In which Alison explains to Miles, confronts Barricade, and throws a mean punch.
I woke up in Bayverse on September 6th. Mission City happened on the 9th. By the 15th, everyone was on their way home. Ironhide requested permission to at least escort Will home, and surprisingly was actually granted permission to act as his and Epps's guardian, since the two lived near each other. As Ironhide pulled out of the base, I couldn't help but be reminded of the two different versions of Sarah Lennox that I had seen in fanfics. Hopefully we'd get the Team Mom Sarah and not Xenophobe Sarah, but there was nothing I could do to influence it, so I just let it be.
As part of the negotiations, the dead 'Cons were placed in storage in a military warehouse until such time that the 'Bots could decide what to do with them, whether they'd be given proper funeral rites, or broken down for parts and give the rites to their spark chambers. Luckily, the humans had no idea the AllSpark could potentially bring a spark back to life, but even the AllSpark explained that the mecha had to either wish to linger, or their spark had several very strong bonds to remain near, and it would only be for a single vorn. Granted, a vorn is around eighty human years, but on a cybertronian scale, that wasn't long at all. Still, if I followed my schedule, I'd have plenty of time to bring back any who were lingering (I suspected Blackout and firmly believed Frenzy was).
Bee drove Mom, Dad, Mikaela, and I home, and it felt almost weird to drive through Tranquility, which had went along as it always did while we were away. I half wondered if this was how Frodo, Bilbo, Sam, Merry and Pippin felt after returning from their journeys across Middle Earth, though of course a week is nothing compared to almost two years.
Mikaela was dropped off first, welcomed back by her aunt with open arms. Keller had sent someone out to explain the situation to her, and she seemed to be taking it well, not acting at all skittish with Bee. But according to Mikaela, Starry Barnes had always been a believer in other life, alien and supernatural, so this was more so confirmation of that belief.
Back home, the house was actually fixed up, with a new fountain in the backyard and new roses in Mom's garden. I also found we had a visitor; Miles was waiting for us at the house.
"Alison!" He ran to give me a huge hug when I stepped out of Bee, and I returned it. "I was so worried about you. Chelsea Hefner said she saw your family pulled into black vans, and you disappeared for a week!"
I hugged him back tightly. "I'm alright. It's a long story, but we're fine."
He stepped back and his eyes widened as he took in my appearance. "What happened to you!?" He glanced at Bee. "And what happened to the old camaro?"
"Like I said, it's a long story. Let's go inside."
Mom informed us she was going to cook a big pot of pasta with her special meat sauce, and went into the kitchen. Dad went out back to inspect the work done there, so I took Miles up to my room and closed the door behind us.
"Okay, spill," Miles said as we sat on my bed. "You can not come home looking like that and claim nothing happened."
"First let me ask you a question," I said, crossing my legs and holding my ankles. "During this week have you seen or encountered a really beat up police car? Might have had a decal that said 'To punish and enslave'?"
Miles shocked face was all the answer I needed, but he gave me a better one. "You know- so everything he's said was true?"
Just as I suspected. It was a fairly common fic plot for Miles to learn about the cybertronians through Barricade, I just wasn't sure if it would apply here or not. "I don't know what exactly he told you, but Bumblebee and I can explain more."
"Bumblebee?"
I pulled out my phone (The President gifted Mikaela and I the latest in smartphone technology, though it was a wooly mammoth compared to what I had before the Jump) and hit speed dial for Bee's number (listed as Ben Honey). "You can come up, Bee."
Bumblebee materialized his holoavatar directly into my room, keeping his cybertronian shape for about thirty seconds, then switching to his human guise and holding out his hand. "Hi, Miles, I'm Bumblebee, Alison's camaro and Autobot guardian."
Miles stared blankly for a minute, then took the hand and shook it. "Miles Lancaster, Alison's best friend." He looked from Bee to me. "Okay, tell me everything, right now."
And so we did, explaining everything from me buying Bee to where we've been the last week, as well as the history between 'Bots and 'Cons. The Jump did not need mentioning, so we didn't. In the end, Miles was stunned, just staring at us until he shook himself out of it.
"So my best friend is now one of the most powerful people in the world right now."
"Not really, I'm just a Director."
"You're a demigoddess!" He threw his arms wide as he spoke. "That's gotta count for something. I wouldn't be surprised if you had worshippers eventually."
