Yeah, Mikaela's character is becoming somewhat over-developed, I know, no way a normal teenager can do all this stuff. Keep reading, it'll make sense in time! Promise! :) As always, a billion thanks to my betas FireRose and Bee4ever, anything you recognize, and potentially some of the things you may not I don't own, and neither do I profit from this. It's just for fun. Anyway:
Chapter 36 - Sand
(MPOV)
My eyes flashed open, the moon was almost full, there should be more light. I rolled out of my hammock quickly, listening for whatever had roused me so immediately.
Bumblebee's spark was humming discordantly. That wasn't like my little brother. I walked quickly out of my tent and listened to the sound carefully. He was still recharging, but there was a wrongness. Pain, terror, hurt the hum whispered to my ears. The Auto-bots were recharging beside my tent, Ironhide snoring lightly beside Chromia. I walked to Bumblebee and stroked his hood gently.
"Bee," I whispered gently, "Bumblebee, wake up little brother."
His spark hummed to life, powering up his processors. He onlined his holoform beside me, the whites of his eyes showing. I held my arms out to him and the holoform all but fell into an embrace. I read his tension in an instant and drew the holoform gently so that I was leaning against him properly.
"Bad dream Bee?" I murmured.
"You were dead! Big sister you were dead," Bee sobbed into my shoulder.
I felt my heart give an enormous wrench.
"Aw Bee," I whispered, cradling his holoform and rocking. "I'm here, Bee, I'm right here. I'm not dying tonight, I promise."
(OPOV)
Optimus roused himself the second he heard a discordance in the sparks around him. Bumblebee had separated himself from the energon collective, his spark humming with a chargefright. Mikaela was out of her tent the next moment, walking over to Bumblebee and gently stroking his hood. Optimus brought himself fully online and watched as his scout roused, onlining his holoform and falling into Kae's arms, she drew the holoform back toward Bumblebee proper and leaned against him gently.
"Bad dream Bee?" she murmured gently.
"You were dead!" Bee sobbed, "Big sister you were dead."
"Aw Bee," Mikaela whispered, closing her eyes as she cradled the holoform. "I'm here, Bee, I'm right here. I'm not dying tonight, I promise."
"What about tomorrow?" Bee asked, the eyes of his holoform were enormous. The eyes of a young boy.
"We will protect her," Optimus rumbled softly, onlining his holoform. "All of us."
"I'm sorry I woke you, Sir," Bumblebee stated immediately. Optimus walked his holoform to his scout's, pulling both into an embrace. Mikaela wrapped her arms around them both, the smallest of the three and yet she stood firm, a pillar of strength.
"Hush, if I did not wish to be awakened, I would offline my auditory receptors," Optimus rumbled softly.
Bumblebee's shudders slowly calmed to a thin vibration as he cuddled his sister, taking comfort from her silent strength.
"Go back to your recharge little brother," Mikaela murmured softly, reaching up and cupping the holoform's cheek. "I'll be here in the morning.
Bumblebee nodded and leaned down to hug his sister again before his holoform offlined. Mikaela stretched out on his hood.
"Good recharge little brother," she murmured gently, "sleep and dream of beautiful things." she stayed until Bee's spark quieted again, resonating gently among the others.
She slid off lightly and stayed a moment longer, listening as Bee's spark continued to hum in deep recharge.
"You get some recharge as well," Mikaela stated softly, straightening and running a gentle hand down Optimus' fender.
"You as well," he murmured through his holoform, hesitantly leaning down to press a gentle kiss to her temple. She kissed his jaw and stepped back with a small smile, walking to her tent as he smiled at her.
The second she had disappeared from sight, he reached up and touched his jaw where it still tingled with the lingering warmth.
(RPOV)
Ratchet brought himself online and surveyed the camp with a small amount of dismay.
Sand. He absolutely detested sand. No doubt the twins would throw each other against a dune at some point; and he of course would have to spend an hour or more cleaning their airways out from the strangling, dreadful powder.
Kae walked out of her tent that moment, looking up at him wryly.
"On the plus side, there's no water," she snorted.
"How is that a plus?" Ratchet grumbled, thoughts immediately switching to the added needs of their human comrades.
"No water to stick the sand to you guys," Kae shrugged. "and if you would please give me my pack, I have absolutely no doubt I'm going to need a vacuum in..." she glanced at her watch and frowned, looking up at the sun. "Two hours."
