And so it begins! Being honest, Simmons grew on me, but I really don't like Galloway. I also definitely feel the interactions between him and Kay aren't the best, but simply having to write a character I don't like at all was surprisingly difficult. An another note, due to the length of this chapter, I won't be publishing another one until two weeks from now, just to give me time to keep getting ahead. The same will be for the next chapters of the movie, which I tried to control but holy crap was that hard. Do not fear, however, for I have the second movie finished and will set a reminder on my phone to update, I promise! XP
Thank you so much all of you for your favorites, follows, reviews, and even simply reading! Love you all!
Director Galloway would be at the base sometime within the week. Kay had gone over every possible argument with Ratchet, Optimus, and Jazz. The latter was so she had an answer for any obnoxious question thrown at her.
Her college professors continued to update homework, and Bee helped by gathering up a five subject notebook and racing across the entirety of the internet, hacking into an online book site and downloading each of the textbooks to the bracelet. He then taught Kay how to load it into a datapad so that she had access to the textbooks whenever she needed. Once the point of Kay actually needing help with the work came, however, he was hopeless. It was adorable.
Ironhide got on Kay's tail for not keeping up on her workout routine. Ten at night on her first day there and his holoform barged into her temporary quarters, devilish smirk all over his features.
"Shoes on and out on the tarmac in 5!" Kay ran three miles that night, impressing herself with the time she achieved while Ironhide scowled. She had slowed.
Three days passed before Director Galloway arrived. He looked towards Kay with a gaze full of condescension, as if his recent appointment as liaison made him king over the Autobots.
"Who are you?" he demanded almost instantly.
"My name is Kaytlen Genesis," she stated with a smile, holding her hand out. "I am a friend of the Autobots, here to provide a second human point of view." Galloway scoffed, stared at the hand for a few moments, then marched off towards the scaffold where he could stand at Optimus height. Bee let out a few disapproving growls of his engine from where he sat in his alt mode behind Kay. Kay quickly placed a hand on his hood, staring after Galloway with a small frown.
Galloway kept the conversation civil for a while, pointing out every idea of his that he believed perfect and infallible. When he began to point out human-Autobot relations and the failing connections on his end, Lennox tried to get Kay into the conversation. Galloway was having none of it, basically ignoring her presence. By the time he left Kay was working hard to stay awake, her head in her hand. Lennox let out a sigh of frustration at Galloway's back while Kay's head fell, snapping her back awake.
"I can't stand that guy," Lennox growled. He leaned against the rails, sighing again.
"All that preparation for every possible argument and he goes and just ignores me. Didn't plan for that." Kay stood and stretched, a frown on her own face.
"We'll figure something out." Lennox patted Kay's shoulder, giving her a small smile. Optimus had not spoken, staring after where Galloway left.
A couple of beeps from Bee had Kay heading towards him, smiling as he nudged at her with his alt. His driver's door popped open, beckoning her to climb in. With a smile and a wave to Lennox she sat down, Bee racing down the tarmac while blasting a heavy rock song. Kay sunk back into the seat, laughing in exhilaration while her body still instinctively tensed up. She cracked her eyes open, pausing in her laughs.
"Uh, Bee?"
"Yes, dear?" Kay stared straight ahead, fear rising in her chest even though she knew it was unnecessary.
"Tree!" Bee snapped into a controlled drift, bursting through the line of trees and dodging trunks. Kay went right back to laughing, relief flooding her once she knew Bee knew what he was doing.
Bee soon slowed to a crawl, revealing a clearing of trees around a sharp cliff leading to crashing waves below. The door popped open and Kay carefully stepped out, staring in awe at the expanse of water in front of her. Bee backed up and casually transformed, walking to the edge and sitting down. The solid rock of the cliff didn't even groan at his weight, showing off the strength of the ancient stone. Kay stepped forward and held tight to Bee's leg, leaning over the edge of the cliff. The deep blue ocean raced upwards as it hit the precipice, white foam blossoming at the tips. Booming roars exploded outwards, filling the air with the powerful sound of the ocean's majestic presence.
Arms suddenly appeared, wrapping around Kay and carefully pulling her back into a strong embrace. She smiled, leaning into Bee and holding tight to his arms.