"Oh god, no!" I flopped back against my pillows and headboard. "I'm an ordinary person who happened to make the right decision, I'm not a chosen one or anything." I could feel the AllSpark chuckle in the back of my head, but she retreated before I could press on that.
"Honestly, the idea isn't far off," Bee admitted. He was sitting in her desk chair, one leg propped on the seat while the other idly pushed on the ground, twisting him back and forth. "I mean, the Knights were basically the AllSpark's disciples, I doubt any surviving ones will forget that just because you're human."
"Ugh, just what I need, a convoy of cars and flock of fliers following me everywhere." I rolled my eyes, then looked at Miles. "So, what's the deal with you and Barricade?"
Miles scratched at his head, a nervous tick of his. "I ran into him on my way home from school Monday. He'd somehow limped his way from Mission City to the access road behind my house, and basically demanded I help him get under cover before the rain hit. Something clunked, and his holo flickered out. It was only a couple seconds, but enough I knew something was up. He told me what he was, and that Bee was one too, and that you had done the impossible by bonding with the AllSpark." He looked sheepishly at me. "Can I... say hi?"
The AllSpark brushed past me and I felt my lips smile. "~It is good to meet you, Miles. Alison has only good thoughts about you.~"
"Really? Uh, thank you." He blushed a bit. "I've heard good things too." He paused a moment. "Thank you, for not totally possessing Alison. I really didn't want to lose my best friend."
"~You are in no danger of that, Miles. Alison and I share a body, but I have no intention on controlling her. We are a partnership, as Adalhied and I were once.~"
Miles smiled. "Good. Better for everyone then."
The AllSpark nodded, then retreated again. I half-wondered what she did when not at the forefront, but waved the question away for another day. "So, how was that?"
"It's weird," Miles said. "Like, it's still you, but when she took over you, you almost… I don't know, matured? Like, you just felt older and taller, and seemed to look it too. Then she left, and you went back to normal."
"She," Bee said, and you could hear the capitalization of the word. "Deity, you know."
"Oh, She, got it."
Mom called us down for dinner then, and we went to go eat, Bee joining us. He introduced us to the fact that holos actually can eat and taste, the food is just vaporized and converted into energy, which was really cool. We asked if Miles could stay over and got permission, so the rest of the night, we hung out upstairs playing videos games and watching movies until Mom told us to go to sleep. Being back in my bed, away from the pressure of polItics and the fate of the world, with my best friend nearby and accepting of the new weirdness, it was the best sleep I'd had since waking up here.
The next morning, Mikaela texted me, saying she was being dragged to hang with the popular crowd, so Miles, Bee and I set out to find Barricade. He was where Miles had said, in an old workman's shed that was technically part of the Tranquil Lake Park, but was so out of the way, it wasn't really used.
Barricade's engine revved as we opened the door and flicked the light on. "So, you're finally back," he said, and I could hear and feel the scowl in his voice and EM field that wasn't visible in his alt mode.
"And you look like shit," I said. And he seriously did. He hadn't seemed so beat up on the highway, but I suppose that might have been just the distance between us. His sides and hood were bashed up, and he was covered in dirt. "What happened to you?"
"After I escaped your Prime, I got a message from Megatron, ordering me to keep an optic on you, but not to let you be harmed. I obviously couldn't follow you to that military base, but Frenzy and I learned enough that you would come running if your friend was in danger. However, on my way here, I had to swerve to avoid some idiot cutting me off and rolled down into a ditch. Took forever to drive out of there, and I've barely held on to get here. This is me after a week's self repair."
"You couldn't just transform to get out?" Bee asked as we found spots around the room, Bee against the wall by the door, me on a stool and Miles on a table by Barricade.
"No, because you damaged my T-cog in our fight, and the crash jarred it enough it won't activate anymore. Can't even get my probes out, so you're in luck, Ladylover, I can't hurt you if I tried."
"Especially not if you want me to fix that eventually." I took another look at his dents. "Mikaela might be able to get those dents out, but we'd probably have to wheel you to a shop to use their tools. What reason did Megatron give you for watching me?"
Barricade snorted. "You're the Bearer of the AllSpark now, apparently. What other reason do I need?"