"Two hours?" Ratchet asked curiously, in spite of himself.
"The longest amount of time the twins can manage to not fight," Kae snorted. "That's the outside time of course."
"You said what?" Skids demanded indignantly, transforming and walking over to Kae.
"Two hours," Kae stated calmly. "I have yet to see you two last more than two hours without fighting. Which by the way, I'd appreciate it if you went north approximately seven hundred feet."
"Oh yeah?" Mudflap frowned. "Why?"
"Less sand, more ground," Kae stated cheerfully, stomping the ground a couple of times in counterpart. "It'll save me a bit of the time I'm obviously going to need to spend cleaning the sand out of your joints, if you can manage to keep some of it out anyway. I'll see you in two hours." she promptly turned around and walked to the makeshift workspace, calmly beginning to disassemble the scout Ironhide had carried to their camp.
Ratchet surreptitiously eyed the twins as they drew together, watching Kae dismantle the scout.
"Show her," Mudflap whispered.
"Show her what?" Skids muttered.
"Truce 'till tomorrow," Mudflap muttered. "We can totally last more than two hours. Dunno about you, I don't want sand in my hands."
"Agreed," Skids murmured, grimacing at the ground for a moment as he kicked at the powder. He looked back up and they shook hands, still eyeing Kae.
Ratchet barely managed to bite back his snort of laughter. Optimus chose that moment to online, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kae watching the Prime as he transformed and stretched, shrugging his armour properly in place. Her pupils were dilated. Ratchet promptly onlined an extra processor and began scanning Kae. The spike in her heartbeat was perfectly paralleled by the pulse of her spark. As though sensing it in herself, Kae's eyes quickly flicked down to her work again. But it didn't take long for her eyes to wander back to Optimus again.
That gave him an idea, actually.
Ratchet put on his best dour, irritable expression and hacked her iPod.
::. Optimus.:: he sent irritably.
::. I know, Ratchet, sand.:: Prime sent back in amusement.
::. No, Kae.:: Ratchet sent irritably ::. Neural fibres or not, her energonic signature is stronger again.::
::. I know that, Ratchet.:: Optimus sent back in a worried tone ::. What am I supposed to do about it?.::
::. You know damn well what to do about it.:: Ratchet sent irritably, noting with private amusement that Kae was looking around at the bots and soldiers, her eyes flicking back and forth at Optimus and himself even as her hands continued moving. There was confusion in her eyes. ::. You need to safely lower the levels in her tissues, and you'd better get on it before she starts being affected even worse!.::
::. Humans are not open to such things.:: Optimus growled softly ::. Am I supposed to just drag her out into the dunes and-.::
::. Primus sake Optimus, have you even asked?.:: Ratchet sent, genuinely irritable now, every now and again, Optimus was guaranteed to be an absolute glitch. ::. Maybe you should have gone round three, let Ironhide knock some sense into you.::
Optimus turned and glared at him properly.
::. Or do I have to tell her to chase after you?.:: Ratchet smirked at him ::. I never took you for the shy type before, Optimus.::
Optimus stared at him for a long moment before rolling his optics and glancing at Kae. Ratchet flicked a glance at her himself, to find her well along in dismantling that servo. At least she still had her iPod in one ear.
"Kae!" Ratchet called out in his best grumpy tone. "Food!"
She glanced up at him somewhat irritably before visibly composing herself.
"I don't honestly think I can stomach the idea of food," she murmured. "Not today. Water, salt tablet, alright. Food feels like a bad idea."
Ratchet scanned her again worriedly, her body was well into it's cycle of burning it's adipose reserves, and she didn't have enough of that to begin with.
"Try?" he murmured. "Please?"
Kae looked up at him and seemed to hold back a sigh, nodding.
Ratchet threw Optimus a significant look as she rose and walked to the mess tent. The larger Mech watched his reliant worriedly, optics never seeming to stray far from her form.
(IPOV)
Ironhide onlined and gently disconnected from Chromia, she was awake in seconds, transforming, stretching and throwing him another of those wicked, hidden glances that always had him watching for another one. Ironhide looked around at the sand for a moment, scowled and transformed, doing his level best to not touch that ghastly excuse for ground.
Sure enough, a bit got into his shoulder. Regardless. Of course.
His processors promptly got down to some serious frequency translations, trying to find precisely the right string of expletives.