"You don't need to use your holoform, I don't mind your real form," Kay stated, eyes still closed.
"I'm using this entirely for selfish reasons," Bee replied. "I want to be able to hold you in my arms." Kay smiled, spinning in Bee's grasp and cracking her eyes open only to be able to grasp his holoform's face and pull him forward into a deep kiss. They parted slowly, Bee resting his forehead on Kay's how he liked, a wide smile on both of their faces.
"Love you, Bee," Kay breathed.
"Love you, too." They stood in that silence for a few seconds until a faint voice rose into the air, barely reaching Kay's ears.
~If you can hear this, this is your 15 second warning.~
"Bee?" Bee hummed his acknowledgement. "Have you been ignoring hails?" His eyes popped open, guilt and confusion in them.
"How'd you know?"
"Alpha's gonna be here any second." As soon as the words left her mouth Alpha burst out of the tree line, her lithe form tensing like an earth wolf as she dug her claws into the ground to slow herself down. Bee's holoform disappeared and his real body jerked, the Bot quickly yet carefully standing. Alpha didn't break stride, padding over and scooping Kay up with a yelp of surprise from the girl.
"Hey!" Bee called, beginning to speedily transform as Alpha prepared to sprint.
"It's the only way to ensure you'll follow!" Alpha then turned her lilac optics towards Kay. "Hold tight." Kay hastily grabbed a small handle that appeared, just as Alpha launched herself into the trees. Listening to every motor and robotic sinew moving together within Alpha's body was hypnotizing, even as more exhilaration raced throughout Kay. After mere seconds the wolf burst from the tree line, quickly switching her energy from ripping herself forwards to slowing herself down without tearing into the tarmac. Bee burst from the greenery himself, transforming and sliding to a careful stop in front of a smirking Sideswipe and laughing Jazz.
"She was right!" the short scout mech guffawed, clutching his stomach in a very human manner. Alpha floated past him, hips swaying in self-pride.
"Of course I was." Kay laughed, waving goodbye to Bee before Alpha carefully let her down.
"What were you right about?" Kay questioned.
"I said we could get him here by taking you," she replied, smirking her wolf-ish smirk. KiKi mewed, rubbing against Kay's leg. The woman bent to pick up the four legged creature while laughing, scratching the cat behind the ears.
"Yeah, you right." Kay glanced to her watch, sighing as she read the time. 10:33, three minutes after when she scheduled herself for homework. She looked to Alpha. "Any chance I could get a lift to the Bot hangar?" Alpha bobbed her head in a nod, then crouched and transformed much to Kay's surprise.
"I need to use it more," she stated simply. Kay shrugged and climbed in, KiKi easily taking a spot in the passenger seat, and Alpha raced off.
Kay was quickly dropped off with KiKi in her arms. She waved goodbye to Alpha, who was apparently guarding the base with Jolt while the rest of the Bots went on a scouting mission, then walked to her room, pushing the door open. KiKi took a spot on Kay's bed near the pillows, purring in smugness while Kay laughed.
"You little stinker," she cooed, petting the luscious black fur of the cat. Kay then heaved out her social studies book, quickly flipping to the first chapter. She had been putting this assignment off for a while, appreciating history but never having a desire to just learn out of the blue.
The chapter title read "Neanderthals: The Beginning Of Civilization." A picture sat just under it, a beautiful painting from long ago. Neanderthalic men were hunting after a tiger, draped in loincloths with spears to the ready. There was also a spot in the background, "a mighty grizzly bear twice the size of today's normal bear" as stated by the book. Kay frowned, running her fingers over the picture.
Yellow flashed in her vision, different than her power. It was an aged orange-yellow, in the shape of a hieroglyph if she saw correctly. KiKi perked her ears up as Kay began to mutter to herself, breathing erratically and blinking furiously. The cat frowned to herself as much as she could, standing and prodding over. Kay stood, kicking her chair back and enticing a yowl from the cat. Quickly Kay had picked up her notebook, flipping to the last page and roughly drawing down symbols while seated in her bed. KiKi watched in apprehension, her fur rising on end on its own as a tangible power filled the air. Kay's eyes began to glow their usual golden yellow then rapidly changed to a startling blue, not unlike the Autobot optics. She had filled a page full of symbols and was turning for a new one when she gasped in a breath of air. She froze for a split second, KiKi apprehensive still, then her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell back onto the bed.
