Author's note: yeah, you don't see many of these from me but I felt the need to do one. First off, I hope everyone is staying safe during this time. Anyone who reads this story and is an essential worker, thank you so much for your service and stay safe out there! Those who are at home and owning the curve, we appreciate what you are doing! Lastly, enjoy the chapter.
You know that feeling when you are about to puke but nothing is coming from your mouth; yeah, that's what happening to me. It didn't help with my ribs feeling like they are on fire. Will was holding my head in his hands and checking over anything on my face before noticing me holding my ribs. "Do your ribs hurt?" he questioned while gently prying my arms from my chest.
The only thing I could do was nod, in fear of my spilling was in my stomach. He lifts up my shirt in front of everyone here, exposing my sports bra to the other soldiers. I didn't care about them seeing my upper woman body parts but I did care about them seeing the many scars ranging from big to small along my stomach and back.
A deep blush grew over my face and attempted to stop him from continuing him embarrassing me any further. He didn't let me though and his eyes widen from shock pooling inside of them and a small gasp could be heard from him. He lets go my shirt and turns to one of the seven large bots in front of him. "Ratchet, I need you to take care of her injuries for me please," he orders, leaving no room for argument.
No way in hell is one of those things getting to me again; I'd rather not acquire anymore injuries. I shake my head and backed away from the approaching bot with my hand pointing a finger at him. I ignored the pain in my ribs from my muscles pulling. Aggressive fear was painted over my face as I tried to act like the big, bad wolf. "No! You stay away from me. I don't want another one of those things near me." You could tell fear was in my voice.
Will quickly caught up to my retreating form and grabbed the hand pointing at the bot named Ratchet. "Aubrey, they aren't going to hurt you. They are the good guys. Barricade is part of the Decepticons, those are the bad guys," he explained as if that was going to settle the dust and calm my new found fear of them.
"I don't care about them being good or bad, I'm fine in the first place. No need for any doctors or anything on the lines of that," I placed my welling being at the bottom of the importance list. "Where are Dom and Zeke? Are they okay? Are they hurt? I'm going to kic-," this time Ratchet interrupted me.
"Don't worry, they are safe and with some of the other soldiers. They aren't injured but only a bit shaken up. You, on the other servo, are in worse condition. I don't care if you don't like us but your injuries are best to be taken care of now then later," Ratchet pointed out before advancing to me and scooping me off the ground.
This didn't help me on their image about them and caused me to freak out even more. "Will you stop it!? Your injuries need to be cared for and there aren't any other doctors around for miles. Whether you like it or not, you're going to be worked on by me." As if he scares me.
"Just fucking set me down or the gods help me, I will fucking tear you bolt from bolt," I threatened with my voice low and dangerous. I was stressed out to the max and needed to be away from what was stressing me out or it won't end pretty for anyone in the general area.
"Ratchet, please set her down. We'll work this out later," Will plead for the sake of the bots and me.
Gladly Ratchet gently sets me back down on the ground with a few words of complaint. But the moment my feet hit the ground, I rushed away from him and others to be about a good twenty feet from all of them.
My mind began to slow down as the danger was now away from us. I had to kneel down and try my best for the tears threatening to fall, stop at the brim of my eyes. When overstressed like this, for some reason, I want to cry myself to sleep. That's what used to happen when I was younger.
Nothing helped though and the first tear fell, others followed suit. I kept my mouth shut, keeping any noise wanting to escape quiet. That was what I was doing until a small strangled cry sounded from the back of my throat.
Will heard the noise and immediately came over to where I am and kneeled down next to my crying form. "Hey," he softly spoke," everything is going to be fine. Let's get you back to where Zeke and Dominick are." I perked up at the mention of my great friend's names and slightly nodded my head. He helped me off the ground and led me away from the ground and into the forest. He used his body to keep me from everyone's eyes.
It was a long walk back and a painful one for me. My ribs didn't like all the movement of walking but I didn't want to be carried around like a doll in one of the bots' hands. A shiver went down my spine at the thought of being held by another robotic being, I didn't want to be squeezed to near death again in my entire life.
Finally, we reached where the dirt road is and where a group of twenty or so soldiers stood around with high powered weapons in their grasp. Far down the road on the right of us, my truck was parked in the same spot before we got caught up in this.
