Chapter Two: The not-a-date date
Humans were loud.
Humans were loud and played booming rock music.
Humans were loud and played booming rock music and talked so fast that their words blurred together like an entire paragraph was just one word.
These are the things that Halo learned as soon as she stepped foot in the base. Oddly enough, all of the above qualities appealed to the femme.
Literally the moment she walked through the portal, Miko came running up to her, having already prepared a ton of questions and making it difficult for her femme to walk for fear of stepping on the small human girl.
"What's your story, HJ?" Miko asked, apparently deciding to assign a nickname the her, "Where you from? How old are you? Are you a Decepticon spy? What does that stick-weapon-thing do? Have you smashed more 'cons than Bulkhead? Ever use a construction crane for a baseball bat?"
Jack quickly intervened, "C'mon Miko. Don't confuse her."
"Nah, it's fine," Halo shrugged, "Well I grew up with the Wreckers. I'm from Prax originally. I'm twenty-one orns old. I am not, nor have I ever been, nor do I ever intend to be a Decepticon spy. This stick-weapon-thing has five alt modes in total, including a bow, sword, two katanas, it's current mode and a blaster. To this day, I haven't met any 'bots who've crushed more 'cons than Bulk. And finally, what's baseball?" She could literally feel everyone staring at her, "What did I say?"
"Nothing. Everyone is merely in shock at your ability to comprehend Miko's senseless jibber-jabber," Ratchet explained, not taking his optics off of the screen.
"Watch it, Ratchet," Miko warned, shooting a glare at him.
HJ smirked, "Well, 'senseless jibber-jabber' makes sense to me."
Miko smiled approvingly up at the femme. From behind her, Halo sensed heavy footsteps coming from the entrance of the base, turning her head instinctively towards the origin of the sound. She realised it was a mech, taller than the others. Not many mechs were that tall, so, unless it was Megatron, it had to be-
"Optimus Prime?" She guessed, saluting him. She hadn't learnt much during her time in the war, but if anything it was to respect the boss bot, "It's an honour to meet you, sir."
"At ease soldier," Optimus replied in a deep, sonorous voice like a robot James Earl Jones, "And the honour is mine to meet the youngling Bulkhead talked so frequently about." He paused, glancing at her visor, "Do you wish to not remove your visor?"
Halo adjusted her visor, in a poorly-considered attempt to draw attention away from them, "Uh, yeah. It-it isn't a fashion statement. Lost my sight, a while back now."
"Wait, what do you mean you lost your sight?" Bulkhead asked in disbelief.
Jyn shrugged, "During a battle. Decepticon fired, got a lucky shot and knocked me out. When I woke up, I was in the triage, with this," She gestured to her visor, "Docs said I'd never see again."
The entire room fell silent at her last sentence. Even Miko kept her mouth shut.
The golden femme Wrecker bit her tongue. She knew lying was wrong, but like she had thought earlier, the last thing she needed was pity. And technically it wasn't lying, it just...wasn't telling them the whole truth.
"But, how'd you take out those 'cons back there?" Arcee asked.
Halo folded her arms defensively, "Last I checked, I had four other senses. I learnt to live like this ages ago. I rely on sound and instinct when it comes to fighting."
Arcee resumed glaring at the femme's recurring sarcasm. She was really starting to get on the two-wheeler's nerves. Bulkhead may not have been good at reading facial expressions, but even he knew when Arcee didn't want to be crossed - which was all the time.
"Hey, uh, speaking of sound, Haley you got to show us your singing later on," Bulkhead said, placing a servo on her shoulder.
Halo hesitated, "Singing? No way, Bulk. I haven't sung for...I don't know how long."
"Foremost, it would be wise to become more familiar with your new surroundings," Optimus interjected, "A tour of the base would be a good start."
"Dibs!" Miko yelled, jumping down from her place on the metal platform and running next to Jyn, "I have way more questions to ask you anyways."
The femme shrugged, "Sure, why not? We're already through the looking glass anyway."
