*Eye twitches* I don't... What... How... How the freaking heck did I EVER think this was good? I mean, really? I thought this chapter was great when I wrote it? Good gosh. I was absolutely horrible.
Sailor Shinzo - I already have something similar planned, but thank you for the suggestion.
Disclaimer: Transformers belongs to Hasbro, not me. I only take credit for this story and my OCs.
February 18, 2012 6:01 A.M
Darby household Jasper, Nevada
It seemed like I had just closed my eyes when the loud revving of a motorcycle engine made me open them again. I got up from the couch as Jack ran past me toward the garage. After checking the clock on the stove, I followed Jack to the garage.
"...Aww it's saturday" I heard Jack whine.
"Then you can watch cartoons back at base with Bumblebee," Arcee said, slightly annoyed.
Jack scoffed, "Pfft, cartoons. I'm sixteen." As he was talking with Arcee, Jack didn't hear me walk down the hall.
"To be fair," I started, making Jack jump. "I'm seventeen, and this was a cartoon I watched" I stated matter of factly.
"Leave a note for your mom, then we'll be on our way" Arcee said, clearly wanting to get moving.
Jack sighed, walking back to the kitchen while grumbling something under his breath.
Arcee said to me, "Bumblebee comm linked me earlier. He said he'll be here right about..." There was a single beep from a car horn outside "...Now," she finished.
Jack came back to the garage a moment later and hit the button to open the outside door.
"See both of you later," I said to Jack and Arcee, then crouched under the still opening garage door.
I walked across the street to where Bumblebee was parked. He opened his driver side door before I had finished crossing the street. He was apparently multi-tasking. The sounds of some racing game being played and Raf's protests were heard from the open door.
"Oh come, 'Bee, that's not fair!" I heard.
'If I didn't know any better I'd say Raf is losing,' I thought, getting in the driver's seat as 'Bee closed the door.
Raf was sitting in the passenger seat, playing what I think was 'Forza Motorsport 4' on about a fifteen-inch screen on Bumblebee's dashboard that he didn't have yesterday.
"Hey, Zech," Raf barely acknowledged me, eyes and attention focused on the screen.
Bumblebee was using a car that looked suspiciously like he did, and Raf was using a Bugatti Veyron. They had been neck and neck on the last lap of their race. Raf had the advantage in the straight-aways and Bumblebee had it in the corners. The reason Raf had cried out in frustation was Bee past him in a corner and briefly held a huge lead. However, the track was now on a long straight and Raf was quickly closing the distance.
Bumblebee's car was moving along at one hundred eighty-seven miles per hour when I looked at his side of the screen. Raf's Bugatti was speeding at more then two hundred and twenty as he past Bumblebee. Unfortunately for Raf, the last part of the race was a series of sharp turns and Bumblebee quickly took back the lead, crossing the finish line for first place.
"You know if you used the SSC Ultimate Aero, you likely would have won. Not only is it faster, but it has better handling," I suggested, looking at Raf.
"Maybe I'll use it next time. It was fun anyway" he said dismissively.
A moment later Arcee drove out of the Darby's garage. Bumblebee folded, yes, folded the screen into his dashboard as we followed Arcee and Jack to the Autobot base.
Bulkhead, along with Miko, who was headbanging inside the bots interior, joined us in the drive to base. Nothing else noteworthy happened after that. I spaced out until the change in terrain at the bases entrance signaled the drive was almost over. I saw Ratchet and Optimus standing on the far side of the main room as we drove out of the tunnel. Raf and I climbed out of Bumblebee and he, along with Arcee and Bulkhead transformed into their true forms.
"You forgot your guitar," I said to Miko, who even at this early hour was just as energetic as yesterday.
As if on cue, there was a sound like hitting a hollow drum coming from Bulkhead. With some discomfort he moved a panel on his chest and pulled out Miko's guitar.
"Are you going to do that a lot? It's kind of creepy," Miko said, grabbing her guitar from Bulkhead.
