Heat rode high above the desert plane, nothing but orange sand dotted with thorny shrubs had rolled past beneath his wings for weeks on end. They knew it was out here somewhere, but the exact base coordinates were supposed to have been confirmed and transmitted by Starscream's failed experiment.
With his commander's express desire for results, Soundwave had dispatched Laserbeak on recon to make up for lost time. Base shielding had been expected, complicating the task, but only the structures had been protected. Vehicle path patterns became apparent over time, tracking the military and civilian travel from one obscured patch of sand to another.
The clearest determination of having found the Autobot base came today, when a massive unidentified energon surge followed later by the Prime's own energon signature appeared during the course of what sounded like a battle. Finally, Laserbeak had his definitive confirmation.
The coordinates were sent back to Soundwave and Laserbeak dove into the freshly opened ground bridge to return back to the Decepticon ship.
A boisterous gathering occupied the meal tables in the entry hangar. The ARC pilots celebrated their maiden voyage and successful duel with the home-team legend, Optimus Prime! Soldiers and staff had come from the military base to witness the earlier spectacle and certainly for the alcohol-fueled afterparty. Only Sandstorm and Bumblebee joined the festivities on behalf of the Autobots.
"Primes don't party, but I sure do!" shouted Sandstorm, fist pumping in the air and dancing to the music. Bee nodded happily, swaying back and forth to the tune that filled the hangar.
The afternoon hummed along into the evening with beer and whiskey in abundance.
Cole howled with laughter as "Tommy" Freed recounted part of the fight with Optimus. "And here I was thinking we'd just take it out for a spin, something easy! Instead, we got spun across the dirt like a cadet-frisbee!"
Lionel Archer cut in "I was never afraid, not with all the firepower we got packed into that thing!"
"You might be able to lie to them, but I saw your heart rate skyrocket when he stepped onto that field." Heather Montgomery said dryly, throwing a smugly arched eyebrow at him across the table.
"And that, ladies and gentlemen," taunted Cole "is why Tommy has all the weapons and not Archer. You'dve shot at Optimus with everything all at once and not even hit him! I've seen you in war games."
"Spray and pray, I believe, is the correct term for his agility with weapons" said Ahmad, barely audible over the din.
"Hey! I landed the SHREDs, didn't I?! They might be computer guided but I pushed the button!" defended Archer, slamming his drink on the table in mock umbrage.
In a back corner, trying to blend in with the walls, Danielle wanted to join in the occasion with Cole but the mass of other people she didn't know kept her at bay. Even Bee was on the other side of the hangar and would be a long ways through the unruly crowd.
Giving in to her anxiety, she decided to grab a beer and call it night. Nearly free of the throng, she heard her name shouted from behind her. She briefly considered pretending like she didn't hear it but she knew already that it was Cole that had called out to her.
A light touch on her arm and suddenly he was next to her, beer in hand as well. "Hey girl, I know you're not about to leave this party so soon. Come over and join us? Don't worry, they're all cool." he said, smiling ear to ear, a subtle rosy hue on his cheeks.
They made their way back to his table where the team sat at an eight-seat bench table across from each other. He introduced her. "Guys, this is Danielle, the Danielle I was telling you about. Danielle, meet the ARC team!" Pointing in turn, he introduced them. "Sadiyah, Heather, Lionel, and Tommy, our fearless leader."
"Nice to meet you all. Good job out there today. I'm sure you've already heard this a thousand times but I can't believe you fought Optimus and lived to tell the tale!" Danielle said.
Heather responded "He definitely went easy on us. If the mech hadn't survived the first run, I don't think even Optimus could survive Reims' rage."
"But enough about us," interjected Lionel, slurring slightly, "Are you really a close friend of the Autobots? Could you get me an interview with Ironhide? I reeeeally want to see his guns up close."
"Alright, that's enough for you, Archer. We might have tomorrow off but you still have physical training in the morning." Tommy jeered, swiping the half empty can from his teammate. "Six and a half is your cut off."