"Hey," Bulkhead said as they made their way to the exit, "Be back soon so we can get you a vehicle mode."
"Got it," Halo replied.
Miko led the way as they headed to one of the exits from the main room to the hallways, "What was Bulkhead like before coming to Earth? What's Prax like? How many battles have you fought in? What kind of music do you like? When did..."
Her voice trailed off as they disappeared behind a corner.
Bulkhead continued to stare after them, obviously deep in thought.
"Is something wrong, Bulkhead?" Optimus asked.
The green mech shook himself more awake, "Uh, yeah. Just...weird seeing Halo now. The last time I saw her, she was ten orns old. Even seeing her out in that battle field, fighting the 'cons..."
"It's understandable, Bulk," Arcee stepped forward, "You haven't seen each other for centuries. She's grown up now."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Bulkhead glanced down the hallway that Miko and the femme had gone down, "But, her sight...if I was there-"
"Bulkhead, don't blame yourself," Arcee told him, "No one can change the past."
Halo was a different 'bot, he knew he had to accept that. Whether he would accept that was a different matter altogether.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Meanwhile, Miko was asking Halo Jyn so many questions it would have shocked anyone that the femme wasn't confused out of her processor. They had been gone for about half an hour and had only gone through a quarter of the base.
"So, HJ," Miko began as they walked down the hallway, "Which battles you fought in?"
Halo thought for a minute, "In order? Um...Sea Of Rust, first battle of Iacon, Nyx, Akalai...Tyger Pax, second and final battles of Iacon, the storm of the Darkmount IV and...Prax. Those are just the ones people have heard of."
"Whoa...Which had the most 'cons crushed?"
"Hm. Probably Tyger Pax, but that was the battle I...that was a dark day."
Miko stopped a little way ahead of her, turning back to face Halo, "What happened?" Halo didn't respond, "That bad, huh?"
Jyn sighed, "Miko...let's just talk about something else, ok? Whoa!"
She exclaimed as her leg met a solid surface, causing her to trip. The femme pushed herself off of the ground, turning around wondering what she had fallen over.
"What the...?"
"Oops! Sorry HJ," Miko apologised running up to the femme, "Should 'a told ya about that. You good?"
The Wrecker nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine, but what was that?"
Miko shrugged, "Just a broken wall from where Ratchet slammed Bulkhead through from the training room into the hallway."
"The medic dude?" Halo questioned, "I know he's a little like a turbo-fox who got his food stolen by a Predacon-" Miko looked at her with a blank expression, "-but I didn't think the doc was the kind to challenge a mech as strong as Bulk to a sparring match."
"In all fairness, it's not Ratch's fault, he was on synth-en and boy did that have interesting side-effects," Miko laughed, "You should've seen Arcee's reaction when he tried to flirt with her. That was a pic worth snapping."
Halo raised an optic ridge as she got off of the ground, brushing her hair out of the way of her face as she did so, "Yeeeaaah, I don't think me and her are gonna get along so well."
"Meh, don't take it personally," Miko said, continuing to lead down the hallway, "To this day, she still holds a grudge against me for accidentally getting Raf, Jack and me trapped in the Shadow-Zone. And for the time when I talked about Zombie-Cons after Cliffjumper was brought back to life with dark energon. And when I snuck through the ground bridge when she was fighting Airachnid and Bulkhead was crushing Breakdown."
"Wow, I really have missed all of the action while I was floating around in space, huh?"
"You don't know the half of it."
Halo smirked as they continued down the hallway, "So, Breakdown's here?"
"Yup. But don't worry, Bulkhead totally won the rematch."
"Good to hear. That 'con is seriously evil," She slowed her pace a little sensing Miko glance up at her, "We...had a little 'run-in', a while back now, but that's not important." She quickly changed the subject, "So, Bulk said something about a vehicle mode. What's that?"
"Do you like travelling really, really fast?" The girl asked. Jyn nodded. Miko took on a mischievous grin, "Oh, man. You're gonna love dune-bashing."
