In which Alison has a leadership meeting, promotes gambling, and fixes a friendship.
From that point, the weekend was a very happy blur, mostly. Pigging out on leftovers, hanging with the cousins, talking with aunt and uncles, all the usual family holiday activities. We almost didn't want to say goodbye Sunday morning, but we all promised to come up for the Fourth of July celebration like always.
When we got back to Tranquility, Arcee left for base to give a report to Optimus, as well as escort Barricade back, as Optimus had requested he remain in Smithville to be watched over. She told Optimus about Sparkplug's story, and he in turn promised to speak with Simmons.
So come my surprise when on Wednesday, Optimus was joined for our video lesson by Asami. "Hi Alison," she said.
"Hi Asami," I said. "What's up?"
"Simmons looked into the Cybertronian from your uncle's story, and he came across records for NBE 3," Optimus explained.
"And it just so happened my dad was the lead agent on that investigation," Asami said.
"Wow, what a coincidence," I said. "So what's the story there?"
"Well, we now have the landing date for them, but their first S7 sighting was four years later in '79, just after the Three Mile Island incident. They were testing AllSpark energy there, which is what caused the meltdown to happen. My father and several other agents were keeping a perimeter when they spotted a Cybertronian who didn't match the description of NBE 2. They attempted to capture them, but they escaped and were dubbed NBE 3. My father was assigned with tracking them down, and stayed on their trail until they disappeared in '83."
"Would he be willing to share his findings with us?"
Asami gave a sad smile. "He would, I'm sure. Unfortunately, he died in a hit and run, about two years ago."
Well, now I felt bad. "Oh, I'm sorry."
"It's alright, you didn't know." There was a momentary pause, before she continued. "The official reports he filed were transferred over from S7." She held a folder into the view of the camera. "But I also have his personal notes as well. If you want, I can leave them in your office for you to look through."
"If you would. There might be a detail or something the AllSpark and I can pick up on. For now, what's the basics?"
Asami flipped open the folder. "NBE 3 was a grounder, about Ironhide's height, but slightly slimmer in build. Dark colored, at least at the time, though might be completely different depending on if they changed their alt mode. After Three Mile Island, they were spotted in New York a few weeks later, then again in North Carolina a month after that. Nothing for three months, then a sighting in a small English village, followed by several more all across Europe and into Asia over the next three years. The last confirmed sightings were in 1983, first in Moscow, then twice in Japan, and finally Stateside again in Oregon. They then dropped entirely off the radar after that."
"Hmm." I thought it over but no specific 'Cons came to mind. "How likely is it a 'Con to have just stumbled across Earth?"
"I would not say it was likely, but it certainly would be possible," Optimus said. "Autobots and Decepticons alike were scattered across the galaxy in our search. The more unusual thing is that they landed alone. Decepticons almost always hunted in pairs, at the least."
"Maybe they survived a skirmish that killed their partner?" Asami offered. "Or they got separated before landfall?"
"That's a good point." I sat back in my seat. "Well, it seems we can't do much except keep an eye out for them, and see if I can figure something out from the files. Thanks for the help, Asami."
"Not a problem." She stood from her seat and picked up a small tub that had been off camera. "I'll leave these in your office. Enjoy your lesson." She walked away, and Optimus and I started our lesson about budget management.
Thursday brought with it the news that Prowl's team had made contact, and were within twenty-four hours of landing. Friday brought with it rain, and again, Mikaela, Miles and I impatiently waited for the end of the school day and practically flew to base once we were out, though Bee and Arcee were careful with the slick roads. Oddly, Barricade was even more reluctant to come along to Smithville than when Elita's team had arrived, and didn't even tell us when he turned away for whatever hiding place he used in town.
When we arrived, Elita was standing in the doorway of HQ. "Good, you're here. We're waiting on you to start the meeting."
"Meeting?" I asked, holding my hood up as I got out of Bee to stay as dry as possible.
"Leadership meeting, discussing how things have been this past month COTA's been open, as well as catching Prowl and Wheeljack up on what's been happening." She looked to Mikaela, who was still in Bee, next. "Mikaela, Arcee, Ratchet needs your help in medbay. The new twins got into a scuffle right after landing and are now getting repaired."
Miles sighed and gave a small smile as he climbed up to the front seat as Mikaela got out. "Guess you and I are bellboys again, Bee. I'll see you guys later." He waved and the two drove off, but I recognized the tone in his voice. It was one he unconsciously used when trying to cover up something that was bothering him. I promised myself I'd figure out what it was.
