"Are you sure you want to do this alone Neal?"
"Well, it's not like you would fit into our living room."
"Actually..." There was an electric snap, pop, and buzz as a man formed in the driver seat.
"What the-!" I reared back, not expecting it. The man held up his hands in a calming gesture.
"It's alright, it's me." The man spoke in Renegade's voice.
"Renegade? But how?" Renegade looked himself over. He looked to be in his late fifties and had on a classic military garb. His stars showed him to be a three star General, and his name was stitched into the uniform right above his heart. Grey hair was clipped short and red eyes squinted at his arms.
"Holoform," He said as he gave his hands a few experimental flexes, "We can take this form temporarily to more easily interact with humans."
"You couldn't have done this at that store?"
"I only had the system installed by Ratchet after you left." I stared in disbelief, then shrugged. I had experienced so many weird things lately, them having hologram technology wasn't too out there anymore.
"Whatever. Can you, change your eyes?"
"Yes, why?" I shot him the flattest look I could.
"Human eyes don't glow."
"Ah. Right." A short second later and they dimmed to a natural brown color. We pulled up outside of my house. I walked up to the house and opened the door, Renegade on my heel. "Mom?"
"Neal?!" My mom popped around the corner and ran over to me, hugging me. "Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine mom, I ju-."
"Don't you try and lie to me! I saw everything!" Renegade stepped into the house behind me. "And who are you?!" She stood toe-to-toe with him, and I quickly intervened before he would need to see Ratchet.
"Mom! It's okay! This is Renegade."
"Neal!" The bot behind me protested. I turned around.
"She already knows. She's harboring a neutral Bot." Renegade pulled back at that.
"What?!" I put my hands up again.
"Woah big guy, he's okay. I met right after I got back. He saved my dad's life when he was overseas and decided to come back with him." Renegade eyed me for a short second.
"I will judge this Bot myself." He gently brushed past me and into the house. I stuttered for a second but stopped my mom from objecting herself.
"We can trust him mom. And if he trusts Siege, it's just a confirmation that he's on our side." My mom nodded after a second. We followed after Renegade into the living room, and I saw him standing in the entry way. I stepped around him, and moved over to stand at Siege's shoulder, who was standing in the middle of the room. His tail was twitching as he stared at the holoform. I could see his back plates shifting up as he bristled.
[Siege:That. Is a Decepticon_] I shook my head.
"Siege, this is Renegade. He recently switched factions." Siege tipped his head to the side as my mom stepped into the room. His jaw clicked open a little and a wire came from his throat, running over to the internet router and plugging in. A few whirring and clicking sounds came from the bot before the cord whipped back into his mouth. Said maw clicked open again, and a garbled copy of my own voice came from it.
"R-R-Renega-gade." My eyes widened and my mom gasped.
"Hold up, can you emulate other voices?!" I asked. He nodded.
"Can."
"Of course you can," I said while shaking my head. "Back on topic. Siege, Renegade. Renegade, Siege." Renegade stepped forward, though he still looked wary.
"Your affiliation is with neither faction?" Siege nodded.
"Neither. Ju-us-u-u-u-." He shook his head, an animalistic snarl coming from his throat, seemingly annoyed at the lack of proper function. He tried again. "Just this." He swept his head to gesture at the house.
"So, you wish to stay here and protect these humans?" Siege nodded firmly, leaning into my shoulder slightly. I glanced at him and me eyes narrowed just a hair at the gesture.
'I hope that's just his cat-like nature and not some creepy possessiveness. If not, I'll stomp that flatter than Renegade could this house.' I thought. I shook my head and looked back to Renegade, who was speaking.
"And how did you end up on this planet? I didn't realize any mini-cons were sent off world."
"I," Siege paused to think of how to use his limited words, "off planet." He finished after a second.
"You shot yourself into orbit?" Renegade asked in disbelief. Siege shook his head.
"Other-s."
"You had help." Siege nodded at the question, "Well I guess that explains your presence." Renegade rolled his shoulders back and sighed before turning to us. "I see nothing wrong with him staying."
"That's good because he's been here for over a year now." My mom said. I shot her a look before thinking back.
"Well, it makes sense where he came from, dad got back at around that time too." My mom nodded.
"It was quite scary to meet him at first," She went to say more but I spluttered out a response.
