aaand I'm not dead! crazy, right? sorry for yet another long wait, folks, but writing just wasn't happening for a while there...believe it or not, I am a real person so there was some stuff related to that I had to take care of.
If you're reading this, thank you so much for sticking around this long! I am committed to finishing this story, even if it takes a while, so your patience will pay off...eventually. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope everyone is doing well!
p.s. I've also discovered an AMAZING podcast called "Wolf 359" since the last time I updated this and I highly recommend it! It's on spotify and a few other platforms so if you get the chance you should definitely listen to it. ok bye :)
Chapter 21:
Family Values
"And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good."
-John Steinback, East of Eden
"What?"
Bumblebee turned slowly to face Ratchet, who refused to look up from his assessment of the mystery mech Ultra Magnus and Topspin had been carting around.
"Bee – " Arcee started, trying to salvage the situation as best she could. Since Optimus had been unaware of the situation when he, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead had finally made it back through the ground bridge carrying the stasis-locked mech between them, the explanation as to where the fourth human was had been delegated to the femme.
In this particular instance, Arcee wasn't afraid to admit to herself that she missed the days when Prowl was around to deal with this sort of thing. Second in command wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
"What do you mean, she left?" Bumblebee continued, cutting off Arcee before she could get another word out.
"Bee?" a small voice sniffed, immediately shifting the scout's attention away from Ratchet and towards his charge.
The young alien knelt to Raf's level, his scorching glare instantly softening.
"It – It was my fault," Raf said hoarsely, avoiding his guardian's gaze. "I wasn't thinking, I should've known she'd – "
"Raf," Jack interrupted firmly. "This wasn't on you. You were only trying to help, you couldn't have known Billy would react that way."
"Yeah, in case you didn't notice, she's the one who ran out on us," Miko added, crossing her arms with a huff. "Not the other way around."
"I don't see what all the fuss is about," Topspin shrugged, peering at the group from his spot near the medical berth. "It took off, big deal. You still have one of your little critters, Bee, so what's the problem?"
Jack sputtered at the newcomer's statement, but Arcee's focus was on Bumblebee, who immediately bristled at Topspin's blatant dismissal.
::Easy, mech:: she sent over comms, trying to keep the scout from doing anything he might regret.
In all honesty, she had been itching to have a go at the cocky son of a glitch since he arrived, so she didn't exactly fault Bee for wanting to give Topspin a few dents. But Arcee also knew that unlike herself, Bumblebee would probably feel bad about attacking a fellow Autobot once he had the chance to cool down. Especially if it happened in front of Optimus.
::That half-cocked glitch-head has no idea what he's talking about:: Bee fumed over comms.
His less-than-appropriate commentary soon continued out loud as the scout stared down Topspin from across the room, eyeing him like a cat getting ready to pounce.
This…could possibly end very badly, Arcee winced, inching her way closer to Bumblebee. Just in case.
"Hey!" Miko shouted, drowning out both Jack's attempt at a rebuttal and Bee's outraged swearing in his own language. "We aren't critters, aft-pipe, we're people! If you call one of us an 'it' again, I'll – "
Topspin scoffed.
"Oh yeah?" he smirked, pushing off the wall to lean closer to where Miko was standing. "What exactly are you gonna do, pipsqueak? You got a fusion cannon hidden somewhere I don't know about?"
"Watch it, Topspin," Bulkhead growled, taking a protective step forward.
The mech rolled his optics and began to reply. "C'mon, Bulk – "
"Enough."
Topspin closed his mouth with an audible clank as all eyes – and optics – in the room turned to Optimus.
"Bickering amongst ourselves solves nothing," the Autobot leader said firmly, casting a disapproving gaze around the room. "Topspin, I know you still have much to learn about Earth, but know this – we consider Jack, Miko, Rafael, and Billy to be our close allies and friends, and they have proven their dedication to our cause many times over. As such, I will not tolerate any belittling of them or their species - in any sense of the word. Am I understood, soldier?"
"Yes, sir," Topspin said glumly, stepping back to lean against the wall again.
"Good," Optimus nodded approvingly. He turned to address Ultra Magnus next. "Magnus, you and Topspin should spend some time reviewing any intel you recovered in your travels, and compile anything of value into a report for us to review at a later time. You may use one of the smaller computer terminals in the briefing room, the location of which was included in the data burst I sent you earlier."
