Soundwave's Greatest Hits, Volume Six.
Chapter Ten.
Sam stirred, at first a bit disorientated as he woke up, due to the unfamiliarity of his situation, and then he remembered not being able to sleep, and coming out to curl up to Bumblebee, and then surprisingly quickly falling asleep.
He gently touched and then stroked the shiny metal in front of him, quietly loving the feel of the warmth of Bumblebee's Spark, and hearing a subtle change in the purring of 'Bee's engine signifying that his touches had brought Bumblebee out of his recharge.
Bumblebee shifted his head, his optics glowing and brightening up as he moved, wary of accidentally harming his fragile friend. Sam moved back, not wanting to worry Bumblebee.
"Hey, 'Bee, let me wash and dress, okay, I gotta go meet Hound, work on the presentation, then we can head to my folk's place. If it's a good enough day for it, do you fancy a wash on the drive?"
Bumblebee's happy whistle confirmed Sam's suspicions that the yellow scout would like that very much. Sam quickly checked that he had sponges, leather, car shampoo and wax aplenty, left them in a pile, and went to dress. He saw his makeshift shelter from last night, folded the sheets and put the table back. Once he was dressed he grabbed a spare T-shirt and added it to the supplies, and went back to where the yellow scout patiently waited.
"I gotta work for a couple of hours with Hound, take me to him, buddy? He booked the back room for us, you can sit with your friends while you wait."
Bumblebee crouched, holding out his hands, and Sam got into them, and then Bumblebee straightened up and carried Sam to the rec-room. Hound was already waiting, so Bumblebee transferred Sam into Hound's waiting hands, before Mirage shoved a pool cue in the scout's now-free hands and challenged him to a game.
Hound took Sam through to the back room and first showed him the improvements he'd made to the presentation, and then got Sam to speak as he projected, so Sam's narration would match the speed the images were shown. As some of them took a while to complete, or advanced in stages, this was sometimes more difficult than Sam thought it would be. Sam found himself adding and changing his narration to avoid strange or awkwardly long gaps in his part of the presentation. Hound was true to his word; at the end of the two hours Sam felt mentally tired, and had scribbled notes and crossings out and corrections all over his papers. Another quick run through with the corrections added, and both Hound and Sam felt the whole thing meshed together better and flowed easier.
"Thanks, Hound, I feel we got some real work done today, and I think it shows in the presentation. I don't know about you, but I'm really hopeful that this'll get the point across we're trying to make clearly, without appearing condescending."
"No, thank you, Sam, for rewriting some of your already written speech out to flow better with the images," Hound said, picking Sam up and reaching for the handle of the door. As they moved out they saw Cliffjumper and Moonracer move in, and close the door, turning the door sign to "occupied."
Bumblebee waited nearby, having obviously finished with playing pool; Mirage was also no longer in the room, although the Lamborghini twins were now apparently engaged in a pitched pool match against each other. Bumblebee drained the last of his energon cube and put the empty aside, stretching out his hands to take Sam from Hound, and took him out of the rec-room back to his own.
'Bee converted into car form so Sam could put the cleaning supplies, his T-shirt, his notes, and a USB storage drive into his trunk before transforming again to head for the gate. He put Sam down, who backed away, and noticed Mirage was the one manning the gate house, explaining his absence. Bumblebee shifted into his disguise mode, and Sam slipped behind the wheel as Bumblebee wound down the door window. Sam lightly rested his hands on Bumblebee's steering wheel for appearance sake. Mirage saw they were ready, raidioed the soldiers guarding the exterior to make sure they were out of the way, and opened the gates. Bumblebee pulled out and turned on to the road, as Sam put his hand out of the open window to wave to Mirage.
"I'll give you your wash, 'Bee, but after that, I should type up and print out my narration on my computer," Sam said. As Sam was rarely back at his parent's home these days, his room had been moved upstairs into their loft conversion, and although it was smaller and he was at risk of bumping his head on the lower parts of the roof, he didn't mind. He was grateful they had a room for him to use at all now he rented a small apartment near the Autobot Base.
"Sure thing, Sam," 'Bee said, as they headed along the road and turned towards the part of Tranquility his parents lived in. Sam turned on the radio and they traveled the rest of the distance with Sam singing along to songs on the radio.
Bumblebee turned into the Witwicky drive and came to a halt, and Sam got out. He went to the trunk and took out everything he'd put in.