"Aubrey!" my name was called from the group of soldiers and two familiar people rushed toward me, full speed. Dom was the first to get his arms around me, crushing me in his strong embrace and causing my ribs to scream in pain. I forcefully push the both of them away while more tears threaten to fall and stood off to the side, holding my throbbing ribs.
Both of them were at my sides in an instant, acting like my mother hens and asking questions like "are you okay?" "are you alright?" "what happened?". Will stepped in and gently pushed them away from me to given me room for a breather.
"No, the Con that we were chasing nearly crushed her in his grip," Will explained what happened to me. To stay the least, my warden friends weren't happy at all and started to literally drag me over to the nearest forest green truck. Mine was the closest out of the three of them.
I twist both of my arms out of their grasp and continued our path towards my truck. There were medical supplies inside for a lot of things, including bruised and cracked ribs. The two wardens stopped trying to 'help' me, snapping out of their mother hen faze and noticing that I didn't need any help from them.
No one stopped me and let me make my way over to my truck. I hop in the driver seat without starting it up and rest my arms on the steering wheel and rest my head on top of my arms. Even though I got those five or so hours of sleep during my capture, my body was dead tired wanted to crash in the more comfortable passenger.
While contemplating whether or not to fall asleep right here, my ears caught the sound of some of the soldiers talking where we had immerge from dense forest. I place my chin on my arms and gaze tiredly out of the front window, watching everyone converse with each other. Will was rounding everyone up, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible.
My eyes caught the sight of the red bot that caught me from falling to the ground was staring at me. For no apparent reason, I gave him a short wave before returning my hand underneath my chin. He seemed to perk up slightly at my gesture and returned the wave with a bit more excitement. That was cut short by a yellow bot as it smacked him in the arm.
After a while of sitting in my truck with my fellow wardens who knew not to speak to me when I'm like this, Will approached me. "Brey, we are heading back to the base. You're too stressed out and tired to drive safely. So go with Epps and I'll drive your truck back to your house."
"You can't. Only a warden from our department can drive my truck and I really don't want to get in trouble with Tipps. She can be scary when she is mad. And to be honest, I'd rather not want to be any closer with any of the bots. I can drive to my house," I argued with my words sounding a bit slurred. He only shook his head before looking at Dom in the passenger seat. I already knew what was going to happen.
Gripping onto the steering wheel like it was my lifeline, I stuck out my tongue childishly at Dom who was exiting the truck and moving around to the other side. "NO! I'm fine, leave me alone," I whined like a two year old as Dom attempted to pull me out of the seat. My ribs were burning from the amount of movement and pressure they are going through and it was too much for me to handle.
"Okay! Stop! Let go of me and I'll get out of the truck peacefully," I offered, my voice sounding like I was in pain and on the verge of tears once more. Dom gladly let go of me, giving me an apologetic expression. I gently slide of the truck, hissing under my breath from the spring of pain in my ribs, and hobbled over to the front of the truck, using the front end of the truck to stable myself.
A few curse words left my mouth and multiple mock, incoherent words with them as I lean against the push bars. The moment my eyes slowly shut, the sound of quick shifting gears caught my attention and my eyes snapped open to see the bots turning into cars.
All the newly transformed cars in front of me were way too familiar in design and type, specially the two Lamborghinis. "No way," I gasped in shock with my eyes nearly bugging out. It finally hit me harder than a freight train: the same cars showing up at Will's are the same car-robots in front of me. Let's just say, that didn't help my headache in anyway.
"You got to be fucking kidding me," I groaned, not wanting to deal with figuring out the truth at the moment.
The familiar red Lamborghini backed up until it was to the right of me. The driver side door opened up and out stepped Shawn, even though it should be impossible for him to be in there. "Hey, Brey. Um, I overheard you can't drive your truck and I wanted to-," he was interrupted by Will.
"Sideswipe, not at the moment. She has been through a lot and needs time to think over everything," Will turned Shawn (though Will called him Sideswipe) down for me. I actually kind of wanted to ride with Shawn yet felt a bit weird about riding inside of one of the bots.
Shawn-Sideswipe, I don't even know anymore, shoulders slouched and a small hint of hurt flashed inside of his eyes. He nodded his head solemnly before turning around and slipping back into the sleek Lamborghini. He drives up next to the yellow Lamborghini and stays there, without leaving his car.