Done silently of course, Primus help him if Ratchet caught wind of it, he'd be out a shoulder for hours. That was absolutely no good in unfamiliar territory.
Ironhide stood up and stretched somewhat, refusing to groan of course. Slagging shoulder felt scrapping broken.
Worthless scrapping shit-useless Pitspawned sand.
::. Get Kae to fix it.:: Bumblebee sent innocently, standing up and stretching. ::. She can probably get the sand out without even taking your shoulder apart.::
That was an idea. That human had tiny fingers after all. He'd seen her at work doing the tiny things that annoyed Ratchet to no end. Ironhide grinned and reached over, giving the little scout a light whack on the shoulder, adding a zap of energon along with it in thanks.
Bee grinned at him, and that was good for a smile, he did like it when the younglings could smile with him.
He strode over to the servo Kae was working on and sat down close by.
"Make you a deal," he rumbled quietly, eying the femme apprehensively and hoping she was game for a bit of innocent blackmail.
"And that is?" she asked, looking up at him somewhat warily.
"You get this blasted sand out of my shoulder without being annoying, and I won't rib you about shouting Optimus down," he announced flatly.
She eyed him warily for a long moment before the best words that could possibly come out of the femme's mouth, did.
"Why I do believe we have a deal," she stated, nodding with a small smile. So she was game, excellent. Never trust a bot that wasn't game for a bit of mild blackmail. She turned and looked at Ratchet with a remarkably stern expression.
"Alright fine," the medi-bot sighed, the pack already in his hand. Ironhide couldn't help but mimic the little femme as they both looked at the old medic with raised brow ridges. "Two things." he stated with a snort, looking at them. "One, if I didn't give her this pack I have no doubt she'd just use neural fibres from that scout-"
"True..." Mikaela murmured softly in counterpart, drawing a snort from the two mechs.
"Two, if those expressions were any more similar I'd swear you were related." Ratchet added with a smirk.
The femme laughed softly, not a mocking laugh by any stretch of the imagination, just gentle amusement. Ironhide settled a bit more comfortably, sitting easily on the ground now that his hip and leg joints had finished sealing themselves up.
"You mind?" Kae asked calmly before gently laying a bare foot on one of his leg struts.
Ironhide made to wave a hand in a gesture of 'go ahead,' except that blasted sand just ground a bit more in his shoulder. He scowled irritably before watching in amusement as the femme practically scampered up his leg and chest, always careful about leaning too much weight on the wrong spots. Although she was so light it wasn't really that much of a stretch for her to balance her weight properly. He wondered how she'd get along in battle with such a thin covering of armour over her protofor-
Ironhide looked down at Kae and felt a bit of a surge as his processors made a rather startling connection. He watched patiently as she directed the thin neural fibres to reach gently into his shoulder while mulling that thought over.
He was already thinking of her as a bot. And in those terms her wiring was straight, that was for sure, and by the bastard pet of the un-maker she was damned good with her cannons. She'd be a niece to be proud of. A healing warrior, damned good at the healing, he added to himself as the sand was rapidly cleared away from his joint. He idly ran a diagnostic. The sand was already gone, that had to be a record.
Kae was looking his shoulder over now, carefully examining the worn joint. Ratchet was constantly on him to let him replace it. But that meant going without his arm for one, and then breaking in a new bloody joint. He liked this one.
Even if it was getting pretty damned worn out.
"Hold still a minute," Kae commanded quietly. "If it's annoying, fine, rib me, but hold still a minute anyway."
Ironhide sat, watching her in amusement as she fairly jumped down from his shoulder and walked to the burrower she'd taken down. She pried off a piece of the living metals and suspended it on the neural fibres lightly waving from her wrist. The little femme promptly climbed back up to his shoulder and clung there for a second, watching the metals as energon flashed through them, neutralizing and shifting it around.
"Don't want a new joint," Ironhide rumbled irritably.
"I know," Kae muttered, "but adding a bit more metal to the thinnest bits won't hurt, particularly if you're kind enough to dial back the pain settings in your shoulder. Dunno about you, but I sure as hell don't want to try to get the sand out of your shoulder when you're transforming in the middle of battle."
Yes, she absolutely had her wiring straight, Ironhide thought approvingly.
"Go ahead, don't need to worry about my pain settin's darlin'," Ironhide rumbled contentedly. Kae shot a half smile up at him as she reached forward with the living metals, they were practically liquid now, flowing with the energon throughout his shoulder and binding to the spots that were beginning to annoy him with their weakened integrity.