"D-hey! How do you think I feel?!" I asked, waving my arms in said mini-con's direction. "He pounced on me after popping up in our living room!" My mom could only laugh at the look on my face.
"Yes, I guess your introduction was a little scarier than mine. Your father was there to mediate after all. But Siege has been nothing but helpful and kind while staying here." I shot a glance at Renegade.
"So, are you heading back to the base?" I asked.
"I actually need to talk to Optimus Prime about something. If you will excuse me." He stepped into the other room. I flopped onto the couch and sighed.
"I'm never going to have peace." I let my head fall back. I jumped when I felt something touch my hand, only to see Siege standing in front of me. I raised an eyebrow.
[Siege:Relax. I can hear your energon pumping from here_] I rolled my eyes.
[Siege:Don't ignore me_] I proceeded to do just that, turning to my mom.
"Did you have any plans today?"
"Well, I was going to run to the store."
"I can go with you once Renegade heads back." Siege bumped my hand with his nose again. I pulled my arm off the couch, pointedly not looking at him.
"That sounds like a good idea. It's been a few months since your last semester started, so I haven't seen you."
"Yeah, I guess you'r-crap!" I bolted upright. Siege jumped back, his back plates raising at the suddenness of my movement.
"Neal?" My mom questioned. I slumped back into the seat and groaned.
"I've probably been kicked out of school by now. My professors probably think I ditched college altogether." Siege tilted his head out of curiosity.
[Siege:You attend this…school, to learn about things? Why not download it?_] I internally sighed, not willing to answer him.
"Well, you'll be fine either way. We'll figure this out." My mom said. We all looked up when footsteps came into the room. Renegade looked troubled, his face twisted up into an expression of concern.
"Renegade? What's wrong?" I asked.
"I believe you may not have time." He said, his sentence cadence broken by deeper thought.
"Why…?" I asked hesitantly.
"Optimus Prime recommends that I bring you back to base with me."
"Wait, what?!" I stood up, "Why?!"
"The Cons know where you live. If you stay here, you are at risk."
"Well, why didn't you suggest that before?"
"Because we did not consider that they might know of your residence." Siege stood up, his jaw clicking open a little.
"I will, protect them." He said with a short pause.
"I'm afraid it might not be enough." Renegade said while shaking his head. Siege bristled at the implication. I held up a hand.
"Siege, don't. I think you get what he's saying." Siege's purple eyes flicked between the two of us before he flattened his back plates. He sat down and curled his tail tightly against his paws. I turned to Renegade.
"If I'm going, then my mom is coming too." He hesitated to answer. "Renegade, if they know where I live, they know my parents live here too."
"I will need to clear this with Optimus Prime."
'Curse your strict line of authority mindset!' I thought.
"She's coming." I said firmly. He let out a breath.
"Okay. I will still need to clear this with the Prime." My gaze sharpened.
"No, you're going to just tell him. Either she comes or I stay." He blinked at my tone before nodding and stepping into the other room.
"Neal?" I turned to my mom.
"Get packed and lock up the house. You're going to meet the Autobots." I said.
««{{¤}}»»
Soon Renegade was on the road, with myself, my mom, and Siege were all sitting comfortably on his seats. I was laying up against the wall, and Siege was laying on the floor at the feet of the bench I was on, my fingers resting on his head.
My mom was sitting across from me, looking out the window. The uncomfortable conversation with my mom about having to get a new phone after losing mine on the mountain allowed me to use the device Ratchet had given me to talk with Siege.
[Neal:So, are you a Bot or Con?_]
[Siege:Neither_]
[Neal:You're neutral then?_]
[Siege:Yes. I am not affiliated with either group, simply choosing to live under the radar_]
[Neal:And how has it worked for you so far?_] His ear flicked before he responded.
[Siege:I got...lonely. Something I didn't understand for a long time._]
[Neal:How did my dad take seeing a giant metal cat coming out of nowhere?_]
[Siege:I can show you_] A notification popped up on my eye, a request for video feed access. I hit the allow button on my phone after a half second hesitation. My eye flashed and before I could react, a video feed filled the one half of my vision.
««{{Video Feed}}»»
The video feed showed a low height shot maneuvering through the halls of a clay like building. I could hear gunshots and the camera snapped around the corner. Four guys with guns were shooting at a door. The camera leaped at the first one, only for a metal tail from behind the camera to lash out and slice the neck of the next closest as teeth and claws tore into the first.