"Come on, Brey. Dom will drive the truck to your house for you. You go find Epps and he'll watch over you until we get back to the base," Will shooed me away from the two of them.
"Could you please take of the dogs for me?" I questioned tiredly. He gave a tight-lipped smile and nodded his head. Zeke and I quietly stroll over to the group of soldiers loading up into armored trucks.
Neither of us said a word to each other as there wasn't much to say. We quickly found Epps and he ushered us into one of the armored trucks, giving us a sad look. We sat next to each other and I rested my head against his shoulder. My ribs groaned in protested at the strange angle yet I didn't give any fucks to the world.
Soldiers gave us either a sad, knowing look of being dragged into this, a look of being slightly weirded out, or not even giving us a glance.
Without realizing it, my eyes closed by themselves and I gave in to being tired.
Something gently poked my shoulder. "Wake up, Brey." The male voice was a softer, like talking to a five year old. When I didn't stir or make a noise, my body was shaken a little bit. "Wake up." The voice was now a bit harsher in tone. Again, I made no move or sound and laid there still as a board. "God fucking damnit, I don't have time for this."
This time, someone decided the way to wake me from my peaceful nap was by ticking my sore ribs. That sure woke me up with a startle and had accidently punched whoever woke me. My fist collided what felt like a shoulder or something close to that and it pulsed lightly with pain. It didn't help with my ribs literally sounding off Hells bells off in my head.
I stand up with my legs not very steady underneath me and glance at Epps standing in front of me, rubbing his shoulder. "Damn, you hit hard," he commented. "Sorry your nap was short but we're here at the base." Nodding my head with looking like I was drunk, I follow the African American out of the truck and into bright, sunny land of the living.
Zeke was waiting a few feet from the back end of the truck. By the way he held his body and the look on his face, he was ready to collapse from exhaustion. I was feeling the same way and wanted to lay down on the dirt underneath my feet and sleep for thousands of years.
Epps didn't say a word to use as he led us over to where the car-robots are driving. It was a massive hangar and it surprised me it didn't collapse under its own weight. The door way was about thirty to thirty five feet tall and around fifty feet wide.
All the expensive vehicles drove to the back of the hangar and sat there, looking pretty.
The inside of the hangar looked even bigger on the inside. It had a large cat-walk with computers sat on tables. Other techie soldiers sat at said tables, focusing on whatever was on the screen, well except one that was play Galaga. He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did or at least I did.
"We'll have to wait for Will to get back for your guys' debriefing so you can hang here for a while," Epps offered and showed us to an empty table. Great, debriefing is so much fun (note the sarcasm). I took the liberty of sitting down first and burying my head into my arms.
Even though my head was facing down at the grey table, I could hear Epps footsteps going away from us. Zeke sat down on one of the other table's chairs and released a sighed that was filled with tiredness. I pick my head back up and gaze at the line of shiny vehicles at the back of the hangar. My eyes immediately caught sight of the red Lambo, sitting on its wheels like a doll on display. Only difference was I knew it wasn't any normal supercar but a robot.
WAIT! I rode inside of that thing! My cheeks being to burn, probably turning the same color of the car, and I sat up in surprise, pulling at my bruised ribs. A shocked gasp escaped my mouth at the pain that sprung up with the movement. All I wanted at the moment was a comfy to lie on and fall asleep on.
A warm hand landed on my shoulder and gently squeezed to gain my attention. "You alright, Brey?" Zeke inquired with worry laced in his word. I nod my head to reassure him and myself, I really didn't know if I was alright after everything that has happened.
My eyes found their way back over to the red Lambo after awhile of staring at the boring gray table. What does Shawn and the others have to do with the bots? They always seem, no they always are around when the bots, in their car form, are there.
Finally, after a good forty-five minutes of sitting and gazing at the beautiful vehicles, the familiar black GMC pulled into the hangar. Will and Dom got out of the truck and it started to drive towards the line of vehicles too. There couldn't be anyone in the driver seat because Will got out from that side. Realization hit me once more over the head: the truck is also one of them.
I carefully stand up once the two made it up the couple flights of stairs, doing my all-time-best not to disturb my aching ribs, and tiredly smiled at them. "I'll make the debriefing quick as possible and let you get on the road of sleep. Well, I'll have to let Ratchet look over you or he's going to throw a wrench in my direction." I didn't like the thought of having one of them near me and I have every right to think that.