Taking a seat at the table between Heather and Cole, Danielle sat across from Tommy who sat with Lionel on his right and Sadiyah across from Lionel on Heather's left.
Laughing along with the group, Danielle fell into comfortable lively conversation with them. Hours rolled on, countless people stopped by the table to congratulate or otherwise socialise with the team.
While most of the faces and names were quickly lost in the blur, one stuck as he came back to the table multiple times; Erikson. Each time, he was progressively more direct with Danielle about his salacious intentions. At first it was funny, but by his fourth round, even the warmth of her few beers wasn't enough to keep her from feeling on edge.
She knew Erikson was coming back once again by the aggravated countenance that crossed Tommy's face as he glared over Danielle's shoulder.
The sour stench of alcohol hit her before his disgraceful attempts at flirtation began anew. "Hey there Danny girl. Whadaya say izs time for uhs to get on outta here, sweetcheeks." A heavy hand landed on her shoulder, sliding up behind the back of her neck and squeezing.
Something primal tore through her aversion to cause a scene, her thoughts obliterating her brain-mouth filter. She shot up from her seat and turned to face him directly. "I said I'm not interested, now back off! I've had it with you!" she yelled at him, trying to keep her new-found rage under control.
Shock rippled across his face as he swayed, taken off guard by her sudden motion. He stumbled, losing his balance, and rocked forward. His arms windmilled before he gripped her hard by both shoulders, his weight on her as he fought to remain standing. The impact knocked her backwards into the table, throwing his body forward on top of her.
A cataclysm broke across her vision and her world froze. All the confidence she'd mustered went up in flames, choking her with its black smoke. She could see him still talking at her but no sound reached her mind. His sloppy smile continued to blow his wretched breath down her throat. Then his flushed face, and his weight, was gone. Now all she could see was Heather's fiery profile.
"Get out of here before I call your commander, you skank." Heather said, glaring down at the belligerent soldier on the floor where he'd fallen after she yanked him by the collar off of Danielle.
Struggling back to his feet, Erikson now stood in Heather's face, spitting venom and puffing his chest like he wanted to fight her. Cole stepped in between them and shoved him back. Inhibitions clearly lost, Erikson swung at Cole, slow and loose. Ducking with ease, instinct brought Cole into his fighting stance as he weighed the consequences against the satisfaction of knocking this fool out.
Before he solidified his justification to fight, Erikson's pugnacious face drained of all color as horror slid into place. Following the soldier's upturned gaze behind himself, Cole turned around to see Bumblebee towering behind his team, Sandstorm close at his side.
Bee lightly shook his head and mimed like he was cracking his knuckles, staring down at Erikson with no intention to play fair. Sandstorm had his hand rotor out, kicking up a stiff breeze that knocked over any empty beer cans in a thirty foot radius. "Cool your jets, punk, or I'll do it for ya." he threatened, the usual playfulness in his voice nonexistent.
Time had progressed in slow motion through the whole ordeal for Danielle, but gradually her reality resynced. Heather was looking at her with open concern. Cole returned to staring down Erikson in case he tried anything else, but the man simply skittered away.
"Are you okay?" Heather asked, Danielle finally able to refocus and meet her gaze. "Do you want me to drag him back here so you can kick his ass? I won't tell."
A shiver ran up her spine as she tried to clear her head, managing a meek "No, I'm fine, I just, he reminded me of-"
"No, no" Heather cut her off with a wave of her hand. "You don't need to explain anything."
Danielle wanted to hug this woman, pillar of strength that she was. However, the rest of the world snapped back into place and she noticed the party had ground to a halt, the whole room staring at their group. No doubt the show of force from Bee and Sandstorm wasn't helping.
Despite her surroundings, Danielle found her voice a little stronger than before. "Thank you, I appreciate you stepping in when you did. You too, Cole. Thank you."
"We've got you." He said seriously with a firm nod, adrenaline still pumping through him.