"Sir," Magnus saluted, before turning his sharp gaze to the Wrecker. "Let's move, soldier."
Topspin sighed dramatically, but pushed off the wall to follow Ultra Magnus nonetheless. He tried bumping shoulders with Bulkhead on his way past, but the green mech didn't reciprocate, carefully avoiding his friend's gaze as he left the hangar.
"That went well," Arcee commented dryly, watching Topspin's retreating back with no small amount of animosity. She'd never been overly fond of Wreckers. It had taken her roughly a millennium to warm up to even Bulkhead, who was by far the tamest of the bunch, and Topspin…well, he wasn't off to a very good start in her books.
Bumblebee, who had given up with the name-calling and turned to brooding as Optimus smoothed over the situation, finally lost the last scrap of his patience. The possibility of one of his charges being in danger – especially since, in his mind, Ratchet had allowed her to dive head-first into it – was not putting him in the best of moods.
"I'm going after Billy," he declared, already moving toward the tunnel on the far side of the room.
Optimus seemed to sense that arguing was a lost cause and nodded in silent approval. As the younger bot moved to pass him, though, he stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder.
"And if she does not wish to return?" he asked gently, trying and failing to catch Bumblebee's optic.
"I'm just going to talk to her, Optimus," Bee replied, his doorwings drooping slightly. "She has the right to decide for herself, but…I want to make sure she knows what she's choosing. And if she still wants to go, then I - I'll let her."
Optimus didn't outwardly reply, but Bee felt him extend his EM field ever so slightly to convey a brief sense of understanding and pride in his decision. Bee nodded in return and transformed down to his alt mode.
"Bumblebee, wait!" Raf's voice cried out, stopping the scout in his tracks. The boy raced over to where his guardian was waiting, skidding to a stop at the passenger door and tugging determinedly at the handle.
"Raf – "
"I'm going," Raf cut him off before he could argue. "I know that she might leave anyway, but I want to talk to her, too."
Still, the yellow bot hesitated. He had already lost one of his charges today, and Raf was obviously still in emotional distress about the incident. If bringing Raf along caused either of his humans additional harm…
"Please, Bee," Raf nearly whispered, cutting off his train of thought. "She's like my sister, I can't just let her go because of a stupid fight. She can't have meant what she said, she was just scared, ok?"
If Bee could've sighed, he definitely would have just then. He never could say no to Raf. As soon as the passenger door opened, the boy wasted no time in scrambling into the car.
"Hold on to something," he warned, waiting only as long as it took Raf to buckle his seatbelt before taking off down the tunnel with a screech of his tires.
In hindsight, it would have been a good idea to make sure Billy was alone before transforming out in the open.
"H-hey, guys," Billy stuttered, the slight glow of Bee's optics casting her face in a pale blue light. She gestured to the girl standing at her side, who appeared to be momentarily dumbstruck by the sudden appearance of a giant alien. "This is Kate. From school. I, uh…"
She glanced at Kate's still-unmoving form sheepishly before focusing back on Raf, who had wound up sitting in the scout's open hand. "I think we need to talk."
Raf hesitated a moment, fiddling with his glasses nervously before lightly tapping Bee's hand. The scout let him down without question and watched as the boy calmly stepped off onto the sandy ground. Billy watched with trepidation as her best friend in the world took a steadying breath, eyes shining in the slight glow of both their guardian's optics and the extra-strength battery powered flashlight Kate had pulled from the town dump, and began walking swiftly in her direction.
"Raf – " she started, not sure what to make of his actions.
But before she could say anything else, he was crashing into her, arms squeezing in a desperate, grief-fueled hug.
"I'm so sorry, Billy," he choked, squeezing her even tighter than before. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have said anything but I was just so worried about you and I thought –"
"Hey, hey," Billy interrupted him firmly, pulling him from his tight hug and holding his shoulders to look him in the eye. "Raf, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for, ok?"
Raf shook his head vehemently, tears freely dripping down his cheeks. "But – "
"But nothing," Billy stopped him again. "I'm the one who should be apologizing, bud. I…you didn't do anything wrong. I got scared, and when I get scared I just…lash out. You were only trying to help, and I hurt you for it, Raf. I'm so sorry. Both of you," she looked up to Bee briefly before turning back to Raf. "After what I said, I thought that - that you might be better off without me, I guess. But Kate was nice enough to let me know what a stupid idea that was, because…you're my family and I love you. So…yeah, that's all I have to say."