"Just gonna put this inside, make sure everything's okay, and then I'll wash you," Sam told him. He found the key he'd been given, let himself in, and put the stuff down in the kitchen. On the table he found a note from his mom and Dad -'Hi Sam, we left money in case you need food, or something is needed for you or the house, anything left is yours, see you when we get back, love Mum and Dad xxx' - and $50, which, for now, he left where it was. He took his USB stick, clothing, and papers upstairs to his room, checking all the other rooms first and making sure everything looked as it should. Then he took off his protective gear, being loath to get it wet, carefully put it aside, and put on the T-shirt. Then he turned on the boiler to ensure he could wash 'Bee with hot water, and then headed down, feeling oddly naked without the protective garments.
He got out the bucket his Dad kept in the garage, filled it with water just tolerable to his skin, and took it outside along with the cleaning stuff. He soaped 'Bee up, using the water, sponge, and shampoo, washing everywhere he could reach, including under the wheel arches and around the hub caps, and getting soggy himself in the process. He then ran inside, fitted a tap mixer hose to the taps, and brought the end of the hose outside, and he used it to wash all the froth off his yellow Autobot friend.
Sam dried Bumblebee off with towels that he threw aside to put in the washer, and then got out the wax, and spent time waxing Bumblebee up to a lovely shine. Sam could tell by the purr of Bumblebee's engine that the scout was very relaxed. He bent down to speak in the window.
"I'm gonna go take a shower, change my clothes, and type up that narration text, okay? Then maybe we can go get Mikaela and head for the Lookout?" he said. Bumblebee replied with "Affirmative" from some TV or radio show, and Sam, happy he'd made Bumblebee happy, headed inside the house with the towels and other stuff.
Sam stripped off his wet stuff and shoved it all in the washing machine with the soggy towels, headed upstairs, and washed his hair and had himself a nice long shower, being sure to shut off the water and exit before his skin began to resemble that of a prune. He dried himself off with another two fluffy towels, towel dried his hair, and dressed in another set of Jeans and his undershirt. He debated leaving off the protective items, but figured he should get used to wearing them at all times, and being used to wearing them at all times, and slipped them on.
He checked the washing and went back upstairs, turning on his computer, and used the word processor to type up his narration. He printed off two standard copies and one double-spaced to allow for future corrections, saved both versions, and then condensed it down on to a single sheet of A4 to highlight the salient points and printed it off, wondering if a printed hand out might help. He saved that too, both to the computer hard drive and the flash drive, then hunted out an old cardboard folder left over from school and put the printouts into it, and shoved the flash drive in his pocket.
He went downstairs to find the washing was finished, and he unloaded the machine, and put the wet washing in the tumble dryer, checking the fluff filter, and finding it needed to be cleaned. He did so, noting that it must have been his mother who last used the machine, for Ron was almost religious about cleaning it after every use. Judy was less so, no matter how often Ron warned her that accumulated fluff could start a fire. Sam then emptied the condenser tank before putting his clothes and the towels in to dry, and then grabbing a sheet, a couple of cans of beer, and the cleaning stuff, grabbed $20 of the $50 on the table, pocketed it, and headed out.
"Hey, 'Bee, pop your trunk would ya?" he asked, not shouting but loud enough for Bumblebee to hear him. Bumblebee's trunk obligingly opened and Sam put the stuff in, closing it, and moving around to the driver's side as 'Bee opened the door, Sam slid in. He called Mikaela to find out if she was available, and wanted to be picked up for a quick trip up to the lake. Mikaela answered in the affirmative. Sam ended the call and put his phone back.
"Let's go pick up Mikaela, shall we?" he asked. Bumblebee tooted his horn in assent, and pulled out of the Witwicky drive.
They picked up Mikaela without issue, after stopping off at a store to grab some snack foods, soda, cups and paper plates, and headed up to the Lookout, where Bumblebee dropped the two of them off. Bumblebee tended not to stay around because there was too much risk of other humans coming up, and Mikaela had gotten concerned that 'Bee would be or feel left out while she and Sam relaxed and had fun. She also wanted to have Sam to herself every so often, because although she liked Bumblebee as a friend and comrade-in-arms, and she knew and accepted that Sam was polyamorous and was in a more-than-friends relationship with Bumblebee, she saw herself as monogamous, and didn't want Bumblebee around during 'her' time with Sam. So Bumblebee let the two out, reminding Sam to call him when they wanted picking up, and drove away to leave the two to themselves.