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
"They've been gone for a long time, haven't they?" Bulkhead wondered aloud, his optics constantly shifting from one entrance to another, "You don't think-"
"Bulkhead!" Arcee snapped, "For the last time, Halo Jyn isn't Makeshift! Wheeljack blew him and an entire fleet of 'cons sky-high."
The green off-roader sighed, "I just don't want the two of them to not get along. Haley's my best friend and Miko's my best friend. How'd you feel having to pick between Bumblebee and Jack?"
Arcee thought on what he said for a minute. She didn't ever plan to admit that she cared more for the young scout than she let on. Bee was like a little brother to her, but so was Jack. And Jack risked his life to save Optimus, but so had Bumblebee.
Bumblebee and her had known each other since before Tyger Pax, all the way back to the training academy. He was such a sweet little mech, even though she had even been one of the older Cybertronians that used to pick on him.
Thank Primus, Bumblebee was on a mission with Optimus and Ratchet so he didn't hear the discussion. Jack, although at the base, didn't so much as look up from his car-racing marathon Raf had challenged him to.
The two-wheeler rolled her optics, "Fine, I guess it would be hard to pick, but that isn't my point. Think of it this way: No one, not even Makeshift, could possibly make up a character so stubborn, childish and irritatingly-sarcastic as Halo Jyn."
Bulkhead's optics widened as light metal footsteps entered the room. Raf, Jack and the green mech were all staring behind where Arcee stood.
"Oh, really?" an irritated-sounding voice said from behind her.
The realisation struck her. The team could almost hear her thinking 'Oh, scrap'. She slowly turned around, praying it wasn't who she thought it was. Her prayers were useless.
Sure enough, the pink-haired Miko stood, arms crossed, on the ground, glaring up at the blue motorcycle. Next to her, Halo, hands on her hips. She might have glared if she had the means of doing so, but it wasn't hard for any of them to tell that she wasn't happy.
"Halo, I-uh," Arcee stuttered, for the first time in her life, stuck for what to say, "I didn't mean-"
The gold femme held up her hand to silence the motorbike from talking, "Didn't mean what? That I was 'stubborn'? That I was 'childish'? Or that I was 'irritatingly-sarcastic'?"
"Come on, I wasn't being serious. I was just joking," Arcee tried to excuse her behaviour, crashing and burning horribly
"No, what I do is 'just joking'. What you did was decide you don't like me after knowing me for less then two hours," Halo shot back.
The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a sword. Arcee wasn't denying it, nor was she aware of any appropriate response she could say, at least not in front of the children. Halo spun around on her heel and stormed towards nearest exit.
"Haley?" Bulkhead stepped forward, "Where're you going?"
"To find a V-mode so I don't end up sayin' something I'll regret," She told him, a sharp tone in her voice. She didn't stop walking, "Don't worry, Miko told me about the whole 'Robots in Disguise' deal. I'll keep a low profile."
Before he could say any other reasons why she couldn't go it on her own, Jyn sprinted towards the exit, running out of the base at high speed.
As soon as she was outside, she paused momentarily, breathing a sigh of relief. Making a mental note of where the base was, Halo decided to go through the desert for a while.
"That's right, Halo," The femme self-loathed, "Make yourself seem like a complete jerk. That'll make 'em like you."
Unsure of how far she had gone, HJ scanned her surroundings (using sonar-like abilities). To the east, he way she had come, was the base. To the west was a town called Jasper. South and north was basically endless desert land. Jasper was teaming with humans so that was a no.
She wasn't up to going to base yet, especially with Arcee there, constantly glaring at her, and Bulkhead asking if she was OK. She knew the big guy meant well, but she just preferred to keep to herself when she was upset. Especially after Tyger Pax.
That mech, Bumblebee.
It couldn't be the same scout...right? A lot of mechs had names that sounded like Bumblebee...didn't they?
Don't be stupid, Halo sighed.