"Maybe I will and maybe I won't," I said cryptically, which made Miko narrow her eyes at me.
Optimus addressed his soldiers after my brief exchange with Miko, "Autobots, prepare to..." he paused, looking down at Jack, Miko, Raf and I.
"Rollout?" Arcee asked, a questioning look on her faceplate.
Optimus shook his head. "No, you will remain here. Ratchet, come with me. Arcee, we'll be outside of communications range until further notice, so I'm putting you incharge."
"Dude, you're the biggest! You should be the boss!" I heard Miko say to Bulkhead.
"Um... He never picks me," he replied, looking down at Miko.
Arcee stepped forward to protest her leader's orders. "Optimus, with all due respect, playing bodyguard is one thing but babysitting's another."
Jack sighed and walked away as his guardian continued.
"Besides, Ratchet hasn't been in the field since the war," she was practically begging to go on the misson with them.
"My pistons may be rusty, but my hearing is as sharp as ever" Ratchet said, looking slightly annoyed by Arcee's words.
"For the moment, it's only reconnaissance," Optimus said to Arcee, mostly ignoring Ratchet's words as he tried to to convince her to stay at base.
"Then why is there an edge in your voice?" Arcee's tone was suspicious.
"Arcee, much has changed in the last twenty-four hours, and we all need to adapt. Ratchet, bridge us out." Optimus avoided the question entirely, and he and Ratchet disappeared into the green light of the ground bridge.
"Okay, chief so ah... What's on the activites list?" Jack asked awkwardly, his eyes looking around the base.
Arcee rolled her optics and started walking away. "I'm going on patrol," she said, voice frustrated and slightly angry.
"But Optimus told us to stay here," Bulkhead said, looking like he was conflicted on whether he wanted to join Arcee on patrol or obey his leader.
Arcee turned to Bulkhead. "When you're in charge, then you can call the shots." She looked at Bumblebee. "'Bee, your with me."
Bumblebee looked from Raf then to Arcee. He beeped disappointedly, and walked toward Arcee hanging his head... No, his helm.
'This expanding knowledge thing is going to get annoying, isn't it?' I asked myself.
"Bulkhead, you'er in charge," Arcee said, just before she and Bee transformed and sped back through the entrance.
"So..." Bulkhead began, mimicking Jack's earlier tone. "What's on the activites list?"
The high piched sound of a guitar being plugged into a speaker was his first response. "How 'bout some band practice!" Miko said, holding her guitar with the strap on her left shoulder.
"But...we aren't a band," Raf stated, looking confused.
"This is true," I said off-handedly.
Miko ignored my comment "Oh come Raf, why so anti-social? do you play anything?" She asked.
"Um...keyboard?" Raf said holding up his computer uncertainty. Miko nodded approvingly and looked at Jack "And you?"
"I sometimes mess around on the harmonica," Jack said, rubbing the back of his neck, I noticed that was a nervous habit of his.
"Do I look like I do country, Jack? Just...cover yourself in fake blood and jump around screaming," Miko said, as if disgusted by Jack's taste in music. She ignored me and looked at the only Autobot on the base "Bulkhead you-" The alarm for the proximity sensor cut her off.
Bulkhead looked at the main computer in panic "It's Fowler! Quick, get behind me!" He said, urgently.
I tried to get Miko to leave her guitar behind so Fowler wouldn't see us, but she was being too stubborn and I didn't have time to argue with her.
The elevator doors opened just as we got behind Bulkheads legs Jack, Miko and Raf behind his left one and I was behind his right.
"Prime!" I heard Agent Fowler yell, unlike yesterday, however, I couldn't see him.
"Oh, hello, Agent Fowler. Ah... He's not here... Um nobody's here... Except me, of course." Bulkhead was trying to sound casual, but he wasn't doing a very good job of it.
"Well where did he go? Wait, let me guess, he's out pancaking a mini-mall!"
Both Raf and Miko were trying to look and see where Fowler was, despite both my warnings as well as Jack's.