Pressure behind my eyes and the AllSpark came forward. "~Alison is my Bearer, as well as leader of the new human-cybertronian relations organization. I would mind your manners if I were you.~"
"I will, I will, don't worry. I'll even behave around the Bug, how about that?" If Barricade was in alt mode, he'd probably have his servos up in surrender.
"~See that you do.~" The AllSpark smirked, and then retreated, a hint of amusement lingering in my mind.
Miles pushed his foot against Barricade's bumper. "Hey, use your holo. It's easier to talk to you like that."
Barricade revved his engine, then his holoform flickered into being. And I had to say, he looked almost exactly how I would have imagined him. Standing 6'2, probably no older than twenty-eight, twenty-nine, if I had to put an age on him, with a built frame and chiseled face. His skin was a bronze tan, his hair black with short sides and gelled up top, and his eyes a deep red-brown that was almost smouldering. He wore a back cop's uniform, and was smoking a cigarette.
"Those things will kill you, you know," I pointed out.
"Cygarettes don't, and I haven't had one of those in vorn. This is a very poor substitute." He flicked the simulated ash at me.
Before I could respond, my phone went off, and I pulled it out to see a text from Mikaela. [M: Save me] it said.
"It's Mikaela," I said, before texting back [Me: Trent the dickhead?]
[M: Yes!]
[M: He's spent a half hour ranting about how I didn't call him.]
[M: And that I wasn't at the game to see him beat Westdale.]
[M: He didn't even ask where I was this whole week. Someone else had to do it for him.]
[Me: Where you at?]
[M: Burger King, I'm hiding in the bathroom to text you.]
[Me: Be there in 20] I looked to Bee. "Looks like we got a rescue mission to do."
"From what?" Bee asked.
"Jerk jocks."
"Trent?" Miles guessed. "He was going on about you guys at school. Saying you kidnapped Mikaela to brainwash her into a dyke or something stupid like that."
"Like I'd do that. I like my dykes unbrainwashed, thanks." I looked at Barricade. "You gonna behave?"
"I will. Not much I can do slagged like this."
"Good. See yah in an hour. Come on, Bee."
Bee and I drove back into town and pulled up to the Burger King. I could see Mikaela sitting next to Trent, and that smile that I could recognize as fake. She was scanning the street, and beamed when she spotted us. She waved and stood as we pulled in the parking lot. "Hey guys!"
I got out and waved back. "Hey. I got good news. You know Ben's cousin Cade, the one who went dark last week?"
Mikaela's eyes widened slightly, but she nodded. "He turn up?"
"He's been hanging with Miles this whole time. Wanna come with to meet him?"
"Aww, don't bail on us again, Mikaela," one of the girls said.
"Yeah, last time you two left, you disappeared for a week," another said.
"Come on, Bunny," Trent said, standing and trying to put an arm around Mikaela's waist. "You seriously don't want to hang with that loser, do you?"
Mikaela pulled Trent's hand off her, stepping back from the table and towards me. "I've told you plenty of time, I am not your bunny."
"Grease monkey is much more apt," I added, stepping up and crossing my arms.
"What the hell happened to you?" one of the guys asked, staring at my chest and arms. I was wearing another tank-and-open-plaid-shirt combo, so my scars were visible to the world.
"Burned in a car accident," I said, waving like I was batting a fly away. "Mikaela got hurt, but not badly, and was kind enough to stay by my side as I recovered." I smiled at her. "Honestly, not a bad trade, if I say so myself."
"Oh, please, I'm just using you for the cool cars you now have access to," Mikaela said, tossing her head
"Well then, call me 'Sugar Mama'." Our eyes met and we both burst into giggles.
That seemed to set Trent off, and he got right in my face, forcing me to back up a few steps. I could feel Bee's EM field flare in anger, and I tried to send signals back to him to let me handle this.
"You stay the hell away from Mikaela!" He just about yelled, I swore I felt spit hit my face.
"I believe that's Mikaela's choice," I said, trying to stay calm, but I could feel anger simmering in me.
"You'll leave her alone, or I'll make sure you do. Mikaela's not going to become a loser dyke like you."
Okay, me jokingly calling myself a dyke, I will do easily. But hearing it as an insult, especially towards Mikaela? I'll admit, I lost it.
My arm pulled back before I knew it, and I barely remembered to keep my thumb on the outside of my fist before I let it fly. It hit Trent's cheek, and I could almost see it in slow motion as his head cracked around, body following, and he dropped to the pavement with a loud thud.