It was the same mech. Scrap, what would be his reaction if he found out who she was? How she'd failed him? Halo hated herself for having to lie to so many people in one day, or any day, but there were some things from her past that she would've rather kept in the past.
She shuddered at the mere thought of Tyger Pax, attempting to shake off the trauma.
That last time they spoke:
"Nightbreak, run! I'll hold them off!""Don't try to be a hero, Bumblebee. We fight together.""But, Night-""No. I didn't leave you back there and don't think I plan to now."
Nightbreak; her code-name for during the war while it was still on Cybertron. No wonder Bumblebee didn't recognise her; she had had a dark blue and silver frame then.
That mech. He was the kind that came once in a lifetime; selfless, brave, willing to sacrifice himself...for her. Maybe if she had listened, he would still be able to talk...
The femme shook the thought out of her head, Stop it. What's done is done. You can't worry about the past.
Meanwhile at the Autobot Base...
"And I was like 'Later Mega-aft!', and he was like 'What?'" The yellow and black Camaro spoke so fast it was hard for the team to understand him.
He used Raf's toy car to show how he escaped the 'con leader, "And then I broke out to the other side of the 'con's ground bridge and spun 'round in a loop-de-loop and Optimus and Ratchet were telling me to hurry and we drove through our Ground Bridge, leaving Megatron to pointlessly yell 'Nooooo!'."
Arcee smirked at him as he handed Raf the car back, "Loop-de-loop, huh?"
"Yeah, it was awesome!" The Camaro said excitedly.
"You have some brass bearings, Bumblebee!" Bulkhead said, patting him on the back.
The scout grinned proudly under his battle-mask. It wasn't everyday he got to see the look on ol' Bucket-head's face when he got beaten by some bot considered significantly less powerful than he was. That'll teach that old mech to mess with him.
"Optimus, here," Ratchet pointed at the screen of the computer scanner, "The source of the ancient frequency we detected."
"An Iacon homing beacon," Optimus stated.
"What's an Autobot locator doing on that?" Arcee asked as they walked over to them.
"The class 'A' Decepticon weapons confiscated during the war were sealed in the vaults below Iacon," OP explained.
"Where you once worked as an archivist," said Bulkhead.
"Iacon was both a cultural centre and a stronghold," He replied, "Which Megatron raided when Autobot troops were at their nadir. It stands to reason that, in anticipation of Iacon being overrun by enemy forces, these weapons were jettisoned off-world, to keep them far from Decepticon reach."
"Clearly, the beacons were added as a safety measure," Ratchet informed them, "Should the weapons ever be found by the undesired party."
Bulkhead patted Bumblebee on the back, "Well, thanks to our hotshot stunt driver, this one's going in our vault."
Arcee suddenly looked very seriously at Optimus, "Do you think this is the only intel you supplied to Megatron?"
"Arcee, you are right to ask," Optimus replied, ashamed, "And I am afraid I...do not remember."
"Optimus, Megatron clearly took advantage of your amnesia," The medic said, attempting to comfort his friend, "But for all we know the Spark-Extractor is the extent of it. Have you stopped and considered that he may have suggested otherwise merely to plague your thoughts?"
The Autobot leader didn't look like he believed it, but still nodded in recognition of Ratchet's theory, "While this is likely, we cannot underestimate the amount of information Megatron may or may not have at his disposal, nor can we assume that this relic is the only he has located."
On that last note, the Autobot leader made his way to the exit, transforming into his semi-truck mode as he left, leaving behind a confused group of Autobots.
Five minutes or so had passed when from the entrance of the Autobot Base came the roar of a motorcycle engine.
As if by instinct, Arcee, Ratchet, Bulkhead and Bumblebee turned their heads to see a motorcycle roll into the main room. A Suzuki Hayabusa GSX 1300R. Mainly glistening gold, but with a swirling silver 'S' on each side.
The bike transformed to reveal none other than Halo Jyn, who appeared slightly nervous as she stood up properly. Sensing who was in the main room, she cautiously approached Arcee, who herself was confused.