Apparently Fowler was now moving along the catwalk, since Bulkhead moved his feet slightly to better hide the four humans behind him. The cord on Miko's guitar caught on Bulkhead's left foot, and since she hadn't put her guitar down, she was almost thrown from hiding. Raf and Jack held onto her arms, keeping her behind Bulkhead, but the damage had already been done.
Bulkhead's slight movment had pulled out the cord for Miko's guitar from the speaker, and Fowler stopped mid-rant as this happened. "Since when are you bots electric?" I heard Fowler ask sarcastitally.
Bulkhead stiffened, as the rest of us walked out from behind his feet. "Hey... How you doing?" Jack said, as if he and the government agent were old friends.
"You've been in contact with civilians!" Fowler brought his hand down on the railing in frustration as he continued.
"Team Prime has really gone and done it this time. Wait, don't tell me, you'er running a day-care center!" He said, anger clear in his voice.
"Um... We're interns!" Jack said, very obviously trying to come up with an excuse for our presence at the base.
"Student interns!" Raf added his two cents before Jack continued.
"Earning extra credit in, um... Autoshop," he and Miko said that last part at the same time.
I knew Fowler would try to take us into custody no matter what we said, so I remained silent.
Fowler rubbed the bridge of his nose before speaking, "Okay, let's move. I'm taking all four of you into federal custody for your own protecti-" He was cut off as Bulkhead slammed his foot directly in front of him, making him back up.
"We're protecting them," Bulkhead said in a tone that held no room for argument.
The look of slight fear the special agent had on his face disappeared as he spoke, "Is that so?" He asked, voice holding more anger then when he arrived. "Well, maybe you can explain that to my superiors at the Pentagon!" He yelled the last part, then walked to a phone attached to the ground floor railing and began dialing a number.
"Don't use that phone, it's..." Bulkhead leaned toward the phone and crushed it with a finger. "Out of order."
I couldn't help but give a snort of laughter as I thought of the CSI: Miami theme song when Bulkhead said that.
Fowler gave me a sharp glare for that, and started walking up the stairs to the elevator. He didn't say anything until the elevator doors were closing, "This isn't over." Then he was gone.
Fifteen minutes after Fowler left, a new alarm sounded throughout the base. Bulkhead walked to the main computer and muted the alarm. This was much to Raf's relief as, he had been covering his ears since the alarm started.
"It's an S.O.S... From Fowler!" After Bulkhead said this, he looked down at the control panel, trying unsuccessfully to figure out how to trace the S.O.S. The signal diappeared before he even touched the screen.
"Well? Did you trace it?" Raf asked hopefully, walking toward the mech.
Bulkhead shook his helm. "No, the location scan was incomplete," he said. "Oh, well." He shrugged his shoulders and starting to walk away.
"I know you don't like him, Bulkhead. I don't either. But the Decepticons have captured Agent Fowler, and he knows our location," I said urgently.
Raf gulped and Jack's eyes widened as he said, "And Arcee said yesterday, that the Decepticons will torture us to find out everything we know. Fowler knows a lot more then we do." His voice held some of the fear he likely felt.
"We all saw how quickly he backed down from you, the 'Cons will make him squeal faster then I can play guitar," Miko said, putting her hands on her hips.
Bulkhead sighed. "We lost the transmisson, and the 'Cons have the same tech that we do. Fowler could be anywhere by now."
Raf sat on the floor with his laptop in hand. "Maybe I can narrow it down. About five years ago, the government started microchipping their agents, like owners do with pets," he said, typing on his computer.
Jack, Miko and Bulkhead looked at him doubtfully. I, however, knew where he was going with this.
Raf continued, "If I can hack into the feds' mainframe, I might be able to pinpoint Fowler's location." He didn't look up from his laptop as he said this.
Miko got a confused look on her face. "How can you know how to hack? You're like two years old!" She looked at him incredulously.