The debriefing was quick and boring all in all and all three of us had to sign papers about keeping our traps shut. No telling anyone about their presences or the location of the base, the usual stuff.
Now was the fun part of Will trying to give me a guardian. Dom and Zeke already got theirs without complaining, most likely not caring only if it got them closer to a bed. I, on the other hand, was stubborn about defending myself quite fine against the Decepticons but Will wouldn't have it.
"Please, Brey. You need a guardian for your own sake. Another attack could happen and when you're not at your house, you need someone by your side to protect you from danger. Just accept the fact that you need a guardian. Either you pick or I pick for you," Will urged with a strict tone to his voice.
"Will, I don't need someone to babysit me, I'm fine the way I am." Sometimes I was too stubborn for my own good.
"Fine, I'll pick for you." Fuck, that wasn't the answer I was looking for. I realized there wasn't anything to get past his though of someone babysitting me and gave in.
"Wait. Fine, I give. Who do we got?" I gave in with a small sigh leaving my lips. He hands me a printed out a long list of names of the bot's names. Crosshairs and Jazz were already picked by my friends, meaning they weren't up on the table for grabs. Crosshairs was picked by Dom while Jazz was picked by Zeke.
The only name on the paper that I recognized was Sideswipe from when Will said his name early this day. I wanted someone that I already knew and decided to pick him. "I choose Sideswipe," I announced. Will's expression changed from blank to surprise and little bit of horror.
He mutters under his breath something on the lines of: "fuck, forgot those two were on the list." Will shakes his head before snatching the paper out of my hands. "You should pick someone else like one of the triplets. Like Arcee, she'll like you." Now I knew Sideswipe was the one I wanted definitely. If Will doesn't want me to have him then by all means, let him be my guardian.
"No, I choose Sideswipe. He will be my guardian from now on," I declared while standing up and straightening my posture. That wasn't the smartest idea in the world but I wanted to show Will he couldn't persuade me.
Will looked like he wanted to argue with me but when he saw the determination in my eyes, he caved. "Fine, but don't come crying to me when you get pranked. Also, it a two-bot package. His twin, Sunstreaker will tag along with Sideswipe. Be careful around Sunstreaker, he...uh, doesn't really like humans on any level. And don't get anywhere near his paint job, don't get close to him in general." So one of the bots here on the good guy side hates being near humans, sounds just like me.
With that said and done, Will lead the three us to somewhere called the Med. Bay. This will probably where Ratchet is. I was in no mood in having to deal with a twenty-five foot tall medical robot but no one really cares about what I want.
Let's just say it wasn't fun having Richard (I have no idea where he came from, he seemed to come out of nowhere) wrap gauze securely around my chest but gladly under my breasts. It was a bit painful having to breath with the wrapping around my chest but it will help with the healing process.
Will takes us to the barracks and lets the three of us take a room with two bunk beds. I didn't care where I was going to sleep and took the nearest one to me. My body nearly collapses on the cot and a sign of relief escapes my mouth. Sleep came quickly for me and I was beyond happy for its blanket to wrap around me.
"-oing to wake her if you keep talking so loudly," a slightly muffled voice woke me from my peaceful sleep of fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows. I moan from my curled form underneath a thick blanket and pulled said blanket more over my head.
"And you said I would wake her," another voice teased to the other. A few seconds later a gently hand touched my upper arm and shook me to wake me up further.
"Noooo, I don't want to get up" I whined until the hand poked my sore ribs, causing me to immediately become fully awake. "Low blow dude, low blow. Now you can fuck off for the rest of my life." Dom had a small smirk placed on his face while Zeke had a worried expression on his face.
"Awww, did the bunny not like being touched there?" Dom teased me this time. My leg swung out and hit him on the side of his thigh, it did absolutely nothing to hurt him but for me, it caused me to pull at my ribs.
"How about you shut the fuck up and leave me the fuck alone? Why did you wake me this early in the morning?" I question while rubbing my eyes to get out the last of the tiredness out of my system.
"Darlin', it's nearly noon and here you are, laying in bed, doing nothing," Dom pointed out the obvious and in return, he got the bird. I extend my arms out to the two, hoping they would get the message help me up, off the bed.