They walked for a bit, and by mutual agreement decided not to go all the way to the lake. They found a soft grassy area halfway there, before the bend in the path that would lead to the lake and the popular grassy spot in front of it itself. Sam spread the sheet he'd brought on the ground, put the food and drink within easy reach, and lay down on the sheet, patting the area in front of him. Mikaela was quick to curl up spoon fashion against him, curling her body against his and tucking her head under his chin. Sam's upper arm dropped down loosely over her, tightening briefly in a hug before releasing her again. She sighed in relaxation, and for a short time they just lay there, enjoying the feel of the sun on them and each other's warmth. Around them they could hear birds singing, bees buzzing, the occasional cries of the kids at the lake, and over it all, the faint, barely audible sound of the Tranquility traffic as the town went about its business.
After a short time, Sam opened a bottle of soda and some of the nibbles he'd brought, and he and Mikaela reclined opposite each other, chatting and exchanging the odd kiss. As they did, some of the sounds he'd heard came closer, which wasn't unusual, they just assumed people were leaving, and the unwritten rule of the lake area was that you didn't disturb others without reason.
Sam and Mikaela were both jolted out of their revere as two feet stomped close to them, making them flinch and look up.
"Well, look'oo it is," said the feet's owner. "It's loser-boy, 'n my girl, Mikaela."
"I'm not your girl, Trent, I'm a woman, not a girl, and I'm with Sam now," Mikaela said. Sam looked up to see Trent and two of his thugs standing before them, although the usual sneers of the thugs were absent. They didn't look so much smug as concerned.
That got Sam's attention, and he remembered what Barricade had told him 'be aware of your environment,' and took quick stock.
They were outnumbered - bad - but only by one, which was good. Trent's eyes were slightly glazed and he didn't appear as steady on his feet as usual, there was a barely susceptible sway that wasn't there last time Sam had seen the jock. His cheeks were flushed, which could be just his anger or excitement, but Sam spotted the half-empty bottle of bourbon Trent was holding in his left hand, and suspected Trent was quite drunk. As Trent took another step closer, Sam got to a crouch, and could now smell the alcohol on him.
"Look, Trent, man, just leave it, let's go home like we said, I'm driving," said one of his friends, who himself appeared sober, grabbing Trent's right arm and trying to guide him away. Trent angrily threw his friend's arm away, the motion throwing back his jacket, and Sam's mouth went dry as he spotted a handgun holstered at Trent's hip. He stood, keeping himself between Mikaela and Trent.
"Look, Trent, Mikaela came to me of her own accord and it was three years ago, you've got the looks to get any other girl, move on, let go, we're all adults now, right?" Trent took another step forward, planting a meaty forefinger on Sam's chest, leaning in and pushing. Sam had to step back or fall, and Mikaela scrambled back, standing behind him.
"No other girl's as good a lay as she is, an' I wan' 'er back," Trent slurred.
"Shit, Sam, he's drunk, and he's armed, be careful!" Mikaela said, having also clocked Trent's inebriated state and the gun.
"She's not a possession, I can't 'give' her back, she's her own person," Sam said.
"Then maybe I'll have t' take 'er back," Trent said, unholstering his gun and holding it out as a slow smile spread over his face. Sam felt his own face go white and tensed, his eyes never leaving the weapon in Trent's hand.
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Soundwave became aware of Sam's alarm, checked in where he was, and said something impolite in Cybertronian as he realised there were too many humans in the area to risk sending Laserbeak or Ravage. He took a brief 'look' through Sam's eyes and called Dr Syn and Barricade, as he ejected Frenzy.
The medic and the frontliner arrived, and Soundwave sent them a databurst with the details he knew as he spoke.
"Swiftstrike-under-threat, Human-projectile-weapon. Intervene, halt-human, apprehend-if-needed, repair-if-needed, extract-Swiftstrike-if-needed. Frenzy-will-accompany." Frenzy jumped up to Barricade's chest and crawled in the space behind his bull-bars as both mechs set off at a run towards the exit. A moment later Soundwave heard both sets of engines roar out of the Base at a speed well above the speed limit, an issue solve as Barricade's sirens sounded.
Soundwave hoped they would arrive before the situation escalated.