Raf looked at Miko. "I'm twelve... And a quarter," he said, beginning with an angry voice but finished with a slight smile, while also making it a point to put emphasis on the 'Quarter.'
It took Raf about ten minutes to break into the mainframe without getting caught by the govenment's counter hackers, and another five to access Fowler's tracking chip.
"Latitude 39.5, longitude 116.9," Raf said, after finally getting the location of the government agent.
Bulkhead entered the coordinates into the computer and pulled the lever to activate the ground bridge. The bridge wasn't even fully activated before he walked toward it. He stopped and looked back at the four of us. I assumed he was about to put Jack in charge.
"Ah... Zech you're in charge!" he said, thoroughly shocking me. Before I could protest, he ran into the ground bridge.
"Well... That's different," I stated, wondering why Bulkhead had put me in charge.
"What's different?" Jack asked, with his arms crossed.
I looked to my left where Jack was standing, alongside Raf. "He was supposed to put you in charge after he left," I answered Jack's question with a confused tone.
"Maybe he put you in charge because your the oldest?" Raf suggested, simply.
"That's the most likely reason, but..." my eyes widened as I remembered Miko was going to follow Bulkhead. "Oh wait, Miko don't..." I looked to the ground bridge just in time to her feet disapper from sight. "Leave..." I finished, rubbing the bridge of my nose with a sigh.
A full minute later, I was debating if I should try and bring Miko back to base. I knew that's what Jack and Raf did in the cartoon, but I didn't know what happened to them after they went through the ground bridge. The series went on for another twenty plus episodes, so they likely were fine. However, my presence here has already changed things, and potentially could create instances that wouldn't have happened if I was still home. I knew that if I went after Miko there was a very real possibility I wouldn't return. Miko. however, didn't know what she was getting into. I had made up my mind.
"Raf" I said, looking at the young computer genius. "I'm going after Miko. The ground bridge coordinates should still be locked on Fowler's location. Get on the catwalk and activate the bridge."
He looked at me for a second before nodding and climbed the ladder up to human-sized computers. I looked at Jack. "Now you're in charge," I said with some humor.
The ground bridge activated a second later and I started the long walk to the end of it.
"Hey, wait up!" I heard Raf say, as he ran toward me with Jack following close behind him.
The three of us continued walking toward the end of the ground bridge as I said, "As soon as we get on the other side run, don't walk, to the nearest cover you can find."
They looked at me with slightly worried expressions, but nodded nonetheless. A few seconds later there were was no one left at the Autobot base.
The trip through the ground bridge was similar to when I traveled between realities. However, the feeling of weightlessness was less prominent.
"Are your bones vibrating as well?" Raf asked Jack and me, as he rubbed his ribcage.
I dimly acknowledged the question, and looked up at the massive jet black warship in front of us. It was at least two kilometers in length, and had several large turrets on its hull. I could see a number of dark forms on top of it, pointing what looked like weapons down at us.
"Less talking and more finding cover!" I yelled, pulling both of them with me as I ran toward a boulder I could see that Miko and Bulkhead were hiding behind.
Not two seconds later, a shot from a Decepticon blaster hit the ground in the same spot we had just been standing. A powerful shockwave knocked all of us on the ground and made my ears ring as dozens of less powerful shots hit the ground all around us. I got up as fast as I could. Jack was covering Raf with his body, trying to keep him as safe as possible. It was at that moment I knew I should have told them to stay back at base, and that I had been an idiot for leaving in the first place.
My poor judgment would have cost us our lives, had Bulkhead not arrived when he did. He drove in front of us blocking a few shots and opening his door.
"Get in!" He yelled.
Raf and Jack got in through the passenger door while I got in the back. Miko was sitting on the other side of the back seat.
"You know you should have stayed at base." I couldn't keep some of my anger at her out of my voice.
"And miss Bulkhead giving a beat down? I don't think so!" She scoffed, as if she thought this was all a game.