The breeze finally died down as Sandstorm shrugged, displeased to not learn how far he could launch a human. He returned to a group of soldiers he'd previously been chatting with.
Bee watched Danielle. When she met his gaze, she mimed driving a car and pointed to him. His posture relaxed as he nodded and headed towards the hangar door, transforming just outside of it.
Facing her new friends once again, Danielle said "Hey guys, I'm sorry things got so intense, it was fun before all that. I need some air though, so I'm gonna head out."
"You've got nothing to apologize for, Danielle." said Tommy, who at some point had joined Cole on their side of the table.
"I think you and your robot friends are too cool for that asshole, so don't say sorry for him!" hiccuped Archer, tipping a new can of beer at her in cheers.
"Way cool" whispered Sadiyah with a meek smile.
"You're always welcome at my table, soldier." said Heather, stepping back to give Danielle room to leave.
Cole approached her. "Hey, are you sure you're okay? Do you want any of us to come with you?" Something in his eyes and the deep concern in his voice hitched her breath for a split second. It was clear that by "us" he meant just himself.
"I'll be okay. Bee's my partner, so I'll be in good hands. You all have a good night." She managed to break eye contact and all but ran to the waiting Camaro.
The cold air whistled through the cracked windows of the car as Bee drove along the pitch black highway cradling Danielle in the heated passenger seat. They rode along in comfortable silence for a time, him absently focusing on the road ahead, her staring out the window, both processing the earlier altercation. When she started to doze off, he turned back towards base.
The party had been long over, the first blush of sun rays barely starting to paint the sky. Not wanting to wake her, Bee pulled into his quarters and remained in vehicle mode.
Hours of undisturbed sleep later, Danielle began to stir, rousing Bee from recharge. Sitting up from the reclined seat, she stretched before exiting the car.
The radio buzzed softly to life and music spilled into the cab.
"You'll never know
The beauty I see when you open your shadows
They'll never know
The worlds that I see in the darkness you don't show"
The music fizzled out, leaving nothing in the room but silence.
"Your confidence has returned."
Sleepily she looked around, expecting to see his holoform but found she was still alone beside the Camaro.
"What do you mean? Bee?"
He transformed and knelt down towards her. "I'm proud of you, Danielle."
"Wait, Bee, is that your voice? You can talk now? When did… how?"
His eyes seemed to smile at her as he replied, waving a hand nonchalantly. "Some scientists and Hoist were able to make a new voicebox for me. They referenced some old transmissions Optimus had, so this is nearly exactly my voice. I didn't say anything earlier because I didn't want it to overshadow the mech team's accomplishment."
Astonishment continued to crowd her thoughts as she grasped at straws for words to form a coherent sentence. So many questions and no clear place to start with them.
"It's not so important. What matters is that I'm able to tell you how proud I am of the way you handled last night. You stood up for yourself. And you leaned on your friends when they wanted to help you."
"I didn't really do anything though. I might have stood up but my head turned off. They almost got in a fist fight which would go badly for them in their positions." she said, finally centered again.
"His actions are not your fault. You bear no blame for his drunken mistakes. Before the escalation, you remained level headed in the face of fear. You could have jumped right to violence or fallen into total submission, but you didn't, and that is commendable."
"I really wanted to hit him but it felt like that would make things worse for me… I don't think I would have confronted him at all if the others weren't there with me though. And the alcohol probably had some part in it." she replied, an edge of shame bordering her statement.
"And that's okay, you're allowed to draw strength from your allies, and other external elements sometimes. How do you think we Autobots have held on this long? But seriously, I haven't seen your fighting spirit like that since you shot into Ironhide's cannon." he chuckled, and the sound nearly brought Danielle to tears.
"I've never heard you laugh before, Bee." she whispered, almost afraid her voice might shatter a dream and he would never talk again.
"It has been an incredibly long time for me, too." he said. "And there's no one else I'd rather share it with."
Everglow - Starset