged, "If I'm not working then I'm just using up and wasting resources while failing to provide any kind of service, any kind of benefit to the team."
He approached her as he spoke softly, "J.J, had it not been for you, we would not have found a precious asset to our ranks, and a cherished member to my 'bots. You could never be a waste of resources when you're the reason we added the most valuable kind of addition to the team. Primus knows where Sunstreaker would be had you not come along and saved him, or even woken him up."
Jess sighed as she looked at her feet in what he perceived to be guilt despite the fact that she had done nothing wrong.
"J.J, I do have one request for you. A favour, I guess you would call it."
She looked up to catch his eyes with her, and she nodded, "Of course."
He took a deep breath in. "I've spoken to Major Lennox, and he has reassured me that you're benefitting from the therapy sessions you've attended up to today, but the Doctor you've been meeting with believes that talking about it will no longer help you move past it. They've approached me about what they think the next step should be, and I agreed because it is something I want to happen in order to repair anything that's been... broken. I would appreciate it very much if you'd come with me to meet the mech that you woke up, Sunstreaker. He's been informed and updated on all of our rules and regulations here, and its important to me that everyone on my team get along."
She froze up as he spoke the mech's name, and for a second it seemed almost as if she froze out of shock or maybe fear.
"Uh, um, uh…" she stuttered, then stopped trying to talk and took a deep breath instead.
She stopped letting her mind race and tried to just breath for a second – Optimus was always willing to at least try for her, he deserved to at least have her reciprocate the kindness he always showed to her.
"Um, is he gonna, y'know…"
She didn't finish her sentence, almost like she was scared to say the worst lest they make it too surreal to her.
"No," he finished the sentence for her, "He will not harm you, he hasn't even been given the all clear to walk around base freely, and I will be there the whole time for you."
She tried to gulp back the knot in her throat as it raised up, but she had to remind herself that he was always willing to try for her whenever she'd asked him for a favour. The least she could do was try. Or maybe it was because despite the fact that her stomach was in knots, there was still a swarm of butterflies attempting to fly around in there.
"Um.. o-okay. Okay, I'll come with you."
X0X0X0X0X0
The sight of a Jeep Rubicon tailing a Peterbilt, although not in and of itself a weird concept, was definitely not a common sight along the surface of this island in particular. Though they weren't seen for very long, and it only took five minutes for them to disappear deep into Hangar Four – their private training hangar – it was long enough that someone managed to snag a picture or two of the pair driving across the tar mac – which at the time was an odd sight but would go on to become quite a common occurrence.
The private training hangar's door opened just enough to allow both vehicles through, then clamped shut to the ground once again, sealing everybody in and away from peering eyes.
Jess immediately pulled the Jeep off to the side, cranking the parking brake up. She popped the door open to hop out, pushed the door shut to keep the dogs in the vehicle, and turned to watch Optimus stop driving where he did. It only took him two seconds or so before he was at full height, and he turned his upper torso to look behind himself.
"Are you alright?"
She nodded. "I-I think so, yeah."
He nodded. "Come, everybody is this way."
She followed him through a doorway that led from this small area filled with practice weapons, and in to a massive room, easily ten to twelve sizes bigger than anything she'd ever been in before. Every bot was in there, at least that she could think of, but standing on the far side of the sparring mat, beside Sideswipe, there was a new body – a new metal man, painted in a luxurious, gleaming gold colour that looked almost like it'd been harvested straight from a ray of sunlight itself. A stark difference to the dull, stripped dark grey colour he was when they first met. His eyes were a similar blue as the rest of the Autobots, having now been changed from the vibrant purple they'd been when he first woke up here, his arms crossed over his chest with a look planted along his face, a weird combination of unimpressed, bored, and even a little disgusted with something as his eyes flicked back and forth while he watched the current ongoing training match between Mirage and Ironhide. He looked familiar, and not because she'd seen his face trying to kill her not long ago – he had a face she'd seen before. The high cheekbones, strong jawline, the straight ridge nose, the shape of his face, all of it looked like… he looked like Sideswipe, just in a different font. The only difference was the newcomer's face was lined with two weird things, looking almost like fins. He was similar in body shape too, though the newcomer seemed to be bulkier than the silver twin – despite the small differences it was clear they were twins.
Sideswipe's eyes twitched over to where the Prime and his little human were approaching and he smiled at them, lifting a hand to wave at them. J.J smiled tightly at him, but the action of Sideswipe moving must have alerted Ratchet to their incoming presence because the CMO turned to see them.
"Stop." His voice echoed throughout the large room, and almost immediately Ironhide stopped what he was doing, as if someone had flicked a switch.
Mirage fell to his knees as he coughed roughly, shaking his head. "Oi mio, Ironhide." He grunted.
The weapons specialist didn't even respond, barely even acknowledged the spy's groaning as he looked at Optimus and Jess.
"Good to see you walking on two feet, Fleshy." He smiled at her.