Before I could give a proper response, Bulkhead stopped and said, "Okay, everyone out. And this time, please stay here," he said, directing his words to all of us, but seemed like mostly to Miko.
Jack, Raf and I stepped out of Bulkhead's alt form. Miko didn't move, but before I tell this to Bulkhead, he drove off with her still inside. Raf, Jack and I carefully looked around the boulder, watching as Bulkhead dodged enemy fire while racing toward the Decepticon warship.
"Miko's still with him, isn't she?" Jack asked in an exasperated voice.
"Yup," I said with a loud sigh.
We could see Bulkhead as he hit a small hill, getting enough air to climb the side of the canyon the warship was hidden inside. He jumped off the canyon wall toward the ship. A second later we saw a Decepticon fall off the warship, then we momentarily lost sight of Bulkhead. The last we saw of him was after some kind of metal dish fell off the warship. It looked like Miko was in his hands, but it was hard tell from this distance. He started taking fire and looked around. A moment later he ran toward something we couldn't see and disappeared.
Raf looked at Jack and I. "Think they forgot about us?" he asked, voice slightly hopeful.
The sound of a blaster powering up behind us was his response. We looked back to where the sound came from. Two Decepticon foot soldiers were standing directly in front of us, one had a blaster pointed at us and the other one was leaning down to pick up Jack and I. They were slightly shorter then Bulkhead, but much thinner and painted an ugly black and purple with a single red optic visor and no mouth.
"Maybe we should have gone with Bulkhead," I said nervously.
The second Decepticon picked up Jack and me as the first one picked Raf up. They walked to a Cybertronian-sized elevator with us in hand, and soon we were inside the ship.
Ten minutes later, they were taking us down a hallway, with the 'Con with Raf in front, and the one with Jack and I following close behind.
"Let's take them to the brig. Commander Starscream is keeping the other human there," the one holding Raf said in a voice reminding me of a generic enemy in a video game.
I heard a motorcycle engine along with the deep rumble a muscle car off to our left. The next thing I knew, Jack, Raf and I were flying through the air. We reached the apex of our flight and started falling.
Just before we hit the ground, Arcee caught Jack and I. At the same time Raf was caught by Bumblebee.
"Thanks for the rescue," I said, as Jack and I got off Arcee's hands. I heard Bumblebee set Raf down while beeping a few times at him.
"You'er welcome. I appreciate you three clearing the front door for us, but storming the Nemesis was not on the activites list," Arcee said in a firm voice.
"Tell me about it," I head Jack say under his breath.
Arcee suddenly looked at a four-way junction not far from the one we were standing in, looking at the corner suspiciously.
Without a word between them, she and Bumblee slowly put their backs against the wall. With a movement my eyes couldn't follow, they turned the corner with their weapons deployed. Almost immediately Arcee called out, "Friendly!" and lowered her blaster.
Bulkhead, with Miko in hand, walked around the corner.
"Brought the humans with you?" Arcee asked him after they started walking back to us.
"You try getting them to stay behind!" Bulkhead said in an exasperated tone.
Arcee ingored him and said, "We need to find Fowler... And get these kids out of here."
Jack, Raf and I looked at each other. "He's in the brig," the three of us spoke at the same time.
Roughly five-minutes, later the 'Bots stopped in front of a closed door.
"Stay here" Arcee said, looking at Jack, Miko, Raf and I.
Bulkhead knocked on the door loudly until it was opened from the other side with a hiss. The moment the door opened, Arcee opened fire and lept through the doorway, Bumblebee and Bulkhead following close behind her. A few seconds later I heard Arcee call out, "Clear," and the four of us walked through the door. The Autobots were already walking toward us when we entered the newly cleared room.
"Wait for us in this room," Arcee instructed, still walking toward the door.
Bumblebee beeped in what could only have been a protest.
Arcee looked back at him. "They're slowing us down and also easy targets. They'll be alright in here as long as they stay put," she directed that last part at us, and ran out the door.