Everyone froze, unsure what to do, then one of Trent's friends whispered "Holy shit!" and it broke the spell. Two of the guys went to haul Trent to his feet, while Mikaela moved to stand next to me.
"Trent, we're over. You have never once really respected me, or even listened to my opinion. Which by the way, your twenty-twos look really stupid, and you're much more likely to grind them than I am."
"Just leave us alone, Trent, and we'll leave you alone." I turned around and started walking to Bee. "Come on, Cade's car actually got dented up on the way here, maybe you could do something to fix it."
"Hmm, I'll see what I can do," Mikaela said.
We hopped into Bee and he pulled out of the parking lot. "How's your hand?" he asked me.
I blinked and looked at my hand. "Just fine. No bruise or aches."
"How does that work?" Mikaela said, taking my hand and looking it over. "Trent's head is so hard, I'm surprised you didn't break it."
"Super strength?" I questioned, and got a pulse from the AllSpark that read as a yes and a self-satisfied smirk. "Oh, apparently that's it. Any other lovely surprises you'd like to share with me?"
That smirk lingered, then a small series of images hit me. A stack of textbooks being quickly flipped through; a scraped elbow healing in a matter of minutes; an energy wave leaving my hand that shorted out a computer, followed by a small globe of energon destroying it.
I blinked as I can back to the real world. "Whoa. So I can heal, fight, and absorb written information insanely quick. Looks like I'm gonna have to flip through all my textbooks before school Monday, but I'll definitely get 'A's on all my tests from now on."
"Any of those come from the movies?" Mikaela asked.
"The information bit, yeah, that happened to Sam after he picked up a piece of the AllSpark in the second movie and She tried to tell him about an artifact he needed to find, but they couldn't communicate properly and he thought he was going crazy. The rest I assume comes from being Bearer."
"According to the records of the Knights, Adalheid had EMP powers from creation, while she gained healing and the ability to throw energon attacks from the bonding, as well as the wings," Bee said. "I don't think you'll get that last part, but the rest is logical. The information thing is just a cybertronian trait."
"So I really am technorganic now."
"Maybe you can get Ratchet to test you on your abilities," Mikaela suggested. "That way you can know your limits with it." She then leaned over and pressed a kiss to my cheek. "Thanks for saving me."
I flushed and glanced away for a second. "No problem."
Mikaela's brows pressed together. "Okay, what is it? I would think an unprompted kiss would have you over the moon."
"I am!" I protested, though it sounded weak even to me. "Trust me, I really want you to like me back. But I want it to be you liking me, not because of Main Character Syndrome or something."
"Main Character Syndrome?"
"Like I told you, I took Sam Witwicky's place from the movies, and in the movies, you two dated for two years, seemingly just because of your shared experiences with the 'Bots." I took her hands in mine. "I honestly don't know if there's something besides my memories influencing anything, so I'd rather have one of the most important relationships I'm gonna have be real."
"Then what, I'm supposed to just hold off cause you're scared?"
I pulled a face. "That does sound bad, putting it like that." I thought for a moment. "Maybe, wait a couple weeks, as you get to know me in our natural environment? Then you can see if there's really something there that you like."
Mikaela considered this, then nodded. "Alright, sounds fair. But honestly, I doubt there's much you can do to change my mind."
"I hope so too. So, how did your aunt take the news of the 'Bots?"
The rest of the ride back to Miles and Barricade was mostly talking about how we spent the day before. When Mikaela saw Barricade's holo, she slapped him for chasing us, then started inspecting his dents and damage, seeing what she might be able to get out herself. The rest of the day was uneventful, but enjoyable, which was perfectly fine by me.
AN: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I know I enjoyed writing it. If you did, leave a review.
Holoavatar FCs:
Barricade - Tarkin
I'll share the Holo FCs in the chapter the character shows up, so it's a bit easier to keep track, especially since not every bots' holo will be seen.
Guest Review Replies
Duder (CH 8): Bryce dallas howard has bright strawberry blonde almost ginger hair
She is a good choice, but she's not quite what I'm looking for. I want someone with a tomboyish look to her, since Copper is very much a tomboy character.
I'll see you all next week, same Bot Time, same Bot Channel!