"Help," I said and made a grabby movement with my hands. Zeke grabbed my left arm while Dom grabbed my right and easily hoisted my sore body off the not-so-comfortable bed. "Thanks." I walk over to the nearest mirror and gazed at the horrible sight of me. My hair was an absolute mess upon my head, my arms had a few bruises, and my left cheek adorn a small bruise.
"I look like if a fucking punching bag could bruise," I joked from the sight in the mirror. With the gauze around my chest, I couldn't see how bruised they were and didn't really want to see them in the first place.
Both of them chuckle from my funny remark. "It's not that bad," Dom lied through his teeth. I sent a glare in his direction before realizing their change of clothes. They were dressed in the normal army style camouflaged clothes while I was still wearing my clothes from yesterday and boy, do I stink.
The rumble of my stomach caught the attention of everyone in the room. "Food, food is good and needed," I commented.
"Then let's go find where they keep the food," Dom declares before exiting our temporary room, leaving us standing there like buffoons. I was the first to react by also leaving the room and caught up to Dom. Only a couple seconds later, Zeke joined us on our journey to find where the food is.
We didn't find where the cafeteria is and found ourselves in the massive hangar from before. Some of the car-robots were transformed into their robotic form, standing around and talking with each other. What caught my eye was the red bot that turns into the red Lambo was in the group of bots. He was standing next to a bot that was very similar in size and bulk but was a color of bright yellow and small fins on the side of his head.
Dom spots our lord and savior who was talking with a red and blue huge bot. My great friend leads us up the cat-walk and over to where Will was standing. Will see's us and excuses himself to come over to where we are. "Gosh, Brey. You look like someone backhanded you into a wall," Will pointed out. I sent a glare in his direction and a lovely middle finger to top it all off.
"As if I didn't know that. I just want some food before crashing back on my bed. I'm going home today, right?" I questioned with hope filling my voice. My dogs are in need of my love and I needed to sleep for another week.
"You're just in time for lunch then, come on. Then after that, I can show you where you can get a shower because you sure need it," Will offered before walking down the steps of the cat-walk and out of the hangar. We quickly followed him towards wherever he is taking us, all I wanted was food and hot, burning shower.
The food was definitely not the greatest by any means; it was the super healthy shit and what I heard from Will, Ratchet doesn't like any sort of sugar products on base. They, of course, have to sneak sugary foods and drinks onto the base and hide them from the Medic. I was happy for food to be in my stomach as yesterday was my day to have dinner.
I was shown to where the community showers where the females are able to shower by themselves. There was no one in here gladly, letting me shower in peace and take up all the hot water. It also felt amazing on ribs, that's not sarcasm, and I wanted to stay in here all day; but Will said after I got ready, he would take all of us home with our new guardians to protect us from evil.
After the extremely hot shower, I was introduced to the real form of Ian, his name is Ironhide. The only problem we were having now was Will wanted me to sit inside of Ironhides car form. "I'm sorry if I seem… uneasy about riding with you. Hopefully you can see my side on why I feel that way." I was trying my best to be polite with Ia-Ironhide.
"I understand but you need to get over your fear and take the leap as you humans say." He was right about that, just get into the back of truck and you get on home to see your dogs and take an entire week off from work. And I did it, now I was sitting in back of black GMC Topkick with my ribs slightly protesting from getting in the back.
"See it wasn't that hard, was it?" Ironhide teased. I mumbled a 'fuck you' underneath my breath and glared at the console. Zeke slides in next to me as Dom got the front seat with Will in the driver seat even though he didn't need to drive.
The ride to everyone's houses was filled all of us asking questions (appropriate questions) about who and what they are. Ironhide answered most of them as if was about their kind. The three of us learned about them being from the planet called Cybertron (classifying them as aliens) and called Cybertronians, their car forms are call alternate mode (alt. mode), and lots of other stuff.
"Thanks Will, I'll see you later," I said my goodbye's before climbing up the porch steps and unlocking my front door. It was good to back in my own home for once in a while. The dogs jumped happily in their kennels, waiting to be let out which I did.
They gave me lots of loves to me before I let them out for a potty break. I dealt with the dogs pretty quickly before heading back upstairs as the sun was ready to fall below the horizon. Sleep became a reality and I was able to finally fall back to sleep with the dogs in their normal spot.