KiKi let out a mew, carefully padding forward. She reached out with a paw and poked at Kay's face, getting nothing in return. The cat meowed loudly, quickly returning her amber eyes to her human. Kay still lay unmoving. KiKi sniffed, her own cat version of a huff of indignation, then walked forward and curled up into Kay's neck, soon falling asleep.
Soldiers sprinted through the base a while later. A rather clumsy one tripped, bashing into Kay's door. The woman bolted upright, her eyes wide and still faintly tinted blue with her glasses quite crooked. KiKi let out another meow as her pillow disappeared, looking around. She watched Kay as the woman carefully rubbed her eyes, looking around.
"What the heck?" Kay reached forward and grabbed her notebook, staring. Cybertronian symbols filled the paper, nagging at the back of Kay's mind. She felt her mind trying to decipher the symbols, straining itself, yet a headache began to quickly and steadily creep up the longer she focused on it. Instead, Kay turned towards her door as more footsteps pounded past. She stood, absently pulling her phone out of her pocket and checking the screen. Not only had quite a few hours passed, but she had ten missed calls from Sam.
Kay quickly pulled open the door and jogged along with the sea of people, apprehension beginning to fill her. Her finger tapped the missed call icon and Kay entered the passcode, lifting the phone to her ear. No answer. Kay burst into the Bot hangar, seeing no one. In shock she reached out for Alpha, feeling a wave of sorrow before the bond was closed off tightly. Kay frowned then glanced towards a nearby TV. She gawked and crept forward slowly, even though there were no living beings nearby. Live footage from London was airing, showing terrible damage from an unknown source. The reporter was about to delve into details when the screen crackled and filled with white noise, finally snapping to a very unstable, static-y video of a Cybertronian. An ancient one. As he began to talk a headache appeared full force out of nowhere, a word echoing loudly. For the longest time, it was indecipherable until the demand came.
"As you've seen, we can destroy your cities at will-" Famous landmarks flashed across the screen; the Taj Mahal, the London Eye, all surrounded by heavily smoking fires. "-unless you turn over this boy," Sam's personal information flashed on the screen, his social security number, birth certificate, other documents, and finally ending on a recent street cam picture, "and this girl." Next came Kay's information. Her social security appeared, as well as multiple street cam pictures, but no other documents. No birth certificate.
"If you resist us, we will destroy the world as you know it."
The Fallen. Kay stumbled backwards, clutching her temples tightly as the headache flared severely. The Fallen shall rise again. Painfully she cracked her eyes open, glancing to the Cybertronian face before it disappeared and the live news returned. The Fallen shall rise. The Fallen shall rise. The headache continued to pound, over and over, forcing Kay to the ground. She clutched her head tightly, willing tears not to fall.
What felt like an eternity later the pain ended incredibly suddenly, but there was something else different. Kay glanced towards the screen, seeing it missing. She also looked around her surroundings, seeing a totally different hangar. She checked her phone, seeing the location symbol suddenly appear in the upper right corner before the clock flashed to a time zone 9 hours earlier. It was sometime in the late afternoon, based off of the sunlight streaming in through a crack in the massive door, meaning her teleportation skipped a couple of hours. Kay slowly pushed herself to her feet, creeping to the hangar door. She poked her head out, seeing many of the Bots sitting in their alt forms on the tarmac. Lennox, Epps, and a couple of the boys from the original team were talking with Ratchet and Ironhide's holoforms, their eyes darting towards every soldier who walked past. She somehow teleported herself to Jersey.
Jazz's lights suddenly flashed to life, his tires spinning furiously to reverse himself. He raced over towards Kay, carefully drifting to a stop with his driver side door open.
"How did you get here?" he questioned softly.
"Randomly teleported," she answered. Kay climbed in without hesitation, only frowning as he neared the group.
"Where's Bee? And the twins?"