Bulkhead and Bumblebee redeployed their weapons and followed her out of the room. As soon as they left, the door closed.
"Well... That was intense," Miko said, as if the four of us just got off rollercoaster.
"Was? Miko, it's your fault we're stuck in this intensity!" Jack half-whispered, half-yelled, pointing a finger at Miko accusingly.
"Did I ask you to follow me?" Miko said, looking like he couldn't believe she did anything wrong.
"You didn't ask to leave, or think before you acted," I pointed out, trying to keep an even voice. I was quickly ignored.
"You're the one who wanted us to be a band, Miko. Doesn't that mean playing together?" Jack said, anger now more present in his voice.
"Maybe I wanted to go solo!" Miko's voice as well had more anger, although it honestly wasn't very intimidating. After all, she was at least a foot shorter than Jack or I.
Jack crossed his arms. "Maybe we have some regard for your safety!"
Miko rolled her eyes at him. "Oh I'm sorry, is your name Optimus? You can leave my protection to Bulkhead, thank you very much!"
Both of them were on the verge of yelling.
Raf had enough. "Stop it, both of you!" He yelled and ran off to sit in front of a ledge on the left side of the room.
"Nice job," I whispered sardonically to Miko and Jack as the three of us ran to catch up with Raf.
"Hey... Hey, Raf it's... It's okay" Jack said softly, sitting down on the ledge to Raf's left. He had his arms crossed over his knees and was looking at the floor. Miko sat down on Raf's right side.
"Yeah, we're going to be fine, Raf," she said, likely trying to get a response out of him.
Jack spoke again, "Look, our 'Bots will come back for us... Right, Miko?"
She nodded. "Yeah, they'll be back here before you know it."
"How do you know?" Raf said quitely, voice filled with fear and sadness.
I spoke up from behind them, "Because, Raf, they came for us when we were being held by the Decepticons, and they will come for us after they find Fowler."
Raf glanced up at me, looking slightly less sad, though it was hardly noticeable.
"Hey, Raf... What do you make of that?" Jack asked, looking at some symbols on a computer screen in front of us, which I hadn't bothered to look at.
Raf got a confused look on his face and jumped off the ledge, walking toward the Cybertronian computer.
Jack, Miko and I walked up behind him.
He studied the symbols for a long time and finally said, "It's important... ery important."
I recognized one symbol on the computer. "I think I might know what this is," I said, looking at the screen.
"Then what is it?" Jack asked, looking at me confused.
"At the end of the first episode in the cartoon, the Decepticons used a space bridge to bring Megatron back to earth. The symbol on the far right was highlighted on the screen when they activated it. That symbol might have something to do with the same space bridge," I answered, hand on my chin in thought.
Footsteps off to the left made us turn and gasp. A Decepticon was just entering the room. Jack, Raf and Miko ran for an alcove under the computer. I was too far away, and my only option was hiding under what I thought was a ledge, but turned out to be Cybertronian-sized stairs. I heard the Decepticon stop walking for some reason, but I didn't care at the moment. Raf had forgotten his backpack where we were standing before the 'Con came into the room. That in itself wasn't what had my attention. What did was that Raf had left his hiding spot to retrieve his backpack.
"Raf. Get. Back!" I whispered to him, but it was too late.
I heard the sound of a weapon powering up, and Raf got a look of terror on his face. I felt usless at that moment. There was nothing I could do to help then. A moent later, I heard, and felt, the Decepticon walk down the stairs I was hiding behind, and a giant, metal foot came into view. I could see he had suffered damage to his left foot and was missing a piece of armor. There were a number of small wires and cables exposed where normally there was armor. They were small enough that I thought I could rip some of them out by hand, I made a hasty decision... One that would likely hurt.
Before the Decepticon got his other foot off the stairs, I ran forward and grabbed on to the mess of cables and wires. Almost immediately the 'Con tried shaking me off, but I held on for all I was worth.
"Get off me, fleshy!" The 'Con yelled, hopping on one foot.