Mikaela hopped on Arcee to head down to medbay, and I followed Elita into HQ. The leadership, minus Ratchet, all gathered in Optimus's office, the humans sitting at the table he and I usually had our lessons at. Elita lifted me up to join them. "Thank you, Elita." I turned to the others, taking off my raincoat. "Sorry to keep you waiting."
"It's quite alright, Alison," Optimus said. "May I introduce Prowl and Wheeljack."
Honestly, first coming in, I almost didn't recognize Wheelack, since he looked nothing like his DOTM appearance. Instead, he was much more G1 in style, right down to his white, red and green color scheme, which made me think he scanned an alt mode on the way over, and ear fins. Prowl also looked very G1, but he was still silver instead of colored. "Hi, welcome to Earth," I said.
Prowl spoke first, taking a step closer to me. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Witwicky." He put one arm behind his back and the other across his chest to tap his fist against his left shoulder, bowing slightly. "You have left us a great debt."
Was this going to happen every time a new group of 'Bots showed up? I could see this becoming annoyingly repetitive. "There is no debt, Prowl. And please, call me Alison."
He nodded, and stepped back to his original place, which was cue for Wheeljack to step up. "We were told about all the things you've done. I'd be interested in seeing some of your powers in action."
"I'd be happy to demonstrate, perhaps we can set up a time after the meeting." I hung my coat off the back of the open seat at the table and sat down. Ella was next to me and she slid a piece of paper to me. I speed-read over it, then looked up. "Lets go ahead and get started. Will, you have the general report."
Will stood, holding a folder. "COTA has officially been open a month. There are two hundred and fifty-six personnel, with backgrounds such as field combat, engineering, communications, and logistics. Overall, morale has been good. Everyone has settled in, and there have been no major altercations. Most members seem to be getting along well with the Autobots, both in and out of training. On all fronts, it has been quiet, and I think everyone is glad for it." He sat back down, report finished.
"How are the former S7s fitting in?" I asked Simmons.
"They're doing fairly well," Simmons said. "All the agents brought in were chosen for being open minded, and they have been doing some mingling. Not sure if any are really buddy-buddy with any of the 'Bots, but they're not antagonistic."
"Lindsey, anything to report?"
"Nothing of consequence," Lindsey said. "We're keeping an eye out for any Decepticon activity, but since there is only Barricade and Scorponok currently active, it has been quiet."
"Barricade?" Prowl asked, and was it me or did he sound more personally concerned than professionally? "He is loose?"
"No, he's my Protector," I said. "He escaped Mission City, and was given orders by Megatron to act as a Protector for me, and he has made a formal truce agreement with Optimus. He has sworn on the AllSpark to protect me and not break the terms of the truce."
"I see." He looked like he was turning the facts over in his processor, or possibly reading the truce if someone sent it to him. "Barricade knows the significance of his Vow, he will not consider breaking it." He nodded to Lindsey. "Continue, please."
Lindsey nodded back. "We have set some personnel to scrubbing any videos or pictures from Mission City. Luckily, it seems most of it has been taken care of, though there is one site that keeps reposting. We've had to hit them several times."
"What website is that?" I asked.
"The Real Effing dot com. We're doing what we can to take it down."
I thought for a moment on the potential consequences of taking the site down, and nodded. "Do so. We don't need someone who doesn't know what they're dealing with to spread word of us before we are ready." I felt a little bad, since I knew that was Leo's baby, but he was also a very annoying person who honestly should have been left passed out in the Smithsonian instead of heading to Egypt with the others. I had no need or intention of meeting him in this timeline, so better to just nip him in the bud. "Thank you, Lindsey." He sat and I turned to Ella, who of all of us had the most papers, so it seemed she would have the most to say. "Ella?"
She smiled at me and . "Continuing off Lindsey's report, I am happy to share that aside from conspiracy sites like he mentioned, there is no word out there on the existence of cybertronians or COTA. The major news outlets have bought the 'military robotics experiment gone wrong' cover, and there hasn't been mention of Mission City outside of local news in several weeks." She shuffled a paper. "I've also been looking over our budget-"
"I didn't know budget fell under public relations," Ironhide said.
"I'm not just a one-trick pony," she said. "In any case, we were given a sizable amount of funding up front for COTA, as well as a yearly stipend to be distributed at the start of every fiscal year. Unfortunately, a lot of the initial funding was used for the restoration of the base, and the initial manufacture of high-heat sabot weaponry needed to fight the Decepticons. With all the other expenditures we have, I would feel more comfortable if we had some other sources of income."