"Somethin's happened, Kay. Somethin' bad." Kay's heart rate snapped into the next gear, beginning to race.
"Well, yeah. Why am I wanted? Who's the Fallen?" Kay looked around the group once more as Jazz carefully stopped, opening his door. "Where's Optimus?" Ironhide walked up to the door, holding a hand out to help Kay up. She grabbed it with a bit of hesitation, scanning over everyone's faces. They were all hiding something.
"Guys," she tried again, "where's Bee and Optimus?"
"Bee's with Sam and Mikaela," Lennox said. Kay nodded.
"Okay. And Optimus?" Helicopter blades were slowly coming out from the distance. Lennox grabbed Kay's hand and carefully pulled her a few steps towards himself as Ratchet and Ironhide's holoforms disappeared. Kay turned, watching the group of Bots, including Alpha, back a ways away from the humans. Kay looked towards the cargo copter, seeing a black splotch against the setting sun hanging beneath it.
"What is that?" she asked Lennox. The Major held her gaze, sorrow deep within it. That's when it hit Kay, and it hit her hard.
"No." Lennox sighed and nodded, looking towards the cargo copter once more. Kay's hands rose to her mouth, covering her agape jaw. She could only watch as the corpse of Optimus Prime was tactlessly dumped to the ground, the limbs bouncing twice from the momentum before settling. His black optics stared straight at Kay.
"No," she tried again, feeling her limbs shake. Alpha finally carefully opened the bond, trying to share the burden of the sorrow. But Kay was having none of it. She snapped the bond shut herself, carefully creeping forward towards Optimus. She reached his shoulder, a place she had just sat yesterday to keep warm, and felt the metal work hard to suck the warmth from the air. After a few long, fat seconds of staring Kay dropped to her knees, ignoring the protests from her body for falling on pavement. She shifted herself ever so slightly then turned, burying herself deep within the crook of Optimus' neck. Alpha rolled up, transforming slowly. Her form was also filled with sadness, her optics a purple so dark it was almost black. Soon the other Bots were there, Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet getting closer to be near the girl, as well as Lennox, Epps, and a group of other soldiers.
Kay's reaction was terrifying everyone who knew her. She had become silent, her eyes glazed over and her body frozen in its sitting position. No sound except the slightest movement of air from her breath was leaving her body. Ratchet was sure she was entering shock.
"Kay-" Lennox was cut off as a line of humvees drove up, their guns manned and ready to shoot at the group of Bots. The line circled around the large group surrounding Optimus's body, causing all of the Bots to quickly transform and pull their weapons. Ironhide audibly growled as Sideswipe pushed the boundary, his swords out and to the ready.
"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, a menacing scowl on his features. The soldiers jumped into action as Ironhide stepped forward, steam flying from his nose, and Alpha crouched to the ground, a deep wolf growl coming from her chest.
"Woah, woah, woah!" people were shouting, getting between the Bots and the humvees.
"You dare point a gun at me?" Ironhide demanded. "I will tear you apart!" He fisted his hands, his cannons roaring as they spun and glowing as he pointed them at the humvees.
"Drop your weapons!" Lennox shouted, marching towards the nearest humvees. "Drop your weapons!" Kay blinked as he bashed his hands on the hood. The woman carefully looked up, slowly reentering the real world. "Tell them to lower their weapons!" Lennox ordered of the captain exiting the Humvee he hit.
"Tell them first," the man stated, signaling to the still defensive and jumpy Bots.
"Tell them to lower their weapons!"
"Major, there's nothing I can do. Talk to him." Kay blinked again, watching as Galloway appeared out of a Humvee.
"Your NEST team is deactivated, Major," he stated, walking forward. He had not noticed Kay yet, and no one noticed as she began to move again, her eyes slowly switching to a deep yellow. "You are to cease Anti-Decepticon operations and return to Diego Garcia, pending further orders."
"No," Lennox said, standing in front of Galloway, "we take our orders directly from Chairman Morshower, sir."