Billy let go of Raf's shoulder to rub the back of her neck, a nervous habit she'd picked up from Jack.
As per usual, Raf made the first move.
Billy was simultaneously surprised both by the younger boy diving toward her again for another, even more constricting hug, and by Bumblebee picking up the two of them half a second later to cradle them to his chest, warbling softly all the while.
"We love you too," Bee said quietly. Raf's tight hold around Billy's arms served as his agreement, since the kid was still struggling to control his tears.
Billy would never admit it, but her eyes got slightly watery too.
"Um," a voice interjected hesitantly. "Not to interrupt, but could someone please tell me what the hell is going on?"
Raf, Billy, and Bee, all of which had completely forgotten about the fourth person in their midst, turned to Kate with a mutual sense of dread.
"Ratchet…might actually kill us this time," Billy said faintly, voicing what they were all thinking.
Bee, still frozen in place as if Kate hadn't already seen him transform from a high-speed vehicle to a metal behemoth, responded by playing a clip from Forrest Gump.
"Dear God, make me a bird, so I can fly far, far far away from here."
Raf let out a watery laugh at that.
"Come on, guys," he said, nudging Billy's shoulder as he signaled Bumblebee to let them down. "Let's go home."
"Alan, is that you?"
Captain Alan Parker closed the front door behind him tiredly, setting his briefcase down at the bottom of the stairs as he approached the kitchen.
"Sorry I'm so late tonight," he said, pausing to give his wife a quick peck on the cheek before opening the fridge. "How was your day?"
"Oh, nothing to write home about," she replied dismissively, settling down with a cup of tea at the table. "That woman with the yappy Pomeranian came in again today, and – "
Mrs. Parker cut herself off when her husband turned back around to face her, a cup of yogurt in his hand.
"What?" he asked, opening a drawer to retrieve a spoon before sitting across from his wife.
"Alan, you look like hell," she said bluntly. "What is it?"
"It's nothing you need to worry about, Claude," he sighed, rubbing his temples tiredly. "It's just…"
"The deadline," Claude said knowingly. "I don't know what Colonel Bishop was thinking, putting you in charge of catching that hacker. Your specialty is in tactics, not computer science."
"Well, he seems to think that I'll be able to get results faster than the IT guys can, which I don't disagree with, but…" Alan trailed off, taking a bite of his yogurt while he gathered his thoughts. "There is that…other matter to be taken care of, and I had expected to have finished this little side project in time to lend my expertise to the more important missions."
Claude lowered her mug of tea to reveal a knowing smile.
"Ah, yes, the asset acquirement you were telling me about," she replied. "I didn't realize it was happening so soon."
"Two days from now," Alan said, taking another bite of yogurt. "One of the advantages of being around the tech guys for so long – I picked up on chatter between Lang and our informants. The asset is due to be moved to a different facility sooner than we expected, which pushed our timetable up. They're scrambling right now, but in 24 hours the infiltration squad will be assembled and ready to go on Bishop's word."
Claude finished the last sip of her tea and stood up, looking back to her husband contemplatively. "You should talk to the Colonel. I'm sure he'll be happy to make use of your talents in the retrieval if you make a strong case for yourself. After all, you've been working on this project nearly as long as he has, and this mission is one of the last steps before you start Phase 2. It's only right that you should be a part of it."
Alan finished his yogurt but stayed at the table, mulling over his wife's words while she moved to put her mug in the sink.
"It's funny," she mused, back still turned to her husband. "For such a vital piece of equipment, I never much cared for the name. Makes it sound…juvenile, almost."
She turned back around to find Alan cracking a smile at her from the table.
"What?" she asked indignantly.
"Nothing," he assured, still smiling. "I never really thought about it like that, is all."
"Of course you didn't," Claude scoffed. "Only a military man could have named it something as ridiculous as 'DINGUS'."
"Maybe you're right," Alan agreed, sliding out of his chair to kiss her on the forehead. "But juvenile name or no, DINGUS is going to help usher in a new era for humanity. Soon, Claude…very soon, MECH will make good on its promise."