I perked up at that. "Actually," I reached into my purse and pulled out my old notebook, flipping to the most recent pages. "I've been doing some thinking on that myself, since Optimus and I started those lessons this week."
"Whatcha got, Little Lady?" Jazz asked.
"My main thought was having us bring in as much independent income as possible," I said. "I appreciate the support of the government and the UN, but there is always a chance something could happen that leads to a cut in our funding. So, if we can bring in our own income, we will not be as severely affected by it. I think I have even come up with a few ways for the 'Bots to help out."
"Really?" Elita asked. "How so?"
"Mainly, online banking," I said. "My first thought is to try and work the stock market."
"That's a big risk," Simmons said. "As likely to lose everything as earn anything."
"That's why this would be a designated account to work with, not the entire budget. With the way your processors are set up, it'll be easier for you to pick up trends, calculate what stocks are likely to rise or fall, and react accordingly. It won't be an immediate payoff, but its potential is great."
The others considered it, and a couple of the 'Bots glanced at Prowl. He nodded after a minute. "It is a sound idea. I would be willing to monitor the stocks if we go through with it."
"The difficulty will be in convincing the OMB that this is a justifiable use of our funds," Ella said.
I smiled. "I'm willing to invest a portion of my pay into this endeavor. I'm earning more than I even know what to do with, better it be used to help us grow than sitting in a bank account." Oh, I wasn't a millionaire, but as Director of COTA, I was earning at least five figures a month, a little less than the average US senator or representative. Considering I had no expenses besides personal things like snacks, clothes or eating out, and pre-Jump I was learning to spend and budget with the expectation I'd make that much in a whole year, I was practically rolling in cash.
"What other ideas have you thought of?" Optimus asked.
"This one borders the line between legal and illegal, but it would keep the Terror Twins occupied," I said. "There are several online gambling websites where all you need is a verified bank account and a fairly solid fake id to participate."
"Gambling?" Ironhide asked. "You would trust those two with money like that?"
"They can always trade off with others, it was just a suggestion." I briefly thought that G1 Smokescreen would be perfect for this task, if he was here. Then I remembered the episode where he lost all the money he needed to free the other Autobots because he got overconfident right when someone discovered he was cheating. Maybe it was good he wasn't here.
"The argument for sounds similar to the stock market," Will said. "Patterns and counting cards would be easy for you, and it wouldn't count as cheating when you're only using your processors, not an external computer. All that'd be needed is making sure to lose a few times, so people don't get suspicious."
"One could argue ethics in this situation," Jazz said. "But, these people know what they're getting into when they join these sites, so it's not truly our fault if they lose out."
Optimus was frowning slightly, a look shared by Ella. "We will continue discussion of this idea later before making a decision. For now, let's move on."
We covered a couple more budget things, then went into planning for the troops' training. After that, a few minutiae that hadn't fit in any prior topic was dealt with, and we ended the meeting. I went to my office to check on paperwork, and saw the tub of files Asami had left me. I was slightly tempted to go through them that night, but Miles flashed across my mind, and I decided to hold off.
Once I finished my work, I went looking for my best friend. A few helpful tips and I found him on the observation deck of the Tower, just under the Air Traffic Control center. It was a square room with a waist height wood wall, then windows that ran to the ceiling. Its main purpose was to observe the training grounds, but also served as a bit of a break room for the troops, with a few tables, chairs and benches around the room. The corner closest to the mess also had a window seat, settled over the second landing of the stairs that wrapped around the Tower. This was where Miles sat, legs drawn up to wrap his arms around his knees and head on them while he stared out over the training yard.
"Hey," I said, sitting across from him. I curled one leg under me while the other was stretched out to the floor.
He glanced up at me. "Hey, Alison." He turned to look out the window again, and I knew something was definitely wrong, he didn't even try to act like things were fine.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"What makes you think something's wrong?" he asked.
"Cause I'm your best friend and I recognize your 'something's bugging me but I'm gonna keep it to myself' behavior."
"Are you sure we're still best friends?" It was mostly under his breath, like he was talking more to himself than to me.
"We are still to me," I said, frowning. "Are we not to you?"
"It's just…." He leaned back against the wall, and let out a sigh. "It used to be us against the world, you know? Sure, that world was high school, but still, we were always together. And I get it, you and Mikaela are finally together, so you're spending time, dates and all that, and Bumblebee is your guardian, so of course he's stuck to your side, but it really makes me feel like the fourth wheel. I- I just miss us."