"Well, I'll see your Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff," Galloway said, his back now to Kay as he reached for something in his coat pocket, "and I will raise you a President of the United States." He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket. "I have operational command now." Transformation sounds filled the air as the Bots retracted their weapons, albeit reluctantly. "An alien blood feud has been brought to our shores for which our soldiers are paying the price. The secret is out!" Galloway blindly pointed to the Bots behind him. "This is our war and we will win it as we always have," Galloway continued, adjusting his coat, "with a coordinated military strategy.
"This fool is terribly misinformed," Ratchet stated.
"You're gonna need every asset that you've got," Lennox stated, pointing to the Bots.
"What we need is to draw up battle plans while we explore every possible diplomatic solution."
"Like what, handing over the kids?" Lennox demanded, his eyes flashing to Kay momentarily. Galloway was silent for a moment.
"All options are being considered." Alpha snarled loudly, causing Galloway to jump slightly. He glanced to her, still not seeing Kay where she sat with fully yellow eyes now, quickly beginning to gain a glow. Galloway started for the car, indicating he was done with the conversation.
"Whatever the Decepticons are after," a British soldier interjected, "this is just the start."
"There is no negotiating with them," Lennox tried one last time.
"I'm ordering you to stand down." Galloway marched forward, grabbing Lennox's NEST patch and ripping it off. Kay's eyes snapped to a bright glowing yellow, her hand slowly dropping to the ground. "You won't be needing this anymore. Get your assets back to base, and take that pile of scrap metal back to Diego Garcia." Galloway went to open the door to the humvee but instead jumped back, crying out as his hand hit a yellow barrier.
"What the-?" Ironhide questioned as well, feeling himself be pushed forward as he took too far of a step back. Alpha glanced around, noticing the yellow ripples.
"Alpha, drop th' field," Jazz said softly.
"It isn't me," she responded, allowing her optics to switch back to their lilac color. Many of the heads snapped to Optimus' neck as Kay finally stood, her eyes an exceptionally bright yellow. Yellow traced her veins, flowing down her body and shirt with every heartbeat, traveling outwards and fueling the shield. Galloway scowled, working desperately to hide his fear as he marched forward.
"Woah, there." Lennox stepped between him and Kay. "You aren't touching her." Galloway pushed him out of the way forcefully, reaching out to grab Kay. He paused at a snapping sound, looking around to see the barrier having shrunk considerably, now only surrounding him and Kay. Everyone outside of it was frozen, many of the Bots in an action to jump forward and either block Galloway or grab Kay.
"You need to learn some respect," Kay growled, a small part of herself noting the pride Ironhide would have felt if he had heard that. Galloway opened his mouth, ready to spit out some excuse, but Kay silenced him with a tendril of her power flashing incredibly close to his face. It was all a light show, of course. Galloway was effectively frozen in fear, his eyes wide and locked on the woman. Kay waited, allowing the fear to soak deep into Galloway, then simply nodded once. She stepped back two steps then, and with a loud pop, the world was back to normal. Alpha leapt forward and carefully picked up Kay by her sweater and Lennox ripped Galloway back by his arm. Kay stayed limp, waiting until Alpha set her down. Galloway blinked a few times, staring at Kay, then quickly turned and stuttered out a "let's go" as he entered the Humvee.
"Autobots, report to hangar for transport." The voice echoed over the PA as the Humvees drove off, leaving the Bots to stand around Optimus' body. Ratchet and Ironhide stood on either side of Kay, looking down to her as her eyes slowly dulled.
"I want to say we should leave this place," Ratchet said quietly, startling Kay. She looked upwards, her eyes wide and her hand instinctively grabbing on a piece of armor; to hold herself up or futilely try to hold Ratchet, she didn't know. "But," he added, looking to her, "Optimus, nor any of us, would want that." Ironhide nodded, carefully kneeling.
"You need to get out of here," he said.
"Where should I go?" Kay questioned.
"You need to get to Bee," Alpha replied, walking up to the trio.
"And how do you suggest that?" Kay asked, a bit snarkily. Alpha snorted, poking at the woman with her muzzle.
"How did you get here?" Kay shrugged.
"Not a clue, to be honest. I had a headache, it stopped, I was here. In case you haven't noticed, time manipulation is more my specialty, teleportation is just a secondary that can be used more often." The wolf snorted.