She nodded. "Thanks. Its good to see you too."
Though she was smiling and making eye contact, Ironhide didn't fail to notice the way she kept herself farther back and slightly closer to Optimus, the way she was checking to make sure he was still there just in case, but not so close as to feel like he'd squash her.
"We're glad you're feeling okay, J.J." Ratchet called out with a soft face.
She nodded. "I, uh, thanks, Ratchet."
Optimus moved forward once more, closer to the mat, and J.J mirrored his actions until she was standing in front of a sparring mat that came up to the level of approximately her belly button.
"J.J," Optimus started, leaning down to one knee and motioned to the other side of the mat with his right hand, "I'd like you to meet one of my best frontline soldiers, Sunstreaker."
Her eyes slid back over to the newcomer, up the gold plated legs and abdomen, and reached his bright blue eyes, his face turned down in a mixture of some kind of negative attitude.
She gulped the spit that was in her mouth, hoping it would help push the knot in her throat down a bit. "H-Hi."
He looked her up and down, his eyes flicking up and down, then huffed. "You're the organic that helped me?"
She swallowed again, his voice sounding gravely and rough, but nodded. "Um, yeah. Y-You, you were hiding at my work, but I thought I'd be able to fix you so I-I-I brought you home."
He watched her, finding it slightly gross that the flesh covered squish that had been chosen as the life partner for his Prime was shaking in front of him – no, he'd definitely not gotten over the fact that Primus decided what Optimus really needed in his life, especially right now, was a meat sack.
However, that didn't negate the fact that she'd still saved him from getting caught, and she'd unkinked and reattached one of the connective lines from his spark to his helm that was in his neck that had come dislodged during the fight – actually it had been ripped out but that was besides the point – so that he could finally online again. Had it not been reconnected, even if he miraculously had somehow woken up, his HUD and his body would have stayed completely separated from one another. Had she not shown up or taken him somewhere, had she not protected him while he was unconscious, those four faceless Cons that were so low in the ranks that he didn't even know their names probably would have been able to find him again and actually finish the job this time. It also didn't change the fact that, even though it was gross and felt like more of a practical joke on the newcomer, she and Optimus were meant to meet each other. She may be a meat sack, but she was an honorable meat sack, and he'd be damned if he didn't have enough honor to admit that.
"Thank you."
She averted her eyes and nodded somewhat uncomfortably. "Um, its fine. No big deal."
"Sunstreaker was in the midst of a fight when he deactivated, and was attempting to find a hiding spot so he could recoup and restock on ammo. Had you not moved him when you did, there was a high probability that he would have been found again and offlined for good. And because you removed the gasoline from his fuel tank, you removed any potential complication he would have encountered had the fuel been allowed to sit and rot in his tank. As well, you said you reconnected some kind of wire in his undercarriage? That's actually a major connection between what would be our equivalent to your veins, it keeps some of our system intertwined with one another and is normally extremely hard to access, and during the fight when it was taken out violently his frame shut down and wouldn't online again until it was fixed as a safety measure. To run for too long with those kinds of lines disconnected can cause extreme damage to our internal systems." Ratchet went on to explain in her direction.
The golden frontline soldier nodded with a grunt, almost as if he was upset that Ratchet was making him seem vulnerable and easy to defeat but knew he couldn't deny anything he'd said.
"Like I said, thanks." He grumbled out one last time.
She nodded, but didn't say anything more to him and looked away, towards the floor to avoid anybody's blazing eyes, and she didn't seem to consciously realise it when they noticed her scootch closer to Optimus's leg as if she thought being closer to him would comfort her a little more.
"So what do ya think, J.J," Sideswipe called out, catching her attention. "Can ya handle two of me?"
In awkward amusement, she giggled. "I wasn't aware that I was successfully managing to handle one of you?"
He laughed, tossing his head back slightly. "Well you better buckle up, 'cause Sunny and I are package deal now that we're back together."
"So what, now its gonna be twofold when you decided to run around terrorizing the base?"
He smirked. "They don't call us that for nothin'."
Her eyebrows furrowed. "Call you what?"
"Oi, bella," Mirage chuckled in warning, "The Terror Twins."
Sideswipe smiled widely at her in somewhat wicked amusement. "Maybe, if ya ask nicely, one day I'll show you how play Jet Judo."
"Sideswipe." Optimus's voice called out in warning with a displeased tone.
"You most certainly will not." Ratchet called out.
He pouted suddenly. "Why not?"
"You know why, bit brain." Ironhide growled out.
"Easy, Ironhide." Optimus's voice vibrated as he spoke quietly.
Once the multi-bot exchange stopped, J.J looked up towards Optimus, then Ironhide – who was next in line – before looking over at Ratchet, looking Sunstreaker up and down in hesitation, then her eyes landed back on Sideswipe.
"W-What… what's Jet Judo?"
Date Started: October 14, 2020
Date Finished: November 3, 2020
Last Edited: April 7, 2021