Halo sighed as she stopped a safe distance away from the blue two-wheeler, shifting her feet nervously, "Um...Arcee, listen...I know I'm...hard to get along with. And I-I'm sorry for over-reacting earlier-"
"No, I...shouldn't have been so quick to judge you," Arcee admitted.
The golden femme shrugged, "Either way, I shouldn't have yelled."
Arcee smirked, "Consider it forgotten."
Bumblebee looked quizzically between the two femmes, "Uh...Did I miss something?"
"You don't know the half of it, Bee," Raf smiled up at his guardian.
Bulkhead glanced at Halo, "Does this mean everyone's gonna get along now?"
Halo shrugged, "Don't see why not."
"I do," Ratchet's voice came from the other side of the room as everyone turned to look at him, "Carelessly break any of my equipment like Bulkhead does and you'll see Angry Medic."
Even Arcee looked scared after hearing those words. Ratchet, knowing he had threatened the team enough for now, triumphantly turned around and went back to working on the latest Iacon relic decoding.
"On that note, I'm going on patrol," Arcee made her way towards the door, transforming and driving out.
Bulkhead's optics darted from Ratchet to the door.
He patted Halo on the shoulder before transforming, "See ya, Haley." He called after Arcee, "Wait up!"
Halo turned to Bumblebee, "Is the Doc Bot really that bad?" She whispered.
Bumblebee, not taking his optics off of the medic, spoke in a lower volume, "Oh, trust me, he can be a temperamental Hatchet."
"What was that Bumblebee?" Ratchet suddenly asked, startling the young scout.
"Oh, uh, I said..." Bumblebee began, trying to form an excuse.
"Bumblebee told me that I shouldn't play 'instrumental racket'," Halo interjected.
Ratchet raised an optic ridge, but went back to his work. Although not visible since his mouth was blocked by his battle-mask, the scout smiled thankfully at Halo, who returned the expression with a playful smirk.
"When you two are done conspiring against my request for sanity, you need to go out on patrol, Bumblebee," The medic said, catching the two by surprise.
"You got it, Ratch," He began to make his way over to the door before turning back to look at Halo, "Do you wanna - I don't know...come along too?"
Halo smiled at the yellow and black mech and shrugged, trying to hide her joy, "Sounds better than what I was going to do."
The scout raised and optic ridge as they walked towards the exit, "What were you going to do?"
"Basketball lobbing, one on none," The golden femme explained before transforming and driving through the door, calling back to him, "Race ya!"
He smiled under his battle-mask, following in suite, "Hey! False start!"
The Camaro left a trail of smoke behind him, that and a room full of confused faces (minus Ratchet, who was too busy to care about the scout and the Wrecker going on patrol together). It was almost completely quiet except for the beeping of buttons on the main computer.
"What...just happened?" Raf asked.
Jack shared his confusion, "Did Bee and Halo just...?"
"Bumblebee totally just asked HJ out and she totally just said yes!" Miko exclaimed.
Ratchet snorted derivatively, "Puh-lease! They've known each other for less than a day."
"So?" Miko shrugged.
"Bumblebee has never 'asked out' anyone before."
"So?"
Ratchet was struggling to come up with another reason, "Well...he didn't ask her on a 'date'. He asked if she wanted to go on patrol with him, which she then answered with 'yes'."
"Whatevs. I'm counting it. They're officially on a date," Miko grinned, "I can't wait to tell Bulkhead!"
Raf shook his head, "I-It doesn't mean they're on a date. It just means that...that they enjoy each other's company."
Jack awkwardly scratched the back of his head, "Sure, Raf. Sure...
Three guesses what (or who) is going to interrupt their not-a-date date.
This could carry on for a while, so I gotta ask: Ready to be in for the long run?
One thing you gotta know about me is that I don't give up. And I'm not giving up on this story, even if no one favourites or reviews it.
Until all are one,
GreyroseLegacy