The third turned their gun in the camera's direction, but they were too slow, meeting the same fate of teeth and claws. The camera looked up to see the fourth guy trying to escape, only for the tail to whip around and a bladed projectile to shoot out, stabbing the guy in the back. The figure checked to make sure they were all dead, then bumped open the door.
I saw my dad backed into the corner, gun raised. He froze, his brain trying to process what he was seeing. The camera titled at an angle, staring at him. The tail curled around as a paw came into shot and a tongue started cleaning it off.
The camera stayed on my dad as the paw was cleaned off, the metal tongue getting in between the razor sharp claws to get all of the blood. Once the paw was cleaned, it was set down. My dad's eyes went wide as the camera shifted and a paw took a step forward, his gun going back up. Both of them paused. The figure had just taken down four guys in five seconds, there was no way he could take it down. The soldier stood up, keeping the gun trained on the camera.
"Stay back." The camera shifted, the feline figure sitting again, calmly blinking. The camera tilted slightly after a full minute and stood up, slowly walking forward. My dad readjusted his grip on the gun.
"I said stay back!" The camera shot vibrated slightly as a rattling purr came through the feed, and my dad squeezed the trigger.
*Click* Empty. He shut his eyes with a tight breath escaping him, expecting the end. Then his eyes snapped open when he felt something heavy press against his legs. The head of the metallic beast was rubbing against his side.
He slumped against the wall and the camera looked up. I could see two purple circles reflecting off my dad's eyes. My dad held a hand out, and the beast gently sniffed it before pressing into it.
They both spun to face the door as a loud shout startled them, and the tail lashed out, a blade landing with a solid thud into another guy's chest, killing him instantly. My dad fully dropped to the floor at that point, leaning his head against the wall behind him. He could tell this strange robotic beast didn't want to hurt him.
It purred, curling up next to him. They heard more footsteps down the hall, and it started growling. My dad put his hand on it when he recognized the voices as his team.
"Don't attack."
««{{Video Feed End}}»»
[Neal:You saved my dad_] I thought about what had just happened.
[Siege:It was nothing. I found him...intriguing_]
[Neal:Regardless, thank you_] He purred. I closed my eyes to relax for a while. But I kept rubbing at my right eye. It was feeling irritated.
"Neal are you okay? You're rubbing your eye raw." I froze and my eyes snapped open. My mom was looking at me with concern.
"Oh, uh, yeah. It just itches a little. I'm sure it'll be fine. It's probably just some dust."
"Alright..."
[Neal:I nearly just wet myself_] I typed out.
[Rgade:Please refrain from doing that_] I could read the hint of disgust in the text.
[Neal:Think she'll ever find out?_]
[Rgade:Hopefully not_] I sighed.
[Siege:Find out about what?_] I jumped and Renegade's wheels flinched, making them squeal a little.
[Neal:Good night, could you not pop into private chats like that?!_]
[Siege:Sorry, got bored. What are you worried about?_]
[Neal:I have this implant in my eye and she doesn't know_]
[Siege:Why not just tell her?_]
[Neal:Because the Bots need me alive_]
[Siege:Your mother wouldn't hurt you_]
[Neal:…_] I tried to not to stare at him.
[Rgade:Debatable_] Siege looked up at me, his eyes showing an emotion I couldn't read yet. I rubbed one of his ears and he purred.
[Siege:That feels good... I'm sure it will be fine if you told her_] I shook my head when my mom wasn't looking.
[Neal:Bad idea_]
[Siege:What if I told her?_]
[Rgade:I would stomp you into metal plating_] Siege blinked owlishly twice before dropping his head onto the seat.
[Siege:No need for drastic measures_] I felt Renegade relax a little.
[Neal:Alright, no fighting_] I shifted around a bit before sighing.
"I'm going to take a nap." I said. My mom looked over at me.
"Alright." I closed my eyes. After about 30 seconds, I heard Siege shifting around, and a large weight shoved me against the back of the bench. I coughed and opened my eyes to see him laying down on the bench next to me, curling up with a paw hanging off the seat. I turned onto my side and laid my head on my arm. I placed my hand on Siege's back and we both quickly went to sleep.