"Just, picture being next to Bumblebee," Alpha said, sitting carefully, "and do the whole spiel you do with others. I've warned him already." Kay glanced to Ironhide who only shrugged. Kay sighed then took a deep breath in, closing her eyes. She pictured being next to Bee, the feeling of safety around him she normally got rushing her. With a quick exhale she felt her power flare in a comfortingly familiar way.
When she opened her eyes it was early night, and Sam and Mikaela were in the middle of a hug. Mikaela gasped, pulling away from Sam.
"Kay!" She leapt forward, wrapping the same aged woman in a tight hug. Kay hugged back, both out of relief that the teleport worked and pure emotion of missing Mikaela.
"Holy crap, what are you doing here?" Sam said, stepping forward and joining the hug. Kay took a deep breath in, feeling her heart swell as they pulled back. She glanced towards Sam, ready to explain, and saw his look. Her mind raced, working to put everything together, when she understood. Optimus' died in battle, that much she could tell from his body, and Sam looked covered in dirt and grit. Optimus must have died right in front of his eyes.
"Oh, Sam." Kay reached forward and grabbed Sam, pulling him close again. Her own sorrow from seeing Optimus echoed back to life as she held her best friend, the two of them just standing in silence. Mikaela carefully walked up, rubbing Sam's shoulder.
"There's nothing you could have done," she said quietly. Sam carefully pulled back, nodding but not making eye contact. Kay let him go, turning towards Bee. He was fighting his own intense sorrow, his door wings lower than normal.
"Bee, if you hate me, I understand," Sam said quietly, walking over to him as well. "I messed up. I'm sorry." Bee's radio flickered to life.
"Young man… you are one of the people I care most about in my life… If there's anything you need… I won't be far away." Kay reached out, Bee looking to her. He carefully held still, waiting as she climbed into his lap. She fiddled with his armor, rubbing it in calming shapes as she laid her head where she could hear his spark thrumming.
"He's dead because of me," Sam breathed. "He came to protect me and he's dead."
"There's some things you just can't change," Bee responded, "so his sacrifice for us would not have been in vain, hallelujah!"
"I'm gonna make it right. I'm gonna turn myself in." Kay started, staring at Sam in shock before Bee carefully stood and transformed around Kay.
"We've… we've got to stick together!" From her new spot in Bee's driver's seat, Kay could see the twins, watching quietly but definitely talking with each other; most likely over the bond. Kay carefully went to climb out, rubbing calmingly over Bee's leather as the seatbelt reached out to hold her tight.
"You're not going to do that," Mikaela tried to reason. "You wouldn't do that to Kay, would you?" Sam's eyes locked on Kay, fear and indecisiveness in them. "She's wanted, too, Sam. You turn yourself in, they're going to demand her location." Bee revved his engine, crawling forward and pushing Sam to sit on his hood. Kay kept a constant hand on Bee, longing for the sense of security.
"Everything we worked for will be wiped out, in one day!" Bee urged. Sam sat there, sighing and rubbing at his face, before a thought reached his mind. He turned, looking to the twins.
"You two," he called.
"Huh?" Mudflap muttered, his mouth hanging open dumbly.
"Hey, you know the glyphs?" Sam asked. "These. The symbols that have been rattling around in my head?" Sam moved his hand, showing a Cybertronian symbol printed on his arm. Kay gasped, quickly turning to her own arm and ripping her sweatshirt upwards. There, on her arm, sat a symbol of its own.
"That's old school, yo," Skids said. "That's like, that's, uh, Cybertronian!"
"That's some serious stuff right there." Kay went to stand closer to Sam, curious about his idea and as to why he didn't know the symbols were Cybertronian.
"They gotta mean something, like a message, or a map! A map to an energon source," Sam said while turning, looking for reassurance. Kay just stared at him, having apparently missed a major development. "Can you read this?" Kay glanced towards Bee but shrugged.
"Read?" Skids said, visibly being taken aback.
"No, ah, we-we, uh, we don't really do much readin'," Mudflap stuttered out. "Not so much."
"Well if you can't read it we gotta find somebody who can."
"Aw, look who came sashayin' back," Skids said, pointing to an incredibly curly haired man barely out of puberty; much like Sam, really. Kay glanced towards Bee, relieved to see his holoform appear and walk up.