'Hmmm... This looks important,' I thought, just before pulling on a cable.
Bright blue liquid, what I believed was energon, flowed from the now useless cable, and the 'Con screamed, "You slagging glitch! I'll make you pay for that!" But his movements lessened.
'Houston, we have a weakness!' I pulled another cable from it's place and was rewarded with more screaming from the 'Con.
"You piece of sh-" A handful of wires were pulled out, making the 'Con scream again.
I had just pulled out another cable when the 'Con shook his leg again, making me shift slightly and make my left arm from my elbow to my finger tips go through the energon leaking from the 'Con's leg, covering nearly my entire limb in the blue liquid. It felt like I just dipped my arm in fire.
"Son of a bitch that hurts!" I yelled, almost almost losing my grip on the 'Con's leg. But I managed to hang on, albeit barely.
"Miko! take a picture!" I heard Jack yell.
I didn't hear Miko's reply, but I saw a flash and the Decepticon stopped moving, looking at Miko curiously.
"I don't think he meant of this Miko!" I yelled, and pulled out another handful of wires.
Again, I didn't hear Miko's reply, but I heard Jack yell at me, "Zech we've got to go!"
I looked at the largest cable on the 'Con's leg and said loud enough for him to hear me, "Here's something to remember me by!" I pulled the cable and jumped off his leg.
The Decepticon fell on the floor after I pulled the cable, and by the time he started after me, I was already out the door.
Jack, Raf and Miko all looked at me when I slid around the corner. "Run! He's pissed off now!"
They turned and ran up the hallway, with me, and a very angry Decepticon, not far behind.
I don't know where Bulkhead came from. One second there was an empty hallway, and the next he was transforming over our heads. He slammed into the Decepticon, who was limping noticeably. Before I saw what happened next Bumblebee and Arcee pulled up along side us.
"I told you to stay put!" Arcee yelled, likely in frustration.
Bumblebee opened his passenger door and moved his front seat forward to let Miko, Raf and I in. Not in the mood to sit in front, and still dealing with an arm that felt like fire, I climbed on the back. Agent Fowler was half laying, half sitting in the back with me.
"Hello, Agent Fowler" I said as nicely as I could.
His response surprised me, "I like pie... Can we stop for pie, daddy?" He sounded like an overgrown toddler, not at all the agent he had been at base.
I blinked once. Twice. Three times. "Well... At least you found him," I finally said to Bumblebee, trying as hard as I could not to laugh at Fowler's ridiculous statement.
Several hours later, all of us, including Ratchet and Optimus, were back at base. Fowler was on an old gurney Ratchet had in storage for some reason. He had inserted an IV into the government agent's arm, before Optimus repaired his own damaged arm, which he had severely damaged while out in the field with Optimus. Optimus and Ratchet walked over to where we humans were standing next to Fowler's gurney and Miko asked.
"What happened to you guys, anyway?" Miko asked, and for once her voice held no humor.
"We engaged an army of undead Cybertronian warriors," Ratchet said, with little emotion.
"Zombies? You fought zombies and I missed it!" Miko said, now with her usual attitude, making me roll my eyes.
"Bulkhead, you exercised extremely poor judgment in allowing the humans to accompany you," Optimus said, somehow managing to mildly scold him without changing his tone.
Bulkhead looked at Miko and then to Optimus. "It won't happen again Optimus, I promise," he seemed to be covering for Miko.
Not understanding, Miko stepped forward to protest. "But it wasn't Bulkhead's fault. Check it out. We did some recon!" She flipped open her phone toward Optimus, showing what I assumed was the picture of the computer screen.
The Prime leaned down to get a closer look. "Hmm... Ratchet, have a look. It may be of importance to Megatron," he said, standing back to his full height.
Ratchet leaned down to look at Miko's phone like Optimus did. "I... I don't, ah... I don't understand," he said after a moment, looking at Miko confused.