Energon flowed throughout the area, his nanites gleefully putting the deposited metals right were they needed to be.
Perfect joint.
"My uncle used to call me darlin'," Kae murmured with a fond smile of memory as she directed the last of the metals into their proper place and made sure they were bonded properly. She pulled back and watched as the last of the energon put a good shine back into his metals. The joint felt good, mint actually. His joint, just newer. And good to transform fully sealed. Perfect.
"May I call you niece?" Ironhide asked softly, looking at the tiny femme as she carefully inspected her work. Her face flashed up to look at his in surprise, he read those expressive optics of hers. Good optics they were, showing first her surprise, then melting into a look of humble pride.
"I would be honoured, uncle," she murmured, holding his optics properly.
Ironhide couldn't help but grin, he'd always liked that name, it meant there were younglings nearby to play with.
"Good, now while we're at it, my niece," he began with a grin. "I tol' you did a good job wi' them cannons, but you do gotta watch your power use, no sense using all yer power up in three shots when there's five more to take down..."
Kae nodded firmly.
"While you're teachin'" she stated calmly, "did you want me to shore up any more of your joints while we're at it?"
That was a good question, Ironhide thought musingly, he ran a diagnostic through his system and noted the wear patterns, the worst good for another vorn at any rate.
"Thank you, no," Ironhide rumbled contentedly. "It's just the old shoulder gets knocked about with the cannons." he smiled at his new niece as she nodded acceptance. "Now, as to your cannons..."
Had to give the femme credit, she jumped down from his chest and sat on her workbench, curling up slightly and giving him her full attention. Them were some sharp optics. Ironhide leaned in a bit more closely and cheerfully continued on.
::. Ironhide.:: Optimus sent in a mildly exasperated tone.
"Say it aloud, Optimus," Ironhide rumbled with a snort, turning to look at the Prime. "I'm not gonna leave my niece defenceless."
Optimus rolled his optics. Which meant he'd won that argument before it even started. Once again giving Optimus a point. Ironhide added it to his mental tallyboard.
"So where am I going wrong?" Kae asked intently, she lifted her hand and the gauntlet on her hand transformed into a nicely worked cannon.
"You don't have a trigger system," Ironhide rumbled sternly, scanning her cannon.
Kae frowned deeply and glared somewhat at the gauntlet, it shifted over her hand a few times before returning to her original system.
"I can't seem to fit a trigger," she stated with a deep frown, looking up at him. "I know I can fire with it, switch back and forth between energon and plasma, but there's no formal trigger."
"Ratchet!" Ironhide called out, "Lemme borrow your scanners?"
The Medic looked at him and nodded, scanning the Femme.
"She doesn't have room for a trigger," Ratchet stated calmly as Ironhide read the medic's more inclusive data. That explained it absolutely, the neurals were cluttering up her system already, a trigger would be stupid.
"Well, for what you do have room for that's an excellent cannon," Ironhide nodded approvingly down to his niece. "Power conversions are solid, just watch that you don't get excited and use up all your energy on one shot."
"Yes sir," the femme nodded firmly. Good femme.
"Good, I know I can trust you to watch his back, then," Ironhide grinned, looking over at Optimus. Mikaela turned with him, and Ironhide set aside an extra processor to observe her.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, her thoughts staying to herself.
"Say it aloud," Ironhide commanded quietly.
"...Battle situation, I don't have my bike, loss of speed," Kae began muttering a quiet commentary, almost to herself. "Which means that if I'm staying with Optimus I should probably stay tucked in as deeply as I can into the crook of his shoulder, out of his neck struts, he'll need his head... Facing backwards, gods it's been a long time since I've-" she cut herself off almost immediately, her eyes narrowed, shuttered. Ironhide onlined his holoform and leaned against the table beside her.
"Long time since?" he rumbled softly, a single look into her optics and he knew the right words. "Silent, upon my honour as Weapons Master."
"Since I've gone into battle with my tail in the wind," Kae muttered, frowning. The cannon on her hand shifted restlessly for a moment, to fire energon, then plasma and back again. Ironhide nodded to himself. The femme had her wiring straight alright, good bot.
"Gladly do I let you have our backs, my niece," he rumbled contentedly, his holoform patting her back lightly as she shook herself. She smiled at him somewhat wanly and returned to her work stripping down the burrower for parts.