"I'll explain everything soon," he said, weaving his fingers into hers. Kay nodded.
"Hair growin' like a Chia Pet. Look at 'im," Mudflap said with a snicker.
"I had a bit of a mild panic attack earlier, right?" he stated, not noticing Kay.
"That's cause you a pussy," Mudflap stated simply with a shrug. Kay rolled her eyes as Skids raised his fist, garnering a fistbump from his twin.
"I think I'm allowed that, considering what I've been through." Now it was Mikaela's turn to roll her eyes. "I heard you have a problem," the boy continued, "and I think I know who could help." Sam scoffed.
"Who?"
"Robo-warrior." Sam paused for a good few moments then shrugged.
"Okay. Let's go." The other guy nodded and started forward, freezing as he saw Kay.
"Oh my gosh, you're that other girl!" he said, pointing.
"The other wanted fugitive? Yeah, I am, thanks. Who are you?" Kay demanded.
"Name's Leo," he said, starting forward with a smirk. "Sam's partner in crime here. Don't worry, I know everything there is to know about these guys," he said, motioning to the Bots before throwing an arm over Kay's shoulders. "I got you, baby, don't worry." Bee's engine roared to life and his holoform disappeared, the Bot quickly transforming and marching forward while Mikaela struggled not to burst out in laughter and Sam finally completed the triangle of eye rolls.
"Oh, he dead," Mudflap stated.
"He so dead." Bee pulled his cannon out, pointing the glowing weapon at Leo who immediately leapt off of Kay and held his hands in the air.
"Woah, woah, woah!" he cried, tripping over some debris and falling to the ground. "Sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you! I don't know what I did, I'm sorry!" Bee stopped beside Kay, whirring out a sentence.
"Sorry, bud," Kay translated, resting a hand on Bee's leg. "I'm taken." Leo's eyes widened, staring in silence as Bee nodded once roughly and put his cannon away.
"How do the nights in bed work?"
After twenty solid minutes of Kay calming Bee down, the group, with much convincing towards Sam, decided to bed up for the night. Sam and Mikaela and Leo all went to find rooms to sleep in in the abandoned building while Kay stayed outside, laying on Bee's hood with her sweater zipped up to keep out the dropping temperatures.
"So what happened?" she asked quietly, looking up at the stars. Bee's holoform appeared, pulling her close.
"Megatron is back," he said, pausing to give Kay time to process the words. "The Decepticons used the shard to revive him. Us Bots all went over here to shore to try and find them, to stop them before anything could happen. Megatron found Sam first." Bee shifted, burying his head in Kay's shoulder. "From what I can gather from Sam he has Cybertronian racing through his head, taking over and sending him into strange fits sometimes." Kay hummed in understanding.
"Yeah, I've been seeing the symbols, too. I just had an episode back on Diego Garcia, right after you left. Knocked me out cold for a good couple of hours." Bee's arms tightened as if he was angered at himself for not being there to prevent Kay from passing out. "It's fine, Bee," she said with a smile, reaching upwards and carefully running a hand through his holoform's hair while using the other hand to trace patterns over his hood. "I woke up, saw the news, got a headache, then teleported to Jersey." Kay paused before her next question. "What happened to Optimus?" The words barely came out, catching at the edge of Kay's throat.
"He and I found Sam just before his brain was going to be taken out. He was caught by Megatron. We fought them off, Sam and Optimus soon being cut off from me, Mikaela, and Leo. I tried to find them, I did." Now Bee's voice was clenching, anger at himself for failing deep within the tones. Kay turned on her side, bringing her hands up to cup Bee's face and pull his forehead to rest on hers. She didn't need to say anything else.
"When I finally did show up," Bee continued, "he was gone. On the ground with the life drained from his optics. This was the mech that had saved me, Kay." He hugged her even closer, working hard to keep his voice steady. "I was just a youngling, stuck orphaned during a major civil war. Optimus took me in." Kay wrapped her arms tightly around Bee's neck, hugging him close and planting her face in his neck. It took a little while of laying there, the both of them listening to the dying fire, before Kay finally fell asleep.