Miko looked at her phone's screen. "Oops, thats the 'Con that tried to blow Raf away. Well, that's what he looked like before Zech pulled a bunch of cables and wires out of his foot and Bulkhead rearranged his grill!" she said, excitedly.
The Autobots looked at me in mild surprise when Miko said I pulled cables and wires out of the 'Cons foot.
I shrugged in response.
"Miko! Raf was almost killed! This isn't a game. When are you going to get that through your thick skull!" Jack yelled, very obviously having enough of Miko's attitude.
"Not exactly the words I was going to use, but he is right, Miko" I said in a neutral tone, not wanting to get in an argument.
The hyperactive girl rolled her eyes at Jack and me. "Um, we were all almost killed, Jack. You, me, Raf, Zech, even the 'Bots!" She said, in typical Miko fashion.
Jack looked at her for a moment and said, "Well, if this was an average day with the Autobots, then I don't want to be apart of it... Not anymore" he said, shaking his head.
Miko looked at him with an unreadable expression before Optimus spoke, "Jack? Putting you in harms way was never our intent. However, it is no logner the safety of you this is at risk but the safety of all mankind. We will respect your decision if you wish to lea-" Optimus was cut off by the ground bridge activating.
"No point in long goodbyes. Here's the door," Ratchet said in an uncaring tone, gesturing toward the green portal.
Jack looked at Raf. "Come on, let's go home." His voice was quiet.
Raf looked at Bumblebee, who was hanging his helm. "I'll be okay Jack... See you at school" he said with a sad tone, taking a step away from Jack.
Jack nodded in understanding and started walking toward the ground bridge.
I spoke up before he got to the stairs, "Jack... Believe me when I say I know what it's like to have your entire would changed." I walked next to him and continued, "You will likely never have a normal life again, your very brief time here will stay with you for the rest of your life." I gestured to the room we were standing in.
"What's your point?" Jack asked, a slightly irritated tone in his voice.
"My point is, Jack, if you walk through that ground bridge you're always going to wonder what it would have been like to be friends another race of beings." With that I walked back to Raf and Miko.
Jack stood in the same spot for a good minute looking at the ground bridge. Finally, he turned to Ratchet. "You can shut it down," he said simply, and went to stand next to Miko.
Ratchet deactivated the ground bridge and grumbled something about, 'A waste of energon.'
Optimus had Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee take Jack, Miko and Raf home after Jack decided to stay. But he told me to stay. Apparently, they had set up a place for me to sleep.
"Zechariah," Optimus said, after they had left and Ratchet went to his computer, "You haven't informed us you were injured." He pointed a finger at my left arm, where the energon left a noticeable burn.
"I didn't think it needed treatment. While I was on the Decepticon's leg, I pulled out a cable that spilled energon. Some of it got on me. It stopped hurting awhile ago, after it evaporated," I said, not thinking much of it. It would still hurt if something was wrong, right?
Optimus' optics widened a tiny fraction of an inch, and Ratchet stopped typing on his computer and slowly turned to me. "Energon doesn't evaporate... It crystallizes, or is absorbed," he said, giving me an unreadable look.
The implication of his statement sank in. "Oh... Well, then this is really bad, isn't it?"
Before Ratchet or Optimus could answer, searing pain went throughout my body. My entire body was throbbing like a severe headache would. It was more painful than anything I'd ever experienced. I was faintly aware of being carried somewhere, then feeling a small prick in my neck. Ratchet must have given me some kind of sedative because my world was rapidly going dark.
'How many times am I going to go unconscious?' I thought, with amusement just before the sedative kicked in.
*Rubs nose* This is painful for me to read. So bad. So... Flat. Ick. But, it also reminds me where I came from as a writer, so there's that, at least.
Thank you to anyone who managed to force themselves to read through this. I pity you. Please listen when I say I actually have DEPTH to my characters later on. This is just... The Dark Days, AKA the stuff I wrote like a month or two after I first started writing. It will get better... Just need to wade through 10-11 chapters of really, really amateur stuff. Sorry in advance.