I was quiet for a few moments, thinking back. Yeah, Miles was always there, but he was a little off to the side. It was so gradual, I hadn't even noticed. Or maybe I've just been too self-centered. "I'm sorry, Miles. I didn't even realize I was doing that."
"I know you didn't. That's why I didn't want to bring it up. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love all this-" he gestured at the window, where down below I could see Ironhide and Chromia watching as some of the troops ran the obstacle course in the rain, "-but it's a little hard to appreciate it when it's taking as much as it's giving."
"So you were fine with constantly trying to get me to move on from Mikaela, but this comes up and you keep quiet?" I shifted to match his pose, and lightly pushed at him with one foot. "I think you need to fix some priorities, dude."
"Hey, we both knew it was a long shot of you even getting with her, before all this happened. I didn't want to cause unneeded friction between you guys." He shrugged. "Guess it just went the other way instead."
"Yeah, it did." I thought for a moment. "How about this week, we do something, just us two, like we used to?"
"That'd be great," Miles said, smiling for the first time since I got up here. "Whatcha thinking?"
"How about laser tag? They recently redid the arena, and it's been a while since we've played. We can head back to my house after and play video games, maybe even have you sleep over."
"Sounds like a plan." He held his hand out to me, middle two fingers curled in while the rest were extended. "Swear shake?"
I smiled back, and hooked our middle fingers together, then we twisted our hands to point up. "Damn right!" we said together as we pumped our hands, then released them like an explosion. We laughed, and spent the next hour until dinner just talking about whatever. It wasn't an instant fix, but it was a good start.
AN: And I don't really have a witty end-chapter note for you this week. What'd you think about the info on NBE 3? of the leadership meeting? Or what about Miles, and his and Alison's promise to work on their friendship more?
Holoform FCs
Prowl - Robert Patrick (in his Terminator role)
Wheeljack - Cliff Curtis
Jolt - Keisuke Watanabe
Skids & Mudflap - Brian & Brandon Casey
Though honestly, Skids and Mudflap's holos don't matter, cause we never focus on them (sorry if anyone likes them, I just don't, but I didn't want to leave them out either).
Guest Review Replies
Gerard DuGalle (CH 17): When working with aliens, a mountain of documents and critical secrets, rest is needed more than ever. Spending time with your family is really great. It's nice to see you remember that. I'm not from the USA and I don't know how many large family clans exist there. The lack of fame among some of the characters is not surprising. For many people, comics and games in the movie universe were their own thing to some extent. Events and characters were not mentioned in the context of other storylines. Some YouTube channels are dedicated to theorycraft and finding connections.
Oh yup, that's very true, I learn about a lot of characters from the TFWiki, that's where about half of the named COTA agents come from (including Lindsey), either NEST agents who were part of the Human Alliance toyline, or were mentioned in comics or novels.
Garard DuGalle (CH 17): I continue to write down questions that come to mind. In this and previous versions, you have changed some autobots in the direction of logic and preBayvers. What about the decepticons? There were people on TF forums that pointed to the turkey-like Laserbeak , the strange design of the Ravage, and the not-so-big Soundwave altmod. In the sequels, generics were widely used, including those who were combined from several 3D models. Will such an approach be present in your continuity or not? Theme of insignia. Nobody cares about their presence on personal vehicles. Faking or distorting the logos of government and municipal services is punishable. Someone from the controlling organization will be interested in the logos of Ratchet and Barricade. Especially of Barricade. The motto "To punish and enslave" on a police car is not something that will be encouraged.
As of right now, I have no plans to majorly change the designs of any of the Decepticons. Soundwave is currently in his appearance from the DOTM Prequel comics, except blue, and Ravage and Laserbeak still look the same. As for background Cons, they are all mostly genericons, or they are Cons from the toyline or comics. Specific or notable 'Cons will be mentioned when they show up, but as Alison doesn't know the names of all the Cons, you're not going to get listed out who all is involved.
Regarding Barricade and Ratchet's insignia, Ratchet has his paint scheme slightly altered so it reflects COTA instead of Tranquility's Fire Department. Barricade, meanwhile, I see that he doesn't really care, and most of the time he's not hanging out where people will read his decals.
Also you should really get a FFN account, so we can talk about this kind of stuff in real time, instead of you having to wait a week for a reply.
I'll see you all next week, same 'Bot Time, same 'Bot Channel!
